two or three months upon the Continent. Our party consists of Ld.
Duncannon,[133] Mr. Marsh, Dr. Drew, Charles, Hortense, Charles,
4 maids, and five men. We manage to stuff all into a coach and
postchaise. We set off at five o’clock in the afternoon, slept at
Epping Place; began our journey the next day at 7. At Newmarket I
saw D. of Queensberry: he wanted us to dine with him. He was violent
at the continuance of the war, and spoke roundly against Ministers.
He told Ld. H., upon the Dutch business, that if he had not made a
determination never to vote against Government he would have voted with
him upon that question. Mr. Vernon also came and sat by me whilst I
eat: he envied my stomach that could digest and relish cold meat and
porter. We stopped at Thetford. The D. of Bedford thought our coming
so uncertain, that he did not hear even of our arrival until 10, and
it was then too late to join us at supper, for we went to bed at ½
past nine. This morning we were up at 4 o’clock, off at 6, and passed
through Norwich (where Ld. D. overtook us), and got here (Yarmouth)
at about 2. Ld. Spencer wrote to order a convoy, but there is some
difficulty about getting a better than a cutter. The Admiral (Dickson)
has just been with me; he promises _two_ cutters, but the lugger
in port is better.
We were landed upon _terra firma_ within fifty hours after we had
sailed from Yarmouth, a surprisingly quiet passage. Met on our way from
the _jettée_ at Cuxhaven, Mr. Arbuthnot; he now is attached to
Prince Augustus. I knew him formerly at Naples when he travelled with
Ld. Digby.
The party set off that day, and slept at Basbeck, where
there was no inn. ‘Ld. H. and self lay upon the ground in
the room we supped in; the gentlemen, Charles, and the
maids lay in a large room together.’ They took the road to
Hamburg by Cranz, crossing the Elbe at Blankenese. ‘The
wind rose and the water was rough; we were about forty
minutes in the passage.’
[Sidenote: HAMBURG]
We came through Altona to this place (Hamburg) where we are very
tolerably lodged at Kaysershoff. Mr. Berchemeyer, a great merchant,
called to offer us every civility, as did Mr. Parish, the son of the
late American Consul; he belongs to a great house of commerce. In the
evening of the 18th we drove about the ramparts, and went to the French
comedy, a neat theatre with a tolerable _troupe_.
During our stay at Hamburg we received much hospitality and civility.
On the Sunday after our arrival we dined with Mrs. Parish at their
country house upon the banks of ye Elbe. She is a sensible, voluble
Scotchwoman. The party consisted chiefly of merchants; Symons, his wife
and sisters, Flemings and relations of the famous coachbuilder of that
name at Bruxelles. The ladies were recently returned from Paris, but
their attire was such as Bonaparte would have corrected. We returned
early, as the gates shut always at nine, the only one which is left
open until eleven is only attainable by crossing the Alster, a sort of
lake.
Bourgoing,[134] the traveller and author, on his way to his mission to
Copenhagen, demanded of the Senate of Hamburg two French emigrants,
who are conductors of a journal called the _Censeur_, in which
Bonaparte is virulently and clumsily abused. Paul’s Minister, on behalf
of his master, claimed them, and the business is not settled. This is
merely a pendant to our claiming Napper Tandy, for one injustice begets
another.[135] Dumouriez is extremely out of spirits, indeed well may
he be from the absurdity and inconsistency of his conduct. All that
are busy and idle assemble at Hamburg, merchants and sharpers--Major
Semple,[136] Mr. Holcroft,[137] Dr. Maclean,[138] etc. On Wednesday we
dined at Monsr. Mathison’s[139]; he is a wealthy merchant married to
Henriette, one of Mde. Genlis’s _élèves_, and in consequence of
her connection with Ly. Edward[140] is become one of her most cordial
and useful friends. Ly. Ed. lives in his house.
[Sidenote: MADAME DE GENLIS]
Mde. Genlis was just arrived from Berlin; I felt great curiosity to see
a woman so justly celebrated for cleverness. Her countenance denotes
talent and mischief; more of the latter than real vice. She has just
published a new novel, _Les Mères Rivales_; there are some good
things in it, but it is rather tedious from its length. She gives her
political and religious creed, which are curious from the novelty of
her having any. Bourbon monarchy and Papal Catholicism she now holds
to be indispensable to the benefit and salvation of mankind. Permission
has been granted for her return; her own account is that Bonaparte has
ordered her into France from regret that so great an ornament should
seek repose in a foreign country.
