Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1836-1840
re-entering this town where I was born and where I was largely brought
up? I examined it with the same curiosity as I felt towards Cologne
and Cassel, and that was all. I have no feeling of that special
patriotism which I have long felt for Germany. I am a complete
stranger both to things and people, entirely unconnected with the
place, speaking the language with some hesitation; in short, I am not
at home, or rather ill at my ease, and ashamed at being so. I do not
think it would be thus if I were to return to London. I do not think I
should then be delighted; I should probably burst into tears; but at
any rate I should feel some emotion, as I feel at Valençay. I am less
afraid of that which stirs my feelings than of that which freezes
them.
Everything goes on here so early that one must be ready at dawn.
Waking up is nothing, but getting up is difficult. I am extremely
tired, even more than when travelling, because when once ensconced in
my carriage, which is very soft, I can rest in silence, inaction, and
sleep, whereas here things are very different.
My man of business from Silesia was at my house at nine o'clock. He is
going away this evening to make preparations for my arrival. At eleven
o'clock Herr and Frau von Wolff came in. They told me that the Duke of
Coburg was negotiating to buy the estate of Muskau from Prince Pückler
for his sister, the Grand Duchess Constantine. The garden of Muskau is
said to be the most beautiful in Germany. It is only ten leagues from
my house.
M. Bresson came in at midday to tell me that there was some
improvement in the King, that he had been able to take some soup and
to walk round his room. He urged me at the same time not to put off my
calls upon the chief ladies of the Princesses.
Midday is the fashionable hour for calls here, so I started off with
M. de Valençay. First we went to the Countess of Reede at the Castle.
She is the chief lady of the Crown Princess, and was an intimate
friend of my mother. She was not at home, nor was the Baroness of
Lestocq, lady-in-waiting to the Princess William, the King's
sister-in-law. We also went to the Countess of Wincke at the King's
palace to call upon the Princess of Liegnitz. She is an old lady
belonging to the palace of the late Queen, of which I retained some
confused idea from my youth. She received us with an old aristocratic
air which pleased me. The Countess of Schweinitz, at the new palace of
Prince William, the King's son, was also at home. Countess Kuhneim, at
the Teutonic Palace, where the Princess Charles of Prussia resides,
was out.
Frau von Schweinitz told me that Prince William was to start to-morrow
to meet his sister, the Empress of Russia, and to stop her from coming
here. We also went to see the Werthers, who were delighted to talk of
Paris; and then to the house of Madame de Perponcher, with whom I
played a great deal in my youth. She was not at home.
Berlin is really a very fine town. The streets are wide and laid out
in regular lines, the houses are tall and regular, there are many
palaces and fine buildings, fine squares with trees, gardens and
walks, and yet it is gloomy. There is obviously a lack of wealth to
fill the fine setting. The carriages of private individuals are so
much like cabs that I was deceived by the resemblance for some time.
The horses and liveries and everything of the kind are dreadfully
shabby.
Yesterday we dined with M. Bresson, who lives in a beautiful house
which my sister the Duchess of Acerenza occupied in past years. The
rooms are fine and beautifully furnished for Berlin, but spoilt by a
horrible portrait of the French King, whose hand is stretched over a
vast charter--quite an atrocity! The other guests were von Humboldt,
Lord William Russell, and M. de Loyère, who is attached to the French
Embassy. Herr von Humboldt talked in his usual style of all the
rivers, all the mountains, all the planets, and of the whole universe.
He did not forget his neighbours, whom he did not treat with
superlative charity. Princess Albert seemed to me to be very much in
his bad books, and also to some extent in those of M. Bresson. Lord
William Russell is always taciturn, as a Russell should be. He says he
is not displeased with his position, and anything that separates him
from Lady Russell always suits his taste. As for M. Bresson, he is
obviously bored, and the nine years he has spent here have completely
exhausted his patience. I think that he greatly fears the approaching
death of the King as likely to affect his position. He complains of
the effects of the climate, and is obviously beating against his bars.
In the middle of this dinner Princess William, the King's
daughter-in-law, asked me to wait upon her at half-past six. I
therefore went. She lives in a charming palace, beautifully arranged;
the conservatories are decorated with marble, the floors are
magnificent, and the furniture is beautiful; in short, the whole is in
exquisite taste. The Princess was alone, and received me most
graciously. I stayed a long time.
The general fear of a visit from the Russian Imperial family is very
curious. The royal family is preoccupied with the business of avoiding
anything of the kind, and use a thousand devices for the purpose. They
seem to be afraid of them as of a devastating torrent.
I have just had a call from Madame de Perponcher. Her queenly bearing
and her regular features have survived the passing of her youth. She
is a clever woman, and her conversation is animated.
_Berlin, May 27, 1840._--A special luxury in Berlin, to be found in
all the houses belonging to people of importance, are the wide
windows, which light the rooms brilliantly, and give a bright
appearance to the houses.
