Norbury Park, January 28, '93.
My dearest padre,-I have been wholly without spirit for writing,
reading, working, or even walking or conversing, ever since the
first day of my arrival. The dreadful tragedy(62) acted in France
has entirely absorbed me. Except the period of the illness of our
own inestimable king, 1 have never been so overcome with grief
and dismay, for any but personal and family calamities. O what a
tragedy! how implacable its villainy, and how severe its sorrows!
You know, my dearest father, how little I had believed such a
catastrophe possible: with all the guilt and all the daring
already shown, I had still thought this a height of enormity
impracticable. And, indeed, without military law throughout the
wretched city, it had still not been perpetrated. Good heaven!-
-what must have been the sufferings of the few unhardened in
crimes who inhabit that city of horrors!--if I, an English
person, have been so deeply afflicted, that even this sweet house
and society--even my Susan and her lovely children--have been
incapable to give me any species of pleasure, or keep me from a
desponding low-spiritedness, what must be the feelings of all but
the culprits in France?
M. de Narbonne and M. d'Arblay have been almost annihilated :
they are for ever repining that they are French, and, though two
of the most accomplished and elegant men I ever saw, they break
our hearts with the humiliation they feel for their guiltless
birth in that guilty country!
We are all here expecting war every day. This dear family has
deferred its town journey till next Wednesday. I have not been
at all at Mickleham, nor yet settled whether to return to town
with the Lockes, or to pay my promised visit there first, All has
been so dismal, so wretched, that I have scarce ceased to regret
our living at such times, and not either Sooner or later.
These immediate French sufferers here interest us, and these
alone have been able to interest me at all. We hear of a very
bad tumult in Ireland, and near Captain Phillips's property: Mr.
Brabazon writes word it is very serious.
Page 44
Heaven guard us from insurrections! What must be the feelings at
the queen's house? how acute, and how indignant!
A GLOOMY CLUB MEETING.
(-Dr. Burney to Fanny Burney and Mrs. Phillips.)
Chelsea College, January 31, 1793.
. . . At the Club,(63) on Tuesday, the fullest I ever knew,
consisting of fifteen members, fourteen seemed all of one mind,
and full of reflections on the late transaction in France ; but,
when about half the company was assembled, who should come in but
Charles Fox! There were already three or four bishops arrived,
hardly one of whom could look at him, I believe, without horror,
After the first bow and cold salutation, the conversation stood
still for several minutes. During dinner Mr Windham, and Burke,
jun., came in, who were obliged to sit at a side table. All were
boutonns,(64) and not a word of the martyred king or politics of
any kind was mentioned; and though the company was chiefly
composed of the most eloquent and loquacious men in the kingdom,
the conversation was the dullest and most uninteresting I ever
remember at this or any such large meeting. Mr Windham and Fox,
civil-young Burke and he never spoke. The Bishop of Peterborough
as sulky as the d--l; the Bishop of Salisbury, more a man of the
world, very cheerful; the Bishop of Dromore(65) frightened as
much as a barn-door fowl at the sight of a fox; Bishop Marlow
preserved his usual pleasant countenance. Steevens in the chair;
the Duke of Leeds on his right, and Fox on his left, said not a
word. Lords Ossory and Lucan, formerly much attached, seemed
silent and sulky.
MADAME DE STAEL AT JUNIPER HALL.
(Fanny Burney to Dr. Burney.)
Norbury Park, Monday, February 4, '93.
. . . Madame de Stael, daughter of M. Necker, is now at the head
of the colony of French noblesse, established near
Page 45
Mickleham. She is one of the first women I have ever met with for
abilities and extraordinary intellect. She has just received, by
a private letter, many particulars not yet made public, and which
the Commune and Commissaries of the Temple had ordered should be
suppressed. It has been exacted by those cautious men of blood
that nothing should be printed that could attendrir le
peuple.(66)
Among other circumstances, this letter relates that the poor
little dauphin supplicated the monsters who came with the decree
of death to his unhappy father, that they would carry him to the
Convention, and the forty-eight Sections of Paris, and suffer him
to beg his father's life. This touching request was probably
suggested to him by his miserable mother or aunt....
M. de Narbonne has been quite ill with the grief of this last
enormity: and M. d'Arblay is now indisposed. This latter is one
of the most delightful characters I have ever met, for openness,
probity, intellectual knowledge, and unhackneyed manners.
(Madame de Stael to Fanny BUrney.(67))
Written from juniper Hall, Dorking, Surrey, 1793.
When I learned to read English I begun by milton, to know all or
renounce at all in once. I follow the same system in writing my
first English letter to Miss burney; after such an enterprize
nothing can affright me. I feel for her so tender a friendship
that it melts my admiration, inspires my heart with hope of her
indulgence, and impresses me with the idea that in a tongue even
unknown I could express sentiments so deeply felt.
my servant will return for a french answer. I intreat miss
burney to correct the words but to preserve the sense of that
card.
best compliments to my dear protectress, Madame Phillipe.
(Madame de Stael to Fanny Burney.)
Your card in french, my dear, has already something of Your grace
in writing English : it is cecilia translated. my !. '
Page 46
only correction is to fill the interruptions of some sentences,
and I put in them kindnesses for me. I do not consult my master
to write to you; a fault more or less is nothing in such an
occasion. What may be the perfect grammar of Mr. Clarke, it
cannot establish any sort of equality between you and I. then I
will trust with my heart alone to supply the deficiency. let us
speak upon a grave subject: do I see you that morning? What news
from Captain phillip? when do you come spend a large week in that
house? every question requires an exact answer; a good, also. my
happiness depends on it, and I have for pledge your honour.
good morrow and farewell.
pray madame phillips, recollecting all her knowledge in french,
to explain that card to you.
(Madame de Stael to Fanny Burney.)
January, 1793.
tell me, my dear, if this day is a charming one, if it must be a
sweet epoch in my life?--do you come to dine here with your
lovely sister, and do you stay night and day till our sad
separation? I rejoice me with that hope during this week do not
deceive my heart. I hope that card very clear, mais, pour plus de
certitude, je vous dis en françois que votre chambre, la maison,
les habitants de juniper, tout est prêt á recevoir la première
femme d'angleterre.(68) Janvier.
MISS BURNEY'S ADMIRATION OF MADAME DE STAEL.
(Fanny Burney to Dr. Burney.)
Mickleham, February 29, 1793
Have you not begun, dearest sir, to give me up as a lost sheep?
Susanna's temporary widowhood, however, has tempted me on, and
spelled me with a spell I know not how to break. It is long, long
since we have passed any time so completely together; her three
lovely children only knit us the closer. The widowhood, however,
we expect now quickly to expire, and I had projected my return to
my dearest father
Page 47
for Wednesday next, which would complete my fortnight here but
some circumstances are intervening that incline me to postpone it
another week. Madame de Stal, daughter of M. Necker, and wife of
the Swedish ambassador to France, is now head of the little
French colony in this neighbourhood. M. de Stael, her husband, is
at present suspended in his embassy, but not recalled and it is
yet uncertain whether the regent Duke of Sudermania will send him
to Paris, during the present horrible Convention, or order him
home. He is now in Holland, waiting for commands. Madame de
Stal, however, was unsafe in Paris, though an ambassadress, from
the resentment owed her by the commune, for having received and
protected in her house various destined victims of the 10th
August and of the 2nd September. She was even once stopped in her
carriage, which they called aristocratic, because of its arms and
ornaments, and threatened to be murdered, and only saved by one
of the worst wretches of the Convention, Tallien, who feared
provoking a war with Sweden, from such an offence to the wife of
its ambassador. She was obliged to have this same Tallien to
accompany her, to save her from massacre, for some miles from
Paris, when compelled to quit it.
