The suite of apartments in the _Palais d'Espagne_, which were allotted
to Louis, were spacious in themselves, and superb in their furniture;
and the train of attendants and equipages assigned to his service, were
as sumptuously appointed as those of the Ambassador himself. The Duke
had informed him, that all these were as absolutely at his command,
as if he inhabited a separate dwelling. He was to consider himself at
perfect liberty; to appear at the Ambassador's table, only when his
inclination suited; to form what acquaintance he pleased; to go where
he liked: in short, his father resigned all controul over his time or
his actions, excepting the hours which must be dedicated to diplomatic
duties, and any proceedings which might eventually impede the grand
objects of his life.
In the course of conversation, Louis had petitioned his father to take
off the interdict which prohibited his correspondence with his friends
in England. The cause for silence existing no longer, the favour was
readily granted, but guarded with one condition; that he must not write
of Ignatius in any other character than that of a Jesuit. That he was
Ripperda's self must ever be preserved a profound secret. The Emperor
was jealous of female interference, besides being suspicious of the
affections of his wife; and the most vexatious consequences might be
expected, should he discover that the Empress had been an agent in
the late negociation. This, he would more than suspect, were he to be
told that Ripperda had been _incognito_ at Vienna. For the Imperial
Charles was not ignorant of the influence that accomplished Statesman
had gained over the youthful mind of Elizabeth, at her father's
court; and that he had even exercised it to persuade her to accept
the distinction offered her, as consort to the Emperor of Germany.
Early influences are generally lasting ones; and though Charles had
not sufficient sensibility, ever to have felt this in his own person;
he had sagacity enough to have guessed it in that of his wife, had
he received a single hint of but one clandestine meeting between her
and Ripperda, before that statesman made his public appearance at the
Austrian Court.
Louis readily engaged for circumspection; aware that his correspondence
with the friends of his youth, would be on subjects of absorbing
interest to them; purely egotistical:--while his own anxiety was to
know the success of his application to Don Ferdinand; and how far the
general comfort of the family was restored by Alice's released vows.
Before he could lay his head, (which was all awake with life and
happiness,) upon his pillow; he sat down to pour out his full heart
to the venerable confidant of his earliest wishes, to the unerring
guardian of his impassioned soul. As he wrote, the fierce flames of
the wild ambition, which, an hour before, had rushed through his veins
with a proud disdain of every obstacle, gradually subsided under the
gentle ascendancy of the meek spirit with which he now conversed. The
mild precepts of his benign instructor seemed again to whisper in his
ear:--"Fly temptation. But when it pursues, or meets you, arm against
it in the panoply of faith and virtue, and be not overcome. If you sink
in a contest you did not seek; you may be pitied, and forgiven. If you
fall in a conflict you provoked, men will deride, and God condemn you!"
Louis shuddered at his late presumptuous impulse; and blessing the
pious cares, which could influence his mind, even at so wide a distance
of place and time, he continued to write. With what a reposing,
smiling rapture at his heart, did he bend over the sheet on which he
was now permitted to transmit all the feelings of that heart to the
most indulgent, as well as wisest of friends!
A few words at the beginning, had explained his silence, by
acknowledging, (without particularizing circumstances,) the mysterious
nature of the affairs in which he had been engaged:--and then followed
all the affection of a son; all the frank communications, where secrecy
did not bind him, that would be grateful to the venerable man. But
there was one subject he did not dare to touch on:--whenever it rose
before him, he turned away, as from a lovely but a condemned spirit.
His heart thrilled and trembled; and pressing it, he exclaimed--"I need
not seek a contest!"
When he had closed this long epistle, with entreaties for frequent
communications from the dear inhabitants of the Pastorage, whether
they were at Morewick or in Lindisfarne; he addressed a letter to Sir
Anthony, as full of duty, as of descriptions and remarks calculated for
his entertainment: and then, retiring to his pillow, found, what he did
not expect, an immediate and sound sleep.
