Chapter 68

Liston's [the eminent surgeon] death shocked me very much, and I felt very certain that he was himself aware of his own condition. I observed, during my intercourse with him latterly, a listless melancholy in his manner, a circumstance that puzzled me a good deal in contrast with his powerful frame, and vigorous appearance, and blunt, offhand manner. I think I understand now, and can compassionate certain expressions in his last note to me, which, when I received it, made a painful and unfavorable impression upon me. I suppose he did not believe in a future state of existence, and have no doubt that, latterly, he had a distinct anticipation of his own impending annihilation. His great strength and magnificent physical structure, of course, suggested no such apprehension to persons who knew nothing of his malady [Liston died of aneurism in the throat], but when I saw him last he told me he was much more ill than I was; that he had been spitting up a quantity of blood, and was "all wrong." ...

I cannot take your thanks, my dear Hal, about "Wilhelm Meister." ... I never offer anything to any one; neither would I willingly, when asked for it, withhold anything from any one. I believe the only difference that I really make between my "_friends_" and my "_fellow-creatures_" is one of pure sentiment: I love the former, and am completely indifferent to the latter, but I would _do_ as much for the latter as for the former.

My marks in "Wilhelm Meister" will not, as you expect, "explain themselves," for the passages that I admire for their artistic literary beauty, their keen worldly wisdom, their profound insight, and noble truth, as well as those which charm me only by their brilliant execution, and those which command my whole, my entire feeling of sympathy, are all alike indicated by the one straight line down the side of the text. I think, however, you will distinguish what I agree with from what I only admire. It is a wonderful book, and its most striking characteristic to me is its absolute moral, dispassionate impartiality. Outward loveliness of the material universe, inward ugliness of human nature in its various distortions; the wisdom and the foolishness of man's aims, and the modes of pursuing them; the passions of the senses, the affections of the heart, the aspirations of the soul; the fine metaphysical experiences of the transcendental religionists; the semi-sensual, outward piety of the half-idolatrous Roman Catholic; the great and the little, the shallow and the deep of humanity in this its stage of action and development,--are delineated with the most perfect apparent indifference of sentiment, combined with the most perfect accuracy of observation. He pleads no cause of man or thing, and the absence of all indication of human sympathy is very painful to me in his book. It is only because God is represented as a Being of perfect love that we can endure the idea of Him as also a Being of perfect knowledge. Goethe, as I believe I have told you, always reminds me of Ariel, a creature whose nature--_super_human through power and knowledge of various kinds--is _under_-human in other respects (love and the capacity of sympathy), and was therefore subject to the nobler moral nature of Prospero. Activity seems to be the only principle which Goethe advocates, activity and earnestness--especially in self-culture,--and in this last quality, which he sublimely advocates, I find the only _comfortable_ element in his wonderful writings. _He_ is _in_human, not superhuman.

God bless you. Good-bye.

Ever yours, FANNY.

KING STREET, St. James, Friday, 17th. MY DEAREST HAL,

I cannot be making arrangements for going over to Dublin so far ahead as the 22d of May, for by that time Dublin may have been swallowed up by Young Ireland.

Your theory of my reading elegant extracts from Shakespeare is very pretty, but absolutely nothing to the purpose for my purpose.... All that is _merely_ especially beautiful is sedulously cut out in my reading version, in order to preserve the skeleton of the story; because the audiences that I shall address are not familiar with the plays, and what they want is as much as possible of the excitement of a dramatic entertainment to be obtained without entering the doors of a theatre....

You forget to what a number of people Lambs and Bullocks give their names; Hog, which, by the bye, is spelt Hogge, has by no means the pre-eminence in that honor.

I saw Lady Lansdowne the other day, who said the ministers were extremely anxious about Ireland, and that the demonstrations with regard to St. Patrick's day kept them in a state of great alarm. Lord Lansdowne is tolerably well just now, but has been quite ill; and Lord John Russell is so ill and worn out that they say he will be obliged to resign: in which case I suppose Lord Lansdowne would be premier. The position of people at the head of governments in this year of grace is certainly not enviable. D'Israeli said, last night, he couldn't see why Dublin should not be burnt to the ground; that he could understand the use of London, or even of Paris, but that the _use_ of Dublin was a mystery. I suggested its being the spring and source and fountain-head of Guinness's stout, but I don't think he considered even that a sufficient _raison d'être_ for your troublesome capital, or porter an equivalent for the ten righteous men who might save a city.