She is a woman of the first abilities, I think, I have ever seen;
she is more in the style of Mrs. Thrale than of any other
celebrated character, but she has infinitely more depth, and
seems an even profound politician and metaphysician. She has
suffered us to hear some of her works in MS., which are truly
wonderful, for powers both of thinking and expression. She adores
her father, but is much alarmed at having had no news from him
since he has heard of the massacre of the martyred Louis; and who
can wonder it should have overpowered him?
Ever since her arrival she has been pressing me to spend some
time with her before I return to town. She wanted Susan and me to
pass a month with her, but, finding that impossible, she bestowed
all her entreaties upon me alone, and they are grown so urgent,
upon my preparation for departing, and acquainting her my
furlough of absence was over, that she not only insisted upon my
writing to you, and telling why I deferred my return, but
declares she will also write herself, to ask your permission for
the visit. She exactly resembles Mrs. Thrale in the ardour and
warmth of her temper and partialities. I find her impossible to
resist, and therefore, if your answer to
Page 48
her is such as I conclude it must be, I shall wait upon her for a
week. She is only a short walk from hence, at juniper Hall.
FAILING RESOURCES.
There can be nothing imagined more charming, more fascinating,
than this colony ; between their sufferings and their argrmens
they occupy us almost wholly. M. de Narbonne,
alas, has no thousand pounds a year! he got over only four
thousand pounds at the beginning, from a most splendid fortune;
and, little foreseeing how all has turned out, he has lived, we
fear, upon the principal ; for he says, if all remittance is
withdrawn, on account of the war, he shall soon be as ruined as
those companions of his misfortunes with whom as yet he has
shared his little all. He bears the highest character for
goodness, parts, sweetness of manners, and ready wit. You could
not keep your heart from him if you saw him only for . half an
hour. He has not yet recovered from the black blow of the king's
death, but he is better, and less jaundiced ; and he has had a
letter which, I hear, has comforted him, though at first it was
almost heart-breaking, informing him of the unabated regard for
him of the truly saint-like Louis. This is communicated in a
letter from M. de Malesherbes.(69)
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
M. d'Arblay is one of the most singularly interesting characters
that can ever have been formed. He has a sincerity, a frankness,
an ingenuous openness of nature, that I had been unjust enough to
think could not belong to a Frenchman. With all this, which is
his military portion, he is passionately fond of literature, a
most delicate critic in his own language, welt versed in both
Italian and German, and a very elegant
Page 49
poet. He has just undertaken to become my French master for
pronunciation, and he gives me long daily lessons in reading.
Pray expect wonderful improvements! In return, I hear him in
English; and for his theme, this evening he has been writing an
English address "
Mr. Burney," (ie. M. le Docteur), joining in
Madame de Stael's request.
I hope your last club was more congenial? M. de Talleyrand
insists on conveying this letter for you. He has been on a visit
here, and returns again on Wednesday. He is a man of admirable
conversation, quick, terse, fin, and yet deep, to the extreme of
those four words. They are a marvellous set for excess of
agreeability.
"THIS ENCHANTING MONSIEUR D'ARBLAY."
(Fanny Burney to Mrs. Locke.)
Mickleham.
Your kind letter, my beloved Fredy, was most thankfully received,
and we rejoice the house and situation promise so much local
comfort; but I quite fear with you that even the bas bleu will
not recompense the loss of the "Junipre" society. It is, indeed,
of incontestable superiority. But you must burn this confession,
or my poor effigy will blaze for it. I must tell you a little of
our proceedings, as they all relate to these people of a
thousand.
M. d'Arblay came from the melancholy sight of departing Norbury
to Mickleham, and with an air the most triste, and a sound of
voice quite dejected, as I learn from Susanna for I was in my
heroics, and could not appear till the last half hour. A headache
prevented my waiting upon Madame de Stal that day, and obliged me
to retreat soon after nine o'clock in the evening, and my douce
compagne would not let me retreat alone. We had only robed
ourselves in looser drapery, when a violent ringing at the door
startled us; we listened, and heard the voice of M. d'Arblay, and
Jerry answering, "They're gone to bed." "Comment? What?" cried
he: "C'est impossible! what you say?" Jerry then, to show his
new education in this new colony, said "Alle couche!" It rained
furiously, and we were quite grieved, but there was no help. He
left a book for "Mlle. Burnet," and word that Madame de Stael
could not come on account of the bad weather. M. Ferdinand was
with him and has bewailed the disaster
Page 50
and M. Sicard says he accompanied them till he was quite wet
through his redingote; but this enchanting M. d'Arblay will
murmur at nothing.
The next day they all came, just as we had dined, for a morning
visit,--Madame de Stael, M. Talleyrand, M. Sicard, and M.
d'Arblay; the latter then made "insistance" upon commencing my
"master of the language," and I think he will be almost as good a
one as the little don.(70)
M. de Talleyrand opened, at last, with infinite wit and capacity.
Madame de Stael whispered me, "How do you like him?" "Not very
much," I answered, "but I do not know him." "Oh, I assure you,"
cried she, "he is the best of the men."
I was happy not to agree ; but I have no time for such minute
detail till we meet. She read the noble tragedy of
"Tancrde,"(71) till she blinded us all round. She is the most
charming person, to use her own phrase, "that never I saw." . .
We called yesterday upon Madame de Stael, and sat with her until
three o'clock, only the little don being present. She was
delightful; yet I see much uneasiness hanging over the whole
party, from the terror that the war may stop all remittances.
Heaven forbid!
TALLEYRAND IS FOUND CHARMING.
(Fanny Burney to Mrs locke.)
Thursday, Mickleham.
I have no heart not to write, and no time to write. I have been
scholaring all day, and mastering too : for our lessons are
mutual, and more entertaining than can easily be conceived. My
master of the language says he dreams of how much more solemnly
he shall write to charming Mrs. Locke after a little more
practice. Madame de Stael has written me two English notes, quite
beautiful in ideas, and not very reprehensible in idiom. But
English has nothing to do with elegance such as theirs--at least,
little and rarely. I am always exposing myself to the wrath of
John Bull, when this cterie come in competition; It is
inconceivable what a convert M. de Talleyrand has made of me; I
think him now one of the first members, and one of the most
charming, of this exquisite set: Susanna is as completely a
proselyte,
Page 51
His powers of entertainment are astonishing, both in information
and in raillery. We know nothing of how the rest of the world
goes on. They are all coming to-night. I have yet avoided, but
with extreme difficulty, the change of abode. Madame de Stael,
however, will not easily be parried, and how I may finally
arrange I know not. Certainly I will not offend or hurt her, but
otherwise I had rather be a visitor than a guest
Pray tell Mr. Locke that " the best of the men " grows upon us at
every meeting. We dined and stayed till midnight at "junipre" on
Tuesday, and I would I could recollect but the twentieth part of
the excellent things that were said. Madame de Stael read us the
opening of her work "Sur le Bonheur:" it seems to me admirable.
M. de Talleyrand avowed he had met with nothing better thought or
more ably expressed; it contains the most touching allusions to
their country's calamities.
A PROPOSED VISIT TO MADAME DE STAEL DISAPPROVED OF.
(Doctor Burney to Fanny Burney.)
Chelsea College, February 19, 1793.
