One evening at the Count Thune’s, when there was a pretty numerous company, I observed one lady uncommonly sad, and enquired of her intimate friend who happened to be there also, if she knew the cause of this sadness?—I do, replied she; Mr. de ——, whom she loves very tenderly, ought to have been here a month ago; and last night she received a letter from him, informing her that he cannot be at Vienna for a month to come. But pray, said I, does your friend’s husband know of this violent passion she has for Mr. de ——? Yes, yes, answered she, he knows it, and enters with the most tender sympathy into her affliction; he does all that can be expected from an affectionate husband to comfort and soothe his wife, assuring her that her love will wear away with time. But she always declares that she has no hopes of this, because she feels it augment every day.—Mais, au fond, continued the lady, cela lui fait bien de la peine, parceque malheureusement il aime sa femme à la folie. Et sa femme, qui est la meilleure créature du monde, plaint infiniment son pauvre mari; car elle a beaucoup d’amitié et d’estime pour lui;—mais elle ne scauroit se défaire de cette malheureuse passion pour Mons. de ——.
I was not in the least surprised that a disappointment of this nature should affect a woman a little; but I own it did astonish me that she should appear in public, on such an occasion, in all the ostentation of sorrow, like a young widow vain of her weeds. Here this passion was lamented by her friends as a misfortune: In England, if I rightly remember, such misfortunes are generally imputed to people as crimes.
LETTER LXXXVII.
Presburg.
The Viscount de Laval having proposed to me lately to make a short tour with him into Hungary, I very readily consented, and we arrived at this town yesterday morning.
Presburg, which is the capital of Lower Hungary, like Vienna, has suburbs more magnificent than itself. In this city the States of Hungary hold their assemblies, and in the cathedral church the Sovereign is crowned.
The present Empress took refuge here when the Elector of Bavaria was declared Emperor at Prague, when she was abandoned by her allies, and when France had planned her destruction. Her own magnanimity, the generous friendship of Great Britain, and the courage of her Hungarian subjects, at length restored her fortunes, and secured to her family the splendid situation they now hold in Europe.
What politician in 1741 could have thought that in the course of a few years the Empress would be in strict alliance with France, and one of her daughters seated on the throne of that kingdom?—Should a soothsayer of Boston prophesy, that John Hancock, or his son, will, sometime hence, demand in marriage a daughter of England,—pray, do not lay an uncommon odds, that the thing will not happen.