Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1836-1840

Valençay, October 7, 1837.– I hear from Paris that the difficulties with Würtemberg have been smoothed over. The marriage is to take place on the 14th, and everything is going on to the general satisfaction. Our Princess has been invited to Stuttgart. The Duc d'Orléans is said to be the only member of the family dissatisfied with this union, and we are told that he treated his future brother-in-law more than coldly at Compiègne.

Valençay, October 9, 1837.– The Duc Decazes arrived here unexpectedly at dinner-time yesterday. He was on his way from Livorno, full of the Bordeaux affair, which he seems inclined to visit upon the Prefect, M. de Pressac. After dinner he continued his journey to Paris, where he is summoned by the marriage of the Princesse Marie. He had left M. Thiers and all his family at Tours. We are expecting them to-day.

Valençay, October 10, 1837.– M. and Madame Thiers, Madame Dosne and her young daughter arrived yesterday an hour before dinner-time. They came by Montrichard, and so they were all shaken and weary. Madame Thiers does not show any sign of exhaustion in her face; she is perhaps a little thin, but nothing else; I think it is largely a matter of nerves, and that if she were in good spirits her indisposition would quickly disappear. In any case, for a person of her kind, I think her quite anxious to please, but, like her mother, she has a vulgar intonation and trivial expressions to which I cannot get accustomed. It was a dull and heavy evening, in spite of the enthusiasm of M. Thiers for Italy. He seems to be greatly struck by the beauty of Valençay, and I think they are all very glad to be here. Fortunately the weather is fine; I have never prayed for sunshine so earnestly.

Valençay, October 11, 1837.– Madame Thiers was very tired yesterday; she went upstairs after lunch and did not reappear until dinner-time. She would not go for a drive, and her mother kept her company. We took the husband out with us, and he was in excellent spirits, with no bitterness or hostility. He wishes to go from here to Lille without crossing Paris, where he only wishes to arrive just in time for the Chambers; he was also very sarcastic about the repeated proposals that have been made to him for the greatest embassies.

Valençay, October 12, 1837.– M. de Talleyrand yesterday took M. Thiers to see M. Royer-Collard. They returned both well pleased with their walk, whence I infer that they left their host equally pleased. I have no great trouble with the ladies. The young wife appears for meals, lolls in a drawing-room armchair for half an hour after lunch and for an hour after dinner, then goes up to her room; she will not drive, and only wishes to be left alone. Her mother is with her a great deal, and her husband most attentive. The young wife governs them all, but like a spoilt and capricious child, and I think that the poor husband finds the path of marriage a somewhat thorny one.

Valençay, October 13, 1837.– The Duchesse de Saint-Leu is dead. What will become of her son? Will he be left upon our frontier?

Madame Murat continues to remain at Paris. General Macdonald,80 who was thought to be her husband, and who was greatly devoted to her in any case, has died at Florence. To the universal surprise, this event has not so far saddened her as to prevent her from going to the theatre, nor does she show any of the grief that might have been expected.

Here people talk of nothing but the approaching elections; they seem to be still very uncertain and to defy all calculations. I have always noticed this to be the case at every dissolution of the Chamber. The instructions of the Ministry are very capricious; on the whole the Doctrinaires and progressive parties are to be proscribed, but with so many exceptions here and there that unusual points of contact are created. M. Thiers is quite calm, in excellent political spirits; he talks a great deal of his forty years and of the frost of age; however, I would not trust to that, and if he were provoked he would be quite capable of entering the fray most vigorously. He has quite abandoned his ideas of Spanish intervention, not as regards the past, but for the present moment. I have never seen him so wise and self-controlled – a condition only to be attained by those whose inclinations are definite, and who have enough self-satisfaction not to be ambitious for power. His wife unbends a little; she danced yesterday evening in excellent spirits.

Valençay, October 15, 1837.– The whole of the Thiers family went away yesterday. Although the mother has been anxious to please, the young wife amiable in her manner, and her husband witty, animated, and tractable, as usual, I am not sorry to see them go.

Valençay, October 22, 1837.– We are to have a second theatrical performance. I rehearsed my part yesterday with M. de Valençay while the rest of the company were out driving.