Why, Fanny, what are you about, and where are you? I shall write
at you, not knowing how to write to you, as Swift did to the
flying and romantic Lord Peterborough. I had written the above,
after a yesterday's glimmering and a feverish night as usual,
when behold! a letter of requisition for a further furlough! I
had long histories ready for narration de vive voix, but my time
is too short and my eyes and head too -weak for much writing this
morning. I am not at all surprised at your account of the
captivating powers of Madame de Stael. It corresponds with all I
had heard about her, and with the opinion I formed of her
intellectual and literary powers, in reading her charming little
"Apologie de Rousseau." But as nothing human is allowed to be
perfect, she has not escaped censure. Her house was the centre
of revolutionists Previous to the 10th of August, after her
father's departure, and she has been accused of partiality to M.
de N.(72) But Perhaps all may be jacobinical malignity. However,
unfavourable stories of her have been brought hither, and the
Page 52
Burkes and Mrs. Ord have repeated them to me. But you know that
M. Necker's administration, and the conduct of the nobles who
first joined in the violent measures that subverted the ancient
establishments by the abolition of nobility and the ruin of the
church, during the first National Assembly, are held in greater
horror by aristocrats than even the members of the present
Convention. I know this will make you feel uncomfortable, but it
seemed to me right to hint it to You. If you are not absolutely
in the house of Madame do Stael when this arrives, it would
perhaps be possible for you to waive the visit to her, by a
compromise, of having something to do for Susy, and so make the
addendum to your stay under her roof. . .
(Fanny Burney to Dr. Burney.)
Mickleham, February 22, '03,
What a kind letter is my dearest father's, and how kindly speedy
! yet it is too true it has given me very uncomfortable feelings.
I am both hurt and astonished at the acrimony of malice; indeed,
I believe all this Party to merit nothing but honour, compassion,
and praise. Madame de Stael, the daughter of M. Necker--the
idolising daughter--of course, and even from the best principles,
those of filial reverence, entered into the opening of the
Revolution just as her father entered into it; but as to her
house having become the centre of revolutionists before the 10th
of August, it was so only for the constitutionalists, who, at
that period, were not only members of the then established
government, but the decided friends of the king. The aristocrats
were then already banished, or wanderers from fear, or concealed
and silent from cowardice; and the jacobins --I need not, after
what I have already related, mention how utterly abhorrent to her
must be that fiend-like set. The aristocrats, however, as you
well observe, and as she has herself told me, hold the
constitutionalists in greater horror than the Convention itself.
This, however, is a violence against justice which cannot, I
hope, be lasting ; and the malignant assertions which persecute
her, all of which she has lamented to us, she imputes equally to
the bad and virulent of both these parties. The intimation
concerning M. de N. was, however, wholly
Page 53
new to us, and I do firmly believe it a gross calumny. M. de N.
was of her society, which contained ten or twelve of the first
people in Paris, and, occasionally, almost all Paris ! she loves
him even tenderly, but so openly, so simply, so unaffectedly, and
with such utter freedom from all coquetry, that, if they were two
men, or two women, the affection could not, I think, be more
obviously undesi,gning. She is very plain, he is very handsome ;
her intellectual endowments must be with him her sole attraction.
M. de Talleyrand was another of her society, and she seems
equally attached to him. M. le Viscomte de Montmorenci she loves,
she says, as her brother: he is another of this bright
constellation, and esteemed of excellent capacity. She says, if
she continues in England he will certainly come, for he loves her
too well to stay away. In short, her whole coterie live together
as brethren. Madame la Marquise de la Chtre, who has lately
returned to France, to endeavour to obtain de quoi vivre en
Angleterre,(73) and who had been of this colony for two or three
months since the 10th of August, Is a bosom friend of Madame de
Stael and of all this circle : she is reckoned a very estimable
as well as fashionable woman ; and a daughter of the unhappy
Montmorin, who was killed on the 1st of September(74) is another
of this set. Indeed, I think you could not spend a day with them
and not see that their commerce is that of pure, but exalted and
most elegant, friendship.
I would, nevertheless, give the world to avoid being a guest
under their roof, now I have heard even the shadow of such a
rumour; and I will, if it be possible without hurting or
of-fending them. I have waived and waived acceptance almost from
the moment of Madame de Stael's arrival. I prevailed with her to
let my letter go alone to you, and I have told her, with regard
to your answer, that you were sensible of the honour her kindness
did me, and could not refuse to her request the week's furlough ;
and then followed reasons for the Compromise you pointed out, too
diffuse for writing. As Yet they have succeeded, though she is
surprised and disappointed. She wants us to study French and
English together, and nothing could to me be more desirable, but
for this invidious report.
M. d'Arblay as well as M. de Narbonne, sent over a declaration in
favour of the poor king. M. d'A. had been the
Page 54
commandant at Longwy, and had been named to that post by the king
himself In the accusation of the infernals, as Mr. Young justly
calls them, the king is accused of leaving Longwy undefended, and
a prey to the Prussians. M. d'Arblay, who before that period had
been promoted into the regiment of M. de Narbonne, and thence
summoned to be adjutant-general of Lafayette, wrote therefore, on
this charge, to M. de Malesherbes, and told him that the charge
was utterly false . that the king had taken every precaution for
the proper preservation of Longwy, and that M. d'Arblay, the
king's commandant, had himself received a letter of thanks and
approbation from Duniouriez, who said, nothing would have been
lost had every commandant taken equal pains, and exerted equal
bravery. This original letter M. d'Arblay sent to M. Malesherbes,
not as a vindication of himself, for he had been summoned from
Longwy before the Prussians assailed it, but as a vindication of
the officer appointed by the king, while he had yet the command.
M. de Malesherbes wrote an answer of thanks, and said he should
certainly make use of this information in the defence, However,
the fear of Dumouriez, I suppose, prevented his being named. M.
d'Arblay, in quitting France with Lafayette, upon the deposition
of the king, had only a little ready money in his pocket, and he
has been dcr(75) I since, and all he was worth in the world is
sold and seized by the Convention. M. de Narbonne loves him as
the tenderest of brothers, and, while one has a guinea in the
world, the other will have half. "Ah!" cried M. d'Arblay, upon
the murder of the king, which almost annihilated him, "I know not
how those can exist who have any feelings of remorse, when I
scarce can endure my life, from the simple feeling of regret that
ever I pronounced the word liberty in France!"
M. DE LALLY TOLENDAL AND HIS TRAGEDY.
(Mrs. Phillips to Mrs. Locke.)
Mickleham, April 2, 1793.
....I must, however, say something of juniper, whence I had an
irresistible invitation to dine, etc., yesterday, and
Page 55
M. de Lally Tolendal(76) read his "Mort de Strafford," which he
had already recited once, and which Madame do Stael requested him
to repeat for my sake.
I had a great curiosity to see M. de Lally. I cannot say that
feeling was gratified by the sight of him, though it was
satisfied, insomuch that it has left me without any great anxiety
to see him again. He is the very reverse of all that my
imagination had led me to expect in him: large, fat, with a great
head, small nose, immense cheeks, nothing distingu in his manner
and en fait d'esprit, and of talents in conversation, so far, so
very far, distant from our juniperians, and from M. de
Talleyrand, who was there, as I could not have conceived, his
abilities as a writer and his general reputation considered. He
seems un bon garon, un trs honnte garon, as M. Talleyrand
says of him, et non de plus.(77)
He is extremely absorbed by his tragedy, which he recites by
heart, acting as well as declaiming with great energy, though
seated, as Le Texier is. He seemed, previous to the performance,
occupied completely by It, except while the dinner lasted, which
he did not neglect; but he was continually reciting to himself
till we sat down to table, and afterwards between the courses.
