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

Paris, January 17, 1838.– Yesterday I spent the morning with my sister in doing what I detest more than anything else – making a full round of indispensable calls. In the evening I took her to the Tuileries. The arrangements were most noble and magnificent. She was a little astonished at the forms of presentation here, and I was more than usually struck by them.

Paris, January 23, 1838.– I have caught a cold as a result of sitting in a draught which blew straight upon my back at a concert yesterday at the residence of the Duc d'Orléans; this was the only thing of which to complain at an evening's entertainment where there was no crowd and where the music was delightful, well chosen, and not too long.

M. de Talleyrand is very well, except for his legs; their weakness does not matter so much, but they are becoming painful, especially the toes of one foot, which are not always their natural colour. This is an ominous sign. I am very anxious, and so is he; in short, I am greatly depressed, and everything weighs heavily upon my mind.

Paris, January 28, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand is not ill, but his mania for dining out has not agreed with him. Yesterday at Lord Granville's, when giving his arm to the Princesse de Lieven, he trod upon the folds of her dress and nearly fell; he did not actually fall, but his knee gave way, his weak foot turned, and he twisted his big toe. I was deeply anxious when I saw him come back in this state. What a sad year it is! The fact is that since last April nothing has gone right, and if I did not regard all this as a trial and preparation for a better world, I should be quite disgusted with this one.

Paris, January 30, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand's foot gives him pain, and the worst of it is the difficulty of finding out whether the pain is the result of the sprain or the general weakness of the foot; otherwise he is calm, with people always about him, and plays his game of whist every evening.

I was with the Queen this evening, who had received the sad news that morning of the burning of the palace in Gotha in which her daughter, Princesse Marie, was living. Princesse Marie nearly lost her life, and has lost much valuable property, albums, portraits, books, her diaries, in fact everything. Her diamonds are melted out of the settings, which are mere lumps of metal; the large stones alone resisted the heat, and these must be repolished. And then many precious objects which money cannot replace have gone. This first cloud which overshadows her young happiness is especially cruel, because it raises distrust and destroys the sense of future security. It is a real grief to the Queen, the more so as the shock might have done the Princess some harm, as she is with child.

Paris, February 1, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand is anxious about the state of his leg and the consequent change necessitated in his mode of life. I wish his foot would get strong enough to allow him to get into a carriage, but he cannot yet put enough weight upon it to mount. Want of fresh air and exercise, if this continues, may have serious consequences. Meanwhile he is not alone for a single moment from ten o'clock in the morning till after midnight.

Lady Clanricarde came to lunch with me yesterday. In a few days she is returning to her dear England, of which I think daily with deep regret. I knew all that I was losing when I left it, and I have at any rate counted the cost.

Paris, February 2, 1838.– The state of M. de Talleyrand's leg is pretty much the same, though it was slightly less swollen yesterday. He is rather despondent, and, I think, too far-sighted not to realise all the possible ill-results. I cannot say how despondent I feel and what a weight is upon my mind.

Paris, February 3, 1838.– Yesterday was M. de Talleyrand's birthday, and he is now eighty-four. Fortunately his leg has seemed much better during the last day or two. This fact was the best birthday present he could have, or I either.

Paris, February 5, 1838.– My sister collected some Austrians and Italians yesterday evening at her house, and engaged a band of Neapolitan musicians who are here. She got them to sing some of their national airs, which are very pretty. M. de Talleyrand was carried up to my sister's rooms, and played his game there. His leg improves in appearance, but the sprained foot is weak and painful. I do not know if he will ever be able to walk again. If he could only get into a carriage! His inability to get fresh air makes me anxious.

He is sad and worried. Strange to say, he has expressed a wish to make the acquaintance of the Abbé Dupanloup, and has asked me to invite him to dinner on my birthday. I did so at once. The Abbé at first accepted and then refused. I suspect the Archbishop's hand in this. I shall see him to-morrow and get an explanation. When M. de Talleyrand heard that the Abbé had refused he said: "He has less intelligence than I thought, for he ought to be anxious to come here for my sake and his own." These words have impressed me and increased my vexation with the Abbé's refusal.

