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BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
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BEFORE AND AFTER 
 WATERLOO 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 EDWARD STANLEY |£^.^//2f:^fdfi^ 
 
 SOMETIME BISHOP OF NORWICH ^ 
 
 (1802; 1814; 1816) 
 
 EDITED BY JANE H'y ADEAIJE AND MAUD GRENFELL 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON & COMPANY 
 
 1908 
 
o 
 
 
 First Edition 
 Second Impression 
 
 1907 
 1908 
 
 EXCH.\NOB 
 
 7 
 
 APR 23 1942 
 
 ACC£SS10I<S DIVISION' 
 
 (A// ri^/ih- reserved.) 
 

V 
 
 o 
 
 ECHOES OF PAST DAYS 
 
 AT 
 
 ALDERLEY RECTORY 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 FAGS 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF EDWARD STANLEY . . 9 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 NEW FRANCE AND OLD EUROPE . . . .25 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 AFTER napoleon's FALL . . . . -73 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 UNDER THE BOURBON FLAG . . . . -97 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 ON THE TRACK OF NAPOLEON'S ARMY . . . 144 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 THE LOW COUNTRIES . . . . "199 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 THE WATERLOO YEAR , , . . , 235 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 AFTER WATERLOO ...... 247 
 
The originals of most of the letters now publislted are^ 
 with the drawings that illustrate them, at Llanfawr, 
 Holyhead. 
 
 Some extracts from these letters have already appeared 
 in the '"'' Early Married Life of Maria Josepha, Lady Stanley" 
 but are here inserted again by kind permission of Messrs, 
 Longman, and complete Bishop Stanley's correspondence. 
 
 Portions of letters quoted in Dean Stanleys volume, 
 ^^ Edward and Catherine Stanley," have also been used 
 with Messrs. Murray's consent. 
 
 In addition to the MSS. at Llanfawr, Lord Stanley of 
 Alder ley has kindly contributed some original letters in his 
 possession. 
 
 /. H. A. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 "LE COURIER DU RHIN " .... 
 
 Sketch brought to England 1814 by General Scott of Thor^pe, 
 one of the detenus in France for ten years after the rupture 
 of the Peace of Amiens, mentioned page 73. 
 
 BISHOP STANLEY ..... 
 By John Linnell. From a drawing in the possession of 
 Canon J. Hugh Way, Henbury. 
 
 MARGARET OWEN, LADY STANLEY 
 
 From a miniature in the possession of Lady Reade- 
 Carregtwyd, Anglesey. 
 
 "flight of INTELLECT" .... 
 Humorous sketch by E. Stanley. 
 
 EDWARD STANLEY, 1800 .... 
 By P. Green. The original in the possession of Lord Stanley 
 of Alder ley, at Penrhos, Anglesey. 
 
 THE PRISON OF THE TEMPLE 
 
 Sketch by E. Stanley, 1802. 
 
 THE GUILLOTINE AT CHALON-SUR-SAONE 
 Sketch by E. Stanley. 
 
 LORD SHEFFIELD . . . . j . 
 
 By Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. From an engraving in the 
 possession of J. H. Adeane, Lanfawr, Holyhead. 
 
 KITTY LEYCESTER, MRS. EDWARD STANLEY 
 
 From a drawing by H. Edridge, A.R.A., at Alderley Park, 
 Clieshire. 
 
 PARIS, 1 8 14. OLD BRIDGE AND CHATELET 
 
 E. Stanley. 
 
 PARIS, LA POMPE, NOTRE DAME . . 
 
 E.S. 
 
 PARISIAN AMUSEMENTS 
 E. S. 
 
 THE CATACOMBS, PARIS .... 
 E. S. 
 
 LAON. HOUSES AND TOWER, 1814 
 E. S. 
 
 BERRY AU BAC ..... 
 
 E. S. 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 To face page 2 
 10 
 
 25 
 
 31 p- 
 
 82 
 
 <^ 
 
 108 "^ 
 
 115 i 
 
 141 ^ ' 
 
 143 ^^ 
 t6i^ 
 164 '^ 
 
BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 VERDUN. BRIDGE ..... 
 E. Stanley. 
 
 FRENCH DILIGENCE .... 
 
 E. S. 
 
 DUTCH SHIPS ..... 
 
 E. S. 
 
 DUTCH DILIGENCE ON BOARD A BOAT . 
 E.S. 
 
 GOAT CARRIAGE FOR THE LITTLE KING OF ROME 
 E. S. 
 
 DUTCH TABLE D'HOTE 
 E. S. 
 
 OLD HOUSES, SAARDAM 
 E. S. 
 
 PETER THE GREAT'S HOUSE, SAARDAM 
 E. S. 
 
 DUTCH FISHERMEN . 
 E. S. 
 
 DUTCH CARRIAGE . 
 E. S. 
 
 CORN MILLS AT VERNON . 
 E. S. 
 
 FRENCH CABRIOLET 
 E. S. 
 
 HOUGOUMONT 
 E. S. 
 
 INTERIOR OF HOUGOUMONT 
 E. S. 
 
 LA BELLE ALLIANCE 
 E. S. 
 
 WATERLOO . 
 
 E. S. 
 
 GHENT. ST. NICHOLAS 
 E. S. 
 
 PORTE DE HALLE, BRUSSELS, LEADING TO WATERLOO 
 
 E. S. 
 
 PARISIAN RATCATCHER AND ITINERANT VENDORS 
 
 E. S. 
 
 THE GREAT GREEN COACH .... 
 E. S. 
 
 ALDERLEV RECTORY 
 
 To face page i6S 
 
 193 
 
 199* 
 
 219' 
 
 223' 
 
 226 
 
 228 
 
 y 
 
 
 ?1 
 
 230 »* 
 
 11 
 
 233' 
 
 11 
 
 234!/ 
 
 J) 
 
 247 ^ 
 
 11 
 
 260*^ 
 
 11 
 
 263" 
 
 11 
 
 265 ^ 
 
 )) 
 
 267^ 
 
 11 
 
 270 ' 
 
 11 
 
 274^ 
 
 11 
 
 inbt^ 
 
 )) 
 
 300 ' 
 
 11 
 
 306.-^ 
 
 page 308 ^ 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF EDWARD STANLEY 
 
 THE letters which are collected in this volume 
 were written from abroad during the opening 
 years of the nineteenth century, at three different 
 periods : after the Peace of Amiens in 1802 and 
 1 803, after the Peace of Paris in 18 14, and in the 
 year following Waterloo, June, 181 6. 
 
 The writer, Edward Stanley, was for thirty-three 
 years an active country clergyman, and for twelve 
 years more a no less active bishop, at a time when 
 such activity was uncommon, though not so rare 
 as is sometimes now supposed. 
 
 Although a member of one of the oldest Cheshire 
 families, he did not share the opinions of his county 
 neighbours on public questions, and his voice was 
 fearlessly raised on behalf of causes which are now 
 triumphant, and against abuses which are now for- 
 gotten, but which acutely needed champions and 
 reformers a hundred years ago. 
 
 His foreign journeys, and more especially the 
 first of them, had a large share in determining the 
 opinions which he afterwards maintained against 
 great opposition from many of his own class and 
 profession. The sight of France still smarting 
 under the effects of the Reign of Terror, and of 
 
10 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 other countries still sunk in Medisevalism, helped to 
 make him a Liberal with "a passion for reform and 
 improvement, but without a passion for destruction." 
 
 He was born in 1779, the second son and youngest 
 child of Sir John Stanley, the Squire of Alderley 
 in Cheshire, and of his wife Margaret Owen (the 
 Welsh heiress of Penrhos in Holyhead Island), who 
 was one of the " seven lovely Peggies," well known 
 in Anglesey society in the middle of the eighteenth 
 century. 
 
 The pictures of Edward Stanley and his mother, 
 which still hang on the walls of her Anglesey home, 
 show that he inherited the brilliant Welsh colouring, 
 marked eyebrows and flashing dark eyes that 
 gave force as well as beauty to her face. From 
 her, too, came the romantic Celtic imagination and 
 fiery energy which enabled him to find interests 
 everywhere, and to make his mark in a career 
 which was not the one he would have chosen. 
 
 "In early years" (so his son the Dean of 
 Westminster records) " he had acquired a passion 
 for the sea, which he cherished down to the time 
 of his entrance at college, and which never left him 
 through life. It first originated, as he believed, in 
 the delight which he experienced, when between 
 three and four years of age, on a visit to the seaport 
 of Weymouth ; and long afterwards he retained a 
 vivid recollection of the point where he caught the 
 first sight of a ship, and shed tears because he was 
 not allowed to go on board. So strongly was he 
 possessed by the feeling thus acquired, that as a 
 
'^txiko'S-So^J^^^^ell./iJ'-.:^. 
 
 (iy7ia/-aAX,/-E.t &<.v-efh, ^Jxuicr eJ-^ccn^lw^. 
 
 . /r43 ^L J8J6. 
 
A BORN SAILOR 11 
 
 child he used to leave his bed and sleep on the 
 shelf of a wardrobe, for the pleasure of imagining 
 himself in a berth on board a man-of-war. . . . The 
 passion was overruled by circumstances beyond his 
 control, but it gave a colour to his whole after-life. 
 He never ceased to retain a keen interest in every- 
 thing relating to the navy. ... He seemed instinc- 
 tively to know the history, character, and state of 
 every ship and every officer in the service. Old 
 naval captains were often astonished at finding in 
 him a more accurate knowledge than their own of 
 when, where, how, and under whom, such and such 
 vessels had been employed. The stories of begging 
 impostors professing to be shipwrecked seamen 
 were detected at once by his cross-examinations. 
 The sight of a ship, the society of sailors, the 
 embarkation on a voyage, were always sufficient 
 to inspirit and delight him wherever he might be." 
 
 His life, when at his mother's home on the 
 Welsh coast, only increased this liking, and till he 
 went to Cambridge in 1798 his education had not 
 been calculated to prepare him for a clerical life. 
 He never received any instruction in classics ; of 
 Greek and Latin and mathematics he knew nothing, 
 and owing to his schools and tutors being constantly 
 changed, his general knowledge was of a desultory 
 sort. 
 
 His force of character, great perseverance and 
 ambition to excel are shown in the strenuous manner 
 in which he overcame all these obstacles, and at 
 the close of his college career at St. John's, Cam- 
 
12 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 bridge, became a wrangler in the Mathematical 
 Tripos of 1802. 
 
 After a year passed in foreign travel Edward 
 Stanley returned home at his brother's request, and 
 took command of the Alderley Volunteers — a corps 
 of defence raised by him on the family estate in 
 expectation of a French invasion. 
 
 In 1803 he was ordained and became curate of 
 Windlesham, in Surrey. There he remained until 
 he was presented by his father in 1805 to the 
 living of Alderley, where he threw himself enthusi- 
 astically into his work. 
 
 Alderley parish had long been neglected, and 
 there was plenty of scope for the young Rector. 
 
 Before he came, the clerk used to go to the 
 churchyard stile to see whether there were any 
 more coming to church, for there were seldom 
 enough to make a congregation, but before Edward 
 Stanley left, his parish was one of the best organised 
 of the day. He set on foot schemes of education 
 throughout the county as well as at Alderley, and 
 was foremost in all reforms. 
 
 The Chancellor of the diocese wrote of him : 
 *' He inherited from his family strong Whig prin- 
 ciples, which he always retained, and he never 
 shrank from advocating those maxims of toleration 
 which at that time formed the chief watchwords of 
 the Whig party." 
 
 He was the first who distinctly saw and boldly 
 advocated the advantages of general education for 
 the people, and set the example of the extent to 
 
A CHESHIRE PRIZE FIGHT 13 
 
 which general knowledge might be communicated 
 in a parochial school. 
 
 ** To analyse the actual effects of his ministrations 
 on the people would be difficult, . . . but the general 
 result was what might have been expected. Dis- 
 sent was all but extinguished. The church was 
 filled, the communicants many." 
 
 He helped to found a Clerical Society, which 
 promoted friendly intercourse with clergy holding 
 various views, and was never afraid of avowing his 
 opinions on subjects he thought vital, lest he should 
 in consequence become unpopular. 
 
 He grudged no trouble about anything he under- 
 took, and the people rejoiced when they heard " the 
 short, quick tramp of his horse's feet as he went 
 galloping up their lanes." The sick were visited 
 and cheered, and the children kindly cared for in 
 and out of school. 
 
 It was said of him that " whenever there was a 
 drunken fight in the village and he knew of it, he 
 would always come out to stop it — there was such 
 a spirit in him." 
 
 Tidings were once brought to him of a riotous 
 crowd, which had assembled to witness a desperate 
 prize fight, adjourned to the outskirts of his parish, 
 and which the respectable inhabitants were unable 
 to disperse. " The whole field " (so one of the 
 humbler neighbours represented it) " was filled and 
 all the trees round about, when in about a quarter 
 of an hour I saw the Rector coming up the road 
 on his little black horse as quick as lightning, and 
 
m BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 I trembled for fear they should harm him. He rode 
 into the field and just looked round as if he thought 
 the same, to see who there was that would be on 
 his side. But it was not needed ; he rode into the 
 midst of the crowd and in one moment it was all 
 over. There was a great calm ; the blows stopped ; 
 it was as if they would all have wished to cover 
 themselves up in the earth. All from the trees 
 they dropped down directly. No one said a word 
 and all went away humbled." 
 
 The next day the Rector sent for the two men, 
 not to scold them, but to speak to them, and sent 
 them each away with a Bible. The effect on the 
 neighbourhood was very great, and put a stop to 
 the practice which had been for some time pre- 
 valent in the adjacent districts. 
 
 His influence was increased by his early know-* 
 ledge of the people, and by the long connection of 
 his family with the place. 
 
 Two years after Edward had accepted the incum- 
 cency, his father died in London, but he had long 
 before given up living in Cheshire, and Alderley 
 Park had been occupied at his desire by his eldest 
 son, afterwards Sir John, who had made his home 
 there since his marriage in 1796. 
 
 Both the Stanley brothers married remarkable 
 women. Lady Maria Josepha Holroyd, Sir John's 
 wife, was the elder daughter of the first Lord 
 Sheffield, the friend and biographer of Gibbon, 
 and her strong personality impressed every one 
 who met her. 
 
"KITTY LEYCESTER" 15 
 
 Catherine, wife of the Rector, was the daughter of 
 the Rev. Oswald Leycester, of Stoke Rectory, in 
 Shropshire. Her father was one of the Leycesters 
 of Toft House, only a few miles from Alderley, and 
 at Toft most of Catherine's early years were spent. 
 She was engaged to Edward Stanley before she 
 was seventeen, but did not marry him till nearly 
 two years later, in 1810. 
 
 During the interval she spent some time in 
 London with Sir John and Lady Maria Stanley, 
 and in the literary society of the opening years of 
 the nineteenth century she was much sought after 
 for her charm and appreciativeness, and for what 
 Sydney Smith called her "porcelain understanding." 
 The wits and lions of the Miss Berrys' parties vied 
 with each other in making much of her ; Rogers 
 and Scott delighted in her conversation — in short, 
 every one agreed, as her sister-in-law Maria wrote, 
 that " in Kitty Leycester Edward will indeed have 
 a treasure." 
 
 After her marriage she kept up with her friends 
 by active correspondence and by annual visits to 
 London. Still, "to the outside world she was 
 comparatively unknown ; but there was a quiet 
 wisdom, a rare unselfishness, a calm discrimination, 
 a firm decision which made her judgment and her 
 influence felt through the whole circle in which she 
 lived." Her power and charm, coupled with her 
 husband's, made Alderley Rectory an inspiring 
 home to their children, several of whom inherited 
 talent to a remarkable degree. 
 
16 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Her sister Maria ^ writes from Hodnet, the home of 
 the poet Heber: "I want to know all you have been 
 doing since the day that bore me away from happy 
 Alderley. Oh ! the charm of a rectory inhabited 
 by a Reginald Heber or an Edward Stanley ! " 
 
 That Rectory and its surroundings have been 
 perfectly described in the words of the author of 
 "Memorials of a Quiet Life "2 : "A low house, with 
 a verandah forming a wide balcony for the upper 
 storey, where bird-cages hung among the roses ; its 
 rooms and passages filled with pictures, books, and 
 old carved oak furniture. In a country where the 
 flat pasture lands of Cheshire rise suddenly to the 
 rocky ridge of Alderley Edge, with the Holy Well 
 under an overhanging cliff; its gnarled pine-trees, 
 its storm-beaten beacon tower ready to give notice 
 of an invasion, and looking far over the green plain 
 to the smoke which indicates in the horizon the 
 presence of the great manufacturing towns." 
 
 There was constant intercourse between the Park 
 and the Rectory, and the two families with a large 
 circle of friends led most interesting and busy lives. 
 The Rector took delight in helping his seven nieces 
 with their Italian and Spanish studies, in fostering 
 their love of poetry and natural history, and in 
 developing the minds of his own young children. 
 He wrote plays for them to act and birthday odes 
 for them to recite. 
 
 ^ Maria Leycester, m. 1829 Rev. Augustus Hare. 
 = "Memorials of a Quiet Life," by Augustus Hare, adopted 
 son of Mrs. Augustus Hare (Maria Leycester). 
 
"JEUX D'ESPRIT" 17 
 
 Legends of the countryside, domestic tragedies 
 and comedies were turned into verse, whether it 
 were the Cheshire legend of the Iron Gates or the 
 fall of Sir John Stanley and his spectacles into the 
 Alderley mere, the discovery of a butterfly or the 
 loss of " a superfine piece of Bala flannel." 
 
 His caricatures illustrated his droll ideas, as in 
 his sketches of the six " Ologies from Entomology 
 to Apology." His witty and graceful " Bustle's 
 Banquet" or the "Dinner of the Dogs" made a 
 trio with the popular poems then recently published 
 of the " Butterfly's Ball " and " The Peacock at 
 Home." 
 
 "And since Insects give Balls and Birds are so gay, 
 'Tis high time to prove that we Dogs have our day." 
 
 He wrote a " Familiar History of Birds," illustrated 
 by many personal observations, for throughout his 
 life he never lost a chance of watching wild bird 
 life. In his early days he had had special oppor- 
 tunities of doing so among the rocks and caverns 
 of Holyhead Island. He tells of the myriads of 
 sea-birds who used to haunt the South Stack Rock 
 there, in the days when it was almost inaccessible ; 
 and of their dispersal by the building of the first 
 lighthouse there in 1808, when for a time they 
 deserted it and never returned in such numbers. 
 
 His own family at Alderley Rectory consisted of 
 three sons and two daughters. 
 
 The eldest son, Owen, had his father's passion 
 for the sea, and was allowed to follow his bent. 
 
 2 
 
18 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 His scientific tastes led him to adopt the surveying 
 branch of his profession, and in 1836, when ap- 
 pointed to the Terror on her expedition to the 
 North Seas, he had charge of the astronomical 
 and magnetic operations. 
 
 When in command of the Britomart, in 1840, 
 he secured the North Island of New Zealand to 
 the English by landing and hoisting the British 
 flag, having heard that a party of French emigrants 
 intended to land that day. They did so, but under 
 the protection of the Union Jack. 
 
 In 1846 Owen Stanley commanded the Rattle- 
 snake in an important and responsible expedition 
 to survey the unknown coast of New Guinea ; this 
 lasted four years and was very successful, but the 
 ereat strain and the shock of his brother Charles' 
 death at Hobart Town, at this time, were too miich 
 for him. He died suddenly on board his ship at 
 Sydney in 1850, "after thirty-three years' arduous 
 service in every clime." 
 
 Professor Huxley, in whose arms he breathed his 
 last, was surgeon to this expedition, and his first 
 published composition was an article describing it. 
 He speaks of Owen Stanley thus : " Of all those 
 who were actively engaged upon the survey, the 
 young commander alone was destined to be robbed 
 of his just rewards ; he has raised an enduring 
 monument in his works, and his epitaph shall be the 
 grateful thanks of many a mariner threading his 
 way among the mazes of the Coral Seas." 
 
 The second and most distinguished of the three 
 
SONS AND DAUGHTERS 19 
 
 sons was Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, of whom it was 
 said "that in the wideness of his sympathies, the 
 broadness of his toleration, and the generosity of his 
 temperament the brilliant Dean of Westminster was 
 a true son of his father, the Bishop of Norwich." 
 
 The third son, Charles Edward, a young officer 
 in the Royal Engineers, who had done good work 
 in the Ordnance Survey of Wales, and was already 
 high in his profession, was suddenly cut off by fever 
 at his official post in Tasmania in 1849. 
 
 The eldest daughter, Mary, had great powers 01 
 organisation, was a keen philanthropist and her 
 father's right hand at Norwich. In 1854 she took 
 charge of a detachment of nurses who followed Miss 
 Nightingale's pioneer band to the East, and worked 
 devotedly for the Crimean sick and wounded at the 
 hospital at Koulalee. 
 
 Katherine, the youngest daughter, a most origi- 
 nal character, married Dr. Vaughan, headmaster 
 of Harrow, Master of the Temple, and Dean of 
 Llandaff^ She survived her whole family and lived 
 till 1899. 
 
 The home at Alderley lasted for thirty-three years, 
 during which Edward Stanley had changed the whole 
 face of the parish and successfully organised many 
 schemes of improvement in the conditions of the 
 working classes in his neighbourhood. He could 
 now leave his work to other hands, and felt that his 
 energies required a wider field, so that when in 1838 
 Lord Melbourne offered him the See of Norwich he 
 was induced to accept the offer, though only "after 
 
20 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 much hesitation and after a severe struggle, which 
 for a time almost broke down his usual health and 
 sanguine spirit." 
 
 " It would be vain and useless," he said, " to speak 
 to others of what it cost me to leave Alderley " ; but 
 to his new sphere he carried the same zeal and in- 
 domitable energy which had ever characterised him, 
 and gained the affection of many who had shuddered 
 at the appointment of a " Liberal Bishop." 
 
 At Norwich his work was very arduous and 
 often discouraging. He came in the dawn of the 
 Victorian age to attack a wall of customs and 
 abuses which had arisen far back in the early 
 Georgian era, with no hereditary connection or 
 influence in the diocese to counteract the odium 
 that he incurred as a new-comer by the institution 
 of changes which he deemed necessary. 
 
 It was no wonder that for three or four years he 
 had to stem a steady torrent of prejudice and more 
 or less opposition ; but though his broadminded 
 views were often the subject of criticism, his bitterest 
 opponents could not withstand the genial, kindly 
 spirit in which he met their objections. 
 
 "At the time of his entrance upon his office 
 party feeling was much more intense than it has 
 been in later years, and of this the county of 
 Norfolk presented, perhaps, as strong examples as 
 could be found in any part of the kingdom." 
 
 The bishop was " a Whig in politics and a 
 staunch supporter of a Whig ministry," but in all 
 the various questions where politics and theology 
 
THE CHARTIST MOB 21 
 
 cross one another he took the free and comprehen- 
 sive instead of the precise and exclusive views, and 
 to impress them on others was one chief interest 
 of his new position. 
 
 The indifference to party which he displayed, 
 both in social matters and in his dealings with 
 his clergy, tended to alienate extreme partisans 
 of whatever section, and at one time caused him 
 even to be unpopular with the lower classes of 
 Norwich in spite of his sympathies. 
 
 The courage with which the Rector had quelled 
 the prize fight at Alderley shone out again in the 
 Bishop. " I remember," says an eye-witness, 
 " seeing Bishop Stanley, on a memorable occasion, 
 come out of the Great Hall of St. Andrew's, 
 Norwich. The Chartist mob, who lined the street, 
 saluted the active, spare little Bishop with hooting 
 and orroans. He came out alone and unattended 
 till he was followed by me and my brother, deter- 
 mined, as the saying is, ' to see him safe home,' 
 for the mob was highly excited and brutal. Bishop 
 Stanley marched along ten yards, then turned 
 sharp round and fixed his eagle eyes on the mob, 
 and then marched ten yards more and turned 
 round again rapidly and gave the same hawk-like 
 look." 
 
 His words and actions must often have been 
 startling to his contemporaries ; when temperance 
 was a new cause he publicly spoke in support of 
 the Roman Catholic Father Mathew, who had 
 promoted it in Ireland; when the idea of any educa- 
 
22 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 tion for the masses was not universally accepted 
 he advocated admitting the children of Dissenters 
 to the National Schools ; and when the stage had 
 not the position it now holds, he dared to offer 
 hospitality to one of the most distinguished of its 
 representatives, Jenny Lind, to mark his respect 
 for her life and influence. 
 
 For all this he was bitterly censured, but his 
 kindly spirit and friendly intercourse with his clergy 
 smoothed the way through apparently insurmount- 
 able difficulties, and his powerful aid was ever at 
 hand in any benevolent movement to advise and 
 organise means of help. 
 
 In his home at Norwich the Bishop and Mrs. 
 Stanley delighted to welcome guests of every shade 
 of opinion, and one of them, a member of a well- 
 known Quaker family, has recorded her impression 
 of her host's conversation. " The Bishop talks, 
 darting from one subject to another, like one 
 impatient of delay, amusing and pleasant," and he 
 is described on coming to Norwich as having " a 
 step as quick, a voice as firm, a power of enduring 
 fatigue almost as unbroken as when he traversed 
 his parish in earlier days or climbed the precipices 
 of the Alps." 
 
 In his public life the liveliness of his own interest 
 in scientific pursuits, the ardour with which he 
 would hail any new discovery, the vividness of 
 his own observation of Nature would illustrate 
 with an unexpected brilliancy the worn-out topics 
 of a formal speech. Few who were present at 
 
A SAILORS' SERMON 23 
 
 the meetinof when the Borneo Mission was first 
 ■proposed to the London public in 1847 ^^^ forget 
 the strain of naval ardour with which the Bishop 
 offered his heartfelt tribute of moral respect and 
 admiration to the heroic exertions of Sir James 
 Brooke. 
 
 It was his highest pleasure to bear witness to the 
 merits or to contribute to the welfare of British 
 seamen. He seized every opportunity of addressing 
 them on their moral and religious duties, and many 
 were the rough sailors whose eyes were dimmed 
 with tears among the congregations of the crews 
 of the Queen and the Rattlesnake, when he 
 preached on board those vessels at Plymouth, 
 whither he had accompanied his eldest son, Captain 
 Owen Stanley, to witness his embarkation on his 
 last voyage. 
 
 " The sermon," so the Admiral told Dean 
 Stanley twenty years afterwards, "was never for-^ 
 gotten. The men were so crowded that they 
 almost sat on one another's shoulders, with such 
 attention and admiration that they could scarcely 
 restrain a cheer." 
 
 For twelve years his presence was felt as a 
 power for good through the length and breadth 
 of his diocese ; and after his death, in September, 
 1849, his memory was long loved and revered. 
 
 " I felt as if a sunbeam had passed through my 
 parish," wrote a clergyman from a remote corner of 
 his diocese, after a visit from him, " and had left 
 me to rejoice in its genial and cheerful warmth. 
 
24 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 From that day I would have died to serve him ; 
 and I believe that not a few of my humble flock 
 were animated by the same kind of feeling." 
 
 His yearly visits to his former parish of Alderley 
 were looked forward to by those he had known and 
 loved during his long parochial ministrations as the 
 greatest pleasure of their lives. 
 
 ** I have been," he writes (in the last year of his 
 life), " in various directions over the parish, visiting 
 many welcome faces, laughing with the living, 
 weeping over the dying. It is gratifying to see 
 the cordial familiarity with which they receive me, 
 and Norwich clergy would scarcely know me by 
 cottage fires, talking over old times with their 
 hands clasped in mine as an old and dear friend." 
 
 Under the light which streams through the 
 stained glass of his own cathedral the remains of 
 Bishop Stanley rest in the thoroughfare of the 
 oreat cono-reg-ation. 
 
 "When we were children," said a grey-haired 
 Norfolk rector this very year, " our mother never 
 allowed us to walk upon the stone covering Bishop 
 Stanley's grave. I have never forgotten it, and 
 would not walk upon it even now." 
 
 " We pass ; the path that each man trod 
 Is dim, or will be dim, with weeds : 
 What fame is left for human deeds 
 In endless age? It rests with God." 
 
SfTLsfy'LL^ aJM^f 9'h,.<Sci. 
 
 (bcLw^CLixi QJ tan It 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 NEW FRANCE AND OLD EUROPE 
 
 Rouen and its theatres — Painted windows — Paris — Costumes 
 a la Fran^aise — The guillotine — Geneva — Vetturino travel- 
 ling — Italy — Spain — The Shipyi?;^^ of Leith — Gibraltar. 
 
 IN June, 1802, Edward Stanley started on the 
 first of those foreign journeys which, through- 
 out his life, continued to be his favourite form of 
 holiday. 
 
 He had just left Cambridge, having obtained 
 a brilliant degree, and before taking Orders he 
 set out with his college friend, Edward Hussey,^ 
 on the Grand Tour which was then considered 
 necessary to complete a liberal education. 
 
 They were fortunate in the moment of their 
 journey, for the Treaty of Amiens, which had been 
 concluded only a few months before, had enabled 
 Englishmen to tour safely in France for the first 
 time for many years ; and every scene in France 
 
 ^ E. Hussey, of Scotney Castle, Kent. He died in 181 7 and 
 left his only son Edward (married, 1853, Henrietta Clive, daughter 
 of Baroness Windsor) to the guardianship of Edward Stanley. 
 
26 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 was full of thrilling interest. The marks of the 
 Reign of Terror were still plainly to be seen, 
 and the new order of things which the First 
 Consul had inaugurated was only just beginning. 
 
 It was an epoch-making journey to a young man 
 fresh from college, and Edward Stanley was deeply 
 impressed by what he saw. 
 
 He could compare his own experiences with those 
 of his brother and father, who had been in France 
 before the Revolution, and of his sister-in-law, Maria 
 Josepha, who had travelled there just before the 
 Reign of Terror ; and in view of the destruction 
 which had taken place since then, he was evidently 
 convinced that Napoleon's iron hand was the 
 greatest boon to the country. * 
 
 He and his companion had the good fortune to 
 leave France before the short interval of peace 
 ended abruptly, and they were therefore saved from 
 the fate of hundreds of their friends and fellow- 
 travellers who had thronged across the Channel in 
 1802, and who were detained by Napoleon for years 
 against their will. 
 
 Edward Stanley and Edward Hussey left France 
 at the end of June, and went on to Switzerland, 
 Italy, and finally to Spain, where the difficulties 
 and dangers which they met, reveal the extraordinary 
 dearth of personal comfort and civilised habits 
 among that nation at the time. 
 
 The dangers and discomforts did not, however, 
 interfere with the interest and pleasure of the writer 
 who describes them. Then and ever after, travelling 
 
1802] POVERTY-STRICKEN ROUEN 27 
 
 was Edward Stanley's delight, and he took any 
 adventure in the spirit of the French song — 
 
 "Je suis touriste 
 Quel gai metier." 
 
 His letters to his father and brother show that 
 he lost no opportunity of getting information and 
 of recording what he saw ; and he began on this 
 journey the first of a long series of sketchbooks, 
 by which he illustrated his later journeys so pro- 
 fusely. 
 
 Edward Stanley to his Father, Sir John T. 
 Stanley, Bart. 
 
 KovKN, _/u?ie II, 1802. 
 My Dear Father, — You have already heard 
 that I arrived here, & have been fortunate in 
 every thing since I left England. Our passage 
 from Brighton to Dieppe was short and pleasant, 
 and so was our stay at Dieppe, which we left the 
 morning after we arrived in it. I never saw France 
 before the Revolution, & therefore cannot judge of 
 the Contrasted appearance of its towns, but this I 
 can safely say, that I never before saw such strong 
 marks of Poverty both in the houses & Inhabitants. 
 I have as yet seen nothing like a Gentleman ; 
 probably many may affect the dress and manners of 
 the lower Orders, in order to screen themselves & 
 may consider that an outward show of Poverty is 
 
28 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 the only way of securing what Riches they have. I 
 can conceive nothing so melancholy. 
 
 When I saw fine seats without Windows or with 
 shattered Roofs, & everywhere falling to decay, I 
 could not help thinking of their unfortunate Owners, 
 who, even if they were lucky enough to be rein- 
 stated in their possessions, might fear to repair their 
 Places, lest an Appearance of comfort might tempt 
 the Government to seize their Effects. The only 
 Buildings at all tolerable are the Barracks, which in 
 general are large and well taken care of, & plenty 
 of them there are in every town and village. Every 
 Person is here a Soldier, ready to turn out at a 
 moment's warning. This Town is in a flourishing 
 State at present, tho' during " the war not a 
 single ship made its appearance in its Ports ; now 
 there are a great number of Vessels, chiefly Dutch. 
 The Trade is Cotton, for the Manufactory of Stuffs 
 and Handkerchiefs. It is said to be one of the 
 dearest towns in France ; certainly I have not found 
 things very cheap. We were at the Play last night. 
 An Opera called " La Dot," and an after piece 
 called " Blaise & Bullet " were performed. The 
 Actors were capital, at Drury Lane they could not 
 have acted better. The House is very large for a 
 Country Theatre and very pretty, but so shockingly 
 filthy and offensive, that I wondered any Person 
 could go often, but habit, I suppose, reconciles 
 everything. There were a great many officers in 
 the Boxes, a haughty set of beings, who treat their 
 Compatriotes in a very scurvy way. They are the 
 
1802] THEATRE MANNERS 29 
 
 Kings of the place and do what they please, 
 -Indeed, we had a fine Specimen of Liberty during 
 the Performances. An Actress had been sent to 
 Rouen from Paris, a wretched Performer she was, 
 but from Paris she came, and the Managers were 
 obliged to accept her & make her act. The Con- 
 sequence was, she soon got hissed, and a Note was 
 thrown on the Stage ; whatever it was they were not 
 permitted to read or make it public till they had 
 shewn it to the Officer of Police, who in the present 
 Case would not let them read it. The hissing was, 
 however, continued from Corners of the House, 
 & one man who sate near us talked in a high 
 style about the People being imposed on, when in 
 the middle of his Speech I saw this Man of Liberty 
 jump out of the Box and disappear in an Instant. 
 I opened the Box door to see what was the cause, 
 when lo ! the Lobby was filled with Soldiers, with 
 their Bayonets fix'd, and the officer was looking 
 about for any Person who might dare to whistle or 
 hiss, and silent and contented were the Audience 
 the rest of the Performance. I cannot help men- 
 tioning a Speech I heard this very evening at the 
 Play. A Man was sitting near a Lady & very angry 
 he was, & attempted often to hiss, but was for some 
 time kept quiet by the Lady. At last he lost all 
 Patience and exclaimed, "Ma Foi, Madame, Je ferai 
 ici comme si jetais en Angleterre ou on fait tout ce 
 qu'on plait." And away he went to hiss ; with what 
 effect his determination a I'Angloise was attended, I 
 have mentioned. I afterwards entered into conver- 
 
30 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 satioii with the Lady, & when she told me about 
 the Police Officer not giving permission to read the 
 note, she added, looking at us, " to you, Gentlemen, 
 this must be a second Comedy." Last night 
 (Sunday) I went to a Fete about a mile from the 
 Town ; we paid is. 3d. each. It concluded with a 
 grand Firework. It was a sort of Vauxhall. In 
 one part of the Gardens they were dancing Cotillons, " 
 in another swinging. In another part bands of 
 Music. I was never so much entertained as with 
 the Dancers ; most of them were Children. One 
 little set in a Cotillon danced in a Style I could not 
 have fancied possible; you will think I am telling a 
 Traveller s Story when I tell you I thought they 
 performed nearly as well as I ♦could have seen at 
 the Opera. Here, as at the Theatre, Soldiers kept 
 every body in awe ; a strong party of Dragoons were 
 posted round the Gardens with their horses saddled 
 close at hand ready to act. I din'd yesterday at a 
 Table d'Hote, with five French Officers. In my 
 life I never saw such ill bred Blackguards, dirty in 
 their way of eating, overbearing in their Conversa- 
 tion, tho' they never condescended to address them- 
 selves to us, and more proud and aristocratical 
 than any of the ci-devant Noblesse could ever have 
 been. From this Moment I believe all the Accounts 
 I have heard from our officers of the French officers 
 who were prisoners during the War. They were 
 always insolent, and excepting in some few cases, 
 ungratefull in the extreme for any kindness shewn 
 to them. 
 
%. r/e^.M^ 
 
 
 THE PRISON OF THE TEMPLE, PARIS, JUNE, 1802. 
 
 To face p. 31. 
 
1802] HIGHWAY PERILS 31 
 
 Paris, yune I'jth. 
 
 ■ The Day before yesterday I arrived in this 
 Metropolis. We left Rouen in a Diligence & 
 had a pleasant Journey ; the Country we passed 
 over was throughout extremely fertile ; whatever 
 Scarcity exists at present in France, it must 
 be of short duration, as the Harvest promises to 
 be abundant, and as every Field is corn land, the 
 quantity of Grain will be immense. Government 
 has indeed now taken every precaution. The Ports 
 of Rouen & Dieppe were filled with Ships from 
 Embden & Dantzig with Corn. Our Diligence 
 was accompanied all the Night by a Guard of 
 Dragoons, and we passed every now and then 
 parties of Foot Soldiers on the Watch. The 
 reason was, that the road had lately been infested 
 with Robbers, who attacked the Public Carriages 
 in great numbers, sometimes to the Amount of 40 
 together. They in general behaved well to the 
 Passengers, requiring only any Money belonging 
 to Government which might happen to be in the 
 Carriage. At present as the Leader is taken and 
 the Band dispersed, there is no Danger, but it is 
 a good excuse to keep a Number of Troops in that 
 part of the Country. We entered Paris by St. 
 Denis, but the fine Church and Royal Palace are 
 not now as they were in your time. The Former 
 is in part unroofed and considerably damaged — the 
 latter is a Barrack and from its outward appearance 
 seems to have suffered much in the Revolution. 
 The City of Paris on entering it by no means 
 
32 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 strikes a stranger. In your time it must have 
 been but tolerable, now it is worse, as every other 
 house seems to be falling down or to be deserted. 
 We have taken our abode in the Rue de Vivienne 
 at the Hotel de Boston, a central Situation and the 
 house tolerably dear. The poor Hussey suffered 
 so much from a Nest of Buggs the first night, that 
 he after enduring them to forage on his body for an 
 Hour, left his Bed & passed the night on a sofa. 
 A propos, I must beg to inform Mr. Hugh Ley- 
 cester that I paid Attention to the Conveyances on 
 the road & think that he will have no reason to 
 complain of them ; the vehicles are not quite so 
 good as in England nor are the Horses, but both 
 are still very tolerable. The I fins I slept at were 
 very good, and the roads by no means bad. I 
 have been to a Play every Night since my arrival 
 in Paris and shall continue so to do till I have seen 
 all the theatres. The first evening I went to the 
 " Theatre de la Republique " ; I am told it is the 
 best. At least the first Actors performed there. 
 It is not to be compared with any of ours in style 
 of fitting up. The want of light which first strikes 
 a Stranger's eye on entering a foreign Play-house 
 has its Advantaofe. It shews off the Performers 
 and induces the Audience to pay more Attention 
 to ye Stage, but the brilliant Effect we are used to 
 find on entering our Theatres is wanting. This 
 House is not fitted up with any taste. I thought 
 the theatre at Rouen preferable. The famous 
 Talma, the Kemble, acted in a Tragedy, & 
 
1802] "COSTUMES A LA FRANgAISE" 33 
 
 Mme. Petit, the Mrs. Siddons of Paris, performed. 
 The former, I think, must have seen Kemble, as he 
 resembles him both in person and style of acting, 
 but I did not admire him so much. In his silent 
 Acting, however, he was very great. Mme. Petit 
 acted better than any tragic Actress I have ever 
 seen, excepting Mrs. Siddons. After the Play last 
 Night I went to the Frascati, a sort of Vauxhall 
 where you pay nothing on entering, but are 
 expected to take some refreshments. This, Mr. 
 Palmer told me, was the Lounge of the Beau 
 Monde, who were all to be found here after the 
 Opera & Plays. We have nothing of the sort in 
 England, therefore I shall not attempt to describe 
 it. We staid here about an hour. The Company 
 was numerous, & I suppose the best, at least it 
 was better than any I had seen at the Theatres or 
 in the Walks, but it appeared to me to be very bad. 
 The Men I shall say nothing more of, they are all 
 the same. They come to all Places in dirty Neck- 
 cloths or Pocket Handkerchiefs tied round their 
 necks & most of them have filthy great Coats & 
 Boots, in short, Dress amongst the Bucks (& I am 
 told that within this Month or two they are very 
 much improved) seems to be quite out of the 
 Question. As for the Ladies, O mon Dieu ! 
 Madame Recamier's ^ Dress at Boodles was by no 
 means extraordinary. My sister can describe that 
 and then you may form some idea of them. By 
 
 I Madame Recamier, famous French beauty, 1 777-1 849. 
 
 3 
 
34 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 what I can judge from outward appearance, the 
 Morals of Paris must be at a very low ebb. I 
 may perhaps see more of them, when I go to the 
 Opera & Parties. I have a thousand things more 
 to say, but have no room. This Letter has been 
 written at such out of the way times & by little 
 bits at a time, that I know not how you will connect 
 it, but I have not a moment to spare in the regular 
 Course of the Day. It is now between 6 & y 
 o'clock in the Morning, and as I cannot find my 
 Cloaths am sitting in a Dress a la Mode dune 
 Dame Fran^aise till Charles comes up with them. 
 Paris is full of English, amongst others I saw 
 Montague Matthews at the Frascati. I shall 
 stay here till 5th July, as my chance of seeing 
 Buonaparte depends on my staying till 4th, when 
 he reviews the Consular Guard. He is a fine 
 fellow by all accounts ; a Military Government 
 when such a head as his manages everything 
 cannot be called a Grievance. Indeed, it is pro- 
 ductive of so much order and regularity, that I 
 begin not to dislike it so much. At the Theatres 
 you have no disturbance. In the streets Carriages 
 are kept in order — in short, it is supreme and seems 
 to suit this Country vastly well, but God forbid I 
 should ever witness it in England. You may write 
 to me and tell others so to do till the 25th of June. 
 Adieu ; I cannot tell when I shall write again. This 
 you know is a Family Epistle, therefore Farewell 
 to you all. 
 
 Ed. Stanley. 
 
1802] DIEPPE 35 
 
 I have just paid a visit to Madame de D. She 
 received me very graciously, & strongly pressed me 
 to stay till 14th of July to be present at the Grand 
 Day. She says Paris is not now worth seeing, but 
 then every Person will be in Town. If there is no 
 other way of seeing Buonaparte I believe I shall 
 stay — but I do not wish it — I shall prefer Geneva. 
 
 Edward Stanley to his brother, J. T. Stanley. 
 
 Hotel de Boston, Rue Vivienne, 
 /i^ne 21, 1802. 
 My Dear Brother, — ... I sailed from 
 Brighton on the evening of 8th and was wafted 
 by a fine Breeze towards this Coast, which we 
 made early on the morning of 9th, but owing to 
 the tide, which had drifted us too much to leeward 
 of Dieppe, we were unable to land before noon. 
 We were carried before the Officer of the muni- 
 cipality, who after taking down our names, ages, & 
 destination, left us to ramble about at pleasure. 
 Whatever Dieppe might have been before the 
 Revolution, it is now a melancholy-looking place. 
 Large houses falling to ruin. Inhabitants poor, 
 Streets full of Soldiers, & Churches turned into 
 Stables, Barracks, or Magazines. We staid there 
 but one night & then proceeded in one of their 
 Diligences to Rouen. These Conveyances you 
 of course have often seen ; they are not as Speedy 
 in their motion as an English Mail Coach, or as 
 easy as a Curricle, but we have found them very 
 convenient, & shall not complain of our travelling 
 
36 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 accommodation if we are always fortunate enough 
 to meet witli these vehicles. At Rouen we staid 
 four days, as the Town is large and well worth 
 seeing ; I then made an attempt to procure you 
 some painted glass ; as almost all the Churches 
 and all the Convents are destroyed, their fine 
 windows are neglected, & the panes broken or 
 carried off by almost every person. The Stable 
 from whence our Dilioence started had some 
 beautiful windows, and had 1 thought of it in 
 time I think I might have sent you some. As 
 it was I went to the owner of the Churches & 
 asked him if he would sell any of the windows. 
 Now tho' ever since he has had possession of 
 them Everybody has been permitted to demolish 
 at pleasure, he no sooner found that a Stranger 
 was anxious to procure what to him was of no 
 value, & what he had hitherto thought worth 
 nothing, than he began to think he might take 
 advantage & therefore told me that he would 
 give me an answer in a few days if I would wait 
 till he could see what they were worth. As I was 
 going the next morning I could not hear the result, 
 but I think you could for one guinea purchase 
 nearly a whole Church window, at least it may 
 be worth your while to send to Liverpool to know 
 if any Ship is at any time going there. The Pro- 
 prietor of these Churches is a Banker, by name 
 Tezart ; he lives in la Rue aux Ours. 
 
 I arrived in Paris on the 1 5th, and intend staying 
 even till the 14th of July if I cannot before then 
 
1802] EVERY PARIS STREET A BARRACK 37 
 
 see the chief Consul. Hitherto I have been unfor- 
 tunate ; I have in vain attended at the Thuilleries 
 when the Consular guard is relieved, and seated 
 myself opposite his box at the Opera. On the 4th 
 of July, however, there is a Review of his Guard, 
 when he always appears, then I shall do my utmost 
 to get a view of him. I cannot be introduced as I 
 have not been at our Court, and no King was ever 
 more fond of Court Etiquette than Buonaparte. 
 He resides in the Thuilleries; opposite to his 
 windows is the place de Carousel, which he has 
 Separated from the great Area by a long Iron rail- 
 ing with three Gates. On each side of the 2 side 
 Gates are placed the famous brazen horses from 
 Venice, the middle Gate has 2 Lodges, where are 
 stationed Horse Guards. Above this Gate are four 
 Gilt Spears on which are perched the Cock & a 
 Civic wreath which I at first took for the Roman 
 Eagle, borne before their Consuls, resembling it in 
 every other respect. These Gates are shut every 
 night and also on every Review day. Paris, like 
 all the Country, swarms with Soldiers ; in Every 
 Street there is a Barrack. In Paris alone there are 
 upwards of 15 thousand men. I must say nothing 
 of the Government. It is highly necessary in 
 France for every person, particularly Strangers, 
 to be careful in delivering their opinions ; I can 
 only say that the Slavery of it is infinitely more 
 to my taste than the Freedom of France. The 
 public Exhibitions (and indeed almost Every thing 
 is public) are On a scale of Liberality which should 
 
38 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 put England to the blush. Everything is open 
 without money. The finest library I ever saw is 
 open Daily to Every person. You have but to ask 
 for any book, & you are furnished with it, and 
 accommodated with table, pens, ink, & paper. 
 The Louvre, the finest Collection of pictures and 
 Statues in the world, is likewise open, & not 
 merely open to view. It is filled, excepting on the 
 public days, with artists who are at liberty to copy 
 anything they please. Where in England can we 
 boast of anything like this ? Our British Museum 
 is only to be seen by interest, & then shewn in a 
 very cursory manner. Our Public Libraries at the 
 Universities are equally difficult of access. It is 
 the most politic thing the Government could have 
 done. The Arts are here encouraged in a most 
 liberal manner. Authors, Painters, Sculptors, and, 
 in short, all persons in France, have opportunities 
 of improving themselves which can not be found 
 in any other Country in the World, not even in 
 Britain. You may easily conceive that I who am 
 fond of painting was most highly Entertained in 
 viewing the Great Gallery of the Louvre, & yet 
 you will, I am sure, think my taste very deficient 
 when I tell you that I do not admire the finest 
 pictures of Raphael, Titian, Guido, and Paul 
 Veronese, so much as I do those of Rubens, 
 Vandyke, & le Brun, nor the landscapes of Claude 
 and Poussin so much as Vernet's. Rembrandt, 
 Gerard Dow & his pupils Mieris and Metsu 
 please me more than any other artists. In the 
 
1802] BREECHES AND BOOTS 39 
 
 whole Collection they have but one of Salvator's, 
 but that one, I think, is preferable to all Raphael's. 
 I have not yet seen statues enough to be judge of 
 their beauties. The Apollo of Belvidere & the 
 celebrated Laocoon lose, therefore, much of their 
 Excellence when seen by me. There is still a fine 
 Collection in the Palace of Versailles, but the 
 view of that once Royal Palace excites the most 
 melancholy ideas. The furniture was all sold by 
 auction, & nothing is left but the walls and their 
 pictures. The Gardens are much neglected, & 
 will soon, unless the Consul again makes it a royal 
 residence, be quite ruined. You have, I daresay, 
 often heard that the Morals & Society of Paris 
 were very bad; indeed, you have heard nothing but 
 the truth. As for the men, they are the dirtiest set 
 of fellows I ever saw, and most of them, especially 
 the Officers, very unlike Gentlemen. The dress of 
 the women, with few exceptions, is highly indecent ; 
 in London, even in Drury Lane, I have seen few 
 near so bad. Before I left England, I had heard, 
 but never believed, that some Ladies paraded the 
 streets in men's Clothes. It is singular that in the 
 first genteel-looking person I spoke to in Paris to 
 ask my way, I was answered by what I then per- 
 ceived a lady in Breeches & boots, since when I 
 have seen several at the Theatres, at the Frascati 
 & fashionable lounges of the evening, & in the 
 Streets and public walks ! I have not heard from 
 you since I left England. Excepting the letter 
 which was forwarded from Grosvenor Place. I 
 
40 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 hope to hear at Geneva, where I shall go as soon 
 as the great Consul will permit me by shewing him- 
 self. The Country is in the finest state possible, 
 and their weather most favourable. They have 
 had a scarcity of corn lately, but the approaching 
 Harvest will most assuredly remove that. Adieu; 
 I hope Mrs. Stanley has already received a very 
 trifling present from me ; I only sent it because 
 it was classic wood. I mean the necklace made of 
 Milton's mulberry-tree. I brought the wood from 
 Christ's College Garden, in Cambridge, where 
 Milton himself planted it. 
 
 Believe me. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Edwd. Stanley. 
 
 Fvoni Edzvard Stanley to his Father and Mother. 
 
 Lyons, y?^/F 20, 1802. 
 
 I shall not write you a very long letter as I 
 intend to send you a more particular account of 
 myself from Geneva, for which place we propose 
 setting out to-morrow, not by the Diligence, but by 
 the Vetturino, a mode of travelling which, of course, 
 you are well acquainted with, being the usual and 
 almost only method practised throughout Italy 
 unless a person has his own carriage. I am to 
 pay ;^3 los. for ourselves and Suite, but not includ- 
 ing bed and provisions. South of the Alps these 
 are agreed for. 
 
 After every endeavour to see Buonaparte had 
 proved vain, on the 6th of July we quitted Paris in 
 
1802] A CONVENT COOK 41 
 
 a Cabriolet. AH this night, and especially the next 
 day, we thought we should be broiled to death ; the 
 thermometer was at 95 the noon of July 7th ; as 
 you relish that, you may have some idea of the 
 Luxury you would have enjoyed with us. 
 
 We arrived at Troyes on the evening of the 7th, 
 an old town in Champagne. People civil and 
 excellent Living, as the Landlord was a ci-devant 
 Head cook to a convent of Benedictines, but 
 Hussey and Charles were almost devoured in the 
 Night by our old enemies the Bugs. Hussey was 
 obliged to change his room and sleep all next day. 
 I escaped without the least visit, and I am per- 
 suaded that if a famine wasted the Busts of 
 the whole Earth, they would sooner perish than 
 touch me. 
 
 We left Troyes early on the morning of the 9th, 
 arrived at Chatillon at four, and stayed there all 
 night, for the Diligences do not travel so fast as in 
 England. We left it at four the next morning, 
 Hussey, as usual smarting, and I very little re- 
 freshed by sleep, as owing to a Compound of Ducks 
 and Chickens who kept up a constant chorus within 
 five yards of my bed, a sad noise in the kitchen 
 from which I was barely separated, Dogs barking. 
 Waggon Bells ringing, &c., I could scarcely close 
 my eyes. 
 
 At Dijon, beautiful Dijon, we arrived on the 
 Evening of the loth. Had I known it had been 
 so sweet a Town I should have stayed longer, but 
 we had taken our places to Chalons and were 
 
42 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 oblig-ed to pass on. You, I believe, staid some 
 time there, but, alas ! how different now ! The 
 Army of rescue was encamped for some time in its 
 neighbourhood, and the many respectable families 
 who lived in or near it rendered it a sad prey to the 
 hand of Robespierre. Its Churches and Convents 
 are in a deplorable state, even as those of this still 
 more unfortunate Town. The best Houses are 
 shut up, and its finest Buildings are occupied by 
 the Military. We left on the morning of the nth, 
 travelled safely (except a slight breakdown at our 
 journey's end) to Chalons sur Saone, and on the 
 nth went by the water-diligence to Macon, where 
 we stopped to sleep. We arrived at dusk, and as 
 we were in a dark staircase exploring our way and 
 speaking English, we heard a voice say, " This 
 way. Sir; here is the supper." We were quite re- 
 joiced to hear an English voice, particularly in such 
 a place. 
 
 We soon met the speaker, and passed a most 
 pleasant Hour with him. He proved to be a 
 Passenoer like ourselves in the Dilig^ence from 
 Lyons which met ours here at the Common resting- 
 place. He was a Surgeon of the Staff, returning 
 from Egypt, by name Shute. We all three talked 
 together, and as loud as we could ; the Company, I 
 believe, thought us strange Beings. We told him 
 what we could of England in a short time, he of 
 the South, and we exchanged every Species of 
 information, and were sorry when it was necessary 
 to part. 
 
THE GUILLOTINE AT CHALON-SUR-SOANE. 
 
 To face p. 43. 
 
1802] THE GUILLOTINE 43 
 
 We arrived at Lyons on the 14th, the Day of 
 the Grand Fete. We saw the Town Hall illumi- 
 nated, and a Review on the melancholy Plains of 
 Buttereaux, the common Tomb of so many 
 Lyonnese. Here we have remained since, but 
 shall probably be at Geneva on the 23rd. I lodge 
 at the Hotel de Pare looking into the Place de 
 Ferreant. 
 
 The Landlady, to my great surprise, spoke to 
 me in English very fluently. She is also a very 
 excellent Spaniard. She has seen better days, her 
 husband having been a Merchant, but the Revolu- 
 tion destroyed him. She was Prisoner for some 
 time at Liverpool, taken by a Privateer belonging 
 to Tarleton and Rigge, who, I am sorry to say, did 
 not behave quite so handsomely as they should, the 
 private property not having been restored. 
 
 Of all the Towns I have seen this has suffered 
 most. All the Chateaux and Villas in its most 
 beautiful Environs are shut up. The fine Square 
 of St. Louis le Grand, then Belle Cour, now Place 
 Buonaparte, is knocked to pieces ; the fine Statue 
 is broken and removed, and nothing left that could 
 remind you of what it was. 
 
 I have been witness to a scene which, of course, 
 my curiosity as a Traveller would not let me pass 
 over, but which I hope not to see again — an 
 Execution on the Guillotine. Charles saw a man 
 suffer at Chalons ; we did not know till it was over, 
 but the Machine was still standing, and the marks 
 of the Execution very recent. On looking out of 
 
44 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 my window the morning after our arrival here, I 
 saw the dreadful Instrument in the Place de 
 Ferreant, and on inquiry found that five men were 
 to be beheaded in the morning and two in the 
 evening. They deserved their fate ; they had 
 robbed some Farmhouses and committed some 
 cruelties. In England, however, they would pro- 
 bably have escaped, as the evidence was chiefly 
 presumptive. They were brought to the Scaffold 
 from the Prison, tied each with his arms behind 
 him and again to each other ; they were attended 
 by a Priest, not, however, in black, and a party 
 of soldiers. The time of execution of the whole 
 five did not exceed five minutes. Of all situations 
 in the world, I can conceive of none half so terrible 
 as that of the last Prisoner. He saw his com- 
 panions ascend one after another, heard each fatal 
 blow, and saw each Body thrown aside to make 
 room for him. I shall never forget his countenance 
 when he stretched out his neck on the fatal board. 
 He shut his eyes on looking down- where the heads 
 of his companions had fallen, and instantly his face 
 turned from ghastly paleness to a deep red, and the 
 wire was touched and he was no more. Of all 
 Deaths it is far the most easy ; not a convulsive 
 struggle could be perceived after the blow. The 
 sight is horrid in the extreme, though not awful, as 
 no ceremony is used to make it so. Those who 
 have daily seen 200 suffer without the least 
 ceremony or trial get hardened to the sight. 
 The mode of Execution in England is not so 
 
1802] LYONS 45 
 
 speedy certainly nor so horrid, but it is conducted 
 with a degree of Solemnity that must impress the 
 mind most forcibly. I did not see the two who 
 suffered in the evening, the morning's business 
 was quite enough to satisfy my curiosity. 
 
 The next Morning I saw a punishment a degree 
 less shocking, though I think the Prisoner's fate 
 was little better than those of the day before. He 
 was seated on a Scaffold in the same place for 
 Public View, there to remain for six hours and 
 then to be imprisoned in irons for i8 years, a 
 Term (as he is 41) I think he will not survive. 
 
 What with the immediate effects of the Siege 
 and events that followed, the Town has suffered 
 so much in its Buildings and inhabitants, that I 
 think it will never recover. The Manufactories of 
 silk are just beginning to shoot up by slow degrees. 
 Formerly they afforded employment to 40,000 
 men, now not above half that number can be 
 found, and they cannot earn so much. Were I 
 a Lyonese I should wish to plant the plains of 
 Buttereaux with cypress-trees and close them in 
 with rails. The Place had been a scene of too 
 much horror to remain open for Public amusement. 
 The fine Hopital de la Charite, against which the 
 besiegers directed their heaviest cannon in spite 
 of the Black ensign, which it is customary to 
 hoist over buildings of that nature during a Siege, 
 is much damaged, though scarcely so much as I 
 should have expected. The Romantic Castle of 
 the Pierre Suisse is no longer to be found, it was 
 
46 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 destroyed early in the troubles together with most 
 of the Roman Antiquities round Lyons. I yester- 
 day dined with two more Englishmen at the Table 
 d'hote ; they were from the South ; one, from his 
 conversation a Navy officer, had been absent seven 
 years, and had been in the Garrison of Porte 
 Ferrajo in the Isle of Elba, the other an Egyp- 
 tian Hero. There is also a Colonel from the same 
 place whose name I know not. 
 
 I heard it was an easv thino- to be introduced 
 to the Pope,i if letters are to be had for our Minis- 
 ter, whose name is Fagan, or something like it. 
 Now, as I may if I can get an opportunity when 
 at Geneva to pay a visit to Rome and Florence 
 previous to passing the Pyrenees, I should like 
 a letter to this Mr. Fagan, if one can be got. As 
 Buonaparte's Pope is not. I believe, so particular 
 as the Hero himself with reg-ard to introductions, 
 1 may perhaps be presented to him. I look for- 
 ward with inexpressible pleasure to my arrival at 
 Geneva, to find myself amongst old friends and to 
 meet with, 1 hope, an immense collection of letters. 
 
