Continental Ramble -- A Stolen Trip to Paris -- Residence at
Weimar -- Contributions to Albums -- Burlesque State -- German
Sketches and Studies -- The Weimar Theatre -- Goethe -- Souvenirs
of the Saxon city -- 'Journal kept during a visit to Germany.'
We cannot take leave of Thackeray's college days without referring to
the first trip he made to Paris during a vacation, on his own
responsibility, and, indeed, without consulting his pastors and
masters on the subject. This little episode occurred when he was
nineteen years old; and, excepting for considerable remorse at the
subterfuge by which he had got away, he seems to have enjoyed himself
very much.
[Illustration: 1828]
[Illustration: Coachee, 1830]
[Illustration: 1828]
[Illustration: A dowager]
[Illustration: A German court chaplain]
[Illustration: A postilion]
[Illustration: Apollo surrounded by his tuneful band. (Sketched in a
music-book.)]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cigno.
(Album oddities. Weimar, 1830)]
[Illustration: Weimar, 1830]
[Illustration: A Royal banquet]
[Illustration: A Weimar sketch]
[Illustration: Schiller's plays. Weimar, 1830]
Soon afterwards Thackeray seems to have repaired to Weimar, in Saxony,
where, as he describes it, he lived with a score of young English
lads, 'for study, or sport, or society.' Mr. G. H. Lewes, in his 'Life
of Goethe,' tells us that Weimar albums still display with pride the
caricatures which the young artist sketched at that period. 'My
delight in those days,' says Mr. Thackeray, 'was to make caricatures
for children'--a habit, we may add, which he never forgot. Years
afterwards, in the fulness of his fame, revisiting Weimar, he found,
to his great delight, that these were yet remembered, and some even
preserved still; but he was much more proud to be told, as a lad, that
the great Goethe himself had looked at some of them. In a letter to
his friend Mr. Lewes, inserted by the latter in the work referred to,
Thackeray has given a pleasing picture of this period of his life, and
of the circle in which he found himself.
[Illustration: Church militant]
[Illustration: Triumphal march of the British forces]
[Illustration: Opera at Weimar]
Readers familiar with the 'Rose and the Ring,' Thackeray's popular
Christmas book, will recognise in the sketch on page 93 the artist's
fondness for playing with royalty--especially with pantomimic royalty.
The Weimar court was full of old ceremony, and yet most pleasant and
homely withal. Thackeray and his friends were invited in turns to
dinners, balls, and assemblies there. Such young men as had a right
appeared in uniforms, diplomatic and military. Some invented gorgeous
clothing: the old Hof Marschall, M. de Spiegel, who had two of the
most lovely daughters ever looked on, being in nowise difficult as to
the admission of these young Englanders. On winter nights they used
to charter sedan chairs, in which they were carried through the snow
to these court entertainments. Here young Thackeray had the good luck
to purchase Schiller's sword, which formed a part of his court
costume, and which hung in his study till the day of his death, to put
him (as he said) in mind of days of youth the most kindly and
delightful.
[Illustration: Shakspeare at Weimar]
[Illustration: Operatic reminiscences at Weimar]
Here, too, he had the advantage of the society of his friend and
fellow-student at Cambridge, Mr. W. G. Lettsom, later Her Majesty's
Chargé-d'Affaires at Uruguay, but who was at the period referred to
attached to the suite of the English Minister at Weimar. To the
kindness of this gentleman he was indebted in a considerable degree
for the introductions he obtained to the best families in the town.
Thackeray was always fond of referring to this period of his life.
[Illustration: A German fencing bout]
The spirited sketch of a German Fencing Bout given on the preceding
page, was probably drawn on the spot during the progress of the
combat. The collegians enable us to construct a realistic picture of
the student of a generation ago.
[Illustration: German student of the period. (Weimar, 1830)]
The object of the combatants being to inflict a prick or scratch in
some conspicuous part of the face, the rest of the person is carefully
padded and protected. In our days the loose cap with its pointed peak
has disappeared before its gay muffin-shaped substitute; but the
traditional pride in a scarred face is still observable. Even at the
present day we find the youths of German University towns rejoicing in
a seam down the nose, or swaggering in the conscious dignity of a
slashed cheek, as outward and visible evidence of the warlike soul
within.
[Illustration: Goethe. A sketch from the Fraser portrait]
[Illustration: Goethe
(Sketched at Weimar, 1830)]
Devrient, who appeared some years since at the St. James's Theatre in
German versions of Shakspeare, was performing at Weimar at that
period, in 'Shylock,' 'Hamlet,' 'Falstaff,' and the 'Robbers;' and the
beautiful Madame Schröder was appearing in 'Fidelio.'
