_London, Nov. 1st, 1827._
A FRENCHMAN says; "L'illusion fut inventée pour le bonheur des mortels;
elle leur fait presqu'autant de bien que l'espérance." If this is true,
happy man is my dole, for I am never at a loss for illusions or hopes.
Some of these have certainly been thrown to the winds by your letter;
but be of good courage, there is already a fresh crop of new ones
springing up as fast as mushrooms.--More of them anon.
Concerning the intolerable, sleepy President, I cannot possibly write
from hence. Besides, as a dandy would say, the man is not 'fashionable'
enough. And indeed you manage all these affairs so admirably, that it
were a shame not to leave them entirely to you. This is selfishness on
my part, but of a pardonable sort, since it is advantageous to us
both * * *
* * * * *
During the last few days I have made a little excursion to Brighton,
taking a circuitous route back. Arundel Castle, the seat of the Duke of
Norfolk, was one of the objects of my curiosity. It has some points of
resemblance to Warwick, but is far inferior to it, though of equal
antiquity. Here also is an artificial mound and keep, at the eastern
end. The view from the top of the round ruined tower must be
magnificent, but to-day the fog rendered it impossible to see it; indeed
I could not even distinguish the terrace gardens surrounding the castle:
I therefore consoled myself in the company of a dozen large tame horned
owls, which inhabit what was once the warder's room. One of them has
been here these fifty years, is very amiable, and barked when he wanted
any thing, exactly like a dog. The English are great lovers of
animals,--a taste in which I entirely sympathize. Thus, in many parks
you find colonies of rooks, which hover round the house or castle in
vast flights, and are in very good keeping with an ancient castle and
its towering trees; though their cawing is not the most agreeable music
in the world. The interior of Arundel Castle has nothing very
distinguished. The numerous painted windows are modern; and among the
family pictures only one struck me,--that of the accomplished Lord
Surrey, put to death by Henry the Eighth, the costume of which was very
singular.
The library is small, but very magnificent; wainscoted with cedar, and
ornamented with beautiful carving and painting; in short, it wanted
nothing but books, of which there were not more than a few hundreds.
A very large but very simple hall, called the Baron's Hall, has a great
number of painted windows, the merit of which is not remarkable.
In the apartments there was a quantity of old furniture, preserved with
great care to prevent its falling to pieces, in its frail condition.
This fashion is now general in England. Things which we should throw
away as old-fashioned and worm-eaten, here fetch high prices, and new
ones are often made after the old patterns. In venerable mansions, when
not destructive of convenience, they have a very good effect. In modern
buildings they are ludicrous.
The old part of the castle is said to have been a Roman fort, and many
Roman bricks are found in the walls. In later times it was still a place
of defence, and sustained several sieges. The modern part, in the style
of the ancient, was built by the predecessor of the present duke, and
cost, as I was told, eight hundred thousand pounds. The same thing might
certainly have been done in Germany for three hundred thousand
reichsthalers. The garden appeared to me diversified and extensive, and
the park is said to be very noble and picturesque, but the horrid
weather hindered me from seeing it. In the evening I drove to Petworth,
where there is another fine house. I write from the inn, where I was
settled in a few minutes as if at home, for my travelling arrangements
and conveniences have been greatly perfected since my residence in
England.
_Petworth House, Oct. 26._
Colonel C---- came to my inn early in this morning, and reproached me
with not driving straight to the house of his father-in-law, Lord E----,
the owner of Petworth House. He pressed me so kindly to spend at least a
day there, that I could not refuse. My luggage was soon transported
thither, and I as quickly installed in my room. It is a fine modern
palace, with a noble collection of pictures and antiques, and a large
park which contains a celebrated stud. I was peculiarly struck with
three of the pictures,--Henry the Eighth, a full-length, by Holbein,
remarkable for the exquisite painting of the dress and ornaments, and
the fresh masterly colouring: a portrait of the immortal Newton, which
is far less distinguished for its expression of intelligence, than for
its pre-eminently elegant and gentlemanly air; and one of Maurice of
Orange, so like our poet Houwald that it might pass for him. The mixture
of statues and pictures which is common here, is disadvantageous to
both.
Among the curiosities is a family relic,--the great sword of Harry
Percy, an ancestor of Lord E----'s. The library served, as usual, as
drawing-room,--a very rational and agreeable plan. It was fitted up
according to your taste,--only the best modern books, in elegant
bindings; for all others there was another room upstairs.
The freedom in this house was perfect, which rendered it doubly
agreeable to me. One really feels not the slightest 'gène.' There were
many guests of both sexes. The host himself is a learned and
accomplished connoisseur in art, and at the same time a very conspicuous
and successful man 'on the turf.' In his stud I saw a horse about thirty
years old, ('Whalebone',) who was obliged to be supported by several
grooms when he attempted to walk, and whose foals still unborn, fetch
enormous sums. That's what I call a glorious old age. 'Au reste,' the
regulations of the stud are very different here from ours. With all your
appetite for knowledge, however, this 'thema' might interest you little,
so that I shall go on to other matters.