On Thursday Dumouriez and Berchemeyer dined with us. In the morning
we went to see Klopstock, the father and founder of German poetry.
He is now near 90 years of age, full of vivacity and as strong in
intellect as he probably ever was. His writings are known throughout
Germany, but are difficult to translate, as they are in the sublime,
incomprehensible style. His _Messiah_ is his greatest work. He
talked to us of English literature, especially of Pope’s Homer.
In the evening we went with Mrs. Parish to the Syndic Dormanne’s
house in the country. It was a day of festivity, being an annual
commemoration of a charitable institution. We laughed at Marsh, who
endeavoured to make a compliment to the Syndic about his house, and
began praising it as a town house, whereas the Syndic had been pointing
out to us the _champêtre_ appearance and the _point de vue
pittoresque_ which it enjoyed. But Marsh persisted in his original
idea, and dwelt upon its excellence considering it was in a populous
town. The truth is the house, tho’ two miles from the city, is one in a
sort of row upon the Alster.
They left Hamburg on July 24, to go by Hanover to Berlin,
crossing the Elbe at Tollenspicker. ‘The carriage came
over in the regular ferry boat, which is of a singular
construction considering that the waves are sometimes
high; the ends are both open. Marsh and Duncannon bought a
horse between them, which keeps up with German travelling,
a proof of its rapidity!’ They slept the first night at
Lüneburg. The road to Zell lay through a stretch of forest
land, but sparsely inhabited, ‘not more than three villages
sprinkled over an extent of thirty miles.’ Lady Holland
says, ‘On the whole it is the worst country I ever saw, and
naturally so incapable of improvement that it would baffle
the agricultural skill of our English improvers.’
From Zell to Hanover two posts: we were eight hours. Saw nothing but
forests of diminutive firs, deep sands, and barren wastes. In fifty
years there may perhaps be a tolerable road; at present all that
appears is that probability. The _chaussée_ is marked out, trees were
planted, and even in some places stones are collected in heaps, but
only here and there for about a hundred yards are any laid on the road;
and where there is that small portion of _pavé_, it seems merely to be
a pretext for a heavy toll. Well may these Hanoverian surveyors boast,
as did one of the French patriots, that they labour for posterity!
Arrived at Hanover ye 27th July, 1800.
_28th._--The King’s stables, or rather stud, are very fine. It is from
hence he is supplied with the white and cream-coloured horses which
draw his state coach; they are beautiful animals, but have a diseased,
unhealthy look, especially about the eyes, which have a reddish hue.
The breed of horses and men are alike, and I could trace a likeness
to my liege Lord and Sovereign among his coach horses. They breed
good-sized mules from Italian asses. I was surprised at finding them
so good in this cold climate, for tho’ as hot as Italy now, the cold
in winter is insufferable. The riding house is large and grand; one or
two riding masters were busy _dresser_ these _manège_ horses. It is a
graceful action, a man on a well-dressed horse, and it is much to the
loss of our young men that the slouching fashion of riding gets the
better of the _manège_ method. The boys hoot at Duncannon and Marsh,
and abuse them for their ignorance of riding, calling out jeeringly
‘Englan_der_.’
[Sidenote: HANOVER]
Saw a beautiful palace built by the D. of York, sold by him to one
Eckhart, an army commissary, and repurchased by the King; and now
occupied by Prince Adolphus.[141] It is exactly like a Paris hotel; the
whole was executed under the direction of a French architect, and the
furniture and decorations brought from Paris and Lyons. The Electoral
Palace is old, irregular, and vast. One of the inner courts was
destroyed by fire, and rebuilt by George II. In his private apartment
they showed us the altar he commonly used, which had been rescued
from the flames; it was very much scorched. His common walking cane
the _concierge_ kissed with veneration, adding, ‘_He_ loved us, _he_
lived among us.’ The Hanoverians are short-sighted enough to regret
not having their Sovereign among them; they long for the splendour of
a Court, without taking into account that his residence would entail
taxes, burthens of various sorts, and perhaps wars.
A dark passage between the ball-room and the Electress’s private
apartments is shown as the spot where Königsmark was murdered. He had
slipped out from the festive scene to indulge in the softer delights of
love in the arms of the Electress; on his return he was rushed upon by
the guards with their halberds, and dispatched. Various stories were
invented, some that he was put into an oven and suffocated, another
that he was thrust into a reservoir and drowned, another that the
Elector (George I.) kept him to enjoy ye sight of his torture, etc.