 The Vineyards promise to be very abundant ; 
 of course we tasted some of the best when in 
 Burgundy and Champagne. What a country that 
 is ! The corn to the East of Paris is not so 
 promising as that in Normandy. The frosts which 
 we felt in May have extended even more to the 
 South than to this Town. The apple-trees of 
 Normandy have suffered most, and the vines in 
 ' Pius VII., made Pope in i8oo. 
 
1802] TRAVELLING PHILOSOPHERS 47 
 
 the Northern parts of France have also been 
 damaged. , . . I shall go from Geneva to Genoa, 
 and there hold a council of war. 
 
 Geneva. 
 
 . . . Between Lyons and Geneva we supped 
 with the Passengers of a Vetturino. Two of these 
 were Officers in the French Service, one of them 
 a Swiss, the other a Frenchman. The conversa- 
 tion soon fell upon Politics, in which I did not 
 choose to join, but was sufficiently entertained in 
 hearing the Discourse. Both agreed in abomina- 
 ting the present state of Affairs. The Swiss hated 
 the Consul, because he destroyed his Country, the 
 other because he was too like a King. Both were 
 Philosophers, and each declared himself to be a 
 Moralist. The Frenchman was by far the most 
 vehement of the two, and the Swiss seemed to 
 take much pleasure in leading him on. His philo- 
 sophy seemed to be drawn from a source equally 
 pure with his Morality ; assuming for his Motto 
 his first and favourite Maxim, " que tous les 
 hommes sont egaux par les lois de la Nature," &c., 
 he thought himself justified in wishing Buonaparte (I 
 was going to say) at the Devil (but I soon found out 
 that the existence of that Gentleman was a matter 
 of great doubt with the Philosopher) for daring 
 to call himself the Head of the French Republic. 
 His hatred of Power was only equalled by his 
 aversion to the English, whom he seemed to abhor 
 from the bottom of his heart, so much so, that 
 
48 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 when I attempted to defend the First Consul, he 
 dashed out with a Torrent of abuse, and ended 
 by saying, " Et enfin c'est lui qui a fait la paix 
 avec I'Angleterre." 
 
 I was for some time in doubt what part of 
 the Revolution he preferred, but by defending 
 Robespierre, he soon gave me an Idea of his Love 
 of Liberty, Morality, Equality, and so forth. I 
 was sorry he retired so soon after Supper, as I 
 never was more entertained in my life in so short 
 a time as with this little Fellow, as singular in his 
 Fio-ure and Dress as in his Manner, and he con- 
 trived to be always eating as well as talking. 
 
 Edward Stanley to his brother J. T. Stanley. 
 
 Argonaida, off Hyeres, 
 
 Sept. 2g, iSo3. 
 
 My dear Brother, — Before I left Geneva I 
 firmly intended writing to you, but as I left it 
 unexpectedly and sooner than I intended I had 
 not time, but this, and all my adventures till I left 
 it, I hope you have already heard, as I wrote two 
 letters, one to my Father, the other to my Mother 
 before I quitted Geneva. You will no doubt be 
 Surprised, and perhaps envy my present situation. 
 Where do you think I am ? Why, truly, writing 
 on a cot between two 24-pounders in a Spanish 84. 
 You will wonder, I am sure, at seeing the date of 
 this letter, and perhaps wish to know by what good 
 fortune I found a berth in a Spanish man-of-war, 
 
1802] A VETTURINO JOURNEY 49 
 
 an Event which I little expected when I wrote 
 last. I shall begin my story from Geneva, and 
 you shall hear my adventures to the present 
 moment. We left Geneva in a Vetturino for 
 Turin, a Journey which took up 8 days longer 
 than it naturally should hav^e done, but our Coach- 
 man was taken ill, & we were on his account 
 obliged to travel slowly. But I was not impatient, 
 as you will know the Scenery is beautiful ; we 
 crossed Mount Cenis, which, after St. Bernard's, 
 cannot be called a difficult pass. At Turin we 
 stayed 3 days. It is now a melancholy Town, 
 without commerce, & decreasing daily in popula- 
 tion. The celebrated Jourdan ^ is the ruler of 
 the place, & with his wife lives in the King's 
 Palace. From Turin we went to Genoa, passing 
 through Country not equal in Scenery, but infinitely 
 more interesting than that between Geneva & 
 Turin, every step almost having been the scene 
 of battle, and every Town the Object of a siege. 
 But the most interesting spot of all was the plain 
 of Marengo, near Alessandria. As we travelled in 
 the Diligence I had not so good an opportunity 
 of viewing it as I should have had in a Vetturino, 
 but we stopped a short time to see the monument 
 which is raised to commemorate the victory ; it 
 is erected near 2 remarkable spots, one where 
 
 ^ General Jourdan, 1 762-1833, Marshal He fought in the 
 Peninsular War, and rallied to Napoleon during the Hundred 
 Days, but later on served the Bourbons and was made Governor 
 of the Hotel des Invalides under Louis Philippe. 
 
 4 
 
50 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Desaix ^ fell, the other the House from which 
 Buonaparte wrote an account of the event to the 
 Directory, 
 
 We passed also thro' Novi, every House in 
 which is marked by Shot ; that unfortunate Town 
 has been three times pillaged during the war. We 
 arrived at Genoa on the loth of Septr., in my 
 opinion the most magnificent Town for its size I 
 ever saw. The Palaces are beyond conception 
 beautiful, or rather were, for the French Troops 
 are not at this moment admitted within the Gates ; 
 they are quartered in the Suburb in great numbers. 
 As for the new Government, it is easily seen who 
 is at the head of it. There is a Doge, to be sure, 
 but his orders come all from Paris. While we were 
 waiting there expecting a ship to sail to Barcelona, 
 the Medusa, English Frigate, came in, and amongst 
 its passengers who came with her we found a Cam- 
 bridge acquaintance, who advised us to go without 
 delay to Leghorn as the Spanish Squadron was 
 waiting there for the King of Etruria- in order 
 to carry him to Barcelona. Fortunately the next 
 day an English Brig was going, & in her we took 
 our passages ; we were fortunate enough to receive 
 a large packet of letters from England a few hours 
 before she sailed, which had she sailed at the time 
 the Captain intended we should have missed. Will 
 you let my sisters know that they arrived safe .■* I 
 
 ^ General Desaix ; killed at Marengo, i Soo. 
 = Louis, King of Etruria, son of Ferdinand, Duke of Parma 
 married Mary, Infanta of Spain; died 1803. 
 
1802] BOUND FOR BARCELONA 51 
 
 am not without hopes of making some use of the 
 interesting letters to Italy, tho' I am now steering 
 to the westward. After a good passage of two days 
 we arrived at Leghorn and found the Spaniards 
 still there. As soon as I landed I delivered a 
 letter to a Mr. Callyer, a Liverpool Gentleman 
 who is settled there, & by his means was intro- 
 duced to the Admiral's first Lieut., who promised 
 to secure me a berth in some of the ships. In 
 short, here I am in a very fine ship, tho' a horrid 
 sailer. I have now given you a short sketch of my 
 tour till arriving at Leghorn ; I have only to say 
 something of Leghorn and the Argonauta. The 
 Town has suffered very much by the war, sup- 
 ported nearly as it was by its Commerce with 
 England. The inhabitants saw with little pleasure 
 a French army take possession of the place & drive 
 away the English. They still have a strong force 
 in the town — upwards of 2,000 — and its fortifica- 
 tions have been dismantled. It is singular enough 
 to see the French and Tuscan colours flying together 
 on the same staff When we entered the port the 
 Tuscan Ensign was becalmed & the French flag 
 was flying by itself. I was much grieved not to be 
 able to visit Florence when so near it, but as the 
 Squadron was in daily expectation of sailing I did 
 not venture to be absent for 4 days, which the 
 Journey would have required. I was therefore 
 obliged to content myself with a view of Pisa, 
 which I would not have missed on any account. 
 The leaning Tower is a curiqsity in itself sufficient 
 
52 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 to induce a stranger to make a long journey to visit 
 it. Here the King of Etruria lived and was hourly 
 expected to set out for Leghorn. But his health, 
 as it was believed, was in so precarious a State that 
 it was sometimes reported that he would not go at 
 all. The Queen, indeed, was in a very critical state, 
 and were it not that her children, she being an 
 Infanta of Spain, are entitled to a certain sum of 
 money by no means small, provided they were born 
 in Spain, it would have been madness in her to 
 have undertaken the voyage ; indeed, I think it 
 highly probable that a young Prince will make 
 his appearance ere we arrive at Barcelona. After 
 having spent a longer time than I liked at Leg- 
 horn, which has nothing curious to recommend it, 
 at lenoth it was o-iven out that on the 26th the K. 
 would certainly arrive from Pisa and embark as 
 soon as possible. Accordingly at 6 o'Clock on that 
 day all the houses were ornamented in the Italian 
 style by a display of different coloured Streamers, 
 etc., from the windows, & His Majesty entered 
 the Town. Had I been a King I should have 
 been not altogether pleased with my reception. 
 He appeared in the Balcony of the Grand Duke's 
 Palace, no one cried, ''Viva Ludovico I!" He 
 went to the Theatre the same Evening, which 
 was illuminated on the occasion, &, of course, 
 much crowded. I do not think our opera could 
 have boasted a finer display of Diamonds than I 
 saw that Evening in the Ladies' heads, but, be it 
 remembered, that there are 7,000 Jews in Leghorn, 
 
1802] ON BOARD THE ARGONAUTA 53 
 
 not one of whom is poor ; some are reported to be 
 worth a million. Many of the Italians are also 
 very rich. Next day we were informed that it . 
 was necessary to repair on board our ship, as the 
 King was to go early on the 20th. The Naval 
 Scene received an addition on 26th by the arrival 
 of 2 French frigates from Porto Ferrajo. They 
 had carried a fresh garrison there & landed 500 
 men of the former one at Leghorn ; they marched 
 immediately, as it was said, to garrison Florence. 
 On the 27th the Spaniards and French, the only 
 ships of war in the roads, saluted, were manned 
 and dressed. At Eleven o'Clock of the 27th (after 
 having again seen the K. at the Opera) in the 
 Launch of the Argonauia we left Leghorn & 
 went on board, for the first time in my life, to 
 spend I hope many days in so large a ship. 
 She was one of that unfortunate Squadron which 
 came forth from Cadiz to convey home Adl. 
 Linois ^ & his prize the Hannibal, after our unsuc- 
 cessful attack in Algeciras bay. This Ship suffered 
 little ; she was then a better sailer than she is now, 
 
 ^ Comte de Linois, 1761-1848. On June 13, 1801, he, with 
 three ships, defeated six British ships in Algeciras Bay, and being 
 protected by the Spanish batteries, he forced the British admiral 
 to retreat, leaving the Haimibal in possession of the enemy. In 
 recognition of this triumph Linois received a sword of honour 
 from Napoleon. The English fleet avenged this disaster on 
 July 12, 1801, when the Spanish and French squadrons set 
 out from Cadiz with the captured Hannibal and Admiral 
 Saumarez forced the combined fleets to retire shattered into 
 harbour again. 
 
54 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 or most probably she would not be at present in 
 the Service of Spain. Early on the morning of the 
 28th the Marines were on the deck. It blew fresh 
 from the shore, & it was doubted whether the K. 
 would venture ; at 8 o'Clock, however, the Royal 
 barsre was seen comino- out of the Mole. The 
 Admiral's Ship, La Reyna Louisa, gave the 
 signal & at the instant Every Ship fired 3 royal 
 salutes. The Effect was very beautiful ; we were 
 the nearest to the Admiral, nearer the land were 
 the 2 other Spanish frigates, & abreast of us the 
 two French Ships. They were all dressed, and 
 as the King passed near them they were manned 
 and three cheers were given. The King's boat 
 came first, then the Queen's. After them fol- 
 lowed the Consuls of the different Nations who 
 were at Leghorn, & after them a boat from each 
 of the Ships. There were besides a great number 
 of other boats & Ships saihng about. Soon after 
 the King had arrived on board the Reyna Lotiisa, 
 of 120 guns, the Signal was made for preparing to 
 Sail, & soon after the Signal for Sailing. We all 
 got under weigh, but as our Ship was a bad sailer 
 we had the mortification of seeing ourselves left far 
 behind in a short time. We have had nothing but 
 light winds ever since, & for the last two days con- 
 trary, but I am not in the smallest degree impatient 
 to get to Barcelona. The Novelty of Scene, more 
 especially as it is a naval one, pleases me more 
 than anything I have met with hitherto. We are, 
 however, now (Oct. 3rd) looking out for land. 
 
1802] SPANISH DISCIPLINE 55 
 
 Cape Sebastian will be the point we shall first 
 see in Spain, & I much fear that to-morrow night 
 I shall sleep in Barcelona. Of the Discipline of the 
 Spanish Navy I cannot say much, nor can I praise 
 their cleanliness. I wish much to see a storm. 
 How they manage then I do not know, for when 
 it blows hard the sailors will not go aloft ; as for 
 the officers or Midshipmen, they never think of it. 
 Indeed, the latter live exactly as well as the officers; 
 they mess with them, have as good berths, & are 
 as familiar with them as they are with each other ; 
 very different in every respect from the discipline 
 In English Men of War. I shall write another 
 letter to my sisters by this post ; as they are at 
 Highlake you may exchange letters. Soon I shall 
 write to you again. I have to thank you for a very 
 long letter which I received at Geneva, chiefly 
 relating to the proper judgement of paintings. I 
 am not yet quite a convert, but experience may 
 improve me. In Spain I understand I shall see 
 some very good ones by the first masters. I fear 
 much that my desire of visiting Spain will not be 
 so keen as it was when I have seen a very little 
 of it. By all accounts, even from Spaniards them- 
 selves, travelling is very inconvenient, & what is 
 infinitely worse, very expensive ; added to which 
 the intolerable Suspicion & care of the Government 
 renders any stay there very unpleasant. In case I 
 find myself not at my ease there I shall, when at 
 Gibraltar, take a passage back to Italy, for Rome 
 & Naples must be seen. Now I think of it I must 
 
56 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 mention one ship well known to you which I saw 
 at Leghorn, namely, the John of Leith. I acci- 
 dentally saw her boat with the name written ; you 
 may be sure I looked at her with no small pleasure. > 
 When I sought for her next day she was gone. I 
 little thought when I last saw you to see a ship 
 in which you had spent so much time, up the 
 Mediterranean. I am learning Spanish at present, 
 & the progress I have made in it is not the least 
 pleasure I have received during my stay in the 
 ArgonatUa. It is a language extremely difficult 
 to understand when spoken, but easy to read, &: 
 very line. I can already understand an easy book. 
 If I can add Spanish & Italian, or some knowledge 
 of those lanouaoes, to mv stock, I shall consider 
 my time and money as well spent, independent of 
 the Countries I shall have seen. Before I close 
 this letter, which you will receive long after its 
 original date, I must tell you I have been making 
 a most interesting visit to the celebrated Lady of 
 Mont Serrat,- & was even permitted to kiss her 
 hand, an honour which few, unless well recom- 
 mended, enjoy. I have not time to say so much 
 of it as I could, I can only assure you that it fully 
 answered the expectations I had raised. The sin- 
 gular Scenery and the more singular Customs of 
 
 ' The vessel in which Edward Stanley's elder brother John had 
 made his Icelandic Expedition, 1788. 
 
 ~ A famous image of the Virgin, said to have been found 
 A.D. 880 on a mountain of Catalonia, and in honour of which 
 a magnificent church was built by Philip IL and Philip IIL 
 of Spain. 
 
1803] "A VILE TARTAN" 57 
 
 -its solitary inhabitants, excepting the monks of the 
 convent, who lead a most merry, sociable life, are 
 well worth the trouble of going some distance to 
 visit. The formation of the mountain is also very 
 extraordinary. Entirely pudding stone, chiefly cal- 
 carious, some small parts of quartz, red granite, & 
 flint only to be found. I have preserved some 
 pieces for your museum, which I hope will arrive 
 safe in England, as also the small collection of 
 stones which I sent from the Alps. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Edwd. Stanley. 
 
 Malaga, Jan., 1803. 
 My Dear Father, — To this place am I once 
 more returned, after having made an excursion to 
 the far-famed city of Granada and still more re- 
 nowned palace of the Alhambra. My last letter 
 was dated from Gibraltar on the 17th of Deer. 
 We left the Rock in a Vile Tartan,^ rendered still 
 less agreeable by belonging to Spaniards, who, at no 
 time remarkable for cleanliness, were not likely to 
 exert themselves in that point in a small trading 
 Vessel. We were crowded with Passengers and 
 empty Casks — both Equally in the Way ; tho' the 
 latter were not then noisy nor Sick, I considered 
 them as the least nuisance. Fortunately a strong 
 W. Breeze soon carried us from the Rock, and in 
 one night we found ourselves close to the Mole of 
 Malaga. We introduced ourselves on landing to 
 
 * Tartana — a vessel peculiar to the Mediterranean. 
 
58 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 the English Consul Laird, to whose attentions we 
 have been since much indebted. On the 2nd 
 day after our arrival we heard of a Muleteer who 
 was on his return to Granada, and with whom we 
 agreed for 3 Mules. The distance is iS leagues 
 over the Mountains, a Journey of 3 days ; this is 
 a Country wild as the Highlands of Scotland, and 
 in parts, if possible, more barren. The first night 
 we slept at Vetey Malaga and the 2nd at Alhama, 
 a Town famous for its hot baths, which, thanks 
 to the Moors — who built walls about them — the 
 Spaniards still enjoy. The accommodations in the 
 Country are rather inferior to those of England, 
 tho' perhaps you may consider me so prejudiced in 
 favour of my own, and therefore unjust in my 
 accounts of other Countries. This may be the 
 Case, and I dare say a Muleteer would find infinite 
 fault with an English Inn, where accommodation 
 may be found for the Rider as well as the Mule. 
 On entering one of these Ventas, or Inns, you find 
 yourself in the Midst of Jack Asses and Mules, the 
 necks of which, being usually adorned with bells, 
 produce a Music highly entertaining to a traveller 
 after a long day's Journey over these delightful 
 roads. If you can force your way through this 
 Crowd of Musical Quadrupeds it is necessary that 
 you should attempt to find out the Landlord and 
 petition for a room, which in general may be had, 
 and if you are fortunate, Mattrasses are laid on the 
 floor. Eating, however, is always out of the 
 question. It is absolutely necessary to carry 
 
1803] "MONUMENTS OF MORTALITY*' 59 
 
 your own Stock and look for your self if a frying 
 Pan can be found. If you are very much tired and 
 the Bugs, Mosquitos, Fleas, and other insects (sent 
 into the World, I believe, to torment Mankind) are 
 also tired or satiated with sucking the Blood from the 
 Travellers the preceding night, you may chance to 
 sleep till 3 o'clock in the Morning, when the 
 Carriers begin to load their beasts and prepare for 
 the day's Journey. The pleasure of travelling is 
 also considerably diminished by the numbers of 
 Crosses by the road side, which, being all stuck up 
 wherever a murder has been committed, are very 
 unpleasant hints, and you are constantly put in 
 mind of your latter End by these confounded 
 Monuments of Mortality. Fortunately, we met 
 with no Tromboners on the road, and hitherto we 
 have saved the Country the Expence of Erecting 
 3 Crosses on our account. At last we arrived at 
 Granada, the 3rd Town in Spain in Extent, being 
 surpassed only by Seville and Toledo. You will, 
 I suppose, expect a long account of the Alhambra 
 and Romantic Gardens of the Generalife, a minute 
 account of the curiosities in the City and a long 
 string of etceteras relative to the place. You must, 
 however, remain in ignorance of all these things till 
 we meet, as at present I have neither time or 
 inclination or paper sufficient to repeat my adven- 
 tures and observations : suffice it to say that on the 
 whole I was much disappointed both with the 
 Alhambra and Granada, which are I cannot say last- 
 ing Monuments, for they are falling fast to ruin. Of 
 
60 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 the Indolence and negligence of the people, you will 
 scarcely believe that so large a Town so near the 
 sea, and situated in one of the finest vales in Spain, 
 is almost without Trade of any Sort — neither 
 troubling itself with importations or exerting its 
 powers to provide Materials for Exportation. The 
 Capt. Genl, however, is doing all he can to restore 
 it to its former dignity, and were he well seconded, 
 Granada might again hope to become one of the 
 brightest ornaments of Spain. We returned by 
 way of Loja and Antiquiera on the 27th of Deer., 
 and have been wind bound ever since, and likely to 
 be for another Month — sure never was a wind so 
 obstinate as the present. We have here, I believe, 
 quite formed a party to visit another quarter of the 
 Globe — a short trip to Africa is at present in agita- 
 tion. A Capt. Riddel from Gibraltar is one of the 
 promoters, and if we can get to Gibraltar in any 
 decent time you may possibly in my next letter 
 hear some account of the Good Mahometans at 
 Tangiers. We are but to make a short Stay and 
 carry our Guns and dogs, as we are told the 
 Country is overrun with game of every sort. I 
 have been most agreeably surprised in finding 
 Malaga a very pleasant place : we have met with 
 more attention and seen more Company here than we 
 ever did in Barcelona. I am this Evening going to 
 a Ball ; unfortunately Fandangos are not fashion- 
 able dances, but they have another called the 
 Bolero, which in grace and Elegance stands un- 
 rivalled, but would scarcely be admitted in the less 
 
1803] STORMS AND GALES 61 
 
 licentious circles of our N. Climate. I shall take 
 lessons at Cadiz, and hope to become an adept in 
 all those dances before I see you. If you write 
 within a fortnight — and of course you will after 
 receiving this— you may still direct to Cadiz. 
 There has been a disturbance at Gibraltar, which 
 was hatching when we were there, and during our 
 absence has Broken out. The many strange reports 
 and particulars which have reached Malaga — as I 
 cannot vouch for their truth, I shall not Mention ; 
 the Grand point, however, was to put his Royal H. 
 on board of a Ship and send him back to England. 
 There has been also a desperate gale of Wind in 
 the Straights — 3 Portuguese Frigates, one with 
 the loss of her rudder, were blown in here. Some 
 Vessels, I understand, were also lost at the Rock. 
 I hope our little brig, ye Corporation, with the 
 young pointers has arrived in the Thames in spite 
 of the constant Gales and contrary Winds which 
 we met with. I was sorry when the Wind became 
 fair and the Rock appeared ahead. My taste for 
 salt Water is not at all diminished by Experience. 
 It is no doubt a strange one, but there is no account- 
 ing for these things, you know. Malaga is warm 
 enough — we have Green Peas and Asparagus every 
 day. But we experienced very severe Weather at 
 Granada — Frost and Snow. The baths of the 
 Alhambra were even covered with Ice an Inch 
 Thick. Adieu ! this is Post Day. 
 
 Loves to all, 
 
 Yours Sincerely, 
 
 E. S. 
 
62 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Gibraltar, yrt«. 22, 1803. 
 
 My Dear Brother, — I promised in my last, 
 which I wrote when I was on the point of Setting 
 out on a tour to Granada, to write again and give 
 some account of myself immediately on my return, 
 which was delayed on account of Sundry unfortunate 
 Circumstances till the day before yesterday. From 
 Malaga I wrote to my Father, and you probably 
 have heard that a fair wind carried us in a vile 
 vessel from this place to Malaga in one night, from 
 whence, staying as Short a time as possible, I set 
 out on mules to Granada, distant a journey of three 
 days. Till this time I had never, excepting from 
 hearsay, formed a true idea of the perfection to 
 which travelling in Spain could be carried, and yet, 
 bad as it was. my return to land from Gibraltar has 
 shown that thino-s mio-ht be a deo-ree worse. Of 
 the roads I can only say that most probably the 
 Spaniards are indebted to the Moors for first 
 marking them out, and that the present race follow 
 the steps of their Ancestors, without troubling 
 themselves with repairs or alterations of any 
 description. You may well then imagine the 
 delicate State in which they now are. The 
 Ventas or Inns are in a State admirably corre- 
 sponding to that of the high-roads. Provisions 
 of every sort must necessarily be carried unless 
 the traveller wishes to fast ; beds are occasionally, 
 and indeed I may say pretty generally, to be met 
 with, such as they are ; of course, bugs, tieas, 
 Mosquitos, and so forth must not be considered : 
 
1803] GRANADA 63 
 
 they are plentifully diffused over the Country, and 
 are by no means confined to the inferior houses. 
 With a Substitution for " Pallida Mors " the 
 quotation from Horace may with truth be applied, 
 " aequo pulsant pede pauperum tabernae, Regum 
 turres." We passed thro' Alhama, near which are 
 some very fine hot baths ; the exact heat I could not 
 ascertain (as my thermometer was actually jolted 
 to pieces tho' in its case in my pocket, travelling 
 from Turin to Genoa), but it is so great that I could 
 scarcely keep my hand immersed for a minute. In 
 another Country they would be much frequented ; as 
 it is there are only some miserable rooms for those 
 who repair to them from necessity. On the evening 
 of the 2ist of December we arrived at our Journey's 
 end, and found, what we did not expect, a very 
 tolerable Inn, though as Granada is considered the 
 third Town in Spain, those who are unacquainted 
 with the country might expect a better. I have so 
 much to say that I cannot enter into a minute 
 account of the famous Palace of the Alhambra 
 and other Curiosities in the Town, which is most 
 beautifully situated at the foot of a range of snow- 
 covered Mountains at the extremity of what is said 
 to be the most luxuriant and delightful valley in 
 Spain. I hope for the credit of the Inhabitants 
 that it is not so, as certainly it is in a disgraceful 
 state of Cultivation, and were it not for the Acque- 
 ducts erected by the Moors for the convenience of 
 watering the land would, I fear, in a few years be 
 burnt up by the intense heat of summer. Its chief 
 
64 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 produce is Corn and oil ; silk and Wine are also 
 cultivated, but the cold of winter sometimes injures 
 the two latter. The place is badly peopled and has 
 no trade ; it is chiefly supported by being the chief 
 criminal port of Spain, and the richest people are 
 consequently the Lawyers. We saw the baths of 
 Alhambra in a state very different from what they 
 usually are — actually frozen over and the Ice nearly 
 an Inch thick. I must say I was greatly disappointed 
 with these famed remains of Moorish Mao[nificence, 
 tho' certainly when everything was kept in order, 
 the fountains all playing, it must have been very 
 different ; at present it is falling fast to ruin. The 
 Governor is a man appointed by the Prince of 
 Peace, ^ and I believe would be unwilling to bestow 
 any attention on anything in the world but his own 
 person, of which by all accounts he takes special 
 care. We returned to Malaga through Loja and 
 Antequerra, both Moorish towns. At Malaga we 
 were detained by Contrary winds for three weeks ; 
 we might, indeed, have passed our time less advan- 
 tageously at other places, as we experienced much 
 unexpected Civility & saw a great deal of Spanish 
 Society. Wearied at length with waiting for Winds, 
 we determined to set out on our return to the Rock 
 by land, and accordingly hired 4 horses, and, 
 under the most favourable auspices, left Malaga. 
 We soon found that even a Spanish sky could not 
 be trusted ; it began before we had completed half 
 our first day's journey to pour with rain. To return 
 ' Emanuel Godoy, favourite Minister of Charles IV. of Spain. 
 
1803] MUD AND MULETEERS 65 
 
 was impossible, as we had forded the first river. 
 In short, for three days we suffered Every Incon- 
 venience which can be conceived, but were still 
 to meet with another disappointment, for on the 
 Morning of the day in which we had certainly 
 calculated to arrive at Gibraltar we came to a River 
 which was so much swelled that the Boatman could 
 not ferry us over. Nearly a hundred Muleteers and 
 others were in the same predicament, and we had 
 the satisfaction of passing two most miserable days 
 in a horrid Cortigo, a house of accommodation a 
 degree lower than a Venta. Our provisions were 
 exhausted, and nothing but bread and water were 
 to be met with. Beds, of course, or a room of any 
 sort were unobtainable. Conceive to yourself a 
 kitchen filled with smoke, without windows, in which 
 were huddled together about forty of the lowest 
 order of Spaniards. As it poured with rain we 
 could not stir out, and as for staying within doors it 
 was scarcely possible. If we tried to sleep we were 
 instantly covered with fleas and other insects equally 
 partial to a residence on the human body. After 
 two days' penance, as the waters began to abate, we 
 determined to cross the river in a small boat and 
 proceed on foot, which we did, and though we had 
 to skip thro' 2 or 3 horrible streams and wade thro' 
 Mud and Marshes we performed the journey lightly, 
 as anything was bearable after the Cortigo del rio 
 Zuariano. We passed through St. Roque and the 
 Spanish lines and arrived at Gibralter on 20th, out 
 of patience with the Spaniards and everything 
 
 5 
 
66 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 belonging to Spain. Indeed, the Country is a 
 disgrace to Europe. I wish indolence was the only 
 vice of the inhabitants, but added to laziness they 
 are in general mean in their ideas, the women 
 licentious in their manners, and both sexes san- 
 guinary to a degree scarcely credible. In Malaga 
 particularly, few nights pass without some murders. 
 Those who have any regard for their safety must 
 after dark carry a sword and a lantern. You may 
 form some idea of the people when there was one 
 fellow at Granada who had with his own hand 
 committed no less than 22 Murders. Nothing could 
 be more gratifying to an Englishman than finding 
 wherever he goes the manufactures of his own 
 Country. This in Spain is particularly the case ; there 
 is scarcely a single article of any description which 
 this people can make for themselves, consequently 
 English goods are sure of meeting with a quick 
 sale. Perhaps it may be from prejudice, but cer- 
 tainly the idea I had of England before I left it has 
 been raised many degrees since I have had an 
 opportunity of comparing it with other countries. 
 But now for some news respecting Gibraltar itself, 
 which has during my absence been a scene of 
 Confusion, first by a dreadful gale of wind, and 
 secondly from a much more serious cause, a spirit 
 of Mutiny in the Garrison. By the former 16 
 or 1 8 vessels were either lost or driven on shore ; 
 by the latter some lives were sacrificed before 
 tranquillity was restored, and 3 men have since 
 suffered death by the Verdict of a Court Martial. 
 
1803] GIBRALTAR MUTINEERS 67 
 
 No doubt you will see something of it in the papers ; 
 I cannot now enter into a detail as it would take 
 some time. The 2 Regts. principally, and I believe 
 I may say only, concerned were the Royals, which 
 is the Duke's I own Regt., and the 25th ; fortunately 
 they did not act in concert. The other Regts. of 
 the Garrison, the 2nd, 8th, 23rd, and 54th, parti- 
 cularly the latter, behaved well. The design was 
 to seize the Duke and put him on board a ship and 
 send him to England. He is disliked on account 
 of his great severity : whether he carries discipline 
 to an unnecessary degree military men know better 
 than myself Despatches have been sent to 
 England, and I believe some of the men concerned ; 
 the greatest anxiety prevails to know what answers 
 or orders will be returned. Of War and the rumours 
 of War, tho' we it seems are nearer the scene of 
 action than those who dwell at home, little is known, 
 and what little is seems to be more inclined to peace 
 than the English papers allow. It is here said, on 
 what grounds I know not, that the Spaniards have 
 entirely ceded Minorca to their good neighbours 
 the French. We have but a small Naval force 
 
 ' H.R.H. Edward, Duke of Kent; appointed Governor of 
 Gibraltar, 1802. In order to establish strict discipline in the 
 garrison, which he found in a very demoralised state, he issued 
 a general order forbidding any private soldiers to enter the wine 
 shops, half of which he closed at a personal sacrifice of ^^4,000 
 a year in licensing fees. In consequence, a mutiny broke out 
 on Christmas Eve, 1802. Though the mutiny was quelled, the 
 Home Government did not support the Duke, who was recalled 
 in March, 1803. 
 
68 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 in the bay ; and a few frigates and ships of war, 
 one of the latter the Bittern, I believe, arrived 
 yesterday from England, but without any par- 
 ticular news. Many gun boats were fitting out at 
 Malaga, but I was informed they were only meant 
 for " Guarda Costas," which may or not be the 
 truth. We sailed for Cadiz the moment an E. wind 
 would give us leave ; it has now blown almost con- 
 stantly a W. wind for three months, and the season 
 has been remarkably wet. I am impatient to get 
 to Cadiz as I expect certainly to find letters, the 
 receipt of which from home is, I think, the greatest 
 pleasure a traveller can experience. Of Louisa's ' 
 marriage I have as yet not heard, tho' no doubt, 
 however, it has taken place. How are my Nephews 
 and Nieces ? I do indeed look forward with pleasure 
 to my next visit to Alderley. Remember it is now 
 nearly 2 years since I have seen you ; how many 
 things have happened in the time to yours most 
 sincerely ^ 
 
 Ed WD. Stanley. 
 
 Edward Stanley to his brother J. T. Stanley. 
 
 Gibraltar, y^ammry 16, 1803. 
 
 My Dear Brother, — , . I shall pass over the 
 
 greater part of the rest of your long letter & proceed 
 
 without further delay to talk of myself. The last 
 
 time you heard from me I think was soon after I 
 
 ^ Edward Stanley's sister, Louisa; m., November, 1802, to 
 Sir Baldwin Leighton, Bart., of Loton, Shropshire. 
 
1803] THE WANT OF A RED COAT 69 
 
 arrived in Barcelona ; what occurred during my stay 
 there you have most probably heard from my sisters, 
 as I wrote to Highlake just before I left that place. 
 I consider myself as extremely fortunate in being 
 at Barcelona during a time when I had a better 
 opportunity of seeing the Court of Spain and the 
 different amusements of the Country than I could 
 have witnessed by a much longer residence even in 
 Madrid itself. I was, however, unfortunately only 
 a Spectator ; as no regular English Consul had 
 arrived in Barcelona, I had no opportunity of being 
 introduced either at Court or in the first Circles. 
 Another difficulty also was in my way ; unfortunately 
 I was not in the Army & consequently had no 
 uniform, without which or a Court dress no person 
 is considered as a Gentleman in this Country. I 
 have repeatedly regretted that before I left Eng- 
 land I did not put my name down on some 
 Military list, & under cover of a red Coat procure 
 an undisputed right to the title of Gentleman in 
 Spain. 
 
 As for the people, both noble and vulgar, it 
 requires but a very short residence amongst them 
 to be highly disgusted ; few receive any thing which 
 deserves the name of a regular Education, & I 
 have been told from, I believe, undoubted Authority, 
 that a nobleman unable to write his name, or even 
 read his own pedigree, is by no means a difficult 
 thing to meet with. The Government is in such a 
 State that ere long it must fall, I should think. The 
 King is entirely under the power of the Prince of 
 
70 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Peace, I a man who from being a common Corps de 
 Garde has risen by degrees, & being naturally 
 ambitious & extremely avaricious has gained a 
 rank inferior only to that of the King, & a fortune 
 which makes him not only the richest man in Spain 
 but probably in Europe. He is disliked by every 
 Class of people, & it is not, I believe, without good 
 ground that he is considered as little better than a 
 tool of Buonaparte's. 
 
 The conduct of France to Spain in many particu- 
 lars, which are too numerous now to mention, shews 
 in what a deo^raded state the latter is — how 
 totally unable to act or even think for herself One 
 instance I need only mention, tho' I do not vouch for 
 the truth of it, further than as being a report current 
 in the Garrison. The French have kindly offered 
 to send 4,000 troops to Minorca in order to take 
 care of it for yr good friends the Spaniards, and a 
 Squadron is fitting out at Toulon to carry them 
 there. After your alarming account of the naval 
 preparations in the three kingdoms you will expect 
 that I, who am here in the centre of everything, 
 should be able to tell you a great deal ; you will, 
 therefore, be surprised when you are informed that 
 yours is almost the only account of another war 
 which I have heard of A Strong Squadron, indeed, 
 of 6 line of Battle Ships some time ago sailed with 
 sealed orders and went aloft, but where is unknown. 
 From Barcelona, as it was utterly impossible to get 
 
 ' Godoy (Emanuel — b. 1767, d. 1851), Prince of Peace. Prime 
 Minister to Charles IV. of Spain. 
 
1803] A STRONG LEVANTER 71 
 
 to Madrid on account of the King having put an 
 Embargo on every Conveyance, which is easily done 
 as the Conveyances are bad as the roads and difficult 
 to meet with, as well as enormously dear, we deter- 
 mined to steer for Gibraltar by Sea, and accordingly 
 took passage on an English brig, which was to stop 
 on the Coast for fruit we took on board. The 
 Voyage was uncommonly long, and we met with 
 every Species of weather, during which I had the 
 pleasure of witnessing a very interesting Collection 
 of Storms, with all the concomitant circumstances 
 such as Splitting Sails and Shipping Seas, one of 
 which did us considerable mischief, staving in all the 
 starboard quarter boards, filling and very nearly 
 carrying away the long-boat, drowning our live 
 Stock, and, of course, ducking us all on deck most 
 thoroughly. We stayed a week at Denia, a small 
 but beautiful Town on the south part of the K. of 
 Valencia. We were fortunately put on shore here 
 in the night of December 6th. I say fortunately, as 
 in consequence of a very strong Levanter the Captn. 
 was for some hours in doubt whether he should not 
 be under the necessity of running through the straits 
 and carrying us to England, which was very near 
 happening. Italy I have quite given up for the 
 present. Rome and Naples I lament not to have 
 seen, but you know that from Leghorn I turned to 
 the westward in Compliance with Hussey's wish, who 
 was anxious to be near Lisbon. We have some 
 idea of going from this place thro' Malaga to 
 Granada, and soon after we return proceed to Cadiz, 
 
72 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 and after making some excursions from thence go 
 on to Lisbon. Your letter which you promised 
 to send to Madrid will, I fear, never reach me, tho' I 
 have still hopes of paying that Capital a visit. At 
 Lisbon I shall arrive, I should think, about March, 
 and hope to be in England about May, or perhaps 
 sooner. At Lisbon I hope to find a letter from you ; 
 the direction is Jos. Lyne & Co. I have been very 
 unfortunate in not finding some friends in the 
 Garrison, the only officer to whom I had a letter 
 whom I found here has been of little Service to us. 
 I have, however, made the best use of my time and 
 have been over the greatest part of this extraordinary 
 Fortress, but shall leave the description of it, as well 
 as of an infinity of other things, till we meet, which 
 shall be very soon after my arrival in England. I 
 must send this instantly or wait for the next Post 
 day, so I shall conclude rather hastily. My best 
 Love to Mrs. S. and Believe me. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Edwd. Stanley. 
 
Wallter A:Eoulall,ph.e 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 AFTER NAPOLEON'S FALL 
 
 News of the Emperor's fall — Foreign plans — Disquieting 
 rumours — Madame de Stael — London in an uproar — 
 Emperors and Kings — Hero-worship at close quarters. 
 
 1814. 
 
 TH E sudden rupture of the Peace of Amiens in 
 May, 1803, closed France to Englishmen, 
 except to the miserable eight or nine thousand who 
 were in the country at the time, and were forcibly 
 detained there by orders of the First Consul. It 
 was not until eleven years later, in April, 18 14, 
 when Napoleon had abdicated, and when the allies 
 had triumphantly entered Paris and restored Louis 
 XVIII. to the throne of his fathers, that peaceful 
 British travellers could cross the frontier once more. 
 The busy parish life which had occupied Edward 
 Stanley during the years which had elapsed since 
 his first visit to France had not made him less keen 
 for travel than he had been in his college days, and 
 all his ardour was aroused by the news that there 
 
 was to be an end to Napoleon's rule. 
 
 73 
 
74 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 The excitement caused by the rumour of the 
 capture of Paris and the deposition of the Emperor 
 may be guessed at by a letter received at Alderley 
 from Lord Sheffield, father of Lady Maria Stanley, 
 in the spring of 1814. 
 
 Letter from Lord Sheffield. 
 
 Portland Place, April 6, 1S14. 
 
 ... I am just come from the Secretary of State's 
 Office. We are all gasping for further intelligence 
 from Paris, but none has arrived since Capt. Harris, 
 a very intelligent young man who was despatched 
 in half an hour after the business was completed, 
 but of course cannot answer half the questions put 
 to him. He came by Flanders, escorted part of the 
 way by Cossacks, but was stopped nearly a day on 
 the road. Schwartzenberg completely out-generalled 
 Buonaparte. An intercepted letter of the latter 
 gave him notice of an intended operation. He 
 instantly decided on the measures which brought on 
 the capture of Paris. I suppose you know that 
 King Joseph sent the Empress and King of Rome 
 previously to Rambouillet. It is supposed that 
 Buonaparte has fallen back to form a junction with 
 some other troops. A friend of Marshal Beresford's ^ 
 has just called here who lately had a letter from the 
 Marshal which says that he is quite sure that Soult 
 has not 15,000 men left, and that in sundry engage- 
 
 ^ Marshal Viscount Beresford, b. 1770, d. 1854, General in 
 the English Army. He reorganised the Portuguese army in the 
 Peninsular War. 
 
1814] RUMOURS AND ALARMS 75 
 
 merits and by desertion he has lost about 16,000 
 men. I have no letter from Sir Henry ^ or William 
 Clinton 2 since I saw you, but I learn at the War 
 Office that the latter was, on the 20th of last 
 month, within ten days' march of the right wing of 
 Lord Wellington's army. 3 
 
 Further news soon followed, and the authentic 
 accounts of the Emperor's abdication at Fontaine- 
 bleau on April i ith, and of his banishment to Elba, 
 made it certain that his power was broken. 
 
 The Rector of Alderley was eager to seize the 
 chance of viewing the wreck of Napoleon's Empire 
 while the country was still ringing with rumours of 
 battles and sieges, and he began to make plans to 
 do so almost as soon as the French ports were open. 
 
 His wife was as keen as himself, and it was at 
 first suggested that Sir John and Lady Maria, as 
 well as Mrs. Edward Stanley, should join the 
 expedition ; but the difficulties of finding accom- 
 modation, and the fears of the disturbed state of 
 the country, made them abandon the idea, to their 
 great disappointment. 
 
 The following extracts from the correspondence 
 of Lady Maria Stanley explain the reasons for the 
 journey being given up by herself and her sister- 
 in-law. 
 
 ' Sir Henry Clinton, General; d. 1829. 
 
 ^ Sir William Clinton, General, 17 69-1 854; married Louisa, 
 second daughter of Lord Sheffield. 
 
 3 On April loth Lord Wellington fought the Battle of Toulouse 
 against Soult. 
 
76 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 They describe the feeling in England on the 
 foreign situation, and also give a glimpse of the 
 wayward authoress, Madame de Stael, who was just 
 then on her way back to France after a banishment 
 of ten years. 
 
 Lady Maria Stanley to her sister, Lady Louisa 
 Clinton. 
 
 Alderley Park, April 30, 18 14. 
 
 So the Parisian expedition is at an end for us, 
 in convention, that is, for I think Edward will 
 brave all difficulties, and with Ed. Leycester, taking 
 Holland first on his way, make a fight for Paris if 
 possible ; but all who know anything on the subject 
 represent the present difficulties as so great, and 
 the probable future ones so much greater, that 
 Kitty (Mrs. Ed. Stanley) has given up all thought 
 of making the attempt this year. 
 
 Lodging at Paris is difficult to be had, and there 
 are even serious apprehensions of a scarcity of pro- 
 visions there. Moreover, the wise ones would not 
 be surprised if things were in a very unsettled and, 
 perhaps, turbulent state for some months. This 
 is Miss Tunno's information, confirmed by other 
 accounts she has had from Paris. 
 
 Madame Moreau's ^ brother means to return to 
 
 * Madame Moreau, widow of General Moreau, daughter of 
 General Hulot, and a friend of the Empress Josephine. Since 
 the death of the General, who was killed at the battle of 
 Dresden, in 18 13, the Emperor Alexander had given Mme. 
 Moreau a pension of 100,000 francs a year in recognition of her 
 
1814] A FIERCE REPUBLICAN 77 
 
 prepare for her reception and the mode of travelling, 
 and when all is arranged to come again to fetch her. 
 
 There seems every reason to think another year 
 preferable for a trip, especially as I have been 
 making the same melancholy reflections as Cat. 
 Fanshawe,^ and feared there would not be one 
 clever or agreeable person left in London a Twelve- 
 month hence ; my only comfort is the expectation 
 that House rent will be very cheap, and that the 
 said Cat. will be better disposed to take up with 
 second best company for want of perfection, and 
 that we may have more of her society. 
 
 . . . All you say of the French nobility and their 
 feelings is very true ; but if they return with the 
 sentiment that all the Senate who wish for a good 
 constitution are " des coquins," which I very much 
 suspect, I shall consider the emigrants are the 
 greatest "coquins" of the two sets. 
 
 Surely, all the very bad Republicans and terrorists 
 are exterminated. I should like to see a list of the 
 Constituent Assembly, with an account of what 
 has become of each. I have been reading all 
 the accounts we have of the Revolution from the 
 beginning. When I begin I am as fierce a Re- 
 publican as ever, and think no struggle too much 
 for the purpose of amending such a government 
 or such laws. By the time I come to /93, how- 
 husband's services ; and in 1814 Louis XVIII. gave her the rank 
 of " Marechale de France." 
 
 ^ Catherine Fanshawe, poetess, and friend of most of the 
 literary people in London of her day. 
 
78 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 ever, one begins to hesitate, but I rejoice most 
 heartily the old times are not restored, and hope 
 Louis means to be sincere and consistent with his 
 good beginning. 
 
 I return the " Conte de Cely," which is very 
 entertaining and interesting, as no doubt speaking 
 the sentiments of all the old nobility. I do not 
 think France has seen the end of her troubles 
 entirely. It is impossible the Senate and the 
 Emigrants can sit down quietly together, but the 
 former — the Marshals and the Generals — would be 
 formidable if they had reason given them to doubt 
 the security of Louis' acceptation of the Constitu- 
 tion. If the Bourbons share the sentiments of their 
 nobles, will you not give me leave to think they are 
 too soon restored ? 
 
 Miss Tunno is very intimate with Mdme. Moreau 
 and a cousin of hers. All her accounts have been 
 conformable with yours. 
 
 Lady Louisa Clinton to her sister, Lady Maria 
 Stanley. 
 
 To-day I sat an hour with Cat. Fanshawe, and 
 was highly amused by the account she gave of 
 Mme. de Stael bolting up to her while standing 
 speaking to Lord Lansdowne and some others at 
 Mrs. Marcet's, I and saying, " I want to be acquainted 
 with you. They say you have written a minuet. I 
 
 ^ Mrs. Marcet, b. 1785, a native of Geneva {nie Halduriand). 
 Well known for her economic and scientific works. 
 
1814] THE LAST IMPORTED LION 79 
 
 am not a judge of English poetry, but those who 
 are told me it is very good. Is it printed ? " This 
 intolerable impertinence, which, however, she prob- 
 ably meant for condescension, so utterly overset 
 Cat., that she could find not a word to say, and 
 treated the overture so coldly that nothing more 
 came of it. 
 
 I exhort Cat. to recollect that the woman was so 
 notorious for excessive ill-breeding, that no parti- 
 cular affront was intended, and hoped she would 
 not continue coy, as I long to hear something of 
 this Lioness from one who can judge. 
 
 Hitherto I have had no such luck. I hear the 
 most exaggerated statements of the Baroness's 
 absurdities, or of the necessity of her being one 
 of every literary party. 
 
 Letter from Miss Catherine Fanshawe, after 
 meeting Lord Byron and Mme de Sta'el at 
 Sir Humphry and Lady Davys. 
 
 Early Springs 1814. 
 
 I have just stayed in London long enough to get 
 a sight of the last imported lion,^ Mme de Stael ; 
 but it was worth twenty peeps through ordinary 
 show-boxes, being the longest and most entertain- 
 ing dinner at which I ever in my life was present. 
 The party being very small, her conversation was 
 
 ^ Madame de Stael, daughter of Louis XVI. 's Minister Necker, 
 b. 1766, d. 181 7. Married 1786 to the Baron de Stael, Swedish 
 Minister to France. She had been exiled from France by Napoleon 
 on account of her books, " Corinne " and " L'Allemagne." 
 
80 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 for the benefit of all who had ears to hear, and even 
 my imperfect organ lost little of the discourse — 
 happy if memory had served me with as much 
 fidelity ; for, had the whole discourse been written 
 without one syllable of correction, it would be 
 difficult to name a dialogue so full of eloquence and 
 wit. Eloquence is a great word, but not too big for 
 her. She speaks as she writes ; and upon this 
 occasion she was inspired by indignation, finding 
 herself between two opposite spirits, who gave full 
 play to all her energies. She was astonished to 
 hear that this pure and perfect constitution was in 
 need of radical reform ; that the only safety for 
 Ireland was to open wide the doors which had been 
 locked and barred by the glorious revolution ; and 
 that Great Britain, the bulwark of the World, the 
 Rock which alone had withstood the sweeping flood, 
 the ebbs and flows of Democracy and Tyranny, was 
 herself feeble, disjointed, and almost on the eve 
 of ruin. So, at least, it was represented by her 
 antagonist in argument, Childe Harold, whose 
 sentiments, partly perhaps for the sake of argu- 
 ment, grew deeper and darker in proportion to her 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 The wit was his. He is a mixture of gloom and 
 sarcasm, chastened, however, by good breeding, and 
 with a vein of original genius that makes some 
 atonement for the unheroic and uncongenial cast of 
 his whole mind. It is a mind that never conveys 
 the idea of sunshine. It is a dark night upon which 
 the lio"htnino; flashes. The conversation between 
 
1814] MADAME DE STAEL 81 
 
 these two and Sir Humphry Davy,^ at whose house 
 they met, was so animated that Lady Davy^ proposed 
 coffee being served in the eating-room ; so we did 
 not separate till eleven. Of course we had assembled 
 rather late. I should not say "assembled," for the 
 party included no guests except Lord Byron and 
 myself in addition to the " Stael " quartette. . . . 
 
 As foreigners have no idea that any opposition to 
 Government is compatible with general obedience 
 and loyalty, their astonishment was unbounded. I, 
 perhaps I only, completely relished all her reason- 
 ings, and I thought her perfectly justified in replying 
 to the pathetic mournings over departed liberty, 
 " Et vous comptez pour rien la liberte de dire tout 
 cela, et meme devant les domestiques ! " She con- 
 cluded by heartily wishing us a little taste of real 
 adversity to cure us of our plethora of political 
 health. 
 
 In consequence of the difficulties and dangers 
 anticipated in the above letters Edward Stanley 
 finally decided to take as his only travelling com- 
 panion his young brother-in-law, Edward Leycester, 
 who was just leaving Cambridge for the Long 
 Vacation. 
 
 Mrs. Stanley accompanied her husband and 
 brother as far as London, in order to see the fes- 
 
 ' Sir Humphry Davy, 1778-1829; began life as a Cornish 
 miner. He became a distinguished chemist and scientist. 
 
 2 Daughter of C. Kerr, Esq., of Kelso, and widow of S. 
 Apreece, Esq., married Sir Humphry Davy, 18 12. 
 
 e 
 
82 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 tivities held in honour of the State visit of the Allied 
 Sovereigns to England in June, on their way from 
 the Restoration ceremonies in France. 
 
 Her letters to her sister-in-law during this visit 
 describe some of the actors in the great events of 
 the last few months and the excitement which 
 pervaded London during their stay. 
 
 Mrs. Edivard Stanley to Lady Maria Stanley. 
 
 London, Friday, June 13, 1S14. 
 
 Edward went for his passport the other day, and 
 was told he must go to the Alien Office, being taken 
 for a Frenchman. . . . 
 
 I forgot yesterday to beg Sir John would write 
 Edward an introduction to Lord Clancarty,^ and 
 anybody else he can think of at Paris or the Hague, 
 and send them to him as soon as possible. 
 
 We have been Emperor 2 hunting all morning. 
 No, first we went to Mass with Miss Cholmondeley, 
 and heard such music ! 
 
 Then with her to the Panorama of Vittoria, and 
 since then we have been parading St. James's Street 
 and Piccadilly. Oh ! London for ever ! Edward 
 saw a whiskered man go into a shop, followed him, 
 and accosted him, and it was a man just arrived 
 with despatches for the Crown Prince, who was 
 thankful to be shewn his way. There was a gentle- 
 man came up to talk to Miss Cholmondeley, 
 
 ^ Second Earl of Clancarty, 1 767-1837. Ambassador to the 
 Netherlands. 
 
 2 The Emperor Alexander I. of Russia, 177 7-1 825. 
 
gnx^r^JJalk^SPL.t^c. 
 
 ^JVibUj ^J-eMc-eA-te^r - rrhcvm'^^ (DcLwzuxi CJtanlei/ iSlO 
 
1814] LONDON IN AN UPROAR 83 
 
 and he had been living in the house with Lucien 
 Bonaparte.^ 
 
 Then Edward was standing in Hatchard's shop, 
 and he saw a strange bonnet in an open landau, and 
 there was the Duchess of Oldenburg ^ and her 
 Bonnet, and her brother sitting by her in a plain 
 black coat, and he gave himself the toothache 
 running after the carriage. 
 
 He saw, or fancied he saw, a great deal of 
 character in the Duchess's countenance. I just 
 missed this, but afterwards joined Edward, and 
 walked up and down St. James's Street, trusting 
 to Edward's eyes, rather than all the assurances we 
 met with, that the Emperor was gone to Carlton 
 
 ' Lucien, second brother of the Emperor Napoleon, 17 75-1 840. 
 
 2 Catherine, Grand Duchess of Russia, sister of the Emperor 
 Alexander I., won golden opinions in England. " She was very 
 clever, graceful, and elegant, with most pleasing manners, and 
 spoke English well." Creevey says that the Emperor was much 
 indebted to his sister, the Duchess of Oldenburg, for "keeping 
 him in the course by her judicious interposition and observations." 
 In 1808 Napoleon had wished for her as his bride, but, as she says 
 in a letter to her brother, the Czar, "her heart would break as the 
 intended wife of Napoleon before she could reach the limits of his 
 usurped dominions, and she cannot but consider as frightfully 
 ominous this offer of marriage from an Imperial Assassin to the 
 daughter and grand-daughter of two assassinated Emperors " (see 
 " Letters of Two Brothers," by Lady G. Ramsden). The marriage 
 of the Grand Duchess Catherine to the Duke of Oldenburg was 
 hastily arranged to enable her to escape the alliance. The Duke 
 died in 18 12, and she afterwards married her cousin, the Crown 
 Prince of Wurtemberg, to whom she had been attached in early 
 youth. The Duchess attracted great attention by wearing a large 
 bonnet, which afterwards became the fashion and was called after 
 her. 
 
84 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 House, and were rewarded by a sight of him in a 
 quarter of an hour, which had sufficed him to change 
 his dress and his equipage, and a very fine head he 
 has. Such a sense of bustle and animation as there 
 is in that part of the town ! You and Sir John may, 
 and I daresay will, laugh at all the amazing anxiety 
 and importance attached to a glimpse of what is but 
 a man after all ; but still the common principles of 
 sympathy would force even Sir John's philosophy to 
 yield to the animating throng of people and carriages 
 down St. James's Street, and follow their example 
 all the time he was abusing their folly. 
 
 June 13, 1 8 14. 
 
 At half-past ten we started for the illuminations, 
 and nearly made the tour of the whole town from 
 Park Lane to St, Paul's in the open barouche. 
 
 I cannot conceive a more beautiful scene than the 
 India House ; they had hung a quantity of flags and 
 colours of different sorts across the street ; the 
 flutings and capitals of the pillars, and all the out- 
 lines of the buildings, marked out with lamps, so 
 that it was much more like a fairy palace and a fairy 
 scene altogether than anything else. 
 
 The flags concealed the sky, and formed such a 
 fine background to the brilliant light thrown on all 
 the groups of figures. 
 
 We did not get home till daylight. There was 
 nothing the least good or entertaining in the way of 
 inscriptions and transparencies, except a " Hosanna 
 to Jehovah, Britain, and Alexander," 
 
1814] EMPEROR HUNTING 85 
 
 Mrs. E. Stanley to Lady Maria Stanley. 
 
 London, Wednesday^ June, 1814. 
 
 Where did we go to be made fools of by the 
 Emperor yesterday for four hours ? We went with 
 Miss Tunno, got introduced to a gentleman's tailor 
 in Parliament Street, and looked out of his window ; 
 saw a shabby coach and six pass, full of queer heads, 
 one of which was so like the prints of Alexander, 
 and bowed so like an Emperor, that I must and will 
 maintain it to have been him till I can receive 
 positive proof that it was not. We saw, too, what 
 they said was Blucher, but we could hear or see 
 nothing but that something was wrapped up in furs. 
 However, Edward was more fortunate, and came in 
 for the real bows which the real Emperor made from 
 the Pulteney Hotel window, and you and Sir John 
 may laugh as you please at all the trouble we have 
 taken to see — nothing. 
 
 Nevertheless, though I was well disposed to kiss 
 the Emperor and Prince, and all who contributed to 
 disappoint the public expectation, it is certainly 
 entertaining and enlivening to be in expectation of 
 meeting something strange every corner you turn 
 and every different report you hear. The Emperor 
 has gone out this morning to look about at half-past 
 nine, long before the Prince Regent called. 
 
 They say he will sail in one of his own ships from 
 Leith and may pass through Manchester. But after 
 all, it is something like what Craufurd described 
 being in Paris, to be hearing yourself in the midst 
 
86 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 of a great bustle with your eyes shut and unable to 
 see what was going on round you. 
 
 We talk of Monday se'enight for our separation. 
 There is so much to be seen if one could but see it 
 here, that Edward is in no hurry to be off. . . . 
 
 At Lady Cork's the other night Blucher was 
 expected. Loud Huzzas in the street at length 
 announced him, the crowd gathered round the door, 
 and in walked Lady Caroline Lamb ^ in a foreign 
 uniform ! This I had from no less authentic and 
 accurate a source than Dr. Holland, who was an 
 eye-witness. She had been at the party in female 
 attire, and seeing Lady Cork's anxiety to see the 
 great man, returned home and equipped herself to 
 take in Lady C. and Co. 
 
 Monday^ 8 a.7n.,June i6th. 
 Yesterday, after Church, we went to the Park. 
 It was a beautiful day, and the Emperor may well 
 be astonished at the population, for such a crowd of 
 people I could not have conceived, and such an 
 animated crowd. As the white plumes of the 
 Emperor's guard danced among the trees, the 
 people all ran first to one side and then to the 
 other ; it was impossible to resist the example, and 
 we ran too, backwards and forwards over the same 
 hundred yards, four times, and were rewarded by 
 seeing the Ranger of the Forest, Lord Sydney, who 
 
 ^ Lady Caroline, daughter of the Earl of Bessborough, wife of 
 Hon. William Lamb, afterwards Lord Melbourne, authoress of 
 " Glenarvon," &c. 
 
1814] THE ALLIES AT THE OPERA 87 
 
 preceded the Royal party, get a good tumble, horse 
 and all. We saw Lord Castlereagh almost pulled 
 off his horse by congratulations and huzzahs as loud 
 as the Emperor's, and a most entertaining walk we 
 had. 
 
 We dined at Mr. Egerton's. Mr. Morritt ^ rather 
 usurped the conversation after dinner, but I was glad 
 of him to save me from the history of each lady's 
 adventures in search of the Emperor or the illumina- 
 tions. The Opera must have been a grand sight ; 
 it seems undoubted that the Emperor and Prince 
 Regent, and all in the Royal box, rose when the 
 Princess of Wales came in and bowed to her — it is 
 supposed by previous arrangement. Lord Liver- 
 pool 2 declared that he would resign unless something 
 of the sort was done. 
 