I have a very carefully written letter from Madame Dosne, from which the following is an interesting passage: "Since our arrival the house has been stormed by friends, inquirers, and interested people, who wish to learn the attitude of M. Thiers. He has seen M. Molé and M. de Montalivet, who are struggling for his friendship, and has been effusively received by the royal family. You know better than any one, madame, to whom he owes that. In short, his move to Paris has been quite politic and successful. He is ready to defend the Ministry as long as it lasts and to help it as long as he can, if they will support his view with regard to the elections. To-morrow we shall start for Lille, where we shall stay as long as my daughter wishes."

Valençay, October 26, 1837.– Madame de Lieven writes to say that her husband has sent his son Alexander to her to carry her off dead or alive, but she has refused to stir, and that the son has gone back again provided with all possible certificates from the doctors of the Embassy stating the impossibility of moving her. She is loud in the praises of Comte Pahlen and of my cousin Paul Medem. It seems that the Autocrat told M. de Lieven that he would crush the Princess if she persisted in remaining in France. I think she has some private means which no one can touch, and which help her to hold out. Before long it will become a regular drama.

I have a long letter from the Duc d'Orléans, in which he tells me that his sister, the Duchess of Würtemberg, did not go immediately to Stuttgart on leaving Paris, but went first to Coburg, and will not go to Würtemberg till later. The Duc d'Orléans gives me excellent accounts of his wife, and seems to regard her as a perfect friend, which is the best certificate a woman can have from her husband, and a guarantee of the most desirable future for her.

Valençay, November 2, 1837.– I shall start presently to dine and sleep at Beauregard. To-morrow I shall pass through Tours, and reach my house at Rochecotte in time for dinner.

I have a kind letter from M. Guizot, who tells me that the new Chamber will be like the last, and that if there is a difference it will be to the advantage of his own views.

M. Thiers writes from Lille saying that the general electioneering cry is "Down with the Doctrinaires!" and that he is asked by five different departments to become a candidate, but that he will remain faithful to Aix. Finally, M. Royer-Collard writes from Paris saying that M. Molé has been tricked in the elections; that it does not, however, follow that the elections will go in favour of the Doctrinaires, but that they will not lack Ministerial support. Of these three versions which is the most credible? I am inclined to accept the last.

Rochecotte, November 4, 1837.– Since yesterday I have been in my own home. As I passed through Tours in the morning I found the poor Prefect grappling with the electoral fever.

The confusion of the instructions is incredible, continually modified or contradicted as they are by intrigues at Paris, alternating between the influence of Guizot or Thiers; consequently I think the result will be very far removed from that which was proposed at the dissolution of the Chamber. Fortunately the country is calm, for the dissolution was decided upon, not for patriotic reasons, but simply for personal interest, and miscalculation upon that ground is a matter of indifference. At the same time it is foolish uselessly to stir up an infinity of local passions which, though they do not rise to the danger and violence of political strife, none the less injure public spirit by dividing the country more and more into parties.

Rochecotte, November 5, 1837.– The comedies which we acted at Valençay brought some life into the great castle, of which there has been a prodigious lack during June, July, and August. I admit, to my shame, that for the first time in my life since I rested from the fatigues of Fontainebleau and Versailles I have been very bored. The illness which we have all suffered one after another brought anxiety in place of boredom, and I am glad of some small diversion to bring me out of the groove.

Rochecotte, November 11, 1837.– A letter from Madame Adélaïde reached me yesterday. She seems fairly pleased with the elections, and would be more so were it not for the infamous alliance between the Legitimists and Republicans, which has brought success to the latter party in several places. I use her own expressions. She also says that Princesse Marie is delighted with her husband and her journey, with Germany and with the reception which has so far been given.

Rochecotte, November 24, 1837.– I am sorry for the Grand Duchess Stephanie on account of the wrongdoing or misfortune of her daughter, the Princess Wasa.81 I never liked her, and was struck by her bad appearance when I saw her at Paris in 1827 with her mother; moreover, her husband, whom I also know, is a very ordinary person, and by no means the man to guide a young wife.