On the following day, arrived the Duchess of St. A----, a woman whose
ever ascending fortunes have been remarkable enough. The earliest
recollections of her infancy are those of a deserted, starving,
shivering child, in a solitary barn in an English village. Thence she
was taken by a band of gipsies;--quitting them, she entered a strolling
company of players. By her agreeable person, high spirits, and original
humour, she gained some reputation in her new profession, gradually
secured patronage and friends, and lived in long and undisturbed
connexion with a rich banker, who at length married her, and at his
death left her seventy thousand a year. This enormous fortune afterwards
promoted her to be the wife of the third English Duke, and (by a
curious coincidence) the descendant of the celebrated actress Nell
Gwynne, to whose charms the Duke owes his title, in the same manner as
his wife has acquired hers.
She is a very good-natured woman, who is not ashamed to speak of the
past--on the contrary, alludes to it perhaps rather too much.
* * * * *
After an agreeable visit of three days, I returned hither, and now
celebrate my birth-day in the profoundest solitude, with closed doors.
Three-fourths of my melancholy fits I may certainly ascribe to the month
in which I first saw the light. May children are far more cheerful: I
never saw a hypochondriacal son of the Spring. A song called
_Prognostica_ once fell into my hands: I am very sorry I did not keep
it; for it told a man's fortune according to the month of his birth. I
only remember that those born in October were to have a melancholy
temper, and that the prophecy began thus:--
"Ein Junge geboren im Monat October
Wird eim Critiker, und das ein recht grober."[71]
I leave you now for a great dinner at Prince E----'s, for I will not
devote the whole day to solitude; I am too superstitious for that.
Adieu.
_November 4th._
In my quality of Chevalier de St. Louis, I was invited to-day to a great
dinner at Prince P----'s, in commemoration of the Saint's day, or the
'jour de fête' of the king of France,--I really don't know which. After
it, I went to see the _Continuation_ of Don Juan at Drury Lane. 'Of
course' the first act was laid in hell, where Don Juan immediately
seduces the Furies, and at last even the devil's grandmother, for which
offence he is forcibly ejected by His Satanic Majesty. Just as he
reaches the picturesque shores of the fire-rolling Styx, Charon is in
the act of ferrying over three female souls from London. While they are
landing, Don Juan occupies the old ferryman's attention with changing a
bank-note (for paper money is current in the infernal regions,) seizes
the moment to make off with them from the shore, and conducts them back
to earth. Arrived in London, he has his usual adventures,--duels,
elopements, &c.; the equestrian statue at Charing Cross invites him to
tea; but his creditors carry him off to the King's Bench, whence he is
delivered by marrying a rich wife, in whom he at length finds that full
punishment for all his sins which hell could not afford. Madame Vestris
as Don Juan is the prettiest and most seductive young fellow you can
imagine, and, it is easy to see, does not want practice.
The piece amused me. Still more amusing was a new novel which I found on
my table, the scene of which is laid in the year 2200,--not a very new
idea, certainly.
It represents the religion of England as once more Catholic, the
government an absolute monarchy, and universal education so diffused,
that learning is become the common property of the lower classes. Every
artisan works upon mathematical or chemical principles. Footmen and
cooks, with such names as Abelard and Heloisa, speak in the style of the
_Jenaer Literaturzeitung_. On the other hand, it is the fashion among
the higher classes, by way of distinguishing themselves from the
'plebs,' to use the most vulgar language and expressions, and carefully
to conceal any knowledge that goes beyond reading and writing. There is
some wit in this idea, and perhaps it is prophetic. The habits of life
of this class are also very simple. Few and homely dishes appear on all
their tables, and luxury is to be met with only at those of the
servants. That air-balloons are the common conveyances, and that steam
governs the world, are matters of course.
A German professor, however, makes a discovery in galvanism, by which he
is enabled to bring the dead to life; and the mummy of King Cheops,
recently found in a pyramid which had remained unopened, is the first
person on whom this experiment is tried. How the living mummy comes to
England, and how horribly he behaves there, you may read when the novel
is translated into German. 'Au reste,' I often feel like a mummy
myself,--bound hand and foot, and eagerly waiting my release.
_Nov. 5th._
Such a fog covered the whole town this morning that I could not see to
breakfast without candles. Going out till evening was not to be thought
of. I was invited to dinner at ----: P---- was there too, to whom she
generally shows great hostility, I know not why. To-day, with his usual
'étourderie,' he ruined himself for ever. The lady has, as you may
remember, rather a red nose, which the malicious have ascribed to the
custom with which General Pillett reproaches Englishwomen. P---- probably
did not know this, and remarked that she mixed a dark liquid with her
wine. In the innocence--or the wickedness--of his heart, he asked her
whether she was so much of an Englishwoman as to mix her wine with
Cognac. It was not till he remarked the redness diffuse itself over her
whole face, and the embarrassment of those who sat near, that he was
conscious of his 'bévue;' for the innocent beverage was toast and water.