This morning I had a private audience of the Crown Princess, who lives
in a part of the Castle properly so called. Her large private room is
handsome and curious. The Princess is very polite, but a little cold
and timid, with beautiful blue eyes, a dull complexion, strong and by
no means attractive features; she limps a little. The conversation
became animated upon the arrival of the Crown Prince. He showed me
great cordiality, and had just come from the King, who was perceptibly
better. This improvement has revived all their spirits, but there is
still a grave reason for anxiety.
I dined with Princess William, the King's daughter-in-law; her husband
has delayed his departure. At dinner there were the Crown Prince and
Princess, and the two Princes of Würtemberg, the sons of Prince Paul;
the latter are starting to-morrow to meet their sister, the Grand
Duchess Helena, who is going to Ems, and then to Italy. The other
guests were Prince George of Hesse, brother of the Duchess of
Cambridge; a Russian general and an English officer who had come to
look at the manœuvres; Werther, his wife, and his son, who is going
to Paris to take the place of Arnim till the new appointment is made;
and the Count and Countess of Redern. The Countess is a Hamburg
heiress, entirely ugly; she looks like a blonde Jewess, which is to be
ugly twice over.
I sat near the Crown Prince, who asked me many questions about
Versailles, and was then interested in all the recollections of our
youth; he has grown very stout and old.
At seven o'clock in the evening I was requested to visit Princess
Albert, and invited to stay for tea and supper. It is impossible to
imagine anything which takes up so much time as Court life here. The
only satisfactory point is that everyone withdraws before ten o'clock
at night; but at that time one is more exhausted than one would be at
two o'clock in the morning at Paris.
I think that of all the persons I have seen here Princess Albert has
filled me with the greatest curiosity and interest. At first I
thought her face long and narrow, her mouth large, and the lower part
of her face, when she laughed, very ugly, while the want of eyebrows
was remarkable; but by degrees I have grown used to her, and find her
actually pleasant. Her teeth are white, she has a cheerful laugh and
lively eyes, her figure is pretty, and she is tall, like myself; but
it is too obvious that she laces very tightly, which is the more
noticeable as she is never at rest; she wriggles, gesticulates,
laughs, fidgets, and talks somewhat at random; she never crosses a
room except at a run and a skip, and does not shine in point of
dignity of bearing, but on the whole she is by no means unpleasant,
and I think that men might find her somewhat attractive. She was very
kind to me, with a frankness and good-nature in putting her questions
as if she had always known me, and poking fun right and left at her
family to begin with; she astonished me greatly. The fact is that she
is a spoilt child, accustomed to do and say anything she likes, and is
regarded here as quite beyond restraint. She goes away to The Hague
when her family would like her to stay in Berlin, and comes back when
they think she intends to make a long stay in Holland. In short, she
is a strange being. Her husband is very delicate. Their palace, though
pretty outside, seemed to me rather poor within. At her house I saw no
one except the Princess of Würtemberg, Madame de Perponcher (reasons
of etiquette forbid her to receive M. de Perponcher, as the Diplomatic
Body are excluded from royal residences), Herr von Liebermann,
Prussian Minister at St. Petersburg, and the Prince and Princess
William, the King's son, who arrived late.
I cannot be anything but grateful for the reception that has been
offered to me here, but the want of rest overpowers every other
consideration, and I should like to be back in my dear Rochecotte.
_Berlin, May 28, 1840._--This morning I had an audience of Princess
Charles. She has charming features, a fine figure, a high colour,
tired eyes, beautiful manners, and a kind and pleasant way of
speaking. Her appearance, on the whole, is insignificant, but she
shows much kindness of heart. Her husband is simply vulgar. At the
present moment he has a mania for seeing operations, and watches all
the new experiments in surgery. Berlin is just now much excited by a
mode of curing squinting, practised by Dieffenbach. Out of two hundred
cases he has had only one failure, and that was due to the impatience
of the patient. It is a very clever idea, and people come in from all
parts to be made beautiful instead of ugly.
Here every one professes surprise at the resemblance between Madame de
Lazareff and myself.
I have called upon Princess Pückler, the wife of the traveller; she is
a lady who is largely supported by the Court; but she was not at home.
In the afternoon I called upon Princess William, the Queen's
sister-in-law, who was extremely kind to me. She has been very
beautiful, and some remnants of her beauty still remain. She is a
leading member of the sect of the Pietists. She introduced me to her
unmarried daughter, a pretty princess of fifteen years of age, whose
face pleased me greatly.[102]
[102] The daughter of Princess William of Prussia to whom
reference is here made married the King of Bavaria a short time
afterwards.
Princess William is the sister of the Dowager Grand Duchess of
Mecklenburg, step-mother to the Duchesse d'Orléans.
I am going to the theatre to see a ballet, in the box of the Countess
of Redern, who insisted upon my coming. Then I shall finish my day
with the Werthers, who are giving a party for me. I am quite
overwhelmed by my busy life, which is so utterly different from the
idle existence I have led for the last two years.
_Berlin, May 29, 1840._--The ballet here is very well done. The King
takes great interest in it, and gives an annual subscription of a
hundred and twenty thousand crowns to the Opera, which is a great deal