I must leave Paris at once. The weather is intolerably hot; the leaves
that were green ten days ago already are shewing symptoms of the sear
and yellow. Is it in compliment to the august inhabitant of the
palace that the garden is so _empressé_ to turn its coat? Shame on my
ingratitude to say so! for I find that his Majesty has sent me a card
of invitation to dine on Friday next. Another reason for a hurried
departure! Of all moderate endurances, I know of none to compare with a
dinner at the Tuileries. “Stay!--halt!” cries Memory; “I’ll tell you of
one worse again--a dinner at Neuilly!”
The former is sure to include a certain number of distinguished and
remarkable men, who, even under the chill and restraint of a royal
entertainment, venture now and then on some few words that supply the
void where conversation should be. At Neuilly it is strictly a family
party, where, whatever ease may be felt by the illustrious hosts, the
guests have none of it. Juvenal quaintly asks, If that can be a battle
where you strike and I am beaten? so one is tempted to inquire, If that
can be called society where a royal personage talks rapidly for hours,
and the listener must not even look dissent? The King of the French is
unquestionably a great man, but not greater in any thing than in the
complete mystification in which he has succeeded in enveloping his real
character, mingling up together elements so strange, so incongruous,
and seemingly inconsistent, that the actual direction or object of any
political move he has ever made, will always bear a double appreciation.
The haughty monarch is the citizen king; the wily and secret politician,
the most free-spoken and candid of men: the most cautious in an
intrigue, the very rashest in action. How is it possible to divine the
meaning, or guess the wishes, of one whose nature seems so Protean?
His foreign policy is, however, the master-stroke of his genius,--the
cunning game by which he has conciliated the party of popular
institutions and beguiled the friends of absolutism, delighting Tom
Buncombe and winning praise from Nicholas. Like all clever men who are
vain of their cleverness, he has always been fond of employing agents of
inferior capacity, but of unquestionable devotion to his interests. What
small intelligences--to use a phrase more French than English--were
the greater number of the French ministers and secretaries I have met
accredited to foreign courts! I remember Talleyrand’s observation, on
the remark being made, was, “His Majesty always keeps the trumps in
his own hand.” Though, to be sure, he himself was an evidence to the
contrary--a “trump” led boldly out, the first card played!
So well did that subtle politician comprehend the future turn events
must take, that on hearing, at two o’clock in the morning, that his
Royal Highness the Duc d’Orléans had consented to assume the crown, he
exclaimed, “And I am now ambassador at St. James’s!” It must have been
what the Londoners call “good fun” to have lived in the days of the
Empire, when all manner of rapid elevations occurred on every hand. The
_commis_ of yesterday, the special envoy to-day; a week ago a corporal,
and now gazetted an officer, with the cross of the Legion--on the
_grande route_, to become a general. A General, why not a Marshal of
France--ay, or a King?
We have seen something of this kind in Belgium within a few years
back--on a small scale, it is true. What strange ingredients did the
Revolution throw up to the surface! what a mass of noisy, turbulent,
self-opinionated incapables, who, because they had led a rabble at the
Porte de Flandre, thought they could conduct the march of an army!
And the statesmen!--good lack! the miserable penny-a-liners of the
“Indépendant” and the “Lion Beige,” that admirable symbol of the land,
who carries his tail between his legs. The really able, and, I believe,
honest men, were soon overwhelmed by the influence of the priest
party--the vultures who watched the fight from afar, and at last
descended to take all the spoils of the victory.
Wandeweyer and Nothomb are both men of ability, the latter a kind of
Brummagen Thiers, with the same taste for intrigue, the same subtle
subserviency to the head of the state, and, in his heart, the same
cordial antipathy to England. But why dwell on these people? they will
scarce occupy a foot-note in the old “Almanach.”
The diplomatic history of our day, if it ever be written, will present
no very striking displays of high-reaching intellect or devoted
patriotism; the men who were even greatest before the world were really
smallest behind “the fact.” We deemed that Lord Aberdeen and Lord
Palmerston, and Messrs. Guizot and Thiers, and a few more, were either
hurrying us on to war or maintaining an admirable peace. But the whole
thing resolves itself into the work of one man and one mind; neither
very conspicuous, but so intently occupied, so devotedly persevering,
that persistance has actually elevated itself to genius; and falling
happily upon times when mediocrity is sublime, he has contrived to
make his influence felt in every state of Europe. I speak not of Louis
Philippe, but of his son-in-law, King Leopold.