This suggested to me the ludicrous directions given by a book of _Rules
for Good Behaviour_, written in our pedantic national manner. "When you
go into company," says the author, "be sure to inform yourself
accurately beforehand concerning the persons you are likely to meet;
their parentage, connexions, foibles, faults, and peculiarities; so that
you may not, on the one hand, say any thing unknowingly which may touch
a sore place, and on the other, may be able to flatter in an easy and
appropriate manner."
Laughably expressed enough, and difficult to accomplish, but not a bad
precept!
There was a great deal of political talk, particularly of this dashing
commencement of a war, by the destruction of the Turkish fleet.
How inconsistent is the language of Englishmen on this subject! But ever
since the fall of Napoleon the leading politicians do not seem to know
rightly what they would be at. The miserable results of their Congresses
do not satisfy even them; but yet there has appeared no original mind
capable of making these meetings conduce to more important
consequences; no master-will to guide them; and the fate of Europe
depends no longer on its leaders, but on chance. Canning was but a
transient vision; and how are his successors employed? The destruction
of the fleet of an old and faithful ally, without a declaration of war,
is the best proof; though, as man and Philhellene, I heartily rejoice at
it.
But amid all these political abortions, this tottering and vacillating
of all parts, we shall certainly live to witness still more
extraordinary things;--perhaps combinations which have hitherto been
deemed impossible. This is partly to be ascribed to Canning
himself,--for his plans were not matured; and a man of eminent genius is
always detrimental to his successors when they are pygmies. The present
Ministers have completely the air of wishing to lead England slowly into
the pit which Canning dug for others.
Even the very storm which they have been gathering on the boundaries of
Asia, will perhaps burst most furiously over the centre of Europe. I
hope however the God of the thunder will be with _us_. The future
prospects of Prussia appear to my anticipations far higher and more
glorious than any fate has yet granted her; only let her never lose
sight of her motto, "_Vorwärts_."
On returning home I found your letter, which amused me much; especially
K----'s sallies, vainly bottled up in Paris to be let loose in S----,
where they find so little success; for indeed you are right,
"Rien de plus triste qu'un bon mot
Qui se perd dans l'oreille d'une sot."
And that he may experience often enough.
_Oct. 29th._
As one has now time to go to the theatre, and the best actors are
playing, I devote many of my evenings to this æsthetic pastime. Last
night I saw with renewed pleasure Kemble's artist-like representation of
Falstaff, about which I once wrote to you. I must however mention, that
his dress of white and red,--very 'recherché,' though a little worn,
combined with his handsome curling white hair and beard,--gave him a
happy mixture of the gentleman and the droll, which in my opinion
greatly heightened, and, so to say, refined the effect.
Generally speaking, the costume was excellent;--on the other hand it
must be admitted to be an unpardonable destruction of all illusion, that
as soon as Henry the Fourth, with his splendid Court, and his train of
knights, brilliant in steel and gold, quit the stage, two servants in
theatrical liveries, with shoes and red stockings, come on to take away
the throne. I found it just as impossible to reconcile myself to hearing
Lord Percy address the King, who was sitting at the back of the stage,
for a quarter of an hour, during the whole of which time I never could
catch sight of anything but his back. It is remarkable that the most
celebrated actors here regularly affect this offensive practice; while
with us they run into the contrary fault, and the 'primo amoroso' during
the most ardent declaration of love, turns his back on his mistress to
ogle the audience. To hit the right medium is certainly difficult, and
the stage arrangements ought to assist the actor.
Of the character of Percy, German actors generally make a sort of mad
calf, who behaves both towards his wife and towards the King as if he
had been bitten by a mad dog. These men don't know when to soften, and
when to heighten the effects of the poet. Young understands this
thoroughly, and knows perfectly how to unite the stormy vehemence of the
youth with the dignity of the hero and the high bearing of the prince.
He suffered the electric fire to dart in lightnings from the
thunder-cloud, but not to degenerate into a pelting hail-storm. They
appear to me, too, to act together here, better than on the German
stage, and many of the scenic arrangements seemed to me judicious.
To give you one example:--you remember (for we once saw this play
together at Berlin) the scene in which the King receives Percy's
messengers. You thought it so indecorous that Falstaff should be
continually pressing forward before, and up to, the King, and rudely
interrupting him every moment with his jokes. The cause of this was,
that our actors think so much more of their persons than of their parts.
