FOUNDED, 1854 \ Received PRKSEN:rKI) 1!Y SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND LITERABY CAREER or AUGUSTUS VON KOTZEBUE ; WITH THE JOURNAL OF HIS TOUR TO PARIS, AT THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR I79O. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY JNNE PLUMPTRE. NEW-YORK : i*RlNTED AND PUBLISHED BY M. WARD & CO. OProSXTE THE CITY-HALL. I8OI. A D VERT IS E ME NT, BY THE TRANSLATOR. Short abstracts of the folloiviag Life have already been published in various wajjSy and under various forms ^ but with consider- able mistakes and misrepresentations. One of these abstracts is accompanied bij a note, stating^ that many things in the original are omitted in th^ translation^ because they would have been uninteresting to the English reader. Many things indeed are omitted, since the Life is compressed into scarcely more than a tythe of its original length. If any apology for differing from this opin- ion be thought necessary, the present Trans- lator offers hers in Kotzebue's own zvords : " Shoidd I be reproached with having intrud- ed a collection of trifling insignijicant circum- stances upon the world, I will not pretend to ADVERTISEMENT, refute the charge ; 1 shall only observe ^ that according to vuj ideas, to those who make the human heart their study, nothing can be un- interesting ivliich contributes towards tracing the progress of its formation'' To the specidative part of mankind, the Translator trusts that this zvill be a sufficient apology for the publication of the present vo- lume, since its sole object is to develope more fully to the English reader, the heart and mind of an Author xvhose works have obtained so high a degree of reputation in this country , To those zvho may take up the volume with the expectation of finding a succession of extraor- dinary adventures, she has no apology to offer, sensible that they must experience dis- appointment. It pretends to notlting more, than to exhibiting an interesting picture of an ardent and amiable character. London, March i, 1800, A SKETCH OF MY LITERARY CAREER. As an author, I have received my abundant fhare both of applaufe and abufe, and fince both have been frequently ahke undeferved on my part, it may perhaps not be wholly ufelefs to thofe young men who are ambi- tious cf treading the fame flippery path, to receive in- ftruftion from a veteran. From one vvho does not indeed Hand at the goal of his wifties — for who ever reached that ? — but who has long been purfuing the path which he hoped would lead to it, and who v/ill now relate, without difguife or ornament, where he has tottered, or where fallen, where he has been intoxicated with incenfe and flattery, where been deceived, or treated with ridicule, where he really was favoured by the mufe, or where he miftook a Bacchante for one of the nine. Ye young and inexperienced, then, ye, who have as yet only dipped the ends of your ftaves in the honey of A 2 6 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. Parnaflus, and think it mull be falutary becaufe it is fweet ; paufe for a moment, alTemble round me and liften. I have given the reins to my pen, my heart is opened, and you (hall hear equally where I was urged folely by vanity, and where I was impreffed with a juft fenfe of tlie true and beautiful. . Nor will I afiume any particular merit for my fmceri- ty, fince there are fituations in hfe in which it is no lefs eafy for a man to do well than to put on his great coat, and they are commonly thofe in which he can faunter about the v/hole day unmolefttd in the great coat, only bending now and then to pluck a flovv er, not to take up his adverfary's gauntlet. When fhut out from the great world he lives in rural peace, and recei ves mere pleafure from the fight of the firfl bloffoms in May, or from difcovering the firft budding teeth of his infant child, than from receiving the gracious invitation from a patron, " you nvill dine vjith me to-day. When con- tent and ferenity of mind expand the heart to every joy, and ccnfequently to every virtue, and when he is fur- rounded only by a few beloved friends, who have long learned to feparate the not ignoble emotions of the heart from the miftakes of the head ; thefe, thefe are the fitu?-tions that induce a man readily to acknowledge eve- ry fault he has committed, and which infpire him with confidence to come undifmayed before the pubHc ; fince then he hears the voice only of the candid judge who will not treat him v/ith ridicule, nor dif\ort his meaning, and put malicious interpretaticr.s upon the moll innocent errors he co^ifsiTes. LIFE CF KC)TZ:r:2UE. 7 " And where,'* fays RoufTeaa, fhall we find the man of fenfe v>^ho has never faid a foolifh thing ? — ** Where the honeft man who has never done any thing ** reprehenfible ? — ere an exad regifter to be kept of " every fault committed by even the moft perfect am.ong mortals, and were every other part of his chara6ler to " be carefully fupprelTed, what opinion v/ould the world " have reafon to form of fuch a man Go on, then, ye mahcious critics, ye manglers of fame by profession, what will your barking concern the happy reclufe, provided he have a wife and a few friends who know and love him ? Miferable hirelings ! bark till you be tired, it is not in your power to drive from his bofom that wife and tliofe friends. Were- 1, however, to alTert that I write this flcetch folely with the view of ferving young authors, I fhould advance as grcfs a falfchood as a bookfeller who Hiould profefs that in felhng his books at a low rate, he has no other objeft but to render the purchafe eafy to all lovers of knov/ledge. No, no, my friends ! he only fixes this under-pi-ice upon a few old fhopkeepers, which having been long on his hands he is glad to fell at any rate ; and in the fame manner this flcetch has been lying by in my brain for five years already, and I muft now fend it out into the world to make way for the reception of other things. Indeed, to own the truth, I have one obje6l in view in writing thefe pages, wholly extrinfic of all other con- federations, which is, the pleafure I fhall derive from the 8 LIFE OF KOTZEKUE. purfuit. I Confider authorftiip as a luxury, and never in my life did I write but one book and one pamphlet that I felt to be a tafl<. This was owing- to their beino; undertaken entirely to pleafe other people ; confequent- ly they were beyond comparifon the worft compofitions that ever came from my pen. But all my dramas, and whatever elfe among my numerous effufions have excelled the moft in beauty and feeling, have been done for my own amufement ; and the gratification I have received from the hours fo fpent, has repaid my toils much more richly than the profits refulting from them, or even the applaufe they have procured me from the public. Let me, then, amid the wanderings of my fancy, for- get the fnow that now lies around my window, fo fl^all I care little how it fares with the windows of my neigh- bors. Yet let me deprecate the idea of any one reading my book with the imprefiion of its being written at the fetting in of the firft froft, a feafon fo uncongenial to authorfhip. Not that I am entering at this moment up- on a hazardous chafe after applaufe — from that heaven defend me ! To the finging-bird that pecks at my win- dow I v/ould open it with pleafure, and who would re- fufe him admittance ? But God forbid that I fhould at- tempt to catch him in a fnare ! Come forth then, ye enchanting images of youth, though the piftures ye exhibit fcarcely feem to bear any refcmblance to my prefent felf ! Come forth ! de- lude my fancy, ye beloved fhadows ! — afcend, ye fweet hours of infancy, as a thin vapour from the ocean of the LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 9 paft, and float once more before my eyes ! — I Hand up- on the bnnk of the ftream of time, and eagerly watch the current as it bears my flower along upon its furface. Even now I behold it glittering upon the back of a wave, for the lail time ere it be plunged into the depth below, and loft forever to my fight. Let me catch this laft glitter ! — See there that boy who hangs with fixed eyes upon his mother's lips, while on a winter's evening flie reads in fome good book to him and his fifter ! — See him again making a table of his ftool, and a feat of the footftep, as he eagerly feafts upon a beloved romance, while his ball and hobby-horfe lie ne- glefted in a corner ! — Ah, that boy is a child no longer ! My good mother, thanks be to heaven, flie ftill lives to witnefs the elFufions of my gratitude! — My good mo- ther, early left a widow, renounced many of the charms and enjoyments of life, to devote herfelf to the education of her children and the formation of their infant minds. She pcfTelTed a refined tafte, with correal feelings and a mind well cultivated by reading, to which ftie added a rich treafure of maternal tendernefs. With qualities like thefe fhe could fcarcely find her toils wholly unreward- ed. She engaged tutors for my inftru^lion, young divines, who, while anxioufly waiting, till in quahty of their godly vocation, they fhould be called to the care of a flock, made me feel mofl; heavily the weight of their fliepherds' crooks. They indeed fpared no pains, with- in the fphere of corredlion, to make a hopeful flieep of me. One of them was a phyfiognomift, another had 9. 10 LIFE CP KOTZEBUE. heart deeply transfixed with the arrows of love. The former was eternally criticifing the formation of my nofe, the latter employed me in conveying billets doux to his miftrefs. But the mifchief done by them was al- ways repaired by my mother. One evening fpent with her, one hour's private reading in her room, was of more ufe to me than all the time employed in drudging at Langen's Colloquies, or in poring over Luther*s long and fhort Catechifms. My tutors taught the parrot to prate, my mother taught the child to feel. From her I imbibed a tafte for reading almoft at the breaft, and even when I was not more than four or five years old, books had more charms for me than a rocking-horfe. The firll v/ork from which I recolle6l to have received any ftrong impreffion was a colleftion of Tales from va- rious languages, called Evening Hours, at that time a very popular book for children. It confifted of feverrJ volumes, which, feated in the manner I have before de- fcribed, I ufed to read over and over again. In the title-page was the figure of a fleeping dog, with the motto, non omnibus dormio. What this vignette was in- tended to reprefent, I do not know ; but this I know, that even to the prefent moment, I never pafs a dog afleep, without thinking of the Evening Hours. My favorite tale among this coUetlion, and which called forth the firll tears of fenfibility I ever flied, was the ftory of Romeo and Juliet, from which Weiffe took the materials for his tragedy. It affefted me fo deeply, that I think the preference I have ever fince retained for pathetic tales, may perhaps be traced to this fourcc, LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 11 fince it is certain that thofe things which make a ftrong impreffion upon the mind in infancy, have a confiderable influence in forming the future tafle. The next work that eagerly attracted my attention was Don Quixotte, and though that admirable hiftory has lately been much better tranflated by Bertuch, yet I will freely own that I never received half the pleafure from this improved verfion, as from what I read in my infancy. A child brings to his fliudies as well as to his play, a ftronger fenfibility, with a greater aptitude to receive powerful impreffions, and therefore finds in both, charms which are, in faft, rather to be afcribed to the quicknefs of his own feelings, than to the real attradlion of the things themfelves, as a leaf though half vnthered, Hill appears beautiful when the morning fun (bines up- on it. It is therefore that the youth, and even the man, will fometimes feel an ardent wifli to read again in his ma- turer years, a book with which he had been tranf- ported in his infancy. He endeavors to procure it ; he fucceeds at laft, and then wonders that he no longer finds it entertaining. My taste " he fays, is refin- Ah no ! but thou haft not perufed it with the like fenfations as formerly. A gentle touch fufficed at that time to make every nerve tremble, but now, to be affedled they muft be fliaken. Indeed, were it true that this difference is folely the effecSl of a more refined tafte, ftill it were but a melancholy truth, fince it only fhews how much the circle of our mental enjoyments muft be every moment contrading. We cannot endure to rea4 12 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE, any but works of decided fuperiority, we value ourfelves upon this faftidioufnefs, and make it our pride that fuch only can afford us entertainment ; yet \vc efteem the contented man who eats his homely broth with the fame rehfii that Frederick the Second ate his Polenta. Is content, then, only a corporeal virtue ^ But hold, thou renowned Don Quixotte, thou art leading me too far ! — Accept my thanks for the many hours of real happinefs thou haft procured me, and ftiare them with Sancho Panca. Ye are excellent companions, and moft gladly did I receive you as inmates, till the wonderful adventurer, Robinfon Crufoe, thruft you out. With irrefiftible force did he, as a magnet, attradl me towards him, as he attraft^ every other boy. To him I clung, as to the choiceft treafure of my foul, and with him under my arm have frequently flown along the Red-way, as it was called, to the threfhold of the ftable, there, undifturbed by the noife of my play-fellows, to ac- company him in his goat-huntings. The hour for the evening beaver ftruck, but I heard it not ; the fun fet, yet I read on till my eyes were weary with endeavoring in vain to read longer. Oh, how anxioufly did I then wifii that fortune might one day throw me on a defart ifland ! How delicious did I find, in idea, the bread baked in the earth after Robinfon's fafhion, and the goat's flefh drelTed in pots of my own making ! I immediately began to fearch after all the adventur- ous Robinfons, which the defire of imitation had produ- ced in my own country, but no one was to be found that in ftrength, nature and intereft, approached the origi- LIFK OF KO ; ZEBUE 13 nal. The Iflan.d of Felfeiiburg indeed charmed me in. no flight degree 5 and tlic appearance of the fpirit, rifmg out of the water in the form of a cloud, gave me tole- rable fenfations of terror. Robert Pierrot alfo had no inconfiderable fhare of my favor, and particularly in that part where he receives canonization on coming out of the cave with the skulls. But ftill thefe were nothing to my beloved Robinfon : He remained the objeft of my deareft admiration, while I entertained a very fmcere afFe<5lion for his Friday, and was beguiled of many a tear by the artlefs tranfports he evinced at meeting again with his father. An ifland, and particularly a defart ifland, were at that time like words of magic to my foul, to which were annexed a long train of the moft enchanting images. — Sometimes I thought within myfelf, Why do I learn to decline, to conjugate, to expound ? — Were it not better to be inftru6led in fuch mechanical trades as I might hereafter find ufeful in my folitude ? Since, if fate would grant my moft ardent wifh, in procefs of time I ihould make a voyage in a leaky fliip, and be wrecked on an uninhabited coaft, where I alone of all the crew being faved, fiiould have nothing with which to build myfelf a houfe but the fhattered remains of the vefTel. Who would have thought of this wifh being eagerly revived, after a lapfe of five-and-twenty years ? — I was born with a heart fufceptible of an ardent relifh for foci- ety, coniequently neceffity alone could drive me into folitude ; yet I would rather hve for ever removed from the malice and vices of mankind, than to be obliged daily B 14 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. to witnefs them, and deteft my fpecies. The word ill- and ftill eleftrifies my foul as formerly, only that I no longer wifh it to be uninhabited ; nor at the magic found do I now think of Robinfon Crufoe, but of thee, my worthy Ungern. The ifland thou inhabiteft, my prov- ed, my faithful friend, fhall be my laft afylum ; and if fate (hall deftroy my happinefs in fociety for ever, thou fhalt grant me a little fpot where I may drop a tear un- molefted over the miferable wreck. If at any time my imagination was over-heated by the Pearl Iflands, or the Ifland of Fclfenberg, by the floating or flying Ifland, my mother always contrived to fele6t fomething for our evening reading, which might moderate this ardor, and make a gentler imprefilon upon my too fufceptible fancy. I v/as fond of ^fop's Fa- bles, and foon alfo became familiarly acquainted with Gellert's fables and fongs, many of which I learned by heart. Haller and Bodmer were above me ; but- with Gleim, Uz, and Hagedorn, I was delighted, becaufe I could underftand them perfedly, and very early in Hfe they became objefts of my imitation. Well do I re- member m^y firll attempt at writing poetry. I was fcarcely lix years old, and ufed to keep m.y manufcript behind the looking-glafs, with the rod. The poem was to be a defcription of rural fcenery, and the images for it were ranfackcd from all the poets with which I was then acquainted. I well remember the two following lines, fince they particularly delighted mc becaufe they Clipped fo prettily : — LIFE Of KOTZEBUE. 15 Es finget die fteigende Lerche, Es hupfen die Schiifgen am Beige. The lark, afcending, fings. The flieep Ikip upon the mountains. 1 was not at all aware, however, that they were dac- tyls ; and indeed they were the only lines of that mea- fure in the whole poem. For many days together did I puzzle my brains to make all the other lines dance with equal agility, but in vain. The remainder of the poem was compoled of heavy fpondees, which I could not alter ; neither could I comprehend how it was pofiible to make verfes either creep on at a foot's pace, or gal- lop at pleafure. Soon after 1 ventured on a firft elfay at dramatic writing. The fable of the Milk-maid and the two Hunts- men had accidentally fallen into my hands : the favorite little opera on that ftory was not then in exiftence, or at leaft was unknown to me. On this fubjecl I wrote a comedy, which filled a whole o6lavo page. I was in- deed fenfible, that to bear any ref:;Tr:!il-!': however, willing to pardon this negligence, provided I fhould fee my production in print ; a fatisfaftion I had not the fmallell doubt of receiving. Every month, therefore, I expedled the appearance of the Mercury, with ex- cefs of impatience, and eagerly ran over the lift of its contents, aflured of finding my Winter^s Tale, In the firft month I confoled myfelf for my difappointed hopes, by the conviction that Wieland had only poftponed the infertion of my production from a fuper-abundance of materials. But when firft a quarter, then half a year, pafled on, and ftill no tale appeared, I was vain and ab- furd enough to perfuade myfelf for a moment, that Wieland through envy wiftied to fupprefs my growing talents. I do not attempt to veil my weaknefs. I hold ye up a mirror, ye poetafters, in which to view yourfelvcs ! Two years after, - when my reafon was fomewhat more maturcvi, I fent Wieland another poem, called Ralph and Guldo, accompanied by a really raodeft anon- ymous letter. My humility was then rewarded by the pleafure of feeing my offspring infertt^d in the very next number. But, as I hinted above, at the fame time that my pride was fo mortified with regard to my JVtnter^s TaUt LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 47 awmtijo: cbcumftanee happened, which gave me great encouragement, and almoft effaced the chagrin of my difappointment in the former inflance, A ftudent of the name of -Gether wa& drowned bathing in the Saale, and the extreme affli ted each other, excited m.y utmolt abhorrence. Some months fpent very pleafantly during the fum- mer, in frequent vifits to the garden of Clippftein, gave cxillence to a fniall coHeftion of poems, which, by means of my friend Mufaeus, were printed by W , at E . I cautioufly avoid mentioning either the title of the colleftion, or the name of the publiflier, fmce the curi- olity of fome readers might be fiifficiently awakened to induce a wifti of bringing the babe once more into hght, by which I am confcious that I fhould be no gainer. At that time, however, the publication gave me inexpreflible fati&fa6lion, and I eagerly fearched every catalogue that LIFE O? KOTZEBUE. 57 fell into my hands, in hopes of finding my beloved vo- lume among the lift. Whence comes it that we feel fuch exquifite fenfation^ of delight on our admiffion into the fan8um fan^orum of authorfhip ? By what claim does the young author regard his flrft publication as a credential to the public ? Does he confider the art of embodying the efiufions of his imagination fo as to render them vifible to others, in the light o{ acquired merit ? Does he forget, that poets, equally with mechanics, have been born beneath a roof of ftraw ? That the organization of the frame, and the irritabihty of the nerves, or the adlivity of their juices, if juices they have, conftitute the wonderful vari- ety we behold in mental propenfities, or what is com- monly called talent ; confequently, that the art of writ- ing poetry can be as little efteemed a merit of his own acquifition as corporeal ftrength or beauty ? In order to give a public proof that I was not trifling away my tim.e folely with the belles-lettres, I clofed my academical career at Jena, in my nineteenth year, with taking the character of an opponent at a doctor's de- gree. Soon after, I returned to Weimar, where I ftu- died the Pandefts with extreme diligence, was examin- ed by the principals in the law, and admitted as an ad- vocate. Here, while I was waiting for clients, I cou- tinued to be myfelf a zealous chent of the Mufes. Two or three years before, a fatirical ballad had ef- caped my pen, refle6ling, perhaps unjullifiably, upon the fair of Weimar. To atone for this tranfgreflion was now my firft object, and I fung their beauties, and 58 LIFE OF KOTZEEQK. their virtues, in fuch elaborate ftrains as I hoped would entirely efface all unpleafant recolledlions. My offence originated in the following circumftance. A figure dancer had been exhibiting his feats at Wei- mar, who had a fingular art of difplaying his fine Her- culean form to the utmofl pofTible advantage, by the great variety of his attitudes, and the graceful movements of his body. Scandal foon began to be bufy in buzzing about the town, a report that he Iiad made a deep im- prefTion on the hearts of many of our ladies. This ru- mour reaching my ears, a thought ftruck me to make the flory, no matter whether true or falfe, the fubjedt of a ridiculous parody on Biirger's ballad of the Women of Weinjberg ; and I muft own, that after a lapfe of fixteen years, I flill confider it as one of the beft pieces of humour I ever produced. But in proportion to its merit was its offence ; and the more credit it gained, fo much more did it draw upon me the heavy indignation of every female in the town. A certain Mr. B , who paffed for a good poet, and valued himfelf not a little upon his poetical talents, took upon himfelf to be the ladies champion, and did me the honor of making me the fubjeft of another ballad, in which I was pretty feverely handled : a very proper chaftifement for calling reflexions upon the whole fex, when perhaps not one deferved cenfure, or even ridicule.* * Though the ftory of the JVo7nen of IVehfbetj is well known, it may not, perhaps, be unacceptable to the reader, to be pre- fented with Burger's ballad upon the fubjed. It were to be wiilicd, that Kotzebue's parody could alfo be fubjoir.ed. LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 59 The fummer after my return from Jena, was one of the happieft periods of my Hfe, fince I then firft en- joyed the entire and confidential friendfhip of the admi- rable Mufseus, I have already related, in my (ketch of And tell me, then, where Weinfoerg lies, It muft be a bonny place, For the wives and maids once faved the town, When the town was iu piteous cafe. And ftiould I e'er be minded to woo. To Weinfberg I a wooing would go. The Emperor Conrad once, we're told, Had ta'en umbrage with the town. And with horfe and foot, all clad in fteel, In terrible force came down. With foot and horfe furrounded the walls. And battered them forely with bombs and balls. And when, in fpite of his fierce alTail, The people withftood his aim ; While his bofom with direft fury burn'd, He bade his herald proclaim, That when the ill-fated town fnould fall, The fword fliould extirpate one and all. 'Twas fad to lift to his threat'ning dire Proclaim'd by the trumpet's found, Aud difmal ftirieks and groans were heard In the houfes and ftreets around. For fcanty was now become their fare. And counfel, alas ! was ftill more rare. Oh woe ! oh woe ! on our haplefs town ! On us is deep fcath and woe ! And they fang their Kyrie £l/fon, To dellru(5lion, alas ! we go ! Oh woe ! oh woe ! on our haplefs town ! For foon its walls muft be batter'd down But when man's refources all are gone. When his plans and fchemes have fail'd To refcue his life he oft h^s found, Have female fancies avaii'd. For priefts arid women, wh re'erwe go, Ars far the wiiieft things we kno-w. 60 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. this worthy man's life, that we ufed to meet daily in his garden. We wrote together at the fame table, ufmg the fame ink-glafs, and even now I feem to behold the pleafant and good-natured fmile that illumined his counr A maiden betroth'd but yefterday. Did her neighbors around her call, And hinted a plan to fave the town, Which ftraight was follow'd by all. And Lobefan was the maiden's name, As high it ftands recorded by fame. Then at midnight's ftill and folemn hour, When the earth was moifl with dew. The wives and maids repaired to the camp, For pardon and grace to fue. And they knelt before the Emperor's feet, And they begged fo foft, and begged fo fweet, Till leave they gain'd at the morning's dawn, With their treafures to quit the place; But all that then remained in the town Should the fire and fword erafe. And fmce no more their pray'rs could obtain, "^fheyJjackward hied to their home again. But lo ! when the dav/n next morning's broke, 'Twas a glorious fight to fee ! The wives and the maidens all came forth, Each tott'ring with bended knee, Not beneath the weight of bag or fack. But of hufbands and brothers all pick-a-back. And now enrag'd, the courtiers fought Their devices to rounteradl ; But an Emperpr, mighty Conrad, fpake, His word muft never retradl, And bravo ! bravo ! the monarch he cried, May all our women ad thus when tried. The town he pardon'd, and gave a feaft, Such noble deeds to repay, And there was trumpet and kettle-drum^ And finging and dancing gay. He gave a feaft, the women to pleafe, And all were invited of all degrees. LIFE CF KOTZEBUE. 