True it was that he disappeared, and that the Electress was banished
her husband’s presence and exiled to a castle at _All_ or Aller.[142]
She was never permitted to go to England, or assume the title of Queen.
Some time afterwards B. Hoadly to satisfy the royal suspicions wrote
the play of _The Suspicious Husband_, which proves that a gentleman may
be in a lady’s bedroom at night most innocently. Königsmark was but a
_mauvais sujet_; he had run off from England for murder. He shot Mr.
Thynne in Hyde Park to prevent his marrying an heiress he had designs
upon.[143]
In the evening we went to drink tea with P. Adolphus at Montbrilliant.
He is remarkably handsome and pleasing in his manner, and since the
decline of the Prince’s beauty, is certainly the best looking of the
Royal Family. He complains of being exiled. He left England when he
was 12 years old, and since that time has only been there for four
months. I renewed my acquaintance with Count Münster and Tatter, two
Hanoverians whom I had formerly known at Rome when they were attached
to Prince Augustus.
When we arrived at Brunswick we found the inns filled with Jews and
infidels on account of the Fair, which is a great epoch in German
festivity. We, however, obtained a tolerable lodging. Mr. Kinnaird is
living in a _Swiss_ pension, imbibing Genevan principles; these upon a
Scotch _fond_ will produce a useful man to _himself_ and family.
[Sidenote: BRUNSWICK]
A most gracious invitation from the Court immediately on our arrival
being known; we dined there the next day. The Duke is a worthy nephew
of the great Frederick’s; but for the unfortunate invasion of France,
he would have been in addition to the best general of his time the most
successful.[144] His countenance marks a man of great talent. He is
reckoned reserved, but his good breeding prevents it from falling into
coldness. The Dss. is a most excellent, prating, good-hearted woman,
very like her brother the King, full as talkative and inquisitive, but
much less discreet. She rattled away upon all subjects. She put many
distressing questions to me about the P. and Pss., especially as to the
renewal of the _amour_ with Mrs. Fitzherbert, about which I expressed
the most profound ignorance. She could not conceal her dislike of the
Queen, whom she called haughty and proud of her station, as she was but
the daughter of an inferior Prince of Mecklenburg, an appanage of the
family.
After dinner the Dss. desired I would join her to pass the eve. at
Mde. Deodati’s, a dull card assembly. The weather was very hot. Poor
Drew fell ill, and kept his bed; a fever and spasms. On Thursday we
dined again at Court. In the evening went to the French comedy: a
very pretty theatre; afterwards to Mr. Des Arte, merely to please Mr.
Kinnaird, who is living with him. Mr. Ridley, a good-humoured young
man, K.’s fellow-traveller. On Friday received another invitation to
dine at Court; I wrote a letter of acknowledgment and apology to the
good Duchess. Drew was better, and we set off to Helmstadt. On the
right-hand side of the road a building with four painted towers, which
belies its warlike appearance, as it is nominally the seat of peace
and bliss--a convent; tho’ in fact hatred and discord sojourn chiefly
within such walls, and Ariosto was scarcely satiric when he makes the
angel seek discord in a monastery. Upon second thoughts I believe he
sought indolence, not discord. He might, however, have named both; one
is suspended only by the other.
The first night was spent at Helmstadt, the second at
Magdeburg. ‘Magdeburg is the frontier town on Prussian
territory. It was sacked by the barbarous Tilly at the
beginning of the bloody wars under Gustavus Adolphus, and
it has since afforded a prison to La Fayette, who lived a
year in the citadel, before he was transferred to a more
rigorous jailor, the Emperor.’
Zefur, their next halt. ‘We went to the worst inn, where
we were abominably cheated and abominably lodged.’ They
reached Potsdam at one o’clock the next night.
We went to the Palaces. I saw them about four years ago, but as they
are very fine I did not dislike another visit to them. The Great
Palace contains rooms as superb as any in Versailles, and may vie with
those at Rome and Genoa. Sans Souci, the retreat of Frederick, is a
delightful habitation. His apartment is entire: his private library
(consisting solely of French books) is untouched. In his bedroom the
only picture is a portrait of Gustavus Adolphus; in an adjoining room
a bronze bust of Charles XII. of Sweden. I paid my homage to the
apartment of Voltaire. He occupied it many years, until he capriciously
quarrelled with his Royal patron.