Herr D---- feels himself 'every inch a King' in comparison with Herr
M----; and forgets whom they severally represent at the moment. Here
Shakspeare is better understood, and the scene more appropriately
represented. The King stands with the ambassadors in the front of the
stage; the Court is scattered in groups; and midway on one side are the
Prince and Falstaff. The latter cracks his jokes, as a half-privileged
buffoon; but rather addresses them in an under voice to the Prince than
directly to the King: when addressed by him, he immediately assumes the
respectful attitude suited to his station, and does not affect to
fraternize with his sovereign as with an equal.
In this manner you can give in to the illusion of seeing a Court before
you; in the other, you think yourself still in Eastcheap. The actors
here live in better society and have more tact.
_Nov. 23d._
It is curious enough that men regard that alone as a wonder which is at
a distance from them, in time or space; the daily wonders near them they
pass by unheeded. Yet we must be now living in the days of the Arabian
Nights, for I have seen a creature to-day far surpassing all the
fantastic beings of that time.
Listen what are the monster's characteristics. In the first place, its
food is the cheapest possible, for it eats nothing but wood or coals.
When not actually at work, it requires none. It never sleeps, nor is
weary; it is subject to no diseases, if well organized at first, and
never refuses its work till it becomes incapable by great length of
service. It is equally active in all climates, and undertakes every kind
of labour without a murmur. Here it is a miner, there a sailor, a
cotton-spinner, a weaver, a smith, or a miller;--indeed it performs the
business of each and all of them; and though a small creature, it draws
ninety tons of goods, or a whole regiment of soldiers packed into
carriages, with a swiftness exceeding that of the fleetest
stage-coaches. At the same time it marks its own measured steps on a
tablet fixed in front of it. It regulates, too, the degree of warmth
necessary to its well-being: it has a strange power of oiling its inmost
joints when they are stiff, and of removing at pleasure all injurious
air which might find its way into its system;--but should any thing
become deranged in it, it immediately warns its master by the loud
ringing of a bell. Lastly, it is so docile, spite of its immense
strength (nearly equal to that of six hundred horses,) that a child of
four years old is able in a moment to arrest its mighty labours, by the
pressure of his little finger.
Would people formerly have believed that such a ministering spirit could
be summoned by anything but Solomon's signet? or did ever a witch burnt
for sorcery produce its equal?
Now a new wonder. Only magnetise five hundred gold pieces with a strong
will to change them into such a creature, and after a few preliminary
ceremonies, you will see him established in your service. The spirit
ascends in vapour, but never vanishes. He remains your lawful slave for
life. Such are the miracles of our times, which perhaps surpass many of
the most extraordinary of former ages.
I spent the evening at the house of Lady C---- B----, who has just
finished a new novel, called "Flirtation." I talked very frankly to her
about it, for she is a clever and a good woman.* * *
* * * * *
I don't know whether I told you that I lodge at the house of a
dress-maker in Albemarle-street, who has collected around her a perfect
garland of English, French, and Italian girls. All is decorum itself;
but there are many talents among them which can be turned to
account--among others, that of a French girl, who has a genius for
cooking, and has thus enabled me to entertain my kind friend L---- in my
own little home. Dinner, concert (droll enough it was, for the
performers were all 'couturières'), a little dance for the young ladies,
a great many artificial flowers, a great many lights, a very few
intimate friends;--in short, a sort of rural fête in this busy town. The
poor girls were delighted, and it was almost morning before they went to
bed, though the duenna kept faithful watch and ward to the last moment.
I was greatly praised and thanked by all; though in their hearts they no
doubt liked my young friend L---- much better.
_Nov. 28th._
A great actor,--a true master of his art, certainly stands very high.
What knowledge and power he must have! How much genius must he unite
with corporeal grace and address!--how much creative power, with the
most perfect knowledge of wearisome 'routine!'
This evening, for the first time since my residence here, I saw
Macbeth,--perhaps the most sublime and perfect of Shakspeare's
tragedies. Macready, who has lately returned from America, played the
part admirably. The passages in which he appeared to me peculiarly true
and powerful, were, first, the night-scene in which he comes on the
stage after the murder of Duncan, with the bloody dagger, and tells his
wife that he has done the deed. He carried on the whole conversation in
a low voice, as the nature of the incident requires;--like a whisper in
the dark,--yet so distinctly, and with such a fearful expression, that
all the terrors of night and crime pass with the sound into the hearer's
very soul. Not less excellent was the difficult part with Banquo's
ghost. The fine passage--
"What man dare, I dare.
Approach, then, like the rugged Russian bear,
The arm'd rhinoceros, or Hyrcanian tiger;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword;
If trembling I inhibit, then protest me
The baby of a girl. Hence, terrible shadow!
