“‘I fancied your Majesty tall, stiff as a poker, with eyes like stars, and a large hoop. I thought also I should only have to admire, and constant admiration is very fatiguing.’
“‘Is it not true that you did not expect to find me so stupid?’
“‘In truth, I thought it would be necessary to have all one’s wits about one, that your Majesty allowed yourself all license, and was a perfect firework of wit; but I infinitely prefer your careless style of conversation, which becomes sublime when treating of noble passages of history, or examples of sensibility or greatness.’ And the Empress heartily laughed at this clever mingling of frankness and flattery.
“It was this contrast of simplicity in what she said with the great deeds she performed that made her interesting. A trifle amused her; she was pleased at the smallest joke, and cleverly turned it to account. One day I told her that to silence the reproaches of a lady who was displeased with my scarcity of talk, and looking bored in her house, I replied that I had just heard of the death of an aunt who had brought me up. When the Empress was bored on the grand reception days, she would say to me: ‘My uncle is about to die.’ Then I would hear it murmured: ‘We are going to have a mourning.’ And all the Court would search up the uncle in the almanac, and of course not find him.”
However great the fascination Catherine exercised over the Prince, she did not make him forget Marie-Thérèse, and towards the end of his stay he wrote: “The Empress Marie-Thérèse had certainly much greater charm and fascination. Our Empress carried one away: the impression made by the Russian Empress was much weaker at first, but gradually increased. However, they resembled each other in this, that if the universe had crumbled away they would have been found impavidas ferient ruinæ. No power on earth would have made them yield; their great souls were proof against adversity; enthusiasm preceded the one and followed the other.”
It was, however, necessary for the Prince to tear himself away from the delights of this charming abode. But before their departure the Empress, laughing, said to the Prince-father: “As you told me that you would either sell, gamble, or lose any diamonds I should give you, here are only a hundred roubles’ worth round my portrait on this ring!”[29]
To this present Catherine added jewels for the Princesse de Ligne and her daughters; Prince Charles received a rich casket for Hélène, and the Princes left for Poland, having forgotten only one thing, viz. the claim of four hundred thousand roubles, for which they had undertaken their journey. “For,” says the Prince gaily, “it seemed to me a want of delicacy to take advantage of the favour with which I was received to obtain favours.”
The Bishop of Wilna received the Prince at his residence of Werky, a short distance from Warsaw. “Werky,” writes the Prince, “was a fortunate child of nature,—a large river, three smaller ones, and a chain of mountains, separated two valleys. Four or five waterfalls, three islands, manufactories, castles, a windmill, a port, a ruin, two convents of handsome appearance, natural undulations, temples to Vulcan, to Bacchus, and one to Unity, which is to be erected upon piles, and a kind of bridge at the meeting of three pretty rivulets, an obelisk, a fisherman’s and a workman’s hut, bridges, some ornate, others rustic, complete the attractions of this magnificent estate. I advise and direct everything.”
The Dietine (sub-Diet) of Wilna had assembled to elect deputies for the Diet of Warsaw. The Bishop gathered round his table eighty-four Polish gentlemen, nearly all wearing the national costume, and having their heads shaved after the Polish fashion. Before dinner each of them came up to salute the Bishop by respectfully kissing the hem of his robe. At the end of the repast healths were drunk; the Bishop proclaimed the name of the person whose health was proposed; then he filled an antique cup, beautifully chased, emptied it and turned it over, showing that he had drained it to the bottom. He then passed it to his right-hand neighbour, and in this way it went round the table. These toasts were always celebrated with champagne or Tokay. After an interesting sojourn at Werky and Wilna, the Princes, accompanied by the Bishop, started for Warsaw. We have seen that in the negotiations for the marriage of the Duc d’Elbœuf with Hélène the Prince-Bishop and the Marquis de Mirabeau had dreamt of the Polish throne for the young Princess’s future husband. This idea had taken possession of the Bishop’s brain; and the accounts that were given to him of Saint Petersburg, and the peculiarly cordial reception that the Princes had received, confirmed him in it. Persuaded that the Prince was far advanced in the Empress’s good graces, and convinced that the King Stanislaus-Augustus was no longer in favour, the Bishop, ever ready to throw himself into a new adventure, took advantage of the opening of the Diet to propose the Marshal as candidate for the indigénat.
“You will one day be King of Poland,” said the enthusiastic Bishop; “what a change will come over European affairs! what good luck for the Lignes and Massalski!” The Marshal laughed, but, although he ridiculed these sayings, he allowed matters to proceed. “I had a fancy,” he says, “to please the nation assembled for the Diet, and accordingly presented myself.”