“Let me make the ballads of a nation, and I care not who makes its
laws,” said the great statesman; and in something of the same spirit his
Majesty of Belgium may have said, “Let me make the royal marriages of
Europe, and any one who pleases may choose the ministry.”
_Apropos_ of the Roi Leopold, is it not difficult to understand a
Princess Charlotte falling in love with his good looks? There is no
disputing on this point. The most eminently successful man I ever knew
in ladies’ society was Jack Beauclerc--“Caucasian Jack” we used to call
him at Brookes’s. Everybody knows Jack was no beauty. Heavy beetling
brows, a dark, saturnine, ill-omened expression, was ever on his
features. Nor did his face light up at times, as one occasionally sees
with such men; he was always the same sail misanthropic-looking fellow.
Neither could one call him agreeable--at least I, meeting him very
often, never found him so. But he was of a determined, resolute nature;
one of those men that appear never to turn from any object on which they
have set a strong will. This may have gone very far with ladies, who
very often conceive a kind of esteem for whatever they fear. He said
himself that his secret was, “always using them ill;” and certainly, if
facts could bear out such a theory, one might believe him. Probably no
man ever cultivated these tastes with such assiduity--these, I say, for
play and duelling were also passions with him.
He was _attaché_ to our mission at Naples before he was sixteen, and had
the honour of wounding the old Marquis d’Espagna with the small sword
at the same precocious era. The duel originated after a truly Italian
manner; and as there are at Naples many incorrect reports of it, I
will take the trouble to give the real one. The Marquis was an old man,
married to one of the most beautiful women in Italy. She was a Venetian,
and if my memory serves me right, a Guillardini by birth. She married
him at eighteen to escape a convent, he being the richest noble under
the rank of the blood royal at Naples. Very unlike the majority of
Italian husbands, the Marquis was excessively jealous, would not permit
the most innocent freedoms of his young and lovely wife, and eventually
secluded himself and--worse still--her from all society, and never
appeared except at a court ball, or some such festivity that there were
no means of avoiding. It was at one of these festivities that the King,
who liked to see his ball-room put forth its fairest aspect, bantered
the Marquis on the rumour that had even reached the ears of royalty,
as to his inordinate jealousy. The Marquis, whose old spirit of
courtiership predominated even as strongly as his jealousy, assured his
Majesty that the worthy people of Naples did him great injustice,
and that, although conscious of the Marquesa’s great beauty and
attractiveness, he had yet too high a sense of the distinguished place
he and his family had always held in the esteem of his sovereign to feel
jealous of any man’s pretension; adding, “If I have not admitted the
conventional addition of a _cavalière servente_ to my household, I would
beg your Majesty to believe it is simply because I have seen no one as
yet worthy to hand la Mar-quesa to her carriage or fold her shawl.”
“Admirably spoken, Marquis!” said the King; “the sentiment is quite
worthy of one who has the best blood of Sicily in his veins. But
remember what an artificial state of society we live in; think of our
conventional usages, and what a shock it gives to public opinion when
one, placed in so exalted a position as you are, so palpably affronts
universal and admitted custom; recollect that your reserve involves a
censure on others, less suspicious, and, we would hope, not less rigidly
honourable men, than yourself.”
“But what would your Majesty counsel?”
“Select a _cavalière_ yourself, as little likely to excite your jealousy
as you please; as little agreeable as possible, if you prefer it: but,
comply at least so far with the world’s prescription, and do not shock
our worthy Neapolitans by appearing to reflect upon them. There, what
say you to that boy yonder? he is only a boy--he has just joined the
English mission here. I’m sure he has formed no tender engagements to
prevent you adopting him, and you will at least seem to conform with the
usages of your neighbours.”
“If your Majesty commands----”
“Nay, Marquis, I but advise.”
“Your Majesty’s wish is always a command. I feel proud to obey.”