M. Talleyrand seemed much struck with his piece, which appears to
me to have very fine lines and passages in it, but which,
altogether, interested me but little. I confess, indeed, the
violence of ses gestes, and the alternate howling and thundering
of his voice in declaiming, fatigued me excessively. If our Fanny
had been present, I am afraid I should many times have been
affected as one does not expect to be at a tragedy. We sat down
at seven to dinner, and had half finished before M. d'Arblay
appeared, though repeatedly sent for; he was profoundly grave and
silent, and disappeared after the dinner, which was very gay. He
was sent for, after coffee and Norbury were gone, several times,
that the tragedy might be begun; and . at last Madame de S.
impatiently proposed beginning without him. "Mais cela lui fera
de la peine,"(78) said M. d'Autun (Talleyrand), good-naturedly;
and, as she
Page 56
persisted, he rose up and limped out of the room to fetch him he
succeeded in bringing him.
M Malouet has left them. La Princesse d'Henin is a very pleasing,
well-bred woman: she left juniper the next morning with M. de
Lally.
CONTEMPLATED DisPERSION OF THE FRENCH COLONY.
(Mrs. Phillips to Fanny Burney)
Mickleham, April 3.
After I had sent off my letter to you on Monday I walked on to
juniper, and entered at the same moment with Mr. jenkinson(79)
and his attorney--a man whose figure strongly resembles some of
Hogarth's most ill-looking, personages, and who appeared to me to
be brought as a kind of spy, or witness of all that was passing.
I would have retreated, fearing to interrupt business, but I was
surrounded, and pressed to stay, by Madame de Stael with great
empressement, and with much kindness by M. d'Arblay and all the
rest. Mr. Clarke was the spokesman, and acquitted himself with
great dignity and moderation; Madame de S. now and then came
forth with a little coquetterie pour adoucir ce sauvage
jenkinson.(80) "What will you, Mr. jenkinson? tell to me, what
will you?" M. de Narbonne, somewhat indign de la mauvaise foi,
and excd des longueurs de son adversaire, (81) was not quite so
gentle with him, and I was glad to perceive that he meant to
resist, in some degree at least, the exorbitant demands of his
landlord.
Madame de Stael was very gay, and M. de Talleyrand very comique,
this evening ; he criticised, amongst other things, her reading
of prose, with great sang froid. . . . They talked over a number
of their friends and acquaintances with the utmost unreserve, and
sometimes with the most comic humour imaginable,--M. de Lally, M.
de Lafayette, la Princesse d'Henin, la Princesse de Poix, a M.
Guibert, an author. and one who was, Madame de Stael told me,
passionately in love with her before she married; and innumerable
others.
M. d'Arblay had been employed almost night and day since
Page 57
he came from London in Writing a mmoire, which Mr Villiers had
wished to have, upon the 'Artillerie
Cheval,' and he had not
concluded it till this morning.
(Mrs. Philips to Fanny Burney.)
Tuesday, May 14.
Trusting to the kindness of chance, I begin in at the top of my
paper. Our Juniperians went to see Paine's hill yesterday, and
had the good-nature to take my little happy Norbury. In the
evening came Miss F- to show me a circular letter, sent by the
Archbishop of Canterbury to all the parishes in England,
authorising the ministers of those parishes to raise a
subscription for the unfortunate French clergy. She talked of
our neighbours, and very shortly and abruptly said, "So, Mrs.
Phillips, we hear you are to have Mr. Norbone and the other
French company to live with you--Pray is it so?"
I was, I confess, a little startled at this plain inquiry, but
answered as composedly as I could, setting out with informing
this bte personnage that Madame de Stael was going to
Switzerland to join her husband and family in a few days, and
that of all the French company none would remain but M. de
Narbonne and M. d'Arblay, for whom the captain and myself
entertained a real friendship and esteem, and whom he had begged
to make our house their own for a short time, as the impositions
they had had to support from their servants, etc., and the
failure of their remittances from abroad, had obliged them to
resolve on breaking up housekeeping.
I had scarcely said thus much when our party arrived from Paine's
hill; the young lady, though she had drunk tea, was so obliging
as to give us her company for near two hours, and made a curious
attack on M. de N., upon the first pause, in wretched French,
though we had before, all of us, talked no other language than
English:--"Je vous prie, M. Gnawbone, comment se porte la
reine?"(82)
Her pronunciation was such that I thought his understanding her
miraculous : however, he did guess her meaning, and answered,
with all his accustomed douceur and politeness, that he hoped
well, but had no means but general ones of information.
"I believe," said she afterwards, "nobody was so hurt at
Page 58
the king's death as my papa! he couldn't ride on horseback next
day!"
She then told M. de Narbonne some anecdotes (very new to him, no
doubt), which she had read in the newspapers, of the Convention;
and then spoke of M. Egalit. "I hope," said she, flinging her
arms out with great violence, "he'll come to be gullytined. He
showed the king how he liked to be gullytined, so now I hope
he'll be gullytined himself!--So shocking! to give his vote
against his own nephew!"
If the subject of her vehemence and blunders had been less just
or less melancholy, I know not how I should have kept my face in
order.
Our evening was very pleasant when she was gone, Madame de Stael
is, with all her wildness and blemishes, a delightful companion,
and M. de N. rises upon me in esteem and affection every time I
see him: their minds in some points ought to be exchanged, for he
is as delicate as a really feminine woman, and evidently suffers
when he sees her setting les biensances(83) aside, as it often
enough befalls her to do.
Poor Madame de Stael has been greatly disappointed and hurt by
the failure of the friendship and intercourse she had wished to
maintain with you,--of that I am sure; I fear, too, she is on the
point of being offended. I am not likely to be her confidant if
she is so, and only judge from the nature of things, and from her
character, and a kind of dpit(84) in her manner once or twice in
speaking of you. She asked me If you would accompany Mrs. Locke
back into the country? I answered that my father would not wish
to lose you for so long a time at once, as you had been absent
from him as a nurse so many days.
After a little pause, "Mais est-ce qu'une femme est en tutelle
pour la vie dans ce pays?" she said. "Il me paroit que votre
soeur est comme une demoiselle de quatorze ans."(85) I did not
oppose this idea, but enlarged rather on the constraints laid
upon females, some very unnecessarily, in England,--hoping to
lessen her dpit; it continued, however, visible in her
countenance, though she did not express it in words.
Page 59
[The frequency and intimacy with which Miss Burney and
M. d'Arblay now met, ripened into attachment the high esteem
which each felt for the other; and, after many struggles and
scruples, occasioned by his reduced circumstances and clouded
prospects, M. d'Arblay wrote her an offer of his hand ; candidly
acknowledging, however, the slight hope he entertained of ever
recovering the fortune he had lost by the Revolution.
At this time Miss Burney went to Chesington for a short period;
probably hoping that the extreme quiet of that place would assist
her deliberations, and tranquillise her mind during her present
perplexities.]
MADAME DE STAEL'S WORDS OF FAREWELL. M. D'ARBLAY.
(Mrs. Philips to Fanny Burney at Chesington.)
Sunday, after church, I walked up to Norbury; there unexpectedly
I met all our juniperians, and listened to one of the best
conversations I ever heard : it was on literary topics, and the
chief speakers Madame de Stael, M. de Talleyrand, Mr. Locke, and
M. Dumont, a gentleman on a visit of two days at juniper, a
Genevois, homme d'esprit et de lettres. I had not a word beyond
the first " how d'yes " with any one, being obliged to run home
to my abominable dinner in the midst of the discourse.
