[1831.]
Mrs. Fitzherbert, when William IV. visited her after his brother’s death, showed him the papers which proved her marriage with the late King, first by a Roman Catholic priest, and immediately afterwards by a clergyman of the Church of England. The King desired her to put on widow’s weeds. Mrs. Fitzherbert also showed these papers to the Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister. She is constantly invited to the Queen’s parties, and is treated with much respect.
January 8.—Dined at General Egerton’s, and went in the evening with him and Mrs. E. to a great party at the Pavilion. The Prince of Orange was there. He came yesterday, and is to stay till the 10th. He has been some time in England, and brought a letter to the King from his father, requesting his Majesty to be kind to him, as he himself had forgiven him. There was dancing, and some musicians from Bohemia played and sang.
February 14.—The King after dinner drank to the memory of the Earl of St. Vincent, and of all the brave officers and men who fought on that day and are now no more, and to the health of those who survive.
London, March 6.—The son of Murat lives in this (Dover) street. He arrived lately from America, where he is naturalised, and practises at the bar. He often visits his cousin Lady Dudley Stuart, the daughter of Lucien Bonaparte. The Prince of Orange, I hear, is frequently at their parties. Murat was at Lord Grey’s last night.
April 17.—Dined with the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, at their apartments in St. James’s Palace. The Landgravine was also there. The apartments are handsome. On the ground floor a waiting-room, library, and dining-room; and up-stairs, a large and superb drawing-room; excellent bedchamber, dressing-room, &c. There are several portraits—George III., Queen Charlotte, Mr. Pitt, two sons of the Duchess, a bust of Goethe, &c. The dinner was very good, and well served: all in the most proper style. The Duchess has excellent manners, and Prince George, who came in at the dessert, with two young companions, is really a delightful boy.
December 31.—This year has been one of the most painful to the feelings of those who have been accustomed to the principles of social order and morality, that I can remember. The French revolution in the last century cannot be recalled to mind without horror, as every period of it was marked by the most atrocious crimes, and a total contempt of morality and religion. But the insidious duplicity, the want of faith, and perversion of reason, which have brought about and coloured the progress of that of 1830, threaten Europe with a total disorganisation of political and moral principle. Alarm of every description is prevailing. The ties of blood and of alliance are forgotten; and while it is pretended that everything is being done for the maintenance of peace, no security is given for the preservation of internal tranquillity. France is still under the government of Louis Philippe and his Minister, Casimir Périer; Belgium, under that of Leopold. Poland is reoccupied by Russia. Italy, notwithstanding the efforts made to revolutionise her, is still quiet, except, perhaps, in the three Legations, and they are kept in awe by Austria.
[At the end of this lamentation, Miss Knight records various anecdotes she had picked up in the course of the year, a few of which are worth extracting.]
April 19.—Prince de Talleyrand wrote the other day to Louis Philippe, who had been intriguing to get the throne of Belgium for his second son, the Duke de Nemours: “Il faut que votre Majesté se rappelle qu’avant de pouvoir mettre le pied en Brabant, il faut avoir le pied en Europe.”
The Duke of Orleans was always making unjust complaints of Louis XVIII., and one day went so far as to say to M. de B. that it was very unwise to treat him in that manner, for, added he, “Je compte pour beaucoup en France.” M. de B. answered: “Cela n’est pas possible, monseigneur, car vous n’êtes ni brave, ni généreux;” and, turning his back on him, left the room. The Duke from that time overwhelmed M. de B. with civilities and flatteries.
Charles X. says that his conscience acquits him of having had anything in view contrary to the good of his people, whose lives he wished to spare, and whom he was only anxious to save from the artifices of faction. He was made to believe that there would be twenty-nine thousand troops in Paris, and that all would pass over quietly. The Dauphiness still speaks with tender affection of her native country, notwithstanding all she has suffered there. She said the other day to a lady: “On nous calomnie cruellement; mais croyez-vous que l’histoire nous rendra justice?”
The Grand-Duchess Helena is now (July) at Sidmouth, and her father, Prince Paul of Würtemberg, is with her. An Irish family were presented to her amongst others, when she said to them: “What are you doing here? You ought to be in your own country, and spending your money there.”
Don Pedro, Duke of Braganza, ex-Emperor of Brazil, told a lady of very high rank, who repeated it to me, that the misfortune of the present age was that none of the sovereigns had a head to manage affairs.
One of the French papers says, that in the recent elections M. B., a Royalist, has been chosen, at which it manifests great surprise, but adds, that the department for which he had been elected had not attained that degree of civilisation which excludes the idea of legitimacy. From the well-known opinions professed by the journal in question, it cannot be suspected of jesting on the subject.