Paris, February 7, 1838.– Yesterday, in spite of the keen cold, I went to the Archbishop, who was very gracious. He gave me, for St. Dorothea's Day, my birthday, which was yesterday, a splendid copy of the Imitation of Jesus Christ, and another for M. de Talleyrand; for my sister a portrait of Leo XII., the Pope who had received his renunciation, and for Pauline a handsome religious work. He was greatly surprised and vexed that the Abbé Dupanloup had refused to dine with us; in short, I came away quite satisfied.

I was still more pleased at the way in which M. de Talleyrand accepted the Archbishop's present and listened to my account of our conversation. He would like the Archbishop to use his authority to induce the Abbé Dupanloup to come here. I cannot help ascribing his excellent frame of mind to my own feelings in my last illness, and to the words which I was then able to speak to him. I bless God for the sign that He has been pleased to send me by His hidden and always admirable means of working and if to complete this great task I should have to make a yet greater sacrifice I shall readily do so.

Paris, February 9, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand went out yesterday for the first time for a drive, which did him good, or, more correctly, pleased him. The effects of his sprain are rapidly passing away, but the same is not true of the general condition of his foot, which is unsatisfactory. He was carried into the carriage and helped out again, which was not so difficult as I thought, but this obvious infirmity is painful to look at – more painful than I can say. Rumours are believed that the Duchesse d'Orléans is with child; however, I think we shall have to wait a little before the story can be confirmed.

Paris, February 10, 1838.– It is said that the quarrel between the Flahauts and General Baudrand will be settled, but I do not think permanently.85 Madame de Flahaut comes to see M. de Talleyrand in the evenings, and her husband every morning; they are kind and gracious, as threatened people are.

M. Royer-Collard, whom I saw yesterday for a moment, was delighted to find that his speeches the other day had shattered the position which people wished the Deputies to resume. There was some friction between us on this occasion. There is too strong a strain of bitterness in his nature, which sometimes makes him quite mischievous, though he does not know it.

Paris, February 11, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand was able to visit Madame Adélaïde yesterday, the chief event of his day, and therefore of mine. The event of to-day is the snow, which is falling heavily and incessantly, and brings us back to the middle of the winter.

The Abbé Dupanloup came to see me yesterday, and paid a long call. I was quite satisfied with the result, and he will dine with us in a week.

We also had some people to dinner; the whole of the Albuféra family, the Thiers, the Flahauts; and some people come in every evening.

Paris, February 15, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand is very busy with a small laudatory speech upon M. Reinhard which he proposes to deliver at the Academy of Moral and Political Science at the beginning of next month. He is taking trouble with it, and spent several hours over it yesterday.

The Baudrand and Flahaut business is not yet concluded. Claims, hesitations, and equivocations have been forthcoming from either side, with the result that the two rivals have become ridiculously bitter, and, what is worse, the Prince Royal has been involved.

Paris, February 23, 1838.– We are still in the midst of cold and snow.

The Duc de Nemours has had a sore throat, which threatened to become quinsy, but his indisposition has not postponed any of the Court festivities, and the day before yesterday he was present at the Queen's ball.

M. de Talleyrand has a cold and his legs are weak. These are his two weak points. The former is only a transitory trouble; the other, though its remote consequences may be serious, is not threatening at present. Such is the true state of affairs.

Paris, February 25, 1838.– I was informed early this morning that M. de Talleyrand was suffering from a kind of suffocation. This was purely due to outward circumstances, for he had slipped down in his bed and was practically buried by his vast bedclothes, with the result that a kind of nightmare was the consequence. I have just left him sleeping peaceably in an armchair. What I do not like is the fact that for the last two days he has been more or less feverish, and that he will eat nothing or very little for fear of increasing the fever. He is very weak. The absence of Dr. Cruveilhier, who is at Limoges, is also a trouble, and though I feel no immediate anxiety, I am far from confident concerning the result of this invalid condition, which seems to point to a general break-up.

