Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1836-1840
_Elberfeld, May 20, 1840._--Frau von Binzer is an extremely ugly
person, but cheerful, sensible, clever, and very loyal. She spent last
year with my sister, the Duchesse de Sagan, and had only left her for
six weeks when she was overtaken by death. She wept bitterly in
speaking of my sister, and assured me that her death was a happy
deliverance; that she was so sad, so wearied, irritated, and disgusted
with everything that her temperament had visibly changed. She seems to
have had fits of actual despair, to have suffered a great deal during
the last weeks, and to have had several presentiments of her death.
She made her will on the evening before her last journey to Italy, in
the course of five minutes, while she had some friends in the house
taking tea. She told Frau von Binzer what she was doing, to her great
astonishment. She had intended to make another will, but death came
upon her as a punishment for her dilatoriness. Frau von Binzer was so
grieved at the rapidity of our departure from Cologne that I could not
refuse to take lunch with her. She lives a long way from the hotel
where I had put up, and I therefore had a considerable walk to her
house and back. My walk was prolonged because she insisted upon taking
me out of my way to show me the Stock Exchange, an old and curious
house of the Templars, the Town Hall, with its curious tower and
doorway, and the cathedral, which the Crown Prince of Prussia has
taken under his patronage, and which is being rapidly restored; the
results will be admirable. We stopped for a moment in front of the
Church of St. Mary of the Capitol, where Alpaide, the mother of
Charles Martel, is buried. We also looked at two houses belonging to
old aristocratic families in the time of the Hansa, which are in
Byzantine style. At the same time Cologne is a very ugly town, and the
Rhine is by no means beautiful at the spot where we crossed it.
Here we are, twelve leagues from Cologne, in the prettiest town
conceivable, which reminds one of Verviers; the country about it is
also pretty, and somewhat Belgian in character. All is clean and well
cared for. The Prussian roads are truly admirable, the postillions go
much better, and the horses are kept in good condition. In this
respect and in many others the country has undergone a remarkable
change. At the same time the iron stoves, the beds, and the food cause
me discomfort. The railway is progressing, and it is intended to
continue the line to Berlin. The work is being pushed on with great
rapidity, and from Liège nothing is to be seen but navvies, machinery,
and other preparations for this transformation scene.
_Mersheden, May 21, 1840._--We reached Arnberg at five o'clock. This
seemed a little early to finish our stage, so we continued our
journey for six leagues more. Now we are in a typical village inn, but
fairly clean, and with very obliging people. We might have found
better accommodation at the next stage, but I could not bring myself
to expose the servants any longer to the frightful weather. I have
rarely seen any more dreadful; hail, rain, blasts, and storms all came
down upon us. None the less I noticed that we were passing through
country almost as pretty as that which we saw yesterday. It reminded
me at times of the valley of Baden and of the narrower valley of
Wildbad. I am still reading the _Italy_ of the President de Brosses,
which is amusing, but not entirely attractive. I will copy two
passages which seem to me fairly applicable to our present mode of
life: "Generally speaking, the inconveniences and the causes of
impatience during a long journey are so many that one should avoid the
further vexation of economy in small matters. It is certainly hard to
be cheated, but we should satisfy our self-esteem by telling ourselves
that we are cheated willingly and because we are too lazy to be
angry." That is a piece of advice which I am inclined to practise too
often. Here is the other passage which also suits my case: "In foreign
countries we should be on our guard against satisfaction of the sight
and weariness of the heart. There is as much as you please to amuse
your curiosity, but no social resources. You are living only with
people who have no interest in you or you in them, and however kind
they are, it is impossible for either party to go to the trouble of
discovering interest in the other when each knows that they are ready
to part and never to meet again."
_Cassel, May 22, 1840._--The weather to-day was as bad as yesterday,
and the country not so pretty. Cassel is quite as small a town as
Carlsruhe, and looks even less like a residential city. The suburbs
especially are very poor. I found nothing to admire but a hill covered
with magnificent oak-trees, which took us a long time both to ascend
and descend. I feel the cold most bitterly, and everything here is so
late that the lilac is hardly in flower.
On arriving I sent for newspapers, in which I saw an account of the
long-delayed visit of the Hereditary Grand Duke of Russia to Mannheim.
Poor Grand Duchess Stephanie! A year ago such a visit would have been
an event; to-day it is mere empty courtesy, and it must have cost her
an effort to receive it graciously. The only matter of interest to me
in the newspaper was the bad account given, with no attempt at
concealment, of the King of Prussia's health. This slow illness must
change all the habits of the royal family and of Berlin society. I
shall certainly not regret the entertainments, but I shall be sorry to
be unable to pay my respects to the King, who was very kind to me in
my youth.
_Nordhausen, May 23, 1840._--It did not rain to-day, but it is cold
enough for frost. To-morrow we have forty-one leagues to travel if we
are to reach Wittenberg, a severe task which seems to me impossible.