61 tenance, the animation that beamed from his eyes, whea he was about to commit to writing fome humorous idea that had ftruck his fancy. He generally read over to me in the evening what he had written in the courfe of the day, though fometimes this entertainment was de- ferred to the end of the week. Was it then furprifmg, that as I had already endeavored to imitate Wieland and Brandes, Goethe and Hermes, I fhould now be ftruck with a pafiion for taking Mufaeus as my model ? About that time, Wittekind of Eifenach had formed a plan for pubHfhing a mifcellaneous work, confifting of tales, poems, &;c. which was intended to be very volumi- nous, and to which he had given fome common-place title that I have now forgotten. I was invited by him to become an affiftant in this pubhcation ; but to that I would not confent, unlcfs I had pcrmiffion to give it a more attractive name. The pubHfher made no difficulty of complying with my terms, and I accordingly baptized the child by the nam.e of Ganymede for the Literary World. I wrote a preface for the firft volume, and con- tributed towards it, /, a Hi/lory in Fragments, into which I endeavoured to transfufe Mufosus's original turn of thought and ftyle : how well I fucceeded may eafily be imagined. This was the firft and laft concern I had xvlth Mr. Wittekind and his work ; though, if I am not Ah, tell me tlien where Weinfberg lies, It muft be a bonny place ; For the wives and maids once fav'd the town, When the town was in piteous cafe. And Ihould I e'er be minded to woo. To "Weiiifoerg I a wooing wo;;ld go, F 62 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. miftaken, it is ftill continued. By meeting with it fometimes in looking over catalogues, I am reminded of the fins of my youth. My fecond produdion this fummer was a colle6lion of tales. Thefe were pubhfhed by Dyck at Leipfick, and were honoured with being printed in a very elegant man- ner. He has fmce conferred another honour upon them wholly unexpefted by me, and not quite fo fatisfadlory, in republifliing them without my knowledge or confent, confiderably altered and enlarged. A few weeks ago, wifhing to form a complete collection of my ^vorks, I fent to Leipfick, among other things, for this infignifi- cant produftion, I opened it, and began reading j when, to my aftonilhment, I found there was a great deal of which I had not the flightefl recolleftion. Icould not imagine how it could happen, that I had fo totally forgotten what was written by myfclf. I read on : but my furprife only increafed ; for ftill what I was reading feemed in great meafure new to me, till at length I was thoroughly convinced, that many things were introduced of which I was not the author. By degrees, memory aflifted me to feparate my own from foreign pro- perty ; and, at the end of the rcti ofpe6l I was equally convinced, that not only was I made refponfible for no lefs than a hundred and fifty-three pages, not a word of which I had written, but alfo that much really of my own compofition was omitted. Let me not be fuppofed thus publicly to notice this circiimftancc, from the filly vanity of confidering what I did myfeif as of lo fiiperior a nature, that it mull necef' LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 63 farily be disfigured by thefe additions and alterations. I will readily allow, on the contrary, that from the in- feriority of my own part, it could only be confidered as a foil to the reft. But in what a light muft I appear to the writers of the added pieces, fhould my book ever fall accidentally into their hands, and they (hould fee their own children fent into the world under my name Muft I not be juftly confidered as the moft fhamelefs and contemptible of all plagiarifts, or rather as a literary impoftor ? And what befides, muft Weiffe, the Receiv- er of the military contributions, whom I have not the honor of knowing even by fight, think of feeing a poem addrefled to him with the famiharity of an old acquain- tance ? Finally, what fhall we fay to the publifher himfelf ? In the year 1780, when this work was firft printed, he engaged, in cafe of its coming to a new edition, to pay me a fixed additional fum by the ftieet for revifing and correfting it ; yet he has publifhed this new and enlarged edition even without my knowledge. The whole tranfadlion is every way incomprehenfible, and is perhaps a circumftance that never happened before to a liv- ing author. After much refleclion, I can find one only poftible folution of it. A great part of the original edi- tion of my tales, which certainly were not of a firft rate kind, might perhaps remain as ufelefs lumber upon the pub- lifher's hands, as might alfo be the cafe with fome other work now confofidated with mine. But fince my name has become more known, and has acquired fome degree of reputation, he thought the time was arrived for indem- 64 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. nifying himfelf for tliis double lofs, fo, melting his two old ihopkeepers together, has fent them out to feek their fortune, as the work of the author now the moll popu- lar. As a mercantile fpeculation, I muft own this pro- cedure to be ingcniou?, but I cannot pofiibly admire it as a matter of principle. Yet, in confideration of the joyous day purchafed with the money I received for the firft pubhcation of my tales, I pardon the fubfequent offence. It was on my mother's birth-day, and to the laft moment of my life I fhall call up the recoUeftion with tranfport. In a gar- den decorated with garlands of flowers, part of which were formed into the initials of our names, I furprized her with a rural entertainment. In the preparations for this, the good Mufseus, who was always eager to promote fuch innocent amufements, had bulled himfelf extremely. A ftage was formed by live hedges, upon which a fhort and affecling little drama was performed by lome children ; foft mufic played among the trees and fiirubs, and in the evening the whole garden was illumi- nated with coloured lamps. It was the happieft day I ever experienced. Even notv, the recollection brings tears into my eyes, fmce then I faw tears of tranfport Handing in thofe of my mother. Yes ! Dyck is par- doned ! The third child I brought forth in Mufaeus's fummer houfe, was a comedy in three ads, called The Triple Vonv, PalTages and fmgle fcenes were not amifs. It was written with the intention of being played at a pri- vate theatre at Weimar, after the Duchefs's delivery, LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 65 but unluckily only in cafe of her prefenting the world with a prince ; and as it was her royal pleafure on this occafion perverfely to produce a daughter, the perform- ance fell to the ground, nor has the pieCe ever appeared in print. Befides thefe produdions, I wrote, about the fame time, at the requeft of a very worthy man who honored me with his friendfiiip, fome criticifms in a literary pub- lication, a thefe bore the ftamp of immature youth, at leaft they were free from any fymptoms of the fhame- lefs critical acumen dealt out fo liberally by maturer writers in the prefent days. In the Autumn of 1781, I went to Peterjfburg*. The celebrated poet Lenz, author of the Neiv Menoza, was my predecelTor in the office to which I was now ap- pointed. He had excited much diffatisfadtion in his poft, fince inflead of attending regularly to the necelTary public bufmefs, his attention was frequently diverted to a poem he was writing, for which there was no neceflity at all, I refolved, therefore, to take warning from his example, and avoiding the rock upon which he had * It does not direcflly appear, either from Kotzebue's own writings, or elfev/here, in what capacity he now went to the Ruffian capital. He certainly was for fome years Prefident of the Hi^h College of Juftice in the territory of Ehflland, in the Ruffian province of Livonia; but from what follows, it fhould rather appear, that he did not enjoy this office till he went to re- fide at Reval; confequently, that his original appointment from the Ruffian government was of a different nature. Indeed, he mentions himfelf, in a fubfequent paffage, as being under the celebrated General Bawr, which corroborates the opinion that be had fome other poft before his prefidency. Translator, 66 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. fplit, to forego the Miifes entirely ; but nahiram Ji furca expellas. An entire half year indeed elapfed, in which, adhering firmly to my refolution, my fuperiors could not entertain theleaft fufpicion that afpark of poet- ry illumined my breaft, or that my name had ever appear- ed in the catalogues for Leipfick fair. This referve, on the fubjedl of my literary attainments, originated in ob- fervations I had myfelf made ; by which I was convinced that in the vv'orld at large, a being who underilands noth- ing but how to make rhymes, is confidered, and per- haps juftly, as of very little account. An accidental occurrence, however, once mOre irre- iiftibly drew forth my vanity from under the charitable controul of reafon. The great and excellent engineer, General Bawr, paffing through Riga, met by chance ^yith the celle(^lion of tales already noticed. The name caught his immediate attention he ftarted, and en- quiring particulars refpecJting the author, learned to his no fmall furprize, that it was the fame Kotzebue who then laboured under him at a very different fpecies of employment. He purchafed the book, brought it back with him to Petcrlburgh, and one day at a table produced it unexpectedly. The colour that inftantly rofe in my face betrayed me, and the applaufe I received on this occafion, blew the embers, ftill fmothering in my boforn, again into a blaze. By degrees I refumed the delightful occuj)ation of de- voting my leifure-hours, which indeed were but fcAv, .to Tr-y old literary purfuits. A German theatre had been LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 67 for fome little time eftablidied at Peterfburg, but on a very indifferent footing. A lady, of the name of Tel- ler, was the only one among the performers who pcfTcfs- rd any real talents for the ftage. The nerTt in rank to her for ability, was Fiala, a fpecimen fulEcient to give an idea of their general mediocrity. The receipts of the houfe were very fmall, and the whole inilitution was on the point of failing to the ground, when the in- triguing Fiala applied to General Bawr, intreating him as a German, to take it under his protection, and to ufe his influence with the Tzarina for procuring its en- rollment among her Imperial theatres. This was ac- cordingly done, Bawr undertook the direftion himfelf, and from that moment I was rellorcd to my own ele- ment. I wrote a tragedy, in five aila, called Demetrius Tzar of Mofco'w, taken from the well-known ftory of tiie true or falfe Demetrius, who, according to report, was mur- dered as a child at Ugiitfcli, but who afterwards ap- peared fupported by the Poles, and dethroned the trai- tor Boris Godunow. The world needs not now to be informed, that the belt hiftorians are divided upon the queilion whether or not this Demetrius was an impoftor I A llrong prejudice was at leaft awakened in his favour, from the woman who was undoubted mother to the child fuppofed to have been murdered, burfting into an agony of tears, in the midft of a numerous affembly of the peo- ple, at beholding the adventurer, as he was called, and with thewildeil elTufions of joy acknowledging hkn 68 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. Iier fon. It is however, alas ! but too certain, that po- licy has often engaged even maternal tendernefs in its in- terefl:, and thofe tears might not improbably be artifi- cially fhed by Maria Feodorowna, from hatred to the ufurpcr, and a defire of revenging lierfelf by contribut- ing in any way to his downfall. Be this as it may, I did not like, in my capacity of tragedian, to produce an impoftor as the hero of my piece, and accordingly I fup- ported his being really the dethroned Prince. "When my drama was completed, 1 read it to a fmall but chofen circle. The then Pruflian AmbafTador at the Ruffian court, and the Prefident of the Academy of Arts and Sciences at Peterfburgh, men of acknowledg- ed and diftinguiflied talle in literature, were among my audience. The piece was approved, probably more from the indulgence of my hearers than from its own merit. Such, at kalt, is the impreflion I now have upon the fubjeft, as I fiiould by no means venture to bring it upon the ftage. General Bawr ordered it to be imme- diately performed, and very fplendid drelTes and decora- tions, after the old Ruffian coftume, were prepared for it. As the Tzarina had configned the entire manage- ment of the theatre to Bawr, he thought his own fiat fufficient, and that it was unneceffary to lay the manu- fcript before the theatrical cenfor. But this piece of negligence nearly proved the overthrow of all my tranf- ports. As the intended day of reprefentation approach- ed, and had been announced in the puUic prints, the tIfE OF KOTZEBUEi Governor of the I^clice fent one morning to the theatre, prohibiting the performance. Fiala, thunderftruck, haftened to General Bawr, and the General to the Go- vernor, to alTure him that my tragedy was perfectly cirenfive. But this fignined little. It appeared, that Peter the Great had iffued an Ukafe, exprefsly declar- ing Demetrius an impoftor ; and this being ftill in force, was more inconteftible evidenae againft him, than the tears of his mother were in his favour. In vain did I urge, that I was wholly ignorant of the exiflence of fuch an Ukafe : it was ftill afked how I dared, in the very face of an Imperial decree, to prefent my hero to the public under the title of Tzar of Mofcow« Ik Efteem and confideration for General Bawr, however, nt length removed even this difficulty, and the Govern- or of the Police confented to the reprefentation of m.y play, yet not without previoufly fending an officer to me with an injun<5lion to make fuch alterations, as that Demetrius fhould be pubhcly unmafl<;ed, and difplayed before all the people in his true charafter of an impoftor. Mortified to the laft degree at the idea of thus mutilat- ing my offspring, I reprefented to the officer that the piece might as well be thrown at once into the fire ; but my remonftrances were of no avail, he refoluteiy infifted that this trifling alteration fhould be made. My only refource was in another application to the General, vvho once more ftood my friend, and finally procured a compromiie of the matter. The performance of the piece, as I had written it, was permitted, on condition ^70 LIFE OF KOTZEBUe. of my making, in my own perfon, a folemn decIaratioiS that I was firmly convinced of Demetrius's impofture, and in reprefenting the matter otherwife in my play^ had only been guilty of a poetical licence. All obftacles being thus at laft removed, my unfor- tunate tragedy was performed before a numerous audi- ence, whofe curiofity was confiderably increafed by fo many demurs. It was received with an applaufe to which-the forbearance generally praftifed towards youth could alone give me any pretenlion. Soon after I wrote a comedy, The Nun and the Cham- hermaid, that proved extremely fuccefsful, though from a very different caufe. The abolition of Convents, in which Jofeph the Second was then deeply engaged, and the blockade of the Dutch fleet in the Texel by an En- glifh fquadron, furnifhed materials for the plot, and much as thefe events attracted the public attention, a piece founded on them could fcarcely fail to pleafe. Added to this, it was beyond all comparifon better played than DemetriuSi A fhort time before, fome author from Vienna, I know not his name, had written a comedy, which had the good fortune to pleafe the Tzarina, and fhe teftified her approbation by making him a handfome prefent. I therefore expelled that Count Cobentzel, the Imperial AmbafTador at Peterfburgh, would have taken this op- portunity of returning her Majefty's compliment, nor did the idea originate folely in my own filly vanity, fince he had expreffed a wifh to be allowed a copy for the LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 71 theatre at Vienna. This requeft I thought would not admit of any other conftrudlion than fuch an intended compliment, as the innate worth of the thing would by- no means authorife it, and I therefore eagerly put into his hands the only copy I had referred for myfelf. But never to this moment have I heard another word upon the fubjed. Perhaps my patron's death, which hap- pened Ihortly after, was the principal caufe of thi§ filence, fince now the fame publicity could not have at- tended any a6l of munificence fiiewn upon the occafion. In fhort one copy of my play was thus loft, and the prompter foon after running away with that belonging to the theatre, I wa« wholly and entirely deprived of the babe. This was undoubtedly a matter of fmall impor- tance, and I only mention it left the mannfcript ftiould fall into the hands of any of our gain-thirfty bookfellers, who might, unlefs warned againft it, confign it v/ithout mercy to the prefs. Should fuch be the cafe, I here enter my folem.n proteft againft its pubhcation. I now engaged in an undertaking which proved of confiderabie utility, though attended with little trouble. Among the vaft throng of periodical works that inun- date Germany, a "Very fmall number then made their way to Peterlburgh, and even they were little read ; in- deed, to own the truth, a few numbers excepted^ they contained httle worth attention. What things did me- rit perufal I therefore fele6led, and printed them month- ly in a good fized pamphlet. Several volumes of this "ork, which, after my departuie, was continued by '12 LIFE OF KOTZEBLTE. another editor, and been favourably received at Peterf- burgh, as well as in fome of the provinces. In this work, befides feveral unpublifiied efiays cf my own, I inferted fome fpecimens of The Siiff'er'mgs of the Family of Ortenlerg, a romance on which I was then employ- ed. In the year 1782, fome of my friends who had influ- ence at court, had fixed their minds on eftablifhing me in a poft to which they thought it would prove a ftrong recommendation in my favor, were I to write a volume of moral tales and fables for young princes, and dedicate it to the Grand Duke's Son. Never having felt within myfeif any propenfity to this fpecies^of poetry, I hefi- tated much about fuch an undertaking, but fmce it was to ferve as a vehicle for future promotion, I at length refolved to make the experiment. I immediately mentioned the idea to my publifher at Peterfburgh, a worthy man, but who not being a perfon of great talents himfelf, regarded what little I pofTefied with a degree of enthufiafm. He engaged, without a moment's htfitation, not only to take my fables, but to pubhfli thera in a very fplendid manner, and had fcarcely patienc,e to wait for beginning to print, till \ had properly correcled the firft flieets. He came to me daily, and at laft almoft feized upon the copy, r.nd ftnt it off to the prefs. The fables were printed on the fm- cft vellum paper, with a copper-plate to each, even tho' it did not extend beyond one oftavo page. Four flieets were thus finiilied off in the greateft hafle? when hf LIFE OF KOTZEBTE. 73 brought them to me with an air of extreme exultation ; and indeed as to what concerned outward fiiew he had feme reafon to exult. But how mi^ch was I fhocked, when on carefully ex- amining their intrinfic worth, led perhaps to invefxi^ate this the more minutely from the fplendor of their exter- nal appearance, I could not but be fenfible that not one rofe above m.ediocrity ! I became immediately convm- ced that I had no talent for this fpccies of writing, and I therefore refolved not to profecute a plan by which I lliould only expofe myfelf ; fo, paying the publifher all that he had lavilhed in thefe expenfive decorations, the work was configned to eternal oblivion. Oh ye ! who have fo often and fo bitterly reproached me with vanity, now behold I give you the lie. The re-purchafe of my fables coH me many hundred roubles, but my felf-Iove never breathed a firsgle figh over their deftrudlion. I come now to the period of my life that I paffed at R-eval. During the firil fummer of m^y refidence there, I fpent the greateil part of every day in the delicious fnady walks belonging to the caftle of Catherinenthal, and read more than I wrote. In the autumn I vifited for the firil time the difmdRand dreary environs of Kei- kel, abounding with forefts and moraffes. Yet, through the enchanting fmiles of affe^tioii, and the genial warmth of friendfhip, even this miferable country was transform- ed into a paradife. Ye worthy ! ye excellent people, among whom I then lived ! in your circle I learned that mortal man mav be G 71 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. far happier in fuch a fpot, though fiirroiinded by th« growhng of bears, and the howhng of wolves, than in the midft of poKfhed fociety environed by the honied tongues of hypocrites and flatterers. Your forefts were inhabited by beafts of prey, but caUimny dwelt not in their dens; frogs and toads croaked in your morafles, but envy had not reared her alter in the midft of them. The lime-trees indeed affumed not their lovely verdure till the fpring was far advanced, and the rofes were even more tardy in unfolding their fweets, but innocence and joy were perennial plants in your gardens. The foil was fparing of its fruits, but benevolence needs not abun- dance ! A grofchen* is a rich prefent when m.oiftened with the tear of fj^mpathy, and a louis d'or has no valus T/ithout it. Oh fleeting time ! fcatter, if thou wilt, the reft of thefe pages to the winds of heaven, only let this one — this on Vvhich I now infcribe the beloved nam.es of Frederick and Sophia Helena Rofe— -let this one re- main untouched ! for thou wouldft fnatch it from die alter of virtue and afTedijon, on which I place it as an offering of gratitude. Neither did the ParnaiTian maids rcfufe to ernbellifh this foreft. The two firfc dramas I ever wrote, which I confider as pofrefTing fome?%egree of real merit. The Hermit of Formcnteray and Adelaide of Wuljingen^ were written at Keikel. Th^ormer vre played among our- felves, and this private performance revived my pafTion for the ftage with eveii^ncreafed violence. To that * A grofchen is a fmall coin, worth aLciit two-pence Er-ghlh n: o;. t y T r a n s l a t o r. LIFE OF KOTZECUE. 73 paffion Reval was indebted for the inilitution of an cxceHent private theatre, which produced both aftors and a'flrelTes of no common talents. It was opened with a comedy of mine, called Every Fool has his Cap. As a true German, I could not yet wholly fnake off my propenfity to imitation, and this piece had much the fame degree of refemblance to Moliere's Avare, as at fugar figure has to thofe made of bufcuit at Drefden. For this reafon I keep it fnug in my drawer with a va- riety of other papers. I cannot now recolle(^l through what cafualty I firfl conceived the idea of writing the hiftory of Henry tht LtOTiy Duke of Briiripiv'ick, a hero whofe various, and, in many refptds, romantic fate, always interefted me ex- tremely. On a journey v/hich I took through a part of Germiny, in the year 1785, among other places I vifited Wolfenbiittcl and Hanover. With a view to my in- tended work, I carefully learched the libraries of thofc places, rummaging over old chronicles and legends for many weeks together, writing and re-writing, till at length I m'ght venture to affert that I was in poffjfiion of a very competent ftore of materials for my uiidertak* ing. I had even gonefo far as abfolutely to have prepar- ed fome detached parts of the hiftory, v/hen two v/orks appearing nearly together, the one hiftorical, the other a fort of romance, in both of which Duke Henry was one of the moft confpicuous perfonages, my plan waa entirely laid afide. 76 LIFE eF KOTZEBUE. I now once more enlilled among the corps of Journal- ills, by the publication of a monthly work for the bene- fit of the territory where I then refided. To this I affix- ed the whimfical title, For the Mind and Heart. It v.-as carried on for a year, but did not receive fufScient fup- port to encourage the profecuting it further. Some pieces \vritten for this work are publiihcd in the four Yclun.ts of my rnifcellaneous writings. Another, and much more important idea foon after, for a while, occupied my whole attention. I wanted to write an ample treatife upon The Honour and D'tftjonour^ the Fame., both temporal and pojlhumous, of all Times and all Nations. I confider it as fome merit ever to have proje£led fo grand a work, even though I found my powers not equal to the carrying it into execution. The idea of it was, befides, produftive of real advantage to me in other refpe6ls. It ferved to exercife my talents, to give me more juft conceptions of my own powers, and was the occafion of my reading many a hiftorical and philofo- phical work, which perhaps otherwife had never engag- ed my attention. In fhort, the colleiling materials for it, was the fource of abundant inftruftion to my mind. Ne- ver therefore fliall I repent the unwearied dihgence with which this idea was for a while purfued, nor the number- lefs hours fpcnt upon it. The only thing I repent is, that I was induced fome time after to print, though not in its original form, a part of the work, which treated Of Nobility. But more on this iubjedt hereafter. LIFE OFKOTZEBUE. 77 III the autumn of 1787, I was firll feized with an ill- nefs, which for feveral years held me fufpended between death, and what is perhaps ftill more to be deprecated than death itfelf, the apprehenfion of fmking into a confirmed melancholy. It was during the height of this diforder that I wrote Mifanthropy and Repentance, and The Indians in England. Thefe two pieces v/ere finifh- ed in the fpace of not more than eight or nine weeks. Mever, either before, or fince, did I feel fuch a rapid flow of ideas and imagery as during that period, and I believe it to be undeniable, that by fome kinds of illnefs, particularly thofe in which the irritation of the nerves is increafed, the powers of the mind are abundantly ele- Tated, as difeafed mufcles alone produce pearls. lii the year 1789, I wrote The Virgin of the Sun, The Natural Son, and Brother Maurice the Humourijl. I alfo proceeded in the colleition of my mifcellaneous writings. The little romance of The Dangerous Wager, was ano- ther produclion of the fame year. It v\^as occalioned by a friendly joke, and if many a hypocritical fhoulder be fhrugged, or many a hypccrilical eye be rolled at it, it is yet by no means contemptible, as the cifufion of a iportive moment. Many very abiurd things have been fa'd and written upon the fubjcvSl of Mifanthropy and Repentance. Among other accufations brought againft me, it has been urged that I have not adminiHered ftricl poetical judice, in granting unquahfied pardon to Eulali?., and reftoiing fo great a criiiiinal to her ftation in focicty and to every G 2 78 LIFE OF K0TZE3UE. joy of life.