23rd.—M. de Bernis called upon me, and said the reason why three magistrates of Amiens had been dismissed from their employments was that they had obliged a gentleman to say that the Duke of Orleans[[66]] had a right to the crown of France after the present royal family. They had threatened him with instant death if he refused. Their defence was, that they meant it as a joke; but the Government took it up seriously.
26th.—I went out to make some visits, but found no one at home except Cardinal de Bayane, who is old and deaf, but otherwise not much altered from what he was at Rome. I am afraid he has “incensed” the idol, and lowered himself in the opinion of many by so doing; particularly by obliging his niece to become lady of the bedchamber to Madame Mère.
27th.—In the evening, a little before eight, 1 went to the Tuileries to be presented to the King. The guards, who lined the grand staircase, and were stationed in the hall, presented arms as the ladies passed, and an officer showed us the way. We stopped in the salon which forms the ante-room to that in which the Duchesses and wives of the Ambassadors and Marshals waited for the King. When they had had their audience, the English ladies were the first admitted. Lady Hardwick, Lady Caledon, Lady le Despenser, the two beautiful Ladies Bingham, Lady Belmere, and two or three others, formed the group. We had long trains, and lappets, but no hoops. The King was very gracious, and spoke to me in English. The Dukes d’Angoulême and Berri were standing near him, and Monsieur stood by their side: the latter talked to me about Princess Charlotte. We were introduced by the Duke de la Châtre, “premier gentilhomme de la chambre,” and the “grand maître des cérémonies,” M. de Brézé. We passed on to the great gallery, and going down another flight of stairs, found our carriages at the further gate. The gentlemen go to Court in the morning. The apartments were well lighted, and the whole had an appearance of decorum and state which was very striking. I felt a most pleasing sensation from seeing the King in his own palace after so long and dreadful a revolution.
28th.—In the morning we went with the Marquis de Dolomieu to the King’s Library, where he introduced an Orientalist, a M. Langlés, who was very obliging, and showed us autographs of Racine, La Fontaine, Voltaire, Boileau, Louis XIV., Madame de Maintenon, &c., and a set of drawings (coloured), in a manuscript, describing everything relating to tournaments. He asserted they were the work of Réné of Anjou, father of Margaret, Queen of Henry VI. I should rather have supposed them to be of the time of Pietro Perugino, the master of Raphael. They are excellent, and truly interesting. M. Langlés is celebrated for his skill in Asiatic researches, and he showed us Arabic and Tartar manuscripts, &c.
29th.—Breakfasted with the Chevalier de Bayane: chickens, lampreys, petits pâtés, fruit, green peas, cream, tea, coffee, wine; in short, everything that can be imagined. He lives with his brother, the Cardinal, and several of their relations, male and female, in a very handsome house purchased by the Cardinal. They are both aged, but in good health and spirits.
31st.—Dined at the Duke de Sérent’s, where I met M. de B——, a distinguished deputy, who is a pure Royalist, and has written well on the subject of divorce. It appears that these pure Royalists have a great objection to the Charter and the Ministers, whom the allies timorously support, to the great annoyance of the former. The ministerial party give the Royalists the character of enthusiasts, and tell you they are revengeful and unconscionable; and Society suffers by all these dissensions. The Royalists, however, are much to be pitied. They have recovered little more than the privilege of remaining in France, while the others preserve their property, or the power of disposing of it to the best advantage.
June 1.—I went with Prince Castelcicala to the old Duchess of Orleans. She has a fine house, which was formerly that of the director Cambacérès. She seemed very good natured, and invited me to dine with her the first day the Prince could bring me. She had a lady in attendance, and an old Abbé, whom she calls her chancellor, and to whom some people have thought her to be privately married. An old Bishop was visiting her, and two ladies, one of whom was Baroness de Talleyrand, formerly ambassadress at Naples. We afterwards called on Lady Hardwick, and on the Duchess d’Escars, who, as the wife of the grand maître d’hôtel, lives in the Pavillon de Flore, at the Tuileries, very high up, and, of course, commanding an extensive view. Her apartments are attics, and small, but finely furnished and fitted up, which was done by Bonaparte for Madame C——, one of his favourites, and reader to Marie Louise.
3rd.—In the evening I went to pay my visit to Monsieur and the Duke de Berri, who live in the Pavillon Marsan. Their apartments are simply and elegantly furnished. They were both very courteous, Monsieur particularly so, and everybody about them attentive.
4th.—I called on Mrs. and Miss Rawdon, who are just arrived; and we afterwards went to see the house of Cardinal Fesch, Bonaparte’s uncle, who is at Rome, and his furniture here is selling off. The King of Holland and the Prince of Orange lived here, and the chairs and sofas are not the better for their servants. We saw many pictures, but none struck me as very fine. There were some beautiful vases and busts, and some good antique bas-reliefs. The house is spacious, and was built by the Cardinal, who endeavoured to make it an Italian palace, but his taste was not perfect enough for the undertaking.
6th.—In the morning I went to the Palais Royal, and to M. Vien, a painter, son of the senator Vien, who was formerly director of the French Academy at Rome. I saw some beautiful small paintings, historical compositions, which he did at the age of ninety-three. He has been dead only six years. The son told me he had a Prussian officer lodging in his house, and liked him so well that he begged him to remain beyond the time allotted for his quarters. The inhabitants of Versailles also spoke of the Prussians as doing no more harm than they could possibly help. In the orangery there, by-the-by, we were shown a statue of Louis XIV., whose head had been cut off to make room for that of Brutus. M. Vien had in a small room the bust of a Garde du Corps, his friend, which he had begun before Bonaparte’s landing, and worked at by stealth during the three months of his usurpation, the original having gone to the King at Ghent. He said it was incredible what he and his family had suffered. Yet his father had been made a senator, and was buried in the Pantheon. In the evening I went to the Duchess of Narbonne’s, where I saw Prince Hohenlohe, who has just entered the service of France. He is to have the command of a German brigade, and has the promise of a Cordon Bleu. Afterwards I went to the Countess de Chastellux, where I saw some drawings made by her second daughter, illustrative of events in the war of La Vendée, witnessed by her cousin, Madame de la Rochejacquelein, who has written her Memoirs.