The attitude of D’Orsay’s family throughout this strange affair is amazing. Can they have really understood the situation? Did they thank Blessington for having provided so munificently for their brother? Did they express their gratitude to Lady Blessington for the many favours she had shown to him? We can scarcely believe it so. But however all these things were, the evening passed pleasantly; the windows of the salon looked out over the garden of the Tuileries, over their scented orange-trees and formal walks.
The Comte and Comtesse d’Orsay were also in Paris, later on, and great must have been their satisfaction at seeing their son so well settled. Of a dinner at their house Lady Blessington—la belle mère of their son—says there was a “large family party. The only stranger was Sir Francis Burdett. A most agreeable dinner followed by a very pleasant evening.” Did Countess Alfred enjoy it?
The next day Lady Blessington devoted to shopping, visiting among other high shrines of fashion Herbault’s, where the latest things in caps, hats and turbans were tried and sentenced; then on to Mdlle. La Touche where canezus and robes de matin were selected. Three hundred and twenty francs were given for a crape hat and feathers, two hundred for a chapeau à fleurs, one hundred for a negligé de matin, and eighty-five for an evening cap of tulle trimmed with blonde and flowers.
The hotel was a mere stop-gap, and the Blessingtons settled down in a house belonging to the Marquis de Lillers, which had once been the residence of Marshal Ney; it was situated in the Rue de Bourbon, the principal rooms giving on the Seine and commanding a view over the Tuileries’ gardens. The sumptuous scale of the decorations is typified by those of the bathroom, where the bath of marble was sunk in a tessellated pavement, and over it swung an alabaster lamp hanging from the beak of a dove, the ceiling being painted with Cupids and flowers; the walls were panelled alternately with mirrors and allegorical groups. Furniture, equally luxurious, was hired—dark crimson carpets with golden borders, crimson satin curtains also bordered in gold, sofas and chairs upholstered in crimson satin and richly gilded, gilt consoles, buhl cabinets, a multitude of mirrors; a veritable orgy of gold and glitter. But all else was surpassed by the Blessington’s chambre à coucher and her dressing-room, which she found to be exquisite, at any rate, to her taste: the silvered bedstead was supported on the backs of two large silver swans, the recess in which it stood being lined with white fluted silk, bordered with blue lace; pale blue curtains, lined with white, closed in its sanctity. There was a silvered sofa, rich coffers for jewels and for lace, a pale blue carpet, a lamp of silver … “a more tasteful or elegant suite of apartments cannot be imagined!” For the housing of beauty and virtue what more fitting than silver, white and light blue? “Chastely beautiful,” so said its owner. Then, Heaven commend us to the unchaste.
Gaiety was the order of the day, as it ever was when Lady Blessington and D’Orsay were in command; drives in the Bois de Boulogne with the Duchesse de Guiche; evenings at Madame Crawford’s, whom Lady Blessington describes as gifted with “all the naïveté of a child. She possesses a quick perception of character and a freshness of feeling rarely found in a person of her advanced age.” Here is a truly touching family group at a leave-taking breakfast: “It was touching to behold Madame Crawford kissing again and again her grandchildren and great-grand-children, the tears streaming down her cheeks, and the venerable Duc de Grammont, scarcely less moved, embracing his son and daughter-in-law, and exhorting the latter to take care of her health, while the dear little Ida, his grand-daughter, not yet two years old, patted his cheek, and smiled in his face.” Doubtless Madame Crawford was not a little proud of her gallant D’Orsay; we wonder what opinion, if any, she formed of his bride, and whether she congratulated her on marrying the grandson of a king?
Among other places of interest to which expeditions were made none can have come more closely home to the heart of Lady Blessington than D’Orsay, the fortified château of the family with which she was now so closely connected.
Two letters written by members of the party to Landor are interesting, not only as showing the terms of friendship between the writers and the recipient. The first was from Blessington, dated 14th July:—
“Oh! it is an age, my dear Landor, since I thought of having determined to write. My first idea was to defend Vavaseur,[5] but the book was lent to one friend or another, and always out of the way when the pen was in hand. My second inclination was, to inquire after you and yours; but I knew that you were not fond of corresponding, so that sensation passed away. And now my third is to tell you that Lady B. has taken an apartment in the late residence of Marshal Ney, and wishes much that some whim, caprice, or other impelling power, should transform you across the Alps, and give her the pleasure of again seeing you. Here we have been nearly five weeks, and, unlike Italy and its suns, we have no remembrance of the former, but in the rolling of the thunder; and when we see the latter, we espy at the same time the threatening clouds on the horizon. To balance or assist such pleasure, we have an apartment bien décoré with Jardin de Tuileries en face, and our apartment being at the corner, we have the double advantage of all the row, from morn till night. Diligences and fiacres—coachmen cracking their whips, stallions neighing—carts with empty wine-barrels—all sorts of discordant music, and all sorts of cries, songs, and the jingling of bells.…”
The second letter is from D’Orsay, who dates his note 4th September, and writes from the Hôtel Ney:—
“J’ai reçu, mon cher M. Landor, votre lettre. Elle nous a fait le plus grand plaisir. Vous devriez être plus que convaincu que j’apprécirois particulièrement une lettre de vous, mais il paroit que notre intimité de Florence ne compte pour rien à vos yeux, si vous doutez du plaisir que vos nouvelles doivent produire dans notre intérieur. Sitôt que je recevrai les tableaux je ferai votre commission avec exactitude. Je desirerois bien que vous veniez à Paris, car nous avons de belles choses à vous montrer; surtout en fait de tableaux. A propos de cela, je vous envoye ci joint le portrait du Prince Borghése que vous trouverez j’espère ressemblant.… Nous parlons et pensons souvent de vous, il est assez curieux que vous soyez en odeur de sainteté dans cette famille, car il me semble que ce n’est pas la chose dont nous vous piquiez particulièrement d’être. Lady B. et toutes nos dames vous envoye mille amitiés, et moi je ne fais que renouveller l’assurance de la sincérité de la mienne. Votre très affectionné,