* But no one feems to have confidered the dreadful punlfhrncnt fhe has necefiarily incurred frcm the refledlion upon her ov/n mifcondu^l, or to have ex- amined whether any pardon could releafe her from thofe reflexions, and whether a woman with fuch a mind, la- bouring under the preiTure of a fulhed confcience, could ever be happy again. To Zieglerf alone do thefe ideas appear at all to have fuggefled themfclves, yet his yiew cf the fubjeft is extremely perverted, and by tak- ing the unjuililiable hberty of recalling Eulalia's feducer * Notwithftanding the objedions that I^ave been made to the morality of M'rfanth) opy and Repentance , Kct2ebue in I'.is preface to The Natural Son, fays, he has been well alTured that this play was the means of reclaimirg a wife who hau th^pcd from her hufband. Translator. f From Kotzebue's preface to The Noble Lisy it appears that Ziegler wrote a druuia as a conlinniition to Mlfcnthrcpy and Rs~ Pcr.tance. Upon the fi'l>je<5l cf this ccntinuation, Kotscbue fays, " I have a fmcere value for the growir.g talents of thif ycv.ng poet, " but I think the grei teit part of the niifcry which he naeafui es *• out in fuch abundance to my wedded pa'r, originates folcly in his not removing them, from their former place of abode, ard " fixing them in I'ome remote ard retired fpot, far frcm the con- veniences, but far alfo from the endlefs ftrifes and dil'cords cf *' fociety Ziv-glcr had an undoubted right, if he chofe it, to *' write a co!itinuaticn of my drama, but furely he ought net to " have recalled to life, men whom I had purpofely defaoyed, and *' by this m.eans anrjihilate one of the ftrcngeft n.otives for Mei- " nau's parJoning his w fe. A circumlhiiice of which no one " ought to lo)e fight in juciging of my drama." Kotzebue there- fore, in confeoiience of his difapprobaticn of the plai) Z.ieglt r fol- lo'ved, wrote The Noble L:e^ in which he refls Eulalia's urhappi- refs folely upon her ov/n refie61ioi:s. In this refped the moral of the piece, us he himfclf otferves, is highly to be approved. In another refpedl it is rot quite fo unexceptionablf . A Lie can ne- ver be Noble, but muft necefiarily degrade its framer, by what- ever motives it may have reen induced, and a man like Meinau ■could fcarcely expedl that fo peer a device as he pradlifed, would . Culm the felf-reproachcs of a finccrc penitent. — Translator. LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 19 again to life, he has wholly fruilrated the moral in view. I therefore wrote The Noble Lte^ from which, if I have again brought forward a woman deviating from chaftity, a fubjeft on which the impure imaginations of the critics deh'ght to dwell, I am confideHt as fine a moral may be deduced as ever was preached from the pulpit, or repre- fented upon the ilage. As an interefting anecdote never can be ill-timed, I truH I m.ay be allowed here to introduce one, related to me by a perfon ci great credibility, and which, tho' I cannot undertake to pledge myfelf for its veracity, I have reafon to believe true. At the time when M'lfati^ thropy and Repentance was played very frequently at Vi- enna, the following fquib was one morning found in the Emperor Jofcph the Second's audience-chamber. ** In this place is performed daily, Mlfanthropy without R?pc::lanceJ'^ One of the feverefl, and I am inclined to think, one of the rnoHundeferved farcafms ever put forth againfl a perfon in that exalted ftation. At my return from Pyrmont, where I fpent fome time in the year 1 790, I, unluckily for myfeif, dipped my pen in foreign gall, and wrote fome fiieets, of which I can truly fay, that they v/ere alas ! damned to too much renown. On thefe I have fuSciently explain ed m.yfelf in a periodical publication; and can only now add, that I fuil retain the fentiments I then delivered, and ccnfi- der every word there written as the pureft truth. The worthy Zimmerman is now no more. It muft not be laid, De mcrlu'is nil mft bene y hut cle morli/is nil niji vere, I hare no longer either good or ev^l to hope from him ; 80 LIFE OP KOTZEKUE. and I may furely be believed, when I repeat from the fulnefs of my heart, that he was an excellent man. Per- haps his eccentricities fometimes led him aftray, but ev- en his weakneffes were not thofe of a common mind. I could here relate an anecdote of him that would excite the utmoft aftonifnment in the reader, and almoft con- ftiain him to fall down and worfliip the goo'd man*s afh- cs. And it fhould be related, were not the perfons impli- cated in it, and v/ho alone could perfectly underftand me, yet living. But enough. — My enthuiiaftic admiration of him wat no crime, yet the noble fpring was poifoned by a foreign hand. I dipped my glafs into it, and emptied the bale- ful contents myfelf ! — Yes, I — I alone have been injur- ed by that hateful adventure, and it is yet fcm.e fatisiac- tion to my foul, that it cannot be deprived of this Jola^ men mljerum. While I was myfelf preparing this fcourge to em.bit- ter my whole life, the arm of fate was in a llill more fa- tal way av/fully extended over me. The heft of wives was fuddenly fnatched from this earth, and poignant anguifh for her Icfs drove me as a fugitive into the wide v:orId. I fled to Paris, and might have remained for half a year amid the builie of that capital, without fo fnuch as giving a hint to our Am.baffador of miy being there. But weaned, after a while, with living in the midft of fuch ccnvulfions, I transferred my abode to Mentz, whi h then enjoyed profound peace and tran- quility. H-^re I arranged for the prefs a detail of the iieavy calamity I had experienced, ai:d of my confequent Life of xotzfbuh 81 wanderings, which was foon after publiflied under the title of My Flight to Paris. On this work, as ufual, an ample Hiarc of ahfuri and Ronfenfical remarks have been made ; in particular, it hao been ceniured as an artificial defcription of falfe feeliiig-:. Upon the probable origin of this charge, fo devoid of heart and foul, and Vviiich I feel to be utterly groundlefs, I have reflefted much, and I think it may- be traced to the fame fource which produces in general fo much moral excrement, to the felf-fulScient vanity by which the mafs of mankind are always powerfully influ- enced. Underftanding, andfeehng, are things polTelTed by each individual only in the degree juft fufficient to fatisiy himielf. That another excels him in underlland- ing, many a man will acknowledge without hefltation or reluctance, fnice this is commonly a matter too palpa- ble to be eafdy denied, and he finds no dilficulty in con- fohng himfelf with the idea, that he at leaft polTefTes the fame improveabiiity of mind as the rell of his fpecies^ while this allowed fuperiority only arifes from the ad- vantages of education, or of being placed in a more for- tunate fituation in life, an effeft of chance that he can readily pardon. But feeling being conlidered as a gift of nature, he cannot, without humiliation to himfelf, allow another to ponefs it in a fuperior degree ; confe- quently, if he meet with any thing into which the con- trailed fenfibility of his ov/n heart v/ili not permit him to enter, he calls the whole matter fiflion, and fatisfies his felf-love with a fhrug of the fiioulders. Perhaps I ought to have reflected upon thefe thing? fconer, and 82 LIFE OF K0T2LCUE. reftrained myfeelings within my own bofom, nor fufFercd the impetuous torrent to overflow its proper bounds. Another dcfcription of men call in queftion the genu- inenefs of facPi feelings from mere malice. They arc fenfible, that the poignant affli^lion of a hufband depriv- ed of his heart's whole treafure, muft excite compafiion and intereft in every breall capable of fympathy. Of thefe treafures, their m.ahgnity would gladly rob him ; and this can only be done by proving that they are be- ilowed without reafon. Thence arife the malevolent cri- ticifms fo liberally beftowed on this book, w^hich yet, Heaven knows ! was diftated by real anguifh of heart* This ftamp it undeniably bears, and I call upon any the moft ingenious fiiSlionift, to write in a fimilar ftyle, un- iefs placed in a fimilar fituation. But fhould fate ever plunge him into circumflances of like diftreis, he will fir.d that art has no fhare in dicTtating the language em- ployed to defcribe his feelings. The critics, either in the Literary InUlunncer, or in the Un'i'vsrfal Gerrnan Library., an I v/rite from memory, I c^nnot polk; vely fay which, have been guilty of an odi- ous miireprefcntntion '.vith reipefl to one pafrage, which. I cannot here forbear to notice. I h ivt;mentionf^d, as a flriking clrcamitance, that while I was at Paris, the taylor who came to take my meafure for a fuit of clothes, kept his hat on all the time he was with me ; tk s, I obferved, appeared, even in a free country, rather a piece of boorifhnefs, unlefs the man was a quaker. The critics, however, can find nothing cbjeftionablc ia tibe i&cident, but give tiie world to underfland, that the LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 85 Prefidenty giving me that title with a marked fnecr, on- ly took ofFt-nce with the taylor becaufe he confidered him as failing in refpect for his dignity. I wifh that any one who forms this judgment would favour me with reading the pafTage again ; and fliould he find the leaft realon to fuppofe my remark originated in fuch peurile vanity, may I be condemned to read Nicolai's Travels through.* But the critic himfelf could not mifunder- ftand me : let any one, therefore, judge of what mate- rials fuch a heart muft be compofed. This Prefidency, v/ith which I had now been honour- ed for ten years, has indeed always been a ft|imbling block, and rock of offence to thefefame critics ; though, jnfadl, it is a matter in which they can have no con- cern. I once, in fome publication, from real modefty, and pure love of truth, confeffed that I did not confi- dermyfvilf as a fcholar. " How? no fcholar ?" obferv- ed the critics, " and yet a Prefdent What will they r.ot confider as as a crime ? Had I afferted that I was a fcholar, the very fame gentlemen had probably ex- claimed, " See there the varikv of the man ! he think? he mud be a fcholar becaufe he is a prefident." Deeply impreffed with the unbridled puerilities cf which I had myfelf been an eye-witnefs among the Pa- ri fians — while I refided at Mentz, I wrote 7^he Female jacobin Club, a little piece that I cannot think deilitute of real humour, though Huber, who is of a direcftly op- * Nicolai is the publifher of one of t'le periodical works KieiUioned r.bovc, The Ur.iverfal Gerp:an Library. Translator, 84 LIFE OF XOTZLnirE* pofite political creed with myiclf, has fallen upon it fo unmercifully. Yet let me here avow, that I deteft eve- ry fpecies of tyranny no lefs heartily than does Huber himfelfj as I have fufficiently evinced in my PhilGfoph'ical Plclvre of the Reign of Louis the Fourteenih^ But I ne- ver can make myfeif the partizan of any faclion. The laft -mentioned work I fent in manufcript to my piibliflier at Strafburgh. This gave occafion to fome correfpondence between us, when I uniformly found, that his letters were opened before they came into my hands, I complained of this to our minifter at Mentz, who enquired into the matter, but could procure me np fatisfa6tion : It was affirmed, that they came thither opened. Never to this day have I been able to trace out by what means it could happen that the honour of being fufpc6ted as a fpy, or concealed Jacobin was con- ferred upon me ; but it appears to be my hard fate, that while Huber, v^:ith his affociates, profcribe me as the ad- vocate of defpotifm, the real fupporters of that monfter confider me as a dangerous democrat, whom they cannot watch with too jealous an eye. I could cite many ex- traordinary incidents in corroboration of my pofition, i/ a man alv/ays dared to fay all that he can» While at Mentz, I was obliged to commence a law- fuit, the ev^nt of which I intended to have communica- ted to the public ; fmce, as it was inftituted agaiaft a pira- tical publiflier, it v/as deeply interefting to every autlior, afiwell as to every honefl man. V/hen ftrfl I menaced this profecution, my pirate v/as extremely infolent, and in a ^nanner defied me ; but finding that I was very feriou§ LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 85 in the matter, he became equally crouching, and wrote me a moll fervile letter, to beg my compafiion fcr a nu- merous family, who mufl: be ruined, fhoald the profecu- lion be continued. For their fakes I pardoned him, and let the matter reft, and for their fakes alfo I now for- bear to mention his name and place of abode. During the fame period, I wrote The Parroty Sultan Wampum y and The Knight of the Mirror. Sultan V/ am- pum has, of all my pieces, been the leaft fuccefsful with the pubhc ; and to confefs the truth, it is but a mode- rate performance. I relied much upon the mufic, hav- ing been accuftomedto fee the wretched produftions of a Schikaneder, a, Vulpius, and others, extremely well received when recommended by the good genius of the compofer. The Literary Intelligencer ^ true to its fpirit of contradiftion, amufes itfelf extremely with my calling Sultan Wampum a burlefque drama, and afTerts it to be one of the moll ferious pieces I had ever written. Had I called it a drama myfelf, they would have ridiculed it as a mere farce. The Knight of the Mirror is a ftill inferior produdlion. The plot, as I was very lately told, is taken from a ro- mance by Vulpius. I folemnly proteft, however, that if fuch a work does exift, I never faw it. In the firil ^lace, I never thought any thing written by that author worth my attention ; and in the fecond place, I can ac- count very fatisfaciorily for the manner in which I came by my ftory. Walter, a mufician of great eminence, was defirous of compofing an opera of my writing, a wifh 4)y- which I confidered myfelf as much honored. I was H 86 LITE OF KOTZEBUE. perplexed to find a fubjed, when Chrift, then an a(*t:oy at Mentz, happening to come in, and hearing of my embarraflment, related this fairy tale, which he proba- bly had recently been reading. As I well knew how little was expefted of the text in an opera, I thought it would anfwer my purpofe as well as any thing elfe, and within a fortnight from that time the Knight of the Mir- ror was finifned. Very willingly I refign to Mr. Vulpi- us the honor of inventing the ftory ; and, if he wifhes it, that alfo of having written the opera. I mentioned, at the commencement of this fltetch, that I never but once in my life wrote a work at the in- lligation of other people. This was my Fragment npon Nobility, I could fay much upon this fubjedl, but I dare not. If it were known, and in time, perhaps it may be known, in what an equivocal fituation I was placed by my perfeverance in certain opinions I had adopted, mif- apprehended as they were, fo that even my moil confi- dential private correfpondents became dangerous to me : If it were known what encouragement I had to engage in this work, and from v.'hom it was received — it vvouid be confidered in a very different point of view from that in which it now appears, and the writer would be con- templated, net merely in the light of an author, but in that of a citizen and father. Yet I cannot deny, that I hare been guilty of fome inflances cf improper complaifarxe in it, and triefe th^ critics have net failed fufficiently to expofe. For one thing only was I unprepared, that this chafiifement Ihould be infJ£lcd by a man whom I regarded as pjr LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 87 fteady friend, and whofe friendfhip I think I had de- fervcd. This, I own, has been to me a bitter pill. It will eafily be imagined, that I refer to a work lately publiflied upon Humanity, Had a general lift of all liv- ing authors been laid before me, and I had been defired to feleft from among them the writer of this work, its real author would have been almoft the laft upon whom my conjectures had fallen. This is one of thofe many cruel deceptions I have experienced in the courfe of my life, which, I cannot diffemble it, have occafioned me very fevere heart-aches. What are all the daggers aimed by the Literary Intelligencer in comparifon of one ftab from the hand of a friend he loved, awakening the fleep- cr from a pleafing dream ? Not lefs unexpected and agonizing to me than the ftab to fuch a fleeper, was the ftroke I received, when Haber, by the pubhcation of his mifcellaneous writings, thre .V ^ifid s the ma le of the critic. When T foaid that he in vviofe comp ;iy I had paxTed fo many pleifait hours — he, whofe taleaLs I had fo much admired, and whofe acquaintance I had fo higtily valued — he, who appeared fo warmly attached to mc — he, who, notwithftandiiig the general indiffereuce he (hewed to my writings, had honoured my Virgin of the Sun fo far as to enrich it with an additional fcene, of fuch merit, that I only wifh I had been permitted to publifh it — he, in a word, from whom I parted with a moft cordial embrace — that he was the man who had thrii'k the dagger into my back. I may be told, perhaps, that a great diftinftion is to be made between the remarks of the critic, and what palTe* 88 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. in friendly intercourfe between two private acquaintance. But to me I know it would be impoflible to endeavour to depreciate a man in the eyes of the world, to whom in private I had m.ade profefllons of friendfliip and at- tachment. Good God ! if public applaufe muft re- femble a beautiful woman, to win vvhofe fmiles even a brother, perhaps, muft feek a brother's deftru(f\ion, it h no obje£l of my w^ifhes — I renounce it for ever.* But enough on this fubjedl. — Let me proceed to cor- re6l a paffage in the third volume of Forjler^s Vieius, Speaking of the Englifli Theatre, he fays, " The dramas ** of one KOTZEBUE would pleafe upon the EngHfli " ftage, with the addition only of a few grains of fait." Strongly was I inclined on reading this paffage, to offer the publifher a wager that he could not produce it in Forfter's ov/n hand-writing. Nor could he pofTibly have been offended at my declaring that I would accept of no minor proof of its authenticity. Such a fufpenfion of my belief is but a tribute due to the efteem I enter- tained for his deceafed friend. Often have I confulted Forfter on my writings, and his judgment was always given with a modefty and humility peculiarly his own. It is true, that he has found things to cenfure in my dramas, but never did he appear to confider them as wanting fait ; and if I muft choofe between regarding * When I publifti the fecond part of this fketch, I will endea- vour to throw fome light upon the probable foundation of this . tritiqiie of Ruber's. It appears to me not wholly incredible, that fpleen and ill nature at the fuperior fuccefs of a rival dra- matift may lurk beneath his remarks, fince it is certain, that the fate of his own dramatic produdions has not been brilliant. Author. LIFE OF KOTZEBUE, 89 this pafTage as an interpolation, or believing the worthy Forfter to h:ive been guilty of tergiverfation, I certainly rtiall abide by the former opinion. Whatever I have vrritten fince, has been received in a very flattering manner by the public ; and, as was con- fequently to be expeded, with fcarcely lefs contume- ly by the critics. I fhall only here give a Hft of thefs works. Count Benyowllcy ; or, the Confpiracy of Kamt- chatka. The Spaniards in Peru ; or, the Death of RoUa. Poverty and Magnanimity. The Man of Forty Years Old.* The Negro Slave. The Madcap.f The Count of Burgundy. The Force of Calumny. Falfe Shame. * This is a little p'ece in one a^, taken from the fame French petite piece as the beautiful Englilh Farce of The Guardian. Translator. f It is difficult to find a term in Englifh that esaAly cones- ponds with the German Der Wlkifang^ the title given to this Comedy in the original, and lignifying a man full of the tricks and frolics of youth Muk.ip conveys the idea more accurately than any other term, only that this is liable to the objection of being more generally applied to a female than to a male. Yet th ^ authority of Shakefpcare may be cited for applying it to the latter lex. 'Tvv^as where the madcap duke his uncle kept. Where is his fon, * The nimble footed madcap Prince of Wales ? Xkamslator. H 2 90 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. La Peyroufc. The youngeft offspring of my Fancy.* Many of my dramas have received the diftinguiflied honour of being tranflated into French, Dutch, Dan- ifh, Polifh, Ruffian, and even Italian. A new thorn in the fides of the critics .f Not mraiy days ago, I received a letter from Mofcow, in which my correfpor.d-'nt writes : " Your drama of "The Natural Sen has been played here as often, and *' v/Ith no lefs applaiife, than was The Marriage of F'l- garo at Paris. It is well tranflated into Ruffian." - Is it net fomewhat extraordinaiy, that at the fame time, in fo n;any different countries, the pubhc fhould manifeil fo perverted a taile ? That they ftould find things worthy of patronage and applaufe, cn v/hich the Literary Intelligmcfr has been pleafed to pronounce an ir» revocable fentence of damnation : — But held! The in- * This is a collection of rnlfccllaneous pieces, v/hence the pre- fent fcctch of the Author's life is extradLtd. Six Voluni< s have already been publiihed ai different periods, and it is gener; liy un- derwood that the work is to be contir.ued occufionaliy in the fame \i'ay .-. — Tr a n s I- a t c k . f To this lift of nations t1;at have regarded Kctztbne's woiks with no flight decree of approbation, he might now add, and prcb bly would add w^ith a confiderable degree of fatisfaAion, ihe Er.gliih. It certainly mufk be a gez^ius of no common caft, that can thus take the lead on fo many of the theatres in Europe ; and perhaps for delicate touches of nature, which fpeuk in the moft forcible manner to every heart, Kotzebue may be pronoun- ced almoft unrivalled. If report may be depended upon, his re* putation as a dramatic writer was never higher on the continent than at the prefcnt niom.ent, and while Pizarro ccntir.ucs to draw crowded houfes at Drury-Iane Theatre every nif ht of its performance, cn inoft of thcr|>rinci}>al theatres in Germany fcarteiy any but fcis pieces are now aikl — TRANSiATOii. LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. 91 veftigation of fo curious a phenomenon fliall be referved for the fequel of this work. For the prefent I have done with myfelf. Heaven grant that none of my readers may have yawned over this detail of my literary adventures ! Should I be re- proached with having intruded a parcel of trifling, infig- nificant circumftances upon the world — with having, as is faid of Marivaux, po'tfed nothings in a balance made cf a fpider^s iveh, I will not pretend to refute the charge. I fiiall only obferve, that according to my ideas, to thofe who make the human heart their fludy, nothing can be uninterefting which contributes towards tracing the progrefs of its formation, nothing infignificant which tends to fliow by what procefs a man comes to be v/hat he is, be his calents many or few. Every one who fhall purchafe this book, knows beforehand what he is to ex- pect. Thefe little volumes are the Offspring of my Fancy y confeqiiently muft be compiled after my own humour, not after that of other people, unlefs I mean to fallify their title. The continuation of this iketch, which I intend to publiih at fome future period, I mull requefl ail its read- era to confider as a defence extorted from me by my ca- lumniators. So often have I been dragged by the crit- ics to the bar of their and m.y judges, the public, that it would appear too much Hke treating thofe judges with indilTerence at lead:, if not with contempt, were I entire- ly to abilain from anfwering their charges. In this view of tlie matter, I have fome claim to pardon and indul- gence. Yet let me affur^ that public to whom I appeal. 92 LIFE OF KOTZEBUE. that no endeavors fhall be omitted on my prjrt, to enliven as far as poiTible, fo dry a fubje6l, by ftrewing feme flowers in the path, and that I will never lofe fight of what Beaumarchais fays with fo much juftice — " Has a man any claim, becaufe he is in the right, to give his readers the vapours, and make his judges yawn «* with ennui ? Alas ! their fituation is ?iready but too « irkfomel ** END OF THE LIFE, MY FLIGHT TO PARIS, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1190. Her's it was> by God comrnandsdj When with dire disease opprest. Still to calm my bofom's anguish, Still to footh my soul to rest. BURGER, PREFACE. Dearest Reader^ I DO not pretend to confider this little work as likely to be ufeful, perhaps it may not be even entertaining'-, i write it to footh the anguiih of my foul — I write it in the mofi: wretched moments of my life. The lofs of a wife whom I loved inexprembly, drove me forth into the wide v/orld, I fled the place where my repofe was bu- ried for ever— whence angels had claimed a filler's pre- fence among themfelvcs. Ah ! the place I could fly, but the image of my Frederica followed me every where, and only in death, when I fnail prefs the original again CO my bofom, will it forfalie me. 'Tis become a matter of indifpenfible neceffity to my heart to be always talking or writing of her. The hope of allaying my anguifli has placed the pen in my hand • — but the form of my beloved v/ife hovers over tlie pa- per ; I know not what I faall wnte, yet I fee plainly it A^ii be only of hen V6 PREFACE. Ye, who have hearts capable of fympathy ! — Ye who Jiave fometimes dropped a tear at the reprefentation of my dramas ! if ever I acquired merit in your eyes, re- ward it by weeping with me for my beloved Frederica ! Or at leaft fpare your cenfures if you take this book into your hands, and perhaps do not find in it what you feek. Indulge me with writing of her ! — fpurn me not if even the remotell pbjeft ftill brings me infenfibly to her ! Heaven preferve ye all from experiencing like af- fliftion ! yet if ever a flmilar fate fhould be yours, ye fiiall jiot intreat my compafiion in vain. Every hufband who at this moment ftill pofTefTes his beloved wife, who can ftill clafp her arfeftionately to his bofom, v/hen he reads this and thanks God for the blesr fmg yet fpared him, I afl<; not tears of him — yet even he may furely pity me ! But ye, whom a fimilarity of fate dravvs nearer to me ! ye who have loft a hufband or a wife v/ho are not yet forgotten, let us weep together ! w^ are brethren ! To fuch I make no excufe for writing a book folely for myfclf and a few frieadc, a book to re- lieve a wounded heart. I will at fome time ereft the faireft monument I can to my Frederica, but not here ! — At prefent I am une- qual to the taf]<:. When my mind is foniewhat more compofcd I will write the hiilory of our love and of ou* marriage. What a moment will it be for fuch a heart as her's v/hen I draw afide the veil that modefty threw over all her virtues — Oh fhe was fo truly, fo inexpreffi- bly good, not from cold reafoning and principle, but from the overfiowings of a warm and aff"e6lionate heart * PREFACE. 91 Jler feelings were always noble, for there was not a place in her bofom that could harbor an ignoble thought. Her heart and hand were ever open to the relief of .diilrefs ; flie gave freely, and always as one human being fiiould give to another, as though it had been to a brother or a filler. It was only lafl: fpring that on the firft of April I in- dulged myfelf in a joke, which ended in ftill further proving her benevolence. I wrote her an ill-fpelt, illit- jerate letter, as from a poor widow living in a remote part of the town, with two half-naked children, and no b.d to lie on, and who, having heard of her goodnefs, implored her afliilance. The day was cold and windy, yet my Frederica ordered the carriage to be got ready immediately, and looking outfome clothes and linen, fet off for the place. I had run thither before ; — I faw the carriage coming, but as it drew up to a houfe in the fuburbs, I began to be afraid my trick was difcovered. Oh no ! (he only flopped to buy fome rolls for the hun- gry children, and with thefe, her bundle of linen, aad two roubles in her hand, (he proceeded to the houfe pointed out, where I met her. She was lefs angry at my boyifh levity, than concerned that (he was difap- pointed of doing a good adlion. Yet in the eyes of God it was performed ! — Oh never will the firft of April return without bringing tears into my eyes! — And this %7a3 only one inftance out of ten thoufand ! — Such a wife I have polTeffed 1 Such a wife I have loft. \ ou, my chedihcd friends and a^ciuaintance ! YoUj i PREFACE. to whom I have been able to write notblng but my ^wtfe is dead ! — You will receive this bock with candour and kindnefs, fince it will tell you what and where I have been, ever lince fate, while it fpared my life, robbed me of all that made life valuable ! — Alas \ I once thought that I had loft my greateft treafure when I loft my health !— Oh how was I miftaken ! Even in the horri- ble wnnter of 1783, when I laboured under fuch fevere bodily fuffering, ftill with my Frederica by my fide, I tafted the foothing confolation of domeftic joy, not to be purchafed by wealth or honours. For my fake, fhe renounced all company, all diverfions, and confiderzd it as no facrilice to confine herfelf entirely to my fick chamber. If then I was but for a few minutes free from anguiili, how fereae was my foul ! how deeply dic^ I feel that all other happinefs is poor and v/eak when compared v/ith wedded happinefs ! One kifs from my wife, one prefiure of her hand m.ade even my moft nau- feous medicines fwcet. Thus was ihe my fole fupport, when I w^s loft to every thing clfe, and now that 1 could again have enjoy- ed life with her as formerly, now fhe is no m.ore ! But fhe was perhaps on-y a prot(.6:ing angel fent to fave mo. ; her errand is accoKiplifhcd, and fne is returned to her blefTed abode — yet flie ftiil hovers invifibly over me ! — we fnall one day be reunited ! — Ch fAcet felf-ftattery, forfahc me not ! in this hope alone can I nnd a baliam for m.y wounds. I know net by what nam.e to crll thefe erTufior.s cf my heart. This fiiouM be a preface — but what refem? PREFACE. 99 Hance does it bear lo a preface ' No matter ! it fpeaks of Frederica and my bofom is relieved ! It was my defign to (late to thee, compafiionate read- er, what thou wert to expeft in this book. 'Tis a tour to Paris, yet has it no refemblance to the common mafs of tours, lince I faw nothing but my loft wife ! — Hie fol- lowed me every where ! — Ihe then muft be almoft my fole theme ! Yec, I was for a while an inhabitant of Paris, but of of Paris I know very little. The principal occurrences during my ftay there, I have noted down in the form of a journal. Thia employment has foothed my wounded mind, it has enabled me to fhed tears, when my foul wanted fuch rehef. When I thought that benificent fource exhaufted, I fat dov/n to write, and it flowed again. My obje£l is attained \ my defpair has fubfided iato a calm and gentle forrow I AUGUSTUS VON KOTZEBUE. Paris, Jan. I, 1791.^ MY FLIGHT TO PARIS, IN THE AUTUMN OF 1790. V f I IEN my ill ftate of health drove me again to Pyr- mont lafl fummer, to drink of its falutary fpring, my beloved wife being then in the fifth month of her preg- T.^Tic.jj remained at home. Every letter I received from her, and we commonly exchanged three or four letters in the week, brought the moft pleafmg accounts of her health, and the affurance that (he had no wifh but for my return. How ardently I participated in this wifh may be eafily imagined ! I, therefore, eagerly embraced the firft moment when it was pofiibleto efcape from the medicinal yoke, and flew to her arms. This was in the beginning of September. Ourfirft interview was at Gotha. She came thither to meet me. My tjranfport at beholding her, our firll embrace, the heart-felt joy with which I contemplated her blooming cheeks, manifefting pure health and con- tent, the animation that fparkled from her eyes — how pref^Dt are all thefe ideas to my imagination ! How 102 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. • does my fancy love to dwell upon the enchanting images! Fain would my pen defcribe them in equally glowing colours ! — but words are unequal to the taflc ! Yet eve- ry one who has a heart can imagine them all. Two months more pafled on. I faw, without alarm, the moment approach when I was to be prefented with a new pledge of our love, fmce no reafon for alarm then ap- peared. I did all th^t laid in my power to prevent dan- ger : I perfuaded my Frederica to take a walk with me almoft every day, in the beautiful park at Weimar, which was indeed her favorite refort. How have we ilrolled about there arm in arm, in fweet convcrfation, building caftles in the air, forming conjedlures on the future, reviewing the paft, and enjoying the prefent I Sometimes talking of our abfent friends, amufmg our- felves with fpeculations on \yhat they might be about at that moment, what, and Vv'hen they would v/rite to us, or where and when we fliouid fee them again. In the little liut made of the bark of trees, or at the waterfall, or upon the hill, or by the three pillars, or where we look over the meadows in the valley as upon a ftage, have v.'e often ftccd or fat, contemplating the varied beauties around us. Oh, may the fweeteft, the moft refrefhing dew fall upon ye every morning, ye trees and flowers, for you were witneffes of my happinefs ? Ever mayefc thou flourifli and look gay, thou verdant turf, for thou haft been prelFed by the footfteps of my beloved wife ! How would fhe laugh when our V/illiam would fometimes ftand upon his head, and fet the little dog barking with comic eagernefs at fo unufual a fight ? MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 103 Never, never, will a happier couple enjoy thy charms, thou lovely fpot. Often, too, have we vifited Belvedere and TiefTurth, country-feats near Weimar. There did we fit under a tree, and regale upon new milk, while my Frederica re- joiced at finding the weather ftill fo warm in the coun- try, that although in the month of 0£lober, we could remain out in the air, whereas at home we were creeping to the fire. Thefe little excurfions were always fo pleas- ant to her, that in every the mofl minute incident flie found a fource of delight. About a month before her confinement, fiie accompa- nied me to Leipfick fair. She was on that day uncom- monly cheerful and animated, and at our return home affared me, that (he had never in her life enjoyed any thing of the kind more highly. Oh, what greater delight can the world afford than to have contributed to the enjoyment of her whom we love. Thus, amid a conftant reciprocation of pure and inno- cent happinefs, did the hours pafs on, till the moment approached of which neither of us entertained the leail apprehenfion. My Frederica had always enjoyed unin- terrupted health, her only medicine was ftrawberries, and never, fmce our iibode at Weimar had the apotheca- ry been enriched by her to the amount of a fingle dreyer. At length, on the eleventh of November, fhe was fafe- ly and happily delivered of a daughter. For the firft three days flie was remarkably well, was all life and animation, laughing and affuring us that a lying-in was a mere jol^e. Never, fhc faid, had fhe beca fo well j never, in the firil m lOf MY FLlCriT TO PAIIIS. three days, felt a like appetite, or like freedom from pain. In fliort, every thing feemed to promife her fpecdy reco- very, and the little cloud which mud at luch a period in- evitably for a moment darken the horizon feemed entirely difperfed. Such was her own opinion as well as tliat of all around her. Ah ! was there then on earth a mortal happier than I ! The whole creation feemed mine, and I its fovereign ? Who could fuppofe that tliefe were to be the laft happy days of my life ? Cn the fourteenth (he was fomewhat indifpofed. We believed this to be a matter of no confequence, only occa- fior.ed by tlie milk, and were fatisfied nature relieves hcrfelf in various ways. On the fifieenth fne again ap- peared quite well. Still do I fee her, when, after hav- ing fpent a very uneafy night with the idea of ]ier indis- pofition, at five o'clock in the morning I ftole foftly into her chamber, and crept to the fide of her bed, full of a'oxlety to learn fonie tidings of her. She ftretched out her arms to me, and raifing herfelf up, affured me tliat fie was then perfectly free from complaint. Oh blefs- ed affurance ! once more my m.ind was in a ftate of com- pofure. I aftenvards retid to her a fcene of a drama I was writing, for I always m.ade her unfophiilicatcd feelings the teft by which I proved the real merit or de- merit of my works. What did oot draw a tear from her eyes, I blotted out. Alas ! to whofe feelings can I re- fer in future ! — My tutelar genius has forfaken me !— • my iire is extinguifned ! She liftened to me on this rr.orning with her accuftom- ed attention arid pieafure, fhe gave her opinion upon the MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 105 I Work as ufual, her mind never appeared more clear or ' acute. Never ! Oh, never will the piece of which this fcene was a part, be finiflied ! I fhould ftart back with horror were the fatal pages ever again to fall into my hands ! The bare idea of adding another line to them gives me a feeling of criminality. I could not for all the treafures this world affords, endure to hear that part re- peated which I read to her. The recollcdion of her nod of approbation as I proceeded, would harrow up my foul ! for, oh ! it was the laft approving nod I ever can receive from her. On the fixteenth fhe begii to complain of excefllve falntnefs, and from this day her fituation conftantly grew more alarming. I became extremely anxious about her, and called in the advice of my old univerfity friend the chief phyfician Hufeland, in aid of Mr. Buchholz, w ho had hitherto been cur fole attendant. The disor- der rapidly increafed, her fever grew hourly higher, and fhe was at times delirious. Three days, which to mc feemed like an eternity, thus paffed on, when my anxie- ty became intolerable. On the twentieth, I haflened early in the morning to Jena, to call in the affiftance of the celebrated Dr. Starke, who was my intimate friend, and of whofe medical flcill I had the higheft opinion. Thus I thought nothing would be ntgkded on my part to fave a life fo dear — and this reflexion has been my fole fource of con- folation in the midH of my defpair at her lofs. Heaven only knows whdt I fufiered on tliis expedition. My 106 MY l-LIGliT to PARlSi fancy could not forbear to dwell on the raoft dreadful images which, though then merely ideal, were, alas ! but too foon to be realized. My friend was fo good as to return with me immediate- ly, and I vras back again at Weimar, accompanied by him, within five hours from my departure. He found my Frederica very ill, but yet did not think her cafe by any means hopelefs, and I once more began to breathe free- ly. Cathartics and Diaphoretics were adminiftered. She v/as become from delirium very peevifh and obfti- nate, nor would take any thing but from my hands* Oh, v/ith what trembling hands did I reach her the glafs with the medicine, but fhe kiffed m.e vrhen Hie had t.^.ken it, and my foul could not but find fome confola- ticn in this teilimony, that amid the frowardnefs of dif- cafe, and Vv-anderings of diflraftion, her aiTedlion for me rem.ained pure and undimiiiifhed as ever. On this day, my drama of M'lfanthropy end Repen- tance v/as performed. I mention this circumftance only to introduce an anecdote, which, even amid the anguifh I then endured, gave me a fenfation of pleafure. About eighty of the (Indents at Jena came over to fee the play. It was the ufuai cuftom of thefe young men, upon fuch occnfions, after having attended the theatre, to have jolly fupper together fomewhere, and about midiiigLt to return home, not without much noife, and hallowing and clapping, all which we ufed to hear in full perfec- tion, as their route by through the ftreet v/here I Hved. On this night alone, not a fingle carriage or horfe pafTed my houfe, the whole party went quietly out of town by MY FLIGHT TO PARTS, fdrtie other road, that they might not difliirb my fufFer- ing wife. I mentioned this circumftance to her in the morning — flie feemed pleafed with the attention, and I take this opportunity of publicly returning my grateful acknowledgment to the gentlemen for it. On the twenty-firfl and twenty-fecond, my Frederic^i continued much the fame, I fent an exprefs both morn- ings to Dr. Starke, with an account of the fituation of his patient. I fcarcely ever quitted her bedlidc, and experienced fon^e fatisfa^lion at finding that fhe did not in general appear to have any appr henfion of danger, Qncc only ssl embraced her, and laid my cheek to hers^ not being able to reftrain my tears, flie feemed for a mo- ment to be Uruck with a degree of anxious folicitudco This, however, foon yanifhed again, as I wiped rny eyes r.nd endeavored to refume a countenance of hope and fe- rrnity. Indeed, her dcliriuni was commonly fo ftrong, tliat it was impGlTible for her to be fenfible of her fitua- tion. On the twenty-third fhe was eafier and better. This gave me very flattering hopes. I went to bed much more compofed, and for the firll time fince her illnefs had fome qniet fleep. But the next morning about half pafl four, I v/as aw.ikened by the maid with the dreadful intelli- gence that her miftrefs was much v/orfc. Oil God ! with v/hat horrible feelings did I fpring out of bed and haften to her room I I found her extremely uncafy. She complained of exceffive pain at her heart, in her breaft, in her back, and particularly ia the right fide about the 508 }rlY FLIGHT TO PARIS. Jungs, She breathed very fliortj and her cheeks v/ert extremely flufhed. For fome days, I had obferved this fymptom with great anxiety, but the day before had been much confoled about it. I trembled fo that I could fcarce!y ftand, for I ^thought her almofl at her laft hour, and knew not what u as to be done. The nurfe and maid were the only people in the room with me. The latter I difpatched to Mr. Eucholz, who \vas fo good as to come immedi- ately, and foon after came my mother and Madame Muf fxuSf the v»ndow of my excellent friend the profefTor, W e rubbed the body £)f the poor fufferer all over with flannel, particularly thofe parts whtre fhe complained moll of pain. She found this a conliderable relief, the pain abated, and fhe affured us (he was much eafier. Oh how was my heart, in thefe arxicus hours, toITed ^ibout between hcpcs and fears ! Yet fo horrible to me was the idea of the irreparable lofs I was about to fuf- tain, that how much foever appearances threatened that event, I coiiM notperfuade myfelf that it was poflibleit (liould take place. A ftill, fmall voice, feemed contin- li'.illy to whifper in my ear, this cannot be ! — this afflicf t^on were too great to be endured ! — fate cannot infli(?l upon tliee fo fevere a misfortune ! — She may deprive thee of thy children, of thy property, but afTuredly fiie will fpare thy wife ! Ah that I could but have trafficked thus with fate !— could thus have purchafed from death his devoted vi6lim ! The phyfician hoped, that the alarming fymptom which had appeared, preceded only the breaking out of MY FI^IGHT TO PARIS. 109 an eruption. How did I watch my beloved wife every moment, to examine if nothing of this kind was to be perceived ; when, about noon, alter repeated difappoint- ments, fome fpots at laft appeared. My tranfport was inexpreflible. I ran immediately to both phylicians xnth the happy tidings, and wept hke a child. They fliared in my joyful hopes, and conjured me, for God*s lake, upon no eonfideration to let her be taken out of bed. Hitherto (he had frequently got up to have her bed made, and however we fometimes wifhed her not to be diflurbed, fhe was fo extremely defirous of it, that it v/as fcarcely pofTible to put it off. I now, therefore, .never ftirred from her room, fince her love for me was fo much more powerful than her difeafe, that when I tenderly intreated, ihe even gave this up. At night I laid down in the room with my clothes on ; when Mad- ame Mufasus, who upon this melancholy occafion, prov- ed herfelf a moft iincere friend, promifed faithfully, that if fhe appeared the leaft uneafy, I fliould be inftant- ly awakened. At five o'clock I arofe. I received the joyful inform- ,ation, that my poor Frederica had pafTcd a quiet night, and I found her eafy when I went to her bed-fide, and kiffed her as ufuaL This much increafed my flattering hopes. Since fne appeared fo well, Madame Mufaeus went home early, and I lighted my morning pipe, and retir- ed for a fhort time to another room, that I might not difturb my wife with the fumes of my tobacco. I had pjpt been there long, before the maid came to me halt K 110 MY ILIGil r TO PAl^lS. breathlefs, and pale with horror, bringing a handkerchief all over blood, which my Frederica had thrown up. What a new fource of ahirm and anguiih ! I haftentd to her, and found her with a Hicrt cough and fpitting blood, I ran with all poflible fpeed to the phyfician, he ordered her a compofing draught, which I gav^ her ; the cough fcon abated, and fhe began todcze. My ftrength was almofl exhaufted. The morning lua fhone on the oppofite houfes, the air v/as warm, the heavens ferene. I refolved to avail myfelf of my Vvnfe's being afleep to breath a little frefii air. I turned my Heps towards Belvedere. Were I to defcribe^ail my thoughts, my feehngs, my prayers, my hopes, my fear?, upon this v^alk, they would fill a large volume of them- felves. Is it not a ftrcng argument in favor of the im- mortality of the foul, that our thoughts and feehngs are not confined by time ? That they pals with fuch rapidi- ty, that a fingle moment fuffices to revolve in idea whut would occupy years in atlion ? That no man can fay fuch and fuch a portion of thoughts fhall pafs in my mind in fuch a number of minutes, but that the afts of ages are involuntarily compreffed together in one momentary per- ception, and yet appear as clear to the mind as though cxery objeft, every circumftance, were embodied before the eyes ? What then can he this principle, that re- quires neither fpace nor tiine for its operations, yet works fo all-comprehenfively within us ? Can it be aught but fpirit ? Powerful are the charmiS of nature. Even on this av.-f. J dry her enchantments fur a moment rngrciTed my I MV FLIGHT TO PARIS. Ill {enies, and lulled my anguifli to reft. The warm ferene funfhine afnmilating itfelf with what it found ccngenirJ in my bofom, fome rays of reviving hope, they for a while, by their combined power, fupprefied the tumults that raged there. " ^h,^' I fuddenly exclaimed aloud, " ali " fwiliygtbe pliment to fome of m.y v/ritings. Muft a poet then always be ap- proached with a full mouth, asaneaftern monarch with full hands ? Oh, that people could but feel what a grievous taflc it is to be' continually returning fuch compliments with the common-place ceremonials of pardon me. Sir ! or, you do me great honour ! or, your commendations give me great encouragement ! and the like. Yet let it not be fuppofed that I am abfurd enough to make a pretenfion of indifference to public approbation and applaufe, only I wifh to be fpared the embarraffment of aafwering tbefe courtly flourifties. I dined with Madame Von D - , a lady of much fpirit and vivacity. One fpecimen of her wit ftiall be given, becaufe it contains a very juft obfervation, to which thofe whom it concerns would do well to pay at- tention. It was obferved by fomebody at table, that MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 137 the players, in their performances, often help themfelves out with an Oh I or an Jb ! " 'Tis a dramatic ftaff," faid the mailer of the houfe, " on which thefe gentle- ** men lean for fupport." Rather,*' replied the lady, " a dramatic cudgel that " they make the audience fed foundly." DECEMBER IO» We faw the Hall of Antiques. From the title I ex- pefted to have found a coUedion of real antique flatues, but it reminded me of a trick once played at Erlangen. Over the door of a houfe a board was placed, faying, j^n Elephant to be feen here...>\hQ inhabitants crowded to behold this curiofity ; when, behold ! the print only of an elephant was exhibited. In like manner the Hall of Antiques contains nothing but cafts after the ancient works of art, moil of which are to be feen, much better executed, in R(>ft's (hop at Leipfick. I was, however, pleafed with the Hercules, the Luocoon, and the celebrated Torfo. An ignorant fellow, employed as a model to the ac^idemy here, went about with us to explain the figures. And there," faid he, pointing to one, ** is Voltaire, urgh,- and paid twelve new louis-d*ors for them. I hired a cabriolet to Toul, in which my companion, my fervant, and myfelf, proceeded forwards the next morning and found it tolerably commodious. The Dili-* gence had now gotten the ftart of us very much. Wc pafled through St. Aubin, Barleduc, and Vitry, to Cha " the weather was very bad." I was pleafed with the opera itfelf, but feveral othee things crofied and teazed me. Though we went by five o'clock, the houfe was already full, and we could only, v/ith difficulty, get places in the balcony; that is to fay, in a fort of very large box, of which there is one on each fide the theatre. For thefe feats we gave ten livres, half a louis 4'or....dear enough in my opinion. However, I Ihould not have complained had we fecn well, but th^t was by no means the cafe, for even this place was fo crowded that it was impolfible to fee over more than half the ftage. In the boxes, I muft own, there was a confiderable difpiay of beauty, but it v/?s artificial beauty. Ah! no where did I fee a Frederica! no where the expreffion of artlefs goodnefs, fo confpicucus in every feature of her face! A very poh'te young man, who ftood next to me, /hewed me a Madame Gouverne, who, he faid, was efteemed the-handfomeft woman in Paris. He might be right. She did, indeed, appear extremely handfome; and had much of that gentlenefs and grace, without which no woman can be attractive in my eyes. The performance was Les Pretendus^ a comic opera. The mufic and fingers were excellent, and the latter were 166 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. fclio good afbors and adlrcfies, which is feldcm the cafe on our German ftage, and it is a great difadvantage to the piece. The enLertainments of the evening concluded Vv ith the fplendid ballad of Pfyche, at prefent a reigning favouvite with the public. The general impreffion it made upon me was not powerful; but, with particular palTages, and parts of the machinery, I v/as extremely charmed. I muft inflance particularly that were Pfyche lis carried away by a Zephyr, in a cloud, from the top of a rugged rock, when, juft as fhe difappears, a long and beautiful ft ream of light is left behind.... Again, v/here fhe is fitting at her toilette, v-ith little Cupids fluttering round her.. ..And where, alfo, (he appears as the fcTiolar of Terpfichore. All thefe made, in part a ftrong, in part a pathetic, impreffion upon my fenfes. To the dancingj that is to fay to the throwing the arms and legs about, and the jumping and bounding, I am net very partial ; nor could I feel much pleafure even in Veftris^s folo and pas-de-deux as Amor. But I was extremely pleafed with the Zephyrs, which, indeed, feemed rather to fly than to move as human beings. Hercules was the very counterpart of the ftone-eater we had feen in the morning. Some things appeared to me too horrible for a ballad. For inftance, the manner in which Pfyche is pulled about, and the contortions into which her body is throv/n when (he falls into the hands cf fome dozen or two of devils; as well as her being pre- cipitated from a high rock into the burning Phlegethon. The woman who played Pfyche, was a lovely creature indeed, ar.d affumed fo much innocence in her appear- MY FLIGHT TO PARIS, 167 aace, that no one could have fuppofed her a dancer at th^ great opera at Paris. I could not at lafl decide whether the performance, take it all together, was worth half a louis d'or ; but this I know fcr certain, that I would not for ten loui^ d'ors endure again what we went through after the enr tertainments were finiihed. We had prepared ourfelves for waiting half an hour before the crowd could be fuffii^ ciently difperfed to permit the leaving our box ; but alas ! we had to fpend another fatiguing half hour in the faloon ere we could venture to feek our fervant in the hope of getting away. Here we ftood furrounded on all fides by draughts of wind, and if we attempted to get out of them by going into a box, we were almoll fuiFocated by the fmell of extinguifhing the lamps. To complete the matter, when we did find the fervant, no Jiacre was to be had, which conliderably prolonged our torments ; and when at laft, even this difficulty was furmounted, we were affailed with fuch a piercing wind and fnow, blowing diredlly in our faces as we came out of the houfe, that for myfelf, poor hypochondriacal valetudinarian as I was, I thought it would have fent me again to the brink of the grave. At getting into the carriage, I was prefented with a pew trait of French vanity, at which, notwithftanding my ill-humour, and my frozen cheeks, I could not forbear imihng. A Savoyard canie up, begging fomething to drink, as he had procured the carriage. I told him :hat was done by my own fervant. He afierted to the ;ontrary, when, at length, the lacquey cqrifefTed that 16S MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. he did not like to dirty his ftockings, fo had fent the Savoyard inftead of going himfelf. I told him that he was very welcome to fend whom he pleafed, but then he muft be pleafed alfo to pay him himfelf. In this he acquiefced after fome oppofition, and we proceeded homewards. We had not gone many fteps, before we were Hopped by a voice of complaint, when our driver begged that we would permit a gentleman, who was going to the Palais-royal as well as ourfelves, to take the fourth place in the carriage* the third being occupied again our valet. We very readily confented, and a well- ;dreffed man got in, who, with the true French eafe, was acquainted with us in a moment, and had run over every poffible topic of converfation in a quarter of an hour. We expreffed a wifli to be prefent at a debate in the I^ational Afiembly. He told us that we could not be Tkdmitted without tickets, but as he was himfelf a depu- ty, he Ihould have very great pleafure in procuring them for us ; an offer which we accepted with many thanks, I do not even nov/ know who this man was, for 'tis one pf my ftieepifh follies that I never can aflc any perfon his name, and I as little like to give my own to another, I did, however, give him both that and my addrefs, aad hope to hear farther from him. Our fellow-countryman Schuiz lodged in the very fame hotel that we inhabit, and is remembered here, as he always will be wherever he goes, with kindnefs and attachment. Both our hoft, and the barber^ who ha4 MY rLiGirr to parts. the Konour of dreffing his hair, call him Ifon enfant^ and probably think they confer a great honour upon him, as 9 German, by giving him fo familiar an appellation. DECEMBER 20. Tin, leather, and paper, have often been llamped as xnoney in times of neceffity. At prefent fcarcely any other money is to be feen here but fcraps of paper, called affignats, ftamped with a head of the king. The Jeaft are for two hundred livres. 1 was this morning with my banker, Monfieur Perrc- gaux, to get a bill of exchange for two thoufand livre* difcouMtcd. " What (hall I do with thefe faid I, aa he was paying me with this new-fafliioned coin. « We have no other," faid he, flirugging his fhoul- ders. " That is melancholy," faid I. " Extremely fo," he rejoined, and wifiied me good morning. I loll live per cent, in getting my paper exchanged, yet to exchange it was abfolutely necelTary, fince there are a thoufand trifling expences below the fum of two hundred francs. I now underftand perfe<£lly what the Savoyards meant, who aflailed me by dozens the other day in the Palais-royal, crying, Fouiez vous de l^argent^ Monjicur P at the fame time clinking their full purfes in. my ears. I thought at the time it was only imperti^ nent baater. P no MY FLIGHT TO PARIS This dny we went to the Boulevards to fee ks grands ianjcurs du rot, who, indeed, are no dancers at all They have fcarcely even fo much of t^e great in them as the king, their mafter, and as little defcrve their pcJm pous title as the Arclibifhops of Chalccdonia, Tarfus Joppa, and others. How they came by it heaven only knows, but the king can certainly never have feen hi^ grands danfeurs. The theatre would have done fome credit to a littfc provincial tpvvn in Geimany. The beft places were only thirty fous, about fix times lefs than the cpera. *' And the perfcrmaace is fix times kfs entertaining perhaps it may be afked. To that I make no anfwer. We went thither about half after five, when we found a parcel of very dirty, un^ healthy looking children, dancirig upon the rope, which tbey called an entertainment, though I could not find that it entertained any body. However, we will not quarrel about a name ; 'tis ever thus in the world at large. At fix the regular play began ; it was, The Qyjlsr F'ifhery, Four women fcoldcd and abufed their hus- l^ands unmercifully, often ufmg very indecent language, particularly grofs and broad douhk entsndre* Yet the performers played with an cafe, vivacity, nature, and truth, that was truly admirable ; ar.d fuch as I never witnefTed upon the mofi: celebrated German ilage. They were always ready v/ilh i:epartee, never htfitating, or v/anting tlie airillance of the prompter ; yet their wit was not pointed improperly, as is fu commo-Jy the cafp My flight to PARIS. 171 with o:ir German performers. In (hort, ibey kept mj involuntarily in a conilaiit laugh. I have obferved that man/ of the Parifian theatres have no prompter, and even \7here there is one, he does not ^lt in the ciirfed bee-hive a3 among U3, but is funk below the flage that his eyes are juH parallel with it, and his heid is entirely conceaLd by the lamps. I wifh the vile cu^lom of prompting v/as entirely aboli^cd, and then players -vToiild bi conftrained to fludy their parts thoroughly, nor would our ears any longer be offended with their eternal blunders and hefitation. Here the performers were all fo perfe^fl, and had fo completely acquired the tone of converfation, that all idea of pre- vious iludy was loft, and they had cXafbly the appear- ance of a number of perfons met together, and adlually converfing. After Tke Oyjlsr Fifiery, was performed a little piece, called Ualli CQurt-d'insr. It was wholly devoid of plot, but contained many truly comic fcenes, and, by the perfect cafe of the performers, was rendered extremely pkafant. The entertainments concluded with a pantomime in fouracls, entitled, The Mctamorphofes of the benevolent Fairy. It was a true Italian comedy with a harlequin, and fatigued me exceedingly. The machinery was bad, the dreffts dirty and devoid of tafte....and, in fliort, I had feen the fame kind of performance in a far better ftyle at Peterfburgh in the year 1782. In fpite of the I'dicule of my friends, I feldom miffed the Italian come- dy there, for I could always laugh at it heartily, and I 112 MY FLIGHT TO PAKiS, own I like a laugh, even though reafon may not be o. my fide. The world in general had no conception how any body could be amufed with fuch abfurdlty, yet all the world went, and all laughed as well as myfelf; The difference was, that they were afhamed to confefa. they found it laughable, and I confeffed it at once without any fuame at all. I returned to the grands dav.feurs du rcu The con* c]v:f Oil of their cxhibit:;cn3 was a very licentious piec^* ' called JLes quaere Rendc%vaus, clofing with a fe}e cham" petrCf in which thefe grands danfeurs danced very vilely* Yet, what better could be expeded for thirty fous ? In the courfe of the evening tv/o ladies of pleafure ftcle into the box where we were feated. As I have mentioned this clafs of females, I cannot help obferving, that during the v/hole time I was at Paris, I never faw one who could poffibly have attrut oa that fhe muft inftantly be reco^^iiaed as a female* .MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 173 She was in the right to wear this drefs, for her difagree- able face was almofl lod in the high, red collar to her coat. But to return to our companions. They feated tiiem- > felves very coolly, and, although we talked German, fo that they muft perceive we were foreigners, feemed ftrongly incHned to attach themfelves to us. One of them foon addrelTed us, " From England, I fuppofe, gentlemen ** Yes,** anfwered my friend. I obferved that the lady who aflced the queftion im- mediately began to fpeak French, in a broken, drawhng ^ manner, although fne had previoufly talked it with the utmoft fluency. I remarked upon her manner of fpeak- ing, and enquired the reafon of it. "I am not a French woman, Monfieur," faid fiiej ** I am a German.'* ** From what part of Germany ?'* I afked. ** From Vienna," fhe replied. A humorous falfehood, for we had been talking German together for fome time, w^hich fhe millook for EngliHi; but, I fuppofe, perceiving that we were foreigners, fhe thought it would be a re- commendation of herfclf to afTume the foreigner too. When we ceafcd converfing with them, they began talking to each other of fuch a traiteur, or fuch a rc' jlaurateur^ where excellent fuppers v/ere provided. This was evidently intended as an avis au IcSsur : I, however, v/ent home, and eat my fimple apple €omp6t very quietly in my own room« P 2 174 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. Unhappy creatures ! Ah ! a man muft have poffefTecI a wife like mine, not to be difgufted with the whole fex? from the fpecimen you furnifhed. DECEMBER. 21. On this day a wretched culprit was broke upon the wheel in the Place de Greve. I cautiouily avoided ftir- ring out the whole morning, left my ill ftars (hould lead me into the way of fo horrible a fcene. I conftantly devote a part of every forenoon to ti Palais-Royal, fpending it fometimes in the Cafe de Chartres, to read the German newfpapers; or ia Cuffac, the book-feller's fnop ; or araong the bufy, bultling crowd, where my ears are deafened by the noife of a thou- fand criers, and my eyes diftra£led by a thoufand elegant objedls, which luxury, united with the love of gain, places in the lhop-windou s. We fpent the evening at Mademoifelle de Montanfier's theatre in the Palais-Royal. A little opera was per* formed in the ufual ftyle of fuch pieces, poor, both ill body and foul.o.vthat is to fay, both in mufic and dia- logue. The only comic part was a gormandizing Abbe, who, in a humorous fong, complained that the ecclefi- allies had been deprived of their property. Such ftrokec are always received with peals of applaufe. This little opera was followed by Le Sourdf ou L* Au- herge pleln, a comedy, or rather a farce, in three adls. Yet, as a farce, it is of a fupcrior kind; and, I think, would be well received upon the German ftage. In one fcencj where the action paffes ia two different rooms at MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 175 the fame time, the fcenery was uncommonly well managed. In the front was a dining-hall, with fome fteps in the back ground leading to a chamber, about half of which was vifible through a window into the dini^g-hall; a y mode of building not unufual ia old manfions. Behind this window a part of the a6tion was going forwards, con- ne6led with what v/as paliing at the fame time in the front room, and had an extremely good effeil. At the end of this Icene the deaf man drew the curtain again before the window, and then the ftage appeared undi- vided. I was afterwards introduced to the author of this piece, Monfieur des Farges. It is not yet printed, but i he was fo polite as to lend me his manufcript, of which I may very probably make fora ^ ufe. Here, again, we found abundance of ladies of pleafurc affembled, who were, as ufual, extremely troublefome. One of them thruil her addrefs into my companion's hand: Mademolfelle Adelaide., au Palais-Roy aU au nomhrg quatre-vingts huit, par le derriere. And there fhe may remain for me. DECEMBER 22i This morning I received a vifit from Madame de Romcy the tranflator of my Adelaide of Wulfingen. Siie had put her tranflation into the hands of the perfo-mers at Mon- fieur's theatre, and was in daily expeftation of their de- cifion upon it. For my own part, I am thoroughly convinced, that if, for the fake cf f^me fcenes, the piece, in its original form, deferved to liv*", Frenchified it now is, it defcr-'es notliing but damnation. 176 MY FLIGHT TO PATIIS. Madame de Rome h?.s ?n idea of honouring me farthei with trauflating Mlfanthropy and Repentance^ but this alio muft undergo a purgation. " An adultrefs! no, that will never do ! She muft only be a little indifcreet ** BonP' fay I. ...Then there are too many chara6lers ....fome of them muft be difcarded. The General, the Old-man, and Bitterman, cannot by any means be alio\?' ed a place in the French Mlfanthropy and Repentance* That, alfo, might pafs; but, befides, there are not con- fidents enough in the play, and the fair tranflator rr.ufl fupply my deficiency. Upon which among the dramatis perfonae will it be fuppofed her choice has fallen for fill- ing this important office? Neither more nor lefs than Mafter Peter, whom fhe thus exalts into the pivot on which the whole intrigue turns. He is the Major's con- fident, and the friend and companion of Francis, with whom he plots and contrives till the mifantbrope is made to dance to their pipe, and the denouement is brought about. This is fine, indeed I The only really fuperfluous perfon in my drama, I mean Charlotte, is to Le retained. Indeed, if this plan of tranflation is carried into elTed^, nothing will remain of Mifanthrcpy and Repentance^ but repentance in my bofom for having v/ritten it. If it be not fuited to the French llage as it came out of my hands, rather may it remain untranflated. It cannot remain as it is," faid Madame de Rome \ ** the French are too far removed from nature to endure it.'^ A very high eulogiurj^ on me, I thought within MY FLIGHT TO PARIf^, myfelf; if on that account alone they deviate from th© fpirit of my work. For the reft, Madame de Rome interefted me extreme- ly. She appears an amiable and cultivated woman, and . talks both much and wdL She belongs to the party re- probated here as ariflocratic, for her hufband was an offi- cer, and a chevdlcr of the order of St. Louis, a man \ fomev.'hat advanced in years, and precipitated into his grave by the (Commotions of the revolution. For five days and nights fhe affured me that they never thought their lives fecure in their own apartments a fingle mo- mejit. Sometimes her hufband wa3 menaced with death ....fometimes the populace wanted to place him at the head of a band cf mutineers. ...fometimes they threat- ened to plunder and burn down the houfe. ^'BcfidcGjthe National Affembly," fhe faid, " had deprived her of a penl2on....And not only that," flie added, with great cagernefs, " but I muft not even retain my arms. If I want to feal a letter, I mull prefs it together with rry thumb.'* I imagine that fhe now maintains herfelf principally by v/rlting, though her appearance was fmart, and net a fyllable of complaint, or hint of a wifh for afiift- ance from any other hand, efcaped her lips. She alfured me that fhe might earn a great deal of money, if (he v/ould only eniifl among the wild crew who are daily inundating the public with pamphlets againil the court, in which the Queen is called nothing but ^execrable u^ntolnette, and la miferahle femme du rot. Madame de Rome alfo confinned what I have mentioned before, that 17B MY I LIGHT TO PARI*; the mllden: wippellation ever given her, is la fe^nme du roi,~ and this is confidcred as an uncommon exertion of for- bearance. Slie prcfcnted nie whh a copy of the Anicdotes of Jo - feph ihe Second, which file had tranflated, and of v/hich fcarccly a hundred h?.d b.^cn fold. She afcribtd the ill fuccefs of this fpeculation, to the mortal hatred indifcri^ tiiiuately borne here, towards every member of the houfe cf Aiidria. By her I was informed that a fnuff dealer at Nancy }»ai. idea of pubhfiiing a German theatre. Woe to us p :or Germans I But nothing during my interview v/:th this lady, pierced my bofom fo deeply as when (he mentioned the lofs of her hn-'band. There, indeed, fhe touched a firing in W.J heart that v'b'-ated moO; fi:elingly in uiiifon with her G\vn..i. and ytt^ hwv m.uch happier v/as fhe....how tTiUcb happier was her hiifb-md than myfelf I They had lived together in the joy ^ of wjdljck for five-aad -twenty years, and (he became Dot a widow till advanced in life, I poiTefTed my Frederica only fix yeaj-s, and want yet fome months of be tliirty years old! All the hap' pinefs I can ever experience was comprefTed together v/ithin that fhort fpace. Ah ! why v/ere my days of blifs fo few. ...why did not fate referve fome drops of tranfport to footh me in the vale of declining age ! Since We are then once more children, the toys of nature, v/hy is it denied me to do like children with their cakes and fweetmeats, to referve the moft delicious morfel for the iaft ! Or, fmce I perhaps am to be early called MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 170 ?iway from a table, where for me there i» no more en-^ joyment, it may be that my Frederica is only fummon- cd firfl, to wait and receive me at the door, where I have long been ftanding, that I may hear it cloftd be-. Ijind me without repining, nor feel too deeply the voices of my poor infants as they ftrive to call me back. Oh heaven ! how the Icaft circumftancc leads me back lo this one fatal point ! JLet me, let me return to Paris, where every one cn^ joys, and no one feels.. ..where every one " participat eS| yet no one fympathizes. The morning was very fine, and we went out to take * walk. We pafTed through the bufy tumultuous Rue Si. Honor e to the Place de Louis quitize, and thence to the Thuilleries. The genial mildnefs of the weather li'dd invited many others, like ourfelves, into ihe air. A number of people were reclining beneath the v/all on the left hand of the gardens, particularly women and chil- dren, to enjoy the faint wintry rays of the benignant fun. The fight was foothing and interefting. I thought of the well-known horrors committed by the Prince de i Lambefc on the very fame fpot, and could not forbear Gontrafting them in idea with the tranquil fcene beforq me. It was a contrail by which the latter did not fuf-^ fer. I remember once reading, but where I cannot recoi- led, of a little rural collage, which > placed amid the pompous ruins cf fome magnificent building, defcrcyed by an earthquake, makes an undefcribable impreflion upou the traveller. I figure to myfelf that I mull hav^ I/IY FLIGHT TO i'AFvlS. felt mucli the fame iniprefTion at the fcene I beheld i the Thuilleries. We went for a few moments into the inner court o the palace. We found Swifs foldiers and National Guards every where keeping fentry indifcriminately yet methought they c.afl oblique glances at each otherr like good and evil angeh waiting together the departu of a foul, which both have ftretched out their arms t receive. On the banks of the muddy Seine we took a coac*^ ^d drove to the Pont neuf, to pay our devotions at th ftatue of Henri quatre. Thou excellent king ! on th countenance is alfo legibly imprefled the excellent man.,, ftnd the one is no lefs valuable than the other. Thence we proceeded to the Palais, as it is called, where fentence is pronounced on criminals. We found the court full of horfe guards, and cur driver faid in a carelefs and jocofe manner, On donnera a un pauvre dia" lie a dejeuner et a diner. The meaning of this was, that the court of juftice was about to vcondemn a culprit, who was immediately to be executed. I fnuddered at this hardened indiffer- ence to fo awful a fcene. Our valet was much in the fanie ftory, and fpoke with equal compofure cf an execu- tion as of dancing on the rope. We afcended the great ftair-cafe. I faw Dothing in the Palais but what Jefus Chrift drove from the Jewifli temple, buyers and fellers in almod as great abundance as in the PaJais-royai. MY FLIGlir TO PARI5. 181 At the end of an angular gallei-y we at length found the Hall of Judgment, which we entered juft at the -moment when the poor criminal's fentence was readifig. ljut the place was fo full and fo hot, and the whole fcene gave me fuch an irapreffion of horror and anguiih, that I turned back immediately. The offender I did not fee, and of the judge I faw nothing but his Spanilh hat. Our coachman now drove us through the P/^^r^ de Greve, where the dreadful inftrument of deftrudlion, a wheel with a ladder, was already prepared, and thoii- fands of people were crowding about it. O hov/ re- joiced was I to turn my back upon this execrably ceic brated place ! Were I offered the mofl fumptuous pal ace in the world in the Place de Greve, as a prefent, upon condition of Hving in it, I fhould reje6l it with dis- guH and horror. In the evening we went to the Italian theatre. A very fine room, commodious feats, vile decorations, good fing- ers, moderate acflors. The entertainments were, La Faujfe Magie and Sargines, The firft is a filly infufferable thing, with very inCpid mufic by Gretry. The fecond is ^, alfo well knov/n in Germany. It is pleafmg, and the mufic good, but the father of Sargines looked like a periwig-maker, and his fair coiifin like a lady from the Palais-Royal. As in the part of Sargines fome tragic pafTages oc- cur, we had now a fpecimen pf the French talents ia ;iat y/dy. It was fuch a dreadful fawing of the ai.r» 182 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. flouii/hing of the arms, bellowing, and catering of the breath, as was fcarcely to be endured for a moment. Heavens ! what an unaccountable thing is tafte ! I could not forbear laughing at all thefe pafTages, while the company in general wept, and clapped, and cried bravo ! And how happens this ? The French are a dis- cerning people, and by no means wanting in tafte..,, why, then, do they and we differ fo widely ? The truth feems, that w^e love nature, and they art. But yet I cannot underftand hovv it is poflible with their irritable f^'elings not to love nature, or to admire tha art which does not imitate nature. I, for my own part, have never confidered art as admirable, but ir\ proportion as it approaches nature, I am not in the? habit of writing effays, therefore I cannot explain this matter : I only know that it is fo. I will next attend the Theatre de la Nation, to fee a tragedy, and laugh till I be weary. It is true, that before a French public, no fentencc, no fine fentiment, no w^ell-defcribed feeling can be loftn All fuch, occafion burfts of applaufe, as a fpark drop- ped among gun-powder, makes an inftant and tremen- dous explofion. Yet when I refieded upon v/hat I hid heard in the morning, I could not feel attra£led towards a people, who, with perfeft levity, could call a fentencc of death a breakfaft, and an execution a dinner.. ..who might be fliaken with a word of fentiment, while at the fame time a deed of horror was regarded with indifFcr-^ ence. MY FLIGPIT TO PARIS, 183 In Sargines are many paffages, which, at the prefent moment, have a powerful efFecl upon the audience, and might be fuppofed to call forth a particular manifeilaticn of their fer^timents. For inilance : // faut vaincre^ &u mourrir^ pou. fon rot. From the applaufe with which this fentiment was received, it might well be prefumed that every foul in the houfe was burning with defire to teftify his loyalty, and die for that king, whom, in their common language, they call nothing but le fawvrs homme. Among the a6lreires was a charming young creature, by name Rofe Renaud. She appeared not more than fixteen or feventeen years old, and had fuch mildnefs, fuch gentlenefs, fuch innocence in her countenance, that I could not forbear afking my neighbour whether it were poflible that this expreffion was not deceitful ? Whether fhe could really be as innocent as file appear- ed ? He affuredmrie fhe was fo, and I inclined to believe him, how improbable foever it might appear, efpecially as my belief was much ftrengthened by her modeft car- riage and demeanour upon the ftage. She fcemed to :cl an uncommon degree of timidity, and it ^^'^'^ u/ier abundant applaufe and encouragement froiiLtbi? au- dience, with whom file anT^^^--^'^--^^^^"^^'^^' ^^^t her ^-remuloufnefs her apprehenfions had oc- cafioned. This diffidence, I think, fpeaks a yet uncor- rupted heart, and I put up my prayers to heaven that it may ever remain fo ! If it be polTible on a French ftage, may the allurements of fedu6lioa never acquire any influ- ence over her, but may fhe contiinue to turn with difguft 18i MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. from the poifoned cup of voluptuoufnefs ! Her voice is fo flexible, fo foft, fo free from all ftraining, tliat her fmging makes an irrefiilible impreflion upon the hearty but fhe is little or nothing of an aftrefs. My companion was perfe£lly enchanted with her. He could talk of nothing elfe when we returned home, and, in the middle of the night, fuddenly {larted vp to write down a quatraine on this lovely young creature, to which his brain had juft given birth. DECEMBER 23. The new-bom offspring was this morning fent to Ma- deraoifelle Rofe. She received it with a fmile, and I fliook my head. It feemed but another of the clouds of incenie by which her virtue is daily encompaffed, and which will perhaps ftifle it at laft. I had fent for a tayior to make me a fuit of clothes. He kept his hat on all the time he was with me, fiins ce^ remonie, and the cockade in it feemed to cry aloud. We are all equal » The evening hours were whiled away at the Varieth It is the handfomell theatre I have feen. Eveiy thing about it difplays tafte and elegance. The perfoiuiv,— , however, were much below my expeiSlation. The play was The 7 .rw. ^, , . ^ ' Pretty, but very m- triguing piece, the author of which IS a memuci v/x ui^v, theatre at Eourdeaux. It i:, probably fpeaking, a cri- tique upon Beaumarchais's Figaro, who is reproached, that with all his ingenuXy, he only ft rives to over-reach fuch poor, llupid mortals as Count Almaviva and Dos- MY FLIGHT TO FARIS. 185 tor Bartholo^. In this piece, on the contrary, Figaro himfelf, notwithftanding all his cunning, is repeatedly- outwitted by the other Figaro, as a difguifed cherubim. The after-piece was UEnrokmeut Siippofei a hackneyed fubje6l, void of wit, humour, or fpirit. As this was over by half paft eight, and it was yet too early Cb return home for the night, my companion and I agreed to go and walk for a while in the fplen- j, didly-iiluminated arcade of the Palais-Royal. Every part was thronged with company. The criers bawled, the fliops ghttered, the politicians talked at full gallopj the young men ogled, and the ladies of pleafure plucked people by the fleeve. I now firft became fully acquainted with the complete fhamelelTnefs of the latter. They were all fo uncom- monly dreffed, that the lowed among them might have been miftaken for a lady of fafhion. Two really pretty- looking young girls, who were walking together arm in arm, followed us about with unwearied alTidulty, and would fain have made a partis quarree with us. In hopes of getting rid of fuch a troublefome purfuit, I told one of them that her companion was not handforne enough. ** But," faid (he, " her figure is very fine." While we were engaged in this parley, a third thrull: herfelf in, and whifpered in my ear, " Will you not come and fee me?'* The other two were extremely onended at this intru- sion j and one of them, drawing up her head, faid. 186 MY FLiGAT TO PARIS. ^* Hov.', Madam ! do you think to rob us of our gentle- man To put an end to this contention, we contrived to flip in among the crowd, and leave all three in the lurch. A fourth, who liad doubtlefs heard us fpeak German, nov/ prefTed forwards, and purfued us with the word Deuifch, Deutfch^ which flie had probably by fome means caught up, and pronounced with a very droll accent. A fifth, at laft, V, ho feemcd to have known my com- panion at the theatre, a poor, unhappy creature, fcarcely fixteen, but very lively and animated, prefTed us fo ear- neftly to fup with her, which we underllood perfedlly was to be at our own coft, that at length we determined to accept the invitation, for the fake of fpeculating upoa the mode of li.e purfued in thefe abodes of wretchednefs and depravity. As Vvc were two, flie would fain have gone in queft of a com.panion to m.ake up the part'tt quarreej but this we would not by any means permit. She conducted us up a ftair-caie in the Palais- Roy a!, to her habitation, which was in a very neat apartment. And here a new conteft arofe upon our account. It happened, unluckily, that Mademcifdle Adelaide, who had fo kindly given my companion her addrefs, was her next neighbour; and having, by fome means, diicovered our vifit, ftie infifted that it was defigned for her, but our young creature had decoyed us away. On our (Ire- nuoufly maintaining the contrary, (he feemed at lead de- termined to make one at the fupper; but we being as * German. German, MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 187 firm!/ refolred againfl it, at lad feni her away, mat- tering, and extrcm.'Iy difcoatented. The fcm:n; dz ch-imhre h:o)xy\\t us a bill of fare from the rejfiuratetir, aad \rz defii-ed our damfel to choofe her entertainment. She was moderate enough to order oai/ four diihes, an apple compote and the ufail wine. As we were fitting round the fire, I could not forbear receding upon the fingularity of the circumflances ia which I was placed. I was in the apartment of a lady of pleafure, with no other view but to fpecuhte upon the habits and manners of one of thefe beings, in a country where I was a ftranger; nor was it poflibie for other feelings to be awakened in my bafom. He who has loved as I have, is fafe, though aflaik-d by a Lais or a Phryne. If I bat turned one thought towards my Fre- derica, how difguiling did every thing appear around me! No, beft of wives! even in this fituation I har- boured not a thought unworthy of theel It may appear extraordinary, yet it is neverthelefs true, that my ideas of wedded conflancy are now fiill more en- •thufi?.ftic than fo -merly. The charms of a lovely wife have made me infenfible to all other allurements. Death has, indeed, torn us afunder, but I am not the lefs her lover.. ..my heart remains wholly occupied by the fame romantic pallion that I felt in the firft moments of our acquaintance, and to look on any other objeft but with eye? of indifference, would be, in my idea?, the height of criminality. In a word, the flame that fx years agq. made me often fo hnppy, often perhaps fo roolifh, con- tmues to burn with undiminifhcd ardour. Oh i it is not ]88 MY FLIGHT TO PA?vIS, in my power to defcribe what were my feelings on thiff evening, but they were truly honorable, and I can de- fpife thofe who twift their mouths into a fneer when they hear of my vifiting the apartments of one of thefc poor abandoned females. Perhaps they might not themfelves have remained there with the fame purity of heart that I did, and, confequently, could not have ac- knowledged the viiit with a like confidence. The poor creature told us her ftory, which, whether true or falfe, I here relate in her ov/n words. An old coxcomb, fbe faid, had llolea her away from her parents at Verfailles, and kept her confined at Paris, but with- out doing her any injury. Growing weary of this hfe, fhe contrived to make her efcape, and taking the name of Madame de Vincennes, had lived ever fince by her own induftry, if it can be called living, when, by her own con- feflion, file was often without a fous in her pocket, and always in debt to hxTfemme de chambre, or bonne as fhe fometimes called her. The common routine of the day was, that file fcreakfafted and dined in bed, then get up and drefTed herfelf, talked over her lunne till fhe procured from her a petit ecu to go to fome fpe^acky af- ter which fhe repaired to her ufual promenade in the arcade of the Palais- Royal. I really was fomewhat in- terefled by this unhappy young creature, fmce fhe feem- ed to be of a naturally good difpofition, and kind- hearted. The fupper came. Madame de Vincennes did not eat with much appetite... .fhe, probably, was not accus- tomed to regular mealv We foou after laid a little MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. prefent upon her chimney-pjece, and retired. I nevcl" repented having made this vifit, fmce it was a pcrfe6lly r.ovelfcene to me. ...but I could not eafily be induced to wafte time again in fuch a way. DECEMBER 24. This morning we received a vifit frojn the Abbe ue l\ , the gentleman who had ofFei-cd to procure us tickets of adm.iffion to the National Affembly. He had an uncommon number of queitions to aflc of us. In France he feemed perfe<5l]y at home; but, with the true French egotifm, feemed totally ignorant of every thing beyond his own country. France was, in his ideas, the kingdom of heaven, and Paris the central point of all that was defirable in that kingdom. Ruma feemed to him as perfe£l a terra ineognlta as to me is Prefter John's country. He fuppofed Livonia to be a a part of the Pohih dominions, and believed that travel- lers in Ruffia carried a compafs in the winter, as a guide through the fnov,'. Probably he fuppofed the villages to be buried in fnow above the chimnies, and that it was no uncommon thing to tie a horfe to the top of a church fteeple, like Baron Munchaufen. As I was turning over fcm.e books in CulTac's Hiop about noon, an old man upwards of eighty came in, whofe feet, it is true, feemed no longer to afford him iiiuv,!. f.-..:,.^, y/Jiofe countenance befpoke perfecl cheerfulnefs and good-iiumou.. P.pTac expreffed grc.;t pleafure at feeing him fo cheerful. "Oh!" faid he, I have experienced many troubles in the courfe of my " life, b-<- 1 n-/er felt remorfe.*' 190 MY FLIGHT TO PARir 1 v/as pleafed with this anfwer ; and, on enquiry, after- Wards learnt that he was Monfieur de la Place, author, cr rather tranflator, of a voluminous cclleftion of ro- mances and other writings. But, indeed, if what Cuffac told me were true, he might fairly be called an author. Tliis was, that he had fo rr.uch improved Tom Jones in his tranflation, that it had been re-tranflated from that into Englifh. I could not forbear fmiling. After ftaying about a quarter of an hour, Monfieur de la Place was quitting the fhop. He had already got the door in his hand, when fuddenly turning round as if fome new idea occurred to him in the inllant, •* Give me pen and ink," faid he, " to write down an impromptu." The pen and ink was brought, and he produced the following quatraine, which I tranfcribed as fcon as he A%'as gone. : Pour que de deux parties les noms mieux entendus, Dans Tttat divi'c pcuvent nioins troublcr I'ordrc, JLcs er rages font ceiix qui furent trop mor Jus, Et les tnrageans ceux qui voudroitnt encore mordre. That the tvio parties titles well explain'd May lei's divificns in tlie ftate excite, Th' iit.wVare thofe who were too tightly reln'd, Th' incenfers thofe who'd rein them flill more tight. Enrages and ^-r^fugsans (incenfed and incenfers), it is well known, are the nick-names given to the two reign- ing parties that at prefeat divide France. MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 191 Among the affiches of to-day were two that particu- farly attrafted my notice. One was as follows ; ** A young man, thirty years of age, of good fami" ly, but conftrained by circumllances to retire to a ** pleafant country-situation, at the diftance of a league ** from an agreeable town, and about twenty leagues " from Paris, upon an income of an hundred louis's, '* wifhes to affociate himfelf with a female of good edu- cation, and with a fortune of about half his own, who ^* would be willing to pafs her days with him, not in " the way of marriage, only as a companion. An an- ** fwer is requefted in the Mercure de France.'''* Are thefe the general ideas of the French upon thq fubje6l of marriage ? or is this only the caprice of a lin- gle individual ? If the former, I mull deteft fuch a li- centious people.... if the latter, I pity the mifguided young man. But fuppofing he be really in head and heart a man, and fhould meet with a gentle, amiable crea- ture, wiUing to live with him upon the propofed terms, I prophecy, that in a year ihe will become his wife. He may ftt out upon this plan, to try her tem.per, and whe- ther they can live happily together, and fhe may con- fent to his wifties, to gain herfelf an intereft in his heart, till, by degrees, they will grow accuftomed to each othez*, become warmly attached, and unable to live afunder. It is abfurd to talk, of poiTeflion weakening love. He who ceafes to love after pofrefiion, never has really loved at alL Love is the regular food at the table of Hymen....en- joyment but a glafs of wine, or a fweetmeat, \yliich may J?e pleafant, but can well be difpenfed with. 192 MY FL IGHT TO ?ARIS Yet, after all, fuch an advertifement proves inconteft- abiy that an unbounded licentioufnefs reigns among the people, fince they dare thus publicly to avow fentiments militating fo ftrongly againll good morals. It was not a little curious, that in the very fame affiche was an ar- ticle of a fimilar kind, only with this difference, that the man, who gave himfelf out as tres age^ wanted a well- educated young woman as a companion and houfe- keeper....His meaning was not, however, enveloped in fo thick a veil, but that it was very plainly to be underftood. Another article, which I cannot give at full length, contained a moft affefting anecdote, and on that account alone I have alluded to it. Among other effefts pro- duced by the fever of liberty, it has occafioned many pieces to be brought forward upon the ftage, which be- fore were negledled, and fcarcely even knov/n. On the Theatre de la Nation, formerly the Theatre Francois, in particular, fcarcely is the reprefentation of any thing en- dured, excepting of tragedies that have fome reference to revolutions, and that place tyranny and fanaticifm in an odious light. Brutus, IViUiam Tell, the Death of Cafar, the Deliverance of Rotne, and Jean Calas, are re- peated night after night, with thunders of applaufc. The tragical hiftory of the latter has, indeed, within r. fliort time, been brought before the public in every pofTi- ble foroi. But while the ftage refounds with the name of Jean Calas, the people are not aware what agonizing v. ounds are thus torn open. The poor widow of this unfortu- nate man has, for the lafl; fifteen years, lived, together MY FLlGirT TO PARIS. 193 with her two daughters, in the Rue Poijfonmsre, at Paris. She has never hiid alide her mourning fince the lofs of her huiband; nor has ever wound up the clock that Hopped on the day of his death. Whenever a fentence is proclaimed in the ftreets, the maid always hadens dov/n to the criers, to beg of them not to proclaim it within hearing of that houfe, fmce the found always throws her poor miHrefs into a fwoon. I was inexpreffibly affected by this anecdote. Never would I be prefent at the reprefentation of Jean Calas. It is impoflible for any thing to increafe the impreflion made upon me by the lingle, fimple circumflance, that the widow has never wound up the clock that ftopped on the day of her hufband's death. But though not to fee the performance of this popular tragedy, I went in the evening to the Theatre ds laNaticn. I found it a very fplendid building. Brutus and Le Re- veil d' Epimenlde a Paris y were the pieces performed. I entered the houfe fomewhat unwillingly, but left it very well fatisfied. Not that the performers difappointed my expeftations in their fawing the air, flourifning their arms, and catching their voices, but becaufe I had an ap- portunity of witneffing the unconftrained burfts of feel- ing of a whole nation, and becaufe I can never hope a^ain to hear fuch bold things repeated on any ftage. The laft obfervation principally refers to the after- piece, fince many pafTages in Brutus that were extremely applauded, were only ftriking from their application. R 194 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. La mc beg my reader's patience while I enumerate fornt of thofe that appeared the mod popular: Dej[lru(5leurs des tyrans, vous, qui n'avez pour rois, Que les dieux de Nunia, vos vertus, et nos loix ! Ye patriots, who no other kings obey, Save Numa's gods, your virtues, and our lav7s! Kctis avons fait, en lui rendant hoipmage, Seiment d'obeiflance, et ncn point d'efclavage. The oath we took, when we our hcnrii.ge paid him. Was of obedience, not of flavery. Sous un fceptre de fer, ce peuple abattu, A force de maiheurs, a repris fa vcrtu. Beneath an iron yoke his people crufli'd, Their virtue, through misfortune, have refum'd= Je porte en mon cceur La liberte gravee et les rois en horreur. Within my heart the name of liberty I bear engrav'd, and kings I hold in horror. Sois toujours un heros! fois plus, fois citoycn! Ee a hero ftill ! be more, a citizen ! Arreter un Remain fur de fimples foupcons ! C'eft agir en tyrans ! Arreft a Roman only on fufpicion ! That were to acl as tyrants ! Dieux ! donnez nous la m.or!; plutot que refclavage \ Ye gods ! oh rather give us death than bondage ! The two folio vv'ing pafTages had a very different efFedi; upon the audience.. ..the fecond nearly proved the ccca- fion of a tumult. Quel homme eft fans erreur, et quelroi fansfoible0€ ?• i k'ce a vcus de pretenure au droit de le punir f MY FLIGHT TO PARTS 195 Vou3, nfs tous fes fujets, vous, faits pour obeir ? Uii fils ne s'armie point centre un coupablc pere, !1 dctoiirne les yeux, le plaint, et Ic revere. I^cs droits dcs fouverains font lis moiiis precicux ? Nousfoinmes leurs enfi\ns, leurs juges font les dieux. What man is free from error ? or what king Exempt from weaknefs ?.... Is it then for you T'affume the right of punifhing his fai:lt3 ? You, born his fubjedls, made but to obey him ? No fon takes arms againic a guilty father; He mourns his failings, yet refpedls the parent. And lhall a fov'reign's rights be deem'd isfs facred f iis children we, his judges are the gods. Scarcely was the a€toT allowed to finifh this fpeech, or the following, which fet the powder into a yet more violent explolion. Rome a change de fers, et fous le joug dss grands, Pour un roi qu'elle avoit, a trouve cent tyraiis. Rome has but chang'd its bondage, and beneath The yoke of nobles, finds that for one king, She vrouches now before a hundred tyrants. At thefe words feme flaming loyalifl in the fecond tier of boxes, mere bold than difcreet, clapped vehe- mently. The whole pit was in commotion in an inlltini:, ev^ery one riling up, hifiing, and exclaiming, ab qu; cela eji bete ! All eyes were turned immediately to the fpot v/hence the clapping was heard, with menaces, execra- tions, knocking, and ftamping. The players P;opped to wait the event, aad, by degrees, the ftorm blew over ,• for how could a fingle offender be diflinguifhed among fuch a crowd ? and that he was fmgle, was very plain fro.T. the found. Happy was it for him that none of his nciglibours betrayed him, fmce, if difcovered, he had d jab tlefs explat:d his foliy, for folly it was, not fpirit MY FLIGHT TO PAP.If. or ccura^-e, a la lantertie^ without having rendered any lei vice to his fI->adow of a monarch. After fuch a proof of republican jealoufy, no one ven- tured to take no'cice of any pafiage that was not ortho- doxly democratic. Yet 'tis furely hard that this into- lerance (houid prevent the company in the boxe?, who by paying their money, have purchafed the privilege of delivering their free opinions, from teftifying their ap- probation or difapprobation of ftriking paffages, when the gentlemen in the pit afTume a right of clapping or hilling at pleafurej till their hands and throats arc fore. 'Tis truly laughable to me, that the French, who have fo little of the Roman in them, (hould uniformly apply to themfelves what is faid of that great people. Every foldier of the national guard now believes him- felf a Titus, and fees a Brutus in each deputy to the national affembly. At the words, Ee a hero ftill! he more, a citizen ! not a taylor's heart but palpitates in his boiom, deHghtcd to find that 'tis fo eafy to be a hero. Enough of Brutus ! only a word more upon the performance of the piece. It was completely French. Brutus fcreamed fo beyond all bounds, that he wound- ed my ears deplorably. Titus had much to recommend him.. ..a pleafir.g yet manly voice, which, in many places affeaed me extremely. He was very fuccefsful in ex- preffions of the g eit or the noble ; but his pafiion was caiicature. The good Tullia looked too much like an own fiHer of the lafcivious Tarquin, and Porfenna's am- MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 197 bafTador hnd that abominable peruke-maker phyfiogno- mji and thole peruke-maker graces and airs fo common among French aftors, and which accord fo ill with the plumed hehnet. The coftume was obferved with tafle and accuracy.... though this mud be underftood only with regard to the leading charafters. Erutus's toga with the purple flripe was truly Roman, as well as the fafhicn cf his hair and beard. His fhoes and ftockings only, and his fnubbcd nofe, reminded me that he was Monfieur fuch an-one, Valerius Publicola united to his Romidi drefs fuch a true ancient Reman countenance, as rcprefented upon gems, that this was a m.uch mere complete deception. As to the fenatcrj, the iidlors, the populace, and the reft, I have nothing to fay about them, excepting to remark upon the folly of fpending a great deal of money in get- up a play, and then rendering the whole expence nuga- tory, by faving in a few trifles. V/hen the curtain drew up, and exhibited the Ro- man Senate feated in full a!TembIy,on hearing the words, DtJIruSeurs des tyrans, I could not help looking round upon thefe magnanimous heroes, whom I found, indeed, in one uniform toga, but with their hair finely be-friz- zed and be powdered, v/hite cotton ftockings, and red fiippers. There was an end of all deception at once ; 1 thought of the famous pidlure of Dido upon the fune- ral pile, with her courtiers ftanding round in Spanifti iiats» K2 irS . MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. But to proceed to the after-piece, Eplmenldes awaking at Par's. A fliort fl^etcli of the plan of this littl; comedy may, perhaps, not be unentertaining to the rtader. The fcene is in a walk in the Thuilleries. Ariiljs relates to his daughter Jofephine, that Epimenides, after having liv;:d for a time, always falls afleep for a hundred years, and then wakes again to a new life. " By this means," he adds, " he has been a fpe£lator of all ^' the revelations in the flates of Greece and Rome, and ** has often witnefTed alfo, in France, how the monarch and the great men have, with unbridled power and li- centicnfnefG, cpprelTed the people, and trampled them '* under foot. He faw how Louis quatorxe made h.s fuh- " jecls the fla\'es of his fame, and yet, while every thing was facrificed to that phantom, how artfully he contrived to make himfcif idolized by a people of whofe mifery he war. the author. This Epimenides," he con^ tinues, will foon a^vake, andbehold lefs oftentation, but more truth.. ..will behold vanity and foiiy dreffed in their m.curnirjg Vv'eeds, and the people at length con- " fidered as of fome account.'* EpiiT^enides Toon appears, and exprefTes his fatisfac- tion at contemplating cnce miore the garden planted for the great Louis. " Pity," faid he, that the m.onarch ihould prefer the gloomy palace of Ver failles to this pleafant and fmiling abode." Ariftus anfwers, that a fucceffor of the great Louis, nov^^ the idol of France has come to live there am.ong his pcople,„.that his prefence has diffufed peace and MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 199 happincfs among them.... that he is furrcunied by no foreign guarvl ; bnt that all things in tlie nation had as- fumed a new face. The flioMts of the audience at this pafTafje iilrnoft over- powered the voice of the fpeaker, and the cry of e-nccre I encore / refoiinded fo from ail parts of the houfe, that he was obliged to repeat it again. Epimenides then aHcs, " whether all abufes had been reformed Ariftus anfwers v/ith hefitation, and a fiirug of the fiioulders, " Many." Ephncnuks. " The courtier?, then, have adopted a " different fyftem ? Dofl thou not deceive me Here v/as a grand exclamation of non I nan I non ! Ai'iftus. " A wife monarch does not talie counf<;I of his courtiers.'* L>-m^mdcS. Of the parliament, I fappofe Ar'fjlas, " Not fo, neither." Eihn^nides. " Of whom then Ar'ijlds, " Every honc>l man is now Iiis counfellor %. " for each provir.ce fends its deputies to the court. Yet all things cannot be completed in a moment. Many people have played very fliam eful parts ; but that is *^ pafl, a id the heavens begin to look brighter around us. V/ho, therefore, would think more of the ftorm \ At prefent, all goes on well ; the free people love " and obey th^.^ir king, and iie reveres the laws." A long and loud thunder of applaufe fu^ceeded this 200 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. In the feventh fcene, Epimenides exprefTes his far- prize that the news-writer, Gorgi, not having the fear of the Eadille before his eyes, fiiould venture to put forth falfe intelhgence. How great is his altcnifiiment, v/hen he Ijsrns that this fortrefs is levelled with the ground ! " How !" he exclaims, " thofe walls rafed ** which the great Conde befieged three months in " vain Jcfephine anfwers him very fmartly, " We order *' thefe things better noAv....two or three hours are fufii- ** cient for the purpofe. A number of brave citizens ** took upon themftlves the - tafli of freeing the nation from that abode of horrors, that receptacle for the « vengeance of tyrants, the fufpicion of minifters, and the caprice of miJdrelTes." The eighth fcene is very curious. Madame Brochure is felling various papers and handbills, no longer fongc, and like produckions, but ail politics. ...nothing but poli- tics. Epimenides inquires after the cekbrated poet of his time, MoHere : Madcme Brochure. " Oh, his day is entirely gone by." Ep'imenidcs. *' How ! are fuch admirable writings no ** longer efteemed r" Madame Brochure. "His plays are fometimes pcrrnit- ted at the theatre. Evit thofe are alv/ays confidered ** as meagre days." Bphnenides. " But Corneille" Madame Brocknre. *' Heaven forbid Mpmcnides, Racine" y FLIGHT TO PARIS. 201 Madame Brochure. " Is no longer read. Every cen- tury has its peculiar folly. For ten years the Encyclo- pedia was all the rage" Jofephlm. " To which fucceeded chymiftiy, and at " length a whole train of osconomifts appeared in tlie " ilate, but no oeconomy. Now politics have their turn, every one alTifts in conducting the important bufincfs " of government ; and even the coquette has the Rights " of Man lying upon her toilette." In the tenth fcene, Monfieur Rature, ex-cenfor to the king, appears, whofe place has been aboliflied, and no penlion allowed him, which naturally fetshim very much at variance with the new order of things. He is ad\"!fcd to endeavour to get into fuch or fuch a fervice. Thefs he rejecfts, and at length confefTes, that though he m.ay perhaps have condemned Voltaire or Jean Jacques, he never in his life could write. " Kow! and what did you do then:'* it was aflced. " Condemn," he replies, and runs off. Epimenides obferves, that he thinks the abolition cf the ceniorrtiip a very great benefit to the nation. " It " has anfwered no other pnrpofe," fays he, " but to fur- round the kinpr with miferable mutes. It has been the ** inilrument of tyrants for chaining the powers of the " mind, that the multitude might be the more cafily op- " prelTcd." In the fourteenth fcene, a nobleman appears, meeting a farmer, whom he afks why he is come to Paris.. ..v/he- ther he has a fuit to carry on. 202 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. *' Oh yes!'' the farmer replies, *' the united peafantry of France have been carrying on a gre?t fuit, which, " heaven be praifed, they have gained. We were for- " merly ftupid and ignorant as beafts....the ftrongeft had " midc the lav/s, and we were compelled to fubmit to " the bit and bridle.. ..the Lord knows why. But now ** things are otherwife. We refpeft the worthy noble- ** man who is affiduous to promote our happinefs, and *' labour for him willingly, but we will not be trampled *' uudtr foot by a fcoundrel. W e are not ignorant of the ** natural rights of man.** The nobleman returns, that to hear a fellow talk in that way, it fhould feem as if all men were equal. For- merly, France was a country worth living in. The mar- quis bowed to the duke, the courtier to the marquis, the country nobleman to the courtier, and fo on in regular gradation. I-Ie concludes with the refolution of fecking fome corner in the wide v/orld, where the tafte for flavery {till flouriflies in full vigour; and, if no fuch fpot could be found, as a lall refource he muft throw himfelf into the next river. In the fixteenth fctne, a finging Abbe warbles forth a lamentable ditty upon the lofs of his benefice, and declares that, contrary to his inclination, he had been conftrained to make the nation the heirs of his v,realtb, even during his life. " For my part," he proceeds, " I can hve upon " any thing, but what will become of thofe who were maintained at my expence. I have always fupported *' fuffering beauty, and -gave a thoufaiid dollars monthly to my poor female relations. MY FLIGHT TO PARI?. 203 D^HarcourL " To your female relations ? Why to <* them only ? Why might not thofe of the other fex /liare your bounty The Ahhe. " I have no relations fave two fair coufms, " lovely, amiable orphans. And what aggravates the diftrefs of our order is, that while our money is ta- ken away, our duties remain the fame." Hare our t. " But, my good fir, every rank has ex- ** perienced a change ; 'tis but juil, therefore, that the eccleliaftics" The Ahhe, " With all my heart, if the proceis had ARIS. XVliat muft be his feelings whenever he pafies over tLat large, open fpace, within which he formerly inhabited a fmall dungeon cf only a few feet Iquare ? What more particularly when he fecks, and perhaps finds the very fpot where that dungeon lay ? Every ftone muft be to , him an object cf painful recollection ; for v/ith every ftone he might probably claim a miferable acquaintance of forty yeaii?i In the evening we vifited Les Jlmhigus Comiques, and were as well entertained as could be expe£led, confidering that we had been the day before at the opera. We faW Eprsuve raifonalkf a piece in one a£l, and Bekir and Niza, a Ferfiari drama, in two a£ls. In both, the fa- ble was limple, but well handled, find the pieces v/ere tolerably performed. A pantomime, called The Man nv'ith the Iron Majh, concluded the evening. It was founded, as vi'ill be fiippoied, upon the v^^cU known ftcry of the myftcrious prifoner, confined fo m.any years by Louis the fcurteer.th. If the poet had any authority for the ftory he has made, the my(lery fo long concealcdj is now unravelled. The iron mafii in the pantomime, is m^de the king*s brother, and both are in Lve with the fame woman, who, probably, is fome princefs. The king is the rcjf6led lover. ...he finds his brother at the feet of his beloved...:* they fight.. ..the guards difarm the prince.. ..the iron maflv is pat on, and he is harried away. Moil of the anecdotes that have been circulated re- lative to this extraordinary prifoner, are here brought fiw wards. The governor always ready with a piftol to MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. Hioot him in cafe he (houM attempt to make himfelf known ; the filver plate on which he wrote, and threw k out to a fifherman, who could not read, with many others. But from the third aft to the end, the piece is only an uninterrupted fucceffion of improbabilities. The mafk fits and plays upon the guitar, and is anfwered from below by a flute. He then defcends, God knows by what means, and returns with his miftrefs, who has made her way into the prifon, God knows how, and learnt as unaccountably, that behind a ftone in the wall are concealed a dagger and a piftol. With the latter the gentleman arms himfelf, while the lady takes the former. The governor is fliot, and the guards acknow- ledged the prifoner for their king. He flies, God knows whither, and ispurfued, God knows by whom j finds afliftance, God knows where ; fights bravely, con- quers, amd at laft, with his lady, looks quietly ou at a, dance of peafants. The mufic was very pretty. It was, indeed, taken from a hundred different operas, but what does that fig-, nify, (ince it was appropriate to the purpofe. Yet, altogether, a pantomime is not a thing much to my tafte. Too much is left t^ conjedlure. The ima- gination wanders about in the dark, and the |)erformers muft have uncommon talents to give every motion the expreffion intended* fo as to make it intelligible to th^ nudience. 228 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. DECEMBER 30. This evening a new mufical drama, cdlhd Euphrojyne j cry The Tyrant CorreHed, attrafted me to the Italian the- atre. It was announced in the o^chesy as having been performed fix and twenty nights within a very fhort time. The houfe was, notwithftanding, very full; and I found it not unworthy of its fame. Three fifters are brought to a court, where the ca- prices of a defpot hold abfolute fway ; where no fubjedi dares to approach his prince ; where no paflion is known but infatiable thirft of power; no pleafures but hunting, fighting, and tournaments; and where every gentler feeling is a crime. The eldeft of the fillers, Euphrofyne, undertakes, with much caution and circumfpedion, to transform this favage defpot into a good prince, this fe- rocious knight into a gentle and fond lover, and herpur- pofe is effedled. Such is the outline of the piece, which contains fomc very excellent fcenes, particularly that in which the tyrant firft begins to feel his new pafiion, which fills him with alarm. He fends for the pliyfician, to whom he relates the particulars of his malady, and is informed by him that it is the fame which caufed the deftruftion of Troy, and the expulfion of her kings from Rome.... love. Another fcene may alfo be infcanced, in which the prince armed for battle, with helmet, fliield, lance, and fword, repairs to Euphrofyne's apartment, and declares his love to her. She dilTembles terror at beholding him fo arrayed, and difarms him piece by piece. He then allcs whether flic pleafed with him, to which (he replies, no, he is toy MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 229 tall, file muft look up to him, and that is painful to her jieck. He takes the hint, and falls at her feet; by de- grees file reftores him his arms, and at length appoints him her knight. The mufic is alfo good, almofl fine. A duet in par- ticular, which, from its nature, muft be afted as well as lung, was received with unbounded applaufe. An en- vious countefs endeavours to make the newly-enamoured prince jealous.. ..he becomes fo....fhe is tranfported.*... and this jealoufy, and malicious joy, give occafion to a raging duet, in which, as neither could rife above the other in finging, both began to fcream without accent or note, in fuch a manner, that it perfedlly thrilled through and through the auditors. This feemed to be confidered as the height of excellence; and the thunder of applaufe, joined to the clafh of the mufic, all together made fuch an uproar, that one could almoft have fup- pofed the l?.fl day coming on, and the world about to be crufiied to atoms. Both parties funk down at laft into feats on each fide of the ftage, with their breafts palpitating as if they would burft. One of my neighbours, indeed, afferted that this was only giimace, to excite fympathy in the audience, but I beheve they really were both exhaufted; I am fure I ,was nearly fo myfelf with hearing them. I muft here obferve upon a fault in the French per- formers, which never ftruck me till to-night. When a noble pride is to be affumed, it is always fhewn by turn- ing indignantly away from the perfon addrelTed, and U 230 MY FLIGHT TO PAKIS. making the oration to the wall. Such was the cafe here between the prince and the countefs....fuch between Titus and the ambaffadors of Pcrfenna, the other night at the Theatre de la Nation.... ■3^.6. fiich h^twttn Monjieur Socrate and the High-Priell. Strange! that the moft polifhed people in the world (hould not be able to devife any better exprelTion of elevated pride, than turning their backs on each other. We had, befides, a little opera, in tv/o afts, which was extremely pleafmg. Indeed, the performers, both vocal and inflrumental, in this theatre, are in general excellent. In Germany, v/here we are not fo liberal as in France, the fecond piece would have been omitted, fince Euphrofyne contained three acts,and the performance lafted tvro hours and a half. But two hours and a half would by no mean? content the Panlian8....they muft have four hours of amufement, and they are in the right. Formerly it was the fame with us, but the higher our performers rife in their prcfefiion, the lefs attention they think due to the public. The little, lovely, innocent P.ofe Renaud played ?gai\i to-day. Methiniis I fee a fmile upon the countenance of many of my readers at the word innocent. But ch, let me cherifh the fwect delufion, if delufion it be, for it gives me fuch delight to think her innocent, that I can- not relinquifli the idea. To whatever may be objefted agaiiiil it by experience and knowledge of the world, 1 oppofe tliis confoiing truth, that no general rule is with- out exception, and Rofe Renaud is an exception. At leall fne not laid afide the uniform of virtue, modcdy MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 231 of demeanour; and, while fhe retains that, I mull hope that fhe truly ferves the leader whofe uniform fhe wears. DECEMBER 3I. Once more let me recur to the public prints. The following extrads are taken from a paper of this day; EXTRACT THE FIRST. A noble Deed of the Minifler of Ternan, near St. John d'Angcly. " The unfortunate La Tierce, Lord of the caftle of ** Varaife, flood trembhng amid a multitude of affalTms, ** who fell upon him with knives, fickles, fcythes and ** clubs, when, fuddenly, an eccleiiaftic, the minifler of " Ternan, rufhed in between him and his murderers ; his ** prefencc for a moment reprefTed their fury. He ad* " dreffed them in the language of the God he ferved, the language of peace ; reprefented to them in forci- " ble colours the heinous nature of the offence they were " about to commit ; urged that the laws alone had a ** right to punifh in the name of heaven ; and propofed '* their carrying Monfieur La Tierce to prifon, till he ** could be properly tried. His remonflrances were, ** however, vain. ...the throng that prefTed around their " viftim, increafed every moment, and their rage grew ** every moment more unbridled. At length the eccleliaflic perceived the door of a " houfe open, againfl which he and La Tierce were al- «* ready nearly thrufl. He therefore ventured to make a bold experiment, and pufhing in the latter, followed 232 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS «* himfelf, and fhut the door haftily, in hopes by this ** means to efcape. ** But in vain. The mob prefeiitly broke into the " houfe, and tearing La Tierce fronri the arms of his " protedor, dragged him again into the rnarket-pkce. " The eccleliaftic Hill regardlefs of all danger to himfelf, " prelTed forcibly among the aflaffins ; and, hnce he ** could no longer make themliften to his expoftulations, •* threw his arm» round th^ trembling La Tierce, hoping ** to ferve him as a lliield. But at that very moment the ** unfortunate viftim received the ftroke of a fcythe over •* his head, and a ball in his breaft. He fell, fprinkhng ** his magnanimous defender with his blood." EXTRACT THE SECOND. " On the twenty-ninth, the Royal Agricultural So- ** ciety held their public fitting. Among the prizes they awarded, was a filver medal of a hundred livres *^ to Madame Rattier, the wife of a car-driver. The ** occafion for which it was given, affeded the whole ** afiembly with a pleafmg emotion. ** A child was, five years before, confided to the care of this admirable woman, of whofe parents fhe has never *' fmce heard. She has four children of her own, and an " income of not more than fifty dollars, which herhufband " earns by the fweat of his brow. Often has flie been ad- " vifed to fend her little charge to the FoundHngHofpital, " but never would forfake her.. ..and though the conftant rifing of all the necefTaries of hfe, has reduced her to MV FLIGHT TO PARIS. 233 " great fiiifts and want, (he has uniformly continued to " do the fame for this poor orphan as for her own chil- " dren." Inftances of fimilar generofity and magnanimity are, thanks to heaven ! not rare among any people. 'Tis only to be regretted that they are not always equally known and rewarded. A third extra6l from the fame paper, does not, alas ! reileft quite fo much honor upon the nation. " A young woman of pleafing deportment, who can " read and write, and who underftands wafhing, wifhes to engage herfelf as companion to a fingle gentleman." In our country, a female who could, with fuch fiiame- lefs effrontery, olTer herfelf as companion, or in plain terms, as miilrefs to a fingle gentleman, would be a marked object of public contempt. As I was breakfalling this morning with E:iron G , the widow Calas fent to inform him of the death of her fon, her laft fupport in life. Unfortunate woman ! I felt at this mom.ent, that there are fufferings in the world far greater than my own. 'Tis true, that in the death of her hulband, (he did not lofe more than I did in the lofs of my Fredenca....but the horrible manner in which his days Vv'ere ended Avas a dreadful aggravation of tlie blow. Scarcely can I comprehend how it was pofiible for her to furvive fuch a ftroke, at leaft to re- tain her fenfes....and I could almoft exclaim with Leffing, " They who do not, under certain circumftances, lofe U 2 MY FLIGHT TO PARI?; their underflaadings, can have no underftanding ta « lofe!'