The Duchess of Massa speaks with delight in her letters of the hospitality and the distinction at the Court of Coburg, and of the happiness of the Princesse Marie. I also hear that the Duc d'Orléans constantly talks of his domestic happiness, in which he is entirely absorbed. He is to give an entertainment upon the return of his brother, the Duc de Nemours, the victor of Constantine.

I am more and more delighted with the life of Bossuet by Cardinal Bausset. How fortunate it is that I put off reading this book at a time when the taste for reading had passed away, and is now revived by this excellent work! I have ordered a fine engraving of Bossuet which I wish to possess; it is absurd that he should not have his place here with my other friends of the great century, Madame de Sévigné, Madame de Maintenon, Cardinal de Retz, and Arnauld d'Andilly. Although I admire every personage of that great age, I have my preferences. I want a portrait of the Palatine to complete my collection.

Rochecotte, November 30, 1837.– My sister, the Duchesse de Sagan, writes to say that she will come here shortly; I do not know whether she will carry out her plan this time – not that I am altogether regretful if she should fail, for I am never entirely at my ease with her. I was accustomed to be afraid of her in my youth, and am still somewhat overawed; but as the matter has been announced and arranged, it is better that she should come.

Rochecotte, December 2, 1837.– Yesterday in the Journal des Débats I read the great memorandum of the Prussian Government against the Archbishop of Cologne.82 We must suspend our judgment until we hear his defence; but the fact remains that so strong a measure as to arrest an archbishop and imprison him does not look well in the case of a Protestant Sovereign when dealing with a Catholic prelate in a Catholic country. It has too strong an appearance of persecution, even if it be justified at bottom. I am very curious to know the end of this affair; it seems to me of serious import.

M. de Montrond tells M. de Talleyrand that the whole family of Thiers profess such a redoubled affection for us since their stay at Valençay that we shall be regarded as responsible for the acts and deeds of M. Thiers during the coming session. I have urged this upon M. de Talleyrand as an argument for staying here as long as possible, but with what success I do not know.

M. Guizot is to be found at Madame de Lieven's house from morning to evening, to the general amusement.

Madame Adélaïde's letters begin to urge more strongly our return to Paris, which is exactly the reason why I should prefer to stay here.

Rochecotte, December 4, 1837.– M. de Sainte-Aulaire informs me that the Grand Duchess Stephanie has solved her daughter Wasa's domestic difficulties. I fear she has only postponed the evil day.

Rochecotte, December 6, 1837.– Yesterday I carried out an enterprise which I had long been anxious to perform. I went with my son Valençay to see the Comte d'Héliaud and Madame de Champchevrier. We started in fine frosty weather, lunched with M. d'Héliaud, and spent an hour at Champchevrier on our return with the nicest people in the world, in a fine old castle, with moats and avenues, and a well-wooded country of preserves; old tapestry, stag-horns, and hunting-horns hung from the walls are the chief ornaments in this noble but not very elegant mansion. It is inhabited by a simple, upright, and respected family, who live comfortably but not luxuriously, hunting and farming throughout the year. At certain times forty or fifty of the surrounding families meet there for amusement. The whole establishment is well worthy of a description by Walter Scott, especially an old grandmother of eighty-two, upright, alert, imposing, and polite, in a surprisingly antique dress. We were very kindly received. By the time we reached home I was frozen, but very glad that I had paid my calls and fulfilled my neighbourly duties.

The Duc de Noailles writes to say that he met M. Thiers one morning at Madame de Lieven's house, where he spoke like a little saint and a great philosopher.

Rochecotte, December 10, 1837.– My sister and my son Alexandre at last arrived here yesterday, after a long and tiring journey. My sister has grown very stout, and looks much older; none the less she is astonishingly well preserved for the age of fifty-seven. She talks a great deal and very loudly. The Vienna strain in her is predominant.