Thackeray tells a comical story of having received a letter from his father-in-law in Paris, urging him by all means to send over his daughter there, and indeed go over himself, for that the frightful riots in England, especially those in London, Trafalgar Square, Kennington, etc., must of course make it a most undesirable residence; and that they would find Paris a much safer and quieter one: which reminds me of the equally earnest entreaties of my dear American friends that I should hasten to remove my poor pennies from the perilous guardianship of the Bank of England and convert them with all despatch to the safe-keeping of American securities!

I have been going out a good deal during the last three weeks, and mean to continue to do so while I am in London, partly because, as I am about to go away, I wish to see as much as I can of its pleasant and remarkable society, and partly, too, from a motive of _policy_, though I hate it almost as much as Sir Andrew Aguecheek did. I mean to read in London before I leave it, and a great many of my fine lady and gentlemen acquaintances will come and hear me, provided I don't give them time to forget my existence, but keep them well in mind of it by duly presenting myself amongst them. "Out of sight, out of mind," is necessarily the motto of all societies, and considerations of interest more than pleasure often induce our artists and literary men to produce themselves in the world lest they should be forgotten by it. Nor, indeed, is this merely the calculation of those who expect any profit from society; the very pleasure-hunters themselves find that they must not get thrown out, or withdraw for a moment, or disappear below the surface for an instant, for if they do the mad tide goes over them, and they are neither asked for, nor looked for, called for, nor thought of, "Qui quitte sa place la perd," and there is nothing so easy as to be forgotten....

Besides all this, now that my departure from England approaches, I feel as if I had enjoyed and profited too little by the intercourse of all the clever people I live among, and whose conversation you know I take considerable pleasure in. I begin now, in listening, as I did last night, to D'Israeli and Milnes and Carlyle, and E----'s artist friend, Mr. Swinton, to remember that these are bright lights in one of the brightest intellectual centres in Europe, and that I am within their sphere but for a time....

I called at the Milmans' yesterday, and found Mrs. Austin there, whom I listened to, almost without drawing breath, for an hour. She has just returned from Paris, where she lived with all the leading political people of the day, and she says she feels as if she had been looking at a battle-field strewn with her acquaintances. Her account of all that is going on is most interesting, knowing as she does all the principal actors and sufferers in these events, personally and intimately.

To-day the report is that the Bank of France has suspended payment. The ruin of the Rothschilds is not true, though they are great losers by these catastrophes. The Provisional Government has very wisely and wittily devised, as a means of raising money, to lay a tax of six hundred francs a year upon everybody who _keeps more than one servant_! Can folly go beyond that?

Henry Greville showed me yesterday a letter he had received from Paris from Count Pahlen, saying that, though the guillotine was not yet erected, the reign of terror had virtually commenced; for that the pusillanimous dread that kept the whole nation in awe of a handful of pickpockets could be described as nothing else.

I am much concerned about E----'s fortune, the whole of which is, I believe, lodged in French funds. All property there must be in terrible jeopardy, I fear.

Lady G---- F---- went to Claremont two days ago, and says that Louis Philippe's deportment is that of a servant out of place. She did not add, "Pas de bonne maison." ...

Ever yours, FANNY.

[On the famous 10th of April, the day of the great Chartist meeting, I drove from King Street to Westminster Bridge in the morning, before the monster demonstration took place; and though the shops were shut and the streets deserted, everything was perfectly quiet and orderly, and nothing that _appeared_ indicated the political disturbance with which the city was threatened--the dread of which induced people, as far as the Regent's Park from the Houses of Parliament, to pack up their valuables and plate, etc., and prepare for instant flight from London. In the evening, my friends would hardly believe my peaceful progress down Whitehall, and I heard two striking incidents, among the day's smaller occurrences: that Prince Louis Napoleon had enrolled himself among the special constables for the preservation of peace and order; and that M. Guizot, standing where men of every grade, from dandies to draymen, were flocking to accept the same service of public preservation, kept exclaiming, with tears in his eyes, "Oh, le brave peuple! le brave peuple!"--a contrast certainly to his Parisian barricaders.