* Nor is this wholly inapplicable to the prefent cafe, fince Baron G informed me, that fhe had been, for fome years, in a very debilitated ftate, with little feeling for any thing that pafles around her. My acquaintance with this Baron G— was not commenced entirely without prejudice on my fide, fince I had but a fliort time before been reading the Sequel to Rouffeau's Confefiions. I found my expe6lations by no means deceived. He is one of the moft amiable old meii I ever faw. Mild and engaging in his manners, he charms even at firft fight. Pofiefling a mind richly en- dowed with all kinds of knowledge, he never intrudes it upon any one, but only employs it to feafon his con- verfation in the moft natural and unaffuming manner. Many other vifits did I make this morning. Among them was one to the king*s hbrary, but I might as well have ftayed at home ; for he who knows that it contains three hundred thoufand volumes of printed books, and a hundred thoufand manufcripts, knows juft as much about it as I do. To make a vifit of half an hour to a large library, appears to me juft as idle as to make a formal vifit of the fame length to a celebrated man. The moft valuable book carries in its exterior nothing by which it can be diftinguifhed from the moft contemptible produftion at cur Leipfick fairs, nor does the moft profound fcholar carry about him any diftindive external charafteriftics Iby which to difcriminate him from the dulleft of bis bre- MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 215 thrcn. Three hundred thoufand men may be manoeuvred fo as to afford a fpe6lacle fomewhat interefting to the fpedators, but three hundred thoufand books can only {land dully in rows. The manufcripts on Papyrm, and on waxen tablets, I however contemplated with intereft, and allced myfelf whether yet a mouldering grain of dull remained of the hands by which they were written. The large pair of globes, which are fo much celebrated, neverthelefs ap- peared to me fmaller than the Gottorp globes at Peterf- burgh, though our guide ftrcnuoufly afferted to the con- trary. This guide was an Abbe, whofe name I have forgot- ten. Inftead of (hewing us the curiofities of the library, or even anfwering our queftions, he was fo bitten by the dasmon of politics, that there was no getting him away from them for a fmglt moment. He proved to me what I was before fully convinced of, that the peace with Sweden was a maftcr-ftroke on the part of Ruf[ia....he developed a plan for a treaty of alliance between France and Ruffia, towards the execution of which it was little in the power of either of us to contribute.. ..he touched /lightly upon the relations of the feveral European courts towards each other.. ..and, in fhort, finally fent me full drive out of the library with the flaming fword of his eloquence. The library of the Sorbonne, which we next vifited, IS fmall, but pofTefTes many rare and valuable manufcripts. Some of theie had recently been ftokn, and the librarians, who went about with uS; remarked, that the theft muH 236 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. have been committed by fome of the members of the Sof- bonne themfelves, fmce they alone having keys of the library, nobody elfe could come in. If the charge be well founded, I cannot think the gentlemen much to blame, fince they expert every day a decree of the National Affembly, by which this colleftion, now their own private pofTefiion, is to be declared national property. Cardinal Richelieu's monument, in the church of the Sorbonne, is a chef-d^tEwvre of fculpture. The Cardinal refts in the arms of Religion, and at his feet is Wifdom, in the form of a woman, veiled and weeping. Thefe are things which cannot be defcribed, they muft be feen. I fliould, however, like much to know, fince Greeks and Romans, French and Italians, have all agreed in repre- fenting Wiidom under the form cf a woman, why a learned woman is always to be made a fubjedl for mirth and ridicule ? Is it only in marble that we can endure to fee a female endowed v/ith knowledge ? As I faw fome people at work upon fcaffoldings among the arches of the church, I allced what they were about. " Taking down Cardinal Richelieu's arms, which are fcattered every Vrhere/' was the anfwer. " And by vrhofe order?" I aflced. By order cf the National AfTembly." And why this order?" *' Becauf?. arms are forbidden throughout the king- « dom." Thic is curious. But Richeheu has created himfelf a n?.m2 of vvl-.lch no National AITcrr.bly can deprive him^ though L.iv;y may dcftroy all his arraa. MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 23? The facade of the church of Saint (ienevieve tranf- ported me. Coilld I at the fame time have clofed my eyes againft all the little miferable huts round about, my imagination might have led me to believe myfelf tranfported to Athens; for, indeed, there is nothing in this church, and its tower that feems to kifs the clouds^ which can remind one of the Moft Chriftian King, and the eighteenth century. But the fine large area in which it Hands, is.. ..how fhall I exprefs myfelf hedged round with huts ! A new drama was announced for reprefentation to- day at the Italian theatre, the title of which, I'he lajl Moments of jfean Jacques Roujfeau^ irrefillibly attracted me thither. The appearance of this truly eccentric man upon the ftage affefted me exceedingly. All the fpeeches put into his mouth were taken from his writings.. ..all that he did was founded upon hiiloric truth. The fcene v.'as laid in RoufTeau's chamber, at Erme- nonville. It was decorated with a harpfichord, a writing- table, and the picture of Madame de Warens, Therefa, RoulTeau's wife, and his nurfe of four-fcore years old, were difcovered waiting his return to breakfaft from his ufual morning's walk, and were, meanwhile, converfmg together upon the melancholy fate of this perfecuted philofopher, and on the repofe which he then happily enjoyed. RoulTeau himfelf next appeared. The player who re- prefented him muft, doubtlefs, have copied him very faithfully, lince a tumult of applaufe inftantly refounded through the whole houfe. Probably moft of the audi- ^58 MY FLIGHT TO PARlS. chce muft have known, or, at leaft, frequently have the original. An unanimous bravo ! fainted the actor } and Roufleau's widow, who was in the houfe, a£lually fainted away. He was drefTed in a complete grey fuit, with a round hat. His knees were fomewhat bowed, his Hep flow and circumfpeft, and his wliole appearance mild and ferene. He brought under his arm a bundle of plants, and in his hand a bird's nell, in which he ihewed his wife fix young birds. Therefa reproved him for the barbarity of taking them away from their mother, when he related, with a truly affecling fimplicity, hov/ he had watched this nell every morning for a fortnight. ...how he had feen the mother that very morning feeding her young.... and how fhe was, immediately after, ia feeking more food, de- voured by a fparrow-hawk : then did he take the neft, for the purpofe of intreating his wife to take care of the young ones. " And what will you do with them ?" afl^ed the wife^ ** Give them liberty as foon as they are able to ufe it," anfvvered the philanthropifc. This was followed by a burft of applaufe, and as the piece proceeded, the clapping continued to increafe, till my ears were half ftunned. I did not join in the clapping, but I wept. RoufTeau then fat down to breakfaft with his little family, exadlly as he defcribes himfelf, in the Confeflions, at the time he lived near the Marechal de Luxembourg. I cannot exprefs how much I was affefted by the fcene. ' Tears guflied involuntarily from my eyes. I refigned MY FLIGHT TO PARTS 239 myfclf wholly to the interelling delufion, which had been much more impreflive, if it had not been fo perpetually interrupted by ill-timed claping. The breakfaft: ended, RoufTeau defires his wife to go and vilit a poor woman, who was lying-in of her eighth child, and was in great neceflity. Soon after, a young journeyman joiner enters, bringing home fome work for l^ouffeau. The philofopher perceives traces of deep forrow on his countenance, enquire? into the caufe of it, and learns that his father is in danger of being carried to prifon that very day for a debt of three hundred Hvres. The confequence of this muft be, that the fon would lofe a maiden with whom he was about to be united, fmce her father would no longer confent to her marrying into a family he confidered as difl^onoured. Rouffeau laments his inability to relieve this diilrefs, when the youth begs him to intercede in their behalf with the jord of thq .eftate, Monfieur Girardin, which he promifes. Juft after the jciner*s departure, when Roufieau was beginning to revolve in his mind how to execute what he had untertaken, Monfieur Duval brings him a letter, with three hundred livres, from his bookfelier, Rey. By the way it muft be obferved that Monfieur Duval had a na- tional cockade in his hat: an anachronifm fo grofs, that it had an aftonifiiing efFe6l in lelTening the delufion. RoufTeau, extremely rejoiced at this accident, enquires of the nurfe whether they are at prefent in want of money, and, learning that they are not, he fends imme- diately after the young man, to whom the gives the Vv'hole fum. The iatter fuppofes this to be a prcfeut 240 MY FtlGHT TO PARIS. from Monfieur Girardin, an error in which the philofo- pher leaves him... .a beautiful ftroke, indeed. The youth, in his gratitude for the fuppofed inter- ceflion, endeavours to throw himfelf at Rouffeau's feet, but is repreffed. " That were degrading both to your- felf and me," fays the philofopher. ** May I ? may I V* ftammers the youth, as he fpreads 0ut his arms towards his philanthropic patron, ** Why not?" fays ^ouiTeay, and clafps him eagerly to his heart. Few eyes remained dry at this fcene. The youth now flies to his father to free him, and Roufleau in the mean time receives a vifit from Monfieur Girardin, to whom he obferves, that he feels his laft hour approaching, that his eyes are become dim, and that he has been endeavouring in vain to read. He thanks the worthy man for all his kindnefs, particularly for having granted him an afylum where he may die in peace, and recommends his wife to his proteftion. He then prefents him, as a memorial of their friendfhip, with his own manufcript of the Social ContraB, which Girardin receives with tranfport, preffes to his lips, and ....now comes a fpecimen of true French gafconade..., alTerts, that the work M'as dictated by God himfelf. It is in future, therefore, to be confidered, I fuppofe, asii ^ fifth Gofpel. The young joiner then appears again, with his father, and his maiden, who all overpower Girardin with their expreffions CI gratitude, which he of courfe does not underftand, nor knows therefore how to reply to them. Rouffeau enjoys this delightful fcene in fiience, antj MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 211 when Therefa explains the riddle, they all furround his chair, and load him with carefTes. He ftill continues to feel, with greater and greater certainty, the approach of his laft moments. He defires the window to be opened, that he may fee the fun once more, and, for the laft time, admire the beauties of cre- ation. " That is God!'* he exclaims, God, who now ** calls me to himfelf !" With thefe words he fmks back in his chair, the company prefent form an interefting groupe around him, and the curtain falls. This is indeed a tragedy. The firft French tragedy ever written in profe, and in which the adlors played naturally and rationally, without fawing the air. The extraordinary'' applaufe they obtained might ferve as a lefTon to them in future, that this, as being the way of nature, is the only way which can pleafe all times and nations. When the curtain dropped, a thoufand hand- kerchiefs were in motion, a thoufand tongues vociferated their fatisfaftion, and two thoufand pair of hands clap- ped. " The Author I the Author /" refoundcd from all parts of the houfe, pit as well as boxes. This continued for a long time, before any one thought proper to appear upon the ftage. But as the cry redoubled, the curtain at length drew up, and a per- former came forwards, who addreffed the audience.... " Gentlemen, the author is Monfieur Bouilly, the fame to whom we are indebted for Peter the Greats The curtain dropped again, but ftill the cry of The Author' the Author I continued. After waiting ten X M Y FLIC :i T T 3 P A R I S. rilinutes longer, fmce the ar.dience wculd not be qntef* «■ plj.yer again appeared, and faid, that the author haj Kci>:i fought for, but was not in the houfe. '*//<: here I he '.s h. rc they iin-.n'mcufly cxcJr'n: d» How thfy knew this ff certainly I cannet tell j pnhrp? he might have been difcovcred behind the fctnes diirii g the reprePntation.' But fmce there was no pcflibihty Jt appeali-:g the audience, he did at length appear v/itb" extreme n:odt{ly aud tinJdiiy, and mrde a kw bc.w,- which was received with a perfect tumult cf applaufcj when he was r'^tinncr. o 'Jean yacques ! jec.n jfacqves ! war lcw vcc fcrattd with equal vehemence, till the aftor who had played R..ufre:va come forwards. The author tcck himi ly the I nnd, both bcwcd rcfpc6lfully to the publ.c, then tm« b^actd each other, ard vvtnt pif arm in anr. The noife that lucceedtd m.ufi: have been heard to cbtaiu any idts cf it. The other two pieces perfr ••med this evening, Lvcrt €t Li.%ctt€y an opera in ont rdl, and FLl'tx^ an cpcia in three acts, were abiolutely infi ppcrtatie. Ii.iip d n:U-« fic, ii-lip!d dialogue, and ii.f:p:d plots. I corld ret fcibear I"^]ghii;g at an old nurie in Fchiz, irtcidtd for a Gem an, but the poor foul had tntrrely fcrgottti' her nx-tl er tongue, and tortured her wcrdt- in fuch a deplora- ble manner, that it m.ight as well have been the langurge cfthe bL'ttentotG. The Jf urncl de Parts cf thi? mcrnirg contains fo bigh ?r: eixumiiim on the fifli-Wu«:eD, that X ca/-i/Ot fill giving n plact iitrce MY FL^'.HT TO *• /,:'!• Dimi^s d; la HtlJjj* Taj^li is th^ nam? g'ven tQ th ^fe ladiis, ** w.tc ad netted it th.i Dp- iiar of thi^ fit- **tii^, ail pr.jf.Mtc.d tiieir ;r)od vv. '^1:5 for a happy iiTii to the Iibjti:-3 of tho Maci.3n,il I>.jprcrent:itivj3, *^ The afTembly r<;ccivtd their wi lies with fatisfafliona ^* as the voice of th^^ people. It 13 kaown, that thi ** Dam:s la lialh havi often Pu^pped forward in this ** revolulion, and alwiy;} fall of p itriotifm. Their charailer, at all times prone to independence.... their ** freedo.n of fpeech, vvliich was even pardoned at a •* time when little was pardjned, muft naturally give ** them a diilinguiHied zeal for liberty. How igno- rant, then, mud they be of the motives which have " influenced late events, who can doubt the purity of " theirs ! The time has been when fuch obfervations •* would, perhaps, have called forth the fmile of con- tempt from people of Torif and they might have ferv- ** ed as fubje(Sls for their witticifms. But what now is this 1 on ? Whatl ecame of it from tjie moment wae.i ** the proud and manly voice of freedom made itfclf be heard V This 'Ton, in truth, is vanilhed. But whether the fifh-women have fubftituted any thing better in its place, every one can judge who has fince that time fpent only, three days at Paris. JANUARY I, I79I. Receive my friendly falutations, thou iirll day of a new year I God be thanked ! I have now turned my back upon the moft unfortunate year of my life. Cer» 244 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. tain am I that the coming year cannot bring me any ca- lamity fo great as the lall produced.. ..it cannot rob me" of a fecond Frederica ! The future can deprive me of httle, but it may reftore me m.uch. I have no more hopes in this world : what I have loft is irreparable ! Yet welcome, thou new year, for thou bringeft mc one ftep nearer to the joys of a better life. On this day twelve months, as I was fitting in my fludy, my Httle William came in, and repeated courage- cully, and without hefitation, a pretty little new-year's v.'iili, taught him by his mother, who herfelf ftood at the door to liflcn whether or not lie repeated his lefTon cor- redly. I caught her in my arms....lhe wept....** Why weeps ** my love?" I ailted, ** AlasP' fhe faid, **a year ago I wifhed the reftora- ** tion of your health, but in vain... .and I fear that my ** wifhes now fliould prove equally vain." *' Make yourfelf eafy, deareft Frederica,** I replied, ♦* I am, notwithftanding, happy. Many a joyful day *' have I experienced in this year, and for the moft joy- '* ful I am indebted to thee." Yes, I was indeed happy in fpite of my debilitated frame. My health is now amended, but my happinefs is gone forever. The only enjoyment that remains to me, is in recurring to the paft....my only hopes are in futurity... .that futurity that will re-unite me to her.... to her who alone, among a thoufand women, could make me completely happy. Ah ! why was fhe given me only to lefe her again ? and yet I would not; for all MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 245 the treafures tliis world could beilovv, ftrik: out of my life the fix years of blifs I experienced with her! would n 3t for a moment lofe the recollection of the moH trifling joy we have fhared together! The waters of Lethe ap- pear to me an ill-invented fable. Do we not nnd every where, and even hereafter it will doubtlefs be the fame, that the recurrence to paft joys forms one of the primary fources of thofe vi'-e deem prefent ? Yes, m^y loft, adored Frederica! doubtlefs a part of thy happinefs confids in thinking of me! Perh.tpi thou art fo occupied on this very day, if yet thy time be meafured by days and hours ....perhaps at this very moment^ when the tears called forth by thefe recolle6lions Itream down my cheeks, fali- ir^g on the little dog, once thy favourite. Ah! this poor animal now hes conftantly on my lap ; an indulg- ence which, in former times, he, as thou knowell, was never allowed. I was this morning in the ancient chur:h of Notrz Dame, It is an old, tafteleis, Gothic building, yet awakens in the heait a kind of folemn and reverential av/e. It contains feme very excellent pictures. The Catholic churches are, in general, much handfomer buildings, and much more nchly ornamented, than thofe of the Protcilant religion. One is irrcullibly excited to devotion; and mofl irr-fiHibly when a folemn filencc reigns throughout, interrupted only at intervals by the foft vv'hifpers of a fmgle voice pouring forth its pious Drifons. This filence is never obferved in a Proteftant 246 MY FLIGHT TO TARIS. place of worfliip. It feems the idea there, that piety muft be kept conftantly in motion, left the thread (hould fnap. Thus hymn, pfalm, prayer, and litany, courfc each other fo clofely, that they are in danger of pro- ducing a furfeit ; and, when all is over, the church-doors arc clofed, and God is not permitted to give audience to thofe who would like to kneel and pour out their fouls to him in private. That I may not be reproached with partiality, I mufl add, that I am myfelf a Lutheran. In the great church of Notre Dame we found feveral people on their knees who did not feem at all to heed us. By one of the pillars fjit a nun, with fix little girls, all dreffed alike. Our guide told us that they were found- lings, and that the Foundling Hofpital was clofe at hand. We inimediatdy went thither, and I thank Gcd for the delightful feelings with which I there commenced the new year. We were conduced into a large room, where ftood a hundred little beds, ranged in four rows, in each of v/hich lay a child of above a year old, all as clean and neat as pcfpible. The air in the rocni was per- fc6tly fweet and v»holefome, v/ithout the lead bud fmell whatever. An old nim came towards us, and received us with the moft frank ferci; tr. " You come," faid fne, to vifit *' my numerous family.. ..I am a happy mother..., I Lave "juft received a new-year's prefcnt of ten additional *' children." Thefe file flicwed us. Tlie attendants were then vvafhing and feeding them. A number of girh, gror» u up, all foundlings, fat rour.d t!ie chimney, and, by their MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. care of tliefe uewly-arrived gaefts, drove to repay the kindnefs they had themfilves received. It might have been cxpe6led that a r.uiidred children would make a great noife and crying, but they were all perfedly quiet, and feeraed perfeflly conteated; an additional proof that they are well taken care of, and wanted for nothing. Five thoufand, eight hundred, and forty-tw^o children were received into this hofpital in the courfe of the lail year. Seventeen hundred nurfes are retained in its fervice in the country; but the good old nun complained that it was now diiHcult to get nurfes, as flie could not pay them, fince fhe had not received any money for a long time, and the National AiTembly had not yet taken the inftitution into their hands. She (hewed us how the children were fed with rice and milk, a method fhe did rot approv^. " Some years ago," fne faid, " the nurfes ** were all difcharged, to introduce this new mode of ** feeding; but a little experience fufficiently proved that " it would not do, and the purpofe was oi neccfUty re- « linquifhed." This nun is certainly one of the happieft of people, TiOt only in Paris, but in the world at large. Never did I fee in any countenance fo much fwect compofure and ferenity. She carries a heaven in her h':^art, the eff ;6t of her mildnefs and patier-^e here on earth. Tov/ards the grown-up childrccj her deportment was equally like one of the moil affectionate of mothers. They all appeared to place unreferved confidence in her, and fpoke with- out any fhynefs or diftruil. She fhewed us a pretty Mttle gill, and b^jged of us to afli her where flie wab founds MY FLIGHT TOPARI^v *' In the fno.w,'* anfwered the poor little crSatUic. Over the door of the room is inlcribed, upon a tablet. My father and my mother have forfaken me, but tli J " Lord hath had ccmpaflion upon me.'* One room contains the linen of thefe little orphan f. It was an interefting fight to fee it entirely filled with clean linen as. white as fnow. We parted from the good old nun with tears in our eyes. I never fhail forget the hour that I fpent there. Oh! had my Frederica but been with me! vrhat a feaft would it have been to her gentle and benevolent foul! I could almoft fancy I fee her now, with tears of pleafmg fadnefs ftreaming down her cheeks. The papers of to-day contained the following witti- cifm: " We have been informed, but we do not pkage our- *• felves for the authenticity of the intelligence, that in " the village of Romccourt, near MeziercB-le-vie,a woman " was lately brought to bed of three boys, to which were given the nicknames of La Nation, La Loly and " Le Roi. La Nation and La Lot are dead, but Le Rot " is Hill alive, and hkely to do well." It v/as our intention to have paiTed the evening at the Theatre Francais Comique et Lyrique^ where a favourite piece, which has been very often repeated, called Nic(y- demiis in the Moon, wT:S to be performed. But we went too late, and found the houfe fo crowded; that it was im-> jiolfible to get places* MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. Our evil genius, therefore, led us on to the Theatre Comlque des AJfocuSy where we found places with diffi- culty, where we were afTailed on all fides by heat. and ftinks, and where a perpetual noife behind us, and before the door, deprived us of the few crumbs we might other- ;vife have picked up. But it was no great lofs, fmce there was nothing, I believe, worth hearing, for a more miferable theatre 1 have not feen in my Parifian pilgrimage. The firft piece was U Honnete Homme., in one ^di. It contained fo little of novelty, that though I faw it now for the firft time, I could' have fancied it the hundredth. Sjcondly, was re- prefentedZ^ Trtomphs de Amour ^ in three whining, in- fipid afls. Never did love folemnize a more v/earying triumph. X^ftly came Les Etremies de la Liberie Con- quife, an opera in one act. This was beyond expreflion filly and abfurd. Mer- cury appears, and announces that Minerva, Mars, Bac- chus, and Cupid, are on their way to Paris, and, in con- formity to the eftabhfhed cuftom, intend to open their {hops on New- Year's Day, and offer their goods to fale at very low prices. The deities announced, appeared immediately after, and fung their profeffions without any mufical accompaniment, in the true ballad-finger tone. They then adjourned each to a corner of the ftage, which- they call their foops. It muft be obfei-ved by the way, that the ftage, inftead of being illuminated after the ufual mauner, was lighted only by one ordinary lanthorn* MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. Abundance of purcliafers now appeared. T Then'51 offered her v/ifdom, and Mirs his courage to fak-, at Very cheap rate. To the latter, his cii 'Vomers rep^*.d> that they hnd al/eady a profuiion of this comrr.odi'-y the natioTi, and that the French were the firft p oplc "V^'ho had br »ught real freedom d vvn upon the earths l-.a Fr/ette \V33 every m'.:rrie it named or fung. Happy ^as it fur him that he cuuld not h^nr it. The clergy rr.ufi alfo here, as ev ry where, be n-i^A-: fubje(5ls of ridi- cule. Among the throng was an Abbe, who had becri deprived of his benefice, whom Minerva invited to be her cuflomer. He replied, that his orde , it was true, hayal was very brilliant. The fiic^ps were all fet out in the higheft ta'le, and fplendidly illu- miriated. There were particularly a iiun^.ber of ext-^mcly prwtty things made in lugar, and the fuper-abuad mtly ia^a^ed Preach raa after them very eager- y,' J/vNU/iP. V 2. I tranfcribe the following advc-tifemcnt ircm a p iper cf to day, in the full conviction that it can be m.a .1 Qv.ly as joke, uiice it feems fcarcdy pciTible that any one (hould ferioufly put forth fuch a tilTue of abfurdity. ** In the Bwreau de Fcyer^ in the circus, Kuedu Grand ** Coantler, at number one, in the firft ftory, is a painter *' of much greater profcffional /kill than Raphael, Rubens^ •* or M-chael Angelo. He can paint five and-twenty " portraits in a day, of any price, from eighteen livrcs to ** a hundred louis, and fo on by the week or month. For ** the poor this is done gratis. He is ve!7 confident of ** foon acquiring a fcrtune, either by excellent recom- ** mendations, or by imraenfe lotteri 's where nobody fhail put in, yet every body win; or by grand fpeculations, the infallibility of which is proved in a hiv dred new and furprifiiig volumes. All other forts of paintings at p-i/portionable prices.'* My readers may perhapj be afloniflied, but this is not all. *' Stoves to be bad of fifteen inches in diameter, and '^wcnty-£ve inches in hc*^ht, v. lilch commuaicate 252 M\ FLIGHT TO PARIS. o much heat as fifty common ftoves, and 'would warm the whole circus daily for twelve fous. Farther; chimneys of giafs, and uncombuftible paper, ftoves of gauze, glafs, wood, pafteboard, or linen, from nine <^ Kvres to fifty louis.'' If this was not inferted under the abiurd idea of aa excellent joke, though it is difficult to difcover any joke in it, it mull have come from 'a mad-houfe. I will not be fool enough to go thither, left it fhouid fare with me as with the audience of Hans North, when he promifed to creep through a bottle, I was fo ill this morning, that I could not go out. For fome days I have been apprehenfive of fuch an at- tack, but I hoped that it might be kept off by diflipa- lion. In vain ! I was obliged, therefore, to have re- courfe to my old friends, camomile tea and powders, from which I have fo often received great benefit. Alas! v;hat ufed to be a balm to my foul in all my corporeal fiifferings, is now loft to me, and I feel the anguifh of them doubled. Oh, my Frederica! how unjuft M^as I towards fate when I fo often wanted to gather the rofesthatbloffomed T-round me, without the thorns. Even thofe hours of anguifii vvhen I have walked up and down the room racked and tortured with my malady, when I could not fpeak to any one, no, not to thee, and could think of nothing but myfelf, even thofe hours are charming to me in re^ colleclion, for then thou wert with, me! Then didft thou fit upon a corner of the fopha in fiience, with thj, MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. work in thy hands, from which thou didft fometlmes take a llolen glance towards me, yet cautioufly avoiding to wipe a tear frpm thine eyes, unkfs when ray back wai turned. Xhus fometimes have we paffed whole hours. Yet, while all that was mortal about me was in agony^ my foul could ftjU feel the highell enjoyment in the fe- rene tranfpo.rts of domeftic happinefs.. But when thefe corporeal feelings fubfided, and the fpiritual obtained the complete afcendancy, what then were our mutual ecftalies? I gave thee my hand.. ..it wa> the well-known fignal that my fufFerings were abated... « thy work was laid afide, and I no loHger thought only of myfelf, walked only by myfelf, but arm in arm, we paced the room together.. ..then one kifs, and all was forgotten. Happy and cheerful, I laid myfelf do\vn upon the fopha, the more happy for being alone with thee, for never then did I find the time pafs heavily, Perhapsr thou didft take a book and read to m.e, or went to the harpfichord, while I accompanied thee with my flute. Ye bliisfal hours, never, never can ye be repeated ! Oh ! we were fo all-fufficient to each other, that every thing elfe appeared fuperfluous to us. If fometimes we fan- cied vire might find amufement at a baij, or fome other diverfion, and went thither, the moment the clock ftruck ten, my Frederlca came to me, or I went to her, " My ** love, (hall we not go home?" ** Oh, yes," was the conftant anfwer; and the firft words, as we entered our own houfe, were, " Thank God, we are again here!" y 254 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. Yei who have never tafted the fvreets of wedded happi- nefs, may perhaps diftend your faces into a farcallic fniile at reading thefe eflPufions. Poor men ! — In one refpedl only are ye to be envied, ye have nothing to lo^''e. In the evening I was fo much better, that I ventured to the opera, where the fplendid fpedlacle of Amida was performed. I fay nothing of the mufic, I do not pre- tend to be a conno'ifeury but the name of Guick befpeaks excellence. The decorations are indeed fuperb beyond all cxprefiion. The fhower of fire that falls from heaven, in which Armida afcends into the air, and looks dov/n upon the burning ruins of her caiile, was horribly fme. I muft here make a remark, which principally concerns our German players. The opera was this evening un- commonly thin, probably becaufe the Comediens de Mon- Jieur firll opened their new theatre, and the company all thronged thither. But notwdthftanding this failure of fpeftators, the performers exerted thcmfelves with no lefs ardour than if the houfe had been crowded in every part. No ill-humor was vifible on a fingle countenance, no appearance of fullennefs or difcontent. Our German players, on the contrary, are always difconcerted at a thin houfe, and gabble over their parts with evident peevifhnefs and ill-will. They feem rejoiced to get off the ftage, and the audience are not very forry to fee them go. This I have often obferved, even in our beft players, and I mull feverely reprobate it, MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. .255 JANUARY 3. I cannot remain longer at Paris, for v/ere I to con- tinue here a whole year, I ihould never find myfelf at home, and where I am not at horns, I cannot be even contented. A number of iriiles, each of which taken feparately, might appear infignificant, all together make ir.y iHy here very uncomfortable, I do, indeed, believe that the fame wiW always be felt by thofe who have been accuftom;id to a certain uniform mode of life; or, why ihould I not fpeak in plain terms ? who are fomewhat precife, which is certainly my cafe. I like to rife at fix in the mcrnin^. In Gennany, I can have my breakfaft at any time, here I muft wait till thQ garcon at the coffe-houfe (hall be pleafed to leave his bed, which may not be perhaps till between eight and nine, confequ '^ntly 1 amkeptfafting for three hours. This is fo contrar/ to my ufual pra6licj, that it gives me very unpleafant fenfations. In the fecond place. The fire warms me orJy in f- cit and the room it does not warm at all. I love an t- \ warmth throughout. Befides, the intolerable blaze in the chimney is extremely pernicious to the eyes. Thirdly, NotwrithHanding that our rooms are hand- fomely fux-nifhed with filk and mahogany, they are only paved with ftone. This I diHike moil Iieartily, fince I muft always fit in warm boots, to prevent the chill and damp aftecling my feet. Fourthly. As the good people here do not ufuallv rife till noon, fo they do not diue till evening. Triis is 256 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. i.ifarFerable to thofe who are accmlomed to order tlieir meals with the regularity of clock-work. Flflhlj, After having waited fo long for dinner, \i is at lad not worth having, unlefs Iiidcsd one can con* tent to parchafe a tdlerable meal at the intolerable price of a louis. I, for my part, who am of opinion that half a dollar ought to furnifh the table decently, do not like to pay more. But for this I only get meagre broth with fodden beef, a naufeo^is fricaflee, or roaft meat of fome kind, dried to a cinder. If it were net for pctatees, which we have regularly eveiy day, we might cftcn riff hungry from table. The wine is as bad as it is dear, and the water, even when filtrated, milky, muddy, and of a fweetifh tafte. Sixthly, The beds are another grievance. ; : re as hard as the benches in an alehoufe, and he who 13 cf a plethoric habit, would Hand but a b:id chance in them, fince there is nothing to fupport his head but a little round thing much like the pillows we ufe on fopha^. I have always been obliged to lay my coat and cloak un- derneath it, to raife my head only to a level \vith my feet. Seventhly. He who has been in the habit of going to bed regularly at ten o'clock, if he adhere to his prac- tice, will in vain hope to fleep, till he become accuficmed to the eternal rattle of carriages, wich never ceafes till tv/o in the morning. It feems as if the olympic games v/ere celebrating under the windows, and all X\\cjiacrcs^ in Paris were running for the prizes. Such are the evils experienced within doors. If a man venture out, a thoufand new ones are to b^ encoun- tered. MY FI>IGHT TO PARIS. 