The young English students at Weimar spent their evenings in
frequenting the performances at the theatres, or attending the levées
of the Court ladies.
After an interval of nearly a quarter of a century, Thackeray passed a
couple of days in the well-remembered place, where he was fortunate
enough to find still some of the friends of his youth. With his
daughters he was received by Madame de Goethe with the kindness of old
days; the little party once again drank tea in that famous cottage
in the park which had been a favourite resort of the illustrious poet.
[Illustration: A souvenir]
[Illustration: Album sketches]
During his residence at Weimar in 1831 Thackeray saw and shared a
great deal of pleasant life; and although the world of the little
German capital was one in miniature, the experience he gained in it
was turned to good account in after years. It was at this visit he had
the happiness of meeting the great Goethe, who had then withdrawn from
society: he would, nevertheless, receive strangers with marked
cordiality; and the tea-table of his daughter-in-law was always spread
for the entertainment of these favoured young sojourners.
[Illustration: A swell]
[Illustration: A buck]
In October 1830, we find Thackeray writing from Weimar to a bookseller
in Charterhouse Square, for a liberal supply of the Bath post paper on
which he wrote his verses and drew his countless sketches. On certain
sheets of this paper, after his memorable interview with Goethe, we
find the young artist trying to trace from recollection the features
of the remarkable face which had deeply impressed his fancy (see p.
100). There are portraits in pen and ink, and others washed with
colour to imitate more closely the complexion of the study he was
endeavouring to work out. The letter to which we here refer contains
an order of an extensive character, for the current literature, which
throws some light on his tastes at this period:--'Fraser's _Town and
Country Magazine_ for August, September, October, and November. The
four last numbers of the _Examiner_ and _Literary Gazette_, _The Comic
Annual_, _The Keepsake_, and any others of the best annuals, and
_Bombastes Furioso_, with Geo. Cruikshank's illustrations. The parcel
to be directed to Dr. Frohrib, Industrie Comptoir, Weimar.'
Among the ingenuous confessions of Fitz-Boodle in 'Fraser,' we are
admitted to three romantic episodes, all of them being directed as
warnings to over-fervent young men--'Miss Löwe' (Oct. 1842),
'Dorothea' (Jan. 1843), 'Ottilia' (Feb. 1843): none of these tender
records of his early German experiences are reprinted with Thackeray's
'Miscellanies.' We learn incidentally in 'Ottilia' the delightful fee
accorded to gallant drivers on the occasion of sledging parties, which
formed a leading amusement of a Saxon winter. A large company of a
score or more sledges was formed. Away they went to some
pleasure-house previously fixed upon as a _rendezvous_, where a ball
and supper were ready prepared, and where each _cavalier_, as his
partner descended, has the 'delicious privilege of saluting her.'
Thackeray has turned the observations he made during his residence in
the Saxon city to famous satirical account in the construction of his
typical Court of Pumpernickel, situated on the Pump rivulet. We meet
the most effective sarcastic sketches of the mimic court in various
parts of his writings, great and small. It was in these sister Duchies
that Pitt Crawley served as an _attaché_ to the British
representative. It was while dining at the table of Tapeworm, the
Secretary of our Legation there, that the author declares he first
learnt the sad particulars of the career of Mrs. Rawdon Crawley, _née_
Rebecca Sharp. It was here, too, in the theatre that he describes
first meeting with Amelia, then Mrs. Osborne, attended by her brother
Jos. Sedley, with her son George, and his guardian, faithful Major
Dobbin; when the little party were sojourning, as favoured visitors,
in the famous dominions (stretching nearly ten miles) of his
Transparency Victor Aurelius XVIII. The reader will remember being
presented, in one of the later chapters of 'Vanity Fair,' with a
humorous burlesque of the entire Grand Ducal Court--its belongings,
society, administration, foreign legations, politics, fêtes, and what
not; with a detailed description of the noble bridge thrown across
the Pump by his renowned Transparency Victor Aurelius XIV., whose
effigy rises above the erection; his foot calmly resting on the neck
of a prostrate Turk, and surrounded by water-nymphs and emblems of
victory, peace, and plenty. The prince is smiling blandly, and
directing with his outstretched truncheon the attention of the passer
to the Aurelian Platz, where this great-souled hero had commenced a
palace that would have been the wonder of the age, if the funds for
its completion had not been exhausted. A previous introduction to the
splendours of Kalbsbraten-Pumpernickel had been afforded the readers
of 'Fraser,' where we are informed that it contained a population of
two thousand inhabitants, and a palace (_Monblaïsir_, the rival of
Versailles) which would accommodate about six times that number. The
Principality furnished a contingent of three and a half men to the
Germanic Confederation; only three of whom returned from the field of
Waterloo. This army corps was commanded by a General (Excellency), two
major-generals, and sixty-four officers of lower grades; all noble,
all knights of the order of Kartoffel, and almost all chamberlains to
his Highness the Grand Duke. A band of eighty performers led the
troops to battle in time of war; executed selections daily, in more
peaceful intervals, for the admiration of the neighbourhood; and at
night did duty on the stage.