The morning brought Martini into his apartment. He came with a note
from Ripperda, informing his son, that the Emperor would receive the
Embassy at noon; he must therefore be in the saloon, habited in the
Spanish mode, and according to his rank, half an hour before the time
of going to the Imperial Palace. Louis was finishing his packet for
England, when the confidential valet presented his message. He read
the letter, and wrote his reply of obedience. Martini took the answer,
with a bow of profound respect; but it had nothing of the obsequious
homage, which degrades the person who pays it, without honouring him
on whom it is bestowed. "Your Excellency will pardon, I trust," said
he, "my former omissions of due reverence to the son of my master!
I was ignorant, until now, that I attended other than the Chevalier
de Phaffenberg; and according to the commands of the Duke, I was to
consider him, as no more than his secretary, and the poor _cadet_ of a
ruined house. But it was a noble one: and I trust, my Lord, that though
I might fail in honour to the Duke de Ripperda's son, you will not
accuse me of insolence to the Chevalier de Phaffenberg?"
"Worthy Martini!" cried Louis, rising from his seat, and shaking
the hand of the valet, with true English warmth; "I have nothing to
complain of from you. I honour your fidelity to your master, and your
regard for the fallen in fortune. I am proud to claim equality with
such sentiments! From this hour consider me as your friend."
Martini, with the ardour of his country, threw himself on his knees,
and fervently kissed the hand that pressed his; then hastily rising,
with glistening eyes, and his hands clasped on his breast, he bowed and
hastened from the apartment.
This little incident particularly pleased Louis. He had found a simple
and a generous feeling in the confidential servant of a statesman;
while all else, above, around, in that transforming sphere, seemed
devoted to selfishness, or to artifice, of however refined a fabrick.
Musing on this, he submitted himself, without discussion, to be habited
according to the fashion of his new country.
For Ripperda himself, when his son met him in the saloon, he was
one bright effulgence of princely honours. His sword, his belt, his
gartered knees; and all the jewelled insignia of Spanish chivalry,
glittered on his person. The diamond coronet of his ancestors encircled
his cap, surmounted by the crest of his family, a golden eagle, under
a plume of snow white feathers.--They waved before the bird of Jove,
like fleecy clouds in the face of the sun. But gorgeous as were these
ornaments, they were not so brilliant as the countenance they were
placed to adorn; the brightness of a high soul was there, that seemed
rather to suffer the decorations of rank, than to require them.
The Duke was surrounded by the young Spanish Grandees, in the habits of
their quality; but varied in colour and decoration, according to the
caprice of the wearer. The real officers of the embassy were arrayed in
one sumptuous uniform, and all distinguished with the golden cross of
_Montesa_.
Ripperda presented his son to the nobles. Most of them, though young
men, were Louis's seniors; but they saluted him with that respect
which is usual in despotic governments, to persons holding powerful
stations under the Sovereign. The intimation his father had given him
of their general pursuits, did not incline him in their favour; and,
with, perhaps, too lofty an air of cold politeness, he met their first
advances to social acquaintance. Some of them mistook this dignity
of principle, (which acted without intention,) for the insolence of
inflated vanity, at being placed above his compeers; and they who
thought so, eyed him with resentment. Others conceived it to be mere
reserve of disposition:--for none could derive it, from awkward shyness
in a new situation. Every thing that Louis said or did was with a grace
peculiar to himself; an ease, that spoke the high-born man; and a mind,
conscious that no adventitious circumstance can really add to the
consequence of him who builds his character on virtue.
The King and Queen of Spain had issued orders, that no expence should
be spared to give their Embassador every dignity in the eyes of the
Imperial Court; and the equipages and retinue which composed the
suite of Ripperda, struck the inhabitants of Vienna with amazement; as
nothing had equalled the pomp of this, his public entrance, since the
coronation of the Emperor.
The audience chamber was crowded, and the foreign ambassadors were
there, to mark the reception of the Spanish plenipotentiary. Charles
received him with testimonies of respect he had never bestowed on any
other Embassador; and which filled those present with apprehensions of
what those secret articles might be, which thus humbled the Emperor
of Germany before the minister of his former rival. Louis, and the
Spanish noblemen, were presented by Ripperda. Charles said a few words
of ceremony to the young grandees, but signalized the son of the
Embassador by his particular notice; and, in a lowered voice, that none
else might hear, complimented him on the talents he had shewn for
negotiation, during the illness of the Sieur Ignatius.