 One man made forty guineas by opening his box 
 door and allowing those in the lobbies to take a peep 
 for a guinea apiece. We made an attempt on 
 Saturday to get into the pit, but it was quite impos- 
 sible. I would not for the world but have been 
 here during the fever, although what many people 
 complain of is very true, that it spoils all conver- 
 sation and society, and in another day or two 
 I shall be quite tired of the sound or sight of 
 Emperors. 
 
 The merchants and bankers invited the Emperor 
 to dinner ; he said he had no objection if they would 
 promise him it should not exceed three-quarters of 
 
 ^ Mr. Morritt, of Rokeby. 
 
 2 Lord Liverpool, 1770-1828. Prime Minister in 1815. 
 
88 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 an hour, on which Sir William Curtis lifted up his 
 hands and exclaimed, " God bless me ! " 
 
 He is tired to death with the lono- sittino-s he is 
 obliged to undergo. The stories of him quite 
 bring one back to the " Arabian Nights," and they 
 could not have chosen a more appropriate ballet for 
 him than " Le Calife Voleur." 
 
 If he stayed long enough, he might revolutionise 
 the hours of London. 
 
 I was close to Blucher yesterday, but only saw 
 his back, for I never thought of looking at a man's 
 face who had only a black coat on. 
 
 You may safely rest in your belief that I do 
 not enjoy anything I see or hear without telling it 
 to you, and you are quite right in your conjecture 
 as to what your feelings would be here. 
 
 I have thought and said a hundred times what a 
 fever of impatience disappointment, and fatigue 
 you would be in. . . . You are also right in 
 supposing that you know as much or more of the 
 Emperor than I do, for one has not the time nor 
 the inclination to read what one has the chance 
 of seeing all the day long, and it is so entertaining 
 that I feel it quite impossible to sit quiet and 
 content when you know what is going on. 
 
 One person meets another : " What are you here 
 for ? " " I don't know. What are you expecting 
 to see ? " One says the Emperor is gone this way, 
 and another that way, and of all the talking couples 
 or trios that pass you in the street, there are not 
 two where the word " Emperor " or " King " or 
 
1814] COSSACKS ON VIEW 89 
 
 " Blucher" is not in one, if not both mouths ; and 
 all a foxhound's sagacity is necessary to scent him 
 successfully, for he slips round by backways and 
 in plain clothes. 
 
 Mrs. E. Stanley to Lady Maria Stanley. 
 
 hoi^iDON, /line 17, 1814. 
 
 We were in high luck on Sunday in getting 
 a private interview with the Cossacks, through 
 some General of M.'s acquaintance. We saw their 
 horses and the white one, 20 years old, which 
 has carried Platoff ^ throuMi all his en^ao-ements. 
 They are small horses with very thick legs. The 
 Cossacks themselves would not open the door of 
 their room till luckily a gentleman who could speak 
 Russian came up, and then we were admitted. 
 
 There were four, one who had been thirty years 
 in the service, with a long beard and answering 
 exactly my idea of a Cossack ; the others, younger 
 men with fine countenances and something graceful 
 and gentleman-like in their figure and manner. 
 They were very happy to talk, and there was great 
 intelligence and animation in their eyes. No 
 wonder they defy the weather with their cloaks 
 made of black sheepskin and lined with some very 
 thick cloth which makes them quite impenetrable to 
 cold or wet. Their lances were 1 1 feet long, and 
 they were dressed in blue jacket and trousers 
 confined round the waist with a leather belt, in 
 ^ Platoff, 1716-1818, Russian General. 
 
90 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 which was a rest for the lance. I envied their 
 saddles, which have a sort of pommel behind and 
 before, between which is placed a cushion, on which 
 they must sit most comfortably. We must see 
 them on horseback to have seen them, but we shall 
 probably have an opportunity of seeing them 
 again. 
 
 June 1 8, 1 8 14. 
 
 On returning from Miss Fanshawe's we saw a 
 royal carriage in George Street at Madame 
 Moreau's, and we waited to see the Emperor 
 and the Duchess (of Oldenburg) get into the 
 carriage. He was in a plain blue coat ; she without 
 her curious bonnet, so that I had a good view of 
 her face, which I had the satisfaction of finding 
 exactly what I wished to see. The extreme sim- 
 plicity of her dress — she had nothing but a plain 
 white gown and plain straw hat, with no ornament 
 of any sort — and her very youthful appearance 
 made me doubt whether it was really the Duchess ; 
 but it was. 
 
 She is very little, and there is a strong expression 
 of intelligence, vivacity, and youthful, unsophisti- 
 cated animation in her countenance. I fancied 
 I could see so much of her character in the brisk 
 step with which she jumped into the carriage, 
 and the unassuming, lively smile with which 
 she bowed to the people. 
 
 The Emperor looks like a gentleman — but a 
 country gentleman, not like an Emperor. His 
 head is very like R. Heber's. The Duchess allowed 
 
1814] SERMON BEFORE KING OF PRUSSIA 91 
 
 herself to be pleased and to express her pleasure at 
 all the sights without the least restraint. She asks 
 few questions, but those very pertinent. She is 
 impatient at being detained long over anything, but 
 anxious to silence those who would hence infer that 
 she runs over everything superficially, without 
 gaining or retaining real knowledge. 
 
 At Woolwich she was asked if she would see the 
 steam-engines. " No, she had seen them already, 
 and understood them perfectly." As they passed 
 the open door she turned her head to look at the 
 machinery, and instantly exclaimed, " Oh, that is 
 one of Maudesley's engines," her eye immediately 
 catching the peculiarity of the construction. 
 
 London, yz/«6 22, 1814. 
 In the middle of Edward's sermon at St. 
 George's to-day somebody in our pew whispered it 
 round that there was the King of Prussia ^ in the 
 Gallery. I looked as directed, and fixed my eyes 
 on a melancholy, pensive, interesting face, exactly 
 answering the descriptions of the King, and imme- 
 diately fell into a train of very satisfactory reflection 
 and conjecture on the expression of his physiognomy, 
 for which twenty minutes afforded me ample time. 
 The King was the only one I had not seen, there- 
 fore this opportunity of studying his face so com- 
 pletely was particularly valuable. When the prayer 
 after the sermon was concluded, my informer said 
 the King was gone, when, to my utter disappoint- 
 ' Frederick William III. 
 
92 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 ment, I beheld my Hero still standing in the 
 Gallery, and discovered I had pitched upon a wrong 
 person, and wasted all my observations on a face 
 that it did not really signify whether it looked 
 merry or sad, and entirely missed the sight of the 
 real King, who was in the next pew. 
 
 Nothing but his sending to offer Edward a 
 Chaplaincy in Berlin for his excellent sermon can 
 possibly console me, except, indeed, the honour by 
 itself oi having preached before a King of Prussia, 
 which can never happen again in his life. 
 
 . . . The Duchess of Oldenburo- took all the 
 merchants by surprise the other day. They had no 
 idea she was coming to their dinner ; she was the 
 only lady, and she was rather a nuisance to them, as 
 they had provided a hundred musicians, who could 
 not perform, as she cannot bear music. ^ She was 
 highly amused at the scene and with their " Hip ! 
 Hip!" 
 
 Monday, June 23, 18 14. 
 
 At our dinner Mr. Tennant came in late, with 
 many apologies, but really he had been hunting 
 the Emperor — waiting for him two hours at one 
 place and two hours at another, and came away 
 at last without seeing him at all. 
 
 He said, in his dry way, that " Have you seen 
 the Emperor? " has entirely superseded the use of 
 " How do you do.-^ " 
 
 ' The Duchess had been very fond of music, but since the 
 death of her husband it had affected her so deeply that she 
 feared breaking down on any pubHc occasion. 
 
1814] A SWORD FROM HEAVEN 93 
 
 In the morning he had gone into a shop to buy 
 some gloves, and whilst he was trying them on 
 the shopman suddenly exclaimed, "Blucher! 
 Blucher ! " cleared the counter at a leap, followed 
 by all the apprentices, and Mr. Tennant remained 
 soberly amongst the gloves to make his own 
 selection, for he saw nothing more of his dealers. 
 
 Rooms are letting to-day in the City at 60 
 guineas a room, or a guinea a seat for the pro- 
 cession. Tickets for places to see it from White's 
 to be had at Hookham's for 80 guineas ; 50 have 
 been refused. 
 
 Your letter revived me after five hours' walking 
 and standing, and running after reviews, &c. 
 
 I did see the King of Prussia, to be sure, and 
 the Prince, and the people climbing up the trees 
 like the grubs on the gooseberry bushes, and heard 
 the /eu de j'oie, whose crescendo and diminuendo 
 was very fine indeed, but altogether it was not 
 worth the trouble of being tired and squeezed for. 
 
 At the reception at Sir Joseph Banks's house last 
 night the most interesting object of the evening 
 was a sword come down from heaven on purpose 
 for the Emperor ! Let the Prince Regent and his 
 ofarters and his orders, and the merchants and the 
 aldermen and everybody hide their diminished 
 heads ! What are they and their gifts to the 
 Philosophers' } 
 
 This is literally a sword made by Sowerby from 
 the iron from some meteoric stones lately fallen — 
 of course in honour of the Emperon There is an 
 
94 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 inscription on it something to this effect, but not 
 so neat as the subject demanded, and it is to be 
 presented to Alexander — who does not deserve it, 
 by the by, for having entirely neglected Sir Joseph 
 amongst all the great sights and great men, which 
 has rather mortified the poor old man. 
 
 London, Monday 7iight. 
 
 They are off, and in spite of all my friends' pre- 
 dictions to the contrary, I am here. 
 
 Edward went this mornins^ to Portsmouth on his 
 way to Havre, but the Havre packet is employed 
 in pleasuring people up and down to see the ships. 
 Not a bed is to be had in the place, so he has 
 secured his berth in the packet, if he can find 
 her, and get on board at night after her morning's 
 excursions. 
 
 Standing room is to be had in the streets for 
 three shillings ; seats are putting up in and for 
 two miles out of the town ; all the laurels cut down 
 to stick upon poles ; in short, everybody is madder 
 there than in London. 
 
 Can the English ever be called cool and 
 phlegmatic again? It is really a pity some 
 metaphysicianising philosopher is not here to 
 observe, describe, and theorise on the extra- 
 ordinary symptoms and effects of enthusiasm, 
 curiosity, insanity — I am sure I do not know 
 what to call it — en masse. 
 
 One should have supposed that the great objects 
 would have swallowed up the little ones. No such 
 
1814] HERO WORSHIP AT CLOSE QUARTERS 95 
 
 thing! they have only made the appetite for them 
 more ravenous. 
 
 The mob got hold of Lord Hill ^ in the Park at 
 the review, and did literally pull his coat and his 
 belt to pieces. He snatched off his Order of the 
 Bath, and gave it to Major Churchill, who put it 
 in the holster of his saddle, where he preserved it 
 from the mob only by drawing his sword and 
 declaring he would cut any man's hand off who 
 touched it. Some kissed his sword, his boots, his 
 spurs, or anything they could touch ; they pulled 
 hair out of his horse's tail, and one butcher's boy 
 who arrived at the happiness of shaking his hand, 
 they chaired, exclaiming, " This is the man who 
 has shaken hands with Lord Hill ! " At last 
 they tore his sword off by breaking the belt and 
 then handed it round from one to another to be 
 kissed. 
 
 My regret at not having been at White's is 
 stronger than my desire to go was ; it must have 
 been the most splendid and interesting sight one 
 could ever hope to see. 
 
 On Friday, June 27th, Edward Stanley and 
 Edward Leycester finally set off and sailed from 
 Portsmouth, all gay with festivities in honour of 
 the Allied Sovereigns. 
 
 Mrs. Stanley was left to spend the time of their 
 absence at her father's house in Cheshire, but the 
 
 ^ Rowland Hill. General Lord Hill, 1772-1842 ; distinguished 
 in the Peninsular War. 
 
96 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 keen interest with which she would have shared 
 the journey was not forgotten by her husband. 
 
 The events of the tour were minutely chronicled 
 in his letters to her, and not only in letters, but 
 in sketch books, filled to overflowing with every 
 strange group and figure which met the travellers 
 on their way, through countries which had been, 
 although so near, prohibited for such a long time 
 that they had almost the interest of unknown lands. 
 
 Mrs. E. Stanley to Lady Maria Stanley. 
 
 Stoke, July 4, 18 14. 
 
 . . . That my curiosity may not catch cold in the 
 too sudden transition from exercise to inaction, the 
 Shropshire and Cheshire Heroes have followed me 
 down here, and I have had the pleasure of seeing 
 and hearing of the crowds going to touch (for that 
 is the present fashion of seeing, or, to speak 
 philosophically, mode of perception) Lord Hill ; 
 and yesterday I met Lord Combermere and his 
 Bride at Alderley, and a worthy Hero he is for 
 Cheshire ! 
 
 A folio from Havre just arrived. I am very 
 noble, very virtuous, and very disinterested — pray 
 assure me so, for nothing else can console me — it 
 is too entertaining to send one extract. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 UNDER THE BOURBON FLAG 
 
 French prisoners — Oldenburg bonnets — " Fugio ut Fulgor" — 
 Soldiers of the Empire — Paris — A French hotel — A walk 
 through Paris — Portrait of Madame de Stael — An EngUsh 
 ambassador — The Louvre — French tragedy — The heights 
 of Montmartre — Cossacks in the Champs Elysees — ^^900 
 for substitute — Napoleon's legacies to his successor — A 
 dinner at the English Embassy — Botany and mineralogy 
 — Party at Madame de Stael's — A debate in the Corps 
 Legislatif — Malmaison — Elbowing the marshals — St Cloud 
 and Trianon — The Catacombs. 
 
 Edward Stanley to his Wife. 
 Letter I. 
 
 Havre, June 26, 18 14. 
 
 WE have passed the Rubicon — nous voila en 
 France, all new, interesting, and delightful. 
 I know not where or how to begin — the observa- 
 tions of an hour were I to paint in Miniature 
 would fill my sheet ; however, you must not expect 
 arrangement but read a sort of higgledy-piggledy 
 
 journal as things run through my head. I must 
 
 7 97 
 
98 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 pin them down like my Butterflies as they pass, 
 or they will be gone for ever. 
 
 At half-past four on Friday we sailed from Ports- 
 mouth, and saw the fleet in the highest beauty — 
 amongst them all while they were under sail tacking, 
 &c. ; the delay has not been lost time. I should 
 observe before I quit the subject of Portsmouth 
 events, that the Emperor could not find time to 
 sail about for mere amusement two days, this he 
 left to the P. R.I He (the Emperor) and the 
 Duchess of Oldenburg occupied themselves in 
 visiting the Dockyards, Machinery, Haslar Hos- 
 pital — in short, everything worthy the notice of 
 enlightened beings. . . . 
 
 Our passengers were numerous, about 25 in a 
 vessel of as many tons, with only six what they 
 called regular sleeping-places. . . . But I had no 
 reason to complain, our party was in many 
 respects excellent — one, a jewel of no ordinary 
 value, by name Mr. John Cross, of whom I must 
 enquire more. I have seldom met with a man 
 of more general and at the same time deep in- 
 formation ; he seemed perfect in everything. 
 Mineralogy, Antiquities, Chemistry, literature, 
 human nature were at his fingers' ends, and 
 most gentlemanly manners into the bargain. . . . 
 
 Amongst others we had three French officers, 
 prisoners returning home. They had not met 
 before that evening, but had you heard their incom- 
 parable voices when they sang their trios, you would 
 ^ The Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. 
 
1814] RELEASED PRISONERS 99 
 
 have supposed they had practised together for 
 years. Mr. John Cross alone surpassed them in 
 their art. These gentlemen were certainly not 
 hostile to Bonaparte, but to gratify their musical 
 taste they stuck at nothing — " God save the King," 
 "Rule Britannia," "The Downfall of Paris" were 
 chaunted in swift succession, and the following 
 commencement of one of their songs will show the 
 popular opinion of Bonaparte's campaign in 
 
 Russia : — 
 
 " Quel est le Monarque qui peut 
 Etre si fou 
 Que d'aller a Moscou 
 Pour perdte sa grande armee ? " 
 
 A fair wind brouo-ht us in sig'ht of the French 
 coast early on Saturday. At 1 1 we were under the 
 headland of Havre, and at 1 2 anchored in the bay, 
 and were in an instant surrounded by chattering 
 boatfuls who talked much but did nothingf. On 
 landing we were escorted to the Passport Office and 
 most civilly received there ; the difference, indeed, 
 between public offices in England and France is 
 quite glaring. Even the Custom house Officers 
 apologised for keeping us waiting for the form of 
 searching ; and tho' the Underlings condescended to 
 take a Franc or two, the Officer himself, when I 
 offered money, turned away his head and hand and 
 cried, " Ba, Ba, Non, Non," with such apparent 
 sincerity that I felt as if I had insulted him by 
 offering it. . . . 
 
 The whole process of getting our passports signed, 
 
100 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 &.C., being over, we went to an Hotel. " Ici, gar^on, 
 vite mettez Messieurs les Anglois a Tonzieme," cried 
 a landlady — and such a landlady ! and up we 
 scampered to the 5th storey (there are more still 
 above us) and to this said, "No onzieme." . . . 
 
 We lost no time in the evening in looking about 
 us ; the town is situated about two miles up the 
 Seine on a sort of Peninsula surrounded with very 
 reo^ular and strono- fortifications. Its docks are 
 incomparable, and Bonaparte would have added still 
 more to their magnificence, but now all is at a 
 stand — the grass is quietly filling up spaces hitherto 
 taken up by soldiers. Workmen, shot and guns ; the 
 numberless merchant vessels in a state of decay 
 proved sufficiently the entire destruction of all trade ; 
 but what gave me particular satisfaction was the 
 sight of a fiotilla of Praams, luggers, intended for 
 the invasion of England, all reposing in a happy 
 progress to speedy putrefaction and decay. About 
 a mile from the town on the hill is a beautiful villaoe 
 called St. Michel, where the Havre citizens have 
 country houses. The town itself is as singular as 
 heart can wish — indeed, I am firmly convinced that 
 the difference between the towns of the Earth and 
 Moon is not greater than that between those of 
 England and France. I scarcely know how to 
 describe it to you. Conceive to yourself a long 
 street of immensely tall houses from 5 to 8 Stories, 
 huddled, for huddling is the only word which can 
 convey my meaning, and in truth their extraordinary 
 heioht and narrow breadth seem rather the effect of 
 
1814] OLDENBURG BONNETS 101 
 
 compression than design. . . . These houses are 
 inhabited by various famiHes of various occupations 
 and tastes, so that each Storey has its own peculiar 
 character — here you see a smart Balcony with 
 windows to the orround, varnished above and below 
 with the insignia of washing woman or taylor. They 
 are built of all materials, though I think chiefly of 
 wood (like our old Cheshire houses) and stucco ; 
 and, thanks to time and the filth and poverty of the 
 people, their exterior assumes a general tint of 
 pleasing dirty picturesque. This said dirt may have 
 its advantages as far as the eye is concerned, but the 
 nose is terribly assailed by the innumerable com- 
 pounded Effluvias which flow from every Alley-hole 
 and corner. For the people and their dress ! who 
 shall venture to describe the things I have seen in 
 the shape of caps, hats and bonnets, cloaks and 
 petticoats, &c. ? There I meet a group of Oldenburg 
 Bonnets broader and more loaded with flowers, 
 bunches, bows, plumes than any we saw in London, 
 and would you believe it I am already not merely 
 getting reconciled but absolutely an admirer of 
 them. 
 
 Having passed the groups of bonnets I meet at 
 the next moment a set of beings ycleped Poissardes, 
 caparisoned with coverings of all sorts, shapes, and 
 sizes — here flaps a head decorated with lappets like 
 butterflies' wings — here nods a bower of cloth and 
 pins tall and narrow as the houses themselves, but 
 I must not be too prolix on any one particular 
 subject. 
 
102 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Sunday. 
 
 We have been to the great Church. It was full, 
 very full, but the congregation nearly all female. 
 
 There is certainly something highly imposing and 
 impressive in that general spirit of outward devotion 
 at least which pervades all ranks. Nothing can be 
 finer than their music : we had a sermon, too, and 
 not a bad one. The order of things is somewhat 
 reversed. In England we wear white bands and 
 black gown, here the preacher had black bands and 
 white gown, and I fear the eloquence of St. Paul 
 would not prevent the smiles of my hearers in 
 Alderley Church were I to pop on my head in the 
 middle of the discourse a little black cap of which 
 I enclose an accurate representation. 
 
 What shall I say of political feeling } I think 
 they appear to think or care very little about it ; 
 the military are certainly dissatisfied and the Inn- 
 keepers delighted, but further I know not what to 
 tell you ; I am told, however, that the new pro- 
 clamation for the more decent observance of Sunday, 
 by forcing the Shopkeepers to shut up their shops 
 during Mass, is considered a great grievance 
 
 Letter II. 
 
 Rouen, /u?ie 28, 18 14, 
 
 Foolish people are those who say it is not worth 
 
 while to cross the water for a week. For a week \ 
 
 why, for an hour, for a minute, it would be worth 
 
 the trouble — in a glance a torrent of news, ideas, 
 
1814] "FUGIO UT FULGOR" 103 
 
 feelings, and conceptions are poured in which are 
 valuable through life. We staid at Havre till 
 Monday morning, and though a Cantab friend of 
 Edward's, on bundling into his cabriolet, expressed 
 his astonishment we would think of staying a day, 
 when he had seen more than enough of the filthy 
 place in an hour, we amused ourselves very well till 
 the moment of departure 
 
 At 4 on Monday we stepped into the cabriolet or 
 front part of our diligence, on the panels of which 
 was written " Fugio ut Fulgor," and though ap- 
 pearances were certainly against anything like com- 
 pliance with this notice, the result was much nearer 
 than I could have conceived. Five horses were 
 yoked to this unwieldy caravan — two to the pole, 
 and three before, and on one of these pole horses 
 mounted a Driver without Stockings in Jack Boots, 
 crack went an enormous whip, and away galloped 
 our 5 coursers. It is astonishing how they can be 
 managed by such simple means, yet so it was ; we 
 steered to a nicety sometimes in a trot, sometimes 
 in a canter, sometimes on a full gallop. 
 
 The time for changing horses by my watch was 
 not more than one minute- — -before you knew one 
 stage was passed another was commenced ; they gave 
 us 5 minutes to eat our breakfast — an operation 
 something like that of ducks in a platter, the dish 
 consisting of coffee and milk with rolls sopped in 
 it. The roads are incomparable — better than ours 
 and nearly if not quite as good as the Irish. The 
 country from Havre to Rouen is rich in corn of 
 
104 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 every description — there is nothing particular in the 
 face of it, and yet you would, if awakened from a 
 dream, at once declare you were not in England ; in 
 the first place there are no hedges — the road was 
 almost one continuous avenue of apple-trees ; the 
 timber trees are not planted in hedgerows but in 
 little clumps or groves, sometimes but generally 
 rather removed from the road, and it is amongst 
 these that the villages and cottages are concealed, 
 for it is surprising how few in comparison with 
 England are seen. The trees are of two de- 
 scriptions — either trimmed up to the very top or cut 
 off so as to form underwood. I did not observe one 
 that could be called a branching tree ; the finest beech 
 we saw looked like a pole with a tuft upon it. The 
 cottages are mostly of clay, generally speaking very 
 clean, and coming nearer to what I should define a 
 cottage to be than ours in England. 
 
 You see no cows in the fields, they are all tethered 
 by the road-side or other places, by which a con- 
 siderable quantity of grass must be saved, and each 
 is attended by an old woman or child. We passed 
 through 2 or 3 small towns and entered Rouen 
 8 hours after quitting Havre, 57 miles. Rouen, 
 beautiful Rouen, we entered through such an avenue 
 of noble trees, its spires, hills and woods peeping 
 forth, and the Seine winding up the country, wide 
 as the Thames at Chelsea. 
 
 Such a gateway ! I have made a sketch, but 
 were I to work it up for a month it would still fall 
 far short and be an insult to the subject it attempts 
 
1814] SOLDIERS OF THE EMPIRE 105 
 
 to represent. If Havre can strike the eye of a 
 stranger, what must not Rouen do ? Every step teems 
 with novelty and richness, Gothic gateways, halls, 
 and houses. What are our churches and cathedrals 
 in England compared to the noble specimens of 
 Gothic architecture which here present themselves ? 
 . . . Rouen has scarcely yet recovered from the dread 
 they were in of the Cossacks, who were fully ex- 
 pected, and all valuables secreted — not that they 
 were absolutely without news from the capital : the 
 diligence had been stopped only once during the 
 three days after the Allies entered Paris. Till then 
 they had proceeded comme a Vordinaire, and the 
 diligence in which we are to proceed to-night left it 
 when Shots were actually passing over the road 
 during the battle of Montmartre — how they could 
 find passengers to quit it at such an interesting 
 moment I cannot conceive ; had I been sure of being 
 eaten up by a Horde of Cossacks, I could not have 
 left the spot. 
 
 What an odd people the French are ! they will 
 not allow they were, in ignorance of public affairs 
 before the entrance of the Allies. " Oh no, we had 
 the Gazettes," they say, and I cannot find that they 
 considered these Gazettes as doubtful authorities. 
 We have plenty of troops here — genuine veterans 
 horse and foot ; I saw them out in line yesterday. 
 The men were soldier-like looking fellows enough, 
 but one of our cavalry regiments would have 
 trotted over their horses in a minute without much 
 ceremony ; the army is certainly dissatisfied. Mar- 
 
106 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 mont is held In great contempt ; they will have it he 
 betrayed Paris, and say it would be by no means 
 prudent for him to appear at the head of a line 
 when there was any firing. The people may or 
 may not like their emancipation from tyranny, but 
 their vanity — they call it glory — has been tarnished 
 by the surrender of Paris, and they declare on all 
 hands that if Marmont had held out for a day 
 Bonaparte would have arrived, and in an instant 
 settled the business by defeating the Allies. In 
 vain may you hint that he was inferior in point 
 of numbers (to say anything of the skill and 
 merit of the Russians perhaps would not have 
 been very prudent), and that he could not have 
 succeeded. A doubtino- shake of the head, sio-nifi- 
 cant shrug of the shoulders, and expressive " Ba, 
 Ba," explain well enough their opinions on the 
 subject. 
 
 I cannot conceive a more grating badge to the 
 officers than the white cockade — -the fleur de lys is 
 now generally adopted in place of the N and other 
 insignia of Bonaparte, but, excepting from some 
 begging boys, I have never heard the cry of " Vive 
 Louis XVIII. !" and then it was done, I shrewdly 
 suspect, as an acceptable cry for the Anglois, and 
 followed immediately by " un pauvre petit Hard, s'il 
 vous plait, Mons." We went to the play last night ; 
 the house was filthy beyond description, and the 
 company execrable as far as dress went ; few 
 women, and those in their morning dress and 
 Oldenburg Bonnets — the men almost all officers, 
 
1814] "VIVE NAPOLEON!" 107 
 
 and a horrid-looking set they were. I would give 
 them credit for military talents ; they all looked like 
 chiefs of banditti — swarthy visages, immense mous 
 tachios, vulgar, disgusting, dirty, and ill-bred in 
 their appearance. 
 
 From all I hear the account of the duels between 
 these and the Russian officers at Paris were 
 perfectly correct.^ 
 
 I am just come in from a stroll about the town. 
 Among the most interesting circumstances that 
 occurred was the inspection of detachments of 
 several regiments quartered there. I happened to 
 be close to the General when he addressed some 
 Grenadiers de la Garde Imperiale on the subject of 
 their dismissal, which it seems they wanted. They 
 spoke to him without any respect, and on his ex- 
 plaining the terms on which their dismissal could 
 alone be had, they appeared by no means satisfied, 
 and when he went I heard one of them in talkino- 
 to a party collected round him say, " Eh bien, s'il 
 ne veut pas nous congedier, nous passerons." A 
 man standing by told me a short time ago a 
 regiment of Imperial Chasseurs when called upon 
 to shout " Vive Louis XVI I L ! " at Boulogne, to a 
 man, officers included, cried "Vive Napoleon! " and 
 I feel very certain that had the same thing been 
 required to-day from the soldiers on the field, they 
 
 ^ " After the Restoration of the Bourbons several duels took 
 
 place for the most frivolous causes. Duels were fought even 
 
 by night. The ofificers of the Swiss guards were constantly 
 
 measuring swords with the officers of the old ' Garde Imperiale ' " 
 
 Gronow's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 22). 
 
108 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 would have acted in the same manner, and that the 
 spectators would have cried " Amen." 
 
 I heard abundance of curious remarks on the 
 subject of the war, the peace, and the changes ; 
 they will have it they were not conquered. " Oh 
 no." " Paris ne fut jamais vaincue — elle s'est soumise 
 seulement ! " I leave it to your English heads to 
 define the difference between submission and 
 conquest. 
 
 Beef and mutton are 5d. per lb. here. Chickens 
 3s. the couple, though 24 per cent, was probably 
 added to me as an Englishman. Bread a 100 per 
 cent, cheaper than in England — at least so I was 
 informed by an Englishman in the commercial line. 
 Fish cheap as dirt at Havre, 3 John Dorys 
 for 6d. 
 
 From Havre to Rouen, 57 miles, cost us ;^i 6s. 
 for both ; from thence to Paris, 107 miles, £2 ; our 
 dinners, including wine, are about 4s. a head ; 
 breakfast 2s., beds is. 6d. each. 
 
 Letter HI. 
 
 Paris, Jiine ■^ofh. 
 
 Here we arrived about an hour ago ; for the last 
 two miles the country was a perfect garden — 
 cherries, gooseberries, apple-trees, corn, vineyards, 
 all chequered together in profusion ; in other 
 respects nothing remarkable. . . . 
 
 The first sight of Paris, or rather its situation, is 
 about 10 miles off, when the heights of Montmartre, 
 on one side, and the dome of the Hopital des 
 
"D 
 
 SliS ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 .k 
 
 N 
 
 k 
 
 f? 
 
 J" 
 
 t: 
 
 ! 
 
 
 ' 
 
 i ! 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 ! i 
 
 !1 ^ 
 
 
1814] A WALK THROUGH PARIS 109 
 
 Invalides on the other reminded us of their trophies 
 and disasters at the same time. . . . 
 
 Now you must enter our rooms in 1' Hotel des 
 Etrangers, rue du Hazard, as I know you wish to 
 see minutely. First walk, if you please, into an 
 antechamber paved with red hexagon tiles (dirty 
 enough, to be sure), and the saloon also, into which 
 you next enter through a pair of folding doors. This 
 saloon is in the genuine tawdry French style — gold 
 and silver carving work and dirt are the component 
 features. It is about 20 feet square, plenty of 
 chairs, sofas of velvet, and so forth, but only one 
 wretched rickety table in the centre. Two folding 
 doors open into our bedroom, which is in furniture 
 pretty much like the rest ; the beds are excellent — 
 fitted up in a sort of tent fashion — and mine has a 
 looking-glass occupying the whole of one side, in 
 which I may at leisure contemplate myself in my 
 night-cap, for I cannot discover for what other 
 purpose it was placed there. 
 
 Now let us take a walk — put on thick shoes or 
 you will find yourself rather troubled with the 
 paving stones, for nothing like a flagged footpath 
 exists ; a slight inclination from each side termi- 
 nates in a central gutter, from which are exploded 
 showers of mud by the passing carriages and cabri- 
 olets. You must get on as you can ; horse and foot, 
 coaches and carts are jumbled together, and he 
 who walks in Paris must have his eyes about him. 
 The streets are in general narrow and irregular, and 
 so much alike that it requires no small skill to find 
 
110 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 one's way home again. Ariadne in Paris would 
 wish for her clue. First we ascended the bronze 
 column I in the Place de Vendome — figure to your- 
 self a column perfect in proportions much resembling 
 Nelson's in Dublin, ornamented after the plan of 
 Trajan's pillar — all of bronze, on which the opera- 
 tions of the wars and victories in Germany are 
 recorded. Bonaparte's statue crowned it, but that 
 was removed. The column itself, however, will 
 remain an eternal statue commemorating his deeds, 
 and though the Eagles and letter N are rapidly 
 effacing from every quarter, this must last till Paris 
 shall be no more. From the top of this pillar you 
 of course have a magnificent view, and it must have 
 been a choice spot from whence to behold the fight 
 of Montmartre. It will scarcely interest you much 
 to say much about the other public buildings, suffice 
 it to say that all the improvements are in the very 
 best style — magnificent to the last degree ; they 
 may be the works of a Tyrant, but it was a Tyrant 
 of taste, who had more sense than to spend 
 120,000 Louis in sky-rockets. His public buildings 
 at least were for the public good, and were 
 ornaments to his capital. 
 
 But let us turn from inanimate to living objects ; 
 since I penned the last line I have been sitting 
 with Mme. de Stael. ... By appointment we 
 
 ^ The Colonne Vendome. This stood on the site of a statue 
 to Louis XIV. which had been melted down at the Revolution. 
 It was made of Austrian cannon taken during the years from 
 1806 to 1810. 
 
1814] A VISIT TO MADAME DE STAEL 111 
 
 called at 12.1 For a few moments we waited in a 
 gaudy drawing-room ; the door then opened and 
 an elderly form dressed a la jeunesse appeared ; 
 she is not ugly ; she is not vulgar (Edward begs 
 to differ from this opinion, he thinks her ugly 
 beyond measure) ; her countenance is pleasing, but 
 very different from anything my fancy had formed ; 
 a pale complexion not far from that of a white 
 Mulatto, if you will allow me to make the bull ; 
 her eyebrows dark and her hair quite sable, dry 
 and crisp like a negro's, though not quite so 
 curling. She scarcely gave me time to make my 
 compliments in French before she spoke in fluent 
 English. I was not sorry she fought under British 
 colors, for though she was never at a loss, I knew 
 I could express and defend myself better than had 
 she spoken in French. I hurried her as much as 
 decency would permit from one subject to another, 
 but I found politics were uppermost in her 
 thoughts. . . . She was equally averse to both 
 parties — to the royal because she said it was 
 despotism ; the Imperial because it was tyranny. 
 "Is there," said I, "no happy medium ; are there 
 none who can feel the advantages of liberty, and wish 
 for a free constitution?" " None," said she, "but 
 myself and a few — some 12 or 15 — we are nothing ; 
 not enough to make a dinner party." I ventured 
 to throw in a little flattery — I knew my ground — 
 
 ^ Madame de Stael had only returned to France after her long 
 exile a few weeks after Napoleon's abdication. Her rooms were 
 in the Hotel de Tamerzan, 105, Rue de Grenelle St. Germain. 
 
112 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 and remarked that an opinion like hers, which had 
 in some measure influenced Europe, was in itself 
 an host ; the compliment was well received, and 
 in truth I could offer it conscientiotisly to pay tribute 
 to her abilities. 
 
 On leaving" Mme. de S. we paid another visit. 
 From the greatest woman we went to see our 
 greatest man in Paris, Sir Charles Stuart,^ to whom 
 Lord Sheffield had given me a letter of introduc- 
 tion. This had been sent the day before, and of 
 course I now went to see the effect. After waiting 
 in the Anti-chamber of the great man for about halt 
 an hour, and seeing divers and sundry faces pass and 
 repass in review, we were summoned to an audience. 
 We found a little, vulgar-looking man, whom I 
 should have mistaken for the great man's butler 
 if he had not first given a hint that he was bona 
 fide the great man himself. I think the conversa- 
 tion was nearly thus : E. S. : " Pray, Sir, are the 
 Marshalls in Paris, and if so is it easy to see 
 them? " Sir C. S. : " Upon my soul I don't know." 
 E. S. : " Pray, Sir, is there anything interesting 
 to a stranger like myself likely to take place in the 
 course of the next fortnight?" Sir C. S. : " Upon 
 
 I Stuart, Sir Charles, 1779-1845. Eldest son of Sir C. Stuart, 
 General, and Louisa, daughter and co-heiress of Lord Vere Bertie. 
 Minister at the Hague and Ambassador at Paris, and later on 
 at St. Petersburg. British Envoy at the Congress of Vienna. 
 Created Baron Stuart de Rothesay 1841. Married, 1816, Lady 
 Elizabeth Yorke, third daughter of third Earl of Hardwicke. 
 Gronow gives a more favourable account of him, " One of the 
 most popular Ambassadors Great Britain ever sent to Paris." 
 
1814] AN ENGLISH AMBASSADOR 113 
 
 my soul I don't know," E. S. : " Pray, Sir, is the 
 interior of the Thuilleries worth seeing, and could 
 we easily see the apartments ? " Sir C. S. : '* Upon 
 my soul I don't know." This, I do assure you, was 
 the cream of the conversation. Now certainly a 
 great man ought to look wise and say he does not 
 know so and so, when in fact he knows all about 
 it, but somehow or other I could not help thinking 
 that Sir Charles spoke the truth, for if I may draw 
 any inference from Physiognomy, I never saw a face 
 upon which the character of "upon my soul I don't 
 know " was more visibly stamped. I left my card, 
 bowed, and retired. . . . 
 
 I next turned my eyes to the Louvre.^ What are 
 the exhibitions of London, modern or ancient ? What 
 are Lord Stafford's, Grosvenor's, Angerstein's, &c., 
 in comparison with this unrivalled gallery ? Words 
 cannot describe the coup d'oeil. Figure to yourself a 
 magnificent room so long that you would be unable 
 to recognise a person at the other extremity, so long 
 that the perspective lines terminate in a point, 
 covered with the finest works of art all classed and 
 numbered so as to afford the utmost facility of 
 inspection ; no questions asked on entering, no 
 money to be given to bowing porters or butlers, 
 no cards of admission procured by interest — all open 
 to the public view, unfettered and unshackled ; the 
 liberality of the exhibition is increased by the 
 appearance of Easels and desks occupied by artists 
 
 ^ Under the Treaty of Paris France had been allowed to keep 
 the Art Treasures taken by Napoleon. 
 
 8 
 
114 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 who copy at leisure. It is noble and grand beyond 
 imagination. In the Halls below are the Statues, 
 arranged with equal taste, though, as they are in 
 different rooms, the general effect is not so striking. 
 I recognised all my old friends, the Venus de 
 Medicis was alone new to me. She is sadly muti- 
 lated, but is still the admiration of all persons of 
 sound judgment and orthodox taste, amongst whom, 
 I regret to say, I deserve not to be classed, as I 
 really cannot enter into the merits of statues, and 
 the difference between a perfect and moderate 
 specimen of sculpture appears to me infinitely less 
 than between good and moderate paintings. . . . 
 
 After dining at a Restaurateur's, who gave us a 
 most excellent dinner, wine, &c., for about 3s. a 
 head, we went to the Theatre Fran9ais, or the 
 Drury Lane of Paris. We expected to see Talma ^ 
 in Merope, but his part was taken by one who is 
 equally famous, Dufour, and the female part by 
 Mme. Roncour. She was intolerable, though appa- 
 rently a great favourite ; he tolerable, and that is 
 all I can say. In truth, French tragedy is little to 
 my taste. . . . The best part of the play was the 
 opportunity it afforded " les bonnes gens " de Paris 
 to show their loyalty, and much gratified I was 
 in hearing some enthusiastic applause of certain 
 passages as they applied to the return of their 
 ancient sovereign. There is something very sombre 
 and vulgar in the French playhouses with the men's 
 boots and the women's bonnets. Could I in an instant 
 ^ Talma, the celebrated tragic actor, 1 763-1826. 
 
1^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 S^ 
 
 4 
 
 f5 
 
1814] VANISHED TROPHIES 115 
 
 waft you from the solitudes of Stoke to the clatter 
 of Paris, how you would stare to see the boxes filled 
 with persons almost extinguished in their enormous 
 casques of straw and flowers. I have seen several 
 bearing, in addition to other ornaments, a bunch of 
 5 or 6 lilies as large as life. . . . 
 
 Letter IV. 
 
 Paris, July 8, 1814. 
 
 You will take for granted we have seen all the 
 exhibitions, libraries, &c., of Paris ; they will wait 
 for more ample description — a glance on one or two 
 will be sufficient. 
 
 L'Hopital des Invalides was, you know, famous 
 for its magnificent dome, which was decorated with 
 flags, standards, and trophies of the victorious arms 
 of France ; impatient to shew them to Edward, I 
 hastened thither, but alas, not a pennant remains. 
 On the near approach of the Allies they were taken 
 down, and some say burnt, others buried, others 
 removed to a distance. I asked one of the Invalides 
 whether the Allies had not got possession of a few. 
 With great indignation and animation he exclaimed, 
 " Je suis aussi sur que je suis de mon existence qu'il 
 n'ont pas pris un j-^z^i/meme." 
 
 On Sunday last, after having hunted everywhere 
 for a Protestant church, one of which we found at 
 last by some blunder quite empty, we went with 
 our landlord, a serjeant in the national guard, to 
 inspect the heights of Chaumont, Belleville, and 
 Mt. Martre. . . . We ascended from the town for 
 
116 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 about 3 miles to a sort of large rambling village, in 
 situation and circumstances somewhat like Highgate. 
 This was Belleville, whose heights run on receding 
 from Paris a considerable distance, but terminate 
 rather abruptly in the direction of Mont Martre, 
 from which they are separated by a low, swampy 
 valley containing all the dead horses, filth, and 
 exuvious putrefactions of Paris. . . . Immediately 
 below, extending for many miles, including St. Denis 
 and other villages, are fine plains ; upon which 
 plains about 3 in the morning the Russians de- 
 ployed, and the Spectacle must have been interest- 
 ing beyond measure. . . . On the heights and 
 towards the base were assembled part of Marmont's ^ 
 army with their field pieces and some few heavier 
 guns ; there, too, were stationed the greater part 
 of the students of I'Ecole Polytechnique, corre- 
 sponding to our Woolwich cadets. Nothing could 
 surpass their conduct when their brethren in arms 
 fled ; they clung to their guns and were nearly all 
 annihilated. I was assured that their bodies were 
 found in masses on the spot were they were origi- 
 nally stationed ; their number was about 300. . . . 
 I met a few in the course of the day who were, like 
 ourselves, contemplating the field of battle, and who 
 spoke like the rest of their countrymen of the base- 
 
 ^ On March 30th the AlHes marched on Paris. They attacked 
 in three divisions — the Silesian army on the side of Mont- 
 martre, Prince Eugene of Wurtemberg and Barclay de Tolly 
 by Pantin and Romainville, the Crown Prince of Wurtemburg 
 by Vincennes and Charenton. Marmont surrendered the same 
 day. 
 
1814] THE HEIGHTS OF MONTMARTRE 117 
 
 ness of Marmont and treachery of the day. The 
 cannonade must have been pretty sharp while it 
 lasted, as about 5,000 Russians perished before they 
 got possession of the heights — though the actual 
 operation of storming did not occupy half an hour — 
 but their lines were quite open to a severe fire of 
 grape from eminences commanding every inch of 
 the plain. Whilst this work was going on at 
 Belleville, another Russian column performed a 
 similar service at Mt. Martre, which is nearer Paris 
 — in fact, immediately above the Barriers. . . . 
 Thither our guide next conducted us, and pointed 
 out the particular spots where the assault and 
 carnage were most desperate. A number of Parties 
 were walking about and all talking of the battle or 
 Bonaparte. . . . Till this day I had never heard 
 him openly and honestly avowed, but here I had 
 several opportunities of incorporating myself in 
 groups in which his name was bandied about with 
 every invective which French hatred and fluency 
 could invent. Their tongues, like Baron Mun- 
 chausen's horn, seemed to run with an accumulated 
 rapidity from the long embargo laid upon them. 
 *' Sacre gueux, bete, voleur," &c., were the current 
 coin in which they repaid his despotism, and I was 
 happy to find that his conduct in Spain was by all 
 held in utter detestation and considered as the 
 ground work of his ruin. 
 
 I saw one party in such a state of bodily and 
 mental agitation that I ran up expecting to see a 
 battle, but the multiplicity of hands, arms, and legs 
 
118 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 which were rising, falling, wheeling, and kicking, 
 were merely energetic additions to the general sub- 
 ject. . . . The National guard were not (with few 
 exceptions) actually engaged. To the amount of 
 36,000 they occupied the towns and barriers, by all 
 accounts guessing, or, as one intelligent conductor 
 assured us, very certain that they would not be 
 called upon to fight much for the defence of Paris. 
 . . . Indeed, from all I have been able to learn, and 
 from all I have been able to see, it appears pretty 
 clear that no serious defence was intended — a little 
 opposition was necessary for the look of the thing. 
 And although Marmont might have done more, I 
 feel convinced that had he exerted himself to the 
 utmost, Paris must have perished. 
 
 The heights were defended in a very inadequate 
 and unsoldierlike manner ; not a single work was 
 thrown up before the guns, no entrenchments, no 
 bastions, and yet with three days' notice all this 
 might have easily been done. The barriers all 
 round Paris were, and still are, hemmed round with 
 Palisades with loop holes, each of which might have 
 been demolished by half a dozen rounds from a 6- 
 pounder ; the French, indeed, laugh at them and 
 consider them as mere divertissements of Bona- 
 parte's, and feeble attempts to excite a spirit of 
 defence amongst the people — a spirit which, for- 
 tunately for Europe, was never excited. The lads 
 of Paris had determined to take their chance and 
 not to do one atom more than they were called 
 upon or compelled to do. These wooden barriers 
 
1814] COSSACK:S AT CHAMPS ELYSEES 119 
 
 are made of le bois de tremble (aspen), and the 
 pun was that the fortifications "tremblaient par- 
 tout." You will like to hear somethinor of Edg-e- 
 worth's friend, St. Jean d'Angely ; ^ he came up 
 to the barrier where our landlord (who had been 
 formerly an imperial guardsman and fought in the 
 battle of Marengo) was posted ; here he called 
 loudly for some brandy, for which he got laughed at 
 by the whole line of guard ; he then sallied forth 
 and proceeded a short distance, when his horse took 
 fright, and as St. Jean was, as our landlord told us, 
 " entierement du meme avis avec son cheval," they 
 both set off as fast as they could, and were in 
 a few minutes far beyond all danger, nor did they 
 appear again amid the din of arms. The fate of 
 Paris v/as decided with a rapidity and sang-froid 
 quite astonishing. By 5 o'clock in the Evening all 
 was entirely at an end, and the national guard and 
 allies incorporated and doing the usual duty of the 
 town. They were, indeed, under arms a little 
 longer than usual, and a few more sentries were 
 placed and the theatre not open that Evening, 
 but that single evening was the only exception, 
 and the next day the Palais Royal was as brilliant 
 and more cheerful than ever, with its motley groups 
 of visitors. The Cossacks were not quartered 
 in the Palais Royal, they were in the Ch. Elysees, the 
 trees of which bear visible marks of their horses' teeth, 
 but a good many came in from curiosity and hung 
 their horses in the open space of the Palais. . . . 
 
 ^ Regnaud St, Jean d'Angely, 1762-1819. 
 
120 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 The Russian discipline was most severe, and not an 
 article was taken from any individual with impunity, 
 immediate death was the punishment. The field of 
 battle bore few marks of the event — a few skeletons 
 of horses and rags of uniforms ; the more surprising 
 thing is that, notwithstanding all the trampling of 
 horse and foot on the plains below so late as the 
 end of March, the corn has not suffered in the 
 slightest degree. I wish the Alderley crops were as 
 good. 
 
 You have no idea of the severity of the con- 
 scription. That men can be attached to a being 
 who dragged them, with such violence to every 
 feeling, from their homes would be astonishing, but 
 for the well-known force of the "selfish principle" 
 which amalgamates their glory with his. A friend 
 of our landlord's paid at various times 18,000 fr., 
 about ;^900 ; he thought himself safe, but Bonaparte 
 wanted a Volunteer guard of honour ; he was told 
 it would be prudent to enroll himself, which in 
 consideration of the great sums he had paid would 
 be merely a nominal business, and that he would 
 never be called upon. He did put his name down ; 
 was called out in a trice and shot in the next 
 campaign. Our waiter at Rouen assured me his 
 friends had bought him off by giving in the first 
 instance £2^ for a substitute, with an annuity to the 
 said substitute of an equal sum — pretty well this, 
 for a poor lad of about 16. 
 
 Thanks to our landlord and not to Sir Charles 
 Stuart, we mi^ht have been introduced into the 
 
1814] NAPOLEON'S LEGACY OF DEBT 121 
 
 Thuilleries, but came too late. We lost nothing, 
 as after Mass the King marched through a beautiful 
 sort of Glass gallery facing the Thuilleries Gardens, 
 and then came out into a Balcony to shew himself 
 to the crowd there assembled ! he was received with 
 universal and loud applause. "Vive le Roi ! " was 
 heard as loud as heart could wish, hats, sticks and 
 handkerchiefs were flying in all directions. When 
 he entered Paris, in one of the Barriers a sort of 
 Archway was made and so contrived that as the 
 carriage passed under a crown fell upon it, a band 
 at the same time striking up " Ou peut on etre 
 mieux que dans le sein de sa famille," which is, 
 you know, one of their favourite airs. 
 
 Poor man, he has enough to do, and will, I fear, 
 experience a turbulent reign. Bonaparte has left 
 his troops 3 years in arrears, the treasury empty, 
 two parties equally clamourous for places and 
 pensions, both of which must be satisfied. Their 
 taxes are heavier than I thought they were. Our 
 landlord has an estate worth about 2,000 frcs., his 
 father paid 200 fr. a year for it, and he is now under 
 the necessity of paying 1,200, having only a clear 
 surplus of 800, and the finances are at too low an 
 ebb to allow of any immediate reduction in their 
 taxes. . . . 
 
 To take things in their course, I must now 
 proceed to my dinner at Sir Charles Stuart's. I 
 was shewn into a room where I found three or four 
 Englishmen gaping at one another. Before many 
 more had assembled, in came Sir C., and I believe^ 
 
122 BEFORE AND AE'TElR WATERLOO 
 
 or rather I am willing to flatter myself, he made a 
 sort of half bow towards us, and then we stood and 
 gaped again ; a few more words between him and 
 one or two who were to go to Court the day after, 
 but to me and some others not a syllable of any 
 description was uttered, and when some more 
 English were shewn in who were, I presume, as 
 respectable as myself, his behaviour was quite 
 boorish, he did not condescend to look towards 
 the door. These thino-s went on till a throno- 
 of Spaniards with Stars and orders came in ; with 
 these he appeared tolerably intimate, and also with 
 three Englishmen who afterwards appeared. We 
 were about 24 in number, and all I had to do in the 
 half-hour preceding dinner was to look out for the 
 most intelligent, gentlemanlike-looking Englishman 
 I could, to secure a place by him. . . . 
 
 You will ask who I met. I protest to you that I 
 went and returned without being able to learn more 
 than that the secretary's name was Bidwell, and 
 that one other person in company was a Mr. Martin, 
 who had been agent for prisoners ; of the rest I 
 knew nothing, not even of my neighbour ; birth, 
 parentage, and education were alike involved in 
 the cloud of diplomatic mystery which seemed 
 to impend heavily over this mansion, and when 
 my neighbour asked me, or I asked him, the 
 names of any person present the answer was mutual 
 — " I don't know." Sir Charles sat in the centre 
 with a ofold-coated Don on each side of him, with 
 whom he might have whispered, for though I sat 
 
1814] JARDIN DES PLANTES 123 
 
 within two of his Excellency, I never heard the 
 sound of his voice : however, my opinion may not 
 coincide with all that pass from Calais to Dover, 
 as I heard one man remark to another that his 
 countenance was very pleasing, to which was 
 added in reply, "and he is a very sensible man." 
 These things may be, but I never met with one 
 more perfect in the art of concealing his talents. 
 
 Now for the Jardin des Plantes and its lectures. 
 This same Jardin is a large space appropriated to 
 Botanical pursuits, public walks, menageries, 
 museums, &c. There you see Bears and Lions 
 and, in fact, the finest collection of Birds and 
 Beasts alive, some in little paddocks, others in 
 clean and airy dens. But this is the least part 
 of this delightful establishment ; its museums and 
 cabinets are like the Louvre, the finest collection 
 in the world. Everything is arranged in such 
 order that it is almost impossible to see it without 
 feeling a love of science ; here the mineralogist, 
 geologist, naturalist, entomologist may each pursue 
 his favourite studies unmolested. Here, as every- 
 where else, the utmost liberality is shewn to all, 
 but to Englishmen particularly, your country is 
 your passport. Like the mysterious " Open Sesame " 
 in the Arabian nights, you have only to say, " Je suis 
 Anglais " and you go in and out at pleasure. I have 
 seen Frenchmen begging in vain with ladies and 
 officers of the party and turned away because they 
 had happened on the wrong day or hour, and then 
 we, without solicitation, have been desired to walk 
 
124 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 in. But all these museums and living animals, 
 curious and interesting as they are, are surpassed 
 by the still greater liberality shewn in the daily 
 lectures given by the members of the Institute or 
 Professors of the several sciences. I have attended 
 Haiiy,! Dumeril,^ I'Ettorel, du Mare, and others 
 upon Mineralogy, Nat. Hist, and Entomology, 
 and Haiiy, you know, is the first mineralogist in 
 Europe, and I never looked upon a more interesting 
 being. When he entered the lecture room, every 
 one rose out of respect, and well they might. He 
 is 80 years of age apparently, with a most heavenly 
 patriarchal countenance and silver hair ; his teeth are 
 gone, so that I could not understand a word he 
 said, though, indeed, had he been possessed of 
 all the teeth in Christendom I apprehend I should 
 not have been much wiser, as he lectured on the 
 angular forms of the Amphiboles. He looked like 
 a man picked out of a crystal, and when he dies 
 he ought to be reincarnated and placed in his own 
 museum. 
 
 Another Scene to which I found my way was 
 equally interesting : I went to a lecture on Icono- 
 graphic drawing, or Science, as it was called, of 
 representing natural subjects. In other words, when 
 I got there I found it was a professorship of drawing, 
 everything connected with Nat. Hist., such as 
 flowers, animals, insects ; and the Professor lectures 
 one day and practically instructs on another. I 
 
 ' Abai Reny Just Haiiy, 1743-182 2. 
 ^ Dumeril, naturalist and professor. 
 
1814] PRIVILEGES OF AN ENGLISHMAN 125 
 
 happened to be present at one of the latter. Conceive 
 my surprise at finding myself in a large library 
 filled with tables, drawing books, ladies and gentle- 
 men all sketching either from nature or excellent 
 copies here. As it was not a public day except 
 to those who wished to attend for instruction, 
 I ought not with propriety to have intruded, but 
 " J'etais Anglois " and every attention was paid. You 
 would have given a little finger to have seen the 
 room ; it was a hot summer's day, but there all 
 was cool and fragrant ; the windows opened on 
 the gardens, the tables were covered with groupes 
 of flowers in vases ; the company, about 40, were 
 seated up and down where ever they chose, each 
 with a nice desk and drawing board — in short, it 
 was a scene which excited feelings of respect for 
 a nation which thus patronised everything which 
 could add to the rational improvement of its 
 members. Were France the seat of religion and 
 pure virtue it would be Utopia verified ; but, alas ! 
 there are spots which stain the picture and cast 
 a balance decidedly in favour of England : we 
 are rough, we are narrow-minded, but he who 
 travels is brought to confess and say " England ! 
 with all thy faults I love thee still." . . . 
 
 Letter V. 
 
 Paris, July 10th. 
 Madame de Stael's party formed a fine contrast 
 to the gloom and ponderosity of Sir Charles Stuart's 
 dinner the day before. We went a quarter before 
 
126 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 nine, thinking, as it was the nominal hour, it would 
 be ill-bred to go too early, but the French are more 
 punctual in these matters, for we found the good 
 people all assembled and Marmont 'f walked out not 
 five minutes before we walked in. 
 
 In his stead we had General Lafayette, ^ the 
 cornerstone of the Revolution. He is a tall, 
 clumsy-made man, not much unlike Dr. Nightingale, 
 tho' rather thinner. His countenance discovers 
 thought and sound judgment, but by no means 
 quickness or brilliancy ; his manners were quiet, 
 unassuming, and gentlemanlike. He spoke little, 
 and then said nothing particularly worth notice. 
 
 The next lion announced was a lioness, the cele- 
 brated Madame Recamier,3 and though she is not 
 in her premiere jeunesse, I can easily conceive how 
 she could once dazzle the world. It would be too 
 much to give her credit for superior talents, but her 
 manners were very agreeable tho' rather like all 
 other belles of France who have fallen in my way, 
 somewhat a la languissante. But I am all this 
 while forgetting the star of the evening, the Baroness 
 herself. She sat in a line with about six ladies, 
 before whom were arranged as many gentlemen, 
 
 ' Marmont, 17 74-1 85 2, Due de Raguse. The defence of 
 Paris had been left in his hands by Napoleon, and his surrender 
 to the Allies was the finishing stroke which forced Napoleon 
 to abdicate. 
 
 2 Lafayette, 1 757-1 834, Liberal general and politician. 
 
 3 Madame Recamier, 177 7-1 849, a famous beauty. She 
 had held a "salon" at Paris in the early days of the Empire, but 
 had been exiled in 181 1 and had just returned (June, 1814). 
 
1814] A PARTY AT MADAME DE STAEL'S 127 
 
 all listening to the oracular tongue of their political 
 Sybil. 
 
 She was in high spirits because she had been 
 warmed up by the decision of the court and com- 
 mons concerning the liberty of the press, which had 
 received an effectual check by limiting all liberty 
 of speech and opinion to works containing not less 
 than 480 pages, thus excluding the papers and 
 pamphlets. The moment we were announced, 
 before she asked me how I did, she enquired 
 whether I had heard this notable decision, and 
 then demanded what I thought of it. Of course, 
 I assured her how much I lamented the prospect 
 of an inundation of dull, prolix books to which 
 France was thus inevitably exposed. This, as we 
 spoke in English, she immediately translated for the 
 benefit of the company, adding " Ce Monsieur 
 Anglois dit cela, et c'est bien vrai il a raison," 
 and then she laughed and seemed to enjoy the 
 catalogue of stupid books which might be antici- 
 pated. 
 
 I must confess the party was a little formidable ; 
 in England I should have said formal, but there 
 is something in French manners wholly foreign to 
 any application of the word formal, and really after 
 exchanorinof a few remarks I was plad to be intro- 
 duced to her son^ and daughter, ^ with both of whom 
 I was much pleased. They are clever and agree- 
 able. She is not above eighteen or twenty, and 
 
 ' Auguste de Stael, 1790-182 7. 
 
 2 Mademoiselle de Stael, married the Due de Broglie. 
 
128 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 if her complexion was good would be very pretty. 
 She was not shy, beginning conversation in a trice 
 upon interesting subjects. She compared the 
 English and French character, in which she (and 
 I presume it was a maternal opinion) would not 
 allow an atom of merit to the latter. On finding 
 that I was a clergyman she immediately began 
 upon Religion, talked of Hodgson,^ Andrews, 
 Wilberforce,- and then in questioning me about 
 the Methodists (about whom she seemed to have 
 heard much and entertained confused notions) we 
 slid into mysticism, which carried us, of course, into 
 the third vol. of " Allemagne "; she spoke in raptures 
 of the mystic school, said she was quite one in 
 heart — " Cela se peut," thought I ; but somehow or 
 other " Je ne le crois pas," for I have heard some 
 little anecdotes of her mother, in which, whatever 
 may be her theoretical views of mysticism, her 
 practical opinions are rather more lax than Fenelon's. 
 Much against my will I took my leave, willing to 
 hope that Mme. S. spoke the truth when she said 
 how glad she should be to see me if I visited Paris 
 during the winter ; she is off to Switzerland in a 
 few days. The French say we have spoilt her — in 
 fact, she occupies little of the public attention in 
 Paris. 
 