On Monday I went, by invitation, to juniper to dine, and before I
came away at night a letter arrived express to Madame de Stael.
On reading it, the change in her countenance made me guess the
contents, It was from the Swedish gentleman who had been
appointed by her husband to meet her at Ostend; he wrote from
that place that he was awaiting her arrival. She had designed
walking home with us by moonlight, but her spirits were too much
oppressed to enable her to keep this intention. M. d'Arblay
walked home with Phillips and me. Every moment of his time has
been given of late to transcribing a MS. work of Madame de Stael,
on 'L'Influence des Passions.' It is a work of considerable
length, and written in a hand the most difficult possible to
decipher.
On Tuesday we all met again at Norbury, where we spent the day.
Madame de Stael could not rally her spirits at all,
Page 60
and seemed like one torn from all that was dear to her. I was
truly concerned. After giving me a variety of charges, or rather
entreaties, to watch and attend to the health, spirits, and
affairs of the friends she was leaving, she said to me, "Et dtes
Mlle. Burney que je ne lui en veux pas du tout--que je quitte
le pays l'aimant bien sincrement et sans rancune."(86)
I assured her earnestly, and with more words than I have room to
insert, not only of your admiration, but affection, and
sensibility of her worth and chagrin at seeing no more of her. I
hope I exceeded not your wishes; mais il n'y avoit pas moyen de
resister.(87)
She seemed pleased, and said, "Vous tes bien bonne de me dire
cela,"(88) but in a low and faint voice, and dropped the subject.
Before we took leave, M. d'Arblay was already gone, meaning to
finish transcribing her MS. I came home with Madame de Stael and
M. de Narbonne. The former actually sobbed in saying farewell to
Mrs. Locke, and half way down the hill; her parting from me was
likewise very tender and flattering.
I determined, however, to see her again, and met her near the
school, on Wednesday morning with a short note and a little
offering which I was irresistibly tempted to make her. She could
not speak to me, but kissed her hand with a very speaking and
touching expression of countenance.
it was this morning, and just as I was setting out to meet her,
that Skilton arrived from Chesington. I wrote a little, walked
out, and returned to finish as I could.
At dinner came our Tio--(89) very bad indeed. After it we walked
together with the children to Norbury; but little Fanny was so
well pleased with his society that it was impossible to get a
word on any particular subject. I, however, upon his venturing
to question me whereabouts was the
Page 61
campagne o se trouvoit Mlle. Burney,(90) ventured de mon
ct(91) to speak the name of Chesington, and give a little
account of its inhabitants, the early love we had for the spot,
our excellent Mr. Crisp, and your good and kind hostesses. He
listened with much interest and pleasure, and said,
"Mais, ne pourroit-on pas faire ce petit voyage-l
?"(92)
I ventured to say nothing encouraging, at least, decisively, in a
great measure upon the children's account, lest they should
repeat; and, moreover, your little namesake seemed to me
surprisingly attentive and veille, as if elle se doutoit de
quelque chose.(93)
When we came home I gave our Tio so paper to write to you; it was
not possible for me to add more than the address, much as I
wished it.
REGRETS RESPECTING MADAME DE STAEL.
(Fanny Burney to Mrs. -Locke.)
Chesington, 1793.
I have been quite enchanted to-day by my dear Susan's
intelligence that my three convalescents walked to the wood.
Would I had been there to meet and receive them. I have regretted
excessively the finishing so miserably an acquaintance begun with
so much spirit and pleasure, and the dpit I fear Madame de Stael
must have experienced. I wish the world would take more care of
itself, and less of its neighbours. I should have heen very
safe, I trust, without such flights, and distances, and breaches.
But there seemed an absolute resolution formed to crush this
acquaintance, and compel me to appear its wilful renouncer. All I
did also to clear the matter, and soften to Madame de Stael any
pique or displeasure, unfortunately served only to increase them.
Had I understood her disposition better, I should certainly have
attempted no palliation, for I rather offended her pride than
mollified her wrath. Yet I followed the golden rule, for how much
should I prefer any acknowledgment of regret at such an apparent
change, from any one I esteemed, to a seeming
Page 62
unconscious complacency in an unexplained caprice! I am vexed,
however, very much vexed, at the whole business. I hope she left
Norbury Park with full satisfaction in its steady and more
comfortable connection. I fear mine will pass for only a
fashionable one.
Miss Kitty Cooke still amuses me very much by her incomparable
dialect; and by her kindness and friendliness. I am taken the
best care of imaginable. My poor brother, who will carry this to
Mickleham, is grievously altered by the loss of his little girl.
It has affected his spirits and his health, and he is grown so
thin and meagre, that he looks ten years older than when I saw
him last. I hope he will now revive, since the blow is over; but
it has been a very, very hard one, after such earnest pains to
escape it. ..
Did the wood look very beautiful? I have figured it to myself
with the three dear convalescents wandering in its winding paths,
and inhaling its freshness and salubrity, ever since I heard of
this walk. I wanted prodigiously to have issued forth from some
little green recess, to have hailed your return. I hope Mr. Locke
had the pleasure of this sight. Is jenny capable of such a
mounting journey?
Do you know anything of a certain young lady, who eludes all my
inquiries, famous for having eight sisters, all of uncommon
talents? I had formerly some intercourse with her, and she used
to promise she would renew it whenever I pleased but whether she
is offended that I have slighted her offers so long, or whether
she is fickle, or only whimsical, I know not all that is quite
undoubted is that she has concealed herself so effectually from
my researches, that I might as well look for justice and clemency
in the French Convention, as for this former friend in the plains
and lanes of Chesington where, erst, she met me whether I would
or no.
M. D'ARBLAY'S VISIT TO CHESINGTON.
(Fanny Burney to Mrs. Locke.)
Chesington, 1793.
How sweet to me was my dearest Fredy's assurance that my
gratification and prudence went at last hand in hand! I had
longed for the sight of her writing, and not dared wish it.
Page 63
I shall now long Impatiently till I can have the pleasure of
saying "Ma'am, I desire no more of your letters."
I have heard to-day all I can most covet of all my dear late
malades. I take it for granted this little visit was made known
to my dearest sister confidant. I had prepared for it from the
time of my own expectation, and I have had much amusement in what
the preparation produced. Mrs Hamilton ordered half a ham to be
boiled ready; and Miss Kitty trimmed up her best cap, and tried
it on, on Saturday, to get it in shape to her face. She made
chocolate also, which we drank up on Monday and Tuesday, because
it was spoiling. "I have never seen none of the French quality,"
she says, "and I have a purdigious curosity; though as to dukes
and dukes' sons, and these high top captains, I know they'll
think me a mere country bumpkin. Howsever, they can't call me
worse than 'Fat Kit Square,' and that's the worst name I ever got
from any of our English petite bears, which I suppose these
petite French quality never heard the like of."
Unfortunately, however, when all was prepared above, the French
top captain entered while poor Miss Kitty was in dishabill, and
Mrs. Hamilton finishing washing up her china from breakfast. A
maid who was out at the pump, and first saw the arrival, ran in
to give Miss Kitty time to escape, for she was in her round dress
night-cap, and without her roll and curls. However, he followed
too quick, and Mrs. Hamilton was seen in her linen gown and mob,
though she had put on a silk one in expectation for every noon
these four or five days past; and Miss Kitty was in such
confusion, she hurried out of the room. She soon, however,
returned with the roll and curls, and the forehead and throat
fashionably lost, in a silk gown. And though she had not intended
to speak a word, the gentle quietness of her guest so surprised
and pleased her, that she never quitted his side while he stayed,
and has sung his praises ever since.