In the summer of 1848 I returned to America, where my great good fortune in the success of my public readings soon enabled me to realize my long-cherished hope of purchasing a small cottage and a few acres of land in the beautiful and beloved neighborhood of Lenox.]

THE END.

INDEX

ADELAIDE, Queen Dowager, 335, 340, 341

Albert, Prince, 321, 324, 341

Alexis, his mesmeric powers, 228

Alfieri, 21

Allen, Dr., 62

Alvanley, Lord, 74

America, character of Americans, 4; no _poor_, 6; servants in, 8; society in, 26; climate, 33; travel between and England, 39; scenery, 42; expression of faces in, 51; medical treatment in, 82; overwork of Americans, 91; medicinal waters in, 96; bathing in, 97; railroads in, 104; the Dismal Swamp, 108; the "place where a place was intended to be," 109; American decorum, 110; corduroy, 112; North Carolina natives, 116; tobacco-chewing, 116; a North Carolina "Colonel," 117; slavery on Butler's Island, 136; its influence on the whites, 137; hotels, 151; 4th of July in Philadelphia, 152; equality in, 152; health in, 167; "carrying on" financially, 176; Irish servants in, 184, 195; presidential election, 204; war with England, 206; the credit system in, 288; divorces in, 292; slavery in, 307; a story of slavery, 370; society, 403; public spirit, 405; an American on America, 415; contrasted with Italy, 466; spirit of conformity, 550

Amistad, 185; history of, 186

Anne the nurse, on the Rhine, 256; at Bowood, 273; objects to be waited on, 275, 279, 296, 297, 321; her views of presentation, 325

Appleton, Miss, 18, 101, 228

Ardgillan Castle, 13

Arkwrights, 251, 493, 495

Arnold, 420, 424; his influence, 425; his opinions, 430; life of, 432, 434, 444; character of his pupils, 446, 448; his "letters," 452, 453, 619, 645