 * Hodgson, Dean of Carlisle and Rector of St. George's, 
 Hanover Square; d. 1844. 
 
 = William Wilberforce, 1 759-1833 ; distinguished among 
 the promoters of Negro Emancipation and the Abolition of 
 the Slave Trade. 
 
1814] THE "CORPS LEGISLATIF" 129 
 
 The next event most interesting was our visit to 
 the Corps L^gislatif, or House of Commons. We 
 went to a certain door, to which we were refused 
 admittance, and told it was too full or too late. 
 But said I, " Nous sommes Anglois " ; in an instant 
 a man came up and placed us in an inner gallery 
 in the body of the house. The House is something 
 like the Royal Institution — of course larger and 
 beautifully fitted up. Considering it as the Royal 
 Institution for your better comprehension, the 
 President sits on a tribunal throne in a recess 
 corresponding to the fire-place ; immediately below 
 is a sort of Rostrum from whence the Members 
 speak, in situation like the lecturer of the R.I. 
 In point of decoration and external appearance 
 both of house and members, it is far superior to 
 our House of Commons, as all the members wear 
 uniforms of blue and gold, but taking it all together 
 I know not that anything can be more illustrative 
 of the French Character — externally all correct and 
 delightful, but within " a sad rottenness of the state 
 of Denmark." 
 
 The president began the proceedings by ringing a 
 bell ; a paper was then read detailing, I believe, the 
 orders of the day. A member then arose and went 
 to the Rostrum. In the middle of his speech he 
 was called to order and told it was a very bad 
 speech, so down he came and another mounted. 
 He was equally disliked, for they told him he spoke 
 too low and they could not hear him, so he dis- 
 appeared ; then half a dozen got up and were so 
 
 9 
 
130 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 impatient that they began speaking altogether 
 before they reached the Tribune. In vain did 
 the President ring his bell, and stand up and 
 gesticulate. Silence, however, was at length ob- 
 tained, and he addressed them, but with little better 
 success than the rest. One man then stept for- 
 ward and did obtain a hearing, for he had good 
 lungs and a fair share of eloquence. His speech 
 was short, but it was by far the best ; his name was 
 Dumolard.^ Soon afterwards the sitting broke up ; 
 the whole took up little more than an hour. I 
 know not whether the perfect want of order was 
 more ridiculous or disgusting ; the sittings of the 
 Senate (Peers) are private. . . . 
 
 We will now take you to Malmaison, the in- 
 teresting retreat of the interesting Josephine. Her 
 character was scarcely known in England. We 
 hear little more of her than as a discarded Empress 
 or Mistress of Buonaparte's, but she had much to 
 recommend her to public as well as private notice. 
 The French all speak highly of her, and it is 
 impossible, on seeing Malmaison and hearing of 
 her virtues, not to join in their opinion. To be 
 sure, as a Frenchman told me in running through 
 a list of virtues, " Elle avait ete un peu libertine, 
 mais ce n'est rien cela," and, indeed, I could almost 
 have added, " C'est bien vrai," for every allowance 
 should be made ; consider the situation in which 
 
 ^ Dumolard, 1 766-1820 ; a French politician, a prominent 
 figure in the Chamber of Representatives under the first Restora- 
 tion, 
 
1814] 
 
 MALMAISON 
 
 131 
 
 she was placed, her education, her temptations ; 
 many a saint might have fallen from the eminence 
 on which she stood ; 
 
 I never dwelt with 
 more satisfaction or 
 felt more inclined 
 to coincide in that 
 benevolent verdict 
 of the best of 
 judges of human 
 nature and human 
 frailty, " Neither do 
 I condemn thee, go 
 and sin no more," 
 than in criticising 
 the character of 
 Josephine. 
 
 I am not sure 
 whether you know 
 exactly the history 
 of Malmaison. The 
 house and land 
 attached to it 
 were purchased by 
 Buonaparte when 
 First Consul, and 
 given to Josephine, 
 who made it what 
 it is, and bouofht 
 
 MALMAISON 
 
 tt 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 B 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 
 u 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 JL 
 
 D 
 
 . F 
 
 more land, so that it is now in fact a little 
 Estate. On being divorced, she retired thither 
 
132 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 with Eugene Beauharnais, her son, and younger 
 children. Her pursuits and occupations will be 
 best understood by describing what we saw. I 
 should say, before I proceed, that it required some 
 interest to get in, and that we went with the 
 Hibberts, who knew the secretary of the Swedish 
 Ambassador, in whose suite we were incorporated 
 for admission. The chief room in the house is 
 what is called the Gallery A, planned and finished 
 according to her own designs ; the floor is a mass 
 of dark inlaid marble, the ceiling arched and light 
 admitted from it, the whole not much unlike the 
 Gallery at Winnington on a much larger scale. It 
 would be difficult to describe the fitting up of the 
 interior. The walls are hung with the most exquisite 
 selections from ancient Masters, not stolen, but 
 many given to her, and the rest purchased by her- 
 self; but I was more struck by the statues than 
 with any thing else. The dots represent them and 
 their situations in the Gallery; they are chiefly by 
 two modern artists, Canova and Boher, though I 
 fear the reputation of my taste and judgment will 
 suffer by the confession. I still must confess that 
 I felt far more pleasure than in looking either upon 
 Apollo or the Venus de Medicis. There was a 
 Bust and Statue of herself, the latter particularly 
 beautiful, and if accurate, which I was assured it 
 was, the original must have been elegant and 
 interesting to the last degree. It reminded me 
 much of Lady Charlemont, with a stronger ex- 
 pression of sense. The rest of the room was 
 
1814] DEATH OF JOSEIPHINE 133 
 
 furnished with tables inlaid with marble, upon 
 which were a variety of bronzes, pieces of armour, 
 &c., and her musical instruments were as she had 
 left them, and everything wore an appearance of 
 comfort which is seldom seen in the midst of such 
 magnificence. Through folding doors you enter 
 into a smaller room hung with pictures. C. was 
 her chapel ; before a little unostentatious altar, which 
 had every appearance of having daily witnessed her 
 devotions, was a beautiful Raphael ; the walls were 
 hung with seven small Scripture subjects by 
 Poussin. I would have given a great deal to 
 have been her invisible observer in this sacred 
 retirement. She must have been alone, for it was 
 scarcely large enough to admit priest or attendant. 
 
 D. was a room in which she breakfasted, during 
 which time music was generally performed in B. 
 From E. was a fine view of the Aqueduct of Marly, 
 and E. was the way to the Garden, which she had 
 fitted up in the English style. I have not time 
 to enter into detail of these or her greenhouses. 
 She was fond of Society and patronised the Arts. 
 She allowed Artists to sit at leisure in her gallery 
 to copy pictures, and conversed with them a great 
 deal. She did an infinity of good to all within her 
 reach and was beloved by all. Her death was very 
 sudden ; she had complained of a sore throat, but 
 not sufficiently to confine her to her room. On a 
 certain Wednesday or Thursday she was in her 
 Park in high spirits, showing it to the Emperor 
 Alexander and King of Prussia ; being rather 
 
134 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 heated she drank some iced water ; In the evening 
 she was worse, on Sunday she was dead, sensible 
 to the last ; talked of death, seemed perfectly- 
 resigned — to use the words of a French lady, who 
 told me many interesting particulars, " sa mort 
 etait tres chretienne." They were busied in packing 
 pictures and making catalogues, but I believe there 
 is no fear of dismantling the house, as Eugene 
 Beauharnais ^ and the children are to have it in 
 conformity to her will.- I have seen few things 
 since my departure from England which have 
 interested me more than Malmaison, and I could 
 almost fancy that her statue, which is that of a 
 pensive female, with the chin resting on the hand, 
 was her ghost ruminating over the extraordinary 
 events which had recently occurred, and which she 
 had quitted for ever. You will see Malmaison 
 in my sketch-book, as well as the Castle of Vin- 
 cennes, which is as picturesque and imposing as it 
 is interesting, from the circumstances attending the 
 Duke d'Enghien's 3 death. It seems this event was 
 known at Paris the next day and spoken of with as 
 much freedom as the despotic government of Paris 
 would admit. . . . 
 
 ^ Eugene Beauharnais, 1780-1824, Viceroy of Italy, 1805-15. 
 Son of Josephine by her first marriage with the Vicomte de 
 Beauharnais. 
 
 - After the Second Restoration Prince Eugene Beauharnais 
 sold Malmaison and removed its gallery of pictures to Munich. 
 
 3 Due d'Enghien, 17 72-1804, son of the Due de Bourbon. 
 Shot at Vincennes by order of Napoleon when First Consul, 
 under the pretext that he had conspired against him. 
 
1814] ELBOWING THE MARSHALS 135 
 
 I went yesterday to see the house of Peers in the 
 Luxembourg. The Hall of sittings is not unhke that 
 of the Corps Legislatif, but the decorations are more 
 interesting, each niche being filled with Austrian 
 standards and a few others. Under a gilt dome, 
 supported by similar pillars, was the spot where 
 Napoleon's throne was not. The remnants I saw 
 lying in one of the Ante-rooms, all of which were 
 ornamented with immense pictures of the principal 
 battles, but these, out of compliment to the 
 Emperor, &c., had been covered over with green 
 baize, even the very standards had been removed 
 during the stay of the Emperor of Austria in Paris. 
 There is a sitting on Tuesday, and if I stand at 
 the door I may see the Marshals alight, but my 
 curiosity would not be satisfied, as no persons seem 
 to know them ; even the man who shewed us the 
 hall, who actually keeps the door thro' which they 
 enter and sees them all constantly, assured me he 
 did not know one from the other. He did not even 
 know whether Marmont ^ had one arm or two. 
 
 Letter VL 
 
 Paris, July nth. 
 Thanks to our Landlord, and not to Sir Charles 
 Stuart, we have just been elbowing the Marshals, 
 as a Serjeant of the National Guard offered to take 
 us into the Thuilleries, and in we went with him in 
 full uniform, on the very best day we could have 
 
 * Marmont lost his arm at the battle of Salamanca in 1812. 
 
136 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 selected since our arrival in Paris, as a corps of 
 about lo or 15,000 men were to be reviewed by 
 the King " en masse " in the Place de Carousel, 
 immediately in front of the Thuilleries. 
 
 We were stationed in a room of which I had 
 heard much and wished above all things to see — 
 " la Salle des Marechaux," so called from the 
 full-length portraits of 18 of these gentlemen with 
 which it is hung ; the upper part of the room is 
 surrounded by a gallery decorated with pictures 
 of the chief battles — Lodi, Passage of the Po, 
 and one sea piece descriptive of the capture of 
 our P'rigate, the Ambuscade, by a smaller vessel. 
 It is so good a picture that for the sake of 
 the painting I never thought of lamenting the 
 subject. 
 
 After standing in this Hall for a few minutes in 
 the midst of Generals without number in full 
 uniform, I had the satisfaction of being almost 
 knocked over by Marshal Jourdan,^ a sharp, queer- 
 looking fellow not at all stamped with the features 
 of a hero. I eyed him well, and had scarcely 
 satiated my curiosity when half a dozen more came 
 by, walking about without peculiar honors or atten- 
 tion, and only to be distinguished from the Generals 
 by a broad red ribbon, worn like those of our 
 Knights of the Bath. 
 
 I looked at each and all, but as few could tell 
 their names I was at a loss to distinguish one from 
 another ; my head and eyes were in a perfect fidget, 
 ' JoLirdan, General, 1762-1S33. 
 
1814] DAVOUST 137 
 
 flying from Marshal to Marshal and from Picture 
 to Picture. 
 
 Of the Dues de Treviso,^ de Conegliano,^ 
 Serurier,3 and Perignan 4 I had no doubt, as I 
 saw them again several times, but I am not sure 
 that I should know the others except from a 
 recollection of their pictures. 
 
 I will describe a few while their countenances are 
 fresh upon my memory. 
 
 Ney 5 is a fine, handsome man, but remarkably 
 fair with light curling hair, and struck us very like 
 Mrs. Parker, of Asde. 
 
 Due d'lstria^ was reckoned by Robert Hibbert 
 like me — that is to say, he had dark arched eyebrows, 
 a fox-like sort of countenance, very dark, almost 
 swarthy, and from his extreme bilious appearance, 
 I should imagine might be troubled, like myself, 
 with bad headaches. 
 
 Davoust ! 7 I can scarcely recall his portrait with- 
 
 ' Due de Treviso, Marshal Mortier, 1 768-1835. 
 
 ^ Due de Conegliano, Marshal Moncey, 1754-1842. He 
 defended the walls of Paris as Major-General of the National 
 Guard and laid down his arms only after the Capitulation 
 was signed. 
 
 3 Serurier, General, 1742-18 19. 
 
 4 Perignan, General, 1754-1819. 
 
 5 Ney, Prinee de la Moskowa, Due d'Elehingen, 1769-18 15, 
 " Le Brave des Braves." He swore allegiance to Louis XVIH., 
 but returned to Napoleon in 1815, fought under him at Waterloo, 
 and was shot for treason under the Second Restoration. 
 
 ^ Due d'Istria, Bessieres, Commander of the Old Guard. 
 ^ Davoust, Prince d'Eekmuhl. In 1814 the unfortunate city 
 of Hamburg was still suffering under the unrelenting severity of 
 
138 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 out shuddering. If ever an evil spirit peeped thro' 
 the visao-e of a human beino-, it was in Davoust. 
 Every bad passion seemed to have set its mark on 
 his face : nothing grand, warlike, or dignified. It 
 was all dark, cruel, cunning, and malevolent. His 
 body, too, seemed to partake of his character. I 
 should fancy he was rather deformed. I never saw 
 so good a Richard III. Let him pass and make 
 way for one of a different description, Victor,^ 
 a fine, open, gentlemanly countenance, tho' not like 
 a military hero. Marmont, a dark haired, sharp- 
 looking man of military stature. Due de Dantzig,- 
 very ugly and squinting. Berthier,3 remarkably 
 quiet and intelligent. Murat,4 an effeminate cox- 
 comb with no characteristic but that of self-satis- 
 faction. Moncey, a respectable veteran. Massena,5 
 the most military of all, dark hair and countenance, 
 fine figure. Soult,^' a stern soldier, vulgar but 
 
 Davoust, who had appointed a commission having the power ot 
 condemning to death all persons who used inflammatory speeches 
 to exasperate the soldiers or the inhabitants. 
 
 ^ Victor, Due de Belluno, 1 764-1841. 
 
 -' Lefebre, Due de Dantzig, 1755-1820. 
 
 5 Berthier, Prince de Wagram, 1753-1815, Chief ot the 
 Staff. A close friend of Napoleon from 1796 onwards. He 
 escaped to Bamberg in 1815 in hopes of remaining neutral, 
 but was killed there by the emissaries of a secret society. 
 
 •^ Murat, 1 7 78-1 8 1 5, King of Naples and husband of Caroline 
 Bonaparte. He had concluded a treaty with Austria against 
 Napoleon in January, 1814. He was shot in Calabria in 1815. 
 
 5 Massena, Due de Rivoli, 1 758-1817. " The favoured child 
 of victory." 
 
 ^ Soult, Due de Dalmatie, 1 769-1861. He decided the 
 victory of Austerlitz. 
 
1814] VIVE LE ROl 139 
 
 energetic ; his mouth and lower part of his face Hke 
 Edridge,' though not so large a man. 
 
 The King was to me a very secondary person ; 
 however, I was close to him as he tottered, like a 
 good old well-meaning man, to Mass. On his 
 return he appeared, as I described last Sunday, 
 in the balcony facing the gardens for a few minutes 
 and was loudly cheered, and then he came back 
 to the Salle des Marechaux and sat down in a fine 
 chair of Bonaparte's, covered all over with his Bees, 
 in a Balcony facing the Place de Carousel, from 
 whence he looked down on the 10,000 troops who 
 were there assembled. The shouts here were not 
 what they ought to have been. Comparatively few 
 cried " God bless him ! " and I much fear the 
 number who thought it was still less. The Due 
 de Berri,- on horseback with Marshal Moncey on 
 one side and Du Pont 3 on the other, reviewed the 
 troops, who passed in companies and troops before 
 them. As each company passed the officer held up 
 his sword and cried *' Vive le Roi ! " and some 
 of the soldiers did the same, but not more than 
 one out of ten. 
 
 I heard an anecdote of the Due de Berri which 
 is, I hope, true. A few days ago in reviewing some 
 troops on the Champs Elysees an officer in passing 
 
 ' Edridge, portrait painter, 1769-1821. 
 
 ^ Duke de Berri, second son of the Comte d'Artois, afterwards 
 Charles X., [778-1820. He married Caroline of Naples, and was 
 the father of the Comte de Chambord. He was assassinated by 
 Louvel on the steps of the Opera House at Paris in 1820. 
 
 3 General Du Pont, 1 759-1838. 
 
140 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 chose to cry out, " Vive Napoleon ! " upon which 
 the Due rode up to him, tore his Epaulette from 
 his shoulder and order from his breast, threw them 
 on the ground, and instantly dismissed him the 
 service ; this spirit pleased the soldiers, and they 
 all shouted "Vive le Roi ! " 
 
 On Saturday we went to St. Cloud, Versailles, 
 and the great and little Trianon. St. Cloud and 
 the great Trianon were the especial residences 
 of Buonaparte, and I looked at his bed and tables 
 and chairs with some curiosity. I have not time to 
 describe all these. I saw one public place yester- 
 day which should be mentioned, a museum of 
 models in every department of art and science, with 
 all the machines, &;c., connected with them. I 
 would willingly conclude my observations on Paris 
 with some remarks on its manners, principles, &c., 
 and I would begin with Religion first if I could, but 
 the fact is there appears to be none. If any does 
 exist it must approximate to Mysticism and lie 
 concealed in the recesses of the heart, for truly " the 
 right hand knoweth not what the left hand doeth." 
 But with all this non-appearance I should be 
 cautious in passing too severe a censure. It must 
 be remembered that the nation is military, that 
 from the earliest years they " sing of arms," and 
 Buonaparte carried this to such a degree that 
 even children not much older than Owen ^ are 
 to be seen in full Uniforms. He wished to in- 
 corporate the two terms of man and soldier. We 
 ' Eldest son of Edward Stanley, b. 1811. 
 
1814] INFANT REGIMENTS 141 
 
 laughed, you remember, at the account of the little 
 King of Rome appearing in Uniform ; in Paris this 
 would not appear ridiculous. He had uniforms 
 of all the favourite regiments horse and foot. . . . 
 But yet there appears to be less vice than in 
 England, I should rather say less organised vice ; I 
 have not heard of a single Robbery, public or 
 private — I walk without fear of pickpockets ; I 
 should be inclined to say they seemed rather 
 against themselves than against each other. Their 
 principles may be more relaxed on some points than 
 ours, but I doubt much whether a Frenchman 
 would not be as much disgusted in England as an 
 Englishman could possibly be in France ; we call 
 them a profligate race and condemn them in toto — 
 something like Hudibras' John Bull — 
 
 " Compounds for sin he is inclined to 
 By damning those he has no mind to." 
 
 Their public walks and Theatres are less offensive 
 to decency than ours. Drunkenness is scarcely 
 known ; at first sight I should pronounce them an 
 idle, indolent people ; the streets are almost always 
 full ; the gardens, public walks, &c., swarm at all 
 hours with saunterers. According to my ideas a 
 Frenchman's life must be wretched, for he does not 
 seem at all to enter into the charms of home — their 
 houses are not calculated for it ; they huddle to- 
 gether in nooks and corners, and the male part 
 (judging from the multitudes I daily see) leave the 
 
142 BEFOEE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 women and children to get through the day as they 
 can. 
 
 Their coffee-houses are some of them quite 
 extraordinary ; most of them are ornamented with 
 Mirrors in abundance, but some shine with more 
 splendour. In the Palais Royal there is one called 
 " Le Cafe de mille Colonnes," which merits some 
 description. It consists of three or four rooms — 
 the largest is almost one mass of plate-glass 
 Mirrors, beautiful clocks at each end, and magnifi- 
 cent chandeliers ; behind a raised Table of most 
 superb structure, composed of slabs of marble and 
 plate-glass, sat a lady dressed in the richest manner, 
 Diamonds on head and hand, Lace, Muslin, &c. 
 This is the Landlady ; by her a little boy, about 
 4 years old, stood in charge of a drawer from 
 whence the small change was issued ; this, if it 
 happened to be copper, was delicately touched by 
 the fair hand, which was immediately washed in a 
 glass of water as if contaminated by the vulgar 
 metal. She never spoke to the waiters, but rung a 
 golden bell ; her inkstands, flower jars — in short, 
 every article on the table was of the same metal or 
 of silver gilt. The tables for the company were 
 fine marble slabs ; the room was from the reflection 
 of all the mirrors, as you may suppose, a perfect 
 blaze of light, and yet altogether the place looked 
 dirty, from the undress and shabby coats of the 
 company. The French never dress for the evening 
 unless going out to parties, and they always look 
 dirty and unlike gentlemen ; the former is not the 
 
iil'IIV 
 
1814] THE CATACOMBS 143 
 
 case, in fact for they are constantly washing and 
 bathing. An hour or two before I was in this 
 extraordinary coffee-house I had traversed a spot 
 as opposite to it as could well be — the Catacombs ! — 
 a range of vaults nearly half a mile long, about 
 80 feet under ground, in which are deposited all the 
 bones from all the cemeteries in Paris. I suppose 
 we were in company with some millions of skele- 
 tons, whose skulls are so arranged as to form regular 
 patterns, and here and there was an altar made of 
 bones fancifully piled up, on the sides an inscrip- 
 tion in Latin, French, &c. Behind one wall the 
 bodies of all who perished in the massacres in Paris 
 were immured. They were brought in carts at 
 night and thrown in, and there they rest, festering 
 not in their shrouds but in clothes. Such a mass of 
 corrupt flesh would soon have infested all the vaults, 
 so they were bricked up. 
 
 I wish to recommend our hotel to any people you 
 may hear of coming to Paris — Hotel des Estrangers, 
 Rue du Hazard, kept by Mr. Meriel. Its situation 
 is both quiet and convenient ; it is really not five 
 minutes' walk from the leading objects of Paris, and 
 the people have been civil to us beyond measure. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ON THE TRACK OF NAPOLEON'S ARMY 
 
 The Ex-Imperial Guard — Anecdotes of the last days at Fontaine- 
 bleau — Invalided Cossacks — " Trahison " — Ruin and 
 desolation — Roast dog — An English soldier — A Trappist 
 veteran — Jack boots — Polytechnic cadets — A Russian 
 officer — Cossacks, Kalmucks, and sparrows— Prussians and 
 British lions — Rhine Castles — Rival inscriptions — Diligence 
 atmosphere — Brisemaison — Sociable English . 
 
 ON leaving Paris, Edward Stanley planned to 
 follow the traces of the desperate campaign 
 which Napoleon had fought in the early months of 
 that year (1814) against the Allies, and in which he 
 so nearly succeeded in saving his crown for a time. 
 As, however, the English travellers did not 
 intend to return again to Paris, they reversed 
 Napoleon's line of march and started to Fontaine- 
 bleau by the road along which the Emperor rode 
 back in hot haste on the night of March 30th, to 
 take up the command of the force which should 
 have been defending his capital, and where the 
 sight of Mortier's flying troops convinced him that 
 all hope was at an end. 
 
1814] SCENES OF THE LATE CAMPAIGN 145 
 
 When they had visited Fontainebleau, where the 
 final abdication had taken place on April nth, they 
 turned north-east to Melun and posted on through 
 towns which had been the scenes of some of the 
 most desperate fighting in that wonderful campaign, 
 when Napoleon had seemed to be everywhere at 
 once, dealing blows right and left against the three 
 armies which, in the beginning of January, had 
 advanced to threaten his Empire — Biilow in the 
 north, Blucher on the east, and Schwarzenberg on 
 the south. 
 
 They passed through Guignes and Meaux, by 
 which Napoleon's army had marched after his victory 
 over BRicher at Vauchamps on February 14th, in 
 the rapid movement to reinforce Marshal Victor, and 
 to drive back Schwarzenberg from the Seine. 
 
 Through Chateau Thierry, where on the 12th of 
 February the Emperor and Marshal Mortier had 
 pursued Russians and Prussians from street to 
 street till they were driven over the Marne, and 
 whence the French leader dashed after Bliicher to 
 Vauchamps. 
 
 Through Soissons, which the Russians under 
 Winzengerode had bombarded on March 3rd, and 
 forced to surrender, whereby Blucher and Biilow 
 were enabled to join hands. 
 
 Through Laon, where Blucher retreated after 
 Craonne, and where he finally shattered Marmont's 
 forces in a night attack. 
 
 By Berry au Bac, where the Emperor crossed 
 the Aisne on his way to fight Bliicher at Craonne, 
 
 10 
 
146 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 the scene on March 7th of one of the bloodiest 
 battles of the war. 
 
 On to Rheims where, after Marmont's disaster at 
 Laon, Napoleon beat the Russians just before he 
 was forced to rush southwards again to contend 
 with Schwarzenbero; and his Austrians. 
 
 Finally they reached Chalons, which had been 
 Napoleon's starting-point for the whole campaign, 
 and where he had arrived in the closing days of 
 January after having taken his last farewell 01 
 Marie Louise and of the King of Rome. 
 
 After Chalons they turned eastwards, following 
 the line of fortresses for which Napoleon had staked 
 and lost his crown, and reached the Rhine by 
 Verdun, Metz, and Mayence ; thence to Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, Lille, and Brussels, which had by the 
 Treaty of Paris, in May, been ceded with the whole 
 of Belgium to the Netherlands. 
 
 •t3* 
 
 Edward Stanley to his Wife. 
 
 Melun, July i^ih. 
 
 We quitted our Hotel yesterday morning at six 
 for Fontainebleau. 
 
 There is nothing particularly interesting about the 
 road, which is almost an incessant avenue. About half- 
 way we passed a fine Chateau of Marshal Jourdan's. 
 
 The forest of Fontainebleau commences about 
 four miles from the town and extends some nine or 
 ten miles in all directions. At first I was in hopes 
 of being gratified with the sight of fine woods, but, 
 
1814] A STAUNCH IMPERIALIST 147 
 
 with the exception of a few patches of good oaks, 
 the remainder is little better than underwood and 
 dwarflings. 
 
 We went into the heart of the forest to see an old 
 Hermitage now inhabited by a keeper and his 
 family. They had been visited by Cossacks, but 
 had received no injury whatever ; on the contrary 
 the poor woman related with all the eloquence of 
 Truth and the French animation that from their 
 own soldiers they had suffered all that cruelty and 
 rapacity could devise — indeed, the house and gardens 
 bore evidence to the facts — window shutters pierced 
 with bullets, broken doors, furniture gone, and 
 above 800 francs' worth of honey destroyed out of 
 pure wantonness — in short the poor people seemed 
 quite ruined. I received a similar account in the 
 town. Fontainebleau is a dull, melancholy-looking 
 place, with a very extensive ugly palace — interesting 
 only from the late events. Scarcely a soul appeared 
 about ; we crossed the large court in which 
 Buonaparte took his last farewell and embraced the 
 Imperial Eagles, called by some loyal French 
 "The vile Cuckoos." Our hostess was, I presume, 
 a staunch imperialist, who thought she could not 
 shew her zeal for the Emperor in a stronger manner 
 than by imposing on Englishmen, She began by 
 asking i6s. for a plate of 8 little wretched mutton 
 chops ; we resented the imposition, although the 
 sudden appearance of 4 or 5 officers of the imperial 
 guard almost rendered it doubtful whether we 
 ought to act too warmly on the defensive, as they 
 
148 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 seemed to patronise our hostess ; however, we 
 refused to pay and retired unimposed upon. 
 
 The imperial guard here are supposed to be par- 
 ticularly attached to the Emperor, and of course 
 averse to Englishmen, but I was agreeably sur- 
 prised to find three out of the four really something 
 like gentlemen in their manners; we entered into 
 conversation, which I managed as dexterously as I 
 could, manoeuvering between the evil of sacrificing 
 my own opinions on one side, and of giving them 
 offence on the other ; it was a nice point, as I 
 perceived a word beyond the line of demarcation 
 would have inflamed them in a trice. One happened 
 to differ with another on a political point, which 
 produced a loud and rapid stamping with the feet, 
 accompanied by a course of pirouets on the heel 
 with the velocity of a dervish, which fully proved 
 what might be effected on their tempers had I been 
 disposed to try the experiment. They called them- 
 selves the Ex- Imperial Guard. On retiring I shook 
 hands with them, and with as low a bow as the 
 little King of Rome, said " Messieurs les Gardes 
 d'Honneur, Je vous salue." . . . 
 
 Letter VI L 
 
 Monday, July i()th. 
 
 . . . The history of Buonaparte immediately pre- 
 ceding, and subsequent to the surrender of Paris, 
 was never actually known — I will give it you. 
 
 The capitulation took place on the 30th (March). 
 In the evening of that day he arrived at Fontaine- 
 
1814] BUONAPARTE'S ABDICATION 149 
 
 bleau without his army. Rumours of fighting near 
 Paris had reached him. He almost immediately set 
 off with Berthier in his carriage for Paris, and 
 actually arrived at Villejuif, only 6 miles from the 
 capital ; when he heard the result he turned about 
 and appeared again at Fontainebleau at 9 the next 
 morning. When he alighted, the person who 
 handed him out, a sort of head-porter of the Palace, 
 who was our guide, told me he looked "triste, bien 
 triste " ; he spoke to nobody, went upstairs as fast as 
 he could, and then called for his plans and maps ; 
 his occupation during the whole time he staid con- 
 sisted in writing and looking over papers, but to 
 what this writing and these papers related the world 
 may feel but will never know ; his spirits were by 
 no means broken down ; in a day or two he was 
 pretty much as usual, and it is said he signed the 
 Abdication without the least apparent emotion. We 
 heard he was mad, but I can assure you from 
 undoubted authority that he was perfectly well in 
 mind and body the whole time, and, notwithstanding 
 his excessive fatigues, as corpulent as ever ; indeed, 
 said our guide, " War seems to agree with him 
 better than with any man I ever knew." Buonaparte 
 laid out immense sums in furnishing and beautifying 
 the Palais here. I got into his library, the snuggest 
 room you ever saw, immediately below a little study 
 in which he always sat and settled his affairs ; his 
 arm-chair was a very comfortable, honest, plain arm- 
 chair, but I looked in vain for all the gashes and 
 notches which it was said he was wont to inflict 
 
150 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 upon it. I could not perceive a scratch, he was too 
 busily employed in that said chair in forming plans 
 for cutting up Europe ; within three yards of his 
 table was a little door, or rather trap door, by which 
 you descended down the oddest spiral staircase you 
 ever beheld into the Library, which was low and 
 small ; the books were few of them new, almost all 
 standard works upon history — at least I am sure 
 4 out of 5 were historical — all of his own selection, 
 and each stamped, as in fact was everything else from 
 high to low, far and wide, with his N., or his Bees 
 or his Eagle — all of which Louis XVIII is as busily 
 employed in effacing, which alone will give him 
 ample employment : but to return to the books. 
 Amongst the rest I found — Shakespeare . . . and a 
 whole range of Ecclesiastical History, which, if ever 
 read, might account in some degree for his shutting 
 up the Pope as the existing representative of the 
 animals who have occasioned half the feuds and 
 divisions therein recorded. There was a Chapel, 
 which he regularly attended on Sundays and Saints' 
 days. His State bed was a sort of State business, 
 very uncomfortable, consisting of 5 or 6 mattresses 
 under a royal canopy with 2 Satin Pillows at each 
 end. 
 
 During his residence he never stirred beyond the 
 eates, thouoh I could not discover that he was at all 
 under restraint, or in any way looked upon as a 
 prisoner; we were told in England (what are we not 
 told there?) that he feared the people, who would 
 have torn him in pieces ; this is an idle story. I 
 
1814] NAPOLEON AT FONTAINEBLEAU 151 
 
 rather suspect the people liked him too well, besides 
 which his Guards were there, and by them he is 
 idolised. He generally took exercise in a long and 
 beautiful Gallery, called the Gallery of Francis I. 
 on both sides of which were busts of his great 
 Generals on panels ornamented with the N., and 
 some name above alluding to a victory ; thus above 
 one N.was Nazareth, which puzzled me at first, but 
 I afterwards heard he had cut up some Turks there ; 
 besides the Gallery, he walked every day up and 
 down a Terrace ; he dined every day in a miserable 
 (I speak comparatively) little passage room without 
 any shew of state ; he was affable to his attendants 
 and is liked by them. His abdication room is not 
 one of the state apartments — it is a shabby ante- 
 room ; I could almost fancy that in performing this 
 humiliating deed he had retired as far as possible 
 from the Halls and Saloons which were decorated 
 by his hand, and had witnessed his Imperial magni- 
 ficence. Most of the Marshals were in the room, 
 and it would have been a tour indeed to have 
 "•lided throuo^h the hearts of each when such an 
 extraordinary performance was transacting. It was 
 in the great Court before the Palace that he took 
 his leave, not above 1,500 troops were present. 
 At such a moment to have heard such a speech, 
 delivered with the dignity and stage effect Buonaparte 
 well knew how to give, must have produced a strong 
 effect — how great (how sad I had almost said) the 
 contrast ! 
 
 The stones were overgrown with grass ; nobody 
 
152 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 appeared, no voice was heard except the clacking of 
 half a dozen old women who were weeding on their 
 knees, and all the windows were closed. The 
 dreary, deserted present compared with the magnifi- 
 cent past excited nearly the same feelings as if I 
 had been looking on Tadmor in the wilderness. 
 After passing the Imperial prison we were ushered 
 into the apartments of the Imperial prisoners, the 
 poor Pope and his i6 Cardinals. I had quite 
 forgotten the place of their confinement, and was a 
 little surprised when the man said, " Here, Sir, 
 dwelt for 19 months the holy Conclave of St. Peter." 
 He must have led a miserable life, for though he 
 was allowed two carriages, with 6 and 8 horses to 
 each, he neither stirred out himself nor allowed any 
 of the Cardinals to so do, saying he did not think it 
 right for prisoners. Buonaparte saw him in January, 
 I think the man said, for the last time. So much 
 for Fontainebleau. Few have followed their master 
 to Elba. Roustan the Mameluke and Constant his 
 Valet were certainly very ungrateful ; one of them 
 — I forget which — to whom Buonaparte had given 
 25,000 fr. (about ^1,200) the day before he left 
 Fontainebleau, applied to the Due de Berri for 
 admission into his service ; in reply the Due told 
 him his oratitude ouo-ht to have carried him to Elba, 
 but though it had not, if he (the Duke) ever heard 
 that Buonaparte wished to have him there, he would 
 bind him hand and foot and send him immediately. 
 None of the Royal allies have been to Fontainebleau 
 at the time or since, except the King of Prussia, 
 
1814] RELIC OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA 153 
 
 who came incog, a few days ago. This the guide 
 said he had heard since ; he had, indeed, seen three 
 persons walking about, but he had not shewn them 
 the Palace nor spoken to them. That it was the 
 King of Prussia was confirmed by a curious little 
 memorandum I found wafered over a high glass on 
 the top of the room in which we dined, and which 
 caught my eye immediately ; I shewed it to the 
 people of the house, who said they had not observed 
 it before, but remembered three gentlemen dining 
 there on that day. " Sa Majeste le Roi de Prusse 
 accompagne du Prince Guillaume son fils a dine en 
 cette appartement avec son premier Chambellan 
 Mr. Baron D'Ambolle, le 8 Juillet, 1814." . . . This 
 is the way the King of Prussia always went about 
 in Paris, nobody knew him or saw him. . . . 
 
 From Fontainebleau we went to Melun and kept 
 proceeding through Guignes to Meaux. At Guignes 
 we began to hear of the effects of war : 15,000 
 Russians had been bivouacked above the town for a 
 week. Buonaparte advanced with his troops, on 
 which they retired, but troops do not walk up and 
 down the earth like lambs, but rather like roaring 
 lions, seeking whom they may devour ; however, 
 here let us insert once for all the account I have 
 invariably received from sufferers throughout the 
 whole Theatre of war — that the conduct of the 
 Russians and French was widely different ; the 
 former generally behaving as well as could possibly 
 be expected, and pillaging only from necessity ; 
 the latter seem to have made havoc and devastation 
 
154 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 their delight. They might perhaps act on principle, 
 conceivinof that it was better for the treasure and 
 good things of the land to fall into their hands than 
 the enemy's. 
 
 At a little shabby inn at Guignes where we break- 
 fasted Buonaparte had slept. The people described 
 him dressed " comme un perruquier " in a grey great- 
 coat ; he clattered into the house, bustled about, 
 went to his room early, and appeared again at 9 the 
 next morning, but " J'en reponds bien " that he was 
 not sleeping all that time. If from Guignes we 
 traversed a country where we heard of war, at 
 Meaux we began to see the effects — before a 
 picturesque gateway we descended to cross the 
 bridge over a stone arch which had been blown 
 up. Shot-holes marked the wall, and within the 
 houses were well bespattered with musket balls. 
 It was the first visible field of battle we had crossed, 
 and to heighten the interest, while we were looking 
 about and asking particulars of the people, up came 
 bands of Russian troops of all descriptions, Cossacks 
 included, 1,500 having just entered the town in- 
 valided from Paris on their return home. To be 
 sure, a more filthy set I never beheld. The country 
 is pretty well stocked with Cossack horses ; they 
 were purchased at a very cheap rate — from 25 
 shillings to 50 a piece. We have had several of 
 them in our carriage, and find them far more 
 active and rapid than the French, though smaller 
 and more miserable in appearance. My conversa- 
 tion with the Russians (for I made it a point to 
 
1814] EXPLOSION AT MEAITX 155 
 
 speak to everybody) was rather laconic, and gene- 
 rally ran thus, " Vous Russe, moi Inglis " — the 
 answer, "You Inglis, moi Russe, we brothers" — 
 and then I generally got a tap on the shoulder 
 and a broad grin of approbation which terminated 
 the conference. 
 
 You know the chief event which occurred at 
 Meaux was the explosion of the powder magazines 
 by the French on their retreat, for which they were 
 most severely, and, I think, unjustly, censured in 
 our despatches — indeed, after seeing and hearing 
 with my own eyes and ears, I feel less than ever 
 inclined to put implicit faith in these public docu 
 ments. The Magazine was in a large house where 
 wines had been stored in the cellar — about half a 
 mile to the west of the town upon a hill. About 
 3 o'clock in the morning the explosion took place 
 with an '^ dbranlement''' which shook the town to its 
 very foundation. In an instant every pane of glass 
 was shattered to atoms, but the cathedral windows, 
 which were composed of small squares in lead, 
 escaped tolerably well, only here and there some 
 patches being forced out. The tiles also partook 
 of the ofeneral crash. Manv, of course, were broken 
 by the shower of shot, stones, &c., which fell, but 
 the actual concussion destroyed the greater part. 
 Numbers of houses were remaining in their di- 
 lapidated state, and presented a curious scene. We 
 went to see the spot where the house stood, for the 
 house itself, like the temple of Loretto, disappeared 
 altogether. Some others near it were on their last 
 
156 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 legs — top, beams, doors, all blown away. Even the 
 trees in a garden were in part thrown down, and 
 the larger ones much excoriated. Only one person 
 was killed on the spot, supposed to have been a 
 marauder who was pillaging near the place. Another 
 person about half a mile off, driving away his furni- 
 ture to a place of safety, was wounded, and died 
 soon afterwards. 
 
 From Meaux, I may say almost all the way to 
 Chalons, a distance of above 1 50 miles, the country 
 bore lamentable marks of the scourge with which 
 it has been afflicted. I will allow you — I would 
 allow myself perhaps, when I look back to the 
 circumstances connected with the war — to wish 
 that all the country, Paris included, had been 
 sacked and pillaged as a just punishment, or rather 
 as the sole mode of convincing these infatuated 
 people that they are the conquered and not the 
 Conqueror of the Allies. Wherever I go, whatever 
 field of battle I see — be it Craon, Laon, Soissons, 
 or elsewhere — victory is never accorded to the 
 Russians. " Oh non, les Russes etaient toujours 
 vaincus." One fellow who had been one of Buona- 
 parte's guides at Craon had the impudence to 
 assure me that the moment he appeared the Allies 
 ran away. "Aye, but," said I, "how came the 
 French to retreat and leave them alone ? " " Oh, 
 because just then the trahison which had been all 
 arranged 19 months before began to appear." 
 
 Again, at Laon I was assured that the French 
 drove all before them, and gained the heights. 
 
1814] CHATEAU THIERRY 157 
 
 " Then," said I, "why did not they stay there?" 
 " Oh, then reappeared 'la petite trahison,' " and so 
 they go on, and well do they deserve, and heartily 
 do I wish, to have their pride and impudence 
 lowered. But when I see what war is, when I see 
 the devastation this comet bears in its sweeping tail, 
 its dreadful impartiality involving alike the innocent 
 and the guilty, I should be very sorry if it depended 
 on me to pronounce sentence, or cry " havoc and 
 let loose." . . . 
 
 On the 14th we slept at Chateau Thierry — such 
 an Inn, and such insolent pigs of people ! Spain 
 was scarcely worse . . . added to the filthiness of 
 the place, a diligence happened at the same time to 
 pour forth its contents in the shape of a crew of the 
 most vulgar, dirty French officers I ever saw. It 
 was well we had no communication with them, for 
 by the conversation I overheard in the next room 
 there would have been little mutual satisfaction : 
 " Oh ! voici un regiment (alluding to us 5) de ces 
 Anglois dans la maison ! ou vont-ils les Coquins .'* " 
 " Moi je ne sais pas, les vilains ! " Luckily they all 
 tumbled upstairs to bed very soon, each with a cigar 
 smoking and puffing from beneath the penthouse of 
 their huge moustachios, during their ascent, by 
 the by, keeping the Landlady in hot water lest they 
 should break into her best bedroom, of which she 
 carefully kept the key, telling me at the same time 
 she was afraid of their insisting upon having clean 
 sheets. By their appearance, however, I did not 
 conceive her to be in much danger of so unfair a 
 
158 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 demand. We had the clean sheets, damp enough, 
 but no matter — she remembered them in the Bill 
 most handsomely, and when I remonstrated against 
 some of her charges, for I must observe that we 
 dined in a wretched hole with our postillions, she 
 checked me by saying, " Comment, Monsieur, c 'est 
 trop ! Cela ne se peut pas ; comme tout ici est si 
 charmant." . . . There was no reply to be made 
 to such an appeal, so I bowed, paid, and retired. 
 Then the bridge was blown up, the streets speckled 
 with bullets. Near the bridge, which had been 
 smartly contested, the houses were actually riddled, 
 yet here the Emperor stood exposed as quiet and 
 unconcerned amidst the balls as if (to use their own 
 expression) he had been " chez lui." 
 
 As we advanced the marks of war became 
 stronger and stronger, every village wore a rueful 
 aspect, and every individual told a tale more and 
 more harrowing to the feelings. The Postmasters 
 seem to have been the greatest sufferers, as their 
 situation demanded a large supply of corn, horses 
 and forage, all of which, even to the chickens, were 
 carried oft. One poor woman, wife of a post- 
 master, a very well-behaved, gentlewoman-like sort 
 of person, told me that when 80,000 Russians came 
 to their town she escaped into the woods (you will 
 remember the snow was then deep on the ground 
 and the cold excessive) where for two days she and 
 her family had nothing to eat. The Cossacs then 
 found her, but did no harm, only asking for food. 
 I mention her case not as singular, for it was the 
 
1814] RUIN AND DESOLATION 159 
 
 lot of thousands, but merely to shew what people 
 must expect when Enemies approach. 
 
 Soissons was the next place, and compared with 
 the scene of desolation there presented all that we 
 had hitherto seen was trifling. 
 
 I little thought last February that in July I 
 should witness such superlatively interesting scenes. 
 With the exception of Elba alone, ours has been the 
 very best tour that could have been taken, and 
 exactly at the right time, for I apprehend that 
 a month ago we could not have passed the 
 country. . . . 
 
 Letter VI I L 
 
 M AVENGE, July 22nd. 
 
 Our speed outstrips my pen. I am to retrace our 
 steps to Soissons, whereas here we are upon the 
 banks of the Rhine, which is hurrying majestically 
 by to terminate its course amongst the dykes of 
 Holland. 
 
 The nearer we came to Soissons^ the nearer we 
 perceived we were to the field of some terrible 
 contest, and the suburbs, where the thickest of the 
 fight took place, presented a frightful picture of war, 
 not a house entire. It seems they were unroofed 
 for the convenience of the attacking party, or set 
 on fire, an operation which took up a very short 
 space of time, thanks to the energetic labours of 
 about 50 or 60,000 men. Indeed, fire and sword 
 
 ' Soissons had been taken in February by the Russians under 
 Winzingerode. 
 
160 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 had done their utmost — burnt beams, battered 
 doors, not a vestige of furniture or window frames. 
 I cannot give you a better idea of the quantity of 
 shot, and consequent number of beings who must 
 have perished, than by assuring you that on one 
 front of a house about the extent of our home, and 
 which was not more favoured than its neighbours, 
 I counted between 2 and 300 bullet marks. I was 
 leaning against a bit of broken wall in a garden, 
 which appeared to be the doorway to a sort of 
 cellar, taking a sketch, when the gardener came 
 up and gave me some particulars of the fight. He 
 pointed to this cave or cellar as the place of shelter 
 in which he and 44 others had been concealed, every 
 moment dreading a discovery which, whether by 
 friend or foe, they looked upon as equally fatal. 
 Fortunately the foe were the discoverers. Upon 
 the termination of the battle, which had been 
 favourable to the Allies, in came a parcel of 
 Russians upon the trembling peasants. Con- 
 ceiving it to be a hiding-place for French soldiers, 
 they rushed upon them, but finding none, satisfied 
 themselves with asking what business they had 
 there, and turning them out to find their way 
 through blood and slaughter to some more secure 
 place of shelter. A small mill pool had been so 
 completely choked with dead that they were obliged 
 to let off the water and clean it out. With Sir 
 Charles Stuart's dispatches cut out of the Maccles- 
 field Paper we ascended the Cathedral, and from 
 thence, as upon a map, traced out the operations of 
 
1814] AN UNWARY GENERAL 161 
 
 both armies. Soissons is half surrounded by the 
 Aisne, and stands on a fine plain, upon which the 
 Russians displayed. Buonaparte, in one of his 
 Bulletins, abuses a governor who allowed the 
 Allies to take possession of the town when he 
 was in pursuit, thus giving them a passage over 
 the river, adding that had that governor done his 
 duty the Russians might have been cut off. In 
 England this was all voted "leather and prunello" 
 and a mere vapouring opinion of the Emperor's, but 
 as far as I could observe he was perfectly right, and 
 had the governor been acting under my orders I 
 question much whether I should not have hanged 
 him. In looking about we were shewn a sort of 
 town hall, with windows ornamented with the most 
 beautiful painted glass you ever saw — nice little 
 figures, trophies, landscapes, &c. — but a party of 
 Russians had unfortunately been lodged there, and 
 the glass was almost all smashed. I procured a 
 specimen, but alas ! portmanteaus are not the best 
 packing-cases for glass, and in my possession it 
 fared little better than with the Cossacks. How- 
 ever, if it is pulverised, I will bring it home as 
 a Souvenir. . . . 
 
 From Soissons to Laon the country is uninterest- 
 ing except from the late events. With the exception 
 of the first view of the plain and town of Laon, we 
 passed village after village in the same state of ruin 
 and dilapidation. Chavignon, about 4 miles from 
 Laon, seemed, however, to have been more particu- 
 larly the object of vengeance ; it was throughout 
 
 XI 
 
162 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 nearly a repetition of the suburbs of Soissons. 
 Laon rises like a sort of Gibraltar from a rich and 
 beautiful plain covered with little woods, vineyards, 
 villages, and cornfields ; the summit is crowned with 
 an old castle, the town with its Cathedral towers 
 and a parcel of windmills. Buonaparte had been 
 extremely anxious to dislodge the allies ; for two 
 days made a furious and almost incessant attack, 
 which was fortunately unsuccessful owing, to speak 
 in French terms, to la petite trakison, in plain 
 English, the bravery of the Russians, who not only 
 withstood the repeated shocks, but pursued the 
 enemy all the way to Soissons, every little copse 
 and wood becoming a scene of contest, and the 
 whole plain was strewed with dead. Since quitting 
 Rouen I do not recollect any town at all to be com- 
 pared with Laon either in point of scenery without 
 or picturesque beauty within ; it is one of the most 
 curious old places I ever saw — Round Towers, Gate- 
 ways, &c. We took up our quarters at an odd-look- 
 ing Inn, with the nicest people we had met with for 
 some time. They spoke with horror of the miseries 
 they had undergone in this Inn, not much larger 
 than Cutts' at Wilmslow ; they had daily to feed 
 and accommodate for upwards of two months 150 
 Russians of all descriptions, and this at a moment 
 when provisions were, of course, extremely dear. 
 The landlord's daughter with two friends were 
 imprisoned, actually afraid of putting their noses 
 beyond the keyhole ; luckily they could make 
 artificial flowers, and two of them drew remarkably 
 
1814] ROAST DOG 163 
 
 well ; a favourite dog of the landlord's was their 
 companion. A Cossack had one day taken him by 
 the tail with the firm intent to put him on the 
 kitchen fire, the bare recollection of which kindled 
 all our host's anger, and he declared that had his 
 poor dog been roasted, though he well knew the 
 consequence, he should have shot the Cossack ; 
 fortunately the dog escaped, but as his Master 
 assured me, never smelt or heard a Cossack's name 
 mentioned afterwards without popping his tail 
 between his leos and makinsf off with the utmost 
 speed. Both at this place and at Soissons we met 
 with people with whom Davenport ^ had lodged, and 
 in both places he has established a character which 
 reflects the highest credit on his activity, humanity, 
 and generosity. He was no idle spectator ; he 
 went about endeavouring by every means in his 
 power to alleviate the miseries of war by protecting 
 persons and property, and by administering to the 
 wants of the sick and wounded of every descrip- 
 tion. . . . 
 
 On the 1 6th we quitted Laon for Berry au Bac, 
 passing through Corbeny and close to the heights 
 of Craon, upon which a battle was fought which 
 might be considered as the coup de grace to the 
 French. ^ The Emperor commanded in person ; he 
 talked nearly half an hour with the Postmaster, 
 whom he summoned before him ; if the man spoke 
 truth, his conversation appears to have been rather 
 childish. After asking many questions about the 
 
 ^ E. D. Davenport, Esq., of Capesthorne, Cheshire, 1778-1847. 
 
164 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 roads and country, he vented a torrent of abuse 
 against the Russians, upon whom he assured the 
 Postmaster it was his intention to inflict summary 
 punishment, and, indeed, according to the French 
 translation of the business, he actually did so, tho 
 I never could find out that any other of the Imperial 
 troops remained to enjoy the victory on these said 
 heights, saving and except the wounded and killed ; 
 one spot was pointed out where in one grave 
 were deposited the remains of 3,000. . . . 
 
 In this village of Corbeny there had been sad 
 devastation ; but it was at Berry au Bac that we 
 were to see the superlative degree of misery. This 
 unfortunate little town had been captured 7 times — 
 4 times by the Russians, 3 times by the French ; their 
 bridge, a beautiful work of 3 arches, only completed 
 in December, was blown up March 19. The houses 
 fared no better ; whole streets were annihilated — 
 chiefly for the sake of burning the beams for fire- 
 wood by the Russians — but the walls were in great 
 measure knocked over by the French, for what 
 other purpose than wanton cruelty I could not learn. 
 Pillage and violence of every description had been 
 excessive. Some of the inhabitants died of pure 
 fright ; a gentlemanlike-looking man assured me his 
 own father was of the number. Even here the 
 Cossacks were complimented for their comparative 
 good behaviour, while the French and the Emperor 
 were justly execrated — "Plait a Dieu" said a poor 
 man who stood moaning over the ruins of his cottage, 
 " Plait a Dieu, qu'il soit mort, et qu'on n'entendit 
 
CO 
 
 S 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 :^- 
 
 i' 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 
 ■f^^iJif ! 
 
 !|?fy 
 
 ^ r"^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 i i 
 
 
1814] "A KIND ENEMY 165 
 
 plus de Napoleon " ; — the old woman, his wife, told 
 me they only feared the Cossacks when they were 
 drunk. An old Cossack had taken up his quarters 
 with them — " Ah c etait un bon Viellard ; un bon 
 Papa." 
 
 One day a party of 20 or 30 drunken Cossacks 
 broke into their yard, and insisted on entering the 
 house ; the old woman said she had nothing to fear 
 and would have opened the door, but the Cossack 
 seized her, saying, " There is but one way to save 
 you," and taking her by the arm, shewed her to his 
 companions as his prize and threatened the man who 
 should touch his property with instant death. They 
 did not dispute the matter with him and retired 
 quietly. When they were out of sight he told her to 
 follow him, and led her 3 or 4 miles up the country 
 amongst the woods and left her in a place of safety, 
 taking a kind leave of her and saying, *T have done 
 all I could for you, now farewell " — and she saw no 
 more of him. . . . 
 
 We arrived at Rheims on the evening of the 
 1 6th, a large, fine, regular, dull-looking city in a dull- 
 looking plain. The Cathedral is grand enough, but I 
 felt no wish to remain till the Coronation. Hitherto 
 we had seen inanimate vestiges of war, at Rheims 
 we were to see the living effects. By accident we 
 passed the door of a large Church or Hall which 
 had been converted into an Hospital for 400 
 Russian prisoners, and on benches near the porch 
 were seated some convalescent patients without 
 arms or legs. We stopped to speak to them as well 
 
166 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 as we could, and upon saying we were Englanders, 
 one of the Russians with evident rapture and un- 
 feigned dehght made signs that there was a British 
 soldier amongst their number, and immediately 4 or 
 5 of them ran to bring him out ; and such a poor 
 object did appear dragged along, his legs withered 
 away and emaciated to the last degree. He had 
 been wounded at St. Jean de Luz in the thigh, and 
 subsequently afflicted with a fever which had thus 
 deprived him of the use of his limbs. We gave 
 something to those who were nearest, and on my 
 asking if any Prussian was there to whom I could 
 speak in French, as I wished to express our desire 
 but inability to relieve all, I was conducted through 
 the wards to a miserable beino- who was seated with 
 his head suspended in a sling from the top of the 
 bed, both legs dreadfully shattered, and unable to 
 support himself upright through extreme weakness. 
 During the whole of supper-time the Hospital 
 and this Englishman hung heavy on my mind ; I 
 felt as if I had not done enough, and that I might 
 be of use in writing to his friends. Accordingly 
 about 10 o'clock I went again to the Gate and 
 begged admittance. On mentioning my wish to see 
 the Englishman, I was immediately allowed to 
 enter, and conducted up the wards. On each side 
 were small beds, clean, and in admirable order ; 
 there was nothing to interrupt the silence but our 
 own echoing footsteps and the groans of the poor 
 patients all round. The Nurses were in the costume 
 of Nuns, and from religious principles undertake 
 
1814] A WOUNDED ENGLISHMAN 167 
 
 the care of the sick — there was something very- 
 awful in marching up the aisles with these con- 
 ductors at this time. My poor countryman was 
 asleep when I came to his bedside. I took down 
 memorandums of his case, and promised to write 
 to his friends, and left him money to assist him on 
 his road home, should he (of which I much doubt) 
 ever recover. 
 
 I staid with him some time ; in the course of the 
 conversation some wounded Prussians came up on 
 their crutches, and it was quite gratifying to see 
 their kindness and goodwill to this poor fellow who, 
 sole of his nation and kindred, was wasting away 
 amongst strangers. They patted him on his head, 
 called him their cher and bon garcon, lifted him up 
 that he might see and hear better, and he assured 
 me that by them and by all the attendants he was 
 treated with the utmost kindness and attention. 
 Amongst 400 wounded soldiers whose deep groans 
 and ghastly countenances announced that many 
 were almost passing the barrier which separates the 
 mortal from the immortal, with their nurses by my 
 side holding their glimmering tapers, each arrayed 
 in the order of their religion and wearing the Cross 
 as the badge of their profession, was a situation in 
 which I had never before been placed. In offering- 
 ministerial advice, and, I trust, affording religious 
 consolation under circumstances so solemn and 
 peculiar, you may conceive that I did speak with all 
 the earnestness and fervour in my power. I told 
 the nurses who and what I was, and so far from 
 
1G8 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 entertaining" any illiberal ideas as to the propriety 
 of my interfering in what might be called their 
 clerical department, they expressed the greatest 
 pleasure and seemed to rejoice that their patient 
 was visited by one of his own ministers. . . . Thus 
 ended my visit to the Hospital at Rheims, which I 
 never can forget. 
 
 We travelled the next day to Verdun, bidding 
 adieu to the Hibberts at Chalons. 
 
 You will ask if we have seen any vestiges of war 
 on the soil such as bodies. We have met with a 
 tolerable quantity of dead horses by the roadside 
 and in ditches, but only one human being, half 
 scratched up by a dog, has appeared ; a few rags of 
 uniform dangling upon the skeleton bones called 
 our attention to it. 
 
 Verdun is a very comfortable town of consider- 
 able extent decently fortified ; the number of 
 English there was from i,ooo to i,ioo; they were 
 all sent off in a hurry. At 5 in the evening they 
 received the order, at 7 the next morning the 
 greater part were off, and 24 hours afterward the 
 Allies hovered round the town. The French boast, 
 and nobody can contradict the assertion, that the 
 Allies were never able to take their fortresses ; 
 certainly not ; for they never attempted. Instead 
 of losing their time in besieging, they left a few to 
 mark the place and went on. . . . The English 
 prisoners seem to have enjoyed every comfort they 
 could expect — in fact, their imprisonment was in 
 great measure nominal ; with little difficulty they 
 
05 
 
 •^ 
 
 
 mitt '^^"'^mm'^^^mwr' 
 
 c-l, I, 
 
 
 
 •f. *?'^'^'i*6.v:j^i5''-'--giS*' 
 
 
 
1814] EXTRA PASSENGERS 169 
 
 were allowed to go as far as the)' wished ; they 
 were noticed by the inhabitants, and many have 
 married and settled in France. i think the 
 prisoners in England have not been so well off, 
 and complain with reason. 
 