257 Sappafmg the expedition is to be made on foot, he- mud wade through a black mu-e all the way, and ex- ped to be run againfl, firfl by a water cafl<, then by a fi(li-woman....rirft by a crier, then by a fedan.chair....or to be fpattered all over with mud by the carriages.. ..or to be affailed by a hundred be^^garG... .or tormented by a hundred ladies of pleafure....or to be flopped by a hun- dred Savoyards with fomething or other to fell, who al- ways take all foreigners for Milords ready to throw their money into the ftreets, and whom they can con- fequently dupe at pleafure. Then, if furmo anting all thefe obftaclcs, he have got the length of one ftreet, be- fore he can crofs into another, it may perhaps be necef- fary to Hop a quarter of an hour, watching an opportu- nity to efcapc without being run over. I, who am never more given up to fancy than when walking along the ilreets, find thefe things intolerable. Then, if to avoid thefe inconveniencies, he get into a carriage, the chances are ten to one that in the narrow, angular ftreets, from the concourfe of other carriages, lie may be amused not unfrequently with a stop of many minutes, ere it be pofiible to pafs ; all which time is spent n-cezing to death with the v/inds that draw in at every corner in thefe airy vehicles, and upon the rack with impatience. And when at lail the coachman, by great dexterity, gets through this labyrinth, and arrives fafely at the place of deflination, it is fcarcely pomble to cfcape under a quarter of an hour's v,rrangle with him, fmce he con'lantly innils upon more than is his due. It is Y 2 258 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. well known that the drivers of fiacres never were diftln- guifhed For their poUieJey and it will hardly be fuppofed th«t in the prefent rage for liberty they are improved in this refpedl. But or>e of my greatell grievances is the air cf Paris. Let the heavens be ever fo clear and ferene, Hill an eter- nal mift hovers over the town, nor is it'poflible to fee any objedthe lengthof aftreet. The compofitionof this mill is principally a pungent fmoke, arifing from the profufion of cook-fiiops, and which, in pafiing them, has often afFedled my head fo much ew to make my eyes water. Indeed, the effedl has frequently continued when the caufe no longer exifted, and I hold this fleam, therefore, to be of an extremely pernicious quality. Two things more yet remain to be noticed* The in- fuficrable egotifm of the inhabitants, which is to me offenfive beyond exprefiion....and their propenfty to fraud and impofitlon. He who does not look well to vi'hat he is about, may depend upon his being cheated of his money in all pofil- ble ways ; and this in fo grofs and fhamelefs a manner, that it cannot but excite,, in every honeft bofom, the decpcll contempt and difguft at fo profligate and merce- nary a race. I bought a little Spanifh dog one day in the Palais- Royal. It was then of a beautiful brown colour, but it had not been many days in my pofTeflion, before this changed to a dingy yellow, and, at length, to a perfe<3: white. The animal, in fa£^, was painted. For myfelf, I cared httk about the matter, but I felt indignant at MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. having been made the objed of fuch a p^tty contempti- ble fraud. All tliefe things make Paris dally more and more in- fupportable to me, and as I revolved them over in my mind this mornino-, I fuddenly came to the refolution of leaving it to-n^orrow. But leave Paris without going to the National AfTem- bly ? No, that cannot be. Monfiear I'Abbe de R had indeed repeatedly made liberal proraifes of 'getting us tickets of admilTion, yet, like moll of his countrymen, had put us off with fine words only. Eat fince we could not be immediately aware, that to promife and to per- form were, with him, two things, we had been prevented feeking them by other m.eans. Happily, however, a man may have any thing here for money, and even tick- ets for the National AlTembly are made a lucrative brajich of traflic ; a trafSc that can hardly be concealed from the reprefentatives, and which, for their own credit^ they ought to fupprefs. Our fervant procured us, with- out difficulty, two tickets for three livres each. We were obliged to alight at fome diftance from the place where the fittings are held, and had two or three r-oiirts to wade through before we reached the hall. la one of thefe v^'e were in imminent dantjer of flickiiio- fail in the black-mire ; and another was fo full of water, that the Savoyards had laid planks along it, v/hich we rauft pay for going over. Perhaps they had themfelvcs drenched it v/ith water with this very defign. Thef^ things began, even at the outfet, to lefTen my ideas of the AlTembly of th'iir fvjdve hundred Majefties, 260 MY FLIC HP TO PARIS. We now approached the room itfelf. And hark ! the /libuts of hberty refoiinded in our ears. At the diftance of at leaft two hundred fteps we were faluted with a tu- multuous burft of laughter, proceding from the Affem^ bly. We were conduced into a gallery, which war, al- ready occupied by people three deep, fo that we did not get even a convenient place for our fix livres. The hall is very long and wide, and on each fide benches for the members are ranged in an amphitheatral form. Many, however, walk about, and many alfo, ftand in the area in the niidle, or run iiril to this fide, then to that, with tablets in their hands, in which they v»Titc from time to time. The debate was very animated. As we entered, a young man upon the left hand was fpeaking. He de- claimed vehemently againfl the clergy, and fpoke of a prieft who had fubjoined the following limitation to his oath: conformally to nvhat ivas ordained hy the bijhop of Lydda, This occafioned a great commotion. They all began talking and exclaiming together, -and bandied jokes and iarcafrns backwards and forwards, laughing at them ail the tinie moH unmercifully. Tliis tumultuous laughter, v/hich was very often repeated, appeared to me truly unv/orthy the dignity of fuch an affembly, honour- ed with the title of reprefentatives of a great nation. I confefs, that were I a member of it, theie witticifms, and this mirth, would ddve mc out again as quickly/ as I was driven out now, when only an auditor. For after a fo- lemn refoiution was pafTed, that the clergy fhould fwear v/ithout rcfervation, i;nd the AfTembly proceeded to dif- MY tLlGltr TO PARIS. itilfing in what manner witnefles fhould be examined in future, 1 was {o Unit iiitereftcd that I went away. I entered the hall with great eJipedations, but departed with very petty imprelTions upon my uiind. In the evening we packed up our trunks, which occu- pied us to fo late an hour that we could not get places at the opera, which I wifiied to vifit for the lafl time: we therefore went to the Theatre dj la Natlont where waa reprefented Turcarety a pretty httle comic opera, abound- ing with wit. It was fo admirably perform :^d, that I Quitted the houf?, fully convinced that the Frciich actors cannot be exc^f^^dccl, in coirird7> by thof^ of any nation. An anocdot,;, which I learned this afiiernoon, from very good authority, miifl not be omitted. When the Duke oi Oiicaus was at court, on New-Year's Day, and was fldndiiig to warm himfjlf by the chimney, one of the courtiers faid to ancthet, in a fort of half whifper, yet taking care that the duke fliould overhear him, WhcJ lufitiefs has that Rava'illac here? The duke, however^ was fo prudent as to turn a deaf ear to- the remark. JANUARY, 4. At fix o'clock we quitted Paris in the famous DiK- gence. I was fomewhat better reconciled to it in thi» journey than in my former, fmce there was only a fmgle paffenger befides ourfelves ; a printer, going to Peterf- burgh, very filent and modeil in his demeanour, confe- quently in no way troublefome to us. We were feated very commodioufly, could flretch out our legs and arms at pleafure, had no difputes about opening or (hutting 2G2 MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. the windows, were not compelled to liilen to miferablc jokes and common infipid Diligence-converfation, and had, to crown all, moil charming weatlier. All thefe advantages put us into good humour, and gave U6 fpirits and firength to contend with the few inconvenienceB that remained, and wluch could not hy any meanb be ob- viated. When we had turned our backs upon Paris about an hour, and began again to breathe pure and uncontami- nated air, I felt as if a rock had been removed from off my heart. If my feelings were not happy, they have, at lead, not for a long time been fo compofed as on the two firft days of our journey. The road lay along the banks of the Marne, The country is all the way highly cultivated, and pofTefTes an infinite variety of charms, all which appeared to the higheft advantage, from being illumined by the genial rays of a mild fun. I could not, indeed, help feeling fome aftoniHimcnt, that fcenery fo fmiling and lovely had not been made the fubje6l of in- numerable idylls. I kept the window by me conftantly open, never weary with contemplating the charms of peaceful nature; and, though I thought little, I felt much. Thanks to thee, worthy printer, thou wert ge- nerally afleep, and didft not teaze me with talking. We went by Saint Menehould to Metz, where we ar- rived on the feventh. The theatre, to which I immedi- ately repaired, muft, I imagine, be one of the beft pro- vincial theatres in France. The houfe is v^ry handfome, but nothing elfe was worth feeing. MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. We hired a carriage at Metz to carry us to Mentz, i-he driver of which fpoke a little miferable German, in a vile Lorraine dialect. The poor devil, whofe head was fet into fomewhat of a whirl by liberty, had nearly fallen a martyr to his idol among the good Germans, who, if their princes be deferving, cleave to them with heart and foul. Of this defcription is the Prince of Leiningen, oa whom our coachman was pleafed to call fome reflec- tions, at one ef the inns where we ftopped, becaufe we had been obliged to pay for a good chaujfee vtYi^n no chaujfee was in exiftence. Now, ^tis very true, that there is a great deal of un- fair play with refpcch to the money paid for keeping up the roads in Germany, but our gentleman (hould have noticed it with more circumfpe6lion. This want of cau- tion he was made to feel very feverely. The hoft, an el- derly man, did not appear at firft to pay much attention to his remarks, but his fon, a fiery impetuous young fellow, took up the matter \vi\h. fufficient warmth, and uttered a volley of imprecations, and farcafms, in part upon the whole French nation, in part only upon the French individual who had given the offence. This at length roufed the creeping blood of the old man, and he, too, joined his eloquence to his fon's. In vain did the poor coachman endeavour to avert their wrath, by giving them the faireft words poflible, and alTuring them moft folemnly, that what he faid was mere joke; both father and fon were preparing to give iiim corporeal 264. MY :--LIGHT TO PARISe chaftifement, and, had we not interpofed, he h^id pjo^ bably been difabled from purfuing his journey for thre£ days at leaft. I would venture a confideraJ>Ie wager, that when the fellow returns hom.e» he will fhrug hisihouiders and fay, " Ah, thefe German dunces! *tis not worth a " man*s while to give himfelf the trouble of preaching " liberty among them!'* A fhort time before we arrived at the place where this unlucky adventure happened, as we were purfuing our way, amid hills and woods, we palTed a pretty little hunt- ing-feat, in a very wild and romantic country. The beauty of its fituation excited my attention, but that was dill more arretted by a fmall round building in a thicket, over which was infcribed Solomon Gessner. I cannot exprefs my furpnfe. I flopped the carriage, alighted^ and made a pilgrimage to the fpot. The temple was not quite finifhed, and had nothing ftriking in it, but the idea charmed mt ; and in my heart I bleffcd the prince who could pay fuch an honourable tribute to German poetry. When we arrived at the above-mentioned inn, an^l noticed to the Leiningian patriot what we had feen : Oh, yes," faid the old man, " I know what you mean. ...'tis Solomon's Temple." In the fame narrow valley I faw the moft pi6lurefque ruins that are perhaps to be found in all Germany. I was told, that they are the remains of a caftle deftroyed ip the thirty years war. My informer, however, was a Jew, in whofe hiftorical knov/ledge I do not place any great confidence^ MY FLIGHT TO PARIS. 2Gj jANUAilY 12. We arrived at Mentz, for the prefent the boundaiy of my travels. The climate here is foft and mild, the country about tranfcendently beautiful, and the fociety fuch as is very pleafant, at leafl to him who is always pleafed with being alone. The theatre is one of the beft in Germany, and has an excellent company, for which it is principally indebted to the Baron Von Dalberg. MefTrs. Cook, Chrifl and Porfch, are certainly at the head of their profe{iion. The firft is too feldom to be feen, fince one wifhes to fee him conllantly. The lovely Madame Porfch, the roguifli Madame Mende, and Madame Eunike, the natural Gurli, are at the head of the female performers upon this ftage. Seldom will fo much beauty be found in one company. The opera here is alfo upon a very good eftablifhment. I need only mention Madame Walter, and Madame Schick, to confirm what I advance. Any further obfervations upon Mentz I wave. POSTSCRIPT AND DEDICAllON. All that I have written above are the pure eiTafions of my inmoft foul, infcribed without ftudy or art. Many inaccuracies may perhaps be found in them, but they muft remain....! cannot poliih or alter a fyllable; for, Were that to be done, the chara£ler of the work would be entirely deftroyed. I wifhed to give a faithful reprefentation of m.y feel- fngs, to ihow how, amid a thoufand diffipations in which I engaged, they uniformly remained the fame. He who has read this little book, knows me as well as I know myfelf. At the beginning I was doubtful whether it Vould entertain the reader.... now it is finiflied I hope that it may. Why fhould it not be read with as much plea- fure as a romance? Truth has generally afferted its fu- periority over ficlion, and here is truth, if truth ever wag written. I have, within a few days, been ilrongly confirmed in this hope. In the fupplement to a Hamburgh newf- paper, which fell accidentally into my hands, I found an article addrefTed to mc. I ftarted, and read : 26S rCSTf CF.IPT AND HEDIC ATIOlx . " A number of friends, ci botli fexes, in Silefia, wholly unknown to me, only attradled towards me " by the Urong bands of feeling and fympathy, delire to " offer me this public tefiimcny of their forrow for my " lofs,'and participation in my afniclion, as well as their *' wiflies to confole me." I cannot exprefs how much this little piece of atten- tion furprifed, affefled, and dehghted me. What a fvveet reward is it to poetry, thus to find compafTion and friend- Hjip, under a foreign climate, at a time when both are fo much wanted! I here return my fincere thanks to thcfe excellent peo- ple, and heartily wifli them, long to retain all the tender ties they now enjoy. Hearts hke theirs cannot fail to have m.any friends and dear connexions; and, while the fe are retained, they may truly be pronounced happy. I am thus afTured that there is a circle from which my work will not be fpurned. And if m.y fate meets with fympathy in Silefia, where I am unknown, why iTiEy I not hope to find equal pity in other countries, which I never do, and perhaps never fhall, vifit. Then, in God's name, thou httle book, go fourth and feek thy fortune I Fly the roofs of the happy, feek ftielter only with the unhappy, there wilt thou be receiv- ed with kindnefs and refped. That I wrote thee was the irrefifiible impulfe of my heart.. ..that I printed thee may perhaps be a fubject of cenfure for the critics ; and I have only to urge in excufe, the natural and human wifn, to intereft men of worth and feehng in my favour. POSTSCRIPT AND DEDICATION. 269 On the title ftood at firft, Ifntfen for friends — but fince I read that confoling article in the paper, I have enlarged it thus, Written for friends^ both known and un- known. And now, to whom fhall I dedicate my work ? To whom but to her whofe many exalted virtues ferved as a pattern for my Frederica's imitation. ...a pattern whick flie might nearly be faid to equal. To whom but to thee, MOST EXCELLENT, MOST AMIABLE MADAME ROSE. To thee who wert a mother to us, at a time when we far removed from our natural mother... .Oh, how folacing to the heart is it to acknowledge kindnefs that has been deeply felt ! Alas ! thy daughter refts in her long, lad fleep ! Oh, do not caft from thee thy forfaken fon ! — Thy daughter now repeats thy name with gratitude before the throne of God! — She kneels to the fountain of eternal light, holding her Maurice by the hand ! her good, her wor- thy Maurice ! Both beg a blefling upon thee, and my prayer afcends to mix with the intercefiions and rejocings ofthe blcfTed. AUGUSTUS VON KOTZEBUE. GENERAL SKETCH OF KOTZEBUE'S WORKS. DRAMATIC WORKS * \ HE Hermit of Formentera: a mufical piece, in two Adelaide of Wulfingen : a tragedy, in five acts.* The Dilettanti Theatre before the Parliament : a mu- fical after-piece, in one act. Mifanthropy and Repentance : a drama, in five afts.* The Indians in England: a drama, in three ads.^-- Tlie Beautiful Stranger: a dramatic piece, in one a£l. The Noble Lie : a dramatic piece, in one ad:.* The Virgin of the Sun: a drama, in five a6ls.* The Natural Son : a drama, in five afts.* Brother Maurice the Humourift, or the Colony for the Pelevi'- Ifiands: a drama, in three a6i:s. The Fem.ale Jacobin Club : an after-piece, in one ad. The Parrot: a drama, in three a£ls. * Of all thofe marked with an aHeriik, coirj^kte Englilh '(ivnCations have been puhiiflicd. kotzebue's WORKS* 271 Sultan Wampum, or the vvifhes: a mufical piece, in three acts. The Knight of the Mirror : an opera, in three adls. Count Benyovvfky, or theConfpiracyof Kamtfchatkai a drama, in five afts.* The Spaniards in Peru, or the Death of Rolla: a tra- gedy, in five a6ls.* Poverty and Magnanimity: a drama, in three a6ls.* The Man of Forty Years Old : an after-piece, in one aa. The Widow arnd the Riding-Horfe : a dramatic trifle, in one adl.* The Repining Hufbands : a dramatic piece, in one acl^ The -Negro Slaves : a drama, in three a£ls.* The Calumniators: a drama, in five adls.* Falfe Shame: a comedy, 1n four afts.* The Count of Burgundy: a drama, in four a(3:s»* The Madcap : a comedy, in three afts* La Peyroufe : a drama, in two afts,* The Reconciliation : a drama, in five acls.* The Relations: a comedy, in five acts. The Voluntary Sacrifice : a drama, in three a«5ls.* The Children of Misfortune : an after-piece, in one a6t. ' Th-e Silver Wedding-Day: a drama, i-n five adls.* The Corficans : a drama, in four a6i:s.* The Old Body Coachman to Peter the Third: a dra-^- matic piece, in one a^:* Ill-humour: a drama, in four ads.* The Village in the Mguntains: a in afical piece, in two aas. k:otzebue*s works. The Hyperborean Afs: a dramatic piece, in one a£?. The above is, according to the beft information, the tranflator has been able to procure, a complete lift of all the dramatic works hitherto pubhflied by Kotzebue, in Germany. He is known, befides, to have written three other pieces, The Writlng-Dejh ; or, Touth in Danger^ Joanna of Montfaucon, and the Nenv Century , but it is believed that none of thefe have yet been printed in their original language. A tranflation of the firft, from Kot- zebue's manufcript, has been pubhfhed in England. The Neiu Century is a fatire upon the ridiculous conteft that has been carried on, no lefs eagerly upon the continent, than in England, upon the time when the new century commences. Of the dramas above enumerated, the principal have been tranflated into Enghlh j but to fome, different titles are affixed from thofe here given. The Indians in England is called The Eaji Indian. ...The Voluntary Sacrifice, Self- immolation. ...The Silver Wedding-Day, the Happy Fam- ily. ...The CalumniatorSi the Force of Calumny....^nd III Humour, the Peevifh Man. But fmce, in thefe inftances, the titles in the tranflations, though perhaps better, con- fidered as EngliHi ones, deviate from the originals, the tranflator has judged it right, in enumerating Kotzebue's works, to give them by his own names. To three of ,the pieces, however, it is difficult to give any Enghfh title perfeftly correfponding with the German one. One of thefe. The Madcap, has already been noticed. The Voluntary Sati'ifice is another, but that title is at leaft KOTZEE UE S WORKS. Equally cxpreflive of the German idea with Self-Immola- tlon, and a better Engliih title. The third inilance is The Children of Misfortntne. No Engliih term will ex- adly correfpond with the German one ; it might be call- ed The Unkaj'py People, fince it has the fame meaning as the French term Les Malheureux^ In fome inflances, whsre a piece has been tranilated b}' diiTerent perfons, it has apeared under diiTerent titles; Thus, The Natu- ral Son has alfobeen called The Child cf Zoi;£'....and The Spaniards in Peru has been entitled Rolla the Peruvian Hero, and Pi-zan o, or ihc Death of Rolla, The following pieces have been performed upon the Engliih ftage, but wita confiderable alterations, and, ex^ cepting in one inftance, with different titles. They have appeared in the order here given. Mifanthropy and Repentance, at Drury Lane The- atre, as the Stranger. The Natural Son, at Covent Garden Theatre, as Lo- vers' Vows. The Reconciliation, at Covent Garden Theatre, as The Birth Day. The Count of Burgundy, at Covent Garden Theatre, with its original title. The WidovvT and the Riding Horfe, at Covent Gar- den Theatre, as The Horfe and the Widow. The Spaniards in Peru ; or, the Death of Rolla, at Drury Lane Theatre, as Pizarro . The Voluntary Sacrifice, at the Haymarket, as Fa- mily Diflrcfs. 274 KOTZEBUE^S WORKS.' . The Indians in England, at the Theatre Stampford, TiG the Indian exiles. Poverty and Magnanimity, at the Haymarket, as feighs; or, the Daughter. The Madcap, at Drury Lane Theatre, as Of Age To-!Morrow. Two plays, from maniifcripts of Kotzebue's, have alfo ^Deen performed at Covent Garden Theatre, The Wife Man of iheEafl, altered from The Writing Dejhy and Joanna of Montfaucon, which, it is believed, bears the fame title in the original. Some of the fmaller pieces, perhaps, do not come ftri6lly under the defcription of dramatic works. The Dilettanti Theatre before the Parliament^ is a merely local thing, which might be performed with very good effeft on the particular fpot where it could be underftood, but is not a drama for the world at large. The Hyperborean Afsy too, is rather a fatyrical dialogue than properly a dramatic piece. It is written to ridicule The Athenaum-t a periodical work now pubhihing in Germany, and which, if any judgment may be formed of it from the quotations brought forward by Kotzebue, muft be replete with ab- furdities. The Beautiful Strangei', again, is a mixture of drama and narrative, and it is difficult to determine whe- ther it ought to be included in the clafs of dramas, or of tales. Kotzebue indeed, himfelf, calls it a dramatifed tale. The plot, however, is a good dramatic one. The pieces are, as much as poflible, arranged in chro- nological order. In this arrangement the tranflator has, in general, had the author's o\vn dates for her guide^ KOTZEBUE^S WORKS. 275 ViTith four of the moft immaterial, of the dates of which jlie could not be certain, Jfhe has been obliged to follow conjefture in the places affigned them. Thefe are, Th^ Noble Lie, The Beautiful Stranger, The Widonv and ths Riding Horfe, and The Repining Hujhands. Befides this long lift of dramatic works, Kotzebuc ha« publifhed, The Sufferings of the Family of Ortenberg : a ro- mance, in two volumes, Mifcellaneous Pieces, in four volumes ; and. The Youngeft Offspring of my Fancy : a mifcellane-* ous colle<5lion, in fix volumes. ' The firft of thefe has been tranflated into EngHih, The preceding Flight to Paris, is extra6led from the mifcellaneous works. Of the other pieces in thefe vo* lum.es, the romance of Ildegertt, ^een of Norway, and The Hijiory of my Father, a very whimfical but amufing trifle, have both received Englifh dreffes. In thefe mif- cellaneous v/orks ar€ included fome of the author's early dramatic produdlions. From The Offspring of my Fancy is taken Kotzebue's Life. From thefe volumes have alfo been pubhfhed, iii Englifh, the beautiful tale of William and Jeannette, and the extraordinary account of Jofeph Pignata*s efcape from the prifons of the Inquifition at Rome, called by the title of The Efcape, The few earher works that Kotzebue mentions having publiflied, have never, to the Tranflator's know- ledge, found their way into England. Some tales of his have been jnferted by Becker in a collection of mif^ 27o kotzkbue's wori::^. cellaneous pieces which he publiftied periodically, but whether they are originals, or taken from among the many works of our author, which, according to his own account, are fcattered hi various publications, is not jinown to the tranflator, All tlie works above enumerated have been written fmce the year 1783 or 1784, unlefs it maybe fome of tiie moil immaterial pieces in the four mifcellaneous volumes, the precife dates of which do not appear. The truly valuable talent of indefatigable induftry and application, cannot .be denied to a man who has accom- plifhed fo much, efpecially when it is confidered that for a confiderable part of that time, Kotzehue was a public character, engaged in public buhnefs. He en- jeered the Empreis of P^uffia's fervice in 1781, and, it is to be prefumed, had not quitted it in 1794? fmce the preface to uuc of tlie volumes of The Touvgeji Offspring of my Fancy, is dated from Reval, in January that year. That all his works bear the ftrong imprefs of genius can as little be denied ; and if we rife in any way diffatisfied from the perufal of them, it is not becaufe we difcover a deficiency, but rather an exuberance of genius, which, as is very commonly the cafe, hurries on the writer with an excefs of rapidity that prevents his pohfhing fuffi- ciently to afford entire fatisfaition to refined tafte 5 and, where we fee fo much done, while we greatly admire, we lament that there fiiould be any alloy to perfeft ad- yiyiration. i.' THE i ^ciKcJiJa_ox 111 4^ — _i 1