[Illustration]
There was supposed to be a chamber of representatives, who were not
remembered to have ever sat, home and foreign ministers, residents
from neighbouring courts, law-presidents, town councils, &c., and all
the usual great government functionaries. The Court had its chamberlains
and marshals; the Grand Duchess her noble ladies-in-waiting, and
beauteous maids of honour. Besides the sentries at the palace, there
were three or four men on duty, dressed as hussars; but the historian
could not discover that they ever rode on horseback.
[Illustration: A German peasant maiden]
The Prime Minister had lodgings in a second floor, and the other great
officers were similarly accommodated: their titles were, however, a
distinction in themselves--Otho Sigismond Freyherr von Schlippenschlopps,
for instance, Knight Grand Cross of the Ducal Order of the Two Necked
Swan of Pumpernickel, of the Porc-et-Sifflet of Kalbsbraten, Commander
of the George and Blue Boar of Dummerland, Excellency and High
Chancellor of the United Duchies, is described as enjoying, with his
private income and the revenues of his offices, a total of nearly
three hundred pounds per annum, and, in consequence of this handsome
provision, being able to display such splendour as few officers of the
Grand Ducal Crown could afford.
[Illustration: Sleighing]
These high-sounding titles were not confined to the military and
diplomatic bodies: the memorable town pump had been designed by
_Herr Oberhof und bau Inspektor von Speck_; whose wife was honourably
referred to as 'The Grand-ducal Pumpernickelian-court-architectress,
and Upper-palace-and-building-inspectress, Von Speck.'
The preceding sketch of sleighing, which has all the life and spirit
of a drawing executed whilst the recollection of its subject is still
fresh, was evidently made at the period of Thackeray's residence at
Weimar. He has left various pen-and-ink dottings of the quaint houses
in this town, which correspond with the little buildings in the
landscape on p. 101.
Among the volumes originally in Thackeray's possession was a book,
privately printed, containing portions of the diaries of Mrs. Colonel
St. George, written during her sojourn among the German courts, 1799
and 1800. As the margins of the book are pencilled with slight but
graphic etchings illustrative of the matter, we insert a few extracts
while treating of Thackeray's early experience of Weimar, as
harmonising with this part of our subject. It may be premised that the
actual sketches belong to a considerably later date.
'JOURNAL KEPT DURING A VISIT TO GERMANY IN 1799, 1800.'
'_Vienna, July 18, 1800._--Dined at La Gardie's; read "Les Mères
Rivales" aloud, while she made a _couvre-pied_ for her approaching
confinement; her mother worked a cap for the babe, and he sat down to
his netting: it was a black shawl for his wife. A fine tall man, a
soldier, too, with a very martial appearance, netting a shawl for his
wife amused me.
'_Dresden, Oct. 2._--Dined at the Elliots'.[2] While I was playing at
chess with Mr. Elliot, came the news of Lord Nelson's arrival, with
Sir William and Lady Hamilton, Mrs. Cadogan, mother of the latter, and
Miss Cornelia Knight, famous for her "Continuation of Rasselas" and
her "Private Life of the Romans."[3]
[Illustration: A fancy portrait]
'_Oct. 3._--Dined at Mr. Elliot's, with only the Nelson party. It is
plain that Lord Nelson thinks of nothing but Lady Hamilton, who is
totally occupied by the same object. She is bold, forward, coarse,
assuming, and vain. Her figure is colossal, but, excepting her feet,
well shaped. Her bones are large, and she is exceedingly _embonpoint_.