Unreal mockery, hence!" &c.
with great judgment he began with all the vehemence of desperation;
then, overcome by terror, dropped his voice lower and lower, till the
last words were tremulous and inarticulate. Then, uttering a subdued cry
of mortal horror, he suddenly cast his mantle over his face and sank
back half-lifeless on his seat. He thus produced the most apalling
effect. As man, you felt tremblingly with him, that our most daring
courage can oppose nothing to the terrors of another world;--you saw no
trace of the stage-hero, who troubles himself little about nature; and
playing only to produce effect on the galleries, seeks his highest
triumph in an ascending scale of noise and fury. Macready was admirable,
too, in the last act; in which conscience and fear are equally deadened
and exhausted, and rigid apathy has taken the place of both; when the
last judgment breaks over the head of the sinner in three rapidly
succeeding strokes,--the death of the Queen, the fulfilment of the
delusive predictions of the witches, and Macduff's terrific declaration
that he is not born of woman.
What had previously tortured Macbeth's spirit--had made him murmer at
his condition, or struggle against the goadings of his conscience,--can
now only strike him with momentary terror, like a lightning flash. He is
weary of himself and of existence; and fighting, as he says in bitter
scorn, 'bear-like,' he falls at length, a great criminal--but withal a
king and a hero.
Equally masterly was the combat with Macduff, in which inferior actors
commonly fail;--nothing hurried, yet all the fire, nay, all the horror
of _the end_,--of the final rage and despair.
I shall never forget the ludicrous effect of this scene at the first
performance of Spiker's translation at Berlin. Macbeth and his
antagonist set upon each other in such a manner, that, without intending
it, they got behind the scenes before their dialogue was at an end;
whence the words "Hold--enough!" (what went before them being
inaudible,) sounded as if Macbeth was run down and had cried, (holding
out his sword and deprecating any further fighting,) "Leave
off--hold--enough!"
Lady Macbeth, though played by a second-rate actress,--for, alas! since
the departure of Mrs. Siddons and Miss O'Neil there is no first
rate--pleased me better in her feeble delineation of the character, than
many would-be-great 'artistes' of our fatherland, whose affected manner
is suited to no single character in Shakspeare.
I do not, however, entirely participate in Tieck's well-known view of
this character. I would fain go still deeper into it. Scarcely any man
understands how the love of a woman sees _every thing_ solely as it
regards or affects the beloved object; and thence, for a time at least,
knows virtue or vice only with relation to him.
Lady Macbeth, represented as a furious Megæra who uses her husband only
as an instrument of her own ambition, is wanting in all inward truth,
and, still more, in all interest. Such a woman would be incapable of
that profound feeling of her own crime and misery so fearfully expressed
in the sleeping scene; it is only in the presence of her husband, and in
order to give him courage, that she always seems the stronger; that she
shows neither fear nor remorse; that she jests at them in him, and seeks
to deafen herself to their voice in her own heart.
She is certainly not a gentle, feminine character; but womanly love to
her husband is nevertheless the leading motive of her actions.
As the poet reveals to us her secret agonies in the night scene, so
likewise does he suffer us to perceive that Macbeth had long ago
betrayed to her those ambitious wishes lurking in his breast, which he
had scarcely confessed to himself: and thus it is that the witches
choose Macbeth as their own,--as worms and moths attack what is already
diseased and decaying,--only because they find him ripe for their
purpose. She knows then, the inmost desires of his heart; to _satisfy
him_, she hurries with passionate vehemence to his aid, and, with all
the devoted impetuosity of a woman, far outstrips even his thoughts. The
more Macbeth falters and draws back--half acting a part with himself and
with her,--the more is her zeal quickened; she represents herself, to
herself and to him, more cruel, more hard-hearted than she is; and works
herself up by artificial excitements, only that she may inspire him with
the courage and determination necessary to accomplish his ends. To him
she is ready to sacrifice not only all that stands between Macbeth and
his wishes, but _herself_; the peace of her own conscience--nay, all
womanly thoughts and feelings towards others; and to call the powers of
darkness to aid and strengthen her.
It is only when viewed in this manner that her character appears to me
dramatic, or the progress of the piece psychologically true. Viewed in
the other light, we find nothing in it but a caricature--a thing
impossible to Shakspeare's creative spirit, which always paints possible
men, and not unnatural monsters or demons of the fancy.
And thus do they mutually urge each down the precipice; for neither,
singly, would have fallen so far;--Macbeth, however, manifestly with
greater selfishness; and therefore is his end, like his torment, the
more painful.
It is a great advantage to the performance of this piece when the part
of Macbeth, and not that of the Lady, falls to the actor of genius. Of
that I was strongly convinced to-day. If Lady Macbeth, by superiority of
acting, is converted into the principal character, the whole tragedy is
contemplated in a false point of view. It is something quite other than
the real one, and loses the greatest part of its interest, when we see a
ferocious amazon, and a hero under her slipper who suffers himself to be
used as a mere tool of her projects. No,--in _him_ lies the germ of the
sin from the beginning; his wife does but help him: he is by no means a
man of originally noble temper, who, seduced by the witches, becomes a
monster;--but, as in Romeo and Juliet the passion of love is led from
the innocent childishness of its first budding, in a mind too
susceptible of its power, through all the stages of delight, to despair
and death,--so in Macbeth the subject of the picture is self-seeking
ambition fostered by powers of evil, passing from an innocence that was
but apparent, and the fame of an honoured hero, to the blood-thirstiness
of the tiger, and to the end of a hunted wild beast. Nevertheless, the
man in whose soul the poison works is gifted with so many lofty
qualities, that we can follow the struggle and the developement with
sympathy. What an inconceivable enjoyment would it be to see such a work
of genius represented by great actors throughout, where none were a mere
subordinate! This however could be accomplished only by spirits, as in
Hofmann's ghostly representation of Don Juan.