 We went to the English church and Theatre, 
 and saw as much as we could for half a day. For 
 the honor of my country,^ lament to say that many 
 here contracted heavy debts which are not likely to 
 be paid. Some instances were mentioned, the 
 truth of which were proved by letters I read from 
 the parties themselves, little creditable to our 
 national character, and by persons, too, who ought 
 to have known better. On the i8th we left Verdun 
 for Metz. I had always winked at and generally 
 encouraged the addition of another passenger 
 behind our Cabriolet. The road was quite crowded 
 with straggling soldiers going or returning to their 
 several homes or regiments. We rarely passed in 
 a day less than 2 or 300, and really sometimes in 
 situations so very favorable to robbing that I am 
 surprised we were never attacked, their appearance 
 being generally stamped with a character perfectly 
 congenial to the Banditti Trade — dark, whiskered, 
 sunburnt visages, with ragged uniform and naked 
 feet. Sometimes we were more fortunate than at 
 others ; for instance, stragglers from the Hamburg 
 garrison, whose wan faces bore testimony to the 
 fact they related of having lived for the last 4 or 5 
 months on horseflesh ; but our charitable assistance 
 was to be this day most abundantly rewarded. We 
 
170 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 overtook a poor fellow, more wretched than most 
 we had seen, toiling away with his bivouacking 
 cloak tied round him. He, too, solicited, and mis- 
 understanding my answer, said in the most pitiable 
 but submissive tone, " Alors, Monsieur ne per- 
 mettra pas que je monte?" "Tout au contraire," 
 said I. " Montez tout de suite." A^fter proceeding 
 a little way I thought I might as well see who we 
 had got behind us, and guess my astonishment 
 when I received the answer. Who do you imagine, 
 of all the people in the world, Buonaparte had raked 
 forth to secure the Imperial Diadem upon his brow, 
 to fight his battles, and deal in blood, but — A monk 
 of La Trappe. For three years had he resided in 
 Silence and solitude in this most severe society 
 when Buonaparte suppressed it, and insisted that all 
 the Noviciate Monks in No. 36 should sally forth 
 and henceforth wield both their swords and their 
 tongues ; with lingering steps and slow our poor 
 companion went. hi the battle of Lutzen ^ he 
 fought and conquered. In Leipsic - he fought and 
 fell — the wind of a shot tore his eye out and struck 
 him down, and the shot killed his next neiofhbour 
 upon the spot ; he was taken prisoner by the 
 Swedes, and was now returnino; from Stockholm 
 to his brethren near Fribourg. The simplicity with 
 which he told his tale bore ample testimony to the 
 Truth, but in addition he shewed me his Rosary 
 and credentials. After having talked over the 
 battle I changed the subject, and determined to see 
 ^ May, 1813. 2 October, 1813. 
 
1814] A MONK OF LA TRAPPE 171 
 
 if he could wield the sword of controversy as well 
 as of war ; and accordingly telling him who I was, 
 asked his opinion of the Protestant Faith and the 
 chief points of difference between us. He hesitated 
 a little at first : '' Attendez, Monsieur, il faut que je 
 pense un peu." In about a minute he tapped at 
 the carriage. " Eh bien, Monsieur, j'ai pense," and 
 then entered upon the subject, which he discussed 
 with much good sense and ability, sometimes in 
 Latin, sometimes in French ; and though he sup- 
 ported his argument well and manfully, he displayed 
 a liberality of sentiment and a spirit of true Chris- 
 tianity which quite attached me to him. I asked 
 him his opinion of the salvability of protestants 
 and infallibility of Catholics. " Ecoutez moi," was 
 his reply. " Je pense que ceux qui savent que la 
 Religion Catholique est la vraie Religion et ne la 
 pratiquent pas, seront damnes, mais pour ceux qui 
 ne pensent pas comme nous. Oh non, Sefior, ne le 
 croyez pas. Oh mon Dieu ! non, non ! jamais, 
 jamais ! " " Are you quite sure a minister ought 
 not to marry ? You will recollect St. Peter was 
 a married man." " Oh que, oui, c'est vrai, mais le 
 moment qu'il suivit notre Seigneur on n'entend plus 
 de sa femme." From this we proceeded to various 
 other topics, amongst others to the propriety of 
 renouncing a religion in which we conceived there 
 were erroneous opinions. " Sefior, ecoutez," said 
 he, ** can that religion be good which springs from 
 a bad principle .'* Les Anglois etaient une fois 
 des bons Catholiques ; le Divorce d'un Roi capri- 
 
172 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 cieux fut la cause de leur changement. Ah, cela 
 netait pas bon." ... 
 
 When we were on the point of parting he turned 
 to me : " Senor, j'espere que je ne vous ai pas 
 fache, si je me suis exprime trop fortement devant 
 vous qui m'avez tant rendu service, il faut me par- 
 donner, je suis pauvre et malheureux, mais je 
 pensois que cetait mon devoir." 
 
 It was as lucky a meeting for him as for me. 
 I assisted him with money to expedite him home- 
 wards, and he entertained and interested me all the 
 way to Metz, when, much against my will, we 
 parted, for had he been going to Pekin I should 
 have accommodated him with a seat. . . . 
 
 Letter IX. 
 
 Cologne, July 25//^. 
 
 If you could see what I now see, or form any 
 ideas adequate to the scenery around me, you 
 would indeed prize a letter which, though com- 
 menced at 4 in the morning, cannot be valued at 
 a less price than 2 or 3 old Castles ; but it is not 
 yet the moment to sing the praises of the Rhine. 
 I shall only say that we slept at Bacharach, and 
 that I am now looking at 4 old Castles whenever 
 I raise my eyes from the paper, and that a fine old 
 Abbey is only eclipsed by the gable end of a 
 Church, equally curious, which is almost thrusting 
 itself into the window as if to look at the strangers. 
 
 Little enlivened our day after parting with our 
 Monk, unless I should except a good scene from 
 
1814] JACK BOOTS 173 
 
 a picture which happened at one of the Post 
 houses. No Postillions were at home, so the 
 Landlord himself was to drive — an enormous man, 
 rather infirm, with a night-cap on his head, from 
 whence emerged a long pigtail. It was necessary- 
 he should be put into his Jack boots. By Jack 
 boots you are to understand two large things as 
 big as portmanteaus, always reminding me of boots 
 fit for the leg which appears in the Castle of 
 Otranto. Accordingly no less than 4 or 5 persons 
 actually lifted the Landlord into his boots, an 
 operation which, from the weight and infirmities 
 of the one and the extreme clumsiness of the 
 others, took up nearly a quarter of an hour ; and, 
 of course, when fairly deposited in them he was 
 unable to move, and further help was necessary to 
 place him on the saddle. . . . The first view of 
 Metz, after traversing an uninteresting country, is 
 remarkably fine. It stands in a fine rich plain, near 
 though beyond the reach of an eminence — for it 
 does not deserve the name of a mountain — the 
 sides of which are covered with woods, villages, 
 and vineyards. There is something very grand in 
 entering a fortified Town — the clattering of draw- 
 bridges, appearance of moats, guns, sentinels, and 
 all the other etceteras of war. Our passports were 
 demanded for the first time. At length we were 
 allowed to pass, and found ourselves in a large, 
 clean town, chiefly remarkable for its Cathedral, the 
 painted window of which was equal to any I ever 
 saw. The first thing we invariably do in these 
 
174 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 towns is to ascend the highest spire, from whence 
 the general plan and position are at once explained. 
 Yon need not be alarmed. There is no fever at 
 present at Metz, or on the Rhine ; but there has 
 been. From the close of 1813 and until the last 
 two months not less than 69,000 sick or wounded 
 have been in the hospitals at Metz — a large Church 
 contained about 3,000 at a time, the remainder 
 were scattered about wherever they could find 
 room, and many breathed their last in the streets. 
 Of course, such a concourse of dead and dying 
 infested the air to a certain degree, and a fever 
 was the result. However, not above 2 or 300 
 inhabitants suffered. Of the sick troops from 12 
 to 1,500 per day were buried without the town, and 
 quicklime thrown in. We supped with three or 
 four Frenchmen and a Genoese officer, one of 
 Buonaparte's Imperial Elites of the Guard. His 
 form and countenance were quite Vandyck — 
 I never looked upon a face so well calculated for 
 a picture ; his dark whiskers and black curling hair 
 composed an admirable frame for a couple of the 
 most expressive eyes ; his manners were extremely 
 gentlemanlike, and you may conceive I did not talk 
 and look at him with any diminution of interest 
 when I found he was on his way home from 
 Moscow. He had o-one throuQ;h the whole of the 
 retreat, had almost reached the boundaries of 
 Poland, when at Calick he was wounded, taken 
 prisoner, and marched back to Moscow. His 
 description of the miseries of that horrible retreat 
 
1814] THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW 175 
 
 was petrifying — when a horse fell it was instantly- 
 surrounded by famished Frenchmen, who devoured 
 the carcase ; not merely those who slept were 
 frozen, but even sentries upon their posts. Yet 
 with all this he imputed no blame to Buonaparte. 
 The Russians, he said, had reason to thank the 
 severity of their climate, without which they must 
 have been completely conquered. I will say this, 
 indeed, that the Russians themselves seem to con- 
 sider their own efforts as rather secondary to the 
 weather. Besides this officer we had a Citizen of 
 Metz, a young officer of the Polytechnique School 
 who had fought at Montmartre, and a youth who 
 was silent ; the other 3, however, made ample 
 amends, talking incessantly, and all equally vehe- 
 ment in praise of Buonaparte. The officer blessed 
 his stars that he had enough to live upon, and that 
 he was now quitting a service which, having lost 
 its brightest ornament, was no longer interesting or 
 supportabfle. The young Polytechnique was equally 
 violent, with less of the gentleman to soften it 
 down. He, too, was disgusted, and had retired 
 for the same reason (these Frenchmen are sad liars 
 after all). Of course, as he had been engaged with 
 his school companions I thought I could not have 
 a better opportunity of ascertaining the number 
 killed at Montmartre, as it was invariably circulated 
 and believed at Paris that this defence was noble to 
 a degree and that the greater part perished by their 
 guns. You will recollect that the Polytechnique 
 cadets I met on the heights of Montmartre said the 
 
176 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 same, and yet the youth asserted that they had not 
 lost a single individual, that only 30 were wounded, 
 whereas they knocked over the Russians in count- 
 less multitudes. I The Citizen took the best ground 
 for his Panegyric. He referred us to the roads, the 
 public buildings, the national improvements which 
 France had gained under the dynasty of Napoleon ; 
 and when I hinted the intolerable weight of the 
 taxes (being 1/5 on all rents and property) he made 
 light of them, assuring me that Frenchmen had 
 quite enough left for the comforts of life. When 
 they all filled their glasses to drink to the health of 
 their hero I turned to the Genoese officer and 
 beofSfed first to drink to the restoration of Genoa to 
 that independence of which Napoleon had in great 
 measure deprived her, adding that her present 
 degradation was a cruel contrast to the dignified 
 station she once held in Europe. His national 
 superseded his Imperial feelings, and he drank 
 my toast with great good humour and satisfaction ; 
 nor did he think it necessary in return to press me 
 to drink success to the Emperor, though the Citizen 
 on my refusal, half in joke, half in earnest, said he 
 wished I might be ill off for the rest of my 
 journey. 
 
 My good fortune has not quitted me, however. 
 The next morning on getting into the Diligence 
 we found only one passenger — Major Kleist, 
 nephew to the celebrated Prussian General and to 
 
 ^ Subsequent accounts which I heard proved that this second 
 account was nearer the truth than the first (E. Stanley). 
 
1814] MAJOR KLEIST 177 
 
 General Tousein — a Russian equally famous here 
 though not so well known in England. His 
 appearance was much in his favor ; he talked 
 a great deal : had commanded a regiment of the 
 Russian Imperial Elites of the Guard (in which 
 he still was) at the battle of Leipsic and throughout 
 the campaign ; been engaged in every action from 
 the Borodino to the capture of Paris ; wounded 
 two or three times ; fought a French Officer in 
 the Bois de Boulogne, and got his finger cut 
 abominably ; visited London and Portsmouth with 
 his Emperor, dined with the Regent, &c. He 
 told me many interesting anecdotes and particulars, 
 although, from a certain random way of speaking 
 and the loose, unconnected manner in which his 
 words dropped from him, I could not place implicit 
 confidence in what he said, nor vouch for the 
 accuracy of his accounts. He said decidedly that 
 Alexander had visited the Princess of Wales in 
 London incog. ; he mentioned an anecdote which 
 I cannot quite believe, because had it occurred in 
 Paris we must have heard of it. One day when 
 Eugene Beauharnais was with Louis XVI H. Mar- 
 mont came in. Eugene, on seeing him, turned to the 
 King, said, "Sire, here is a Traitor; do not trust 
 in him ; he has betrayed one master, he may betray 
 you." 
 
 Marmont, of course, challenged him ; they fought 
 the next day and Marmont was wounded in the 
 arm. He spoke highly of the King of Prussia as a 
 military, unassuming, amiable, sensible man, and that 
 
 12 
 
178 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 he does visit the tomb of his wife. ^ Alexander, he 
 said, was fond of diplomacy, an amiable man, very 
 brave, but not much of a general. I asked him 
 what he thought of the Duchess of Oldenburg. 
 When I said she had excellent sense and great 
 information, he simply replied, " Oui, et peut-etre 
 un peu trop." Of Constantine ^ he spoke with 
 indignation, and his whiskers vibrated as he 
 described his detestable character — debauched, 
 depraved, cruel, dishonest, and a coward. Con- 
 stantine was abusing a Colonel in very gross tones, 
 a short time ago, for misconduct and incompetency 
 in battle. " Indeed ! " said the officer ; " you must 
 have been misinformed ; this cannot arise from 
 your own observation, as I do not recollect having 
 ever seen you near me upon these occasions." 
 
 No wonder the Russians were moderate towards 
 the inhabitants during the campaign — their dis- 
 cipline was severe enough. Our friend the Major 
 caught 7 Cossacks plundering ^ cottage ; he had 
 them all tied up and knouted them to death by 
 the moderate infliction of i,ooo blows each. In 
 truth he seemed to hold the lives of these gentle- 
 men, including the Calmucs, rather cheap. " Pour 
 moi," said he, " Je considere un Cossac, un Calmuc 
 et un Moineau a peu pres comme la meme chose." 
 
 At St. Avoid we again fell in with a regiment 
 of Russians, or rather detachments from many 
 
 ^ Queen Louise, nee Princess of Mecklenburg Strelitz. 
 ^ Grand Duke Constantine, brother of Czar Alexander, 1779- 
 1831. 
 
1814] TYPES OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 179 
 
 regiments. Whoever they were they did not 
 appear to be in high favour with the Major. '* Our 
 army," said he, " is divided into three classes — the 
 first we can trust for discipline and ability ; the 
 second consists of Cossacks and other irregulars, 
 whose business is reconnoitring, plundering, and 
 running away when they see the Enemy ; the 
 men before you compose the third — fellows who 
 know nothing and do nothing, but can stand quietly 
 in the place assigned them and get killed one after 
 another without ever thinking of turning their 
 backs " ; and their appearance was very like their 
 character — patient, heavy, slumbering, hard-featured 
 countenance ; sitting or standing without any 
 appearance of animation. 
 
 At St. Avoid we began to lose the French 
 language, and from this my fluency was reduced 
 to signs, or at most to a very laconic speech — " Ich 
 Englander, Ich woll haben Brod mitt Cafe," &c. 
 At Dendrich, a little village near Forbach, we 
 crossed the new line of demarcation between 
 France and Austria, and found the towns chiefly 
 occupied by Bavarians. Unless I am much mis- 
 taken, this country will soon be a bone of conten- 
 tion ; the people (as far as I can judge in three 
 days) are dissatisfied, and the leaders of France 
 look with a jealous eye on the encroachment, and 
 an imaginary line of separation will not easily be 
 respected. Here I saw what is meant by a German 
 forest — as far as the eye could reach all was wood. 
 Austria may, if she pleases, by her new accession 
 
180 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 of territory become charcoal vendor to the whole 
 world. The road is excellent, carried on in a fine, 
 broad, straight line. Till Buonaparte spoke the 
 word, there was no regular communication between 
 Metz and Mayence, now there is not a more noble 
 road for travelling. We were now in the Hock 
 country ; in the Villages we bought what I should 
 have called wine of the same sort for 6d. a 
 bottle. . . . 
 
 On Thursday, the 21st, we entered Mayence, 
 over and through similar drawbridges, bastions, 
 horn works, counterscarps as at Metz ; here we 
 met a curious assemblage. By the first Gate 
 were stationed a guard of Prussians with the 
 British Lions on their caps, John Bull having 
 supplied some Prussian Regiments with Uniforms. 
 At the next gate a band of white Austrians, with 
 their caps shaded with boughs of Acacia (you will 
 remember that their custom of wearing green 
 boughs in their Hats was interpreted by the French 
 into a premeditated insult). These, with Saxons 
 in red, Bavarians in light blue, and Russians in 
 green, made out the remainder of the motley crew. 
 We found an excellent Inn, and dined at a Table 
 d'Hote with about 30 people. The striking contrast 
 we already perceived between the French and 
 Austrians was very amusing, the former all bustle 
 and loquacity with dark hair, the latter grave and 
 sedate with light hair; the Inns, accommodation, 
 eating, &c., much cleaner; a band played to us 
 during dinner, and I was pleased to see the 
 
1814] ANGLOPHOBIA 181 
 
 Austrian moustachios recede with a smile of satis- 
 faction as they listened to the " Chasse de Henri 
 Quatre." 
 
 There is little to be seen in the town. I found 
 a most intelligent bookseller, and was tantalised 
 with the number of fine Engravings, &c., I might 
 have purchased for a trifle. . . . 
 
 I have heard a curious political report repeated 
 here, which is current all over the Continent — that 
 Austria has sold the Netherlands and Brabant to 
 England ; the report gains credit probably because 
 the towns in that part of the country are still 
 garrisoned with British troops. Poor England is 
 certainly not much beloved ; we are admired, 
 feared, respected, and courted ; but these people 
 will have, and perhaps with some reason, that upon 
 all occasions our own Interest is the sole object 
 of consideration ; that our Treaties have the good 
 of ourselves and not the peace of Europe at heart ; 
 and so far they carry this opinion, that I was 
 very near getting into a quarrel with a fat man in 
 the Diligence who spoke it as a common idea that 
 we fought with our money and not with our blood, 
 for that we were too rich to risk our lives, and had 
 there been a bridge that Napoleon would have 
 been in London long ago. I told him he knew 
 nothing at all about the matter (to which, by the 
 bye, he afterwards virtually assented), and as a 
 Frenchman's choler does not last long, we were 
 good friends the rest of the journey, and he 
 apologised for his behaviour, saying, it was a failing 
 
182 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 of his — "de s'echauffer bientot ' Upon one point 
 we agreed, too, in politics, viz., being Anti- 
 Napoleonites. 
 
 Now for the Rhine. At lo o'clock on Friday, 
 July 22nd, in a little rotten, picturesque-looking 
 boat and two men (preferring a private conveyance 
 to the public passage boats for the convenience 
 of stopping at pleasure) we left Mayence ; the river 
 here is about half a mile across, traversable by a 
 bridge of boats. The Maine falls into it just above 
 the town, and there appears nothing on the Frank- 
 fort or Strasburgh side to interest a traveller's eye, 
 the country being flat vine or corn land. The 
 Stream runs with a steady rapidity of about three 
 and a half or 4 miles an hour, so that in a boat, 
 with the addition of oars, you may proceed at the 
 rate of about 6 miles an hour. The distance 
 to ColoQ^ne is about 120 miles. On the bank 
 of the River we saw some of those immense 
 floats preparing which are composed of timbers 
 for the Holland markets. We o-flded with an im- 
 perceptible motion down the stream, expecting as 
 we proceeded to behold the magnificent ruins of 
 which we had heard so much. But, alas ! village 
 succeeded village, town followed town, and yet 
 not a single turret made its appearance. We sat 
 with our sketch books in battle array, but our 
 pencils were asleep ; we began to regret the un- 
 interesting, even country we had passed from Metz 
 to Mayence, and the time which might be called 
 lost in coming so far for so useless a purpose, and 
 
1814] THE BEAUTIES OF THE RHINE 183 
 
 to make vow after vow that we would never in 
 future believe the account given by others re- 
 specting people and places. By this time our 
 appetites began to grow keen, luckily, just at the 
 time when our spirits began to flag, and, accord- 
 ingly, we went on shore at Rudesheim, famous for 
 its excellent hock, and having dispatched a dinner 
 and bottle of hock we ventured forth to explore, 
 and, luckily, fell in with a little Gothic round tower, 
 which, with the dinner, rather raised our spirits 
 and enabled us to proceed 4 or 5 miles further 
 to Bingen when we turned a Corner. . . . 
 
 I verily believe such another corner does not 
 exist in the world. From the corner of Bingen 
 must be dated the beauties of the Rhine, and from 
 the corner of Bingen I commence my next letter ; 
 suffice it now to say that the moment we turned 
 the Corner we both, with one impulse, called out, 
 " Oh ! " and sat in the boat with our hands uplifted 
 in speechless astonishment. ... 
 
 Letter X. 
 
 AlX LA ChAPELLE, /i!//;)' 27, 1814. 
 
 I left you turning the corner of Bingen, now let 
 me describe what there presented itself. On the left 
 a beautiful picturesque town, with tower and pic- 
 turesque-looking steeples placed each exactly on 
 the spot an artist would have selected, with hills 
 and woods on each side and a bridge running 
 over a small river which emptied itself in the 
 
184 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Rhine. Immediately before us, on a small islet, 
 stood the Tower of Mausthurm, or the Mouse 
 turret, so called from a tradition that a Baron 
 once locked up a number of his Vassals in a 
 tower and then set fire to it and consumed it and 
 its inhabitants, in consequence of which certain 
 mice haunted him by day and by night to such 
 a degree that he fled his Country and built this 
 solitary Tower on its island. But all this would 
 not do. The Mice pursued him to his Island, 
 and the tale ends in his being devoured by them 
 there. 
 
 On both sides the river hills covered with vines 
 and woods rose abruptly, and on the right, tottering 
 on a pinnacle that frowns over the flood, stood the 
 Castle of Ehrenfels. . . . 
 
 It would be quite impossible, and indeed unneces- 
 sary (as my sketch-book can best unfold the tale), 
 to describe all we saw. For above loo miles, 
 with little interruption, the same scenery pre- 
 sented itself, attaining its superlative point of 
 grandeur in the neighbourhood of Lorich and 
 Bacharach. It might be called a perfect Louvre 
 of old Castles, each being a chef d'ceuvre of its 
 species. I could almost doubt the interference of 
 a human hand in their creation. Placed upon 
 elevated and apparently impossible crags, they 
 look more like the fortresses of the Giants when 
 they warred against the Gods than any thing else. 
 But the Castles were not the only points of attrac- 
 tion. Every mile presented a village as interesting 
 
1814] A CURIOUS PHENOMENON 185 
 
 as the battlements which threatened to crush them 
 to death from above. Each vied with its neigh- 
 bour in picturesque beauty, and the people as well 
 as the buildings in these remote nooks and corners 
 partook of the wild character of the scenery. A 
 shower of rain and close of the day induced us to 
 make Bacharach our sleeping-place. The Land- 
 lord, with his nightcap on his head and pipe in 
 his mouth, expressed no surprise at our appear- 
 ance. The coffee and the milk and the hock 
 came in due season when he had nodded 
 acquiescence to my demand, and he puffed away 
 with as much indifference as if two strange 
 Englishmen had not been in his house. We 
 found good clean beds, and should have slept 
 very well but for the deep-toned Bell of the 
 Church within a few yards of us, which tolled the 
 time of night every half-hour, and for a watchman 
 who, by way of murdering the little sleep which had 
 survived the sound of the Bell, sounded with all his 
 might a cow-horn, and then, as if perfectly satis- 
 fied that he had awaked every soul in the village, 
 bawled out the hour and retired, leaving them just 
 time to fall asleep again before the half-hour called 
 for a repetition of his exertions. 
 
 Every evening about dusk, in our course down 
 the river, a curious Phenomenon presented itself 
 which to me, as an Entomologist, had peculiar 
 charms. We were surrounded as far as the eye 
 could reach with what appeared to be a fall of 
 snow, but which, in fact, was a cloud of beautiful 
 
186 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 white Ephemera just emerged from their ChrysaHs 
 state to flutter away in their perfection for one or 
 two hours before their death. I mention this cir- 
 cumstance now, whilst it is fresh in my memory, 
 for I really should hesitate in relating it before 
 company for fear of being accused of traveller's 
 stories. I had heard of them before, and was 
 therefore not so much surprised, though the 
 infinite number was truly astonishing. 
 
 On Saturday, 23rd, we dined and spent an hour 
 or two in Coblentz, which, situated at the junction 
 of the Moselle with the Rhine, is strongly fortified 
 towards the land. There is little worth notice in 
 the town except a Stone fountain erected by 
 Napoleon, from the pipes of which run the united 
 streams of the two rivers. Upon these are carved 
 in large letters the two following inscriptions, the 
 one immediately below the other in characters 
 precisely similar : — 
 
 A.N. MDCCCXII. 
 
 Memorable par la Campagne 
 
 Contre les Russes 
 
 Sous la Prefecture de Jules Dragon. 
 
 Vu et approuve par nous 
 Commandant Russe de la ville de Coblentz 
 Le ler. Janvier 18 14. 
 
 At Coblentz as well as at Cologne the Rhine is 
 passed by a flying bridge — i.e., a large boat moored 
 to several other smaller ones, whose only use is to 
 keep the large one steady. It swings from bank 
 
1814] THE ROD OF NAPOLEON 187 
 
 to bank, according as the mooring line is placed on 
 one side or the other, merely by the action of the 
 current producing a sort of compound motion. 
 Coblentz is completely commanded by the heights 
 of Ehrenbreitstein, a rock as high as Dover, the 
 summit and side covered with the ruins of the 
 fortress which the French blew up. The people 
 in this country are pretty well satisfied with the 
 change of affairs. They led a life of unsupport- 
 able tyranny under the rod of Napoleon. The 
 river was crowded with custom house officers. 
 Not a man could pass without being personally 
 searched for Coffee and sugar in every part of 
 his dress. All they lament now is the uncertainty 
 of their fate. Many expressed a hope that the 
 report of their being sold to England might be 
 true. All they want is certainty, and then their 
 commerce will revive. As it is, nothing can be 
 more uninteresting in a commercial point of view 
 than this noble river. We did not see above a 
 dozen Merchants' barks in the course of 120 miles, 
 and yet they say trade is tenfold greater than when 
 Napoleon governed. Below Coblentz we passed 
 some of the Chateaux of the German Princes, 
 which are generally large, uncomfortable-looking 
 houses, fitted up, as far as external examination 
 allowed us to judge, without taste. The river 
 becam.e rather dull, but at Andernach, where we 
 slept, it began to improve and to promise better 
 for the next morning, and for some miles we were 
 not disappointed. 
 
188 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 We were under the necessity of travelling on the 
 Sunday, which in our situation I certainly held to 
 be no crime. What I could do I did in inducing 
 our Boatmen to attend their Mass. Religion, 
 which appears to be nearly extinct in France, is 
 by no means so in Germany. We find the churches 
 all well attended and plentifully scattered over the 
 whole country. In the course of the morning we 
 passed a large Chapel dedicated to St. Apollonius, 
 and noted for its Miracles, all of which were 
 recorded by our Boatmen with the air of implicit 
 reverence and belief. It happened to be the fes- 
 tival of the Saint, and from a distance of lo or 
 20 miles even the road was crowded with persons 
 going or coming to their favourite shrine. You 
 will recollect what Mme. de Stael says of the 
 Germans' taste for religious music. Of this we 
 had a specimen to-day. As we passed the height 
 upon which the Chapel stood a boat containing 
 40 or 50 people put off from the shore and pre- 
 ceded us for several miles chaunting almost the 
 whole way hymns and psalms. In the Evening, 
 soon after leaving Bonn, we came up with another 
 containing about 120, who every quarter of an hour 
 delighted us with the same strains. They glided 
 with the stream, and gave us time to row alongside, 
 and we continued in their company the remainder 
 of the day. 
 
 Could I have heard and not have seen all would 
 have been perfect, but the charm was almost broken 
 by the heterogeneous mixture of piety and indif- 
 
1814] VOICES ON THE RHINE 189 
 
 ference, outward practice and inward negligence. 
 Some were telling their beads and chattering 
 Pater Nosters, some were at one moment on 
 their knees, in the next quarrelling with their 
 neighbour ; but, after all, the general effect was 
 so solemn and imposing that I was willing to 
 spare my criticisms, and give them credit for 
 perhaps more than they deserved. Conceive such 
 a concourse of persons, on one of the finest Even- 
 ings imaginable, floating silently with the stream, 
 and then at a signal given bursting forth into songs 
 of praise to God — all perfect in their respective 
 parts, now loud, now low, the softer tones of the 
 women at one time singing alone. If the value 
 of a Sabbath depends on the religious feelings 
 excited, I may safely say I have passed few so 
 valuable. They had no Priest amongst them, the 
 hymns were the spontaneous flow of the moment. 
 Whenever one began the rest were sure to 
 follow. 
 
 When upon the subject of music I must be the 
 advocate of Mme. de Stael. She has been accused 
 of falsehood in stating that in the Cottages in 
 Germany a Piano Forte was a necessary piece of 
 furniture. I cannot from my own knowledge go 
 quite so far, but from my short experience of 
 German manners I may safely say there is no 
 nation in which Music is so popular. We have 
 heard the notes of pianos and harpsichords issuing 
 from holes and corners where they might least be 
 expected, and as for flutes and other instruments, 
 
190 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 there is scarcely a village in which, in the course of 
 an hour, you will not hear a dozen. 
 
 At Cologne we were lodged at a French Inn 
 kept by the landlord and his wife alone — no 
 waiters, no other attendance — and yet the house 
 was spacious, clean, and excellent. I never met 
 with more attention and wish to accommodate, 
 and not only in the house ; the exertions of our 
 host were exerted still further in our behalf- He 
 introduced us to a Club chiefly composed of 
 French Germans, who were as hospitably inclined 
 as himself. One gentleman invited us to his 
 house, would give us some excellent hock, intro- 
 duced us to his family, amongst the rest a 
 little fellow with a sabre by his side, with curling 
 locks and countenance and manner interesting as 
 Owen's. Hearing I was fond of pictures and 
 painted glass, he carried me to a fine old 
 Connoisseur, his father-in-law, whose fears and 
 temper were a good deal roused by the "peste," 
 as he termed it, of still having half a dozen 
 Cossacks in his house. However, they were 
 officers, and by his own account did him no 
 harm whatever ; but for fear of accidents he had 
 unpanelled his great dining-room. Our friend had 
 a large and excellent house, in a style very unlike 
 and far more magnificent than is usually met with 
 in England. In return for his civility I was 
 delighted to have it in my power to give him a few 
 ounces of our Pecco Tea which remained of our 
 original stock. Travelling in Germany is certainly 
 
1814] THE GLENBERVIES AND ME. NORTH 191 
 
 neither luxurious nor rapid ; the custom of hiring a 
 carriage for a certain distance and taking post 
 horses does not extend here, and you are therefore 
 reduced to the following dilemma, either taking 
 a Carriage and the same horses for your journey or 
 the '* Post Waggon," or Diligence, which is of the 
 two rather more rapid. Of two evils we preferred 
 the last, and at half-past 8 this morning were 
 landed at Aix la Chapelle, having performed the 
 journey of 45 miles in 12 and a half hours, 
 shaken to death, choked with dust, and poisoned 
 with tobacco, for here a great hooked pipe 
 is as necessary an appendage to the mouth as the 
 tongue itself. Under the circumstances above 
 mentioned, with the Thermometer at about 98 
 into the bargain, you may conceive we were 
 heartily glad to run from the coach office to the 
 Baths as instinctively as young ducks. On looking 
 over the list of persons visiting the place, we were 
 delighted to find the names of Lord and Lady 
 Glenbervie ^ and Mr. North.^ Accordingly, having 
 first ascended the highest steeple in the town, and 
 been more disgusted than in any place I have seen 
 since Spain, with virgins and dolls in beads and 
 muslins, and pomatum and relics of saints' beards, 
 and napkins from our Saviour's tomb, and mum- 
 meries quite disgraceful, we went to call upon 
 them. . . . 
 
 ' Lady Catherine North, sister of Lady Sheffield, married 
 1786, Sylvester Douglas, Lord Glenbervie. 
 ^ Hon. F. North, fifth Earl of Guilford. 
 
192 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 We find this, like every other town and village, 
 swarming with Prussian troops. General Kleist 
 commands, and has no less an army than 170,000. 
 This seems very like a determination of the King 
 of Prussia not to give up the slice he has gained in 
 the grand continental scramble. Every uniform 
 we saw was of British manufacture. An officer 
 told me we had furnished sufficient for 70,000 
 Infantry and 20,000 Cavalry. 
 
 There is little to be seen in this place. The 
 country about reminded me most of England ; for 
 the first time on the continent we saw hedges and 
 trees of tolerable size growing amongst them. We 
 were directed above all other things to pay our 
 respects to the great gambling table. It is, indeed, 
 one of the Lions of the Town ; the room is 
 splendid in size, and everybody goes to see it. It 
 is open 3 times a day for about 2 or 3 hours 
 each time. About 50 or 60 people were win- 
 ning or losing round a large table at a game 
 apparently something like vingt un ; not a word 
 was said, but money was shovelled to the right and 
 left very plentifully. ... I forgot to mention that 
 near Linz on the Rhine we passed a headland 
 fronted and inlaid with as fine a range of Basaltic 
 columns as the Giant's Causeway, some bent, some 
 leaning, some upright. They are plentiful through- 
 out that part of the country, and are remarkably 
 regular ; all the stone posts are formed of them, 
 and even here I still see them. . . 
 
1814] A FEENCH DILIGENCE 193 
 
 Letter XL 
 
 Bruxelles, 29//^. 
 
 After a night and greater part of two days passed 
 in a species of oven called a French Diligence, 
 with Reaumur Thermometer at 23 — hotter, you 
 will observe, than is necessary to hatch silkworms, 
 and very nearly sufficient to annihilate your 
 unfortunate brother and husband — did we arrive 
 at Bruxelles. ... I must give you a few details 
 that you may fully understand the extent of our 
 misery. We arrived at Liege all well, with only 
 two other passengers ; conceive our sorrow when on 
 re-entering the Diligence after dinner we found 
 besides ourselves and a lady the places occupied by 
 a Dutch officer, who sat gasping without his coat, 
 and so far exhausted by the heat, though he had 
 been ten years in Batavia, that his pipe hung 
 dangling as if he had not breath sufficient to keep 
 its vestal fire alive, and a lady with two children 
 besides living intruders. A net from the top was 
 filled with bags, baskets, and band-boxes. Our 
 night was sad indeed, and the groans of our fellow- 
 travellers and the ineffectual fluttering of a fan 
 which the Officer used proved how little they were 
 satisfied with the order of things. The children 
 were crammed with a succession of French Plums, 
 almonds, garlicked mutton, liqueurs, and hock, all of 
 which ingredients the kind mother endeavoured to 
 cement on their Stomachs by Basons of milk at 
 sunrise, but no sooner had a few additional jolts 
 
 13 
 
194 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 brought these bons-bons into close contact than the 
 windows were occupied the rest of the journey by 
 the stretched-out heads of the poor children. 
 
 The heat has been more excessive for the last 
 4 or 5 days than has been experienced for many 
 years in this country ; and, in short, when / think it 
 worth while to mention heat as the cause of real 
 inconvenience, you may consider it such as would 
 have thrown you into a fever. Enough of our 
 personal sufferings, which you may easily conceive 
 have been few indeed if the above is worth 
 recording. . . . 
 
 I left Aix la Chapelle with no great regret. The 
 Country round it is pretty, much resembling Kent, 
 but as a town or watering-place it has nothing to 
 recommend but its gambling-table. I expected 
 to have found a museum of human nature and 
 national character. — Tables d'hotes crowded with 
 the best bred of all countries, but just the reverse. 
 There were Tables d'hote's at the minor Inns 
 tolerably frequented, but none at the most fashion- 
 able ; there the guests lived by themselves. There 
 is no point of rendezvous, no promenade, no 
 Assembly room, where the concentrated world may 
 be seen. Like Swedenborgh's theory of living in 
 the midst of invisible spirits, so at Aix la Chapelle 
 (unless time and opportunity may have thrown him 
 into private circles) a traveller may be surrounded 
 by Princes and Potentates without knowing or 
 benefiting by their illustrious presence ; the Glen- 
 bervies made the same complaint. From Aix to 
 
1814] THE BRITISH CHARACTER 195 
 
 Liege we had the company of a very pleasant, well- 
 informed citizen of Liege (indeed, all the military 
 classes in Germany seem well informed), who in 
 pathetic terms lamented his lot. In the cutting up 
 of this grand continental dish Prussia has had 
 Benjamin's mess in this part of the country. We 
 have his troops, with few exceptions, forming a 
 cordon within the Rhine from Saarbruck to Liege, 
 and they are by no means popular. We have 
 clothed them, and all the people feed them, besides 
 having been called upon for contributions. It is 
 flattering to see the high respect shown to the 
 British character, which increases as opportunities 
 occur of observing its effects. If we were like the 
 people of Bruxelles (said our Liegeois) all would be 
 well ; we should rejoice in having a garrison. 
 British troops, so far from exacting contributions or 
 demanding free quarters, pay for everything, are 
 beloved by the people, and money circulates, 
 whereas under the Prussian government we pay 
 all, are put to all manner of inconvenience, and 
 receive neither thanks nor satisfaction. They 
 appear to have been peculiarly unfortunate in all 
 wars. Poor Liege has received a thump from one, 
 a kick from another, and been robbed by a third. 
 The Austrians have burnt their Suburbs, the 
 Republicans sold their national and ecclesiastical 
 Estates, and lately they have had the pleasure of 
 being pillaged by French Marshals and satisfying 
 the voracious appetite of the Crown Prince, who 
 put them to an expense of 150,000 frs. in providing 
 
196 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 his table for 7 weeks, and when they hinted that 
 they thought it but fair their Royal visitor should 
 pay for his own dinners, he departed, leaving his 
 bills unpaid. He seems to have been secreting 
 himself here like a Cat in a barn watching the 
 motions of the mice, acting solely from interested 
 motives, and ready to pounce upon whatever might 
 be safely turned to his own advantage. When the 
 French retreated out of Holland the Duke of 
 Tarentum ^ did the poor people at Liege the 
 honour of making their town a point in the line of 
 his march. He stopped one night, and because the 
 inhabitants did not illuminate and express great 
 joy at his illustrious presence he demanded an 
 immediate contribution of 300,000 frs., 150,000 of 
 which were paid the next morning. Luckily the 
 Allies appeared towards Noon, and I hope his Grace 
 will not get the remainder. 
 
 In the character of almost all these French 
 military leaders there are such blots and stains that 
 one sickens at the thought of being of the same 
 species. It would be endless to recount the acts of 
 rapacity committed by all these engines of Imperial 
 France ; conscious that their throne might one day 
 fall, they lost no time in amassing wealth, and 
 pillage was the watchword from the Cathedral to 
 the Cottage. Lisle is in the hands of the French, 
 and by their own account the people have suffered 
 every species of misery, yet they are strong for 
 Napoleon, Garrison and Citizen, and I cannot find 
 ' Marshal Macdonald, 1 765-1840. 
 
1814] SOLDIERS IN PETTICOATS 197 
 
 that they ever vented their feehngs in any other 
 way than in nicknaming their General Maison ^ 
 (a cruel Tyrant who destroyed all their suburbs 
 under pretence they might be in the way in case 
 of a siege, which might have been done in a day 
 had the Allies ever thought of such a thing) ; he is 
 in consequence called General Brise Maison, and 
 then the foolish people laugh and cry, " Que c'est 
 bon cela," think they have done a great feat and 
 submit like lambs. The country from Liege to 
 Brussels wears the same Anglicised face — hedge- 
 rows and trees without any leading features. 
 Bruxelles is a nice town — and really it was a grati- 
 fication in passing the gate to see a fat John Bull 
 keeping guard with his red coat. The Garrison 
 consists of about 3,000, amongst the rest a regiment 
 of Highlanders whose dress is the marvel of the 
 people. A French Lady who came with us from 
 Liege had seen some and expressed her utter 
 surprise, and as if she was speaking to one who 
 doubted the fact, she repeated, "C'est vrai! actuelle- 
 ment rien qu'un petit J upon — mais comment ! " and 
 then she lifted her eyes and hands and reiterated, 
 " petit jupon — et comment," concluding, as if she 
 almost doubted the evidence of her own senses, 
 " Je les ai vus moi-meme." 
 
 At Bruxelles at least we expected to see a 
 numerous and genteel Table d'hote, and in this 
 hope took up our quarters at a magnificent Hotel 
 
 ' General Maison, 1771-1840, one of the most faithful of 
 Napoleon's generals. 
 
198 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 in the Place Royale — very fine indeed, and very full 
 of English, much too full, for though we saw a few 
 in the passages, or eyed them as they peeped out 
 of their doors, and sat down with about 1 5 or 20 at 
 table, "They spoke not, they moved not, they 
 looked not around." By dint of asking- for salt and 
 mustard, and giving my next neighbour as much 
 trouble as I could to show I had a tonoue which 
 I should be happy to use, we towards the 3rd Act 
 of the Entertainment began to talk, and ascended 
 gradually from the meats to the wines (here, it is 
 true, there was some prolixity), and then to other 
 subjects pretty well, though the burthen of my 
 companion's song was that " the French were all 
 
 d d rascals and ought to be well licked." We 
 
 tried the Play ; there we found a few English 
 officers and one English lady, few of any other 
 nation, not 50 altogether, in a house dismal and 
 dirty. There is a delightful sort of wood and 
 promenade called the Park. » . . 
 
i4:i::: 
 
 ,1 1 
 
 'yrf',] 
 
 iU.,« 
 
 ^&r^/^X"^ 
 
 
 --■« I 
 
 
 
 >!f ii 
 
 
 ^'f^^S, 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE LOW COUNTRIES 
 
 Dutch arks — Walcheren memories — Earth - covered ships — 
 Cossacks and keys — Brother alleys — Bergen op Zoom — 
 Cossack shopping — Goat curricles — Treckschuit travelling — 
 Booksellers' shops 
 
 AFTER Brussels the travellers proceeded to 
 Holland, and saw Antwerp on their way. 
 They had now gone beyond the country which 
 Napoleon's victories had made famous, and the 
 chief military interest of the country through which 
 they passed, just eleven months before Waterloo, 
 was derived from two very melancholy events for 
 an Englishman to record — the Walcheren Expedi- 
 tion and the storming of Bergen op Zoom. 
 
 Letter XII 
 
 Bergen op Zoom, July i\st. 
 ... On leaving Bruxelles the country immedi- 
 ately loses its character, and becomes entirely 
 Dutch, by which we exchange for the better, 
 leaving dirty floors, houses, and coaches for as 
 
 199 
 
200 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 much cleanliness as soap and water can produce ; 
 I only regret from my experience of last night that 
 they should be so much occupied in washing as to 
 forget that drying is also a luxury, but there is 
 no such novelty in this country, and so much 
 to be seen that I have no time to catch cold. Our 
 Diligence from Bruxelles held lo people inside and 
 3 in front, and we had all ample elbow room ; it 
 was large, as you may suppose, as everything else 
 in Holland is from top to bottom. Hats, Coats, 
 breeches, pipes, horns, cows — are all gigantic, and 
 so are the dogs, and because the poor things happen 
 to be so, they harness a parcel of them together 
 and breed them up to draw fish-carts, I yesterday 
 met a man driving four-in-hand ; in turning a 
 corner and meeting three of these open-mouthed 
 Mastiffs panting and pulling, you might almost 
 fancy it was Cerberus drawing the Chariot of Pro- 
 serpine — but I am wandering from the Diligence, 
 which deserves some description. It resembled a 
 little Theatre more than a coach, with front boxes, 
 pit, &c., lined with common velvet. We had a 
 curious collection of passengers. Opposite to me 
 sat a prize thoroughbred Dutch woman as clean 
 and tidy as she was ugly and phlegmatic, with a 
 close-plaited cap, unruffled white shawl, and golden 
 cross suspended from her neck. I took a sketch 
 while she stared me in the face unconscious of the 
 honor conferred. By her side sat a French woman 
 crowned with the lofty towers of an Oldenburg- 
 Bonnet. By my side a spruce, pretty, English- 
 
1814] GALLERY OF THE FLEMISH SCHOOL 201 
 
 woman, whom I somehow or other suspected had 
 been serving with his Britannic Majesty's troops 
 now occupying Belgium. She had on her right 
 hand a huge Brabanter who spoke EngHsh, and 
 had acquired, I have no doubt, a few additional 
 pounds of fat by living in London. Edward sat 
 behind me in a line with the Brabanter's wife and 
 a Dutch peasant. These, with two or three minor 
 characters, completed our cargo, and away we went 
 on the finest road in the world towards Antwerp 
 between a triple row of Abeles and poplars, and 
 skirting the bank of a fine canal upon which floated 
 a fleet of Kuyp's barks, and by which grazed 
 Paul Potter's oxen — the whole road was, in truth, a 
 gallery of the Flemish school. By the door ^f 
 every ale-house a living group from Teniers and 
 Ostade, with here and there bits from Berghem 
 and Hobbema, &c. Halfway between Bruxelles 
 and Antwerp is Malines. I had began to fear that 
 I had lost my powers of observation, and was, 
 therefore, no longer struck with the external appear- 
 ance of the towns — in fact, that the novelty was 
 gone, and that my eyes were too much familiarised 
 with such objects to notice them. Happily Malines 
 undeceived me, and convinced me I was still fully 
 alive to whatever had any real peculiarity of 
 character to entitle it to notice. With the excep- 
 tion of the villages on the Rhine, all the towns and 
 houses I had seen lately had little to recommend 
 them, and were like half the people in the world, 
 possessed of no character of their own, their doors 
 
202 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 and windows like all other doors and windows, but 
 Malines had doors and windows of its own, and 
 seemed to take a pride in exhibiting- its own little 
 queer originalities ; in every house was a different 
 idea. The people were of a piece with their dwell- 
 ings ; I could almost fancy I was permitted to 
 inspect the toys of some Brobdignag baby who 
 washed, cleaned, and combed the beings before me 
 every morning and locked them up in their separate 
 boxes every evening. When the nice green doors 
 of the nice painted houses opened, I bethought me 
 of the Dutch ark you bought for Owen, and was 
 prepared to make my best bow to Noah and his 
 wife, who I expected to step forth with Ham and 
 Japhet, and all the birds and beasts behind them. 
 
 We approached Antwerp as the sun was setting 
 behind its beautiful Cathedral and shining upon the 
 pennants of the fleet which Bonaparte has kindly 
 built for the accommodation of the allied powers. 
 The Antwerpers had a well- arranged promenade 
 and tea garden, &c., about a mile from the house, 
 well wooded. These, with all the houses in the 
 suburbs, the French entirely destroyed, leaving not 
 a wreck behind. I must acquit them of wanton 
 cruelty here, however, as in sieges these devasta- 
 tions are necessary. We passed thro' a complete 
 course of fortifications, and then entered what, from 
 all I can perceive, is the best town I have seen on 
 the continent. 
 
 It is a mass of fine streets, fine houses, and fine 
 churches ; the Tower of the Cathedral is quite a 
 
1814] WALCHEREN MEMORIES 203 
 
 Bijou 620 steps in height ! but the ascent was well 
 rewarded ; from thence a very respectable tour of 
 about 30 miles in every direction may be accom- 
 plished. Walcheren and Lillo (the celebrated fort 
 which prevented our ascending the Scheld) were 
 visible without any difficulty, with Cadsand and all 
 the v/ell-known names of that silly expedition,' 
 rendered apparently more silly by seeing how 
 impossible it would have been to have taken 
 Antwerp unless by a regular siege, which might 
 have been of endless duration ; we might have 
 bombarded the basons in which the men-of-war 
 were deposited, and with about as much success as 
 Sir Thos. Graham, ^ who, after expending a mint 
 of money in bombs and powders, in the course of 
 two days contrived to send about half a dozen 
 shells on board the line of battleships. I was on 
 board the Albania, which had suffered the most. 
 The extent of her damage was two shells which 
 passed thro' the decks, exploding without much 
 mischief, and a round-shot which shivered a quarter 
 gallery and then fell on the ice — indeed, bombard- 
 ing vessels, which are objects so comparatively 
 small, is something like attempting to shoot wild 
 ducks on Radnor Mere by firing over their heads 
 with ball in hopes that in its descent it may come 
 in contact with the bird's head. 
 
 ' This disastrous expedition to attack Antwerp sailed under 
 the Earl of Chatham, July 20, 1809, and ended in total failure 
 The troops were withdrawn in December, i8og. 
 
 •^ Sir Thomas Graham, 1 748-1 843, afterwards Lord Lynedoch. 
 
204 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 About a dozen Gun Brigs were sunk, all of which 
 we saw with their masts above the water ; a few 
 houses near the Bason were shattered, and about 
 20 Townsmen killed. The country round Antwerp 
 is quite flat, and appears, with the exception of 2 
 or 3 miles round the town, a perfect wood ; fancy- 
 such a wood with the Scheldt winding through it, 
 several roads radiating in lines straight as arrows, 
 with here and there a steeple breaking the hori- 
 zontal line, and you may suppose yourself at the 
 top of the Cathedral. The Town is large, with 
 the river washing the whole of one side ; on the 
 south are the dockyards, with rope walks and 
 everything in fine style ; the destruction of these 
 might have been practicable, as they are rather 
 beyond the line of immediate fortifications, but 
 probably they have works for their express pro- 
 tection, and the advantage gained must have been 
 in proportion to the stores and vessels building. I 
 counted 16 or 17 ships of the line on the Stocks 
 2 or 3 of 120 Guns. In the Scheldt floated 13 
 in a state of apparent equipment ; in the basons 
 9 — all of the line — thus completing a fleet of 
 39 fine Ships, besides a few frigates and Gun 
 Brigs innumerable — of these only two were 
 Dutch. 
 
 It was curious to see such a fleet, and some of 
 them were actually worn out, the utmost extent 
 of whose naval career had been an expedition to 
 Flushing. On descending the Spire, we examined 
 the Carillons, which are a Gamut of chiming bells 
 
1814] ALKMAAR CHURCH BELLS 205 
 
 of all sizes — the total number for them and the 
 Church is 82 ; by a clock work they play every 
 7 minutes, so that the neighbourhood of the 
 Cathedral is a scene of perpetual harmony ; they 
 can also be played by hand. Most of the churches 
 in this country have them. Our Guards in march- 
 ing into Alkmaar were surprised and gratified in 
 hearing the church bells strike up "God Save the 
 King." There are several good churches in the 
 town, and once all were decorated with the works 
 of Rubens, which Napoleon carried off. I should, 
 however, be perfectly satisfied with a selection from 
 the remainder. I saw a Vandyck on the subject of 
 our Saviour recommending the Virgin Mary to St. 
 John, which was incomparable ; it quite haunts me 
 at this moment, and, however horrible the effect of 
 the bleeding figure on the Cross, I do not wish to 
 lose the impression. The Dutch have carried the 
 art of carving in wood to a most extraordinary 
 pitch of perfection. I am surprised it has not been 
 more spoken of ; some of their pulpits are really 
 quite marvellous. Religion increases and, I think, 
 improves. There is less mummery here than at 
 Aix and some other places I have lately seen, with 
 the exception of a few little Saviours in powdered 
 wigs and gilt satin and muslin frocks, and a very 
 singular figure as large as life, supposed to repre- 
 sent the deposition in the holy sepulchre, which 
 was covered by a shroud of worsted gauze, studded 
 over with enormous artificial flowers and tinsel like 
 a Lady's court dress. 
 
206 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Wherever we went, at whatever hour, Mass was 
 performing- to good congregations. The women 
 here all dress in long black shawls, or, rather, 
 hooded wrappers, which, as they knelt before their 
 confessional boxes, were extremely appropriate and 
 solemn. The Eno^lish have a church here for the 
 garrison ; it Is simplicity itself. They have even 
 removed several fine pictures, the rooms having 
 been a sort of museum— the Vandyck I alluded to 
 among the rest. ... 
 
 In our morning's tour we, of course, visited the 
 celebrated basons for the men-of-war. " Still harp- 
 ing upon these ships," I can fancy you exclaiming ; 
 *' when will he have done with them ? " You must 
 bear it patiently. It was on account of these said 
 basons, in a great measure, that I came to Antwerp, 
 so you must endure their birth, parentage, and 
 education. 
 
 There are two Basons, one calculated for i6, the 
 other for 30 sail of the line ; they are simple excava- 
 tions. Nature never thought of such a thing, and 
 gave no helping hand. It was Napoleon's work 
 from first to last ; the labour and expense must 
 have been enormous. They open by dock gates 
 immediately into the Scheldt, from whence each 
 ship can proceed armed and fitted cap a pie (if 
 she dares) to fight the English. They were begun 
 and finished in two years, but improvements were 
 suggested, and there is no knowing what more the 
 Emperor intended to do. Precautions had been 
 taken during the bombardment to preserve the 
 
1814] EARTH-COVERED SHIPS 207 
 
 Ships. For instance, all the decks were propped 
 up by a number of spars, by which means if a 
 bomb fell it did no other mischief than forcing its 
 way through and carrying all before its immediate 
 course, whereas without the props it might have 
 shaken the timbers and weakened the access con- 
 siderably. In every ship also were 2 cartloads of 
 earth, to throw over any inflammable substance 
 which might have fallen on board. From this 
 mole hill of a truth was engendered a mountainous 
 falsehood for home consumption. I read in the 
 English Papers of the time that the French had 
 scuttled their ships to the level of the water, and 
 then covered them over with earth, which was 
 carefully sodded ! ! Sir Thos. Graham's batteries 
 were very near the basons, half-way between the 
 village of Muxham, about 2 miles from the town 
 and the nearest French battery. From one of the 
 latter we had a perfect conception of the whole 
 business. Without saying a word about my ex- 
 treme partiality and fears for the safety of No. i, 
 and probable inconvenience which might ensue 
 from loss of said No. i to Nos. 2, 3 and 4, I 
 wonder much whether my curiosity would have 
 allowed me to sleep quite in the back ground. 
 The sight must from this point have been superb, 
 as it was the intention to throw the bombs over 
 this battery so as to make them fall in the bason 
 amongst the ducks. The top of the Cathedral 
 would have been perfection, but the Governor 
 most vexatiously kept the keys. . . , 
 
208 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 We found abundance of British troops here, 
 remnants of all the regiments who had survived 
 the storming of Bergen op Zoom, about 3 or 
 4,000. . . . They have no reason to complain of 
 their quarters, though it is possible many of them 
 may be of the same opinion with a soldier of the 
 Guards, who, in reply to my question of " How do 
 you like Antwerp ? " said with great earnestness, 
 " I like St. James's Park a great deal better." I 
 observed several ladies with their "petits chapeaux," 
 and I must do them the justice to say they are much 
 handsomer than the French, German, or Dutch. 
 . . . English Curricles, coaches, and Chariots are 
 to be seen, and some few English horses, which 
 are certainly better calculated for speed and 
 pleasant driving than the heavy breed of this 
 country. Flanders Mares — as Henry VHI. tells 
 us by comparing his queen to one — have never 
 been remarkable for elegance and activity, and I was 
 much entertained in seeing an Englishman break 
 in a couple of these for a Tandem. 
 
 ... At our Table d'hote, where we met nothing 
 but English merchants, I heard the report of the 
 day that Belgium was to be a sort of independent 
 state, under the Prince of Orange's government, 
 according to its old laws and customs, and that he 
 was to hold a court at Bruxelles. . . . The Prince 
 of Orange is now in fact gone to make his public 
 entrance into Bruxelles. . . . 
 
 There is a custom that the key of the town 
 should be presented to the possessor or Governor 
 
1814] RICHES OF THE COSSACKS 209 
 
 of the Town on a magnificent silver-gilt plate. 
 When the Cossack chief came, as usual, the key 
 was offered, which he good, simple man quietly 
 took, put into his pocket, and forgot to return. 
 When I saw the dish, the man told me this 
 anecdote, and lamented wofully the loss of his 
 key, which may possibly in future turn the lock 
 of some dirty cupboard or other on the banks of 
 the Don. It seems these Cossacks were immensely 
 rich. Latterly I have been assured they could not 
 fight had they been inclined, from the excessive 
 height of their saddles and weight of their clothes ; 
 on the one they could scarcely sit, and with the 
 others they could scarcely walk. They had 
 always 3 or 4 Coats or coverings, and in the 
 folds of these were unkennelled 1,330 Napoleons 
 on one of them who happened to die at 
 Bruxelles. 
 
 We quitted Antwerp after dinner yesterday for 
 Bergen op Zoom by a new sort of conveyance ; by 
 way of variety we " voitured " it, viz., hired a 
 carriage, driver, and horses for Breda on our way 
 to Amsterdam. It was a nice sort of Gig Phaeton, 
 with comfortable seats for 4, the Driver on the 
 front bench. I fear I must retract what I said 
 in the beginning of this letter, as to the decided 
 change in houses and people here. It was most 
 conspicuous about Malines, but on this road 
 there was nothing remarkable one way or the 
 other. 
 
 Our road was, however, Dutch throughout. Upon 
 
 14 
 
210 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 a sort of raised dyke, between a monotonous avenue 
 of stunted willows, did we jog gently on, with 
 nothing to relieve the eye but here and there a 
 windmill or a farm. On our left we saw, as far as 
 eye could reach, the Swamp (or I scarcely know 
 what to call it), which fills up the spaces between 
 the Main and South Beveland, and it almost gave 
 me the Walcheren fever to look at it. The Even- 
 ing Gun of Flushing saluted the Sun as he sank to 
 rest behind these muddy isles, and we begun to 
 fear, as night drew on, that we should have to take 
 up our night's lodging in the Gig, for though he 
 knew that the gates of the Fortress were closed at 
 9, our sturdy Dutchman moved not a peg the faster. 
 However, we escaped the evil, and lo minutes before 
 9 we passed the drawbridge of the ditch leading to 
 the Antwerp gate, which had been the grave of the 
 I St Column of Guards, led by General Cooke, on 
 the 8th March. . . . 
 
 Note. 
 
 Storming of Bergen op Zoom, March 8, 1814. — Sir Thomas 
 Graham had landed 6,000 men on October 7, 181 3, in S. Beve- 
 land, in order to combine with the Prussians to drive the French 
 from Holland. 
 
 On March 8, 18 14, he led 4,000 British troops against Bergen 
 op Zoom. They were formed into four columns, of which two 
 were to attack the fortifications at different points ; the third to 
 make a false attack ; the fourth to attack the entrance of the 
 harbour, which is fordable at low water. 
 
 The first, led by Major- General Cooke, incurred some delay in 
 passing the ditch on the ice. but at length established itself on the 
 rampart. 
 
1814] BROTHER ALLEYS 211 
 
 The right column, under Major-General Skerret and Brigadier- 
 General Gore, had forced their way into the body of the place, but 
 the fall of General Gore and the dangerous wounds of Skerret 
 caused the column to fall into disorder and suffer great loss in 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners. The centre column was driven 
 back by the heavy fire of the place, but re-formed and marched 
 round to join General Cooke. At daybreak the enemy turned the 
 guns of the place on the unprotected rampart and much loss and 
 confusion ensued. General Cooke, despairing of success, directed 
 the retreat of the Guards, and, finding it impossible to withdraw 
 his weak battalions, he saved the lives of his remaining men by 
 surrender. 
 
