JOURNAL CONTINUED.
June 23 and 24, 1815.—London was illuminated, and order given out for the Court going into mourning for the Duke of Brunswick, on the 29th, for two months. I went to the Opera with Miss Tisdall, on the 24th; “I Riti d’Efeso,” and “L’Enfant Prodigue”—a bad opera and bad ballet; the subject of the latter was the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son, in the Arabian costume. The actors came forward and sang “Exulta Britannia,” which was composed last year, and “God save the King.” The following week brought with it nothing very interesting. I dined on Wednesday, the 28th, at Count de Salis’s, where there was a pleasant party, and most of my time I afterwards spent with Princess Castelcicala, who was very uneasy about her eldest son, from whom she had not heard, and who appears to have been taken prisoner. On the 30th I had a letter from Princess Charlotte, very uneasy about the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland[[53]] probably proposing a marriage with her son, Prince Salms Brauenfels, by her first husband, brother of the King of Prussia; telling me, likewise, she had other views, which were promoted by the Duke of York.
On the 2nd of July, I went to Lord St. Vincent’s, at Rochetts. On the 3rd, the Duke of Cumberland’s request for an additional grant of 6000l. a year for himself and his Duchess was thrown out by a majority of one, which one was Lord Cochrane, who had paid his fine and appeared once more in the House. Dreadful abuse of the two royal personages.
On the 8th we received the account of the surrender of Paris,[[54]] by a military convention, to the Duke of Wellington. Mr. Whitbread[[55]] cut his throat the other morning; his friends say it was on account of his disappointment as proprietor of Drury Lane Theatre; his enemies suppose a political conspiracy with Bonaparte, discovered by papers found in the carriage of the latter. The most probable reason is insanity, at least temporary, caused by the pressure of blood on the brain, which had, in the opinion of some, rendered him liable to apoplexy. Colonel Palmer came on the 8th, and stayed till the 9th, as did Mr. Parker. The Duchess d’Angoulême was going to Bordeaux, as Madame de Narbonne writes me, but waits, for fear of committing the loyal Bordelais, now that the remaining rebel army is permitted by the Convention to take their route across the Loire. General and Mrs. Egerton passed a day and night.
Louis XVIII. entered Paris on the 8th, and was received with acclamations and white cockades. On the 10th the Emperors of Austria and Russia and the King of Prussia arrived there.
I had a letter from Princess Charlotte on the 13th, and another on the 18th, both very kind and confidential. The Queen very ill from vexation, and still keeping firm in her refusal to receive the Duke of Cumberland, who is daily expected; and Princess Charlotte is ordered to leave town, which she does on the 22nd. The Dowager Lady Rosslyn has resigned, and new arrangements are mentioned. She is first to go to Cranbourne Lodge, and afterwards to Weymouth.
22nd.—News arrived of Bonaparte having surrendered himself to Captain Maitland, of the Bellerophon, off Rochefort.
On the 28th I left Rochetts to pass one night in London, and proceeded next day to Savernak Lodge. Lord and Lady Aylesbury, having made up their minds to go to Paris for ten days or a fortnight, wished me to stay with their children in the mean while, and to take Lord Bruce on my way. I dined at Prince Castelcicala’s, and called on the Duke de Sérent and Madame de Narbonne. Madame d’Angoulême was gone, and they had heard of her safe arrival at Dieppe. In the evening we walked through the Park to Lady Charleville’s.
29th.—In the morning I went to Mitcham, fetched Lord Bruce, and arrived about half-past nine in the evening at Tottenham Park. Bonaparte is to go to St. Helena in the Northumberland, Admiral Sir George Cockburn, guarded by Sir Hudson Lowe, who was Blücher’s interpreter last year. St. Helena is to be purchased by Government from the East India Company, and a regiment to be sent to guard the prisoner. It is reported that Madame Bertrand[[56]] attempted to kill herself when she heard of this destination, and that Bonaparte has declared he will not be taken alive on board the Northumberland, or out of the Bellerophon. Crowds of people get round the ship daily to see him.
Princess Charlotte[[57]] arrived at Weymouth on the 3rd of this month (August). She was received with enthusiasm wherever she passed, and the same at Weymouth; but having a bad cold, she was obliged to stay at home on her first arrival there.