Paris, March 3, 1838.– In two hours M. de Talleyrand is going to the Academy in cold and most unpleasant rain; I also fear the effect of the excitement upon him. There will be a large audience, but no women, as this Academy will not admit them. I hope that to-day will go off well, but I wish it were to-morrow.

Paris, March 4, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand is very agitated and very weak this morning. He made a great effort, and whatever his success, I fear he will have to pay dearly for it. His success was beyond my expectation; the accounts of some fifty people who besieged my room after the session leave me no doubt upon that point. He had recovered his vocal powers, read excellently well, walked about, seemed younger and entirely himself, and two hours afterwards he was overthrown and incapable of making an effort. I do not know what the newspapers will have to say of the speech, but if anything can disarm them I think it should be the fact that a man at such an age and with so full a past should display such energy in delivering in public farewells so noble and so full of justice and good teaching.86

Paris, March 5, 1838.– The day has gone off better than I expected for M. de Talleyrand. The Journal Général de France, which is a Doctrinaire organ, contained the best, cleverest, and pleasantest article upon M. de Talleyrand's speech. Some ascribed it to M. Doudan, others to M. Villemain. The article in the Débats was kind, but dull; that of the Journal de Paris good; of the Charte stupid and badly written; the Gazette de France fairly good; the Siècle and the Presse insignificant; the National of no account. Against my custom, which has been not to open a single newspaper since my return from the country, I read them all yesterday, and shall do the same to-day; then I shall resume my state of ignorance.

Paris, March 6, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand had a fainting fit yesterday before dinner. I think it was due to the excessively rigorous methods of his dieting and to the catarrh of his chest and stomach, which takes away his appetite. The blister which will be placed upon him will relieve him, I hope. Yesterday's newspapers were not equally satisfactory concerning his speech, but he was not disturbed on that account, for the intelligent and right-minded members of his audience have been really pleased. The house is constantly full of people coming to congratulate him. M. Royer-Collard said to me yesterday: "M. de Talleyrand has solemnly disavowed the unpleasant incidents of his life and publicly glorified the good and really useful parts of it."

Paris, March 7, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand had no further attacks of faintness yesterday, but he does not look well, and I think him much changed. I hear that his brother, the Duc de Talleyrand, my father-in-law, is also in a very poor state of health; the Vicomtesse de Laval is feverish with a bad cold and she cannot sleep. This is all very sad, and these omens of death depress me greatly.

Paris, March 8, 1838.– M. de Talleyrand had a better day yesterday. We take great care of him: when I came back from a dinner given to my sister by the Stackelbergs, and from the Queen, to whom I went afterwards, I found him surrounded by fair ladies and in pretty good spirits.

In the morning I took Pauline to ask offerings from the Archbishop. My sister wished to accompany us, so that I was unable to speak with M. de Quélen.

The Flahaut party have lost all touch with the Pavillon Marsan, except the good graces of the Prince Royal, which they seem to be monopolising. At the Pavillon de Flore there is a general satisfaction at their departure, notwithstanding many fine phrases. The Flahauts do not understand the truth, and throw the blame upon a Doctrinaire intrigue, to which the Duc de Coigny is said to have lent his help. They are soon starting for England, where I think they will make a pretty long stay.

Paris, March 10, 1838.– The Abbé Dupanloup came to see me yesterday. He then asked to see M. de Talleyrand, to thank him for the copy of his speech which he had sent him. Pauline took him there. He stayed alone for twenty minutes with M. de Talleyrand, who did not open the subject directly, but let some kind words fall, and when the Abbé came back to my room he seemed to feel some hope. In any case, he has shown great discretion and perfect tact, and I think he is entirely right. He was the first to suggest that he should take his leave, and was told that he would gladly be seen again. This is all excellent, provided we are given time. It is not so much a case of illness as of general depression and an obvious alteration in his features; but with such a mind one cannot be hasty. What a task it is, and how terrified I should be of it if I did not tell myself that the most unworthy instrument which God is pleased to choose can become more powerful than the greatest saint, if God's providence is not pleased to make use of him!