Fortunately we have done with the roads and the postillions of Hesse,
which have remained faithful to the old Germanic aberrations. In
Prussia both the posting system and the roads are excellent, the
villages and their inhabitants look greatly superior, but for the last
twenty-four hours, though the country is not precisely ugly, it has
lost the richness and attractiveness which struck me on the road from
Lille to Arnberg.
_Wittenberg, May 24, 1840._--Forty-two leagues in twenty-four hours in
a country where no one knows what going ahead means, is really
excellent progress.
This town is an old acquaintance of my youth. When we used to go from
Berlin to Saxony and from Saxony to Berlin, Wittenberg was always the
second halt, for at that time macadamised roads were unknown. Progress
was made at a walking pace, ploughing through deep sand. To-morrow I
expect to cover twenty-seven leagues in nine or ten hours, which
occupied two days in those earlier times. From Nordhausen to this
point the country is ugly, and the inevitable pine-tree forests have
reappeared. The cradle of my youth was certainly far from beautiful.
My curiosity was aroused by Eisleben and Halle, through which we
passed. The former of these towns was Luther's birthplace. His house
is well preserved, and there is a small museum there of all kinds of
things relating to him and to the Reformation. I only saw the outside
of the house, which is of no special interest, but at the door I
bought a small description of Eisleben and its curiosities, which has
made me quite learned.
Halle is very ugly, in spite of a few Gothic exteriors, past which I
drove. Moreover, these university towns have invariably a character of
their own, which is provided by the crowd of wretched students, with
their noise and want of manners, who loaf about the carriages, with
long pipes in their mouths, and seem quite ready to cause a
disturbance.
_Berlin, May 25, 1840._--The rain has been coming down again all day,
and my re-entry to my native town was made under no agreeable
auspices. Fortunately I had no reason to regret that the countryside
was not in sunshine, for the scenery from Wittenberg here is
atrocious. I had forgotten to some extent my native land, and was
surprised to find it so hideous. However, I must make an exception of
the bridge of Potsdam, which is really pretty. The bank of the Havel
is bright and graceful with the wooded slopes which surround it,
covered as they are with pretty country houses. Even Potsdam, which is
only a summer residence, looks more like a capital town than Cassel,
Stuttgart, or Carlsruhe; but half a league further on everything is as
dry and dismal as possible, until the suburbs of Berlin, which gave me
a real surprise on the side from which we reached the town. This
happened to be an English quarter, with iron gateways before the
houses, and a number of gardens between the gateways and the houses,
which are small, but very well kept.
Berlin itself is a handsome town, but thinly populated, while as
regards carriages, cabs are the dominant feature, and sadness is
therefore its chief characteristic. I am staying at the Russicher Hof.
Opposite is the Castle; a pretty bridge and the museum on the left;
on the right are the quays. It is a pleasant aspect, and my room on
the first floor is almost too magnificent.
My man of business, Herr von Wolff, told me that the King's condition
was regarded as desperate, and that yesterday he sent for his eldest
son, and entrusted him with the business of government. The scene is
said to have been very touching. The King's illness is intestinal
catarrh, which seems incurable. It is also said that he has had the
deplorable privilege of bad doctors in Berlin, where the doctors are
excellent. He can take no food, and is visibly wasting away; but death
is not thought to be imminent. The day before yesterday he walked as
far as his window to see the troops march past, and those who saw him
were horrified by the change in his appearance.
The whole town is in sadness, and the royal family in despair. The
Princess of Liegnitz is quite as ill as the King, with severe
gastritis, and is thought to be in great danger.
M. Bresson, who has just spent an hour with me, is in despair at the
King's condition. He will see no one except the Princess of Liegnitz,
his doctors, and the Prince of Wittgenstein. He has seen the Crown
Prince for a moment, but none of his other children, and says he feels
too weak to see any one else. A messenger has just been despatched to
the Russian Empress, to stop her progress at Warsaw, where she is to
arrive to-morrow. The King would be in no condition to bear this
interview, much less the lamentable scenes which the Emperor Nicholas
would certainly make. The Empress is also said to be in a very sad
way. This approaching death will be a great blow, which will re-echo
near and far.
_Berlin, May 26, 1840._--I slept fairly well. My bed is not quite so
narrow or so extraordinary as some that I have found on the journey
from Cologne to Berlin. Unless one is prepared to sleep on nothing but
feathers, nothing is to be found but thin, hard mattresses nailed on
to deal boards. The bedclothes are of a remarkable character, while
the sheets look like towels. I had several of them sewn together, and
thus succeeded in covering my bed. As regards bedrooms, Germany is
undoubtedly in a state of savagery, even more so than with regard to
food, which is extraordinary enough at times, though in Berlin even M.
de Valençay admits that it is good. The cleanliness is perfect, and
the furniture tasteful. There are carpets everywhere, and the iron
stoves are replaced by fine porcelain stoves, which give no smell and
heat the room excellently, but it is disappointing to be forced to use
them on the 26th of May. M. Bresson utters terrible groans about the
climate.
Is it not strange that I should have felt no emotion whatever upon