At the meeting of the council the preceding evening, Ripperda had
intimated to the Chancellor Sinzendorff, that the Chevalier de
Phaffenberg (whom the Chancellor had taken occasion to praise,) was
his son; and in the morning Sinzendorff had explained the circumstance
to the Emperor, with his remarks on the genius and strait forward
integrity of the young politician.
When His Majesty turned to withdraw, he told the Spanish Embassador,
that the Chancellor would conduct him to the Empress, who was in
readiness to receive the letter and picture he brought from the Prince
of Spain, to the Arch-Duchess, her daughter.
As soon as the Emperor had quitted the chamber, Ripperda and his
suite followed Sinzendorff towards the grand saloon. As Louis turned
to obey, his heart anticipated the emotions he should feel in again
seeing Otteline; in again meeting the persuading looks of her gracious
mistress and confidant. But how different did the Imperial Elizabeth
appear in her court, to the benignant Princess, who was all ease and
smiles in the _boudoir_ of her beautiful favourite! She sat coldly
regal, with the Austrian ladies of rank, standing behind, and on each
side of her.
When the Duke de Ripperda approached the Imperial chair, Louis
observed the reserved majesty of Elizabeth's countenance dilate into
an expression of proud exultation: it haughtily swept the circle,
while she stretched out her hand to the Spanish Embassador, as bending
on his knee, he presented the royal packet. She half rose to receive
it, and then her lips and eyes beamed all the graciousness upon his
father, which Louis had so often felt shining on himself. But there
was a glowing flush on her cheek, and a something softer in her eye,
when the Duke pressed the hand to his lips, which she had given for
the salute of ceremony. Louis then saw, it was the friend, and not
the minister, that Elizabeth of Brunswick welcomed from her Imperial
throne; and, at the same time, he could not but notice, that the
position of his father, rather spoke the air of a Prince at the feet of
beauty, than the prostration of a subject to exalted power.
"It is the mind alone," thought Louis, "that debases actions, or
ennobles them! One man would crouch and cringe like a slave, while this
bends his knee, like Alexander before a sister princess!"
Had Louis pursued his observation, he would have understood that it was
the dignity and peculiarity of this homage, which made it so estimable
in the eyes, even of an Empress.
When the Duke presented his son and the Spanish Nobles, Louis cast
down his eyes; which, indeed, had never wandered from his father
and herself: so fearful was he of encountering that face, whose
resistless charms were only too apparent to his imagination. What
the condescending Elizabeth said to him, he knew not, neither was he
conscious how he had gone through the ceremony of presentation, till he
felt her ivory fingers gently press his hand, in silent congratulation
of what she supposed was then busy in his heart. He dreaded the purport
of this worldless language; and with a tremor pervading his whole body,
he rose from his knee, and falling back into the Spanish group, tried
to recover self-possession.
Elizabeth continued for some time in conversation with Ripperda; and
then giving her hand, according to usage, to the Chancellor to lead her
out; as she passed near where Louis stood, she descried him, and spoke
to her conductor. He immediately called to the Marquis de Montemar, to
attend Her Majesty's commands. Louis obeyed, in renewed disorder; and
with a gracious smile, she gently whispered. "You attend the Duke de
Ripperda this evening to the _Favorita_. It is the Dowager Empress's
name-day; and you will see friends and foes. The Duke has received my
permission to bring the young Spaniards to be presented to my daughter."
Louis bowed, and Her Majesty, with her own fair hand, gathering her
robe from the pages who held it, disappeared by a small door into the
private apartments.
When he looked round, to rejoin his father, he saw him discoursing
with the circle of ladies who stood nearest the throne. Ripperda had
already introduced his young grandees to the group; but on some of the
ladies naming his son, he beckoned Louis, who immediately approached,
and was presented also. His rapid glance soon convinced him the looks
he feared were not present; and relieved by this certainty, the effect
was instantly apparent. The anxiety which so lately had embarrassed
his words and actions, disappeared; and restored to ease, he replied
with his usual ingenuous politeness, to the courtesy of the ladies who
welcomed him to the court of Vienna. The Duke soon after took his leave
of the fair assembly, and followed by the young Spaniards and his son,
returned to the _Palais d'Espagne_.
It was the vernal month of May, and nature appeared in her robes of
youth and laughing beauty. The tender azure of the sky was tinged
with blushing radiance, while the soft green earth lay in enamelled
smoothness, under the umbrageous canopy of trees and shrubs, diffusing
odours from blossoms, flowers, and balmy zephyrs, laden with the warm
breathing of the reposing sun.
As the carriage which contained Louis drove along the thronged _Prato_,
towards the palace of _la Favorita_, he descried the distant turrets
of the Chateau de Phaffenberg. They stood gloomy and desolate, and he
passed them by, like one awakened from the dead, looking aside on what
had been his tomb. The Danube was now rolling its majestic flood, broad
as a lake around the island of the palace. The company crossed to it in
gay boats, borne along with silken sails, or rowed by silver oars, and
when they stepped on shore, they found the whole a scene in fairy land.
On a raised platform, in the midst of a verdant lawn, round which
the beauty and fragrance of all the seasons were collected, sat the
Dowager Empress. Most of the Imperial family, excepting the Emperor
and the Empress, were seated near her. Many of the court were also
there; and in the brilliant circle Louis recognised the Duke of Wharton
standing behind the chair of the Electress of Bavaria. The eye of
Wharton seemed to wander carelessly over the advancing party, without
distinguishing any particular object. But the buz that announced the
Duke de Ripperda attracted the notice of the Electress. Her curiosity
was excited to see this formidable minister, whose influence had
induced his royal master to overthrow her dearest schemes, by affixing
the guarantee of Spain to the pragmatic sanction. She looked at
his commanding figure, with lightning in her eyes; and as Ripperda
approached to pay his respects to the Dowager Empress, she whispered in
the bending ear of Wharton. The next instant her rapid glance caught
the face of Louis, and fixed there. Again she whispered Wharton. What
she said, and what the answer, was completely between themselves;
all passed in so low a voice; but Louis heard the Duke laugh in his
reply, as, without looking up from his folded arms, he leaned on Her
Highness's chair. Had Louis distinguished what was said, he would
have learnt that the Electress recognised him immediately; and with
astonishment, pointed him out to her companion, when she heard him
presented to her illustrious grandmother as the son of Ripperda.
"Could Your Highness believe it possible," replied Wharton, "that the
fair Altheim would cast her tendrils round a fallen pillar?"
The Electress did not withdraw her persevering gaze, though she ceased
her whispers, for the Emperor and Empress approached from the house.
The Duke de Ripperda was instantly engaged with the Imperial pair; and
soon after Charles, putting his arm through his, turned with him to
the opposite side of the lawn. As Elizabeth was passing Louis, to give
her hand to the Dowager Empress, who wished to view the scene from
the palace windows, she desired him to offer his arm to the venerable
Princess. He hastened to bear his share in supporting the infirm
footsteps of old age; a duty, which, to all ranks, was sacred with him;
and during the walk, as the aged Empress was deaf, Elizabeth informed
him, that the Arch-Duchess Maria Theresa being suddenly indisposed, the
Countess Altheim attended her. "But," added the gracious speaker, "hope
is the lover's comforter!"
She thought it was the ruby light of love that passed over the cheek of
Louis, as she spoke; and she smiled as she placed the Empress in her
chair, and dismissed him to the lawn. Trying to shake from his burning
complexion, the evidence of his weakness, with a swift step he returned
towards the platform. Wharton stood there, though the Electress had
moved into the more general circle of the company. The Duke was talking
with two or three persons, amongst whom was the Count Leopold Koninseg,
a colonel in the Austrian service, and the nephew of the Princess de
Waradin, a Hungarian lady, to whom Ripperda had presented his son in
the morning at the drawing-room. As Louis was hastening to the group
that contained his friend, and his new acquaintance, the Princess de
Waradin, leading a blooming girl of fifteen by the hand, interrupted
him. The noble matron asked him if he had yet engaged himself for the
dance. On his answering in the negative, she presented him to her
daughter, with the compliment, "that there was no person with whom
she should be so satisfied to see her Amelia make her first public
appearance at court, as the son of the Duke de Ripperda."
Louis made a suitable answer to this politeness, and the pretty
Hungarian received his bow with a smile. Other ladies, to whom also
his father had introduced him in the morning, now drew around the
graceful de Montemar. Invitations to various assemblies, were given
to him by a multitude of rosy lips; and for half an hour before the
dancing began, he was enchained in the fair circle; not ungrateful for
the flattering distinction, but longing for the moment of release,
when he might at least, give one heart-felt pressure of the hand, to
the friend who had twice saved him from a personal encounter with his
father's enemies. He often turned his face from the smiling dames, with
whom he was conversing, to seek a glance from his kind preserver; but,
though Wharton looked hither and thither, in talking with the passing
groupes, a perverse fatality seemed to prevent his eyes ever falling
where Louis stood. Impatience encreased with disappointment, and almost
ready to break from the throng that detained him, he gladly heard the
music sound from an orchestra, near the arcades of the palace; and,
immediately a chamberlain approached, to summon the dancers to the soft
green before the imperial windows. The fair Amelia extended her hand
to her partner, who took it with redoubled pleasure on seeing, by the
direction in which the company turned to the rural ball-room, that he
must pass close to the spot where Wharton stood.
As the gay procession moved on, the Duke turned carelessly on his heel,
which withdrew him a little from the path, but not so far off, but that
Louis heard Leopold Koninseg ask him whether he knew the Marquis de
Montemar.
"Who is he?" negligently replied the Duke.
"The Spanish ambassador's son," replied Koninseg, "shall I introduce
him?"
"No," returned Wharton, "he seems very well engaged; and I am not
ambitious of the acquaintance."
Louis was startled at these words; but recollecting the Duke's
situation with the Bavarian faction; and the risks he had already run,
between its revenge and his friend's safety; he soon comprehended that
prudence had suggested this apparent indifference.
The dance began; and in its exhilarating maze, of motion, music, and
sparkling beauty, Louis found all that bouyancy of spirits return, with
which he used to animate the smaller, but not less festive circles
of his native land. The ethereal grace of his movements attracted
admiration in a country where the graces of dancing are a science; and
the Electress, again turning to Wharton, who had accompanied her to the
flowery lists of the waltzers, desired him to observe the extraordinary
elegance of the Anglo-Spaniard. Wharton saw that several of the young
grandees were standing near, and observed one of them cast a disdainful
glance on the Electress, when she made the remark. Princess de Waradin
was also a spectatress; and while her eye complacently followed the
airy flight of her daughter on the sustaining arm of Louis, she took
up the Electress's observation, and replied, "there is not so fine a
dancer in the circle, as the Marquis de Montemar?"
"Because he happens to have the best figure in the circle," returned
Wharton, "and a well-made man cannot be awkward if he would."
The Electress smiled, and whispered the Duke; "you must get him amongst
us!"
"Crown me for Actæon, when I do!"
Wharton did not require an interpreter to the thickening clouds on the
brow of the young Spaniard, who, muttering something to his companions,
their looks suddenly reflected his, and they all turned abruptly and
haughtily from the ring. The Electress drew close to the garlands,
which composed it; and ordering a chair to be placed there, sat down,
and conversed at her ease with the groupe around. Louis's eyes often
glanced towards the animated Duke. But his favour with Her Highness
was too visible, to allow surprise that he did not give attention to
any one else. Indeed, he appeared as careless of remark, as he seemed
pleased with his situation, and hovered near her with the familiarity
of perfect confidence. Her circle of ladies courted his smiles, as
the guarantee of her's; and he trifled, and talked with them all, as
his humour dictated. But in the midst of this gallant badinage, the
men regarded him as something more than the gay _Cicisbeo_, who had
followed the illustrious mourner from her widowed pilgrimage through
Italy. They were aware of his political genius; that the lap of beauty
could not lull it to repose; and with less surprise than wonder, they
contemplated certain changes in the mutual relations of states, which
they knew must have arisen from him; but when or how his manoeuvres
were devised and executed, they could not guess by observation on
himself. For in all situations he seemed equally open and disengaged.
Ripperda passed behind the Bavarian party, surrounded by the foreign
ambassadors. The Electress was mortified at the sight:--"Behold the
flatterers!" cried she, to her gay companion.
"Dogs will worship the moon!" answered the Duke, carelessly: "and their
hymn is desperate howling."