Paris, March 11, 1838.– The English Ministry has triumphantly survived the crisis which was thought likely to become its overthrow. Will ours pass equally well through next week's crisis, the question of the secret service funds? Many batteries have been laid in position against it, and a silent agitation is proceeding on all sides. It is said that either extremity of the Chamber will direct a converging fire upon the Ministerial benches, I suppose with the object of afterwards shooting one another down upon the field of battle. It is all very distressing.

Paris, March 14, 1838.– I spent two hours yesterday with the Archbishop. I was better pleased with his sentiments than with his decisions. However, everything has been left for his meditation. He asked me to write and tell him what I thought, and I hope, with the grace of God, Who will cast light here and there, to reach some satisfactory conclusion, both for those who are to leave us and for those destined to continue their pilgrimage.

On leaving the Archbishop I went to the Vicomtesse de Laval, who is weak and shaken in health, but alert in heart and mind.

On my return I found M. de Talleyrand depressed and uneasy; he recovered his spirits after a talk with me. The last few days he has eaten a little better. In the evening he was not so weak, and I have just heard that he had a quiet night. I am swayed incessantly between hope and despair, but supported by the sense that I am useful, and perhaps even necessary. If my strength is to fail me, I trust that it may last to the end of my task, after which the sacrifice will have been made, as I made it during my illness at Rochecotte.

Paris, March 15, 1838.– Yesterday I accompanied my sister, who wished to go once more before her departure to the Chamber of Deputies. I felt greatly bored. M. Molé spoke very well; M. Barthe was unbearably superficial; M. Guizot gave us the most wearisome of all his sermons; M. Passy was coarse without being clever; M. Odilon Barrot was very clever and witty, and left neither Thiers nor Berryer anything to say, but his delivery is so oratorical and so badly sustained that it is hard work to listen to him. On the whole the honours of the session remained with M. Molé; or, to speak more accurately, if the Ministry gained nothing its adversary lost a great deal, which amounts to the same thing at the present moment.

Paris, March 16, 1838.– I took Pauline yesterday to mass, to the sermon, and to the salutation, after which she made her collection. Two funerals interrupted the collection, preventing any one from coming out, and they were also delayed by a driving rain, so that we remained standing at the church door for an interminable time. However, the sermon of the Abbé de Ravignan,87 concerning indifference in religion and its various causes, pleased me greatly, and if it is not one of the best sermons I have read, it is at any rate one of the best that I have ever heard.

M. Molé, who was dining here, said that this morning in the Chamber, during the formation of the official bodies, the alliance between men who were enemies a few months ago was notorious.

Paris, March 17, 1838.– I spent a long time yesterday morning at the Seminary of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, of which the Abbé Dupanloup is the superior. The good Abbé pleased me greatly, and also expressed his satisfaction with the little document which I showed him.88

In another month we shall have a new poem by M. de Lamartine, called L'Ange déchu,89 then the Mélanges littéraires, by M. Villemain, and a work by M. de Chateaubriand on the Congress of Verona; in short, enough reading for the whole summer.

M. de Talleyrand says that on May 1 he will go to his estate of Pont de Sains, in Flanders, stay there for the summer, travel to Nice by easy stages, starting on September 1, and return to Valençay in the month of May 1839. Such extensive projects are decidedly rash, and it is unreasonable for him to expose himself to the damp of Flanders after May 1. I tell him so and trust to Providence.

The motto, or rather the conclusion of a letter, which I find in an old book seems to me very pretty: "Be with God." I have adopted it.

Paris, March 22, 1838.– Princesse Marie, who has been here since the 19th, nearly had a miscarriage yesterday, as the result of too long a drive; while the Duchesse d'Orléans can only avoid one by remaining in her long chair.

M. de Rumigny, our ambassador at Turin, has brought a foolish dispute upon himself – a personal quarrel with the King over a matter of etiquette. Complaints concerning him have come to hand. It is the most foolish business conceivable, as it is all about the black or white headdresses worn by the women. Sardinian etiquette allows the Queen alone to wear them. How absurd it all is!