“Then, I am very happy to say I wish it,” said the King, who turned
away, dying to tell the court-party how miserable he had made the old
Marquis.
Such are _débauché_ Kings; the glorious prerogative of power becomes the
mere agent of perverted ingenuity to work mischief and do wrong!
The poor Marquis lost no time to follow out the royal commands, and at
once made acquaintance with Beauclerc--only too happy to be noticed in
such a quarter. I know not whether the lady was much gratified by the
result of this kingly interposition in her favour: some said, Yes, and
that the youth was really gifted and _spirituel_, with a vein of
quiet, caustic humour, most amusing; others--and I half incline to
this notion--pronounced him dull and uninteresting. At all events, the
Marquesa enjoyed the liberty of appearing often in public, and seeing
more of the world than heretofore. She usually visited the San Carlos,
too, twice a week; a great improvement in her daily life, as previously
the Opera was denied her.
Immediately over the Marquesa’s box was the large box, or rather
_salon_, belonging to the club of the Italian _nobili_, who frequented
the theatre far less for the pleasures of the opera and the ballet
than for the more exciting delights of _faro_ and _écarté_; and here,
nightly, were assembled all the most dissipated and spendthrift youth
of a capital, whose very gravest and most exemplary citizens would be
reckoned “light company” any where else.
High play, with all its consequences of passionate outbreaks, ruin,
and duelling, were the pastimes of this ill-fated _loge_; and,
notwithstanding the attractions the box underneath contained, Jack
Beauclerc was far oftener in the second tier than the first. He was,
indeed, a most inveterate gambler; and the few moments which he devoted
to attending the Marquesa to her box, or her carriage, were so many
instants of pregnant impatience till he was back at the play-table.
It was on one evening, when, having lost a very heavy sum, that his turn
came to deal; and, with the superstitious feeling that only a play-man
can understand, he resolved to stake a very large amount upon the
game. The attention of the bystanders--never very deeply engaged by the
_scène_--was now entirely engrossed by the play-table, where Beauclerc
and his adversary were seated at _écarté_. It was that critical moment
when the cards were dealt, but the trump not yet turned, and Beauclerc
sat enjoying, with a gambler’s “malign” delight, the eager anxiety in
the other player’s countenance, when suddenly a voice said,--
“Ha, Beauclerc! the Marquesa is rising--she is about to leave the
theatre.”
“Impossible!” said he; “it is only the second act.”
“It is quite true, though,” rejoined another; “she is putting on her
mantle.”
“Never mind our party, then,” cried Beauclerc’s antagonist; “I will hold
myself ready to play the match out whenever you please.”
“I please it now, then!” said he, with a degree of energy that heavy
losses had, in spite of him, rendered uncontrollable.
“Il Signor Beauclerc!” said a servant, approaching, “the Marquis
d’Espagna desires to see you.”
“Tell him I am engaged--I can’t come,” said Beauclerc, turning up the
trump-card, which he held out triumphantly before his adversary, saying,
“The king!”
At the same instant the old Marquis entered, and, approaching the table,
whispered a few words in his ear. If an adder had pierced him with its
sting, Beauclerc could not have started with a more agonised expression;
and he sprang from the chair and rushed out of the theatre, not by the
door, however, where the Marquesa’s carriage was yet standing, but by a
private passage, which led more easily towards his lodgings.
“What is this piece of news, that all are so amused by?” said the King,
the next morning, as he was rising.
“Your majesty alludes to the Marquis d’Es-pagna, no doubt,” said Count
Villafranca. “He challenged the young English _attaché_ last night, at
the theatre, and they have been out this morning; and, strange to say,
that the Marquis, the very best swordsman we have ever had here, was
disarmed and run through the side by his antagonist.”
“Is the wound dangerous?” said the King, coolly.
“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 assure 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 repetition
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 assertion 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
château_” presents something similar; but, even there, it rather lingers
like the spirit of a departed time, the relic of bygone associations,
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 passion 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 café: 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, assembles 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 assemble, 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 passion of the nation, the one rallying point for every grade
and class. 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 _scène_” 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-passion to listen to the not less impassioned,
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 pass 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 _café_ to
the lounger, the drawing-room and the boudoir to the lady. But where is
the domestic life?