Mrs. Hamilton, good soul ! in talking and inquiring since of his
history and conduct, shed tears at the recital. She says now
she, has really seen one of the French gentry that has been drove
out of their country by the villains she has heard Of, she shall
begin to believe there really has been a Revolution! and Miss
Kitty says, "I purtest I did not know before but it was all a
sham."
Page 64
THE MATRIMONIAL PROJECT IS DISCUSSED.
(Fanny Burney to Mrs. Phillips.)
Friday, May 31, Chesington.
My heart so smites me this morning with making no answer to all I
have been requested to weigh and decide, that I feel I cannot
with any ease return to town without at least complying with one
demand, which first, at parting yesterday, brought me to write
fully to you, my Susan, if I could not elsewhere to my
satisfaction.
in the course of last night and this morning Much indeed has
occurred to me, that now renders my longer silence as to
prospects and proceedings unjustifiable to myself. I will
therefore now address myself to both my beloved confidants, and
open to them all my thoughts, and entreat their own with equal
plainness in return.
M. d'Arblay's last three letters convince me he is desperately
dejected when alone, and when perfectly natural. It is not that
he wants patience, but he wants rational expectation of better
times, expectation founded on something more than mere aerial
hope, that builds one day upon what the next blasts; and then has
to build again, and again to be blasted.
What affects me the most in this situation is, that his time may
as completely be lost as another's peace, by waiting for the
effects of distant events, vague, bewildering, and remote, and
quite as likely to lead to ill as to good. The very waiting,
indeed, with the mind in such a state, is in itself an evil
scarce to be recompensed. . . .
My dearest Fredy, in the beginning of her knowledge of this
transaction, told me that Mr. Locke was of opinion that one
hundred pounds per annum(94) might do, as it does for many a
curate. M. d'A. also most solemnly and affectingly declares that
le simple ncessaire is all he requires and here, In your
vicinity, would unhesitatingly be preferred by him to the most
brilliant fortune in another sjour. If he can say that, what
must I be not to echo it? I, who in the bosom of my own most
chosen, most darling friends---
I need not enter more upon this; you all must know
to me a crust of bread, with a little roof for shelter, and a
fire
Page 65
for warmth, near you, would bring me to peace, to happiness, to
all that My heart holds dear, or even in any situation could
prize. I cannot picture such a fate with dry eyes ; all else but
kindness and society has to me so always been nothing.
With regard to my dear father, he has always left me to myself; I
will not therefore speak to him while thus uncertain what to
decide.
it is certain, however, that, with peace of mind and retirement,
I have resources that I could bring forward to amend the little
situation ; as well as that, once thus undoubtedly established
and naturalised, M. d'A. would have claims for employment.
These reflections, with a mutual freedom from ambition might lead
to a quiet road, unbroken by the tortures of applications,
expectations, attendance, disappointment, and time-wasting hopes
and fears; if there were not apprehensions the one hundred pounds
might be withdrawn. I do not think it likely, but it is a risk
too serious in its consequences to be run. M. d'A. protests he
could not answer to himself the hazard.
How to ascertain this, to clear the doubt, or to know the fatal
certainty before it should be too late, exceeds my powers of
suggestion. His own idea, to write to the queen, much as it has
startled me, and wild as it seemed to me, is certainly less wild
than to take the chance of such a blow in the dark. Yet such a
letter could not even reach her. His very name is
probably only known to her through myself. In short, my dearest
friends, you will think for me, and let me know what occurs to
you, and I will defer any answer till I hear your opinions.
Heaven ever bless you! And pray for me at this moment.
DR. BURNEY'S OBJECTIONS TO THE MATCH.
(Dr. Burney to Fanny Burney.)
May, 1793,
Dear Fanny,-I have for some time seen very plainly that you are
prise, and have been extremely uneasy at the discovery. YOU must
have observed my silent gravity, surpassing that of mere illness
and its consequent low spirits. I had some thoughts of writing
to Susan about it, and intended begging her to do what I must now
do for myself--that is, beg and admonish you not to entangle
yourself in a wild and
Page 66
romantic attachment, which offers nothing in prospect but poverty
and distress, with future inconvenience and unhappiness. M.
d'Arblay is certainly a very amiable and accomplished man, and of
great military abilities I take for granted ; but what employment
has he for them of which the success is not extremely hazardous?
His property, whatever it was, has been confiscated--dcr--by
the Convention - and if a counter-revolution takes place, unless
it be exactly such a one as suits the particular political sect
in which he enlisted, it does not seem likely to secure to him an
establishment in France. And as to an establishment in England, I
know the difficulty which very deserving natives find in
procuring one, with every appearance of interest, friends, and
probability; and, to a foreigner, I fear the difficulty will be
more than doubled.
As M. d'Arblay is at present circumstanced, an alliance with
anything but a fortune sufficient for the support of himself and
partner would be very imprudent. He is a mere soldier of fortune,
under great disadvantages. Your income, if it was as certain as a
freehold estate, is insufficient for the purpose ; and if the
queen should be displeased and withdraw her allowance, what could
you do?
I own that, if M. d'Arblay had an establishment in France
sufficient for him to marry a wife with little or no fortune,
much as I am inclined to honour and esteem him, I should wish to
prevent you from fixing your residence there; not merely from
selfishness, but for your own sake, I know your love for your
family, and know that it is reciprocal; I therefore cannot help
thinking that you would mutually be lost to each other. The
friends, too, which you have here, are of the highest and most
desirable class. To quit them, in order to make new friendships
in a strange land, in which the generality of its inhabitants at
present seem incapable of such virtues as friendship is built
upon, seems wild and visionary.
If M. d'Arblay had a sufficient establishment here for the
purposes of credit and comfort, and determined to settle here for
life, I should certainly think ourselves honoured by his alliance
; but his situation is at present so very remote from all that
can satisfy prudence, or reconcile to an affectionate father the
idea of a serious attachment, that I tremble for your heart and
future happiness. M. d'Arblay must have lived too long in the
great world to accommodate himself
Page 67
contentedly to the little. his fate seems so intimately connected
with that of his miserable country, and that country seems at a
greater distance from peace, order, and tranquillity now than it
has done at any time since the Revolution.
These considerations, and the uncertainty Of what party will
finally prevail, make me tremble for you both. You see, by what I
have said, that my objections are not personal, but wholly
prudential. For heaven's sake, my dear Fanny, do not part with
your heart too rapidly, or involve yourself in deep engagements
which it will be difficult to dissolve; and to the last degree
imprudent, as things are at present circumstanced, to fulfil.
As far as character, merit, and misfortune demand esteem and
regard, you may be sure that M. d'Arblay will be always received
by me with the utmost attention and respect - but, in the present
situation of things, I can by no means think I ought to encourage
(blind and ignorant as I am of all but his misfortunes) a serious
and solemn union with one whose unhappiness would be a reproach
to the facility and inconsiderateness of a most affectionate
father.
THE MARRIAGE TAKES PLACE.
Memorandum, this 7th May, 1825.