[Sidenote: SANS SOUCI]
Close by the windows of Frederick’s private apartments are the
monuments of his dogs--large flat stones with their names simply
inscribed upon them. Near is a space he allotted to himself, as he
desired to be interred amidst these barking favourites; but his
successor wisely disobeyed the injunction, and gave the atheistical
Monarch Christian burial. Marsh was furious. I thought the profanation
of giving the form of tombstone was the provocation, or the marked
contempt of sacred rites in desiring to be buried in the centre of his
dogs, but I suspect his anger proceeded from some other cause, his
marked preference for those animals above his fellow creatures.
_Wednesday, 6th August._--Road to Berlin excellent; arrived to dinner
at ½ past one. When I was there four years ago I only stayed a couple
of days, but barely sufficient to see the public buildings. Ld.
Carysfort,[145] the English Minister, and family were just arrived.
It is a new career for him, and one he enters into to repair the
derangement of a small fortune and owes to the interest of his wife,
who is Ld. Grenville’s sister. Mr. Garlike, poor Spencer’s friend, had
been Chargé d’Affaires. He is a mild, gentlemanlike man; he remains on
as Secretary to the Legation. Ld. H. had formerly been a good deal in
the Berlin society, particularly at Prince Ferdinand’s,[146] to whom he
made himself known, and we went there one evening to supper. The Pss.
is very talkative, and seems cross and clever.
I sent my card to Ly. C. as wife to the protector of the English, a
respect usual and due to the office; she did not return hers. It seemed
an unnecessary rudeness, but I presume she did as I did, viz., what we
each thought right to be done. Ld. C. invited the gentlemen to dinner;
Ld. H. refused civilly. I was confined to my bed and to the house for a
few days with a sharp fever and sore throat, ill enough to take James’s
powders and bark. I went to the German play, not a word of which could
I comprehend.
By mere accident we were introduced to their Prussian Majesties[147] in
the gardens of Charlottenburg. Ld. H. and Duncannon had missed their
presentation to the King by coming too late. He was going into Silesia,
and another day had not been fixed. I did not dream of being presented
to the Queen. However, during our walk we saw her glide like a nymph,
with a child in each hand, along the Terrace; soon after Mde. de Voss,
her _Gde. Maîtresse_, came and spoke to me and asked our names, which
as soon as she heard she offered to introduce us to the Queen. We
accordingly had the pleasure of seeing a most lovely woman; her figure
is the finest I ever saw, her manner very affable and easy. She told
me she was sorry we were going away from Berlin, but invited us back
in three weeks to the reviews. The King came up to us; he is a fine,
stout, soldier-like looking man. They are extremely attached to each
other; it was unlike Royal marriages, but was a union of love. She is a
Pss. of Mecklenburg. The children played and kissed Charles, who seemed
to abate his usual shyness in their favour.
At the Pss. Ferdinand’s at Bellevue I made acquaintance with Mde.
du Néal, whom I liked extremely. We had some thoughts of going to
Rheinsberg, the residence of Prince Henry;[148] she fortified us in
the idea, and offered letters to her two nieces, who compose part of
his Court. Mr. Bruce, Ld. Elgin’s brother, lodged in our hotel; he is
going back to India by way of Constantinople, where he means to visit
his brother; he dined with us. Ld. H. invited him out of good nature,
from hearing he was solitary and unacquainted with the society of
Berlin. Baron Schack, a _gens d’armes_ [_sic_], to whom we had been
civil in London, was at Berlin; he was too much occupied with love,
gambling, and military duties to be of much service to us.
[Sidenote: RHEINSBERG]
Determined to go to Rheinsberg. Set off at 12 o’clock at night on
Wednesday, 17th August. Left Charles and Drew: they were to go to
Potsdam. We were to join them there. Ld. Duncannon and myself went in
the open carriage; Ld. H., Marsh, and Hortense in the chaise; ye coach
and three servants left with Drew and Charles.
As soon as we reached Rheinsberg on Thursday eve. we went to the
inn, and sent out letters to the ladies and Count Brühl, one of the
Chamberlains. They were all at the _spectacle_, but the gentlemen came
out and invited us from the Prince to lodge in his _château_ and to
join him at the play. The latter was rather inconvenient as we had no
clothes with us (the other carriage being behind), besides that we had
travelled all night, and were dinnerless. Those difficulties were soon
settled, and we got in time to see the _Petite Pièce_.
The Prince is one of the most remarkable men in Germany; he
distinguished himself in his brother’s wars as a consummate general,
and may boast of having done that which is almost unparalleled, of
having put a French army to flight; at Rosbach they fled before him. He
is 75 years old, and possesses a strength and vivacity of intellect
equal to what he formerly enjoyed. He is a Frenchman in his heart,
he abhors everything German; cannot speak it. He has a delightful
French comedy; his _troupe_ of comedians is really good, the theatre
remarkably pretty. I never passed five days more delightfully than
under his hospitable roof.
The ladies we found clever, handsome, accomplished, and witty, and
endowed with some qualities so rare and captivating that they inspired
a sincere attachment. Mde. de la Rocheaimon is so perfectly pleasing,
good-hearted, sensible, and amiable, that I never yet saw the person
before whom I wished to have been my sister. I should like to pass many
of my future days in her society. Her cousin, Mde. Peneval, is witty
and highly accomplished; she is more _spirituelle_ than the other, and
the other is merrier. She is the widow of a French officer, who was
attached to the service of P. Henry; upon his death she was penniless
with three children. The Prince continues her husband’s pension,
lodging, etc.; the more kind, as she is, as she says, ‘La première
femme qui ait trouvé grâce auprès de lui.’ His weakness does not lie in
his love for the female sex.
We supped in a Chinese temple in the garden. It was illuminated,
and we had some excellent French horns playing in the wood; it was
delicious. The next morning we breakfasted by the lake; I bathed in it.
The Prince, and indeed the whole party, did every earthly thing they
could imagine would please us; I never experienced such warm-hearted,
zealous, unaffected desire of obliging as they manifested towards us.
He gave us extra plays, and, in short, did the utmost of his power to
convince us how much he was pleased at our visit. Rheinsberg is the
place where Frederick II. wrote his _Anti-Machiavel_, and where he
lived during the latter end of his father’s life.
[Sidenote: AN UNNECESSARY ALARM]
Drew grew uncomfortable at staying alone at Potsdam, and employed a
certain but alarming method of abridging our pleasure; he said Charles
was ill. We set off on Tuesday morning, perfectly persuaded we should
find the dear boy, if not quite well, yet at the worst only slightly
ill, but we would not risk the possibility of his being really ill, so
we went. We travelled all night and reached Potsdam at seven o’clock on
Wednesday. Found Charles feverish, but not worse than he has been fifty
times since his birth.
They left Potsdam two days later, passing through a dreary
country to Wittenberg and on to Torgau. From thence to
Leipsic and Dresden.
We quitted Dresden on Thursday, the 18th of September; dined early
before we set off and got in two hours and a half to Meissen. During
the night Elliot[149] sent us an _estafette_ with our English letters,
among them one from Mr. Moore to tell us the application for leave for
us to pass through France was referred from the Duke of Portland’s
office to Ld. Grenville’s; one from Mr. Fawkener saying that there were
obstacles, but he hoped they might be removed.[150]
They left next day for Weimar.
We arrived at Weimar between one and two. We passed the Dowager
Duchess’s palace, which stands to the left of the road. I had a
letter to D. Dss.,[151] but my low spirits about my eyes determined
us to go on as fast as we could to Cassel, there to wait the decision
whether to go by Cuxhaven home or by Calais. Dined; drove to Moutier’s
establishment at Bellevue. Since the Jacobinism has prevailed so
universally in the German Universities, young men go to this sort of
private Academy. We drove about and walked in the English garden,
which was made under the inspection of the famous Goethe, author of
_Werther_, and Prime Minister of this Duchy. Mr. Lawrence[152] called
in the evening; he is a whimsical young man, who has written several
strange things, but not wholly without talent. Ld. H. sent a letter to
Wieland to solicit his acquaintance, but he was in the country.
[Sidenote: OBLIGING OFFICIALS]
On arrival at Cassel Holland and Marsh called upon the French Minister,
_le citoyen Rivale_, who was remarkably civil, and gave the passport
from Bournonville. The passport is made out in the most marked and
obliging manner, everything troublesome omitted, no time limited, no
descriptions of our persons, and the route left blank for us to fill
up to Paris if we choose. The Secretary of Legation, Senurier, was
very good-natured to me. I had heard stories of robberies committed
by deserters beyond the French frontier but within their line of
demarcation, which rather alarmed me, and made me wish to have an
escort if possible. He accordingly gave a letter to any commander we
might find before Coblentz. Mr. Lorentz, the banker, very useful and
civil: he dined with us, managed about money, as it is illegal to draw
upon England from French territory.