She resembles the bust of Ariadne: the shape of all her features is
fine, as is the form of her head, and particularly her ears; her teeth
are a little irregular, but tolerably white; her eyes light blue, with
a brown spot in one, which, though a defect, takes nothing away from
her beauty and expression. Her eyebrows and hair are dark, and her
complexion coarse. Her expression is strongly marked, variable, and
interesting; her movements in common life ungraceful; her voice loud,
yet not disagreeable. Lord Nelson is a little man, without any
dignity; who, I suppose, must resemble what Suwarrow was in his youth,
as he is like all the pictures I have seen of that general. Lady
Hamilton takes possession of him, and he is a willing captive, the
most submissive and devoted I have seen. Sir William is old, infirm,
all admiration of his wife, and never spoke to-day but to applaud her.
Miss Cornelia Knight seems the decided flatterer of the two, and never
opens her mouth but to show forth their praise; and Mrs. Cadogan, Lady
Hamilton's mother, is what one might expect. After dinner we had
several songs in honour of Lord Nelson, written by Miss Knight, and
sung by Lady Hamilton. She puffs the incense full in his face; but he
receives it with pleasure and sniffs it up very cordially. The songs
all ended in the sailor's way, with "Hip, hip, hip, hurra!" and a
bumper with the last drop on the nail, a ceremony I had never heard of
or seen before.
'_Oct. 4._--Accompanied the Nelson party to Mr. Elliot's box at the
opera. She and Lord Nelson were wrapped up in each other's
conversation during the chief part of the evening.
'_Oct. 5._--Went, by Lady Hamilton's invitation, to see Lord Nelson
dressed for court. On his hat he wore the large diamond feather, or
ensign of sovereignty, given him by the Grand Signior; on his breast
the order of the Bath, the order he received as Duke of Bronte; the
diamond star, including the sun or crescent, given him by the Grand
Signior; three gold medals, obtained by three different victories; and
a beautiful present from the King of Naples. On one side is His
Majesty's picture, richly set, and surrounded with laurels, which
spring from two united laurels at bottom, and support the Neapolitan
crown at top; on the other is the Queen's cipher, which turns so as to
appear within the same laurels, and is formed of diamonds on green
enamel. In short, Lord Nelson was a perfect constellation of stars and
orders.
'_Oct. 7._--Breakfasted with Lady Hamilton, and saw her represent in
succession the best statues and paintings extant. She assumes their
attitude, expression, and drapery with great facility, swiftness, and
accuracy. Several Indian shawls, a chair, some antique vases, a wreath
of roses, a tambourine, and a few children are her whole apparatus.
She stands at one end of the room, with a strong light on her left,
and every other window closed. Her hair is short, dressed like an
antique, and her gown a simple calico chemise, very easy, with loose
sleeves to the wrist. She disposes the shawls so as to form Grecian,
Turkish, and other drapery, as well as a variety of turbans. Her
arrangement of the turbans is absolutely sleight-of-hand; she does it
so quickly, so easily, and so well. It is a beautiful performance,
amusing to the most ignorant, and highly interesting to the lovers of
art. The chief of her imitations are from the antique. Each
representation lasts about ten minutes. It is remarkable that, though
coarse and ungraceful in common life, she becomes highly graceful, and
even beautiful, during this performance. After showing her attitudes,
she sang, and I accompanied. Her voice is good and very strong, but
she is frequently out of tune; her expression strongly marked and
various; but she has no flexibility, and no sweetness. She acts her
songs....
'Still she does not gain upon me. I think her bold, daring, vain even
to folly, and stamped with the manners of her first situation much
more strongly than one would suppose, after having represented
majesty, and lived in good company fifteen years. Her ruling passions
seem to me vanity, avarice, and love for the pleasures of the table.
Mr. Elliot says, "She will captivate the Prince of Wales, whose mind
is as vulgar as her own, and play a great part in England."
'_Oct. 8._--Dined at Madame de Loss's, wife to the Prime Minister,
with the Nelson party. The Electress will not receive Lady Hamilton,
on account of her former dissolute life. She wished to go to court, on
which a pretext was made to avoid receiving company last Sunday, and I
understand there will be no court while she stays. Lord Nelson,
understanding the Elector did not wish to see her, said to Mr. Elliot,
"Sir, if there is any difficulty of that sort, Lady Hamilton will
knock the Elector down, and ---- me, I'll knock him down too!"
[Illustration]
'_Oct. 9._--A great breakfast at the Elliots', given to the Nelson
party. Lady Hamilton repeated her attitudes with great effect. All the
company, except their party and myself, went away before dinner; after
which Lady Hamilton, who declared she was passionately fond of
champagne, took such a portion of it as astonished me. Lord Nelson was
not behindhand, called more vociferously than usual for songs in his
own praise, and after many bumpers proposed the Queen of Naples,
adding, "She is my queen; she is queen to the backbone." Poor Mr.