Ashburton, Lady, 219, 281

Ashburton, Lord, 360, 372, 380

Ashley, Lord, 444

Austen, Charles, 281

Austin, Lucy, 578

Austin, Mrs., 3, 578, 666

BABBAGE, 273

Bach, 262

Balzac, 255; "Recherche de l'Absolu," 451

Banian, Mrs., 271

Barker, Laura, 646

Beaumont, Mr., 183

Beaumont, Mrs. Wentworth, carrying a contested election, 183

Becker, Dr., magnetized, 231

Bedford, Duchess of, 303, 304, 339

Bedford, Duke of, 303, 360, 514

Beecher, Lady, 77

Beethoven, 265, 623

Bendermann, 269

Benedict, 373

Bentley, 337

Berkeley, Craven, 312

Berkeley, Earl of, his encounter with a highwayman, 316

Berkeley, Frederick, 312

Berkeley, Grantley, 312

Berkeley, Henry, 310, 312, 313

Berkeley, Lady, 308; her story, 310, 349, 369

Berkeley, Lady Mary, 313, 369

Berkeley, Lord, 311

Berkeley, Morton, 313; the contents of his pockets, 314

Bernhardt, Sarah, 246

Berry, Miss, 295, 356, 373, 419, 443, 458; declining health, 499; 518, 617, 625

Berrys, The Miss, 45, 64

Bessborough, Lord, 501

Biddle, Nicholas, 289, 299

Blackett, John, 619

Bohn, 371

Borghese, Prince, 644

Bossuet, 618

Brackenbury, Mr., 555

Bradshaw, Judge, 660

Brand, Hon. Thomas, 526, 631

Brand, Mrs., 526

Bremer, Frederica, 444

Bright, 206, 640

Brougham, Lord, 549

Browne, Sir Thomas, 39, 661

Browning, 373, 447

Bruce, Mrs., 421

Brunel, 273

Buccleuch, Duchess of, 356

Bulteel, Lady Elizabeth, 516

Bunn, Mr., 367, 426

Bunsen, Baron, 431, 432, 434; his character, 445; on Arnold, 448

Bunsen, Mrs., 467

Butler's Island, 134, 135, 152, 157, 169

Byng, Frederick, 62, 360, 373, 380, 554

Byron, Lady, 3, 165, 577

Byron, Lord, 21

CALCRAFT, Mr., 494

Caliban, 569

Callcott, Lady, 366

Callcott, Mr., 330

Calvinism, 575

Camp, Vincent de, 317

Canterbury, Lord, 284

Carlisle, Lord, 502

Carlyle, on "Mathilde," 291; 573, 666

Carolside, 519, 520, 521, 524

Castlereagh, Lady, 631, 645, 657

Cavendish, Miss Susan, 526

Celeste, Mademoiselle, 559

Cerito, 193, 211

Chambers Brothers, "Vestiges of Creation" attributed to, 546

Channing, 24; preaching, 28; anecdote of, 29; on slavery, 30, 180; sermon on sorrow, 187; letters from England, 355; death, 363; book, 376, 380, 419, 564

Charlemont, Lady, 380

Charlemont, Lord, 380

Charles I., 660

Charleston, 122

Charlotte, Queen, 311

Chester, Harry, 421

Chesterfield, Lord, 439

Child, Mrs. Lydia, 324, 338, 355

Chopin, 193, 262, 264, 265

Chorley, 52; his play, 165, 212, 241, 259, 269, 375; veneration for Dr. Follen, 420, 438, 447, 455; takes charge of papers, 460, 483, 492

Chorley, Mrs., 221

Churchill, Mr., 584

Clairvoyance, "I see it, but I don't believe it," 229

Clarendon, Lord, 640, 660

Clayton, Captain, the highwayman, 317

Clémentine, Princesse, 647

Cobden, 640, 643

Codrington, Sir Edward, 419, 421, 436

Coleman, Mr., 437

Coles, Sir Francis, 329

Combe, Dr., 21, 354, 521

Combe, Mr., 47; the "Constitution of Man," 102; thinks Mrs. Kemble improved, 162, 167, 194; magnetism, 230, 232, 252; on martyrdom, 326, 354, 459, 460, 530, 532, 539; his fanaticism, 540, 542; on "Vestiges of Creation," 543, 546; "dry humor," 597

Combe, Mrs., 47, 102, 162, 194, 230, 252, 354, 525, 530, 532; her beauty, 539, 540, 542

Cooper, James, 95

Cooper, Mrs., 374

Cork, Lady, 48, 52

Correggio, 376

Corsini, Prince, 644

Coster, Mr., 353

Cottin, Miss, 259, 279, 455, 591, 605

Coutts, 283

Coutts-Trotter, Miss, 574

Craven, 502

Cromwell, 660

Crow, Mrs., her book, 230; her insanity, 232

Cumberland, Duke of, 269

Cunard, Mr., 383

DACRE, Lady, 45; letters to, 57, 63, 76, 101, 142, 149, 160; letters to, 161, 175, 198, 248, 249, 280, 323; letters to, 356, 360, 361, 362; her advice, 363; letters to, 365, 366, 377, 378, 380, 381, 386, 392, 401, 414, 428, 432, 438; her illness, 438; letters to, 488, 491, 494, 514; letters to, 525; invitation from, 548, 554, 622

Dacre, Lord, 45; on contested elections, 183, 248, 250, 252, 281, 338, 356, 362, 378, 380, 415; on war, 429, 438, 446, 640, 641, 643

Dalhousie, Lord, 65

Darner, Mrs. Dawson, 380, 519

Dantan, 368

Darien, 130

Déjazet, 329, 342, 598, 599

De Quincey, 415

Dessauer, 209; _Elle m'a compris!_ 212, 265, 326

De Tocqueville, 209

Dévy, Madame, 327, 334, 337

Dickens, 107, 305, 318; his opinion of America, 359, 380

Dietrichstein, Madame de, 487

Disraeli. _See_ Israeli, D'.

Donne, William Bodham, 612

Douro, Lady, 295

Dryden, 376

Dufferin, Lady, 502, 649

Dumas, Alexandre, 337

Duncombe, Thomas, 315

Dundas, Mr., 281

EDISTO, 127

Egerton, Francis, 227, 248, 251, 272, 325, 329, 330, 334, 356; on Arnold, 448

Egerton, Lady Francis, 162, 420, 446; on Arnold, 448

Eliot, George, 50, 53

Ellesmere, Lady, 45, 73, 244, 448, 629, 631

Ellesmere, Lord, 45, 448, 501, 600, 601, 629, 631

Ellis, Mr., 645

Ellsler, Fanny, 191, 193, 194; Mrs. Grote befriends her, 210; her genius, 211; her child, 213, 241, 246, 372

Empson, 381, 419

Enclos, Ninon de l', 54

Eresby, Lords Willoughby de, 304

Essex, Lady, 436, 514

Este, Mademoiselle d', 295, 303, 304; her character, 333; 335, 337; her claims, 338; _her_ queen, 341; her marriage, 344

Everett, Edward, 325, 381

F., LETTER TO, 385

Farquharson, 597

Fay, Theodore, 48

Fénélon, 564, 618

Fergusson, Sir Adam, 527

Fishing, "Fishing bery good fun, when de fish him bite," 146; American fish, 155

Fitzhardinge, Lord, 310, 312

Fitzhugh, Emily, 10; letters to, 12, 13, 55, 84, 133, 139, 145, 161, 308, 319, 373; letter to, 420; her marks, 430, 496, 508, 512, 600, 629

Fitzhugh, Mr., 51; his illness, 177, 536

Fitzhugh, Mrs., 51, 308, 319, 475, 477, 508, 535, 536, 589, 595; her health, 597; depression, 598

Foley, Lord, 356

Follen, Dr., his death, 180; his history and character, 182; sermon on, 187, 364, 419, 574

Follen, Mrs., 364

Follenius, Carl, 181

Forbes, John, 160

Forster, Mr. John, 496, 501

Foster, a _séance_ with, 235

Fourier, 655

Fowler, Dr., 271

Fox, Miss, 281

Francis, Lady, 221, 274, 276; presents Mrs. Kemble, 324; 325, 327, 349

Francis, Lord, 276

Frezzolini, 325

Frost, Mr., 560

Fuller, Margaret, 17

Fullerton, Lady Georgiana, 541

Furness, Mr., anti-slavery sermons, 388; 403, 629, 640, 648

GARCIA, Pauline, 207

Gaskell, Mrs., 568

Gensius, 211

Genz, Frederic von, 211

George III., 311

Georgia, condition of, 103; slavery in, 203; journal of residence in, 159, 203, 205

Gibbon, 173

Gibson, 193

Gioberti, 653

Glück, 213

Goethe, Madame von, 3

Goethe, Wolfgang von, 12, 15, 33, 77; "Wilhelm Meister," 589, 592, 663

Good, the murderer, 310

Gordon, Lady Lucy Duff, 576, 578, 590

Gordon, Sir Alexander Duff, 578

Grant, Sarah, 459

Grant, William, 450

Granville, Dr., 51

Grazia, 51

Green, Mr., 368

Gregory, William, 231

Gresset, 599

Greville, Algernon, 298

Greville, Charles, 61, 74; his character, 216; his "Memoirs," 217; 218, 226; at a _séance_, 235; 273, 274, 281, 283, 301; his mention of Queen Adelaide, 344; 360; letter to, 376; 381, 423, 431; on Arnold, 448; his book, 458, 461, 483; on a future life, 498, 499; character, 514; 549, 558; letter to the _Times_, 587; and Parliament, 590; 598; supposed the author of "Jane Eyre," 602, 603; writings on Ireland, 611; 615; on politics, 620; 629, 647, 649