Rochecotte, December 11, 1837.– I took my sister for a long drive yesterday. She thinks this place very pretty, and, as other persons have already told me, assures me that nothing recalls to her so much la bella Italia. We had hardly returned from our long drive than I began it over again for M. de Salvandy, who dropped in unexpectedly at dinner, and after a short stay continued his journey to Nogent-le-Rotrou, where he is going to an electoral banquet. He told us that the Duc de Nemours had reached Havre with a broken arm, in consequence of an accident upon board of a wretched steamship. He travelled by Gibraltar, in order to avoid a great ball that the town of Marseilles had prepared for him, and over which great expense had been incurred. The King is very displeased by this prank.

Rochecotte, December 19, 1837.– Last spring when I consulted Lisfranc and Cruveilhier they both told me that I was threatened by a tendency to feverishness. Since that time my life has been arranged to avoid the danger, and with success; but since the arrival of my sister I have felt a great and steadily increasing nervous agitation, so much so that yesterday inflammation was pronounced, with violent fever. I am much distressed, and think I shall have to spend some days in bed or upon my sofa.

Rochecotte, December 20, 1837.– The doctor says that I am better to-day. I never remember having felt so ill as the day before yesterday. I am still keeping my room, and feel very poorly, but the doctor repeats that there is no danger, and that with a few days' more care I shall be quite well.

Rochecotte, December 25, 1837.– The pain in my right side is growing less, and I am not so weak. When I am stronger I shall speak of my thoughts during these days of danger through which I have passed. The mental life becomes the clearer when the outward eye is veiled and obscured.83

Rochecotte, December 26, 1837.– I am better, and very grateful to Providence which has delivered me from so grievous a state; but I shall not recover from the shock for a long time. I was deeply touched to learn that yesterday during the service I was recommended to the prayers of the congregation. All my neighbours and the whole countryside have been most kind; my servants have watched and worked with infinite zeal, and the two doctors, MM. Cogny and Orie, have been very attentive.

Rochecotte, December 28, 1837.– The weather is magnificent, and at midday I shall be wheeled on to the terrace for a moment.

I have no news from Paris, and am greatly ignorant of the affairs of this world. It seemed to me during the two days that I was ill that I saw something of the things of the next world, and that it was not so difficult as might be thought to rise towards one's Creator; that there was even a certain sweetness in the idea that one was to rest at length from all the troubles of life. Providence can soften all the trials which He sends to us, by giving us the strength to bear them, and one can never feel too thankful for all the Divine favours.

Rochecotte, December 31, 1837.– This last day of a year, which upon the whole has not been entirely agreeable, induces me to throw a retrospective glance upon my life – an effort which produces a not very pleasant result. However, it would be wrong to complain; if misfortunes are not lacking for me, there are also blessings which it would be ungrateful not to recognise; and one may feel despondent and serious and yet have no right to feel or to call oneself unhappy. May God preserve for myself and for those whom I love, honour, health, and that peace of mind which keeps the soul from care, and my thanks will be heartfelt.

CHAPTER III

1838

Rochecotte, January 1, 1838.– In spite of my weakness I remained until midnight in the drawing-room, to embrace M. de Talleyrand, my children, and my sister as the new year came in. I am to go out in the carriage to-day, to come down to dinner, and, in short, to return to life by degrees.

Rochecotte, January 2, 1838.– The whole countryside passed this way yesterday; people were still here in the evening. I am no worse this morning, but the contrary, and if this marvellous weather will last a few days longer I hope that I shall soon be quite myself again. M. de Talleyrand, unfortunately, already speaks of returning to Paris.

Rochecotte, January 5, 1838.– I have no good opinion of the year upon which we have entered, from a political point of view. My mind is despondent, my soul sad, my nerves are weak, my heart is full, and, to use the language of the chambermaid, I wouldn't give twopence for anything. We have been plunged in fog for the last few days, but none the less I have been to pay my farewell calls in the immediate neighbourhood.

Rochecotte, January 6, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand and Pauline have just started for Paris. No one is left in the house except my sister, my son Alexandre, and myself. I must make up my accounts and prepare for departure, as we are all three going the day after to-morrow. Notwithstanding the sad recollections of the illness which darkened my last weeks here, I shall leave this pleasant little spot with regret.

Paris, January 11, 1838.– I arrived here yesterday at ten o'clock in the evening after a journey which nine degrees of frost and constant snow made extremely unpleasant. However, we had no accident, and the change of air, sudden as it has been, has rather strengthened me and given me a little appetite.