Elliot, who was anxious the party should not expose themselves more
than they had done already, and wished to get over the last day as
well as he had done the rest, endeavoured to stop the effusion of
champagne, and effected it with some difficulty, but not till the lord
and lady, or, as he calls them, Antony and Moll Cleopatra, were pretty
far gone. I was so tired, I returned home soon after dinner; but not
till Cleopatra had talked to me a great deal of her doubts whether the
queen would receive her, adding, "I care little about it. I had much
sooner she would settle half Sir William's pension on me." After I
went, Mr. Elliot told me she acted Nina intolerably ill, and danced
the _Tarantula_. During her acting, Lord Nelson expressed his
admiration by the Irish sound of astonished applause, and by crying
every now and then, "Mrs. Siddons be ----!" Lady Hamilton expressed
great anxiety to go to court, and Mrs. Elliot assured her it would not
amuse her, and that the Elector never gave dinners or suppers. "What?"
cried she, "no guttling!" Sir William also this evening performed
feats of activity, hopping round the room on his backbone, his arms,
legs, star and ribbon all flying about in the air.
'_Oct. 10._--Mr. Elliot saw them on board to-day. He heard, by chance,
from a king's messenger, that a frigate waited for them at Hamburg,
and ventured to announce it formally. He says: "The moment they were
on board, there was an end of the fine arts, of the attitudes, of the
acting, the dancing, and the singing. Lady Hamilton's maid began to
scold, in French, about some provisions which had been forgot. Lady
Hamilton began bawling for an Irish stew, and her old mother set about
washing the potatoes, which she did as cleverly as possible. They were
exactly like Hogarth's actresses dressing in the barn."'
At Berlin, the fair diarist was introduced to Beurnonville, the French
minister, who had gained notoriety for his services at Valmy and
Gemappes. He was one of the commissioners despatched by the convention
to arrest Dumouriez, who, it may be remembered, treated him with
marked cordiality; the special envoy of the republic was, however,
arrested, with his companions, and delivered by the general into the
hands of the Austrians.
'_Nov. 18-23._--I have been to a great supper at Count Schulenberg's.
As usual, I saw Beurnonville, who was very attentive. He looks like an
immense cart-horse, put by mistake in the finest caparisons; his
figure is colossal and ungainly; and his uniform of blue and gold,
which appears too large even for his large person, is half covered
with the broadest gold lace. His _ton_ is that of a _corps-de-garde_
(he was really a corporal), but when he addresses himself to women,
he affects a softness and _légèreté_, which reminds one exactly of the
"Ass and the Spaniel," and his compliments are very much in the style
of M. Jourdain. It is said, however, he is benevolent and
well-meaning.
[Illustration]
'_Nov. 30._--Supped at Mad. Angeström's, wife of the Swedish Minister,
who is perfectly indifferent to all the interests of Europe, provided
nothing interrupts her reception of the Paris fashions, for which she
has an uncommon avidity. "_N'est-ce pas, ma chère, que ceci est
charmant? C'est copié fidèlement d'un journal de Paris, et quel
journal délicieux!_"
[Illustration]
'She wears very little covering on her person, and none on her arms of
any kind (shifts being long exploded), except sleeves of the finest
cambric, unlined and _travaillé au jour_, which reach only half way
from the shoulder to the elbow. She seems to consider it a duty to
shiver in this thin attire, for she said to Lady Carysfort, "_Ah,
Milédi, que vous êtes heureuse, vous portez des poches et des jupes!_"
I conversed chiefly with Beurnonville and Pignatelli. Beurnonville
says, "_Mon secrétaire est pour les affaires, mon aide-de-camp pour
les dames, et moi pour la représentation._" The people about him are
conscious he is _peu de chose_, but say, "_Qu'importe? on est si bon
en Prusse, et si bien disposé pour nous._" A person asked Vaudreuil,
aide-de-camp to Beurnonville, if the latter was a _ci-devant_. "_Non,"
dit-il, "mais il voudroit l'être_"--a reply of a good deal of
_finesse_, and plainly proving how unconquerable the respect for rank,
and wish among those who have destroyed the substance to possess the
shadow.'
FOOTNOTES:
[2] The Right Hon. Hugh Elliot, brother to Lord Minto, at that date
English Minister at Dresden; he was afterwards made Governor of
Madras.
[3] _Marcus Flaminius; or, Life of the Romans, 1795._