In answer to these apparently most just, and, undoubtedly, most
parental and tender apprehensions, Susanna, the darling child of
Dr. Burney, as well as first chosen friend of M, d'Arblay, wrote
a statement of the plans, and means, and purposes of M. d'A. and
F. B.--so clearly demonstrating their power of happiness, with
willing economy, congenial tastes, and mutual love of the
country, that Dr. B. gave way, and sent, though reluctantly, a
consent - by which the union took place the 31st Of July, 1793,
in Mickleham church, In presence of Mr. and Mrs. Locke, Captain
and Mrs. Phillips, M. de Narbonne, and Captain Burney, who was
father to his sister, as Mr. Locke was to M. d'A. ; and on the
1st of August the ceremony was re-performed in the Sardinian
chapel, according to the rites of the Romish Church; and never,
never was union more blessed and felicitous; though after the
first eight years of unmingled happiness, it was assailed by many
calamities, chiefly of separation or illness, yet still mentally
unbroken. F. D'ARBLAY.
Page 68
ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE MARRIAGE TO A FRIEND.
(Madame d'Arblay to Mrs.----.)
August 2, 1793.
How in the world shall I begin this letter to my dearest M--! how
save her from a surprise almost too strong for her weak nerves
and tender heart!
After such an opening, perhaps any communication may be a relief
but it is surprise only I would guard against; my present
communication has nothing else to fear; it has nothing in it sad,
melancholy, unhappy, but it has everything that is marvellous and
unexpected.
Do you recollect at all, when you were last in town, my warm
interest for the loyal part of the French exiles?-=do you
remember my loge of a French officer, in particular, a certain
M. d'Arblay?
Ah, my dear M--, you are quick as lightning; your sensitive
apprehension will tell my tale for me now, without more aid than
some details of circumstance.
The loge I then made, was with design to prepare you for an
event I had reason to expect: such, however, was the uncertainty
of my situation, from prudential obstacles, that I dared venture
at no confidence, though my heart prompted it strongly, to a
friend so sweetly sympathising in all my feelings and all my
affairs--so constantly affectionate- so tenderly alive to all
that interests and concerns me.
My dearest M-, you will give me, I am sure, your heart-felt
wishes--your most fervent prayers. The choice I have made appears
to me all you could yourself wish to fall to my lot--all you
could yourself have formed to have accorded best with your kind
partiality.
I had some hope you would have seen him that evening when we went
together from Mrs. M. Montagu to Mrs. Locke's, for he was then a
guest in Portland Place; but some miserable circumstances, of
which I knew nothing till after had just fallen out, and he had
shut himself up in his room. He did not know we were there.
Many, indeed, have been the miserable circumstances that have,
from time to time, alarmed and afflicted in turn, and seemed to
render a renunciation indispensable. The difficulties, however,
have been conquered; and last Sunday
Page 69
Mr. and Mrs. Locke, my sister and Captain Phillips, and my
brother Captain Burney, accompanied us to the altar, in Mickleham
church ; since which the ceremony has been repeated in the chapel
of the Sardinian ambassador, that if, by a counter-revolution in
France, M. d'Arblay recovers any f his rights, his wife may not
be excluded from their participation.
You may be amazed not to see the name of my dear father upon this
solemn occasion - but his apprehensions from the smallness of our
income have made him cold and averse and though he granted his
consent, I could not even solicit his presence. I feel
satisfied, however, that time will convince him I have not been
so imprudent as he now thinks me. Happiness is the great end of
all our worldly views and proceedings, and no one can judge for
another in what will produce it, To me, wealth and ambition would
always be unavailing ; I have lived in their most centrical
possessions, and I have always seen that the happiness of the
richest and the greatest has been the moment of retiring from
riches and from power. Domestic comfort and social affection
have invariably been the sole as well as ultimate objects of my
choice, and I have always been a stranger to any other species of
felicity.
M. d'Arblay has a taste for literature, and a passion for reading
and writing, as marked as my own ; this is a sympathy to rob
retirement of all superfluous leisure, and insure to us both
occupation constantly edifying or entertaining. He has seen so
much of life, and has suffered so severely from its
disappointments, that retreat, with a chosen companion, is become
his final desire.
Mr. Locke has given M. d'Arblay a piece of ground in his
beautiful park-, upon which we shall build a little neat and
plain habitation. We shall continue, meanwhile, in his
neighbourhood, to superintend the little edifice, and enjoy the
Society of his exquisite house, and that of my beloved sister
Phillips. We are now within two miles of both, at a farm-house,
where we have what apartments we require, and no more, in a most
beautiful and healthy situation, a mile and a half from any town.
The nearest is Bookham; but I beg that MY letters may be directed
to me at Captain Phillips's, Mickleham, as the post does not come
this way, and I may else miss them for a week. AS I do not
correspond with Mrs Montagu, and it would
Page 70
be awkward to begin upon such a theme, I beg that when you write
you will say something for me.
One of my first pleasures, in our little intended home, will be,
finding a place of honour for the legacy of Mrs. Delany. Whatever
may be the general wonder, and perhaps blame, of general people,
at this connexion, equally indiscreet in pecuniary points for us
both, I feel sure that the truly liberal and truly intellectual
judgment of that most venerated character would have accorded its
sanction, when acquainted with the worthiness of the object who
would wish it.
Adieu, my sweet friend. Give my best compliments to Mr. ---, and
give me your kind wishes, your kind prayers, my ever dear M--.
(1) So called from the convent where their meetings were held.
(2) Carlyle.
(3) Carlyle.
(4 "To the lamp;" the street lamp-irons being found, by the -
French sansculottes, a handy substitute for the gallows.-ED.
(5) The old Marshal Duke de Broglie was one of the early
emigrants. He quitted France in July 1789, after the fall of the
Bastille.-ED.
(6) "Minister of War."
(7) Bradfield Hall, near Bury St. Edmund's, Suffolk, the house of
Arthur Young, See infra.-ED.
(8) " Arthur Young, the well-known writer of works on
agriculture, still in high repute. He was a very old friend of
the Burneys ; connected with them also, by marriage, Mrs. Young
being a sister of Dr. Burney's second wife. His " Travels in
France " (from 1769 to 1790), published in 1794, gives a most
valuable and interesting account of the state of that country
just before the Revolution. Arthur Young was appointed Secretary
to the Board of Agriculture, established by Act of Parliament in
1793. He died in 1820, in his seventy-ninth year, having been
blind for some years previous to his death.-ED.
(9) Fanny's half-sister, Sarah Harriet Burney, -ED.
(10) " Minister of war."
(11) One memorable saying is recorded of the Duke de Liancourt.
He brought the news to the king of the capture of the Bastille by
the people of Paris, July 14, 1789. "Late at night, the Duke de
Liancourt, having official right of entrance, gains access to the
royal apartments unfolds, with earnest clearness, in his
constitutional way, the Job's- news. 'Mais,' said poor Louis,
'c'est une rvolte, Why, that is a revolt!''Sire,' answered
Liancourt, 'it is not a revolt,--it is a
revolution.'"-(Carlyle.)-ED.
(12) "Peers of France."
(13) Coblenz was the rallying-place of the emigrant noblesse.-ED.
(14) On the 20th of June 1792, sansculotte Paris, assembling in
its thousands, broke into the Tuileries, and called upon the king
to remove his veto upon the decree against the priests, and to
recall the ministry--Roland's--which he had just dismissed. For
three hours the king stood face to face with the angry crowd,
refusing to comply. In the evening, the Mayor of Paris, Ption,
arrived, with other popular leaders from the Assembly, and
persuaded the people to disperse.-ED.
(15) "Save Yourself, M. de Liancourt!"
(16) "Ah! we are lost!"
(17) "prison."
(18) " I am in England.