A coalition between MM. Thiers and Guizot seems likely, but there is such an outcry against this combination that either party is embarrassed, and it will probably come to nothing. M. Guizot in particular is experiencing the evil results of it, because his reputation is suffering greatly, and upon that, rather than upon his talent, he regarded his importance to be based. The fact is that notwithstanding all that has been said on either side in the speeches which closed last session and the discussions that have filled the interval there is something too abrupt in this alliance, which M. Royer-Collard calls an impious coalition.

There is much talk of a journey to be made by the King to Nantes and Bordeaux for the month of June, which would bring us back to Berry and towards Touraine. Hitherto M. de Talleyrand contemplated only Pont de Sains, a calamitous idea.

Paris, March 25, 1838.– Yesterday I defied an equinoctial storm to go and see the Archbishop. By degrees we came to an agreement, in the terms of the letter, and I hope that we shall arrive at some useful result, but we require time and the help of outward circumstances which do not depend on us and must be asked from a greater Power than ourselves. In any case, if heaven can be importuned by the prayers of earth, the petitions sent up on this subject should be efficacious.

Paris, March 28, 1838.– Yesterday I had a most important conversation with M. de Talleyrand, and found him in a state of open-mindedness which seemed miraculous. I now hope to be able to push steadily forward, and though the goal is still far away I trust that no precipice will form an obstacle to my progress.

Death comes upon people here in a terrifying way; M. Alexis de Rougé was carried off in twelve hours by a sudden stroke of apoplexy. His loss has thrown many people into great grief.

I have called upon Madame Adélaïde, where I heard all the nice things that the Duchess of Würtemberg is saying about Germany. The Duchesse d'Orléans feels that her child has quickened, and I think that her condition will be publicly announced in a few days.

They say that the young Queen of England gallops down the streets of London through all the omnibuses and cabs. Her old aunts think this is very shocking, and so it is.

In the English Parliament there is a coalition no less astounding than that of MM. Thiers and Guizot; Lord Brougham and Lord Lyndhurst have joined hands.

Paris, April 1, 1838.– Yesterday I went with my sister to the court of the Louvre to see the bronze statue which is to be sent off in a few days to Turin and is on exhibition for the moment. It is a statue of Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy after the battle of Saint-Quentin, pulling up his horse and putting his sword into its sheath. It is the work of Marochetti, a delightful thing, full of grace, nobility, and life. I was very pleased with it, and it seems to have met with the general approval.

Paris, April 3, 1838.– Yesterday I gave M. de Talleyrand the little document which I had drawn up for him. The incident passed over without a storm. I suppose that he will have read and digested it yesterday evening, and I shall see to-day whether the horizon is clouded.

Paris, April 4, 1838.– The little document was entirely successful.

Yesterday I took my sister to Saint-Roch to hear the Abbé de Ravignan, who pleased her greatly. He has a fine face, a beautiful voice, an excellent delivery, faith, conviction, warmth, authority, a close and vigorous style of argument, couched in clear and noble language, with a precise choice of words. He is not prolix and never diffuse. He lacks unction and his teaching is therefore rather doctrinal than evangelical, so that his talent had full scope as he was preaching on the infallibility of the Church.

M. de Pimodan, a great Legitimist, who was giving his arm to one of the lady collectors, insolently blocked the Queen's passage; the vicar, the Abbé Olivier, who was accompanying her to the door, and who is a little thick-set man, strong as a Turk, vigorously elbowed M. de Pimodan to move him out of the way; he flew into a rage, and rudely asked the curé what he meant by shoving him. The Abbé calmly replied: "I meant, sir, to make room for the Queen"; upon which the gentleman muttered some very insolent remarks, which passed unnoticed.

The Princesse de Bauffremont, who was to be one of the lady collectors, heard the evening before that Madame de Vatry was also to perform this duty. There were six of these ladies, chosen from different circles of Parisian society, in order to untie as many purse-strings as possible. The Princess then said that she would not be seen in company with the daughter of M. Hamguerlot, and withdrew. Was ever such false pride or want of charity?