Greville, Henry, 239, 329, 335, 423, 436; on painting, 475, 483; goes to Manchester, 485, 487; as an amateur actor, 496, 501, 502; his criticism, 508; character, 514; 529, 541, 543; and Rachel, 548; 558, 600; his mania for playhouses, 602, 603; on readings, 615, 622, 624; house-furnishing, 629; 635, 647, 662, 666

Greville, Lady Charlotte, 625, 647

Grey, Countess, 528

Grey, Lady, 228, 366, 402, 526, 554, 635, 640, 643

Grey, Lord, 338, 516, 635

Griffith, Mrs., 74

Grisi, 48, 49; description of, 50; 211, 325, 377, 475

Grote, George, 209, 218, 241, 373, 444; "History of Greece," 589; on politics, 620

Grote, Mrs., a _Grotesque_ passage, 208; her talents, 209; befriends Mlle. Ellsler, 210; _Malbrook s'en va t'en guerre_, 212; takes charge of Fanny Ellsler's child, 213; her opinion of d'Orsay, 213; her illness, 217; engrosses Jenny Lind, 217; her interest in politics, 218; "It is political," 219; her appearance, 219; language, 220; dress, 220; "the gentleman in the white muslin gown," 221; 241, 246, 351, 352, 353, 373; beasterly wind, 373; 423, 424, 425, 427, 434, 444, 522; her sufferings, 611; her _unusualness_, 620; verses, 639

Guercino, 376

Guildford, Lord, 519

Guizot, 649, 667

Gunter, 373

HALÉVY, 217

Hall, Miss, 369, 374, 391

Hallam, 65, 381

Hallé, Charles, 265, 577, 579

Hamilton, Miss, 308, 424

Hamilton, Mr., 535

Hamiltons, The Miss, 589

Hampden, Dr., 619

Hanmer, 653

Hanover, King of, 269

Happy Valley, a, 19

Hardwicke, Lord, 621

Harness, Rev. William, "taking it out in corns," 65; 90, 161, 164, 296, 297; his character, 298; 352, 353, 373, 419, 548, 555, 611, 615, 626, 629, 630, 657

Hatherton, Lady, 48, 52

Hawtrey, Dr., 563, 570

Hawtrey, Stephen, 570

Hayes, Bridget, 506, 507, 516, 531, 567, 605, 606, 611, 634

Hayward, 21

Hazlitt, 639

Head, Sir Francis, 53

Herbert, George, 566

Hero, 567, 571, 593

Hesse-Darmstadt, Duke of, 269

Hibbard, Mr., 440

Hibbard, Mrs., 440

Holland, Dr., 423

Holland House, 60

Holland, Lady, at Rogers', 59; her jelly, 62; her temper, 63; travelling by land, 273; 430; her last days, 441; her will, 441

Holland, Lord, 59, 60, 649

Hook, Theodore, 398

Horner, Francis, 379, 420, 573

Howick, Lord, 460

Hugo, Victor, 22, 501, 585

Hume, 234

Humphreys, Mrs., 535

Hunt, Leigh, his play, 190

INGLIS, Sir Robert, 381

Insects, bugs, 33; bees, 35; ants, 35; fire-flies, 36; beetles, 36; flies, 36; mosquitoes, 37; spiders, 37; potato bugs, 37

Invitation to Hayti, 569

Irving, Edward, 21, 573

Israeli, D', 643, 665, 666

JAMESON, Mrs., letters to, 1, 15, 18, 47, 51, 74, 75, 83, 92, 94, 97, 100, 103, 138, 146; her book, 151; letter to, 164; her book on Canada, 172; letters to, 190; 289, 291, 323; letters to, 412, 423, 429; a horrid story, 449; Adelaide Kemble's likeness, 450; Mrs. Siddons' Memoir, 450; her character, 454; Mrs. Siddons' Memoir, 459; 563; relations with Lady Byron, 577; 601, 614, 615

Jay, Mr., his book, 185

Jay, Mrs., 271

Jeffrey, Sydney Smith on, 215; 380

Jeffreys, 530, 553, 566

Joachim, 579

Joan of Arc, 396

KEAN, Charles, 636

Keeleys, 559

Kemble, Adelaide, "Aunt Dall," 605