(19) The Duke de la Rochefoucault, "journeying, by quick stages,
with his mother and wife, towards the Waters of
Forges, or some quieter country, was arrested at Gisors;
conducted along the streets, amid effervescing multitudes, and
killed dead ' by the stroke of a paving-stone hurled
through the coach-window.' Killed as a once Liberal, now
Aristocrat; Protector of Priests, Suspender of virtuous Ptions,
and most unfortunate Hot-grown-cold, detestable to Patriotism.
He dies lamented of Europe; his blood
spattering the cheeks of his old mother, ninety-three years old."
-(Carlyle, Erench Aevolulion, Part III., Book I., ch. vi.)- ED.
(20) School-boys.
(21) See note 361 ante, vol. ii.
p. 449.-ED.
(22) The name under which Madame de Genlis was now passing.
(23) " She has seen me!"
(24) "Perhaps I am indiscreet?"
(25) "But, mademoiselle--after all--the king--is he quite cured?
"
(26) "What, mademoiselle! you knew that infamous woman?"
(27) These "journalizing letters " of Mrs. Phillips
continue without interruption from the present page to page
37.-ED.
(28) Not yet duke, but viscount. He was created duke by Louis
XVIII., in 1822.-ED.
(29) It should be March. "The portfolio of war was
withdrawn from him, by a very laconic letter from the king, March
10, 1792; he had held it three months and three
days." (Nouvelle Biographie Gnrale: art. Narbonne.)-ED.
(30) Severe decrees against the emigrants were passed in the
Convention shortly afterwards. See infra, P. 33.-ED.
(31) "And as he is extremely attached to him, he has begged him
to come and live with him."
(32) In a position to realise her fortune."
(33) "To pay his respects to me."
(34) "I do not speak English very well."
(35) "*What a pretty little house you have, and what pretty
little hosts. "
(36) "Does he know the name of M. Lafayette ?"
(37) "They put us at first into a pretty enough room."
(38) A constitutionalist and member of the Legislative Assembly,
who narrowly escaped with his life on the 10th of August. He
lived thenceforward in retirement until after the fall of
Robespierre and the jacobins, and came again to the fore under
Napoleon.-ED.
(39) "His resignation."
(40) "Without form of law."
(41) The night of June 20-21, 1791, King Louis fled disguised
from Paris, with his family; got safely as far as Varennes, but
was there discovered, and obliged to return.-ED.
(42) "Resolution was taken."
(43) "After many threatening gestures."
(44) The asylum of Jean jacques (Rousseau).
(45) St. just was one of the most notable members of the National
Convention. "Young Saint-just is coming, deputed by Aisne in the
North; more like a Student than a Senator; not four-and-twenty
yet (Sept. 1792); who has written Books; a youth of slight
stature, with mild mellow voice, enthusiast olive-complexion and
long black hair." (Carlyle.)
He held with Robespierre, and was guillotined with him, July 28,
1794.-ED.
(46) ' "And now he is a proud republican."
(47) "What day better than the present?"
(48) "Listen to reason."
(49) M. de Necker was father of Madame de Stael, and at one time
the most popular minister of France. Controller-general of
finances from 1776 to 1781, and again in 1788. In July 1789, he
was dismissed, to the anger of indignant Paris; had to he
recalled before many days, and returned in triumph, to be, it was
hoped, "Saviour of France." But his popularity gradually
declined, and at last "'Adored Minister' Necker sees good on the
3rd of September, 1790, to withdraw softly, almost privily--with
an eye to the 'recovery of his health.' Home to native
Switzerland; not as he last came; lucky to reach it alive!"
(Carlyle)-ED.
(50) Malouet was a member of the Assembly, and one of the
constitutional royalists who took refuge in England in September,
1792. Hearing of the intended trial of the king, 'Malouet wrote
to the Convention, requesting a passport, that he might go to
Paris to defend him. He got no passport, however ; only his name
put on the list of emigrants for an answer. ED.
(51) "Were mixed up in it."
(52) The Bishop of Autun:--Talleyrand.-ED.
(53) "Worthy to be the husband of so amiable and charming a
person as Madame de la Chtre."
(54) "M. de la Chtre is a capital fellow; but as rough as a
cart-horse."
(55) The spleen.
(56) Inn.
(57) "His unfortunate friends."
(58) "But wait a bit ; I have not yet finished : we were assured
that no one was lost, and even that everything on the vessel was
saved."
(59) "Out at sea."
(60) "His friends the constitutionalists."
(61) Fortnight.
(62) The execution of Louis XVI.
(63) The Literary Club.
(64) Guarded: circumspect.
(65) Dr. Percy, editor of the "Reliques of Ancient English
Poetry."-ED.
(66) "Move the people to compassion."
(67) As literary curiosities, the subjoined notes from Madame de
Stael , have been printed verbatim et literatim: they are
probably her earliest attempts at English writing.
(68) "But, to make more sure, I tell you in French that your
room, the house, the inmates of Juniper, everything is ready to
receive the first woman in England."
(69) Malesherbes was one of the counsel who defended Louis at
his trial. The Convention, after debate, has granted him Legal
Counsel, of his own choosing. Advocate Target feels himself 'too
old,' being turned of fifty-four - and declines. . . . Advocate
Tronchet, some ten years older, does not decline. Nay behold,
good old Malesherbes steps forward voluntarily; to the last of
his fields , the good old hero! He is gray with seventy years; he
says, 'I was twice called to the Council of him who was my
Master, When all the world coveted that honour; and I owe him the
same service now, when it has become one which many reckon
dangerous!"--(Carlyle). Malesherbes was guillotined in 1794,
during "the Reign of Terror."-ED.
(70) Mr. Clarke.
(71) Voltaire's.--ED.
(72) Narbonne.-ED.
(73) "Something to live on in England."
(74) September 2, it should be.-ED.
(75) i.e., Dcrt d'accusation, accused.-ED.
(76) Lally Tolendal was the son of the brave Lally, Governor of
Pondicherry, whose great services in India were rewarded by the
French government with four years' imprisonment, repeated
torture, and finally ignominious death, in 1760. The infliction
of torture on criminals was not put a stop to in France until the
Revolution.-ED.
(77) "A very good fellow, and nothing more."
(78) "But he will be hurt at that."
(79) The owner of Juniper Hall.-ED.
(80) "Coquetry to soften that barbarous jenkinson."
(81) "Indignant at the bad faith, and tired with the tediousness
of his opponent."
(82) "Pray, Mr. Gnawbone, how is the queen?"
(83) Punctiliousness: propriety.
(84) Pet: Vexation.
(85) "Is a woman in leading strings all her life in this country?
It seems to me that your sister is like a child of fourteen."
(86) "And tell Miss Burney that I don't desire it of her-that I
leave the Country loving her sincerely, and bearing her no
grudge."
(87) "There was no way out of it."
(88) "You are very good to say SO."
(89) M. d'Arblay. "When Lieutenant [James] Burney accompanied
captain Cook to otaheite, each of the English sailors was adopted
as a brother by some one of the natives. The ceremony consisted
in rubbing noses together, and exchanging the appellation Tyo or
Toio, which signified 'chosen friend.' This title was sometimes
playfully given to Miss Burney by Mrs. Thrale." note to the
original edition of the "Diary", vol. ii. page 38.-ED.
(90) "Country place where Miss Burney was."
(91) "On my part."
(92) "Could not one make that little journey?"
(93) "Wide awake, as if she suspected something."
(94) The amount of Fanny's pension from the queen.-ED.