Without farther thought of what covered the polished brow of his
mistress with heavy frowns, he turned to rally one of the young ladies
of honour, for having refused to dance. The Bavarian almoner stood
near. He was the only person, excepting the Electress, who knew that
the late rupture between France and Spain was the work of Wharton.
Marvelling within himself at the volatility of the man, who had so
circumvented the gravest heads; and at the jocund indifference with
which he beheld the triumph of his political adversary; the worthy
ecclesiastic, with a half-reproaching smile, touched his arm.--"I
believe, Duke," said he, "it is all one to you, whether you fire your
own, or another's territories; from very _gaieté de coeur_, as either
burn, you play!"
"Weeping at calamities is to double them," replied Wharton; "and I
never had any passion for sackcloth."
"No," replied the Electress, "I believe your perversity, enjoys the
wreck that has been made of your own plans!"
"When the wind blows, he is but a fool who sits down to cry in the
blast! common-sense, my sweet Electress, draws his cloak about, and
walks merrily through the storm."
"But he does not scoff at the destructive elements!" replied the
ecclesiastic; "may not the Duke de Ripperda think disparagingly of so
smiling a rival?"
"My good Lord Almoner," returned Wharton, "I care not what Duke de
Ripperda thinks. There is a season for all things! And when I am with
the fair, I forget the follies of other men, and content myself with my
own."
Whatever were his motives with regard to Louis, no act of recognition
passed, either from his voice, or his looks, towards him, during
the whole evening; and Louis, taking the tone from a judgment his
enthusiasm made him deem infallible, behaved towards him with the same
reserve. They often approached each other in the change of amusements;
they sometimes passed close; and then the heart of Louis beat, and his
cheek glowed, as he felt the dear attraction. As he was handing the
daughter of the Princess de Waradin to the supper-room, he saw Wharton
at a distance in one of the vestibules, conversing with the Count de
Patinos; a young man of the highest rank amongst the Spaniards who had
joined the embassy of their country.
The Electress and her party did not stay supper. It was in a style
answerable to the august _jour de fête_; and at a late hour, the
Emperor and Empress rose. Before Louis could pass from the table at
which he had sat, to join his father, who had been the distinguished
personage at the Imperial board, he was intercepted by a moving and
involving throng. In short, he soon learnt, that from Ripperda's
unexampled favour with the reconciled sovereigns, his son was become an
object of calculating and universal attention. Some of the Spaniards
had even drawn off from the proud side of de Patinos, and glided
towards Louis; to gain, by his means, a freer passage into the circles,
which seemed so eager to make him their center.
De Patinos was young, handsome, and ambitious. He was the son of
the Marquis de Castallor, and the near kinsman of the venerable
Grimaldo, the present ostensible minister in the cabinet of Spain:--and
therefore, to see the almost regal honours paid to the Duke de
Ripperda, whom he affected to consider as only the agent of that
minister, excited jealousy for his own consequence, reflected from
Grimaldo. But, that himself should be overlooked and disregarded in the
presence of what he called the upstart Marquis de Montemar, because he
was the son of this arrogant Ripperda, inflamed him with a hatred, that
only waited opportunity to shew its malignant nature.
As wealth and rank are considered the corner stones of happiness in
this world of selfish enjoyment, it was not to be wondered at, that
a marriage with such a foreigner as Louis de Montemar, should be
considered an advantageous object, by many of the most illustrious
families at the German court. The restoration of Ripperda to his
Spanish rights had given him rank with the first nobles in any land.
His blood was superior to most of them, as it flowed from the mingled
current of three lines of princes. And his riches, from his restituted
property in Spain and the Indies; from his former fortune, transported
from the Netherlands; and daily redoubling, by the exhaustless
resources of commerce; were beyond the powers of calculation. It was
not, then, a subject of surprise, though it might be of envy, that the
heir of all this wealth and honours should be a point of ambition to
the proudest mothers in Vienna; and as the expectant was also handsome
and accomplished, it was not a wonder that many of the daughters smiled
upon the young de Montemar. He saw many fair, and more elegant; but
none so fair, none so conspicuously elegant, as the graceful Otteline,
whose absent form floated in fond regrets at the bottom of his heart.
He sighed to think, that the spirit was not so fair as its temple; and
then he sighed again, as he checked himself for the repining pang which
accompanied the remembrance.