 The Governor of Bergen op Zoom agreed to a suspension oi 
 hostilities for an exchange of prisoners. The killed were com- 
 puted at 300, prisoners, 1,800. — Ed. 
 
 Letter XIII. 
 
 Hague, August j^, 1814. 
 Sterne pities the man who could go from Dan to 
 Beersheba and say that all was barren, and I must 
 pity the man who travels from Bergen op Zoom to 
 Amsterdam and says that Holland, with all its flat- 
 ness, is not worth visiting. 
 
 " Oh Willow, Willow, Willow, here 
 Each stands bowing to another. 
 And every Alley finds its brother." 
 
 Nature never abhorred a vacuum more than she 
 herself is abhorred by these Dutchmen ; here rivers 
 run above their levels and cattle feed where fishes 
 were by nature intended to swim. Hogarth's line 
 of beauty is unknown in Holland. No line can 
 be either beautiful or palatable except that which 
 
212 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 (defined mathematically) is the shortest that can be 
 drawn between two given points. But I have yet a 
 great deal to say before I come to these roads. I 
 left you at Bergen op Zoom, just arrived. On Sun- 
 day morning, after a little enquiry, we were glad to 
 find there was a Protestant French Church in the 
 town, and thither we went. I cannot say much for 
 the sermon ; it was on i Cor. vii. 20, in which a 
 great deal of French display of vehemence and action 
 made up in some degree for a feeble prolixity of 
 words ; in one part, however, he made an appeal, 
 which has at least had the effect of eloquence and 
 certainly came home to the heart. He described 
 the miseries the country had so long endured and 
 the happy change which had now taken place. But 
 while he blest the change he lamented the tears 
 which must be shed from the fatal effects of the war 
 which produced it ; and then turning to us, whom he 
 perceived to be Englishmen, he proceeded : " It is 
 for us to lament the sad disaster which this town 
 was doomed to witness in the loss of our friends 
 (our Compatriots, I may say), who shed their blood 
 for the restoration of our liberties." After church I 
 went into the vestry to tell him who and what I was. 
 As an Englishman he shook me by the hand, and 
 when he understood I was a Protestant minister he 
 shook it again. Had he asked me to dine I should 
 have accepted his invitation, but unluckily he lost 
 my company by paying what he conceived to be a 
 greater compliment. Like an Indian warrior, he 
 offered the calumet of peace and begged I would go 
 
1814] AN EYEWITNESS' ACCOUNT 213 
 
 home and smoke with him. Now, I would have gone 
 through a good deal to have had some conversation 
 with him, but really on one of the hottest days of 
 July, when I was anxious, moreover, to inspect the 
 fortification, smoking would not do, and taking our 
 leave he sent his schoolmaster, an intelligent man 
 who had a brother a Captain in one of our assaulting 
 regiments, to be our guide and tell the melancholy 
 tale. . . . And now let me see if I can make that 
 clear to you which has never been made clear to any- 
 body yet. "At lo o'clock," said our guide, "I was 
 at supper with a little party, some French officers 
 being present ; about half after lo some musket 
 shots were heard ; this was no uncommon sound 
 and we took no notice ; however, it rather increased, 
 and the French sent a sergeant to know the cause, 
 and remained chatting quietly. In about ten minutes 
 in burst the sergeant, ' Vite, vite, a vos portes ! Les 
 Anglais sont dans la ville.'" I need not add the party 
 broke up in a hurry ; our Guide sallied forth with the 
 rest, and went on the Ramparts for curiosity, but 
 whilst he was gratifying this passion, on a pitch 
 dark night, down drops a man who stood near him, 
 and whiz flew some bullets, upon which he took to 
 his heels, got home, and saw no more ; indeed, had 
 he been inclined it would have been impossible, for 
 Patrols paraded the streets and shot every one 
 who was not a French soldier. Thus far our school- 
 master was an eye-witness ; for the remainder you 
 must trust to my account from as minute an enquiry 
 as I could make upon the spot with Sir T. Graham's 
 
214 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 dispatches in my hand, which threw very little light 
 upon the subject. 
 
 BERGEN OP ZOOM . 
 E 
 
 .*! 
 
 A. The Steenbergen Gate. 
 
 B. Breda Gate. 
 
 C. Antwerp Gate. 
 
 D. Water Gate. 
 
 E. Picket of veteran French 
 
 Soldiers. 
 
 F. River or creek running into 
 
 the town. 
 
 G. Side from whence the Eng- 
 
 lish approach. 
 H. Bastion near Breda Gate. 
 
 Under the guidance of some inhabitants who had 
 fled to the English, soon after lo o'clock, March 8th, 
 the ground covered with snow and ice, our troops 
 marched in silence to their respective posts. The 
 Guards, led by General Cooke, were to go round 
 towards B and C, at A a false attack was to be 
 made ; another column was to force open the gates 
 
1814] STORMING OF BERGEN OP ZOOM 215 
 
 at B, and the 4th column, led by Generals Skerret 
 and Gore, proceeded by the dotted line, crossed 
 the river up to their middle, and skirting round 
 between the works were the first to enter the 
 town behind some houses which fronted the 
 Quay. Hitherto all went on well, and the object 
 of all the Columns was to concentrate at G, but no 
 sooner had the 4th Column gained its point (from 
 what cause nobody knows, for I cannot conceive 
 that the immediate loss of its two Generals was the 
 sole cause) than all subordination seems to have 
 been at an end, and the men, instead of going on, 
 occupied themselves with revelling and drinking 
 and getting warm in the houses by the Quay, and 
 though many prisoners were taken, they were im- 
 prudently left unguarded with arms in their hands, 
 which they very soon turned against their captors 
 with fatal success. The doors and windows in this 
 part of the town bore evidence of the business 
 which for a short time was carried on. The 
 Guards gained their point, and so did the Column 
 at B in part, for the French were killed in great 
 numbers on Bastion H, in fact, eleven Bastions 
 were taken, and all before midnight ; but from 
 this period till 7 in the morning, when the affair 
 closed, I can give you no clear account. Nobody 
 seemed to know what was doing, all appears to 
 have been confusion — not a gun was spiked, none 
 were turned towards the Town. In the meantime 
 the French were no inactive observers of what was 
 passing ; they came forward most manfully, fighting 
 
216 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 hand to hand, and though I could not find out that 
 there was the slightest reason for suspecting they 
 were at all prepared beyond what was usual, or 
 aware of the attack, they contrived to be instantly 
 at the right point, and though with barely 3,000 
 men to defend works, the inner circle of which is at 
 least 2 miles in circumference, and with 3,900 men 
 attacking, they remained master of the field, killing 
 near 400 and taking 1,500 prisoners. The French 
 General was an elderly man who left all to his Aide 
 de Camp. He was, in fact, the head, and has been 
 rewarded most deservedly in the ribbon of the 
 Legion of Honor. The French, it is supposed, 
 lost 5 or 600 men. The number was certainly 
 great, and they were aware of it, for they buried 
 their dead directly, to prevent the possibility of 
 counting. The Bergen op Zoom people say it is 
 utterly impossible to account for the failure of the 
 assault but on the supposition that the English 
 were led to conclude that the French would make 
 no resistance or that they were badly officered. I 
 should be sorry to believe the latter, and yet I heard 
 from good authority that many of these, instead of 
 encouraging their men at the Water post gate, were 
 actually busied in collecting braziers and fires to 
 warm themselves and rest upon their arms. 
 
 It may be supposed that wading on such a night 
 upwards of 50 yards in mud and water must have 
 been dreadfully cold, but I can scarcely conceive that 
 upon a service so important cold could have any 
 influence ; however, never having led an assault 
 
1814] DRIVE TO BREDA 217 
 
 under such circumstances I can be no judge. 
 Were I to give my own opinion, it would be this : 
 That the affair was entrusted to certain General 
 officers who were unfortunately killed in the begin- 
 ning of the action ; that no precautions appear to 
 have been provided against such accidents, and no 
 remedy applied to the confusion thereby created — 
 the Columns knew not what to do, each on gaining 
 its point possibly waiting for orders to proceed ; 
 that the darkness increased the confusion — in short, 
 that "the right hand knew not what the left hand 
 did," and that the French acted with incomparable 
 bravery and skill. It should be added that most of 
 their troops were conscripts. It is an ugly story 
 altogether, and I shall say no more. A sketch of 
 the works in and near the Antwerp gate will give 
 you some idea of the spot which has proved the 
 grave of so many fine officers and men. At 
 4 o'clock we quitted the town for Breda — the 
 greatest part of the road inexorably flat and un- 
 interesting ; but what is lost in the country is 
 gained in the Towns, villages, and people — they 
 are sui generis. For 3 hours did we toil through 
 a deep sand between parallel lines of willows of the 
 same size, shape, and dimensions ; then for 3 hours 
 more did we proceed at a foot pace over a common ; 
 this brought us to Breda just in time for the gates, 
 throucrh which we trotted to the usual rattle of 
 drawbridges, chains, &c. By the bright light 
 of the moon at night and earliest dawn of the 
 following morning we rambled through the streets. 
 
218 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Breda was one of the last towns which aot rid of 
 its French garrison without a siege ; it departed 
 one night without beat of drum, and the Cossacks 
 came in to breakfast, leaving the trembling inhabi- 
 tants to doubt whether in escaping Scylla they 
 were not approaching Charybdis. However, they 
 behaved tolerably well. " Did they pillage? " said 
 I to a Breda lady who travelled with us in the 
 Diligence. "Oh non," she replied; " seulement 
 quelque fois ils prenaient des choses sans payer." 
 Thus a Cossack comes into a Shop, makes signs he 
 wants some Cloth. The Dutchman, delighted with 
 the idea of accommodating a new purchaser, takes 
 down his best pieces. The Cossack looks them over, 
 fixes on one, takes it up, pops it under his arm, 
 and walks off, leaving the astonished vendor 
 gaping behind his counter to meditate on the 
 Profits of this new verbal ceremony. 
 
 After the Cossacks came the Prussians, who re- 
 mained a longf time and were little better than the 
 French — they lodged in free quarters, domineered 
 without mercy, and paid for nothing. All the 
 Prussian officers 1 have seen appeared gentleman- 
 like men, but they are nowhere popular. The 
 English succeeded the Prussians, they were all 
 " charmants " ; then came the Dutch who were 
 "comme 9a," but then " n'importe " they were 
 their own countrymen. I rather begin to like 
 the Dutch women. The next day in the Dili- 
 gence we had my present informant, a lively, 
 talkative damsel of Breda, a very pretty girl of 
 
1814] A MEETING WITH ARTILLERY 219 
 
 the same town who talked nothing but Dutch 
 and an old Lady who would have been perfect 
 if everything had been as charming as her Dress. 
 The Ladies are elegant and apparently well- 
 behaved, with all the liveliness of the French. 
 We met with no adventures till we came to a 
 river ; here a regiment of Dutch cavalry impeded 
 our progress and luckily gave us time to get our 
 breakfast ; the next river brought us in contact 
 with a detachment of Artillery waggons. Our 
 Diligence consisted of a Machine with 6 seats 
 inside, a cabriolet in which sat Edward and myself, 
 on a little seat before us the driver with his legs 
 dangling for want of a footboard. His patience 
 had been rather put to the test by the cavalry, 
 but the Artillery quite upset him, and on getting 
 entangled amongst their train, uttering two of the 
 French words he had learnt from his servitude 
 under the Emperor, viz., "sacr^ bleu," he popped 
 his pipe into his pocket, threw the reins into my 
 hands, and jumped down to request the Officer's 
 permission to pass. Under existing circumstances 
 I confess I did not much like the responsibility of 
 the charge committed to me, but fortunately our 
 conductor soon returned with permission to pass. 
 We got out while he drove his 4 in hand quietly 
 into the boat, every cranny of which was filled up 
 by soldiers and artillery horses, which, as if to shew 
 off the pomp of war, capered and reared before 
 our sedate steeds, who only wanted pipes in their 
 mouths to rival the impenetrable gravity of their 
 
220 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 driver. It is necessary to cross the Waal before 
 you get to Gorum. When we got to the bank not 
 a boat was to be had. With some difficuky at last 
 our Coachman procured a miserable punt with a 
 boy. What with our Trunks and passengers we 
 were quite enough for it ; indeed, the female part 
 of our crew hesitated for some time ; and well they 
 might, for no sooner had we shoved from the 
 shore than a leak was discovered which threatened 
 serious consequences. It gained rapidly ; the old 
 Lady above mentioned was in despair, and sat with 
 her thumb crammed over the spouting orifice the 
 whole time, while a young man baled with his 
 shoes as fast as possible. This was not all. The 
 Stream carried us down, and our driver — no great 
 sailor — caught crabs at every other pull ; then we 
 got upon a bank. Really I begun to think it would 
 be quite as well to be safe now, but as for fear, 
 it was out of the question, the lamentations of the 
 women, and terrors of the old lady in particular, 
 kept us quite in Spirits. The last event was the 
 total overthrow of the driver by a sudden bump 
 against the bank. Poor fellow ! he was not only 
 well drenched, but his head cut by falling against 
 the seat of the boat in his overturn. Though 
 every nerve vibrated with compassion, it was 
 quite impossible to avoid laughing. Luckily a 
 glass of vinegar well rubbed upon the wound 
 soon set him to rigfhts and g-ood humor. Gorum 
 and Naard were the last two towns which the 
 French retained, and poor Gorum suffered sadly. 
 
1814] A DUTCH CLERIC 221 
 
 The Suburbs, Tea gardens, avenues, walks, &c., 
 were all destroyed by the French to prevent the 
 Prussians coming in, and their houses and heads 
 knocked about with shot and shells to drive the 
 French out. Luckily the French listened to the 
 entreaties of the people and capitulated. 
 
 I wish they would bombard Knutsford or Maccles- 
 field or some of our Towns for an hour or two, just 
 to shew them what war is. Bang, whiz, down 
 comes a shell and away goes a house. War and 
 slavery have quite reconciled the Dutch to the 
 abdication of Napoleon. In answer to the question, 
 " Etes vous content de ces changements .'* " you meet 
 with no doubtful shrug of the shoulders, no am- 
 biguous " mais que, oui " ; an instantaneous extra 
 whiff of satisfaction is puffed forth, accompanied 
 with the synonimous terms, " Napoleon et Diable." 
 On leaving Gorum we acquired an accession of 
 passengers — a protestant clergyman and a fat man, 
 who looked much like a conjurer or alchymist. A 
 protestant clergyman in Holland may be known by 
 his dress — a cocked hat of a peculiar model covers 
 a lank head of unpowdered hair. Nothing white 
 appears throughout but the pipe in his mouth and 
 cravat round his neck, a long black coat down to 
 his ancles, with black worsted stockings and gold- 
 headed cane. I must say they do not look over 
 and above agreeable, and as they hate all innova- 
 tions few have learnt French, so that I have been 
 foiled in most of my attempts at conversation. 
 
 From Gorum to Utrecht the country improves ; 
 
222 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 we had hitherto travelled sometimes on Dyke tops, 
 sometimes in Dyke bottoms which only required 
 the efforts of a few able-bodied rats to let the water 
 in upon us. It is quite surprising to see on what 
 a precarious tenure Holland is held. Take but a 
 Dyke away, overturn one dam, and see what discord 
 follows — and this does sometimes happen. In 
 1809 the Ice broke through near Gorum and 
 carried away countless houses, men, cattle, &c. I 
 have said the country improved, i.e., we got into 
 a land of villas and Trees, some of them beautifully 
 laid out, and all, stable included, bright and 
 clean as possible. Each, too, has its Summer 
 house perched by the Canal side and (the Evening 
 being fine) well filled with parties of ladies and 
 gentlemen. The road for many miles was orna- 
 mented with wooden triumphal arches and hung 
 with festoons of flowers, &c., as a compliment to 
 the Emperor Alexander, who passed about a 
 month ago. . . . 
 
 . . . We arrived at Amsterdam on Monday night ; 
 here, again, all was new. Hitherto we had rode in 
 Carriages of various descriptions with wheels, but 
 in Amsterdam you have them without wheels, drawn 
 by a fine horse and driven by a man who walks by 
 the side with his long reins. . . . 
 
 But what delighted me more than anything 
 else was the prospect of suiting Owen and Mary 
 exactly. What think you of a Goat Curricle.'* 
 Goats are regularly trained for draught, and are 
 the prettiest things in the world, trotting in neat 
 
1814] AN ENGLISH DUTCHMAN 223 
 
 harness with two or three children. I shall, if I 
 have time at Rotterdam, see if I can get a pair. 
 Buonaparte was so delighted with them that he 
 ordered 4 for the King of Rome. Amsterdam is 
 a very large, gloomy town, intersected in all direc- 
 tions by water, monotonous in the extreme. Had I 
 not been convinced by the evidence of my senses in 
 looking down from a house top on several objects 
 I had visited in different parts of the town, I should 
 have suspected that our Laquais de place had 
 amused himself by walking up and down the same 
 street where Canals with trees on each side do not 
 keep the houses asunder ; high buildings and narrow 
 streets of dark, small brown brick constitute the 
 character of the town, and, having seen one, you 
 have seen the whole. In the course of my walk I 
 heard that two or three Englishmen were settled in 
 the town. I called on one, the Revd. Mr. Lowe, 
 with little of the Englishman left but the language. 
 He had been there 30 years and held a Presby- 
 terian Church. I asked him if Napoleon troubled 
 the English settlers during the war. He said that, 
 provided they conformed quickly to the laws and 
 regulations, they experienced no persecution. Upon 
 my asking if it was at all necessary to conceal 
 his extraction, he exclaimed, "What, conceal my 
 extraction, deny my country ? Not for all the 
 Emperors in the world. No, I have too much 
 conscience and independence. To be sure, I was 
 obliged by law to pray for the health and prosperity 
 of Buonaparte every Sunday. But what signified 
 
224 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 that ? God Almighty understood very well what 
 I meant, and that I heartily wished his death all 
 the time." By long residence in Holland, he had 
 adopted a good portion of Dutch impenetrability 
 and slowness. He assured us nothing short of a 
 
 o 
 
 week could give us the least chance of seeing the 
 curiosities of Amsterdam, and when I told him 
 that we were (according to our common custom of 
 early rising) to be in North Holland by 6 o'clock 
 in the morning, and had seen all by 1 1 o'clock 
 which occupies a Dutchman's whole day, and gave 
 him a few instances of our mode of operation, he 
 threw himself back, raised his cocked hat to 
 examine us more thoroughly, put his arms akimbo 
 and exclaimed, " How do you support human 
 nature. It must expire under such fatigue," and I 
 found it quite impossible to convince him that my 
 health for the last month had been infinitely better 
 than usual. But, after all, I fear you will find me 
 growing old. I had a compliment paid to my grey 
 hairs, in coming from Utretcht, which must be 
 mentioned. The fat Alchymist, above mentioned, 
 squeezed himself into Edward's place in the Dili- 
 gence ; on remonstrating to a young Dutch gentleman 
 who spoke French, he replied, " Que c'etait vraiment 
 impoli mais que c'etait un viellard a qui on devait 
 ceder quelque chose, et je vous assure, Monsieur, 
 comme vous etes aussi un peu age si vous aviez 
 pris ma place je vous I'aurais cede." In Amster- 
 dam there is little to be seen but the Palais, in 
 which there is a splendid collection of Flemish 
 
1814] IN A TRECHSCHUYT 225 
 
 pictures — two or three of the finest of Rembrandt — 
 and without exception the most splendid room I 
 have seen in Europe. It is the great Hall of 
 audience ; King Louis ^ has fitted up everything in 
 grand style. We went over what the Dutchmen 
 cry up as an object which it would be unpardonable 
 not to see — the Felix meritus, a sort of Lecture 
 room with some wretched museums attached. I 
 found nothing to interest me but a capital figure 
 of a Dutchman, who came also to see the wonders. 
 Nothing could exceed his attitudes as he looked 
 with an eye of incredulity whilst they explained a 
 planetarium, examined with an air of conscious 
 safety a snake corked up in a bottle, and ogled 
 with terror a skeleton which grinned at him out 
 of his case. I walked round and tried his per- 
 spective in all directions, and rather blushed when, 
 with treacherous condescension, I requested him 
 to use my Glass that I might see how he looked 
 peeping thro' a Telescope. This is such a Museum 
 as will furnish me with samples of oddities for the 
 rest of my life. 
 
 Letter XIV. 
 
 August 6, 1 8 14. 
 
 Luckily we have a commodious cabin in the 
 Trecksckuyt, and no smoke or other intruders, so 
 where I finished my last I will begin another. 
 
 As to the country, a peep once an hour will be 
 sufficient ; I will look out of the window and give 
 
 ' Louis Buonaparte, third brother of Napoleon, 1778-1846; 
 King of Holland, 1806-1813. 
 
 15 
 
226 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 you the result — five plover, a few fat cows, a good 
 many rushes, and a canal bridge. At Amsterdam 
 we dined at a regular Dutch table d'hote ; about 
 20 people, all of them eaters, few talkers ; the 
 quantity of vegetables consumed was quite sur- 
 prising. With the last dish a boy came round with 
 pipes and hot coals, which were soon followed by 
 a tremendous explosion of Tobacco from a double 
 line of smokers, and as if the simple operation of 
 puffing in and puffing out was too much for these 
 drowsy operators, many of them leaned back in 
 their chairs, put their hands in their breeches 
 pockets, shut their eyes, and carried on the war 
 with one end of the pipe in their mouths and the 
 other leaning on their plates. On Wednesday, 
 Aug. 3rd, we crossed the Gulf by sun rise on a little 
 tour into North Holland, to see the Village of 
 Brock and Saardam, where the house in which the 
 Czar Peter worked still exists. We landed at 
 Buiksloot, from whence carriages are hired to 
 different parts of the country. From Breda to 
 Amsterdam they varied the Diligences according 
 to the number of travellers ; sometimes we had a 
 coach and four, and then a machine and three, and 
 as our number diminished we were forwarded the 
 last stage or two in a vehicle perfectly nondescript 
 with two horses ; it was a sort of cart painted white, 
 hung upon springs, with an awning, but it was 
 reserved for this morningr to see us in a carriage 
 far beyond anything before seen or heard of. I 
 am inclined to think it must have been the identical 
 
1814] A SPOTLESS VILLAGE 227 
 
 equipage (for it was a little the worse for wear) 
 which the fairy produced from the gourd for the 
 service of Cinderella — a sort of Phaeton lined with 
 red flowered velvet, the whole moulding- beauti- 
 fully carved and gilt, the panels well painted with 
 flowers, birds, urns, &c., the wheels red and gold. 
 It contained two seats for four persons, and a coach 
 box painted, carved, and gilt like the body of the 
 carriage ; the whole was in a Lilliput style drawn 
 by two gigantic black horses, whose tails reached 
 above the level of our heads. It was exactly suited 
 to the place where we were going, the village of 
 Brock, which, like our vehicle, was unlike any- 
 thing I had seen before. I have, in former letters, 
 talked of Dutch cleanliness and neatness, but what 
 is all I have said compared with Brock ? Even the 
 people have their jokes upon its superiority in this 
 particular, and assert that the inhabitants actually 
 wash and scrub their wood before they put it on 
 the fire. Lady Penrhyn's cottages must yield the 
 palm, they are ■ only internally washed and 
 painted, but in Brock, Tops and bottoms. Outside 
 and in, bricks and all, are constantly under the 
 discipline of the paint brush, and as if Nature was 
 not sufficiently clean in her operations, the stems 
 of several of their trees were white washed too ! In 
 fact, nothing seemed to escape — the Milk pails were 
 either burnished brass or painted buckets, and the 
 little straw baskets the women carried in their 
 hands came in for their share of blue, red, or 
 green. They have such a dread of dirt, that 
 
228 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 entrance is limited to the back door only, the 
 opening of the front door being reserved for grand 
 occasions, such as weddings, funerals, &c. It is 
 not accessible by carriages and horses, on account 
 of several canals which intersect it ; these some- 
 times widen, and in one part the houses stand 
 round a pretty little lake. I can give you no better 
 idea of the scene than a Chinese paper, whose 
 neat summer houses and painted boats are all 
 mixed together. Most houses have each a 
 separate garden, kept in style equally clean. I 
 really believe my own dusty shoes were the most 
 impure things in the whole village. 
 
 We returned to Buiksloot and then proceeded to 
 Saardam, on the top of a Dyke, which keeps the 
 sea from inundating the vast levels of North 
 Holland. Saardam might be held up as the pattern 
 of neatness had I not visited Brock first ; as it is, 
 I can only say that, though four times as large, it 
 seems to be its rival in cleanliness and paint. The 
 number of windmills is quite astonishing ; it would 
 require an army of Don Quixotes. ^ I counted 
 myself upwards of 1 30 in and close to the town ; 
 they say there are 1,200. Windmills seem great 
 favourites with the Dutch. In the Diligence near 
 Utrecht my neighbour roused me by a sudden 
 exclamation, " Oh la vue superbe ! " I looked, and 
 beheld 14 of them in a Dyke! and yesterday, on 
 asking the Laquais de place if we should see 
 anything curious at Saardam besides the Czar's 
 house, he replied, "Oh que, oui — beaucoup de 
 Moulins!" Peter the Great's house is a small 
 
rxnt t U ida3 — :. 
 
 
 ^sa 
 
1814] A SLEEPY CONGREGATION 229 
 
 wooden cottasfe close to the town, remarkable for 
 nothing but having been his. 
 
 Alexander had put up two little marble Tablets 
 over the fireplace, commemorating his visit to the 
 Imperial residence, on which something .good and 
 pointed might have been inscribed ; as they are, it 
 is merely stated that Alexander placed them on, 
 and that Mrs. Von Tets Von Groudam stood by, 
 delighted to see him so employed. We returned 
 to Amsterdam by 3 o'clock and left it at 4 for 
 Haarlem. In Protestant countries Cathedrals are 
 not always open ; we found that at Haarlem open 
 and a numerous congregation listening to a very 
 respectable, venerable-looking preacher, whose 
 voice and manner, style and action approached 
 perfection. His eloquence, however, seemed to 
 be in vain, for I observed many sleepers ; and what 
 had an odd effect, though customary in their 
 country, the men with their hats on ; they take 
 them off, I believe, during prayers, but put them 
 down during the sermon ; we ascended the tower 
 and enjoyed as extensive a view as heart could 
 wish. The sea of Haarlem is an immense lake 
 separated from the Gulf by a flood gate and narrow 
 dam. The French had a block house and batteries 
 here. In truth, Holland does not require above 
 20 guns to keep out all the enemies in the world. 
 Different, indeed, are the Dutch from the French 
 in the facility and liberality of access to their 
 curiosities. It required some eloquence and more 
 money to induce the key-keeper to let us go up ; 
 
230 BE!F0RE and AI'TER WATERLOO 
 
 and on asking whether the Organ was to play, he 
 assured us it was not, but that if we wished it, the 
 performer would sound the notes for id shillings ; 
 this was a gross imposition to which we were little 
 inclined to submit ; but luckily, as we were coming 
 down, we heard it opening its great bellows and 
 re-echoing through the body of the church. We 
 almost broke our necks in running downstairs, and 
 leaving the Dutch guide to take care of himself, we 
 found our way into the Organ loft, to the visible 
 annoyance of the performer, who, seeing we were 
 strangers, thought himself sure of his eight florins, 
 but his duty and the Church service compelled him 
 to go on, and he shook his head and growled in 
 vain at our guide, who at this time appeared, 
 intimating that he should take us away, as having 
 no business there, but in vain. I heard the Organ, 
 counted the 68 stops, examined at my leisure the 
 stupendous instrument, while he was under the 
 necessity of continuing his involuntary voluntary, 
 till my curiosity was satisfied. We took up our 
 residence at an Hotel in the Wood, so-called from 
 being the place of promenade and site of the new 
 palace, but ci-devant residence of Mrs. Hope, and, 
 in fact, from being also a respectable wood of 
 tolerably sized trees. 
 
 By the best chance in the world here, too, we 
 fell in with a fete on the river. Some great 
 Burgomaster had married himself, and all the world 
 of Haarlem came forth in boats, decorated with 
 colors, and bands of music in procession up the 
 

 m-wxy^ 
 
 iiil 
 
1814] LEYDBN 231 
 
 river to pass in review before the Princess of 
 Orange, an elderly-looking woman. She sat in 
 the window of a summer house overlooking the 
 river, and the festive procession assembled before 
 her. It was a lovely evening, and nothing could 
 be more gay and animating than the scene. We 
 this morning at 6 quitted Haarlem in the boat in 
 which I am now writing as comfortably as in my 
 own room, the motion scarcely perceptible, about 
 5 miles an hour ; by good luck few passengers, and 
 those above looking at a man who is at this 
 incessant Dutch employment of painting. The 
 boat is as clean as a china dish, but possibly it may 
 not have been painted since last week. Edward 
 has just daubed his hand by looking out of the 
 window. I am rather puzzled in getting on here. 
 Very little French is spoken ; among the common 
 people none, and we converse by signs, 
 
 . . . Their money, too, is puzzling beyond 
 measure. My stock consists of 5 franc pieces 
 (French), upon which, exclusive of their not always 
 understanding what they are, there is a discount ; 
 this, of course, adds to the confusion, and now 
 I despair of understanding the infinite variety of 
 square, hexagon, round coins of copper and silver 
 and base metal which pass through my hands. 
 
 We passed two hours at Leyden as actively 
 employed as a Foxhunter. We found a man who 
 spoke French, told him our wishes, gave him a list 
 of what was to be seen in the town, and then 
 desired him to start, following him on the full trot 
 
232 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 up and down churches, colleges, Townhalls, &c. 
 These towns are so much alike, that having seen 
 one the interest is considerably lessened. Leyden, 
 however, has the honour of possessing one of the 
 finest streets in Holland ; though capable of accom- 
 modating 65,000 souls, there are not more than 
 20,000, which gives it a melancholy appearance. 
 In one part there is an area of about 3 or 4 
 Cheshire acres planted with trees and divided with 
 walls, which in 1807 was covered, like the rest of 
 the town, with good houses, but it happened that a 
 barge full of gunpowder passing through the canal, 
 blew up, killed 200 people, including a very 
 clever Professor Lugai, and destroyed all the 
 houses. It was a sad catastrophe, to be sure ; but 
 now, as it is all over, and all the good people's 
 mourning laid aside, I think the Town may be 
 congratulated as a gainer. I could fill up my letter 
 with the anatomical preparations of the celebrated 
 Albinus ; but though I am very partial to these 
 sights, I doubt whether you would be amused by a 
 description of dried men, with their hearts, lungs, 
 and brains suspended in different bottles. The 
 town is full of booksellers' shops, in which capital 
 Classics might be procured and divers others old 
 books. The windows were also well filled with new 
 works translated into Dutch ; few, I think, original ; 
 imongst others, I saw " Ida of Athens ! " ^ 
 
 It is not easy to trace the sieges of Philip 2nd in 
 these towns, as the fortifications are most of them 
 ^ A novel by Lady Morgan. 
 
§ \i 
 
 ~^ 
 
1814] GOAT GIGS 233 
 
 extinct, fortresses of more modern construction 
 being now the keys of the country. Neat villas 
 and gardens by the canal side marked our approach 
 to the seat of government — and a very first-rate 
 Town the Hague is, though I cannot conceive 
 how the people escape agues and colds in Autumn. 
 Stagnant canals and pools, with all circulation of air 
 checked by rows of trees, cannot be healthy. 
 Unfortunately for us. Lord Clancarty is at 
 Bruxelles with the Prince of Orange. The Hague 
 appears, from what I have seen, to be a better 
 town for permanent residence than Bruxelles or 
 Antwerp. The houses are all good, which implies 
 a superior quality of inhabitants. In the evening 
 we took a drive to Scheveningen, a fishing village 
 about 2 or 3 miles distant, through a delightful 
 avenue. It is one of the fashionable resorts of the 
 town, and is absolute perfection on a hot day, 
 though pregnant with damp and dew in the evening. 
 I told you of dog carts at Bruxelles, but here seems 
 to be the region of despotic sway of the poor 
 beasts. I believe that I am not wrong in stating 
 that nearly all the fish is carried by them from 
 Scheveningen to the Hague ; and the weight they 
 draw is surprising. We passed many canine 
 equipages ; in one sat a fisherman and his wife 
 drawn by three dogs not much bigger than 
 Pompey — he with his pipe in his mouth, she with 
 an enormous Umbrella Hat, as grave as Pluto and 
 Proserpine. I saw several nice goat gigs ; more- 
 over, I am determined to have one for Owen. . . . 
 
234 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 . . . It is quite extraordinary with what excessive 
 silence and gravity these people carry on their 
 affairs. On returning- from Schevenino;en at a 
 good round trot, we came in contact with another 
 carriage. Luckily no other accident happened than 
 breakino- their traces and Q-rindino' their wheels. 
 But though disabled by our driver, not a syllable 
 of complaint or commiseration was uttered by one 
 party or the other. Our driver proceeded, leaving 
 them to take care of themselves. I observed, too 
 that in manoeuvring the Vessel in passing the Gulf 
 yesterday, where some tacks were necessary, all 
 was performed in perfect silence ; no halloo-ing — a 
 nod or a puff was alone sufficient. . . . 
 
 And so are we comino- to the close of our Tour — 
 our next stage will be Rotterdam, from whence I 
 shall bear my own dispatches. ... hi the course 
 of my life this last month will bear a conspicuous 
 place from the interesting and delightful scenes 
 it has afforded me. I must confess I left England 
 with some waverings and misgivings ; the accounts 
 of others led me to expect that disappointments, 
 difficulties, and great expense would be the in- 
 evitable accompaniments of my course. But in no 
 instance have I been disappointed, the difficulties 
 too trifling to deserve the name, the expense 
 nothing compared with the profits derived, and I 
 have seen enough of men and manners, of things 
 animate and inanimate, to make me quite at home 
 in some of the great scenes which have just been 
 performed. . . . 
 

 
CHAPTER VI 
 THE WATERLOO YEAR 
 
 Lord Sheffield's forebodings — Talleyrand and the Senate — 
 Vagabond Royalty — Mr. North and Napoleon — The rout 
 of the Bourbon Government. 
 
 1814-1816. 
 
 THE two years which intervened between 
 Edward Stanley's second and third visits 
 to France saw the Empire regained and lost by 
 Napoleon, and the French Crown lost and regained 
 by LouisXVni. 
 
 In spite of the rose-coloured description of the 
 comforts and pleasures of his journey with which 
 the correspondence of 18 14 closes, neither the 
 Rector nor his brother found it possible to travel 
 on the Continent in 181 5, which Lady Maria 
 had foretold would be " a much more favourable 
 time. 
 
 Such hopes must soon have been dashed by the 
 proceedings of the Congress of Vienna, which, as 
 was said, "danse mais n'avance pas," and gloomy 
 forebodings are shewn in two letters from Lord 
 
 236 
 
236 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Sheffield to his son-in-law, which were received 
 at Alderley in the autumn of 1814 and the spring 
 of 1815. 
 
 The first gives Lord Sheffield's view of the 
 situation, and the second describes Napoleon's own 
 remarks upon it to Lord Sheffield's nephew, Mr. 
 Frederick Douglas. 
 
 Lord Sheffield to Sir John Stanley. 
 
 Sheffield Place, October ^p, 1814. 
 
 It is time I should provoke some symptom of 
 your existence. I have no letters from Frederick 
 North, ^ but I can acquaint you that we had him- 
 self here, which is still better, and that he has 
 been infinitely entertaining, after three or four 
 months' tour on the Continent, from whence he 
 arrived about three weeks ago, and where he pro- 
 poses to return next week, to pass the winter at 
 Nice with the Glenbervies and Lady Charlotte 
 Lindsay, who are gone there, and, I might add, 
 with many other English families. I begin to 
 think I shall have more acquaintances on the 
 Continent than in England ; the migration there is 
 beyond calculation. 
 
 The present is an anxious period. Perhaps there 
 isn't in the History of the world a more complete 
 instance of political imbecility than was exhibited 
 in the late Peace at Paris, especially in the Allies 
 not availing themselves of the very extraordinary 
 
 ^ F. North, afterwards 5th Earl of Guilford. 
 
1814] TALLEYRAND TO THE RESCUE 237 
 
 opportunity of securing the tranquillity of Europe 
 for a long time. 
 
 I conceive that the most selfish ambition will not 
 have been more hurtful than liberality run mad. 
 And as I am not without apprehension of that 
 fanaticism, which for some time has interfered even 
 with Parliament, and to which there has been too 
 much concession, I incline to the opinion that 
 enthusiasm, as fanaticism, is generally more hurtful 
 to society than scepticism. The fanatic measures 
 are evidently systematic and combined. 
 
 Everybody now looks eagerly towards the Con- 
 gress of Vienna. Talleyrand displays the cloven 
 foot, by refusing to recognise the junction of all 
 the Netherlands. However, the Bourbons, France, 
 and all Europe may be thankful to Talleyrand. 
 
 You have often heard of Barthelemy.^ His 
 brother, a banker at Paris, first moved in the 
 Senate the dech6ance of the Buonaparte family. 
 Alexander was treating respecting a Regency. 
 The King of Prussia did not attempt to take a 
 lead, but was well disposed to put down the 
 dynasty. The Emperor of Austria had always 
 declared that he would treat with Buonaparte for 
 Peace, under restrictions, still co-operating with the 
 Allies. 
 
 While matters were in this state Talleyrand took 
 the opportunity of sending a message to the Senate, 
 saying that the family was deposed, and by this step 
 decided the business. 
 
 ' A member of the Directory. 
 
238 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Buonaparte never showed a disposition to treat 
 and to agree to terms ; but when he had seemingly- 
 agreed, he denied or broke off the next day. The 
 failure or desertion of the Marshals completed his 
 overthrow. 
 
 It is surprising that he did not attempt to join 
 Augereau's Army.i and retire into Italy, where 
 he had forty thousand very good troops. At all 
 events we must rest upon the pinnacle of glory 
 and honour, although we have not secured a 
 permanency of them. By premature concession 
 we have yielded the means of securing the 
 advantages we had gained. 
 
 The affair at Lake Champlain- has been most 
 unlucky, as it will encourage the Yankies, under the 
 present inveterate and execrable Government, to 
 persevere in a ruinous warfare — ruinous to the 
 American States, and galling to this country, 
 liable to be distracted by the efforts of an interested 
 and mischievous faction, which, through lack of 
 firmness in Government, often paralyses measures 
 of the utmost consequence. 
 
 I have seen several letters from Madrid, and I 
 have one from thence now before me of the 
 3rd inst. 
 
 A degree of infatuation prevails there which you 
 could hardly conceive possible. The account comes 
 from a very respectable and rational quarter. The 
 
 ' In the neighbourhood of Lyons. 
 
 = The defeat of the British Flotilla by the Americans in 
 September, 18 14. 
 
1814] A SPANISH SINGER'S REWARD 239 
 
 most respectable characters are most violently per- 
 secuted, and the persons arraigned are confined in 
 dungeons, no communication permitted; and persons 
 convicted of the most atrocious acts are not even in 
 disgrace. 
 
 While officers and soldiers invalided by wounds 
 are starving, the King ^ is profuse to persons of no 
 merit, and has given a pension of 1,000 dollars to a 
 young lady who sang before him, &c., &c. 
 
 The Spanish Funds, which on the King's arrival 
 were at 85, are now at 50. The Revenue is 
 less than 20 millions of Dollars, the expenditure 
 nearly 50. 
 
 Spain is likely to be in as bad a state as ever, 
 excepting the presence of a French Army ; con- 
 sequently I conceive their Transatlantic Dominions 
 will be lost to them. 
 
 Nothing, however, could be more favourable to 
 our Commerce than their emancipation. Such an 
 event, and a proper Boundary between us and the 
 American States, would be the most favourable 
 result of the war to this country. 
 
 There is an uncommonly good Pamphlet pub- 
 lished on this subject entitled "A completed View of 
 the points to be discussed in treating with the 
 American States." I cannot do less than admire 
 it, because it seems taken from my shop, or at least 
 it adopts all the principles, with a considerable 
 amelioration, by taking the Line of Mountains into 
 the Lakes, and all the Lakes within our Boundary. 
 ^ Ferdinand VII., b. 1784, d. 1833. 
 
240 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 I am very much entertained with an Anecdote 
 in a letter of the 8th inst. now before me, from 
 Switzerland, which states that the Princess of 
 Wales dined a few days before with the Empress 
 Maria Louisa and the Archduchess Constantine,^ 
 at Berne, and after dinner the Empress and Princess 
 sang Duets, and the Archduchess accompanied 
 them. Two years ago nobody would have believed 
 such an event possible. 
 
 All this vagabond Royalty is found extremely 
 troublesome by travellers, filling up all the beds, 
 and carrying away all the horses. The above 
 dinner party reminds me of Candide meeting at the 
 Table d'Hote during the Carnival at Venice, with 
 two ex-emperors, and a few ex-kings. 
 
 The Princess of Wales could not be prevailed on 
 to remain more than ten days at Brunswick. She 
 left Lady Charlotte Lindsay - and Serinyer behind 
 her, and proceeded with Lady Elizabeth Forbes to 
 Strasburg, where she found Talma, the renowned 
 Actor, and halted there ten days. 
 
 Lord Sheffield to Sir John Stanley. 
 
 Sheffield Place, February i, 1815. 
 We are much entertained with Fred Douglas's 3 
 account of his visit of four days to the Isle of Elba. 
 
 " Daughter of the Duke of Saxe Coburg; married in 1796 to 
 the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia. 
 
 2 Daughter of the second Earl of Guilford: married, 1800, 
 John, son of Earl of Balcarres ; d. 1849. 
 
 3 Son of Lord Glenbervie, and nephew of Lord Sheffield. 
 
1815] MR. DOUGLAS AND BUONAPARTE 241 
 
 On the third evening he had an interview with 
 Buonaparte for an hour and a half — the conversa- 
 tion very curious. He says that Buonaparte is not 
 at all like any of his Prints ; that he is a stout, 
 thick-set figure, which makes him look short ; his 
 features rather coarse and his eyes very light, and 
 particularly dull ; but his mouth, when he smiles, 
 is full of a very sweet, good-humoured expression ; 
 that at first he strikes you as being a very common- 
 looking man, but upon observing him and conversing 
 with him, you perceive that his countenance is full 
 of deep thought and decision. 
 
 He says he received him with much good humour, 
 and talked to him of the English Constitution, with 
 which he seemed well acquainted ; said that France 
 never could have the same, because it wanted one 
 of the principal parts of it, " Les Nobles de 
 Campagne." He talked also much about our 
 church Laws, of which he appeared to be well 
 informed, but said he heard there was much ill 
 humour in Scotland on account of the Union ! 
 Frederick thought he meant Ireland, but found he 
 really did mean Scotland, and had no idea that 
 the Union had taken place above a hundred 
 years ago. 
 
 He said he did not think the Peace would last ; 
 that the French Nation would never submit long to 
 give up Belgium, and that he would have yielded 
 all except that ; that he would have given up the 
 Slave Trade, as it was a Brigandage of very little 
 use to France. He had a most extraordinary idea 
 
 16 
 
242 BE^X)RP] AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 of how it should be aboHshcd, viz., he said he 
 would allow Polygamy among the Whites in the 
 West Indies, that they might inter-marry with the 
 Blacks, and all become Brothers and Sisters. He 
 said that he had consulted a Bishop upon this, who 
 had objected to it as contrary to the Christian 
 Religion. 
 
 He seemed very anxious to know concerning the 
 quarrels of the Regent and his wife, upon which 
 subject F., of course, evaded giving him any 
 answers. He said, "On dit qu'il aime la Mere de 
 ce Yarmouth — mais vous Anglais, vous aimez 
 les vielles Femmes," and he laughed very much 
 He avoided speaking of Maria Louisa, but spoke 
 of Josephine with affection, saying, " Elle etoit 
 une excellente Femme." He said that the motive 
 of his expedition into Russia was, first, that it was 
 necessary to lead the French Army somewhere, 
 and then that he wished to establish Poland as an 
 independent kingdom ; for that he had always 
 loved the Poles, and had many obligations to them. 
 He talked of all his battles as you would of a show, 
 saying " C'etoit un Spectacle magnifique." 
 
 When Napoleon had fulfilled his own prophecies 
 of the prompt disturbance of the Peace of Europe 
 by landing at Cannes, just six days from the date 
 of this last letter, Lord Sheffield writes again, after 
 war had been declared by the Allies. 
 
1815] NAPOLEON'S RETURN 243 
 
 Lord Sheffield to Sir John Stanley. 
 
 Sheffield Place, March 24, 181 5. 
 
 I was greatly oppressed by the first intelligence 
 of Napoleon's Invasion. I was afterwards re- 
 elevated, and now I am tumbled down again. 
 
 To be sure, there never was such an execrable 
 nation as the French. The much more respectable 
 Hindoos could not more meekly submit to any 
 conqueror that chooses to run through their country 
 at the head of a set of miscreant soldiers. The 
 Pretorian band that in the time of Imperial Rome 
 used to dispose of Empires is perfectly re-established. 
 Immediate notice was sent me from Newhaven of 
 the Duke of Feltre's ^ (Minister of War) arrival 
 there, and of poor Louis's flight from Paris. 
 
 I immediately set out, with the intention of 
 rendering service to the variety of wretches that 
 were pouring in upon our coast, English and French, 
 but on my way called at Stanmer, where I found 
 that this famous Minister of War was gone forward 
 to London, that the few ship-loads that had got 
 over to Newhaven were disposed of, and an embargo 
 having been laid on the Ports of France, of course 
 there was nothing more to be done on our coast. 
 
 I returned home at night, and just as I was going 
 
 ' General Clarke, 1765-18x8. He took part in the negotia- 
 tions for the Treaty of Campo I'^ormio in 1797. He was made 
 Due de Feltre for his services against the English at Walcheren. 
 He accepted service under Louis XVIII., and was his Minister of 
 War, 1815-1816. 
 
244 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 out of Stanmer Park I met the Duke of Taranto ^ 
 entering, for whom Lord Chichester had sent his 
 carriage. The Duke of Feitre brought the intelH- 
 gence that the King ^A^as at Abbeville. 
 
 I was considerably annoyed, because it seemed 
 like incHning to England, and relinquishing all hopes 
 of France. At Abbeville he certainly might turn 
 off to Lisle, where I hope he is gone, and there, if 
 there be any loyal Frenchmen, they may flock round 
 his standard. 
 
 All accounts, and letters, that I have seen from 
 France agree that the country is almost universally 
 against Buonaparte, and it is very clear all the Army 
 is for him, and that all the Marshals adhere to Louis, 
 except two. If so, and Napoleon has not the aid 
 of his old Generals, he may find it difficult to manage 
 the many Armies that he must keep on foot to 
 repel the attacks that will be made on him from all 
 sides. 
 
 I cannot help thinking he is in a bad situation 
 still. When all the Russians, Cossacks, Croats, 
 Hungarians, Austrians, and all Germany clatter 
 round him, and our very respectable army from the 
 Netherlands advances, if he has nothing but the 
 army in his favour, he will be considerably bothered, 
 and I hope the sentimental, silly Alexander will 
 never be suffered to interfere with his " beaux 
 sentimens" in favour of the monster. If he should 
 
 ^ Marshal Macdonald (made Due de Tarente after the battle 
 of Wagram, 1809), b. 1765, d. 1840. He did not join Napoleon 
 during the Hundred Days, but refused employment under the 
 King, and served only as a simple soldier in the National Guard. 
 
1815] FLIGHT OF THE DUG DE FELTRE 245 
 
 yhe taken and I had the command I should never 
 trouble Alexander nor anybody else, but take him 
 by the Drum head, giving something like the sort 
 of trial the Due d'Enghien had and immediately 
 extinguish him by exactly the same process, cere- 
 mony, &c., as he practised on the Due d'Enghien. 
 
 After all, and the worst of all, is that I apprehend 
 we must pay the piper to enable the above-men- 
 tioned Hordes to take possession of France, and 
 when there I flatter myself they will live upon the 
 country. If we do not make some effort of the 
 kind, all the money we have shed may be in a great 
 degree thrown away. One great difficulty occurs 
 to me, how will it be possible to dispose of the 
 present French Army if it should be conquered, 
 and how raise a French Army to maintain Louis's 
 dominion ? 
 
 If Napoleon should be utterly extinguished, it 
 may be possible to do something, but if he escapes 
 (yet I know not where he can go) a large foreign 
 Army must remain a long time in France. 
 
 I must conclude by observing what a very extra- 
 ordinary, strange creature a Frenchman is! Instead 
 of attending the King, or suppressing Navy Depots 
 where there are only fifty loyal men, the Minister 
 of War flies to England, and, as he represented, in 
 order to join the King in Flanders. At Paris 
 he was certainly nearer Flanders than he was at 
 Dieppe. . . . 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 Sheffield. 
 
246 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 The Victory of Waterloo ended all fears of a 
 fresh Imperial Despotism, and also all the hopes of 
 those who, like Lord Sheffield and the Stanley 
 family, were no great admirers of the Bourbon 
 Dynasty. 
 
 Edward Stanley's desire to revisit France was 
 now coupled with a wish to realise the scene of 
 the late Campaign, and he planned his journey 
 so as to arrive there on the first anniversary of 
 the battle, June i8, 1816. 
 
 He was accompanied by Mrs. Stanley, by his 
 brother-in-law, Edward Leycester Penrhyn,^ who 
 had travelled with him in 18 14, and by their 
 mutual friend, Donald Crawford. 
 
 Mrs. Stanley's bright and graphic letters con- 
 tribute to the story of their adventures, and are 
 added to make it complete. 
 
 ^ Edward Leycester had inherited in December, 1815, the 
 fortune of his cousin, Lady Penrhyn, \yho directed in her will 
 that he should assume the name of Penrhyn. He married, in 
 1823, Lady Charlotte Stanley, daughter of the 14th Earl of Derby. 
 
^\. 1=^^ "■ 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 A long Channel passage — Bruges — The battlefield — A posting 
 journey — Compiegne — Paris — Michael Bruce. 
 
 M7^s. E. Stanley to Ladv Maria Stanley. 
 
 Spring, 1816. 
 
 . . . Edward has long talked of a week at 
 Waterloo, and all the rest of the plan came 
 tumbling after one day in talking it over with 
 Edward Leycester, as naturally as possible, and I 
 expect almost as much pleasure in seeing Cam- 
 bridge and being introduced to the looks and 
 manners at least of E. L.'s friends, and in seeing 
 him there as in anything else. We are to pay a 
 visit to Sir George and Lady Scovell at Cambray, 
 and perhaps to Sheffield Place, on our return. . . 
 
 St. John's College, Cambridge, 
 
 June, 181 6. 
 
 I am very glad to have this opportunity of seeing 
 what a college life is, as well as seeing Cambridge 
 
 247 
 
248 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 itself and its contents animate and inanimate. I 
 like both very much. 
 
 We had a very pleasant journey. The road is 
 not only prettier by Ashbourne and Derby, but 
 better, and, provided your nerves can stand canter- 
 ing down hill sometimes, you get on faster than 
 on the other road. We drank tea at Nottingham 
 on Monday and went up to the Castle. 
 
 We arrived at Cambridge by 6 o'clock on Tuesday 
 evening, and found Edward deep in his studies. . . . 
 
 This morning we breakfasted with George,^ and, 
 after seeing libraries and people and buildings till 
 I am tired, here I am, snug and comfortable, in 
 Edward's room. . . . 
 
 We are off to-morrow for London. 
 
 Mrs. E. Stanley to Lady Maria Josepha Stanley. 
 
 Blenheim Hotel, London, 
 
 Saturday. 
 
 As we were coming yesterday Edward looked at 
 the wind and decided that if Donald was not in the 
 Thames then, he would have no chance of being 
 here this week. We had not been here an hour 
 when in he walked in high feather and gave me 
 more reasons than I can remember for leaving his 
 sisters and going with us. . . . 
 
 I have been to Waterloo ^ and in Buonaparte's 
 carriage. He has given an alarm by writing to 
 France in spite of all their precautions. . . . We 
 
 ' Lord Pevensey, son of Earl of Sheffield. 
 2 Panorama by Barker, shown in London. 
 
1816] START FROM CANTERBURY 249 
 
 have got our passports and arranged our going. 
 Edward came back from the city with three plans — 
 the steamboat, the packet, or a coach to ourselves 
 to Ramsgate. We debated the three some time, at 
 last, on the strength of hearing that the steamboat 
 had been out two nights on its passage once, we 
 decided on the coach, and the places were just 
 secured when Mr. Foljambe came in and told us he 
 was going to Ramsgate on Tuesday with some other 
 friends of Edward's, and that it was the nicest vessel 
 ever seen and more punctual than any coach, which 
 made us all very angry as you may guess. . . . 
 We set out to-morrow morning and get into the 
 packet at Ramsgate at 7 in the evening. Let me 
 find a nice folio at Paris, care of Perrigaux, Banquier, 
 and I shall not feel your handwriting the least 
 interesting thing I have to see there. 
 
 Rev, E. Stanley to his niece, Louisa Dorothea 
 
 Stanley. 
 
 'KkusGkT'E, June xitk. 
 Rapidly went the coach trom Canterbury, 17 
 miles in an hour and a half. Fair blows the wind 
 over the azure blue billow. "You will breakfast 
 at Ostend," says the Captain, "to-morrow." "Oh, 
 that Louisa were here ! " says Donald. " She 
 would die of delight," says Uncle, "and does not 
 Uncle say true ? " Conceive the view from 
 Nottingham Castle on the evening we left Alderley 
 ... a noble precipice, frowning over a magnificent 
 
250 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 plain, from the terraces of which we beheld 
 immediately at our feet almost numberless — for I 
 counted in a second 54 — little pets of gardens, 
 each adorned with a love of a summerhouse to 
 suit ; in the corners of the rocks many excavations 
 and caverns fancifully cut out and carved, into 
 which each of the proprietors of the above-mentioned 
 oj'ardens mig-ht at leisure retire and become his own 
 hermit. Then how shall I touch upon the delights 
 of Cambridge ? How shall I speak of Edward's 
 beauty in his cap, all covered with little bows, and a 
 smart black gown ? And how shall I speak of his 
 dinner and his party ? Such merriment ! Such 
 hospitality ! Only think, Louisa, of dining, break- 
 fasting and supping day after day with 14 or 15 
 most accomplished, beautiful, and entertaining young 
 gentlemen ! But no more, lest you expire at the 
 thought ! As for London, I cannot well tell you 
 what I did or saw, such a confused multiplicity of 
 sights and succession of business^ have seldom been 
 experienced. At 6 this morning we started in the 
 stage coach, the interior of which we took, excluding 
 all intruders, and from hence at 3 o'clock on a lovely 
 night, with an elegant moon, we embarked for 
 Ostend. 
 
 {Continued by Mrs. Stanley?) 
 
 I have persuaded Uncle to carry his letter over 
 the water that you may not have the anxiety of 
 thinking for 2 days about the passage, which a 
 gentleman who dined with us to-day informed us 
 
1816] BECALMED IN THE DOWNS 251 
 
 was the most precarious, dangerous, and uncertain 
 known. 
 
 But I consoled myself with not believing the 
 gentleman in the first place, and by thinking with 
 Aunt Clinton that as Mrs. Carleton was drowned so 
 lately at Ostend, it is not likely another accident 
 should happen at present. 
 
 Here we are, waiting for the awful moment of 
 embarkation, which I consider something like having 
 a tooth out, but I live in hopes that, having been up 
 early this morning and had lo hours' jumbling, I 
 may be sleepy enough to forget that I am on a 
 shelf instead of a bed; so I have been just to admire 
 the moon as we sail out of harbour, and then go 
 to bed and find myself in sight of Ostend when 
 I awake, 
 
 {E. Stanley resumes next day.) 
 
 A dead calm succeeded to a gentle breeze, and on 
 the soft, sleepy billows we have reposed in the 
 Downs, rolling ever since. To comfort us we have 
 a beautiful Packet and a limited number of 
 passengers. 
 
 The discomfort consists in a rapid diminution of 
 all our provisions and the consequent prospect of 
 no Tea, supper, or breakfast, or dinner to-morrow. 
 One sailor said to another as he was skinning some 
 miserable fish, "Aye, aye, they" (meaning the 
 passengers) "will be glad enough of these in a day 
 or two, and I was eleven days becalmed last year." 
 
 Kitty, to fill up an hour of vacuity, said she would 
 
252 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 draw, and to fill up my time this testifies that 1 
 have been thinking of you and wishing for your 
 presence, for the Novelty alone would keep you 
 in full effervesence and banish all Tediosity. 
 
 I have, moreover, been playing with a sweet little 
 French dog brought by one of the sailors from 
 Boulogne. The sailors have daily given him two 
 glasses of gin to check his growth, and a marvellous 
 dog of Lilliput he is ! Pray, my dear Lou, drink 
 no gin, for you see the consequences. 
 
 I had retired to bed, when Edward Leycester 
 called me up to admire a beautiful display of 
 Neptune's fireworks ; wherever the surface of the 
 waves was agitated, the circles of silver flashed 
 and the drops were scattered far and wide. 
 
 The morning dawned upon us nearly in the same 
 position, not a breath troubled the surface, smooth 
 and still as Radnor Mere on the sweetest evening. 
 
 Famine began to stare us in the face ; our pro- 
 visions were nearly exhausted ; two or more days 
 might elapse before we reached Ostend. 
 
 We breakfasted on tea, fried skate and cheese. 
 Breakfast at an end, it was proposed to board the 
 nearest vessel and beg or borrow a dinner. In the 
 tide course appeared a sail, about five miles distant. 
 
 The boat was lowered, volunteers stepped 
 forward — Uncle, Edward, Donald, and a gentle- 
 manlike Belgian. 
 
 Away we went and by hard rowing we came 
 alongside the strange sail in an hour. Three leaden 
 figures, motionless as the unwieldly bark they 
 
1816] A DUTCH FAMILY PARTY 253 
 
 manned, gazed curiously upon our approaching 
 boat. Our Belgian friend hailed, but hailed in vain. 
 They looked but spoke not. Again he spoke, and 
 at length a monotonous " yaw " proclaimed that 
 they were not dumb. 
 
 We went on board and found a perfect Dutch 
 family on their way from Antwerp to Rouen. Out 
 stepped from her cabin the Captain's wife in 
 appropriate costume, her close little cap, large gold 
 necklace and ear-rings ; and behind the Captain's 
 spouse stepped forth two genuine descendants of 
 the nautical couple. Large round heads with large 
 round (what shall I say.-*) Hottentots to match 
 and keep up the due balance between head and 
 tail. 
 
 Having explained our wants to the Captain, he 
 produced as the chief restorative an incomparable 
 bottle of Schiedam, i.e.. gin. To each he offered a 
 good large glass, and then in answer to our request 
 for beef, four bottles of excellent claret, two square 
 loaves. For this he asked a guinea, upon receiving 
 which his features relaxed and he declared we should 
 have two more bottles of claret. Upon hearing we 
 had a lady in the packet he begged her acceptance 
 of half a neat's tongue, some butter, and a bag of 
 rusks. Loaded with them, we took a joyful leave of 
 these sombre sailors and returned, with the orange 
 cravat of our Belgian friend for a flag, in triumph 
 to the packet. 
 