Somebody having said in conversation that Ministers had advised his Majesty to dismiss his household troops, a gentleman answered: “In that case he should begin by dismissing the Greys.”
It is said Prince Leopold has been forced to accept the crown of Belgium. The expression is, “a pistol has been held to his throat, and another to that of the King of Holland, to make the one accept and the other resign, to avoid bringing England and Holland into collision.” We are not, however, obliged to believe this. Louis Philippe has long had great influence over Prince Leopold.
The King (William IV.) said the other day, in speaking of Don Pedro: “To be sure, we are both sovereigns—at least, he was one: but there is a great difference between us for all that; for I am an honest man, and he is a thief.”
A Frenchman, lately arrived in London, was asked if he had caught the influenza: “Ah! non,” he replied; “je l’ai prise en grippe.”
Lady Talbot of Malahide is turned of ninety. She is of a very ancient and distinguished family in Ireland, and, in gratitude for certain favours bestowed, came over to the Coronation, and went also to the following Drawing-room. I met one evening one of her sons, who is an Admiral, with his niece, her grand-daughter, and they said she was not in the least fatigued.
It has been discovered that four persons were sent from Paris to take the life of the Duke de Bordeaux. Three of them went in separate stagecoaches to Edinburgh, but they have been forced to return, and additional sentinels have been placed at Holyrood. The child now does not walk out with a servant as before, but only goes out in a carriage. The fourth assassin does not seem to have been found out.
A stranger happening to be in Paris soon after the revolution of July, 1830, was stopped by a young chimney-sweeper, who asked him if he had seen the King of the French. The other replied in the negative. “Would you like to see him?” continued the chimney-sweeper. “Only give me a piece of five francs and you shall see him.” The stranger agreed to do so, and they went away together to the Palais Royal. As soon as they were in sight of the balcony the boy began to call out, “Louis Philippe! Louis Philippe!” in which cry he was joined by the rabble near him. The King of the French came out to make his obeisance, and the gentleman gave a five-franc piece to the sweeper. “Now,” said the boy, “if you have a mind to hear him sing, only promise me five more, and you shall be satisfied.” The stranger assented, and his Majesty, at the command of the mob, joined in the Marseillaise Hymn, with all the appropriate grimaces.
At the time when Louis Philippe was shaking hands with everybody in the street, he held out his hand to a man, who said, “Stop a little.” Thrusting both hands in the mud he offered them to the King, saying, “Now they are fit for you.”
Thirty years ago Louis Philippe remarked: “Je n’aurai de paix que quand je serai Roi de France.”
Since the shameful business of the lawsuit respecting the late Duke of Bourbon’s will, they call Louis Philippe “Louis Filou.”
Le peuple! c’est le peuple qu’on loue et qu’on blâme:
Hélas! le bon peuple n’a ni raison ni tort:
Corps sain et vigoureux, dont un héros est l’âme,
Ou machine du traître agissant à ressort.
The young Duke de Bordeaux, while playing at ball, was accosted by a Frenchman with many compliments, who told him he would certainly be king. “La place est prise,” answered the boy. The man kept teasing him, and at last said: “Mais j’ai envie d’assassiner celui qui a pris cette place.” “Et moi,” replied the young Duke, “je le défendrai.” This was said with an air of noble contempt, and he would not listen to anything more the man had to say.
The Countess de N. says she knows from certain authority that Casimir Périer in his ravings, during the last few days of his life, fancied himself Charles X., and that he was constantly ordering to the block the traitor Périer.
The Duke de B., who lived so many years on the most intimate terms with Louis XVIII., declares, that the Memoirs published in his Majesty’s name were never written by him, for he burnt all his papers a short time before his death. He thinks they were revised by the Duke Decazes, but written by a M. Capefigue, of Marseilles.
[During the year 1832, Miss Knight divided her time between Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, London, Tottenham Park, Cheltenham, and Oxford. At the close of the year she was again at Brighton. She sums up as follows the events of the preceding twelve months: “What an eventful year! The dreadful ravages of the cholera in many places, especially in London and Paris, have carried off many well-known persons. Charles X. and his suite left Scotland, attended by the blessings and regrets of the inhabitants. He is now at Prague. The Duchess de Berri a prisoner in the castle of Blois. The citadel of Antwerp, bravely defended by General Chassé, compelled at length to surrender to Marshal Gérard. The combined fleets of France and England, meanwhile, unable to approach the coast on account of the weather. Affairs not yet settled. Prince Otho, of Bavaria, now King of Greece, conveyed to the Piræus on board an English ship of war!”]