Yesterday I dined at Versailles with Madame de Balbi, whom I thought had grown very old. My sister at the same time was eating fowl with Madame de Trogoff, whom she knew very well long ago.

We found M. de Talleyrand in good health, but anxious about our journey. He told me that the Ministry was absorbed in work upon the Address, so that none of the members are visible for the moment.

Paris, January 12, 1838.– Yesterday I was very busy with my sister's dresses, my own, and those of Pauline. We have all three arrived in rags. Then I went to see Madame de Laval, who is greatly changed. In the evening I took my sister to hear The Puritans, in the same box at the Théâtre Italien as I had last year. Rubini has certainly lost something of his voice, and Madame Grisi has begun to shriek.

I believe there is great agitation in the political world, but I ask no questions, do not even read a newspaper, and preserve my beloved state of ignorance, partly through idleness and partly as a precaution.

Paris, January 13, 1838.– My sister wished to go for once to the Chamber of Deputies, which is a new sight for her. The Russian Ambassador gave us his tickets, and we spent our morning yesterday at the Palais Bourbon. M. Molé surpassed my expectations. He delighted my sister and charmed myself. There could be nothing more dignified, nothing clearer, better thought or better expressed than his speech. His success was quite complete. I saw Madame de Lieven at the Chamber; my sister and she will not look at one another; they detest one another, though they do not know one another. This is inconvenient for me.84 M. Guizot came up into our seat, and I thought him greatly changed.

I am quite overcome by so different a mode of life from that of the last six months.

Paris, January 14, 1838.– Yesterday I had a very long and very kind visit from the Prince Royal, who was quite calm and in a placid frame of mind.

I then called upon the Princesse de Lieven, who gave me full details of her domestic situation, which excluded conversation upon any other topic and reduced me to the position of audience. She thinks she will certainly be able to stay here ad vitam æternam without molestation. I hope she may. In the evening I went to the Tuileries, to pay my respects to the Queen.

Paris, January 15, 1838.– Great fires are becoming quite fashionable. The burning of the London Stock Exchange will form a counterpart to the destruction of the Winter Palace at St. Petersburg, with the difference that a hundred persons perished in Russia, while no loss of life took place in England. Paul Medem told me that the Winter Palace was three times as large as the Louvre, and that six thousand persons lived there; that the Imperial pharmacy was situated in the middle of the castle, and that an explosion resulting from a chemical experiment had caused the conflagration.

I did not go out yesterday. M. de Sainte-Aulaire came to lunch with my sister and myself, after which I had a call from M. Royer-Collard, who is much better this year. I saw MM. Thiers and Guizot with M. de Talleyrand. We had a long and tiresome family dinner, after which my sister and myself found nothing better to do than to go to bed at half-past nine. I have not entirely recovered my strength. A conversation with Dr. Cruveilhier, only too similar to that which I had at Tours with Dr. Bretonneau, has done much to bring back my despondency and listlessness.

Paris, January 16, 1838.– Yesterday when I was writing I had heard nothing of the conflagration which destroyed the Théâtre Italien the preceding night. The under-manager and four firemen lost their lives. It is a great catastrophe, and disastrous for poor people like myself whose only pleasure was the Italian Opera. I feel it quite deeply.

Lady Clanricarde came to lunch with me yesterday, and it was a great pleasure to see her again. She is very nice, and we talked over "dear, ever dear England," an inexhaustible subject for me.

In the evening I took Pauline to a ball given by the Duc d'Orléans; it was charming and delightfully arranged. We went away after supper at two o'clock in the morning, which was late for me. However, apart from a bad headache I need not complain of the way in which I got through my task. Unfortunately there are many others of the kind, and the prospect of their multiplicity frightens me. I saw nothing noticeable at the ball except the delicate appearance of the Duchesse d'Orléans, which unfortunately is not to be explained by any prospect of a child. I think our excellent Queen looks older, and the Duc de Nemours is terribly thin. He has grown a beard in the modern style, but so fair that it is frightful to behold.