 But a truce to my pen. Ostend is in sight, and 
 now we are all rubbing our hands and congratulating 
 
254 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 each other that wind and tide are in our favour and 
 that we shall be in in a couple of hours. 
 
 Rev. E. Stanley to his niece, Isabella Stanley.^ 
 
 '^Vi\5Q,^'S,, June 14, 1816. 
 
 On our return from the Dutch vessel from which 
 we recruited our exhausted store, we found our 
 poor Captain in sad tribulation, his patience ex- 
 hausted, but his temper luckily preserved. Having 
 paced his deck with a fidgeting velocity a due 
 number of times, peeped thro' his glass at every 
 distant sail or cloud to observe whether they were 
 in any degree movable, and invoked Boreas in the 
 most pitiable terms such as "Oh Borus ! Now 
 do, good Borus just give us a blow," we had the 
 satisfaction at length, the supreme satisfaction, 
 of perceiving a gentle curl upon the water which 
 soon settled into a steady breeze, before which we 
 glided away, delightfully enjoying our dinner upon 
 the deck, during which our party manifested their 
 respective characters in most charming style. One 
 Farmer Dinmont - and Dousterswivel, a Dutch- 
 man, were perfect specimens. A merry Belgian 
 Equerry to the Prince of Orange, laughed, joked, and 
 amused us with sleight-of-hand tricks. Our Dutch 
 beef, tho' doubtless salt far beyond due proportion, 
 was relished by all, Dinmont excepted, who pro- 
 nounced it, together with the dark-coloured bread, 
 unfit for English hogs, and shook his head with 
 
 ' Married Sir Edward Parry, K.C.B., the Arctic navigator, 1826. 
 =^ Allusions to the characters in " Guy Mannering." 
 
1816] LANDING AT OSTEND 255 
 
 a most significant expression of doubt at my 
 assertion that I never enjoyed a better dinner in 
 my life . At five o'clock the low sand hills appeared 
 to view in little nodules upon the horizon, and 
 the Steeple of Ostend with its Lighthouse were 
 visible from deck. At 6 we were close in upon 
 land, and in half an hour were boarded by a Dutch 
 boat, but alas ! there was nothing in its appearance 
 to excite curiosity, and with the exception of large 
 earrings you might have fancied yourself in Holy- 
 head Harbour. Four stout, tall fellows, hard and 
 resolute in feature and decided in action, pro- 
 claimed their near alliance to British Jack Tars. 
 They remained a litde while and tried to cheat 
 the passengers as much as possible, to take us on 
 shore, but finding us determined to remain till the 
 Captain could get his own boat ready, they shrugged 
 their shoulders, abused us in Dutch, and sailed 
 away. We were too many for one boat, so taking 
 Kitty and the best of our English passengers and 
 honest Farmer Dinmont, with all the luggage, we 
 pushed off from the vessel. People of all de- 
 scriptions, pilots, sailors, customs officers, soldiers, 
 waiters soliciting customs for their respective turns. 
 Porters regular and irregular, the latter consisting 
 of a sort of light Infantry corps of ragged boys. 
 All these people, I say, were crowded together on 
 a little peninsular jetty against which our boat 
 was shoved, and no sooner had the oars ceased 
 to play and our keel cleared the sand than all these 
 people set up their pipes in every dialect of every 
 
256 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 tongue, French and English both bad of their 
 sort, Dutch high and low, Flemish and German. 
 All burst upon us at one and the same moment, and 
 the Cossack corps of ragged porters all stept 
 forward, arm, leg and foot, to claim the honour 
 of carrying up (most probably of carrying off) our 
 baggage. By dint of words fair and foul, a shove 
 here and a push there, I contrived to get Kitty 
 under my arm and superintend, tho' with no small 
 trouble and inconceivable watchfulness, the adjust- 
 ment of our small portmanteaux, writing case, &c., 
 in a wheelbarrow, which, from its formidable length 
 of handle, bespoke its foreign manufacturer. On 
 we jogged, but jogged not long ; for before this 
 accumulating procession could disperse we were 
 arrested by a whiskered soldier, who in unin- 
 telligible terms announced himself a searcher of 
 baggage. So to the custom house we went, when 
 each trunk was opened and submitted to a slight 
 inspection ; the chief difficulty consisting in putting 
 myself in 2 places at once — one close to the depot 
 of our goods in the barrow, the other before 
 the officer with the keys. Kitty was wedged in 
 a corner with a writing case and, I think, Donald's 
 sword. My English companion was equally on the 
 alert, but Farmer Dinmont would have excited 
 all your compassion, or rather admiration ; for here 
 amidst the din of tongues and arms, unable to move 
 hand or foot, he stood with a smile of mingled 
 resignation and wonder ; at length, the search being 
 concluded to the satisfaction of both parties, we 
 
1816] CURIOUS COSTUMES 257 
 
 re-commenced our course, and in a few minutes 
 Kitty found herself in a new world. Women and 
 children unlike any women and children you ever 
 saw ; close caps with butterfly wings for the former, 
 little black skull bonnets for the latter, in shape 
 both alike, much resembling those toys which, 
 if placed on their heads, by their superior specific 
 gravity and extensive sacrifice of their lower pro- 
 jections instantly revolve and settle upon their 
 tails. 
 
 " Voici, Messieurs et Madame, entrons dans la 
 Cour Imperiale," and another moment hoisted us 
 within the covered gateway of this Hotel of 
 Imperial appellation. Our arrangements for sleep- 
 ing and eating being complete, we sat down on 
 a bench before the door to gaze, but not to be 
 gazed upon, for the good people never cast an 
 eye upon us. On retiring to tea, good Farmer 
 Dinmont's countenance relaxed as he flune himself 
 into a chair ; he put his hands upon the table and 
 exclaimed, " Well, well, here I am sitting down for 
 the first time out of Old England ! "... A cup 
 of tea, or rather a ketde full, for our salt beef had 
 kindled an insatiable thirst, put him in good humour 
 again, and, but for a sort of sigh or a look or 
 a jerk which proved Old England to be uppermost 
 in his thoughts, he appeared quite satisfied. With 
 some trouble Kitty secured the fly cap chambermaid 
 and had taken possession of her room ; having seen 
 her safe, I descended to give orders for a warming- 
 pan, leaving her (after having been 2 nights in 
 
 17 
 
258 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 her clothes) to the luxury of an entire change of 
 linen and course of ablutions. On re-crossing the 
 court lo minutes afterwards I ran against a waiter 
 running off with a warming-pan, glowing with red- 
 hot embers. " Mais don9 " said I, " Meidame wants 
 a warming-pan. Allons, where is the chambermaid 
 to carry it?" "Oh, n'importe," replied this flying 
 Mercury ; " c'est moi qui fera cela pour la dame ! " 
 Only guess Kitty's escape ! Another moment and 
 he would have been in her presence, warming-pan 
 and all. By dint of remonstrating I checked his 
 course and prevailed upon the Maid to go herself 
 with vast ill humour, innumerable shrugs, and some 
 few " Mon Dieu's " and other suitable expressions. 
 Kitty must herself be the interpreter of her own 
 feelings in these lands of novelty. I am almost 
 glad you were, none of you, here to witness 
 what she will have such pleasure in describing. 
 Our morning passed away in strolling over the 
 town. Kitty and I dined at the table d'hote with 
 about 20 people. Farmer Dinmont sent for a bottle 
 of the best wine to try it and offered me a glass. 
 I begged to propose a toast, " Prosperity to Old 
 England." His features brightened up, he grasped 
 the bottle, filled a bumper, and replied, " Aye, aye, 
 with all my heart ; that Toast I would drink in ditch 
 water." We left Ostend at 3 o'clock to take 
 passage in the Bruges canal, and I do assure you 
 we all felt quite sorry to leave our dear, good, honest 
 John Bull. 
 
 At Saas we fell in with a specimen of Lord 
 
1816] TO BRUGES ON A BARGE 259 
 
 Wellington's operations. There is a formidable 
 battery erected last year by way of guarding Ostend 
 from a " coup de main " ; it is singular that the 
 English have placed a Battery for the defence 
 close to the celebrated sluice gates of this canal, 
 which gates were blown up by Sir Evelyn Coote 
 to prevent the French from inundating the country, 
 when he invaded it some years before. 
 
 Behold us seated in a spacious room, for it does 
 not deserve the diminutive name of " Cabin," 
 decorated with hangings of green cloth and gold 
 border, on board a most commodious barge. Behold 
 us on a lovely evening starting from the Quay with 
 full sail and 3 horses, a man mounted on one 
 and cracking a great long whip to drive on the 
 other two, which trotted away abreast at the rate 
 of 4^ miles an hour. Behold us seated on this easy 
 chair of Neptune ! our ears deafened and our spirits 
 enlivened by a band of music — trumpet, violin, and 
 bass — admirably playing Waltzes and other national 
 tunes. When they had amused us on deck they 
 went below to another class of auditors. Our 
 fellow traveller, Mr. Trueman, followed them, and 
 perceiving him to be English they struck up "God 
 save the King." A Frenchman called out " Ba, 
 ba," a very expressive mode of communicating 
 disapprobation, but seeing Trueman was of a 
 different opinion, he ceased from his " Ba, ba," and 
 stepping towards him made him a low bow. About 
 6 o'clock we arrived at Bruges, or rather to the wharf 
 from whence passengers betake themselves and 
 
260 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 portmanteaux to barrows and sledges. As we 
 approached our Band resumed their musical exer- 
 tions. A crowd assembled to welcome our arrival, 
 Gigs, coaches (such coaches!!). Horsemen (such 
 Horsemen ! ! ), were parading. Such a light with 
 such a rainbow shone upon such an avenue and such 
 picturesque gate ! ! Our baggage filled a car drawn 
 by 3 stout men ; and we all followed in the rear. 
 . . . Bruges is a town affordincr five or six volumes 
 of sketches ; towers, roofs, gable ends, bridges — all in 
 succession called for exclusive admiration. It was 
 decided that we should rise at 4, breakfast at 
 6, and see all that was possible before 9, when 
 we were to continue our route to Ghent. At 3 
 o'clock I was prepared, but a steady rain forced me 
 reluctantly to bed again, but we did breakfast at 6, 
 and did pick up two or three sketches. 
 
 Mrs. E. Stanley to Lady Maria J. Stanley. 
 
 Brussels, yune 18, 181 6. 
 On the 1 8th of June, how can I begin with any 
 other subject than Waterloo .'*... At 8 this morning 
 we mounted our Cabriolets for Waterloo. Donald 
 put on his Waterloo medal for the first time, and a 
 French shirt he got in the spoils, and a cravat of an 
 officer who was killed, and I wrapped myself in his 
 Waterloo cloak, and we all felt the additional sensa- 
 tion which the anniversary of the day produced on 
 everybody. It brought the comparison of the past 
 and present day more perfectly home. Donald was 
 
1816] THE FOREST OF SOIGNIES 261 
 
 ready with his recollections every minute of the day, 
 what had been his occupation or his feeling. The 
 forest of Soignies is a fine approach to the field of 
 battle — dark, damp, and melancholy. If you had 
 heard nothing about it, you could hardly help feel- 
 ing, in passing through it, that you would not like 
 to cross it alone. There are no fine trees, but the 
 extent and depth of wood gives it all the effect of a 
 fine one, and an effect particularly suited to the 
 associations connected with it. The road — a 
 narrow pavement in the middle with black mud on 
 each side — looks as if it had never felt a ray of sun, 
 and from its state to-day gave me a good idea of 
 what it must have been. Sometimes the road is 
 raised thro' a deep hollow, and it was not possible 
 to look down without shuddering at the idea of the 
 horses and carriages and men which had been over- 
 turned one upon another ; in some parts the trees 
 are a la Ralph Leycester, and you see the dark 
 black of shade of the distant wood through them ; 
 but in other parts it is so choked with brushwood 
 and inequalities of ground, that you could not see 
 two yards before you, and no gorge was ever so 
 good a cover for foxes as this for all evil-disposed 
 persons. At Waterloo we stopped to see the 
 Church, or rather the monuments in it, put up by 
 the different regiments over their fallen officers. 
 They are all badly designed and executed but one 
 Latin one — not half so good as the epitaph on Lord 
 Anglesey's leg which the man had buried with the 
 utmost veneration in his garden and planted a tree 
 
262 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 over it ; and he shows as a relic almost as precious 
 as a Catholic bit of bone or blood, the blood upon a 
 chair in the room when the leg was cut off, which 
 he had promised my lord "</<? ne jamais effacerT 
 
 At Mont St. Jean Donald began to know where 
 he was. Here he found the well where he had got 
 some water for his horse ; here the green pond he 
 had fixed upon as the last resource for his troop ; 
 here the cottage where he had slept on the 17th ; 
 here the breach he had made in the hedge for his 
 horses to get into the field to bivouac ; here the 
 spot where he had fired the first gun ; here the hole 
 in which he sat for the suro^eon to dress his wound. 
 He had never been on the field since the day of the 
 battle, and his interest in seeing it again and dis- 
 covering every spot under its altered circumstances 
 was fully as great as ours. 
 
 After all that John Scott ^ or Walter Scott or 
 anybody can describe or even draw, how much 
 more clear and satisfactory is the conception which 
 one single glance over the reality gives you in an 
 instant, than any you can form from the best and 
 most elaborate description that can be given ! To 
 see it in perfection would be to have an officer of 
 every regiment to give you an account just of every- 
 thing he saw and did on the particular spot where 
 he was stationed. 
 
 Donald scarcely knew as much as Edward did or 
 as the people about of what passed anywhere but 
 iust at his own station. But at every place it was 
 ' John Scott, painter, 1 774-1828, 
 
1816] THE BRITISH POSITION 263 
 
 sufficient to ask the inhabitants where they were 
 and what they saw, to obtain interesting information. 
 
 Every plan I have seen makes it much too 
 irregular, rough ground ; it is all undulating, smooth 
 ups and downs, so gradual that you must look some 
 time before you discover all the irregularity there 
 is. Hougoumont ^ is the only interesting point, and 
 that by having an air of peace and retirement about 
 it most opposite to what took place in it. 
 
 It is a respectable, picturesque farmhouse, with 
 pretty trees and sweet fields all around it ; the 
 ravages are not repaired and many of the trees cut 
 down. We left our carriages in the road and 
 walked all over the British position, and hencefor- 
 ward I shall have a clearer idea, not only of 
 Waterloo, but of what a military position and 
 military plan is like. 
 
 At La Belle Alliance we sat upon a bench where 
 Lord Wellington and Bliicher perhaps met, and 
 drank to their healths in Vin de Bordeaux. In 
 spite of the corn, there are still bits of leather caps 
 and bullets and bones scattered about in the fields, 
 and you are pestered with children innumerable 
 with relics of all sorts. We had heard magnificent 
 accounts on our road here of all that was to be 
 done on the field, balls, fetes, sham fights, proces- 
 sions, and I do not know what, but they have all 
 dwindled to a dinner given here to the Belgian 
 soldiers and a Mass to be said for the souls of the 
 
 ' Hougoumont was occupied by Byng's Brigade, and resisted 
 the repeated attacks of the French throughout the battle. 
 
264 |{l-:hH)mO AND AFTER WATl<^.in.()0 
 
 (Ic'.ul to morrow. 1 lowevcr, wc saw wliat we 
 wished as wc wished, and die ini[)ression is per- 
 haps clearer than it' it had been disturbed and 
 mixed witli other sights. 
 
 And now, beinj4 near 12, and I iiavini; walked 
 about S miles, antl bec'u up since 6, must go to bed, 
 thoui^ii 1 l(>el neither sle('()y nor tired. 
 
 To Lucy Stmiley. 
 
 'Yi/nc 2.\, 1816. 
 
 . . . Away with me to Waterloo ! 
 
 We arrived at i>russels on the evening of the 
 17th, and at seven o'clock started for the scene of 
 action. I'rom Brussels a paved roail, with a carriai^e 
 track on each side, [xisses lor nint; miles to the village 
 of Waterloo. 
 
 'V\\r h'orest (of Soignies) is, without exception, 
 one of the most cut-throat-looking spots I ever 
 beheld, . . . and for some days after the battle 
 deserters and strag'olers, chielly l^russians, took up 
 their abode in this ap|)ropriate place, and sallying 
 h)rth, robbed, phmclerctl, and oltcn shot those who 
 were unfortunate enough to travel alone or in small 
 defenceless parties. 
 
 After traversing this gloomy avenue for about 
 four miles, the first symptoms of war met our ey(;s 
 in tlu; shape of a dead horse, whose ribs glared like 
 a cheval-de-frise from a tumulus of mud. If the 
 ghosts of the dead haunt these sepulchral groves, 
 we must have passed through an army of spirits, as 
 
N3 
 
 s 
 
 
 *^ 
 
 h' \l 
 
 i 
 
 MM tii 
 
 -^^■i.X-^i^rB Mi 
 
 ;%.a .».u 
 
 
 
1816] PEACEFUL HOUGOUMONT 265 
 
 our driver, who had visited the scene three days 
 after the battle, described the last four miles as a 
 continued pavement of men and horses dying and 
 dead. 
 
 At length a dome appears at the termination of 
 the avenue. It is the church of Waterloo. They 
 were preparing for a mass and procession, and the 
 houses were most of them adorned with festoons of 
 flowers or branches of trees. . . . 
 
 . . . We turned to the right down the Nivelle road, 
 for it was there Donald's gun was placed, and some 
 labourers who were ploughing on the spot brought 
 us some iron shot and fragments of shell which they 
 had just turned up. The hedges were still tolerably 
 sprinkled with bits of cartridge-paper, and remnants 
 of hats, caps, straps, and shoes were discernible all 
 over the plains. Hougoumont was a heap of ruins, 
 for it had taken fire during the action, and presented 
 a very perfect idea of the fracas which had taken 
 place that day year. How different now ! A large 
 flock of sheep, with their shepherd, were browsing 
 at the gate, and the larks were singing over its 
 ruins on one of the sweetest days we could have 
 chosen for the visit. As I was taking a sketch in 
 a quiet corner I heard a vociferation so loud, so 
 vehement, and so varied, that I really thought two 
 or three people were quarrelling close to me. In a 
 moment the vociferator (for it was but one) appeared 
 at my elbow with an explosion of French oaths and 
 gesticulations equal to any discharge of grape-shot 
 on the day of attack. "Comment, Monsieur," said 
 
266 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 I, "What is the matter?" "Oh, les coquins ! les 
 sacres coquins " and away he went, abusing the 
 coquins in so ambiguous a style that I doubted 
 whether his wrath was venting against Napoleon or 
 against his opponents. "Oui," remarked I, "ils 
 sont coquins ; et Buonaparte, que pensez-vous de 
 lui ? " This was a sort of opening which I trusted 
 would bring him to the point without a previous 
 committal of myself. It certainly did bring him to 
 the point, for he gave a bounce and a jump and his 
 tongue came out, and his mouth foamed, and his 
 eyes rolled, as with a jerk he ejaculated, " Napoleon ! 
 qu'est-ce que je pense de lui ? " It was well for 
 poor Napoleon that he was quiet and comfortable 
 in St. Helena, for had he been at Hougoumont, I 
 am perfectly convinced that my communicant would 
 have sent him to moulder with his brethren in arms. 
 Having vented his rage, I asked him if the French 
 had ever got within the walls. " Yes," he said, 
 " three times ; but they were always repulsed " ; he 
 assured me he had been there during the attack and 
 that he saw them within ; but added, " How they 
 came in at that door " (pointing to the gate by 
 which we were standing and which was drilled with 
 bullets), " or when they came in, or how or where 
 they got out I cannot tell you, for what with the 
 noise, and the fire, and the smoke, I scarcely knew 
 where I was myself 
 
 One of the farm servants begged me to observe 
 the chapel, which he hinted had been indebted to 
 a miracle for its safety, and certainly as a good 
 
■f?" '^ IIS i; 
 ' III If 
 
1816] LA BELLE ALLIANCE 267 
 
 Catholic he had a fair foundation for his belief, as 
 the flames had merely burnt about a yard of the 
 floor, having been checked, as he conceived, by the 
 presence of the crucifix suspended over the door, 
 which had received no other injury than the loss of 
 part of its feet. He had remained there till morn- 
 ing, when, seeing the French advance and guessing 
 their drift, he contrived to make good his escape, 
 but returned the following day. What he then saw 
 you may guess when I tell you that at the very 
 door I stood upon a mound composed of earth and 
 ashes upon which 800 bodies had been burnt. 
 Every tree bore marks of death, and every ditch 
 was one continued grave. 
 
 From Hougoumont we walked to La Belle 
 Alliance,^ crossing the neutral ground between the 
 armies ; a few days ago a couple of gold watches 
 had been found, and I daresay many a similar 
 treasure yet remains. At La Belle Alliance, a 
 squalid farm house, we rested to take some refresh- 
 ment. For a few biscuits and a bottle of common 
 wine the woman asked us five francs, which being 
 paid, I followed her into the house. Not perceiving 
 me at the door, she met her husband, and bursting 
 into a loud laugh, with a fly-up of arms and legs 
 (for nothing in this country is done without gesti- 
 culation), she exclaimed, " Only think ! ces gens-la 
 m'ont donn^ cinq francs." In this miserable pot- 
 house did the possessor find 280 wounded wretches 
 
 ' Napoleon's army, on the day of Waterloo, occupied the 
 plateau of La Belle Alliance. 
 
268 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 jammed too-ether and welterinof in blood when he 
 returned on Monday morning. If T proceed to 
 more particulars I foresee I should fill folios. 
 
 I must carry you at once to La Haye Sainte.' It 
 was alonof a hed^e that the severest work took 
 place ; it made me shudder to think that upon a 
 space of fifty square yards 4,000 bodies were found 
 dead. The ditches and the field formed one great 
 grave. The earth told in very visible terms what 
 occasioned its elasticity ; upon forcing a stick down 
 and turning up a clod, human bodies in an offensive 
 state of decay immediately presented themselves. I 
 found four Belgian peasants commenting upon one 
 figure which was scarcely interred, and on walking 
 under the outer wall of La Haye Sainte a hole was 
 tenanted by myriads of maggots feasting upon a 
 corpse. 
 
 Here stands the Wellington tree,- peppered with 
 shot and stripped as high as a man can jump of its 
 twigs and leaves, for every passenger jumps up for 
 a relic. We stood upon the road where Buonaparte 
 (defended by high banks) sent on, but didnt lead, 
 6,000 of his old Imperial Guard. They charged 
 along the road up to La Haye Sainte, dwindling as 
 they went by the incessant fire of '^o pieces of 
 
 ^ A farm occupied by the King's German Legion under Major 
 Baring; after a gallant resistance captured by the French at 
 4 o'clock on June i8th. 
 
 ^ Wellington watched the battle from the shade of an elm-tree, 
 which was afterwards sold to an Englishman, who made the wood 
 into boxes and sold them as memorials. 
 
1816] A PLAGUE OF MICE 269 
 
 Artillery, many of them within a few yards, till 
 their number did not exceed 300. Then Napoleon 
 turned round to Bertrand, lifted his hand, cried out, 
 " C'est tout perdu, c'est tout fini," and galloped off 
 with La Corte and Bertrand," quitting most 
 probably for ever a field of battle. 
 
 A continued sheet of corn or fallowed fields 
 occupy the whole plain. The crops are indifferent 
 and the reason assigned is curious. The whole 
 being trampled down last year, became the food of 
 mice, which in consequence repaired thither from 
 all quarters and increased and multiplied to such 
 a degree that the soil is quite infested by 
 them. 
 
 Upon the heights where the British squares 
 received the shock of the French Cavalry, we 
 found an English officer's cocked hat, much injured 
 apparently by a cannon shot, with its oilskin 
 rotting away, and showing by its texture, shape, 
 and quality that it had been manufactured by a 
 fashionable hatter, and most probably graced the 
 wearer's head in Bond Street and St. James's. 
 Wherever we went we were surrounded by boys 
 and beggars offering Eagles from Frenchmen's 
 helmets, cockades, pistols, swords, cuirasses, and 
 other fragments. 
 
 At Brussels they gave the Belgian troops a 
 dinner in a long, shady avenue, which was more 
 
 ' General Bertrand, 17 73- 1844; fought in Egypt and dis- 
 tinguished himself at Austerlitz and in the campaigns of Wagram 
 and Moscow. He followed Napoleon to Elba and to St. Helena. 
 
270 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 than they deserved, and in the evening the Town 
 was illuminated. In the Newspaper I daresay 
 there will be a splendid account of it, but it was a 
 wretched display in the proportion of one tallow 
 candle to 50 windows stuck up to glimmer and go 
 out without the slightest taste or regularity. 
 
 From Brussels we started in a nice open Barouche 
 Landau on Thursday, the 20th. We again crossed 
 the Field of Waterloo and proceeded towards 
 Genappes, a road along which we jogged merrily 
 and peaceably, but which had last year on this same 
 day been one continued scene of carnage and con- 
 fusion : Prussians cutting off French heads, arms 
 and legs by hundreds ; Englishmen in the rear 
 going in chase, cheering the Prussians and urging 
 them in pursuit ; the French, exhausted with 
 fatigue and vexation, making off in all directions 
 with the utmost speed. 
 
 At Genappes we changed horses in the very 
 courtyard where Napoleon's carriage was taken . . . 
 and were shown the spot where the Brunswick 
 Hussars cut down the French General as a retali- 
 ation for the life of the Duke. The Postmaster 
 told us what he could, which was not much ; the only 
 curious part was that in his narrative he never 
 called the Highland Regiments "Les Ecossais," but 
 " Les Sans Culottes." The setting sun found us all 
 covered with dust, rather tired and very hungry, 
 and driving up, with some misgivings from what we 
 had heard and from what we saw, to our Inn at 
 Charleroi. " This is an abominable-looking house," 
 

1816] ROUGH ROADS AND DAINTY FARE 271 
 
 said Donald. " Oh, jump out before we drive in and 
 ask what we can get to eat." " Well, Donald, 
 what success ? " we all cried like young birds upon 
 the return of the old one to the gaping, craving 
 mouths in their nest. " The Landlady says she 
 has nothing at all in the house, but if you will come 
 in thinks something may be killed which will suffice 
 for supper." This was a bad prospect. . . . 
 
 We three went on in quest of better accommo- 
 dation, and drove first to enquire at the Post House. 
 The first question the Postmaster asked was. What 
 could induce us to come to a place from which there 
 was no exit? We told him we wished to go to 
 Maubeuge. Had you seen his shoulders elevate 
 themselves above his ears. " To Maubeuge ! Why, 
 it is utterly impossible." " Well, then," we said, " to 
 Mons." " Le chemin est execrable." " To Phillippe 
 ville." " Encore plus mauvais." As a proof of 
 which he told us that a government courier had two 
 days before insisted upon being forwarded thither, 
 that they had sent him off at 2 in the morning, to 
 insure him time before daylight, that at 9 in the 
 morning he was brought back, having proceeded 
 with the utmost difficulty 2 leagues, and then being 
 deposited in a rut by the fracture of his carriage. 
 After a great deal of pro and con it was agreed that 
 with more horses and great caution and stock of 
 patience the road to Mons should be attempted, and 
 we were directed to " Le Grand Monarque," a good 
 name for these times, applicable to Buonaparte or 
 Louis XVIII. 
 
272 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 It was worth while to lose our way and encounter 
 these unexpected difficulties for the amusement 
 the landlady afforded us. We seemed almost at 
 the end of the world. I am sure we felt so, for the 
 people were so odd. Dinner she promised, and in 
 half an hour proved by a procession of half a dozen 
 capital dishes how wonderfully these people under- 
 stand the art of cookery, in a place which in 
 England would be considered upon a par with the 
 " Eagle and Child." ^ We asked her about the road 
 in hopes of hearing a more satisfactory account. 
 With a nod and a shrug, and an enlargement of the 
 mouth and projection of lip, she replied, "Messieurs, 
 je ne voudrais pas etre un oiseau de mauvais augure, 
 mais, pour les chemins il faut avouer qu'ils sont 
 effroyables." 
 
 I will venture to say such a "oiseau" as our 
 speaker has never before been seen or heard of by 
 any naturalist or ornithologist. Her figure and 
 cloak were both inimitable. She P"ave such a trafji- 
 comic account of her sufferings last year, during the 
 time of the retreat, and in 1814 when the Russians 
 were there, that while she laughed with one eye and 
 cried with the other, we were almost inclined to do 
 the same. She had been pillaged by a French 
 officer in a manner which surpassed any idea we 
 could have formed of French oppression and bar- 
 barity. At one time the Cossacks caught her, and 
 on some dispute about a horse, 4 of them took her 
 each by an arm and leg and laying her upon her 
 ' Inn at Alderley. 
 
1816] PICTURESQUE BRUGES 273 
 
 ** Ventre " flat as a pancake, a fifth cracked his 
 knout (whip) most fearfully over her head, and 
 prepared himself to apply the said whip upon our 
 poor landlady. By good fortune an officer rescued 
 her from their clutches, but she shivered like a jelly 
 when she described her feelings in her awkward 
 position, like a boat upon the shore bottom up- 
 wards. Then she told us how her husband died of 
 fright, or something very near it. Her account of 
 him was capital, " II ^toit," said she, " un bon papa 
 du temps passe," by which perhaps you may imagine 
 she was young and handsome. She was very old 
 and as ugly as Hecate. 
 
 Well, my sheet is at an end, and my hand quite 
 knocked up. We did get to Mons, but the roads 
 were "effroyable." At one moment (luckily we 
 were not in it) the carriage stuck in the mud and 
 paused. " Shall I go ? or shall I not go.-* " Luckily 
 it preferred the latter, and returned to its position 
 on 4 wheels instead of 2. 
 
 E. Stanley. 
 
 Afrs. E. Stanley to Lady Maria Stanley. 
 
 And now to return to what pleased me first: 
 Bruges — where I first felt myself completely out of 
 England. The buildings were so entirely unlike any 
 I have seen before that I could have fancied myself 
 rather walking amongst pictures than houses. The 
 winding streets are so interesting when you do not 
 know what new sight a new turn will present ; 
 
 18 
 
274 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 especially when, as in this case, the new sight was 
 so satisfactory every time. Ghent is a much finer 
 town but not near so picturesque ; but we were 
 fortunate in falling in here with a fine Catholic 
 procession. We went to the top of the Cathedral, 
 and as we were comincr down the orreat bell tolled 
 and announced the procession had begun. We 
 almost broke our necks in our hurry to get a peep, 
 and we did arrive at a loop-hole in time to see the 
 whole mass of priests and procession in slow motion 
 down the great aisle and to hear their chant. It 
 was very fine indeed, tho' to our heretical feelings 
 the interest lies as much in the romantic associations 
 connected with all the Roman Catholic ceremonies 
 as in anything better. It is not in human nature 
 not to feel more devotion in the imposing solemnity 
 of such a church. The " Descents from the Cross " 
 were just put up, and with the organ playing and 
 mass going on, and the number of female figures 
 with their black scarfs over their heads kneeling on 
 chairs in different parts of the Cathedral, we saw 
 them to greater advantage than surrounded by 
 French bonnets and other pictures in the Louvre. 
 They are quite different to any Rubens I ever saw 
 before ; the colouring so much deeper and the figures 
 so superior. 
 
 But no one should be allowed to enter that 
 Cathedral without the black scarf, which makes a 
 young face look pretty and an old one picturesque ; 
 and there were several common people gazing at the 
 picture with as much admiration and adoration 
 
^ 
 
 '^ 
 
 ! ,.,',w6fe ■— .- ^ —ij '^"'^ J 
 
 
1816] A BAROUCHE AND THREE 275 
 
 painted on their faces as there probably was on 
 ours. 
 
 At Brussels there were more pictures from the 
 Louvre, but the Brutes had packed up the Rubens 
 without any covering or precaution whatever, and 
 there they are with a hole thro' one, and the other 
 covered with mildew and stains from rain and dirt. 
 From Ghent we travelled in two cabriolets to 
 Brussels, which were not quite so easy or pleasant 
 as the Canal boats ; but the accommodations as far 
 as Brussels have been really superbe. I have longed 
 for the papers or the carpets or the marble tables in 
 every room we have been in ; and I have learned to 
 consider dinner as a matter of great curiosity and 
 importance, and I cannot wonder that Englishmen 
 are not proof against the temptations of living well 
 and so cheap. Brussels is a nice place ; there 
 appear to be so many pleasant walks and rides in all 
 directions. The country about is so pretty, and 
 the town (with the exception of the steep hill which 
 you must ascend to get to the best part of it) very 
 cheerful and agreeable looking .... Every place 
 swarms with English; we have met four times as 
 many English carriages and travellers as we did on 
 our road to London. 
 
 Our weather has been very favourable. We had 
 a cool day for walking about at Waterloo, and the 
 next day a delightful bright sunshine to show off the 
 Palace of Laeken to advantage. It is the place 
 where Bonaparte intended to sleep on the i8th, and 
 he fitted it up. It is three miles from Brussels, 
 
276 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 commanding a view of the whole country and 
 surrounded by trees and pleasure-grounds in the 
 English style. After looking at buildings and towns 
 so much, it was an agreeable relief to admire shady 
 walks and fine trees. We went to the Theatre, 
 which was execrable, but at Ghent we were very 
 much amused with some incomparable acting. 
 
 We left Brussels yesterday morning in a Barouche 
 and three, which is to take us to Paris. It holds us 
 four in the inside and John on the box as nicely as 
 we could wish and is perfectly easy. We suit each 
 other as well in other respects as in the carriage. 
 Donald is an excellent compagnon de voyage — full of 
 liveliness, good humour, and curiosity, enjoying 
 everything in the right way. He and Edward 
 Leycester are my beaux, while E.S. does the 
 business ; which makes it much pleasanter to me 
 than if I had only one gentleman with me. In 
 short, we had not a difficulty till yesterday. We 
 came by Waterloo again and picked up Lacoite to 
 get what we could from him , and then to Charleroi, 
 being told the road by Nivelles was impassable. 
 The road to Charleroi was bad, and we did not arrive 
 till 9, having had no eatable but biscuit and wine. 
 Donald entered the hotel to enquire what we could 
 have for dinner, and returned with the melancholy 
 report that the woman had literally nothing, and did 
 not know where any were to be procured, but that 
 she would kill a hen and dress it if we liked ! We 
 sent Donald and Edward, as a forlorn hope, to see 
 if there was another inn, and after a long search 
 
i^^^'^^R^Pp^^^SjJr 
 
 
 f^T.;^ 
 
 
 ^^m%l mil 
 
 
1816] TEAM OF NINE DOGS 277 
 
 they found one, whereupon the postillion found out 
 that he had no drag-chain and could not properly 
 descend the montagne. However, after some 
 arguments, and my descent from the carriage, and 
 Donald and John walking on each side the wheels 
 with large stones ready to place before them in case 
 they were disposed to run too fast, we arrived at the 
 Inn at the foot of the Hill, from which issued an old 
 woman who might have sat for Gil Bias' or Caleb 
 Williams' old woman. When she heard where we 
 were going, she shook her head and said she did not 
 like to be un oiseau de mauvais augure but that the 
 only road we could go was very nearly impassable. 
 The people and the children in the street crowded 
 round the carriage as if they had never seen one 
 before, and, in short, we found that we had got into 
 a cul-de-sac. 
 
 However, our adventures for the night finished by 
 the old woman giving us so good a dinner and so 
 many good stories of herself and the Cossacks, that 
 we did not regret having been round, especially now 
 when we are safely landed at Valenciennes without 
 either carriage or bones broke — over certainly the 
 very worst road I ever saw. 
 
 We shall be at Paris on Monday or Tuesday, I 
 think. Adieu. 
 
 Rev. E. Stanley to his niece, Rianette Stanley. 
 
 . . . Before leaving Brussels for ever, it is im- 
 possible not to speak about the dogs. What would 
 
27S |{|<]F()ltIO AND A FT H] If, WATIOIiLOO 
 
 yoii s.iy, wh.'it would you ihink, and liow would you 
 lau^L^li ;it soiiu; of lIk^sc wondrous (;(|uipaj^es. You 
 meet them in all dir(;ctions carrying" every species of 
 load. 'Plicy were only surj)a,ssed by one vehicle we 
 met on the road drawn by nine, and as luck would 
 have it, just as we passed, the five leaders fell to 
 fighting and ran their carriage over some high 
 stones. Then the women within began to scream 
 and th(.' driver without b(\gan to whip, which caused 
 an inevitable scene of bustle and j)erj)l(;xity. . . . 
 
 At Ouiverain we passed lUv. line of s(;paration 
 between France and Belgium and were subjected to 
 a close ins])ection by tlu; Custom House Officers, 
 during which some Bandana handkerchiefs of 
 Edward's were for a time in great jeopardy, but they 
 v^ere finally returned and "nous voila" in "la belle 
 F' ranee." The change was perceptibh^ in more wa.ys 
 than one. Before we had travelletl a mile we 
 beheld a proof of this subjugated state in the person 
 of a Cossack "en plein costume," with two narrow, 
 horizontal (;yes placed at the lo|) of his forehc^id, 
 bespeaking his Tartar origin. Upon a log of timber 
 twenty more were sitting smoking. The Russian 
 lu;ad([uarters are at Maubeuge, but the Cossacks are 
 scattered all over tlu; frontier villages and are seen 
 everywhere. We 1(^11 in with at least a hundred. 
 They are very (juiet and much liked by the peo[)le. 
 The 1 )uke of Wellington, when returning to 
 Valenciennes a few days ago from Maubeuge, was 
 escorted by a party of these gipsy guards. 
 
 On approac:hing Valenciennes other tokens of 
 
1816] BREAKFAST WITH AN ASTRONOMER 279 
 
 conquest appeared. A clean-looking inn, with a 
 smart g-arden in Islington style, presented itself, 
 bearing a sign with an English name containing the 
 additional intelligence that London Porter and 
 Rum, Gin, and Brandy were all there, and to be 
 had. 
 
 Over many a window we saw a good John Bull 
 board with " Spirituous Liquors Sold Here " in- 
 scribed thereon in broad British characters, unlike 
 the " Spiritual Lickers " in the miserable letters upon 
 the signboards at Ostend. As to Valenciennes, 
 nothing was French but the houses and Inns. The 
 visible population were red-coated soldiers, and it 
 was impossible not to fancy that our journey was a 
 dream, and that we had in fact re-opened our eyes 
 in England. 
 
 Of hornworks, demi-lunes, and ravelines I shall 
 speak to your Papa when I fight my battle once 
 again in the Armchair at the Park or at Win- 
 nington ; enough for you to know that we all 
 breakfasted with Sir Thomas Brisbane, a very 
 superior man and a great astronomer, and tho' 
 brave as a lion, seems to prefer looking at la Pleine 
 lune in the heavens than the host of demi-lunes with 
 which he is surrounded in his present quarters. At 
 Cambray Sir George Scovell ^ had most kindly 
 secured us lodgings at Sir Lowry Cole's ^ house, 
 
 ^ Sir George Scovell, 17 74-1861, General. He fought in the 
 Peninsula and at Waterloo. 
 
 '^ Sir Lowry Cole, second son of first Earl of Enniskillen, 
 General of 4th Division at the Battle of Salamanca. He received 
 
280 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 which we had all to ourselves, as the General was 
 in England. Where the French people live it is 
 not easy to guess, for all the best houses are taken 
 by British Officers. They receive a billet which 
 entitles them to certain rooms, and generally they 
 induce the possessor to decamp altogether by giving 
 him a small rent for the remainder. We found 
 Colonel Egerton, who married a Miss Tomkinson, 
 in the garrison. We dined with them and the 
 Scovell, and were received with the utmost 
 kindness and attention by all. Colonel Prince and 
 Colonel Abercromby (you know both, I believe) 
 also dined there two days we remained. 
 
 On Sunday there was a Procession. The 
 most curious circumstance was that a troop of 
 British cavalry attended to clear the way and do 
 the honours, for the National Guard had been 
 disarmed three days before in consequence of an 
 order from the Duke of Wellington (nobody 
 knows why). They gave up their arms without 
 a murmur ; some few, I believe, expressed by a 
 " Bah ! " and a shrug of the shoulders that it 
 was not quite agreeable to their feelings, but 
 "voila tout." "I say, Jack," said a Grenadier 
 of the Guards to his Companion, by whom I 
 was standing as the procession came out of the 
 Church, " who is that fellow with a gold coat 
 and gridiron?" "Why, that's St. Lawrence," 
 and so it was. 
 
 the thanks of both Houses of Parliament for his gallant services 
 in the Peninsula. Commanded 6th Division at Waterloo. 
 
1816] AN ARAB LIFE 281 
 
 St. Lawrence led the way, followed by a brass 
 St. Andrew as stiff as a poker and as much 
 resembling St. Andrew as I conceive ; but my 
 companion the Grenadier thought differently, for 
 he pronounced him to be a Chef d'oeuvre. " Well 
 now, Jack, that's quite natural." ... 
 
 I must hurry you on to Compiegne, merely 
 saying that we traversed a country fringed with 
 immense forests in which wolves are born and 
 live and die without much interruption, tho' 
 we were told at one of the Inns that a peasant 
 had, a day or two before, captured seven juvenile 
 individuals of the species and carried them off un- 
 eaten by their disconsolate parents. 
 
 Our chief reason for visiting Compiegne was that 
 we might see a Palace fitted up for Marie Louise by 
 Bonaparte in a style of splendour surpassing, in my 
 opinion, any Palace I have seen in France. 
 
 Mrs. E. Stanley to Lady Maria J. Stanley. 
 
 Yhsi^^June 28, 1816. 
 And here I am — and what shall I tell you first ? 
 And how shall I find time to tell you anything in 
 the wanderino" Arab kind of life we are leadinor ? 
 
 o o 
 
 It is very new and very amusing and I enjoy it 
 very much, but I enjoy still more the thoughts of 
 how much I shall enjoy my own quiet home and 
 children again when I get to them. 
 
 We arrived on Tuesday evening, and in half an 
 hour I was in the Palais Royal in the Cafe de Mille 
 Colonnes, and at night the brilliancy of the Lamps 
 
282 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 and Mirrors, jrlittering in every direction in every 
 alley, displayed this new scene to me in the newest 
 colours ; and it was very like walkino- in a new 
 world, . . . 
 
 The F^tes for the marriage of the Due de Berri 
 are unfortunately all over. Except the entertain- 
 ments at the Court itself, a French party is a thing 
 unheard of, and the only gaieties have been English 
 parties to which some few French come when they 
 are invited. The only gentlemen's carriages I have 
 seen in the streets are English, and as to French 
 gentlemen or ladies, according to the most diligent 
 enquiries by eyes and tongue, the race has almost 
 disappeared. . . . 
 
 If you admire Buonaparte ;uid despise the 
 Bourbons in Cheshire, what would you in Paris ? 
 where the regular answer to everything you admire 
 is that it was done by Buonaparte — to everything 
 that you object to, that it is by order of the 
 Bourbons. In the Library of the Hopital des 
 Invalides to-day, collected by order of Buonaparte 
 for the use of the soldiers, there was a man pulling 
 down all the books and stamping over the N's and 
 eagles on the title-page with blue ink, which, if it 
 did not make a plain L, at least blotted out the N ; 
 but I should ap[)rehend that every one who saw the 
 blot would think more of the vain endeavour of 
 Louis to take his place than if the N had been 
 left. 
 
 ... I have told you nothing about Valenciennes 
 and how we breakfasted with two odd characters 
 
1816] COMPIEGNK 283 
 
 to come together in one, an Astronomer and a 
 Soldier, viz., Sir Thomas Brisbane, who enlivens 
 his quarters wherever he goes by erecting an 
 observatory immediately, and studying hard as any 
 Cambridge mathematician every hour that he is 
 not on military duty. His officers seem to have 
 partaken in some degree of the spirit of their 
 General, and to have made use of their position 
 at Valenciennes to make themselves perfectly 
 acquainted with all Marlborough's campaign, and 
 they appeared to have as much interest in tracing 
 all his sieges and breaches and batteries as their 
 General in making his observations on the sun and 
 the stars. . . . The Scovells were delighted to 
 see us at Cambray ; put us into Sir Lowry 
 Cole's quarters, where we had a house and gardens 
 all to ourselves. Lord Wellington had been at 
 Cambray a fortnight before, and was all affa- 
 bility, good humour, and gaiety. . . . Sir Geo. 
 Scovell gave many interesting details of his cool- 
 ness, quickness, decision, and undaunted spirit. 
 
 Edward Stanley to Bella Stanley, 
 
 VA\w6,/uly 9, i8i6. 
 It is absolutely necessary that a word or two 
 should be said upon the palace at Compiegne, 
 which was fitted up about seven years ago by 
 Napoleon for Marie Louise. Having seen most of 
 his Imperial abodes, I am inclined to give the 
 preference, as far as internal decoration extends, to 
 
284 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Compiegne. Gold, silver, mirrors, tapestry all 
 hold their court here. The bath is a perfect 
 specimen of French luxury and magnificence. It 
 fills a recess in a moderately-sized room almost 
 entirely panelled with the finest sheets of plate 
 glass ; and the ball room is so exquisitely beautiful 
 that to see its golden walls and ceilings lighted up 
 with splendid chandeliers, and its floors graced with 
 dancers, plumed and jewelled, I would take the 
 trouble of attending as your Chaperon from Alder- 
 ley whenever the Bourbons send you an invitation. 
 
 The gardens are like all other French pleasure 
 grounds, formal and comfortless, but there is one 
 part you would all enjoy. When Buonaparte first 
 carried Marie Louise to Compiegne she expressed 
 much satisfaction, but remarked that it was deficient 
 in a Berceau ; it could not stand in competition 
 with her favourite palace of Schonbrunn. Now, a 
 berceau is a wide walk covered with trellis work 
 and flowers. She left Compiegne. In six weeks 
 Napoleon begged her to pay another visit. She 
 did so, and found a berceau wide enough for two 
 carriao"es to p^o abreast and above two miles in 
 length, extending from the gardens to the forest of 
 Compiegne, completely finished. May you all be 
 espoused to husbands who will execute all your 
 whims and fancies with equal rapidity and good 
 taste ! In your berceau I will walk ; but if you are 
 destined to reside in golden palaces, you must expect 
 little of Uncle's company. 
 
 Having travelled thus far, attend us to Paris and 
 
1816] PARIS TRAGEDY 285 
 
 imagine yourself seated in a velvet chair in the 
 Hotel de Bretagne, Rue de Richelieu, that is to say, 
 when translated into London terms, conceive your- 
 self seated in one of the Hotels in or near Covent 
 Gardens, close to Theatre and shops and all that a 
 stranger wishes to be near for a week when the 
 sole purpose of his visit is seeing and hearing. 
 We are within 20 yards (but if measured by the 
 mud and filth to be traversed in the march I should 
 call it a mile) of the Palais Royal, the fairy land 
 of Paris, and Paradise of vice, and the centre of 
 attraction to every stranger. Here we breakfast in 
 Coffee-houses, of which no idea can be formed by 
 those who only associate the name of Coffee-house 
 with certain subdivided, gloomy apartments in 
 England, where steaks and Morning Chronicles 
 reign with divided sway, and where the silence is 
 seldom interrupted but by queries as to the price of 
 stocks or " Here, Waiter, another bottle of Port." 
 
 We dine at Restaurateurs, choosing unknown 
 dishes out of five closely-printed columns oi frican- 
 deaus and a la financihxs. 
 
 Before I proceed let me inform you of some 
 simple matters of fact which I may forget if delayed. 
 Such as that we found the Sothebys and Murrays, 
 and Leghs of High Legh, and Wilbraham of 
 Delamere Lodge. With the former we have made 
 several joint excursions and contrived to meet at 
 dinner. Mr. Sotheby is in his element, bustles 
 everywhere, looks the vignette of happiness, ex- 
 claims " Good! " upon all occasions, from the arrange- 
 
286 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 ment of the Skulls in the Catacombs to the dressing 
 of a vol au vent. In short, they are all as delighted 
 as myself, and that is saying a good deal. 
 
 Pardon this digression. Again to the point — to 
 Paris. Where shall I begin ? Let us take the 
 theatres. We saw Talma last night, and the im- 
 pression is strong, therefore he shall appear first on 
 the list. 
 
 The play was " Manlius," a tragedy in many 
 respects like our " Venice Preserved." The House 
 was crowded to excess, especially the pit, which, as 
 in England, is the focus of criticisms and vent for 
 public opinion. 
 
 When a Tragedy is acted no Music whatever is 
 allowed, not a fiddle prefaced the performance ; but 
 at seven o'clock the curtain slowly rose, and amidst 
 the thunder of applause, succeeded by a breathless 
 silence. Talma stepped forth in the Roman toga 
 of Manlius. His figure is bad, short, and rather 
 clumsy, his countenance deficient in dignity and 
 natural expression, but with all these deductions he 
 shines like a meteor when compared with Kemble. 
 He is body and soul, finger and thumb, head and 
 foot, involved in his character ; and so, say you, 
 is Miss O'Neil, but Talma and Miss O'Neil are 
 different and distant as the poles. She is nature, 
 he is art, but it is the perfection of art, and so 
 splendid a specimen well deserves the approbation 
 he so profusely receives. 
 
 The curtain is not let down between the acts, and 
 the interval does not exceed two or three minutes. 
 
1816] AN AUDIENCE IN THRALDOM 287 
 
 so that your attention is never interrupted. The 
 scene closed as it commenced — with that peculiar 
 hurra of the French, expressive of their highest 
 excitement. It is the same with which they make 
 their charge in battle, and proportioned to numbers 
 it could not have been more vehement at the 
 victories of Austerlitz and Jena than it was on 
 the reappearance of Talma ; and not satisfied with 
 this, they insisted on his coming forth again. At 
 length, amidst hurras and cries of " Talma ! 
 Talma ! " the curtain was closed up, and my last 
 impression rendered unfavourable by a vulgar, 
 graceless figure in nankeen breeches and top-boots 
 hurrying in from a side scene, dropping a swing 
 bow in the centre of the stage, and then hurrying 
 out again. 
 
 Theatres are to Frenchmen what flowers are to 
 bees : they live in them and upon them, and the 
 sacrifice of liberty appears to be a tribute most 
 willingly paid for the gratification they receive ; for, 
 to be sure, never can there exist a more despotic, 
 arbitrary government than that of a French theatre. 
 A soldier stands by from the moment you quit your 
 carriage till you get into it ; you are allowed no will 
 of your own ; if you wish to give directions to your 
 servant, "Vite! Vite ! " cries a whiskered sentry. 
 Are you looking through the windows of the lobbies 
 into the boxes for your party, you are ordered off by 
 a gendarme. I saw one gentlemanlike-looking man 
 remonstrating; in a trice he was in durance vile. A 
 Frenchman at his play must sit, stand, move, think, 
 
288 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 and speak as if he were on drill, and yet he endures 
 the intolerance for doubtful benefits derived from 
 this rigid regularity. 
 
 In this play of " Manlius " were many passages 
 highly applicable to Buonaparte, and Talma, who is 
 supposed to be (avec raison) a secret partisan, gave 
 them their full effect, but the listening vassals struck 
 no octaves to his vibration. A few nights before 
 we were at the Play in which were allusions to the 
 Bourbons, and couplets without end of the most 
 fulsome, disgusting compliments to the Due de Berri, 
 &c. These (shame upon the trifling, vacillating, 
 mutable crew ! ) were received with loud applause 
 by the majority of the pit. I did observe, however, 
 that in that pit did sit a frowning, solemn, silent 
 nucleus, but a nucleus of this description can never 
 be large ; a few Messieurs at 3 francs par jour 
 would soon, when dispersed amongst them, like 
 grains of pepper in tasteless soup, diffuse a tone of 
 palatibility over the whole and render it more agree- 
 able to the taste of a Bourbon. 
 
 A propos, we have seen the Bourbons. The King 
 is a round, fat man, so fat that in their pictures they 
 dare not give him the proper ''contour" lest the 
 police should suspect them of wishing to ridicule ; 
 but his face is mild and benevolent, and I verily 
 believe his face to be a just reflection of his heart. 
 Then comes Monsieur, ' a man with more ex- 
 pression, but I did not see enough to form any 
 opinion of my own, and I never heard any very 
 ^ Comte d' Artois, afterwards King Charles X. 
 
1816] A ROYAL KITTEN 289 
 
 decisive account from any one else. Then comes 
 the Duchesse d'Angouleme.^ There is no milk 
 and water there. What she really is I may not be 
 able to detect, but I will forfeit my little finger if 
 there is not something" passing strange within her. 
 She is called a Bigot and a Devotee; she has seen 
 and felt enough, and more than enough, to make a 
 stronger mind than hers either the one or the other, 
 and I will excuse her if she is both. She is thin and 
 genteel, grave and dignified ; she puts her fan to 
 her underlip as Napoleon would put his finger to his 
 forehead, or his hand into his bosom. She stood up, 
 she sat down, she knelt, when others stood or sat 
 or knelt, but I question whether if she had been 
 alone she would have done all according to bell and 
 candle, rule or regulation. 
 
 Then comes the Duchesse de Berri.^a young, pretty 
 thing, a sort of royal kitten ; and then comes her 
 husband, the Due de Berri, a short, vulgar-looking, 
 anything but a kitten he is — but arrete toi. I am in 
 the land of vigilance, and already my pen trembles, 
 for there are gendarmes in abundance in the streets, 
 and Messieurs Bruce and Co. in La Force, and I do 
 not wish to join their party. In England I may 
 abuse our Prince Regent and call him fat, dissipated, 
 and extravagant, but in France I dare not say "BO 
 to a goose!" So, Je vous salue, M. le Due de Berri. 
 
 A prop OS of the police. At the marriage of the 
 above much honoured and respected Due the illumi- 
 
 ^ Daughter of Louis XVI. 
 2 Caroline of Naples. 
 19 
 
290 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 nations were general. Murray's landlord was setting 
 out his tallow candles, when Murray, guessing from 
 certain innuendoes and shrugs (for before us English 
 they are not much afraid of shrugging the shoulders 
 or inventing an occasional "Bah ! ") that he wouldhave 
 been to the full as pleased if he had been lighting 
 his candles upon the return of Napoleon, asked him, 
 " Mais pourquoi faites vous cela ? I suppose you 
 may do as you like ? " " Comment done ! " replied 
 the astonished Frenchman ; "do as I like ! If I did 
 not light my candles with all diligence, I should be 
 called upon to-morrow by the police to pay a forfeit 
 for not rejoicing." 
 
 With all this I think on the whole the Bourbons 
 are popular ; people are accustomed to being bullied 
 out of their opinions and use of their tongues, and 
 they are so sick of war, with all its inconveniences 
 and privations, that they begin to prefer inglorious 
 repose. English money is very much approved of 
 here, but if it could be procured without the per- 
 sonal attendance of the owners, I feel quite 
 confident the French would prefer it. 
 
 We are not popular. I suppose the sight of us 
 must be grating to the feelings. We are like a 
 blight on an apple-tree ; we curl up their leaves, 
 and they writhe under our pressure. 
 
 The constant songr of our drunken soldiers on the 
 Boulevards commenced with — 
 
 " Louis Dixhuite, Louis dixhuite, 
 We have licked all your armies and sunk all your fleet." 
 
1816] BALLS AND POWDER PLOTS 291 
 
 Luckily the words are not intelligible to the gaping 
 Parisians, who generally, upon hearing the " Louis 
 Dixhuite," took for granted the song was an ode in 
 honour of the Bourbons, and grinned approbation. 
 It is quite ridiculous, Paris cannot know itself 
 Where are the French ? Nowhere. All is Ensflish: 
 English carriages fill the streets, no other genteel 
 Equipages are to be seen. At the Play Boxes are 
 all English. At the Hotels, Restaurations — in short, 
 everywhere — John Bull stalks incorporate. I see an 
 Englishman with his little red book, the Paris 
 guide, in one hand and map in the other, with a 
 parcel of ragged boys at his heels pestering him for 
 money. " Monsieur, c'est moi " who am ready to 
 hold your stick. " Monsieur, c'est moi," who will 
 call your coach. 
 
 About the Thuilleries, indeed, and here and there, 
 a kw " bien poudred " little old men, " des bons 
 Papas du Temps passe," may be seen dry as 
 Mummies and as shrivelled, with their ribbons and 
 Croix St. Louis, tottering about. They are good, 
 staunch Bourbons, ready, I daresay, to take the 
 field " en voiture " for once, when taunted by the 
 Imperial officers for being too old and decrepid 
 to lead troops ; an honest emigrant Marquis replied 
 that he did not see why he should not command 
 a regiment and lead it on " dans son Cabriolet." 
 
 We have been unfortunate in not arrivinp" soon 
 enough to be present at the Duke of Wellington's 
 Balls. At the last a curious circumstance took 
 place. (You may rely upon it's being true.) Word 
 
292 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 was brought to him that the house was in danger 
 from fire. He went down, and in a sort of sub- 
 terranean room some cartridges were discovered 
 close to a lamp containing a great quantity of oil, 
 and it was evident they had been placed there with 
 design. The first report was that barrels of gun- 
 powder had been found, and strange associations 
 were whispered as to Guy Fawkes and Louis 
 XVI I L being one and the same; but the powder 
 was not sufficient to do any great mischief, and the 
 general idea is that had it exploded, confusion 
 would have ensued, the company would have been 
 alarmed, the ladies would have screamed and 
 fled to the door and street, where parties were 
 in full readiness and expectations of Diamonds, 
 &c. . . . 
 
 We stay over Monday, for there is a grand 
 Review on the Boulevards. We have seen 
 Cuirassiers and Lancers shining in the sun and 
 flutterino- their little banner in the air. The Bour- 
 bons, who are determined to root out every vestige 
 of the past, are now stripping the Troops of the 
 Uniform which remind the wearers of battles fought 
 and cities won, and re-clothing them in the white 
 dress of the " ancien Regime," which is wretchedly 
 ugly. They know best what they are about, and 
 they certainly have a people to deal with unlike the 
 rest of the world, but were I a Bourbon, I should 
 be cautious how I proceeded in demolishing every- 
 thing which reminded the people of their recent 
 glory. Luckily the column on the Place Vendome 
 
1816] MICHAEL BRUCE 293 
 
 has as yet escaped the Goths, and its bronze basso 
 reliefs are still the pride of Paris. 
 
 Edivard Stanley to Louisa Stanley. 
 
 July 13, 1816. 
 
 Days in Paris are like lumps of barley sugar, 
 sweet to the taste and melting rapidly away. . . .We 
 have now seen theatres, shows, gardens, museums, 
 palaces, and prisons. Aye, Louisa, we have been 
 immured within the walls of La Force, and that 
 from inclination ! not necessity. 
 
 We procured an order to see Bruce, ^ and after 
 some shutdecock sort of work, sending and being 
 sent from office to office and Pr^fet to Pr^fet, at 
 length we received our order of admission. 
 
 In this order our persons are described ; the man 
 put me down " sourcils gris." " Mais, Monsieur," 
 said I, " they will never admit me with that 
 account." He looked at me again, " Ah ! vos 
 cheveux sont gris, mais pour les sourcils, non pas, 
 vous avez raison," and altering them to " noirs," he 
 sent me about my business. 
 