You will perhaps find much that is incongruous in these views; but
recollect that great poets work like Nature herself. To every man they
assume the garb and colour of his own mind, and thence admit of various
interpretations. They are so rich, that they distribute their gifts
among a thousand poor, and yet have abundance in reserve.
Many of the stage arrangements were very praiseworthy. For instance, the
two murderers whom Macbeth hires to murder Banquo, are not, as on our
stage, ragged ruffians,--by the side of whom the King, in his regal
ornaments and the immediate vicinity of his Court, exhibits a ridiculous
contrast, and who could never find access to a palace in such a dress;
but of decent appearance and behaviour,--villains, but not beggars.
The old Scottish costume is thoroughly handsome, and is probably more
true to the times, certainly more picturesque, than with us. The
apparition of Banquo, as well as the whole disposition of the table, was
infinitely better. In this the Berlin manager made a ludicrous 'bévue.'
When the King questions the murderers concerning Banquo's death, one of
them answers,
"My lord, his throat is cut."
This was taken so literally, that a most disgusting pasteboard figure
appears at table with the throat cut from ear to ear. The ascent and
descent of this monster is so near akin to a puppet-show, that, with all
the good-will in the world to keep one's countenance, one can hardly
manage it. Here the entrance of the ghost is so cleverly concealed by
the bustle of the guests taking their seats at several tables, that it
is not till the King prepares to sit down that the dreadful form seated
in his place, is suddenly visible to him and to the audience. Two bloody
wounds deface his pale countenance (of course it is the actor himself
who played Banquo), without rendering it ludicrous by nearly severing
the head from the body; and when he looks up fixedly at the King from
the festive tables, surrounded by the busy tumult of the guests, then
nods to him, and slowly sinks into the earth, the illusion is as perfect
as the effect is fearful and thrilling.
But, to be just, I must mention one ridiculous thing that occurred here.
After the murder of the King, when there is a knocking at the door, Lady
Macbeth says to her husband--
"Hark, more knocking!
Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us,
And show us to be watchers."
Now 'nightgown' does indeed mean dressing-gown; but yet I could scarcely
believe my eyes, when Macready entered in a fashionable flowered chintz
dressing-gown, (perhaps the one he usually wears,) loosely thrown over
his steel armour, which was seen glittering at every movement of his
body, and in this curious costume drew his sword to kill the
chamberlains who were sleeping near the King.
I did not observe that this struck any body; indeed the interest was
generally so slight, the noise and mischief so incessant, that it is
difficult to understand how such distinguished artists can form
themselves, with so brutal, indifferent, and ignorant an audience as
they have almost always before them. As I told you, the English theatre
is not fashionable, and is scarcely ever visited by what is called 'good
company.' The only advantage in this state of things is, that actors are
not spoiled by that indulgence which is so ruinous to them in Germany.
The Freischütz was performed the same evening--after Macbeth. Weber,
like Mozart, must be content to be 'travaillé' by Mr. Bishop, with his
abridgments and additions. It is a positive affliction and misery to
hear them: and not only the music, but the fable, is robbed of all its
character. It is not Agatha's lover, but the successful marksman, who
comes to the wolf's glen and sings Caspar's favourite song. The Devil,
in long red drapery, dances a regular shawl-dance before he carries off
Caspar to hell, which is very pleasingly represented by cascades of
fire, scarlet 'coulisses,' and heaps of skeletons.
Here then the comparison with Germany is as much to our advantage as it
is the contrary in tragedy. I wish, however, the matter were reversed.
_Dec. 2nd._
I wrote you word lately, that I was better; since that time I have been
almost constantly unwell. One ought never to boast of anything, as the
old women say; for, adds Walter Scott, "it is unlucky to announce things
which are not yet certain." This indeed I have often experienced. As to
my health, it is as unintelligible as all the rest of me.
You doubtless wonder that I remain in London in this thankless season;
but I have still friends here--besides, I have settled into this quiet
life, which is only interrupted by the noise and clatter of the little
troop of 'couturières' in the house; the theatre too has begun to
interest me, and the serenity of this seclusion refreshes me after the
former tumult. It is indeed so quiet and solitary, that, like the
celebrated prisoner in the Bastille, I have formed a 'liaison' with a
mouse,--a darling little creature, and doubtless an enchanted 'lady:'
when I am at work, she glides timidly out of her hole, looks at me from
a distance with her little eyes twinkling like stars, becomes tamer
every day; and enticed by bits of cake which I regularly deposit six
inches from her residence, in the right corner of my room.--At this
moment she is eating one with great grace--and now she frisks about the
room quite at her ease. But what do I hear? an incessant loud cry in the
street! Mousey has fled in terror to her corner.
"What is the matter?" said I; "what an infernal noise!" "War is
proclaimed--a second edition of The Times is cried about the streets."
"War, with whom?" 'I don't know.' This is one branch of trade among the
poor devils in London: when they can contrive nothing else, they cry
some 'great news,' and sell an old paper to the curious for sixpence;
you seize it in a hurry, you understand nothing clearly, you look at the
date, and laugh at finding you have been taken in.
As is always the case when I live alone, I have unfortunately so
completely turned day into night, that I seldom breakfast before four in
the afternoon, dine at ten or eleven after the play, and walk or ride in
the night. It is generally not only finer but ('mirabile dictu')
brighter in the night. The days are so foggy that even if there are
lamps and candles you can't see them a yard off; but in the night the
gas-lights sparkle like diamonds, and the moon shines as bright as in
Italy. As I galloped home last night through the wide and quiet streets,
white and coal-black clouds coursed each other swiftly over her face,
and afforded a singularly wild and enchanting spectacle. The air was
serene and mild; for the late cold has been succeeded by almost spring
weather.
Except L---- and the standing dishes at the clubs, I see few persons but
Prince P----, who is accused here of great haughtiness and _brusquerie_.
They likewise whisper that he is a very Blue Beard to his poor wife, and
that he shut her up for six years in a solitary castle in a wood, so
that at last, wearied by ill treatment, she was obliged to consent to a
separation. What say you, good Julia, to this unhappy fate of your best
friend.
How strangely, however, do rumours and calumnies sometimes arise! How
little can we foresee the inconceivable heterogeneous consequences of
human actions! What quite unexpected rocks peril our course! Nay, in the
moral as in the physical world, we often see tares arise where wheat was
sown, while beautiful flowers and fragrant herbs spring out of the
dunghill.
I have received your long letter, and give you my heartiest thanks for
it. Do not be displeased that I so seldom answer in detail, but in some
sort pay off the sum of the passages, the neglect of which you reproach
me with. Be assured that not a word is lost upon me. Remember that one
gives no other answer to the rose for its precious fragrance, than to
inhale it with delight. To dissect it would not enhance our pleasure.
'Au reste,' I regret that I have now neither the materials nor the
disposition to send you such roses in return. The wall is as bare before
me as a white sheet--no kind of 'ombre Chinoise' will appear upon it.
_Woolmers, Dec. 11th._
Sir G---- O----, formerly English ambassador to Persia, had invited me
to his country house, whither I drove this morning.
I arrived late, in darkness and rain, and was obliged to dress instantly
to go to a ball at Hatfield, which Lady Salisbury gives on a certain day
of the week to the neighbourhood, during the whole time of her residence
in the country. The going there is therefore received as a sort of call,
and no invitations are sent. Sir G---- took his whole party, among whom
was Lord Strangford, the well-known ambassador to Constantinople.
You remember that on my return from my northern excursion I saw Hatfield
'en passant.' I found the interior as imposing and respectable, from its
air of antiquity, as the exterior. You enter a hall hung with banners
and armour; then climb a singular staircase, with carved figures of
apes, dogs, monks, &c., and reach a long and rather narrow gallery, in
which the dancing was going on. The walls are of old oak 'boiserie,'
with curious old-fashioned silver chandeliers fixed to them. At one end
of this gallery is a library, and at the other a splendid room with deep
metal ornaments depending from the panels of the ceiling, and an
enormously high chimney-piece surmounted by a statue of King James. The
'local' was very beautiful, but the ball dull enough, and the company
rather too rural. At two o'clock all was over, and I very glad; for,
weary and 'ennuyé,' I longed for rest.
The next morning I delighted myself with a review of the various Persian
curiosities which decorated the rooms. I was particularly struck by a
splendid manuscript, with miniatures, which excelled all the
illuminations of the middle ages in Europe, and were often more correct
in drawing. The subject of the book is the history of Tamerlane's
family, and is said to have cost two thousand pounds in Persia. It is a
present from the Shah. Doors inlaid with precious metals; sofas and
carpets of curious velvet, embroidered with gold and silver; above all,
a golden dish splendidly enamelled, and many finely-worked 'bijoux,'
show that if the Persians are behind us in many things, they surpass us
in some.
The weather has cleared a little, and enticed me to a solitary walk.
Noble trees, a little river, and a grove, under whose thick shade a
remarkably copious spring gushes forth as if from the centre of the
earth, are the chief beauties of the park. When I returned, it was two
o'clock, the hour of luncheon; after which Sir Gore showed me his
Arabian horses, and some of them were quickly saddled for a ride. The
groom had little else to do than to jump off and on his horse to open
the gates which interrupted our course every minute. This is the case in
most English parks, and still more in fields, which makes riding, except
on the high roads, somewhat troublesome. In the afternoon we had music.
The daughter of the house and Mrs. F---- distinguished themselves as
admirable pianistes. The hearers were, however, perfectly unconstrained;
they went and came, talked or listened, just as they felt inclined.
When the ladies had retired to dress, Sir Gore and Lord Strangford told
us many anecdotes of the East--a theme of which I never tire. Both these
gentlemen are great partisans of the Turks, and Lord Strangford spoke of
the Sultan as a very enlightened man. He was probably, he said, the
first ambassador from any Christian power who had had several private
conferences with the Grand Signior. At these a singular etiquette was
observed: the Sultan received him in the garden of the Seraglio, in the
dress of an officer of his body-guard, and in that character always
addressed Lord Strangford with the greatest deference in the third
person; Lord Strangford did not venture to let it appear that he
recognized him. He declared that the Sultan was better informed about
Russia than a great many European politicians, and knew perfectly well
what he was undertaking.[72]
After dinner, at which we had some Oriental dishes, and I drank genuine
Schiraz for the first time in my life, (no very pleasant wine, by the
by, for it tastes of the goat-skins,) we had music again, and 'des
petits jeux.' As these latter were not remarkably successful, the whole
party went to bed in good time.
_December 12th._
I have bought a coal-black horse, a thing as wild as a roe, of my host's
Arab breed; and to give him a longer trial, we rode over to pay a visit
to Lady Cowper, who lives in the neighbourhood. The park and house of
Pansanger are well worth seeing, especially the picture-gallery, which
contains two of Raphael's early Madonnas; and a singularly fine portrait
of Marshal Turenne on horseback, by Rembrandt. Lady Cowper received us
in her boudoir, which led immediately into a beautiful garden, even now
gay with flowers, on the other side of which are green-houses, and a
dairy in the form of a temple.
Pansanger is celebrated for the largest oak in England. It is nineteen
feet and a half in circumference six feet from the ground, and is at the
same time very straight and lofty, though its branches reach to a great
extent on all sides. We have larger oaks than this in Germany.
To reconnoitre the country still more fully, we afterwards made a second
visit to Hatfield, which I viewed more accurately.
The whole house, including kitchen and wash-house, is heated by one
steam-engine. The Dowager Marchioness, the most active woman in England
of her age, did the honours herself, and led us about into every hole
and corner. The chapel contains some admirable old painted
glass,--buried in Cromwell's time, to which it is indebted for its
escape when the frantic iconoclasts destroyed all the church windows. In
one of the rooms was a fine portrait of Charles the Twelfth,--that 'Don
Quixote en grand,' who, but for Pultawa, would perhaps have become a
second Alexander. In the present stables (formerly the house,) Elizabeth
lived a captive during the reign of her sister Mary. The Queen ordered a
very lofty pointed chimney, surmounted with an iron rod, to be built on
a gable opposite to her sister's window, and caused it to be insinuated
to her that this rod was destined to receive her head. So the
Marchioness told us. The chimney is still standing, and is thickly
overgrown with ivy; but Elizabeth, to feast on the delightful contrast
in after years, when she could contemplate the threatening pinnacle with
more agreeable feelings, built the new palace close to it. The house is
poor in works of art, and the park rich only in large avenues of oaks
and in rocks; otherwise dreary, and without water, except a nasty green
standing pool near the house.
_December 13th._
In my host's house is a singular picture gallery,--a Persian one, which
contains some very curious things. The portraits of the present Shah,
and of his son Abbas, are the most interesting. The yellow dress of the
former, covered with precious stones of every kind, and his enormous
black beard, form a very characteristic picture of this Son of the Sky
and of the Sun. _His_ son, however excels him in beauty of feature; but
he is almost too simply dressed, and the pointed sheepskin cap is not
becoming. The late Persian ambassador to England completes the trio. He
was a very handsome man, and fell into European manners and customs with
such ease, that the English speak of him as a perfect Lovelace. On his
return home he proved himself nowise 'discret,' but compromised several
English ladies of rank in a shameful manner.
Some large dressed dolls gave a faithful idea of the fair sex in Persia,
with long hair painted red or blue, arched and painted eyebrows, large
languishing eyes of fire, pretty gauze pantaloons, and gold rings round
the ankles.
Lady O---- told us many amusing details of the Harem, which I reserve
till we meet, that I may not exhaust all my resources.
Many things in Persia seem to be very agreeable, many the very reverse;
among them the scorpions and insects.
These things we are free from in our temperate climates. Let us all
therefore be contented in them; a wish which I cordially form for you
and me.
Your L----.