Bursledon Lodge, 1814.
J’ai appris avec plaisir, Monsieur le Comte, que le choix de votre Excellence pour être ambassadeur de sa M. le Roi de Suède auprès de la Cour de Naples vous a conduit dans ce pays. Le souvenir des heures, à la fois, animées, douces, et tranquilles, que j’ai passées dans votre hôtel à Vienne, et qui m’ont rendu cette ville si agréable, ne s’effacera jamais. J’ai vivement regretté que mon séjour forçé en France après mon mariage, mon mari ayant été fait prisonnier de guerre, quoiqu’il n’avoit jamais embrassé l’état militaire, a interrompu la correspondance dont j’ai joui pendant quelque temps. J’ai tâché de la renouer par l’entremise du Chevalier l’Amiral Bertie. Je ne vous exprimerai pas ce que j’ai senti quand il m’a rapporté, sans être décachetée, ma lettre, destinée pour la plus douce, la plus cherie des mortelles, mais écrite à un ange du ciel. Je ne me permets de suivre les idées que cet evenement m’inspire. Agréez, M. le Comte, l’expression du désir que je ressens de vous remercier ——[54]
TO CHARLES MANNERS ST. GEORGE, ESQ.,
VIENNA.
Bath, April, 1815.
Have you seen the late Maréchal Lacy’s country house? I thought the grounds extremely beautiful. He was one of the many who were kind to me, that have been removed to another existence since I left Vienna. Fifteen years’ absence from any place gives one a terrible lesson on the instability of life, when one seeks for the friends or even acquaintances one has left. Those I have lost there exceed in number those I have preserved, and were among my chief intimates, for I now know none there so well as I knew Mad. de Thun, Lady Guilford, Maréchal Lacy, and Mad. Colloredo. Are the great dinners still at two o’clock? We were very much interested by Lord Clancarty’s last despatch, describing the reception of Buonaparte’s propositions, which is certainly an admirable State paper, and written with a strength and terseness too often neglected in diplomatic composition. Its openness and manly directness are also to be admired; there is a stamp of truth and firmness about it, and no opening appears to be left for wavering or indecision.
Adieu. It is a rare thing for me not to fill a sheet, but I am not full of ideas, and am so conversant with trees and shrubs that, like one of Ovid’s heroines, I think my feet will soon take root, and my fingers germinate, only, however, with leaves and buds. Have you heard that both Mad. de Staël and her daughter have married since they left England? I suppose this country gave them a taste for domestic life, as it is certainly the spot on the globe where it is best understood.
The ——s are in London. He is exerting all his energies—to get into The Alfred. Pitiable that with so good abilities he should be reduced at sixty to anxiety for an object so frivolous. How wise are they who take advantage of the opening given by English laws and customs to rise above the every-day detail of mere society, and take their share in politics, literature, or great works of benevolence, which, if we add to them the learned professions, take in all the objects really worth attention.
Have you happened to see Alison’s Sermons? If not, bulky as they are, I must try to send them. One upon the fiftieth anniversary of our King’s reign is exquisite in feeling, taste, and style.