 Bar and bolt were opened, and at length we 
 found ourselves in the presence of these popular 
 prisoners — Popular, at least, amongst the female 
 part of the world. I have reason to believe that 
 
 ^ Michael Bruce, one of the EngUshmen who helped Lavalette 
 to escape from prison. He was known as Lavalette's Bruce. He 
 had previously tried to save Ney. Major-General Wilson and 
 Captain Hutchinson were also concerned in Lavalette's escape. 
 
294 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 a few of the Miss Stanleys had formed a romantic 
 attachment for Michael Bruce, and there are few of 
 our adventures which would, I think, have given 
 you more pleasure than this visit. Your heart 
 would have been torn from its little resting-place 
 and been imprisoned for ever. Michael Bruce ! 
 such an eye ! such a figure ! such a countenance ! 
 such a voice ! and so much sense and elegance 
 of manner, and then so interesting ! There he sat 
 in a small, wretched room, dirty and felonious, with 
 two little windows, one looking into a court where 
 a parcel of ragged prisoners were playing at fives, 
 the other into a sort of garden where others were 
 loitering away their listless vacuity of time. 
 
 I will not tell you what he said, for it would but 
 inflame a wound which I cannot heal, and because 
 part of his conversation was secret, i.e., of a very 
 interesting and curious nature which I cannot write 
 and must not speak of. " Oh ! dear Uncle, why 
 won't you tell } a secret from Michael Bruce in the 
 prison of La Force ! " 
 
 No, Louisa, I dare not speak of it to the winds. 
 Captain Hutchinson was his companion. Sir Robert 
 Wilson is in another room. The Captain has 
 nothing very interesting in his manner or appear- 
 ance. He is very plain, very positive, and very 
 angry. Well he may be. So would you if, like 
 him, you had been immured in a room about eight 
 feet by twelve, in which you were forced to eat, 
 sleep, and reside for three months. Their penance 
 closes on the 24th, when Michael Bruce returns 
 
1816] DE NON 295 
 
 to London. I hope you are not going there 
 this year. 
 
 From such a subject as Michael Bruce it will not 
 do to descend to any of the trifling fopperies of 
 Paris. 
 
 Let me, then, give you a short account of our 
 visit to Fountain Elephant, which if ever finished, 
 with its concomitant streets, &c., will be an 8th 
 wonder of the world. Its History is this : On the 
 Site of the Bastille (of which not a vestige remains) 
 Buonaparte thought he would erect a fountain, and 
 looking at the Plans of Paris, he conceived the 
 splendid idea of knocking down all the houses 
 between the Thuilleries and this Fountain and 
 forming one wide, straight street, so that from the 
 Palace of the Thuilleries he might see whatever 
 object he might be pleased to place at the ex- 
 tremity. This street is actually begun ; when 
 executed, which it never will be, there will be an 
 avenue, partly houses, partly trees, from Barriere 
 d'Etoile to the Fountain, at least six miles. Having 
 got this Fountain in his head, he sent for De Non,^ 
 who superintended all his works, and said, ** De 
 Non, I must have a fountain, and the fountain shall 
 be a beast." So De Non set his wits to work, and 
 talked of Lions and Tigers, &c., when Buonaparte 
 
 ^ Denon (i 747-1825), a member of the Academie de Peinture. 
 He made sketches in Egypt for Napoleon, quietly finishing them 
 on the battlefield. He directed the Emperor what objects of 
 art he should take from various countries to enrich the Louvre. 
 Napoleon made him Directeur-General of Museums. 
 
296 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 fixed upon an Elephant, with a Castle upon his 
 back, and an Elephant there is. At present they 
 have merely a model of plaister upon which the 
 bronze coating is to be wrought, for the whole is 
 to be in bronze with gilt trappings. He is to stand 
 upon an elevated pedestal, which is already com- 
 pleted. The height will be about 60 feet, nearly as 
 high as Alderley Steeple. The castle will hold 
 water ; the inside is to be a room, and the staircase 
 is to be in one of the legs. The porter who showed 
 it was exceedingly proud of the performance, and 
 when I expressed my astonishment at Buonaparte's 
 numerous plans and the difficulty he must have 
 been at to procure money, looking cautiously about 
 him, he said, "Oh, mais il avoit le don d'un Dieu," 
 and then grasping my arm with one hand and 
 tapping me on the shoulder with the other, and 
 again looking round to see if then the coast was 
 clear, he added, " Mais il n'y est plus, ah, vous 
 comprenez cela n'est-ce pas," and then casting a look 
 at his Elephant he concluded with a sigh and a 
 mutter, " Superbe, ah, pardi, que c'est superbe ! " 
 Kitty has been dressing herself a la Frangaise, 
 and we have been purchasing a large box of flowers, 
 which we hope to show you in England, if the 
 Custom House officers will allow us to pay the 
 duties, but we hear most alarming accounts of their 
 ferocity and rapacity. They will soon, it is said, 
 seize the very clothes you have on, if of French 
 manufacture ; if so, adieu to three pairs of black 
 silk stockings and as many pockethandkerchiefs, to 
 
1816] DUMB SCHOLARS 297 
 
 say nothing of a perfect pet of an ivory dog which 
 I intend to present to your Mama, and to say 
 nothing of five perfect pets for Maria and you four 
 eldest girls of the family of Harlequin and Punch, 
 to be worn on your necklaces during the happy 
 weeks. They are of mother of pearl about an inch 
 high, the most comical fellows I ever beheld. It 
 is necessary that I should tell you of the presents, 
 because if they are seized, you know I shall still 
 be entitled to the merit of selecting them. We 
 have bought a few books. A thick octavo is here 
 worth about four or five shillings, and the duty is, 
 we understand, about one shilling more. One is 
 a life of the Duke of Marlborough. Buonaparte 
 said it was a reflection upon England not to have 
 a life of her greatest Hero, and therefore he would 
 be his biographer ; accordingly he set his men to 
 work and collected the materials. Report speaks 
 favourably of it, but I have been so busied in look- 
 ing and walking about that 1 shall not be surprised 
 if I find that I have almost forgotten to read upon 
 my return ! 
 
 Edward Stanley to Louisa Stanley. 
 
 Tuesday Morning, July \ith. 
 We are in Paris still, and do not depart till 
 to-morrow, dedicating this day in company with the 
 Murrays to St. Denis and Malmaison, and then I 
 think we shall have seen everything worth seeing 
 in or near this queer metropolis. One day last week 
 
298 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 we went to our old friend, L'abbe Sicard,^ and 
 attended a lecture in which about 20 of his young 
 scholars exhibited their powers. The poor Abbe 
 was, as usual, dreadfully prolix, and occupied an 
 hour in words which miorht have been condensed 
 within the compass of a Minute, and poor Massuer 
 yawned and shut his eyes ever and anon. Clair 
 was not there, and as we were under the necessity 
 of going away before the Lecture was closed, we 
 could not renew our acquaintance. Since last year 
 he has taught his pupils to speak, and two dumb 
 boys talked to each other with great success. I 
 will show you the mode when we meet, but as you 
 are not dumb it will be a mere gratification of 
 Curiosity. Our Assignation which called us from 
 the Lecture was to meet the Sothebys and 
 Murrays and many others at the Buvin d'Enfer, 
 near which is the descent to the Catacombs, where 
 upwards of 3 million of Skulls are arranged in tasty 
 grimaces thro' Streets of Bones, but my Sketch 
 Book has long given an idea of these ossifatory 
 Exhibitions. Only think, a cousin of Donald's and 
 a very great friend of mine, a Capt. McDonald, 
 whom you would all be in love with, he is so hand- 
 some and interesting, was shut up there a short 
 time ago by accident, and if the Keeper had not 
 luckily recollected the number of persons who 
 descended and discovered one was missing, he 
 would very soon have joined the bone party. 
 
 ^ Abb^ Roch Ambroise Sicard, founder of deaf and dumb 
 school at Paris, 1742-1822. 
 
1816] PERE LA CHAISE 299 
 
 There is another Cimetiere called that of Pere la 
 Chaise, of a very different description, and infinitely 
 more interesting. It is the grand burial-place of 
 Paris ; all who choose may purchase little plots of 
 ground, from a square foot to an acre, for the 
 deposition of themselves and their families. Its 
 extent is about 84 French acres, and upon no spot 
 in the world is the French character so perfectly 
 portrayed. Each individual encloses his plot and 
 ornaments it as he chooses, and the variety is quite 
 astonishing. It appears like a large Shop full of 
 toys, work-baskets, Columns, little Cottages, pyra- 
 mids, mounts — in short, what is there in the form 
 of a Monument which may not there be found ? A 
 pert little Column with a fanciful top, crowned by 
 a smart wire basket filled with roses, marked the 
 grave, I concluded, of some beautiful young girl 
 of 15 or 16. Lo and behold ! it was placed there 
 to commemorate " un ancien Magistrat de France," 
 aged 62. The most interesting are Ney's and Labe- 
 doyere's,! the former, a solid tomb of marble, simply 
 tells that Marshal Ney, Prince of La Moskowa, 
 is below. Both were rather profusely decorated 
 with wreaths of flowers, it being the custom for the 
 friends of the deceased to strew from time to time the 
 graves with flowers, or decorate them with garlands. 
 Soldiers have been often seen weeping over these 
 graves, and it is by them these wreaths were placed. 
 Ney's had just received its tribute of a beautiful 
 garland of blue cornflowers : and the other a 
 ^ Labedoyere, General (1786-1815). Shot at Crenelle, 1815. 
 
300 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Chaplet of Honeysuckle. By both graves were 
 weeping willows. Mr. Sotheby's friend, the poet 
 Delille,^ sleeps beneath a cumbrous mass of marble, 
 within which his wife immerses herself once a week, 
 to manifest sorrow for one whose incessant tor- 
 mentor I am told she was during his life. The 
 inscriptions were for the most part commonplace. 
 I copied out a few of the best. I was sorry to 
 observe not one in 20 had the slightest allusion 
 to Religion. There was one offering which par- 
 ticularly attracted my attention and admiration. 
 Over a simple mound, the resting-place of a little 
 child, were scattered white flowers, and amongst 
 them a bunch of cherries, evidently the tribute from 
 some other little child who had thus offered up that 
 which to him appeared most valuable. The ex- 
 clusion of the selfish principle in this display of 
 sentiment and feeling quite delighted me. 
 
 The day after we visited the Louvre it was 
 closed, and none have been admitted since. I 
 believe they are scratching out some N's or Eagles. 
 I should conceive these to be the last of their 
 species, for the activity and extent of this efface- 
 ment of emblems related to Napoleon is past all 
 belief. In a picture of Boulogne in the Luxem- 
 burg, amongst the figures in the foreground was 
 a little Buonaparte, about two inches high, review- 
 ing some troops. They have actually changed his 
 features and figure, and, if I recollect rightly, 
 altered his cockade and Uniform. ... In the 
 ^ French poet and Academician, 1738-1813. 
 
1816] HAIRDRESSER'S NOTICE 301 
 
 Musee des Arts and Metiers are some models 
 of ships ; even these were obliged to strike their 
 Lilliputian tri-colours and hoist the white Ensign. 
 And now Paris, fare thee well. . . . Thou art a 
 mixture of strange ingredients. " Oh," said the 
 Hairdresser who was cutting Kitty's hair yesterday, 
 "had we your National spirit we should be a great 
 people, mais c'est I'Egoisme qui regne a Paris." 
 Their manner is quite fascinating, so civil, so 
 polished. The people are like the Town, and the 
 Town is like a Frenchman's Chemise, a magnificent 
 frill with fine lace and Embroidery, but the rest 
 ragged. The frill of the Thuilleries and Champs 
 Elysees are perfect fairylands, the streets all that 
 is execrable. No wonder the cleaners of boots and 
 shoes are in a state of perpetual requisition. In 
 one shop I saw elevated benches, on which sat 
 many gentry with their feet upon a level with the 
 cleaners' noses, where they sat like Statues, and 
 I was actually induced to go back to satisfy myself 
 that they were real men. English notices are fre- 
 quent in the streets, some not over correct in style ; 
 for example, over a Hairdresser's in the Palais 
 Royal — "The Cabinet for the cut of the hairs." 
 
 J/r^. £. Stanley to Lady Maria J. Stanley. 
 
 St. Germain, July i6, 1816. 
 Surely you must have forgot what it is to be 
 divided by land and sea from what you love, or 
 when you were abroad you left nobody behind 
 
3(>2 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 whom you cared about, or you would not fancy 
 that I should not find time or inclination to read 
 as many trifles as you can find to send, or that 
 they should not give me almost as much pleasure, 
 and be read with as much interest, as if I were 
 shut up in the next dungeon to Mr. Bruce at La 
 Force. . . . While you were enjoying the view of 
 Beeston Castle, we were eating strawberries and 
 cream under the trees in the Jardin des Plantes on 
 the only hot day we have had. ... I am in no 
 danger of forgetting you, and if I have not written 
 oftener, it has only been because Edward got the 
 start of me in beginning to write in detail, and he is 
 so inimitable in description that I could not go over 
 the same ground with him. ... I do wish I could 
 give you one of our day's amusement, and jump 
 you over here in mind and body to leave all your 
 cares behind you. . . . 
 
 At last we have bid goodbye to Paris, but every 
 day seemed to bring something fresh to see, and we 
 stayed two or three days longer than we intended 
 yesterday to see St. Denis. It is not so fine as 
 most of the churches we saw in Holland, but the 
 historical interest is so great and so curious that 
 I would not have missed seeinsf it for the world. 
 Over the door all the guillotined figures of the 
 Revolution ; in the church the repairs which were 
 begun by Buonaparte, now finishing by Louis ; 
 every stone and step you go marked by some 
 association of one or other of these periods. As 
 Buonaparte's own power increased, his respect for 
 
1816] THREE GOLDEN KEYS 303 
 
 crowned heads and authorities increased, I suppose, 
 and so he had put up Fleurs de Lys himself for the 
 Bourbons in one part of the church, and he had 
 prepared a vault for himself, decorated above with 
 bees and statues of the six Kings of France who 
 had the title of Emperor. To this vault he had 
 made two bronze doors with gold ornaments and 
 gold lions' heads, one of which flew back with a 
 spring, and discovered three keyholes, to which 
 there were three golden keys. The Sacristy he 
 filled with chef d'ceuvres of the best French artists, 
 representing those parts of the History of France 
 connected with St. Denis and with his own views 
 of Empire, 
 
 The beautiful white marble steps leading to the 
 altar beneath which the seventh Emperor was to 
 be laid were just finished when Louis XVI I L came 
 to fill the tomb, which was just prepared, with the 
 bones of Louis XVL, to depose the Emperor, to 
 complete the marble pavement, and to extend the 
 Heurs de lys over the whole church. 
 
 And upon the stone which now conceals the 
 entrance to the vault the Duchesse d'Anofouleme 
 always kneels at the grave of her father, for the 
 fine bronze doors are deposed also, only, I believe, 
 because they were placed there by Buonaparte, and 
 now they have to get into the Vault by taking up 
 the stone. We got into the carriage full of Buona- 
 parte, returned to Paris, and then got out again 
 with the Murrays at Malmaison. It is the only 
 enviable French house I have seen and deserves 
 
304 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 everything Edward said about it, even without the 
 statues and half the pictures which are taken away. 
 We spent three or four hours in the Thuilleries 
 Gardens on Sunday. Buonaparte must have thought 
 of gilding the dome of the Invalides when he was 
 walking in the Jardin des Thuilleries, it suits the 
 whole thing so exactly. A French crowd is so 
 gay with the women's shawls and flowers that they 
 assimilate well with the real flowers, and are almost 
 as great an ornament to the Garden. A shower 
 came on just as we were standing near the Palace, 
 and at that moment the guards took their posts as a 
 signal the King was going to Mass, so Edward and 
 I followed the crowd to the Salle des Marechaux 
 (they would not admit Donald because he had 
 gaiters, and Edward had luckily trowsers), and 
 there we saw Louis XVIII. and the Duchesse 
 d'Angouleme and Monsieur much better than we 
 had done the Sunday before, with all the trouble 
 of getting a ticket for admission into the Chapel, 
 and being squeezed to death into the bargain. His 
 Majesty is more like a Turtle than anything else, 
 and shows external evidence of his o-reat affection 
 for Turtle soup. His walk is quite curious. One 
 of his most intimate friends says that in spite of his 
 devotion Le Roi est un peu philosophe. We staid 
 on Monday to see a review. Donald introduced 
 us to a Mr. and Mrs. Boyd, who have lived in 
 France the last 14 years, and have a terrace that 
 overlooks the Boulevards, so there we sat very 
 commodiously and saw the King and the Duchesses 
 
1816] ADIEU, PARIS! 305 
 
 de Berri and Angouleme, in an open Caleche, 
 pass through the double row of troops which 
 Hned the Boulevards from one end to the 
 other, and a beautiful sight it was. Mr. Boyd 
 invited me to a party at his house in the coun- 
 try, and in the hopes of seeing that vara avis, 
 a French lady or gentleman, I said yes. So I 
 sent for a hairdresser, who came post haste, and 
 amused me with his politesse, and Edward with 
 his politique. I was quite sorry I could not have 
 him again. 
 
 We dined with the Murrays, and then went on to 
 Mr. Boyd, where I found myself the only lady there 
 dressed amongst about forty. That is to say, their 
 heads and tails were all in morning costume and 
 mine in evening. . . . 
 
 I must go back one more day, and tell you how I 
 went to be described for a passport to La Force on 
 Saturday, and how I thought Mr. Bruce more of a 
 hero young man than any I have ever seen. I 
 recollect seeino- him before, and thinking- him a 
 coxcomb, but a few years have mellowed all that 
 into a very fine young man. 
 
 Making every allowance for seeing him in his 
 dungeon in La Force, I think you would be 
 delighted with his countenance. He spoke his 
 sentiments with manly freedom, and yet with the 
 liberality of one who thinks it possible a man may 
 differ from him without being a fool, or a rascal. 
 Lucy and Louisa would certainly have fallen in 
 love with his fine Roman head, which his prison 
 
 20 
 
306 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 costume of a great coat and no neckcloth showed 
 to great advantage. 
 
 And now, adieu Paris ! At 2 o'clock on Wednes- 
 day a green coach, which none of you could see 
 without ten minutes' laughing at least — three horses 
 and a postillion ! (what would I give just to drive 
 up to Winnington with the whole equipage !) — 
 carried us to Versailles, and there I longed for 
 Louis XIV. as much as for Buonaparte at St. 
 Cloud ; for one cannot fancy any one living in 
 those rooms or walking in those gardens without 
 hoops and Henri quatre plumes. If one could but 
 people them properly for a couple of hours, what 
 a delightful recollection it would be ! Versailles 
 ought to be seen last. It is so magnificent that 
 every other thing of the sort is quite lost in the 
 comparison. I am glad I saw Paris and the 
 Tuilleries and St. Cloud first. We saw the Palace, 
 and then we dined, and then we set out for the 
 Trianon, and then we met with a guide who enter- 
 tained us so much as to put Louis XIV. and all his 
 court out of my head. Buonaparte never went to 
 Versailles but once to look at it, but at the Trianon 
 he and Josephine lived, and it is impossible, in 
 seeing those places, not to feel the principal interest 
 to be in the inquiry — where he lived ? where he sat ? 
 where he walked ? where he slept ? — so accordingly 
 we asked our guide. " Monsieur, je ne connais 
 point ce coquin la" soon told us what we were 
 to expect from him, but his silence and his loyalty, 
 and the combat between his hatred of the English 
 
1816] EAGLES VERSUS ANGELS 307 
 
 and his hatred of Buonaparte was so amusing that 
 we soon forgave him for not telHng us anything 
 about him. He said " Bony " was only " fit to be 
 hanged." " Why did you not hang him, then ? " 
 He could only shrug his shoulders. "We should 
 have hung him for you if he had come to England." 
 " Ma foi ! Monsieur, je crois que non." He told us 
 the stories of the rooms and the pictures with all 
 the vivacity and rapidity of a Frenchman, and with 
 pretty little turns of wit. . . . Donald asked him if 
 a cabinet in one of the rooms had not been given 
 by the Empress of Russia to Buonaparte .f* He 
 instantly seized him by the button with an air of 
 triumph. " Tenez, Monsieur, quand I'Empereur de 
 Russie etait ici, il a vu ce Cabinet et a dit ; otez 
 cette Volaille la " (pointing to the compartment in 
 which the Imperial Eagles had been changed into 
 Angels). "Je I'ai donne aux Fran9ais, et lui — il 
 n etait pas Fran9ais." 
 
 In all the royal house the servants are equally 
 impenetrable on the subject of Buonaparte. But 
 sometimes it seems put on, sometimes they really 
 do not know from having been only lately put 
 there, but this man was a genuine Bourbonist and 
 a genuine Frenchman. 
 
 We just got to St. Germain in time to walk on 
 the Terrace before evening closed in over the 
 beautiful view. The Palace and the Town put 
 me quite in mind of the deserted court in the 
 " Arabian Nights." ... 
 
308 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Edward Stanley to his Nieces. Tuesday morning. 
 
 I could fill another letter with the interesting 
 things we saw yesterday at St. Denis and Mal- 
 maison, but we are off in an hour, and it is possible 
 you may hear no more from these 
 
 Happy Travellers. 
 
 ALDERLEY RECTORY. 
 
Index 
 
 Abbeville, Louis XVIII. at, 244 
 Abercromby, Colonel, 280 
 Aisne, river, 145-161 
 Aix la Chapelle, 146, 183, 191, 194, 
 
 205 
 Albania, ship at Antwerp, 203 
 Albinus, German anatomist, 232 
 Alderley, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17-21, 24, 
 
 68, 74> 75> 96, 120, 236, 249, 283, 
 
 296 
 Alderley Church, 102 
 Alderley Edge, 16 
 Alderley Park, 14 
 Alderley Rectory, 15-17 
 Alessandria, Plain of Marengo, 49 
 Alexander I., Emperor of Russia, 
 
 76, 82-85, 93. 133, i77> 178, 222, 
 
 229, 237, 244, 245 
 Algeciras Bay, 53 
 Alhama, Spain, 58, 63 
 Alhambra, The, 59, 61, 63, 64 
 Alien Office, The, 82 
 Alkmaar, 205 
 "Allemagne," By Madame de 
 
 Stael, 128 
 Allied Sovereigns, 82, 95, 152 
 Allies, 105, 115, 116, 126, 156, 
 
 160-162, 168, 196, 197, 236, 237, 
 
 242 
 
 Alps, 57 
 
 Ambassador, English, Sir Charles 
 
 Stuart, 112 
 Ambassador, Swedish, M. de Stael, 
 
 132 
 Ambolle, Baron d', at Fontaine- 
 
 bleau, 153 
 Ambuscade, picture of capture of 
 
 the frigate, 136 
 Amiens, Peace of, 25, 73 
 Amsterdam, 211, 222-224, 226 
 Andernach on the Rhine, 187 
 Angerstein Collection, 113 
 Anglesey Society, 10 
 Anglesey, Lord, his leg buried at 
 
 Waterloo, 261 
 Angouleme, Duchesse d', 289 
 Antiquiera, Spain, 60, 64 
 Antwerp, 199, 204, 206, 208, 209, 
 
 210, 233, 253 
 Antwerp Gate, Bergen op Zoom, 
 
 214, 217 
 Apreece, Mrs., afterwards Lady 
 
 Davey, 81 
 Argonauia, Spanish vessel, 51, 53, 
 
 56 
 Ashbourne, 248 
 Augereau, General, 238 
 AusterUtz, 138, 269, 287 
 
 309 
 
310 
 
 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Austria, 179, 181 
 
 Austria, Emperor of, 135, 237 
 
 Bacharach on the Rhine, 172 
 184, 185 
 
 Banks, Sir Joseph, 93 
 
 Barcelona, 50, 52, 54, 55, 60, 69, 70 
 
 Barclay de Tolly, 1 16 
 
 Baring, Major, 268 
 
 Barthelemy, 237 
 
 Bastille, 295 
 
 Batavia, 193 
 
 Beauharnais, Eugene, Viceroy of 
 Italy, 132, 134 
 
 Bees, Napoleon's, 150 
 
 Beeston Castle, 301 
 
 Belleville, 115, 116, 117 
 
 Belluno, Due de, see Victor 
 
 Benedictines, head cook to con- 
 vent of, 41 
 
 Beresford, Viscount, Marshal, 74 
 
 Bergen op Zoom, 199, 208-212 
 
 Berghem, Dutch painter (1624- 
 1683), 201 
 
 Berri, Due de, 139, 140, 152, 282, 
 289 
 
 Berri, Duchesse de, 289, 305 
 
 Berry au Bac, 145, 163, 164 
 
 Berthier, Marshal, Prince de 
 Wagram, 138, 149 
 
 Bertrand, General, 269 
 
 Bessborough, Earl of, 86 
 
 Bessieres, Marshal, Due d' Istria, 
 
 137 
 Beveland, South, 210 
 Bidwell, 122 
 
 Bingen on the Rhine, 183 
 " Birds, Familiar History of," by 
 
 Bishop Stanley, 17 
 Bittern, H.M.S., 67 
 Blucher, 85, 86, 88, 89, 93, 145, 
 
 263 
 Boher, French sculptor (d. 1825), 
 
 Bois de Boulogne, 177 
 
 Bolero, Spanish dance, 60 
 
 Bonn, music on the Rhine, 188 
 
 Boodle's Club, 33 
 
 Borneo Mission, 23 
 
 Borodino, 177 
 
 Boulogne, 107-252 
 
 Bourbons, The, 78, 107, 237, 284, 
 
 288-292 
 Boyd, Mr, and Mrs., 304 
 Brabant, 181 
 Breda, 209, 217, 218, 226 
 Brisbane, Sir Thomas, at Valen- 
 ciennes, 279, 283 
 Brise-Maison, General, see Maison 
 British character, 195 
 British soldiers, 166 
 Britomart, H.M.S., 18 . . 
 
 Brock, Holland, 227 
 Brooke, Sir James, English 
 
 traveller. Rajah of Sarawack 
 
 (1803-1868), 23 
 Bruce, Michael, the Englishman 
 
 who helped Lavalette to escape, 
 
 293> 294 
 Bruges, 247, 258, 260, 273 
 Brussels, 193, 195, 197, 199, 200, 
 
 208, 209, 233, 264, 269, 274, 277 
 Buiksloot, North Holland, 226 
 Biilow, Marshal, 145 
 Buonaparte, Napoleon, Emperor, 
 
 34, 35, 37, 40, 46, 47, 5°, 74, 9°, 
 
 99, 100, 118, 120, 121, 130, 138- 
 140, 148, 152-154, 162, 175, 180, 
 238, 241, 244, 266, 271, 275, 281, 
 282, 288, 295, 296, 300, 302, 303, 
 304, 306-307 
 
 Buonaparte family, 237 
 
 Buonaparte, Louis, King of Hol- 
 land, 225 
 
 Buonaparte, Lucien, 83 
 
 Burgundy, 46 
 
 " Bustle's Banquet," by Rev. E. 
 Stanley, 17 
 
INDEX 
 
 311 
 
 Buttereax, plains of, Lyons, 43 
 " Butterfly's Ball," by Sir H. Ros- 
 
 coe, 17 
 Buvin d' Enfer, 298 
 Byng's Brigade, 263 
 Byron, Lord, 79 
 
 Cadiz, 53, 61, 68 
 
 Cafe des Mille Colonnes, Paris, 
 
 142, 281 
 Calick, Russia, 174 
 " Calif e Voleur, Le" Ballet, 88 
 Cambray, 247, 279, 283 
 Cambridge, 11, 12, 25, 40, 50, 81, 
 
 247, 248, 250 
 Campo Formio, Treaty of (1797), 
 
 243 
 Cannes, 242 
 Canova, 132 
 Canterbury, 249 
 Cardinals at Fontainebleau, 152 
 Carleton, Mr., 251 
 Carlton House, 83 
 Carnival of Venice, 240 
 Caroline of Naples, 289 
 Carousel, Place de, 37, 136, 139 
 Castlereagh, Lord, 87 
 Catacombs, Paris, 143, 286, 298 
 Catalonia, 56 
 Catherine, Grand- Duchess of 
 
 Russia, see Oldenburg 
 Chalons, 41-43, 146, 156, 168 
 Chamber of Representatives, 130 
 Chambord, Comte de, 139 
 Champagne, 41, 46 
 Champlain, Lake, 238 
 Champs Elysees, 119, 139, 301 
 Charenton, near Paris, 116 
 Charlemont, Anne, Lady, daughter 
 
 and heiress of William Berming- 
 
 ham, of Ross Hill, co. Gal way 
 
 (d. 1876), aged 95, 132 
 Charleroi, 276 
 Charles IV., King of Spain, 64, 70 
 
 Chateau Thierry, 145, 157 
 Chatham, Earl of, 203 
 Chatillon, 41 
 
 Chavignon, near Laon, 161 
 Chichester, Thomas, 2nd Earl of 
 
 244 
 " Childe Harold," 80 
 Cholmondeley, Miss, 82 
 Churchill, Major, 95 
 Clancarty, Lord, Ambassador, 82. 
 
 233 
 Clarke, Marshal, Due de Feltre, 
 
 243 
 Clinton, Lady Louisa, daughter of 
 
 Lord Sheffield, 76, 251 
 Clinton, General Sir Henry, 75 
 Clinton, General Sir William, 
 
 married Lady Louisa Holroyd, 
 
 75 
 
 Coblentz, 186 
 
 Cole, Sir Lowry, 279, 283 
 
 Cologne, 172, 186, 190 
 
 Colonne, Vendome, no 
 
 Combermere, Lord, 96 
 
 Compiegne, 281, 283, 284 
 
 " Comte de Cely," 78 
 
 Conclave of St. Peter at Fontaine- 
 bleau, 152 
 
 Congress of Vienna, 235 
 
 Constant, Napoleon's valet, 152 
 
 Constantine, Grand Duke, 178 
 
 Constantine, Grand Duchess, 240 
 
 Consul, The First, 26, 37, 73 
 
 Cooke, Major-General, 210, 211, 
 214 
 
 Coote, Sir Evelyn, 259 
 
 Corbeny, France, 163, 164 
 
 " Corinne," by Mdme. de Stael, 79 
 
 Cork, Lady, 86 
 
 Cornegliano, Due de, see Moncey 
 
 Coronation, The, 165 
 
 Corps Legislatif, 129, 135 
 
 Corte, La, 260 
 
 Cotton trade, Rouen,28 
 
312 
 
 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Court dress necessary, 69 
 
 Court etiquette, Buonaparte's ten- 
 acity as to, 37 
 
 Court Martial, Gibraltar, in 1802 
 66 
 
 Craon or Craonne, 145, 156, 163 
 
 Craufurd, Donald, of Auchinanes, 
 85, 246, 265, 276 
 
 Croix, St. Louis, 291 
 
 Cross, Mr. John, 98, 99 
 
 Crosses, roadside, in Spain, signs 
 of murders committed, 59 
 
 Curtis, Sir William, 88 
 
 Cutts Inn, Wilmslow, hamlet 
 near Alderley, 162 
 
 Dalmatie, Due de, see Soult 
 D'Angely, see Regnaud 
 Dantzig, Due de, see Lefebre 
 Davenport, E. D., of Capesthorne, 
 
 163 
 Davoust, Marshal, Prince d' Eck- 
 
 miihl, 137 
 Davy, Lady, 79, 81 
 Davy, Sir Humphrey, 79, 81 
 De Lille, poet, 300 
 Dendrich, boundary France and 
 
 Austria, 179 
 Denia, Spain, 71 
 De Non, French artist under 
 
 Napoleon, 295, 296 
 Desaix, General, killed at Marengo 
 
 (1800), 50 
 Dijon, 41 
 "Dinner of the Dogs," or 
 
 " Bustle's Banquet," 17 
 Directory, The, 50 
 Doge of Genoa, 50 
 Douglas, Hon. Frederick, inter- 
 view with Napoleon, 240, 241 
 Dover, 187 
 
 Dow, Gerard, Dutch painter, 38 
 Dragoons at Rouen (1802), 30 
 Dresden, Battle of (1813), 76 
 
 Duels between Russian and 
 
 French officers, 107 
 Du Mare, French professor, 124 
 Dumeril, Andre, French physician, 
 
 124 
 Dumolard, French politician, 130 
 Du Pont, General, 139 
 Dutch ark, 202 
 Dutch carving, 205 
 Dutch cleanliness, 227, 231 
 Dutch family, 253 
 Dutch guide, 230 
 Dutch impenetrability, 224 
 Dutch road, 209 
 Dutch table d'hote, 226 
 Dykes, marvellous, 228, 229 
 
 Eagle and Child, inn at Alderley, 
 272 
 
 Eagles, Napoleon's, no, 147, 150, 
 269, 282, 300, 307 
 
 Eckmiihl, Prince d', see Davoust 
 
 Ecole Polytechnique, 116, 175 
 
 Edridge, H., painter, 139 
 
 Egerton, Colonel, 280 
 
 Egerton, Mr., 87 
 
 Egypt, 42 
 
 Ehrenbreitstein, 187 
 
 Ehrenfels, Castle of, 184 
 
 Elba, 46, 75, 159 
 
 Elephant, fountain, 295-296 
 
 Embden, 31 
 
 Emigrants, French, 18 
 
 Emperor's abdication, 75 
 
 Emperor Alexander, see Alexander 
 
 Emperor of Austria, 135 
 
 Emperor Napoleon, see Buona- 
 parte 
 
 Empress Josephine, see Josephine 
 
 Empress Maria Louisa, see Maria 
 Louisa 
 
 Empress of Russia, 307 
 
 Enghien, Due d', 134, 245 
 
 Entomologist, 185 
 
INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 Entomology, 17, 124 
 Ephemera, 186 
 Etruria, King of, 50, 52 
 Eugene Beauharnais, see Beauhar- 
 
 nais 
 Executions, 43, 44 
 Ex-Imperial Guard, 148 
 
 Fagant, Mr., 46 
 
 Fandangos, 60 
 
 Fanshawe, Catherine, 77, 78 
 
 Felix Meritus, Dutch museum, 225 
 
 Feltre, Duke of, see Clarke 
 
 Ferdinand VII., King of Spain, 
 
 239 
 Ferreant, Place de, Lyons, 43 
 Flanders, 74 
 Fleurs de Lys, 303 
 Flushing, 210 
 Foljambe, Mr., 249 
 Fontainebleau, 145-146, 149, 152 
 For bach, 179 
 
 Forbes, Lady Elizabeth, 240 
 Fountain Elephant, 295-296 
 Frascati, 33, 34, 39 
 French emigrants, 18 
 Fribourg, 170 
 " Fugio ut Fulgor," 103 
 
 Garde Imperiale, 107 
 
 Gardes d'Honneur, 148 
 
 Garrison of Gibraltar, 66, 67, 70 
 
 Gazettes, 105 
 
 Genappes, 270 
 
 Generalife at Granada, 59 
 
 Geneva, 35, 40, 43, 46-47, 49, 55 
 
 Genoa, 47, 50 
 
 George Street, 90 
 
 Ghent, 274-275 
 
 Gibbon, 15 
 
 Gibraltar, 25, 55, 57, 60, 61, 65, 71 
 
 Glenbervie, Lord and Lady, 236, 
 
 240 
 Goat curricles, 2 22 
 
 Goat gigs, 233 
 
 Godoy, Emanuel, Prince of Peace, 
 
 64,70 
 Gore, General, 211 
 Gorum, 220-222 
 Goths, 293 
 
 Graham, Sir Thomas, 207, 213 
 Granada, 57, 59, 60, 62, 66 
 Grand Tour, 25 
 
 Gronow, Memoirs of Captain, 107 
 Grosvenor Place, 39 
 Grosvenor, Lord, 113 
 Guarda Costas, 68 
 Guido, painter, 38 
 Guignes, 145, 153, 154 
 Guillotine, The, 43 
 
 Haarlem, 230, 231 
 
 Hague, The, 112, 233 
 
 Hannibal, The ship, 53 
 
 Hardwicke, Earl of, 112 
 
 Hare, Rev. Augustus, 16 
 
 Hare, Mrs. Augustus, Maria Ley- 
 cester, 16 
 
 Hare, Augustus J. C, 16 
 
 Harlequin and Punch, 297 
 
 Harris, Captain, 74 
 
 Haslar Hospital, 98 
 
 Haiiy, mineralogist, 124 
 
 Havre, 94, 96, 99, 100, 103, 105 
 
 Haye, Sainte, La, 268 
 
 Hazard, Rue du, Paris, 109, 143 
 
 Heber, Reginald, Bishop of Cal- 
 cutta (1783-1826), 16, 90 
 
 Hodnet, 16 
 
 Holland, 76, 159, 200, 226, 302 
 
 Holland, Dr., 86 
 
 Holroyd, Lady Maria Josepha, 
 see also Stanley, 14 
 
 Holyhead Harbour, 255 
 
 Holyhead Island, 10, 17 
 
 Holywell, Alderley, 16 
 
 Hookham's, 93 
 
 Hopital de la Charite, 45 
 
314 
 
 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Hopital des Invalides, 282 
 Hermitage, Forest of Fontaine- 
 
 bleau, 147 
 Hibberts, the, 132, 168 
 Highlake, Hoylake, Cheshire, 55, 
 
 69 
 Hill, Rowland, General Lord Hill, 
 
 95.96 
 Hobart Town, Tasmania, 18 
 Hobbema, Dutch painter (d. 1699), 
 
 201 
 Hodgson, Dean of Carlisle, 128 
 Hotel de Boston, Paris, 35 
 Hotel des Etrangers, Paris, 143 
 Hotel du Pare, Lyons, 43 
 Hotel in the Wood, Haarlem, 
 
 230 
 Hougoumont, 263, 265, 266, 267 
 Hulot, General, 76 
 Hundred Days, The, 244 
 Hussey, Edward,of Scotney Castle, 
 
 25, 26, 32, 41, 71 
 Hutchinson, Captain, 293, 294 
 Huxley, Professor, 18 
 Hyeres, 48 
 
 Icelandic Expedition, made by 
 Sir John Stanley, 7th Bart. (1788), 
 
 56 
 
 " Ida of Athens," story written by 
 Lady Morgan at Penrhos, Holy- 
 head. Her study "Attica" so 
 called to present day, 232 
 
 Imperial Chasseurs, 107 
 
 India House illumination (1814), 
 84 
 
 Infanta of Spain, Queen of Etruria, 
 
 52 
 Invalides, Hotel des, 49, 115, 282 
 Istria, Due d', see Bessieres 
 
 La Belle Alliance, 263, 267 
 Labedoyere, General, 299 
 Laeken, Palace of, 275 
 
 Lady Penrhyn's cottages, allusion 
 to the model village of Llan- 
 degai in Wales, 227 
 
 Lafayette, General, Marquis de, 
 126 
 
 La Haye, Sainte, 268 
 
 Laird, English Consul, Malaga, 58 
 
 Lamb, Lady Caroline, 86 
 
 Lansdowne, Lord, 78 
 
 Laon, 145, 146 156, 161-163 
 
 " La Reyna Louisa," 54 
 
 Lavalette, General, 293 
 
 Le Brun, 38 
 
 Lefebre, Marshal, Due de Dantzig, 
 138 
 
 Leghs, The, of High Legh, 285 
 
 Leghorn, 50-52 
 
 Leighton, Sir Baldwin, Bart., of 
 Loton, 68 
 
 Leipzic, Battle of, 170, 177 
 
 Leith, The ^ohn ofLeith 
 
 Leith, the Emperor sails from, 56 
 
 L'Ettorel, Professor, 124 
 
 Levanter, east wind, Mediter- 
 ranean, 71 
 
 Leycester, Edward Penrhyn, 
 brother of Mrs. E. Stanley, 76, 
 81,95,246,247,252 
 
 Leycester, Hugh, uncle of Mrs. 
 Edward Stanley, 32 
 
 Leycester, Kitty, see Mrs. E. 
 Stanley, 15 
 
 Leycester, Maria, Mrs. Augustus 
 Hare, 15, 16 
 
 Leycester, Oswald, Mrs. E. Stan- 
 ley's father, 15 
 
 Leycester, Ralph, 261 
 
 Leycesters of Toft, 15 
 
 Leyden, 231, 232 
 
 Libraries, Public, 38 
 
 Liege, 193, 195, 197 
 
 Lille, 146 
 
 Lillo, fort in Holland, 203 
 
 Lind, Jenny, 22 
 
INDEX 
 
 315 
 
 Lindsay, Lady Charlotte, 236, 240 
 
 Linois, Comte de, 53 
 
 Linz on the Rhine, 192 
 
 Lisbon, 72 
 
 Lisle, 196 
 
 Liverpool, 36, 43, 51 
 
 Liverpool, Lord, 87 
 
 Llandaff, Dean Vaughan of, 19 
 
 Lodi, Battle of, 136 
 
 Loja, in Spain, 60 
 
 London, 81, 82 
 
 Lorich on Rhine, 184 
 
 Louis Buonaparte, King of Hol- 
 land, see Buonaparte 
 
 Louis, King of Etruria, 50 
 
 Louis XIV., 306 
 
 Louis XVL, 303 
 
 Louis XVIIL, 78, 106, 107, 150, 
 177, 225, 235, 243, 271, 282, 290, 
 292, 303-304 
 
 Louisa Stanley, see Stanley 
 
 Louvel, assassin of the Duke de 
 Berri, 139 
 
 Louvre, The, 38, 113, 274, 300 
 
 Lowe, Rev. Mr., 223 
 
 Lucien Buonaparte, see Buona- 
 parte 
 
 Lucy Stanley, see Stanley 
 
 Lugai, Professor, 232 
 
 Lutzen, Battle of, 170 
 
 Lyne and Co., Lisbon, 72 
 Lyons, 40, 42, 43-46, 47 
 
 Macclesfield, Cheshire, 221 
 Macdonald, Marshal, Due de 
 
 Tarente, 196, 244 
 Macon, 42 
 Madrid, 69, 71, 72 
 Maine, The River, 182 
 Maison, General, " Brise-Maison," 
 
 197 
 Malaga, Mole of, 57, 61, 62, 64, 68 
 Malines, Mechlin, 201, 202 
 Malmaison, 130, 131, 134, 297 
 
 Manchester, 85 
 Marcet, Mrs., 78 
 Marengo, Battle of, 49, 1 19 
 Maria Josepha Holroyd, Lady, see 
 
 Holroyd and Stanley 
 Marie Louise, Empress, 74, 240, 
 
 242, 281, 284 
 Marlborough, Duke of, biography 
 
 by order of Napoleon, 297 
 Marly, Aqueduct of, 133 
 Marmont, Marshal, Due de Raguse, 
 106, 116-118, 126, 135, 138, 145, 
 177 
 Marshals, The, 112, 135, 151, 195, 
 238, see also under Bessieres, 
 Davoust, Berthier, Clarke, Jour- 
 dan, Lefebre, Macdonald, Mar- 
 mont, Massena, Moncey, Mortier, 
 Murat, Ney, Soult, Victor 
 Martin, Mr., 122 
 Massena, Marshal, Due de Rivoli, 
 
 138 
 Mathevs?, Father, 21 
 Matthews, Montague, 37 
 Maubenge, 271, 278 
 Maudesley's engines, 91 
 Mausthurm, or Mouse Turret, 184 
 Mayence, 146, 159, 180, 182 
 McDonald, Captain, 298 
 Meaux, 145, 153-156 
 Medusa, English frigate, 50 
 Melbourne, Lord, 19, 86 
 Melun, 145, 146 
 " Memorials of a Quiet Life," by 
 
 Augustus Hare, 16 
 Meteoric stones, presentation 
 
 sword made from, 93 
 Metsu, Gabriel, Dutch painter 
 
 (1615-1658), 38 
 Metz, 146, 169, 173-175, 180 
 Mieris, Dutch painter (1635-168 1), 
 
 38 
 Milton's mnlberry-tree, 40 
 Minorca, 67, 70 
 
316 
 
 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Moncey, Marshal, Due de Corne- 
 
 gliano, 137-139 
 Mons, 271-273 
 Montmartre, 105, 108, no, 115- 
 
 117, 175 
 Montserrat, Lady of, 56 
 Mont St. Jean, Waterloo, 262 
 Moors, The, 62 
 Moreau, General, 76 
 Moreau, Madame, 76, 78, go 
 Morgan, Lady, 232 
 Morritt, Mr., of Rokeby, 87 
 Mortier, Marshal, Due de Treviso, 
 
 1, 137, 144 
 Moscow, 174 
 
 Moskowa, Prinee de, sec Ney 
 Munchausen, Baron, 117 
 Murat, Joachim, King of Naples, 
 
 138 
 Murrays, The, 285, 290, 297, 298, 
 
 303 
 Mutiny at Gibraltar, 66 
 Muxham, near Antwerp, 207 
 
 N., erasure of Napoleon's initial 
 (1814-1816), 110-300 
 
 Naard, Holland, 220 
 
 Naples, 55, 71 
 
 Naples, the King of, see Murat 
 
 Napoleon, 26, 73-83, 107, 111-113, 
 126, 134, 145, 146, 164, 176, 181, 
 186, 187, 196, 199, 205, 206, 221, 
 223, 235, 242-245, 267-269, 288, 
 289, 295 
 
 National Schools, 22 
 
 Nazareth, 151 
 
 Necker, Minister to Louis XVL, 79 
 
 Nelson's Pillar, DubHn, no 
 
 Netherlands, 146, 181, 237, 244 
 
 New Guinea, 18 
 
 New Zealand, 18 
 
 Ney, Marshal, Prince de la 
 Moskowa, 137, 299 
 
 Nightingale, Miss, 19 
 
 Nightingale, Dr., at Alderley, 
 
 126 
 Nivelle Road, 265, 276 
 " Nobles de Campagne," 241 
 Norfolk, 20 
 Normandy, 46 
 North, Lady Catherine, married 
 
 Lord Glenbervie, 191 
 North, Hon. F., 191, 236 
 North Island of New Zealand, 18 
 North Sea, 18 
 Norwich, Bishop of, see E. Stanley, 
 
 19-22, 24 
 Nottingham Castle, 249 
 Novi, Northern Italy, 50 
 
 Oldenburg bonnets, loi, 106, 200 
 Oldenburg, Duchess, Catherine of, 
 
 83, 90, 92, 98, 178 
 " Ologies," Humorous Sketches by 
 
 E. S., 17 
 O'Neil, Miss, actress, 286 
 Orange, Prince of, 208, 233, 254 
 Orange, Princess of, 231 
 Ostadc, Adrien, Dutch painter, 
 
 201 
 Ostend, 251, 253, 255, 258, 259 
 
 Palais Royal, 119, 281, 285 
 Palmer, Mr., 33 
 Pantin, France, 116 
 Paris, 29, 31, 33, 34-35, 37-40. 73. 
 74, 76, 85, 106, 108, 109, 112-118, 
 134. 135. 143. 249, 277, 285 
 Parker, Mrs., of Astle, 137 
 Parry, Sir Edward, K.C.B., arctic 
 navigator, m. Isabella, daughter 
 of Sir John Stanley, 254 
 Peace, Prince of, see Godoy 
 " Peacock at Home, The," 17 
 Penrhos, Holyhead, 10 
 Perignan, General, 137 
 Peter the Great, House of, 226 
 Petit, Madame, French actress, 33 
 
INDEX 
 
 317 
 
 Pevensey, Lord, 248 
 Pierre Suisse, ancient castle near 
 Lyons, destroyed in the Revolu- 
 tion, 45 
 Pisa, 51, 52 
 
 Place Buonaparte, Lyons, 43 
 Place Belle Cour, Lyons, 43 
 Platoff, Russian General, 89 
 Poissardes, Havre, loi 
 Polytechnique, Ecole, see Ecole 
 Pope Pius VIL, 46 
 Porto Ferraro, Elba, 46-53 
 Potter, Paul, Dutch animal painter 
 
 (1625-1654), 201 
 Praams, Flotilla of, at Havre, 
 intended for the invasion of 
 England, 100 
 Prussia, Frederick William, King 
 of, 91, 92, 152, 153, 177, 192, 237 
 Prussia, Louisa, Queen of, 178 
 Pulteney Hotel, London, 85 
 
 " Queen," H.M.S., 23 
 Quiverain frontier, France and 
 Belgium, 278 
 
 Radnor Mere, at Alderley, 252 
 Raguse, Due de, see Marmont 
 Rambouillet, Seine et Oise, 74 
 Ramsgate, 249 
 Raphael, 38, 133 
 Rattlesnake, H.M.S., 18, 23 
 Recamier, Madame, 33, 126 
 Regnaud, St. Jean d'Angely, 
 
 119 
 Reign of Terror, The, 26 
 Rembrandt, 38, 225 
 Revolution, The, 27, 35, 48, 126 
 Rheims, 146, 165, 168 
 Rhine Castles, 144, 172, 186 
 Riddel, Captain, 60 
 Rivoli, Due de, see Massena 
 Robespierre, Maximilian, 42, 48 
 Rokeby, Mr. Morritt, of, 87 
 
 Romainville, 116 
 
 Rome, 55, 71 
 
 Rome, King of, sent to Rambouillet, 
 
 74; in uniform at three years 
 
 old, 141 ; four goat carriages 
 
 ordered for him, 223 
 Roncour, Madame, actress, 114 
 Ronstan the Mameluke, 152 
 Rotterdam, 223, 234 
 Rouen, 27, 29, 31, 35, 36, 103, 104, 
 
 105, 120, 253 
 Rowland Hill, see Lord Hill 
 Royals, the regiment, 67 
 Rubens, 38, 205, 274 
 Rue Aux Ours, 36 
 " Rule Britannia," 99 
 Russia, Empress of, 307 
 Russia, Emperor of, see Alexander 
 
 Saarbruck, 195 
 
 Saardam, 228 
 
 Saas, 258 
 
 St. Andrew, 281 
 
 St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich, 21 
 
 St. AppoUonius, chapel on the 
 
 Rhine, 188 
 St. Avoid, German Lorraine, 178, 
 
 179 
 St. Bernard's Pass, 49 
 St. Cloud, special residence of 
 
 Napoleon, 140, 306 
 St. Denis, 31, 116, 297, 302, 308 
 St, Germain, The Terrace, 307 
 St. Helena, 266, 269 
 St. James' Street, 84 
 St. Jean d'Angely, see Regnaud 
 St. Jean de Luz, 166 
 St. John's, Cambridge, 12, 247 
 St. Lawrence, processional figure, 
 
 280 
 St. Michel, village near Havre, 
 
 100 
 St. Roque, Spain, 65 
 Salamanca, Battle of, 279 
 
318 
 
 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Salvator Rosa, Neapolitan painter 
 
 (1615-1673), 39 
 Saumarez, Admiral, 53 
 Scheldt, 204 
 Scheveningen, fishing village near 
 
 the Hague, 233 
 Schwartzenberg, 74, 145 
 Scotney Castle, Kent, property of 
 
 E. Hussey, Esq., 25 
 Scott, John, 262 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 15, 262 
 Scovell, Sir George, 247, 279, 283 
 Senate, 77, 78 
 Serinyer, 240 
 Serurier, General, 137 
 Seville, 59 
 Sheffield, Lady (Lady Anne North), 
 
 191 
 Sheffield, John B. Holroyd, First 
 
 Lord, 14. 74, 75, 112, 235, 236, 
 
 240, 242, 245-248 
 Sheffield Place, 247 
 Shute, surgeon, 42 
 Sicard, Abbe, founder Deaf and 
 
 Dumb School, Paris, 298 
 Siddons, Mrs., 33 
 Skerret, Major-General, 211 
 Smith, Sydney, 15 
 Soignies, Forest of, 261, 264 
 Soissons, 145, 156, 159, 161-163 
 Sotheby, Mr. and Mrs., 285, 298, 
 
 300 
 Soult, Marshal, Due de Dalmatie, 
 
 74» 138 
 South Stack Rocks, Holyhead, 17 
 Spain, 26, 55, 59, 63, 66, 69, 239 
 Spanish Funds, 239 
 Stael, Auguste de, 127 
 Stael, Madame de, 76, 78, 79, 97, 
 
 110-112, 125 
 Stael, Mademoiselle de, 127 
 Stafford, Lord, 113 
 Stanley, Sir John, 6th Bart., m. 
 
 Margaret, daughter and heiress 
 
 of Hugh Owen of Penrhos, 1763, 
 10 
 
 Stanley, Lady Margaret Owen, 
 born 1742, 10 
 
 Stanley, Sir John T., 7th Bart., ist 
 Lord Stanley of Alderley, m. 
 1796 Lady Maria Josepha Hol- 
 royd, daughter of Lord Sheffield, 
 
 15' 
 
 Stanley, Lady Maria Josepha, 15, 
 26, 74, 76, 78, 84, 89, 96, 235, 
 248, 260, 273, 281, 301 
 
 Stanley, Edward, naturalist and 
 ornithologist, son of Sir John 
 Stanley, 6th Bart. ; born 1779 ; 
 entered St. John's, Cambridge, 
 1798 ; wrangler, 1802 ; Rector 
 of Alderley, 1805 to 1837 ; Vice- 
 President of British Association 
 for the Advancement of Science, 
 1836 ; Bishop of Norwich, 1837 ; 
 died, 1849, 9-24 
 
 Stanley, Mrs, Edward, Kitty, 
 daughter of Rev. Oswald 
 Leycester, of Stoke upon Tern, 
 15, 22, 82 
 
 Stanley, Owen, eldest son of 
 Bishop Stanley, 17, 23, 140, 
 190, 222 
 
 Stanley, Charles Edward, 2nd son 
 of ibid., 19 
 
 Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, Dean 
 of Westminster, 3rd son of 
 ibid., 10, 19, 23 
 
 Stanley, Mary, eldest daughter of 
 Bishop Stanley, 19 
 
 Stanley, Catherine, 2nd daughter 
 of ibid. ; m. C. Vaughan, 
 Master of the Temple, and 
 Dean of Llandaff, 19 
 
 Stanley, Rianette, daughter of Sir 
 John, 7th Bart., and Lady M. J. 
 Stanley, 277 
 
 Stanley, Lucy, 2nd daughter of 
 
INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 - ibid. ; m. Captain Marcus Hare, 
 
 R.N., 264, 305 
 Stanley, Louisa Dorothea, 3rd 
 
 daughter of ibid., 249, 250, 293, 
 
 297> 305 
 
 Stanley, Isabella, 4th daughter of 
 ibid. J- m. 1826 Sir Edward 
 Parry, K.C.B., Arctic Navigator, 
 254. 283 
 
 Stanley, Louisa, daughter of Sir 
 John T. Stanley, 6th Bart., and 
 Margaret Owen of Penrhos : 
 m. 1802 Sir Baldwin Leigh ton, 
 Bart., 68 
 
 Stanley, Lady Charlotte, daughter 
 of 13th Earl of Derby ; m. 
 1823 Edward Leycester Pen- 
 rhyn, 246 
 
 Stanmer Park, property of Earl of 
 Chichester, 243-244 
 
 Stockholm, 170 
 
 Stoke-upon-Tern, Mrs. E. Stan- 
 ley's early home, 15, 115 
 
 Strasburg, 182 
 
 Stuart, Sir Charles, afterwards 
 Lord Stuart de Rothesay, 105, 
 112, 113, 120-122, 160 
 
 Swedenborg, 194 
 
 Sydney, 18 
 
 Sydney, Lord, 86 
 
 Tadmor, Palmyra, 152 
 
 Talleyrand - Perigord, Prince de 
 Benevento, French statesman 
 and diplomatist, 1754-1838, 
 Ambassador to Great Britain 
 (1830), 237 
 
 Talma, French tragic actor, 32, 
 114, 240, 286-7 
 
 Tangiers, 60 
 
 Tarentum, Due de, see Macdonald 
 
 Tarleton and Rigge, 43 
 
 Tariana, Mediterranean vessel, 57 
 
 Tasmania, 19 
 
 Temple, Paris prison, 31 
 Teniers, Dutch painter, 201 , 
 Tennant, Mr., 92, 93 
 Terror, H.M.S., 18 
 Tets von Grondam, Mdme., 229 
 Tezart, Paris banker, 36 
 Theatres, Paris, 33, 39 
 Thuilleries, 37, 113, 121, 135, 304, 
 
 306 
 Titian, painter, 38 
 Toft Hall, Knutsford, 15 
 Toledo, 59 
 
 Tomkinson, Miss, 279 
 Toulon, 70 
 
 Tousein, Russian General, 177 
 Towers, round towers at Laon, 162 
 Trappe, La, Monk of, soldier in 
 
 Napoleon's army, 170 
 Treaty of Paris, 146 
 Trechschuyt, Dutch barge, 225 
 Treviso, Due de, see Mortier 
 Trianon, 140, 306 
 Troyes, Champagne, 41 
 Trueman, Mr., 259 
 Tunno, Miss, a brilliant member of 
 
 society, Hved at Taplow Lodge, 
 
 76, 78, 85 
 Turin, 49 
 
 Union of England with Ireland and 
 Scotland, Napoleon's views, 241 
 Utrecht, 221, 224, 228 
 
 Valencia, Spain, 71 
 
 Valenciennes, 278, 282 
 
 Vandyck, 38, 205, 206 
 
 Vauchamps, 145 
 
 Vaughan, Master of the Temple 
 and Dean of Llandaff, 19 
 
 Vaughan, Mrs, see Catherine Stan- 
 ley, 19 
 
 Vauxhall, 30, 33 
 
 Vendome, Colonne, no 
 
 Vendome Place, 1 10, 292 
 
320 
 
 BEFORE AND AFTER WATERLOO 
 
 Venice, 240 
 
 Venice preserved, 285 
 
 Ventas, Spanish inns, 58, 62, 65 
 
 Venus de Medici, 114, 132 
 
 Verdun, 146, 168, 169 
 
 Vernet, Antoine Claude, painter 
 
 (i758-i836),38 
 Veronese, Paul, 38 
 Versailles, 39, 140, 305 
 Vetey Malaga, 58 
 
 Vetturino travelling, 25, 40, 47, 49 
 Victor, Marshal, Due de Belluno, 
 
 138, 145 
 Vienna, Congress of, 112, 235, 237 
 Villejuif, near Paris, 149 
 Vincennes, Chateau de, 134 
 Vittoria, Panorama of, 82 
 Vivienne, Rue de, 32, 35 
 
 Waal, river, Holland, 220 
 Wagram, Prince de, see Berthier 
 Walcheren, 199, 203, 243 
 Wales, Princess of, 177 
 Waterloo, 133, 199, 246, 247, 260, 
 264, 265, 270, 275, 279 
 
 Waterloo, Panorama of, by Barker, 
 
 248 
 Wellington, Lord, see Duke of 
 Wellington, Duke of, 75, 263, 278, 
 
 280, 283, 291 
 Wellington Tree, The, 268 
 White's Club, 93, 95 
 Wilberforce, William, 128 
 Wilbraham, Mr., of Delamere 
 
 Lodge, 285 
 Wilson, Sir Robert, 294 
 Windlesham, Surrey, 12 
 Winnington, Cheshire, property of 
 
 Sir John Stanley, 132 
 Winzeiigerode, General, 145, 159 
 Woolwich, 91 
 Wurtemburg, Crown Prince of, 
 
 116 
 Wurtemburg, Prince Eugene of, 
 
 116 
 
 Yankies, 238 
 Yarmouth, Lord, 242 
 Yorke, Lady Elizabeth, 112 
 
 <yy 
 
 U.WVIX BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON.