Paris, March 17, 1838.—I spent a long time yesterday morning at the Seminary of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, of which the Abbé Dupanloup is the superior. The good Abbé pleased me greatly, and also expressed his satisfaction with the little document which I showed him.[ [88]
In another month we shall have a new poem by M. de Lamartine, called L'Ange déchu,[ [89] then the Mélanges littéraires, by M. Villemain, and a work by M. de Chateaubriand on the Congress of Verona; in short, enough reading for the whole summer.
M. de Talleyrand says that on May 1 he will go to his estate of Pont de Sains, in Flanders, stay there for the summer, travel to Nice by easy stages, starting on September 1, and return to Valençay in the month of May 1839. Such extensive projects are decidedly rash, and it is unreasonable for him to expose himself to the damp of Flanders after May 1. I tell him so and trust to Providence.
The motto, or rather the conclusion of a letter, which I find in an old book seems to me very pretty: "Be with God." I have adopted it.
Paris, March 22, 1838.—Princesse Marie, who has been here since the 19th, nearly had a miscarriage yesterday, as the result of too long a drive; while the Duchesse d'Orléans can only avoid one by remaining in her long chair.
M. de Rumigny, our ambassador at Turin, has brought a foolish dispute upon himself—a personal quarrel with the King over a matter of etiquette. Complaints concerning him have come to hand. It is the most foolish business conceivable, as it is all about the black or white headdresses worn by the women. Sardinian etiquette allows the Queen alone to wear them. How absurd it all is!
A coalition between MM. Thiers and Guizot seems likely, but there is such an outcry against this combination that either party is embarrassed, and it will probably come to nothing. M. Guizot in particular is experiencing the evil results of it, because his reputation is suffering greatly, and upon that, rather than upon his talent, he regarded his importance to be based. The fact is that notwithstanding all that has been said on either side in the speeches which closed last session and the discussions that have filled the interval there is something too abrupt in this alliance, which M. Royer-Collard calls an impious coalition.
There is much talk of a journey to be made by the King to Nantes and Bordeaux for the month of June, which would bring us back to Berry and towards Touraine. Hitherto M. de Talleyrand contemplated only Pont de Sains, a calamitous idea.
Paris, March 25, 1838.—Yesterday I defied an equinoctial storm to go and see the Archbishop. By degrees we came to an agreement, in the terms of the letter, and I hope that we shall arrive at some useful result, but we require time and the help of outward circumstances which do not depend on us and must be asked from a greater Power than ourselves. In any case, if heaven can be importuned by the prayers of earth, the petitions sent up on this subject should be efficacious.
Paris, March 28, 1838.—Yesterday I had a most important conversation with M. de Talleyrand, and found him in a state of open-mindedness which seemed miraculous. I now hope to be able to push steadily forward, and though the goal is still far away I trust that no precipice will form an obstacle to my progress.