Chapter IX: Part 9

D’Orsay and Houssaye became quite good friends, and the latter frequently visited the Count in his studio, which he describes as “being at once the _salon_, studio, work-room, smoking-room, fitted with divans, couches and hammocks.” D’Orsay made a small medallion portrait of his visitor, and chatted much about Byron, from whom he showed a curious letter in which the poet says: “If I started life again, I would live unknown in Paris; I would not write a word, not even to women; but one cannot start life afresh, which is lucky!”

A very different view, however, is that which now follows:—

Count Horace de Viel Castel notes: “The journals say that Count d’Orsay has received the commission for a marble statue of Prince Jérôme to be placed at Versailles. So much the worse for Versailles.

“The Count is an old ‘lion,’ whom nobody now knows or receives. He has lived with his mother-in-law, Lady Blessington, the blue-stocking of the _keepsakes_, and with everyone but his wife, Lady Henrietta d’Orsay, who was the mistress of the Duke d’Orleans, of Antoine de Noailles, and a host of lesser stars.

“Count d’Orsay for twenty years lived on the aristocracy and the tradespeople of London. Steeped in debt, he has now turned artist, backed by a following of nonentities.… Every year he disfigures some contemporaneous celebrity either in marble or plaster; last time it was Lamartine.

“D’Orsay has still great pretensions to elegance, and dresses like no one else, with a display of embroidered linen, satin, gold chains, and hair all disordered.”

Accusations of a more serious character also he brings against him, even that he tried to persuade Jérôme Bonaparte that he was his son, so that he might receive some place or promotion.

Then on December 2nd, 1851, came the thunderclap of the _coup d’état_, when the Prince who had become a President created himself an Emperor, and at the same time appears to have put an end to his friendship toward D’Orsay. Shortly after the event, D’Orsay was dining with a large company, and naturally the _coup d’état_ came up for discussion and comment. D’Orsay was quite outspoken in his condemnation, and said: “It is the greatest political swindle that ever has been practised in the world!” Which remark very naturally created considerable dismay in the circle; it is not wise to express too freely adverse opinions of emperors—while they are alive.

In Abraham Hayward’s _Correspondence_, considerable light is thrown upon D’Orsay’s opinions of Napoleon and the political situation in Paris. On 17th January 1850, he writes from 38 Rue de la Ville l’Evêque:—

“MON CHER HAYWARD,—J’aurois dû vous répondre plus tôt, pour
vous remercier de l’article que vous m’avez envoyé. J’attendois
d’avoir vu Louis Napoléon. Nous voici de retour à Paris,
établi pour l’Hiver qui est des plus _rudes_. Les affaires ici
vont mal; l’amour propre en souffrance fait tous les grands
révolutionnaires en France, il n’y a pas dix hommes de bonne
foi dans ce beau pays; les gens opposent dans la Chambre les
lois qu’ils avait eux-mêmes proposées anciennement. Thiers
et Berryer, bavards de profession, sont si versés d’être mis
de côté, qu’ils combinent une conjuration de Catalina. Les
élections de Paris montreront définitivement de quel côté est
le vent; en attendant, dans le midi, le gouvernement est obligé
de donner son appui à des candidats légitimistes, plutôt que
de voir des extrêmes rouges remporter la victoire, c’est bien
tomber de Charybdis dans Scylla. Napoléon a le plus grand désir
_to run straight_, mais les _crossins_ et _jostlings_ cherchent
à l’empêcher, vous devez vous en apercevoir.… Rappelez-moi
au bon souvenir de mes amis d’Angleterre, j’y suis souvent
en pensée, et malgré que cela soit toujours avec un grand
sentiment de tristesse je préfère cela aux gaietés de Paris.
Votre très dévoué,

“D’ORSAY.”

Then on the 5th, possibly the 6th, of December 1851, D’Orsay sends over to Hayward for publication in the English Press, the letter published in Paris on the 4th by Jérôme, which was scarcely calculated to please nephew Louis. Two lines in D’Orsay’s covering note are striking:—“I always think of dear old England, that one must like every day more from what we see everywhere else.”

On 2nd January, of the year following, D’Orsay writes a long and interesting letter to Hayward, in which he says emphatically that he was and is strongly opposed to the _coup d’état_, and that on account of it Louis Napoleon had sunk in his estimation, as he had believed him to be a man as good as his word. He held that Napoleon would have “arrived” without employing illegitimate means, and that Republicanism was an almost negligible quantity. After discussing the standing of various leaders and parties, he continues:—

“Vous voyez que je suis juste et impartial, quoique je suis reconnu, depuis 40 années, d’être le plus grand et le plus sincère Napoléonien qui existe.” And: “Vous ne pouvez concevoir à quel point les gens ici sont courtisans et plats valets; vanité et succès sont les deux mots d’ordres.… Tout marche à l’Empire.” In conclusion: “Ah! if I were rich, I would soon be in London. Here I am an exile.”

A few days later he writes again to much the same purport, and says: “J’ai l’air d’être dans une opposition, parce que je n’approuve pas la route que Louis a pris pour arriver où il en est maintenant.” Who can doubt that Louis Napoleon blundered in not asking for and accepting D’Orsay’s advice? But then it was natural that he should not have done so; the little seldom care to accept the aid of the great.

XXIX

DEATH

In the early part of 1852 a trouble of the spine became apparent, causing poor D’Orsay much pain and sickness, which he bore with admirable and uncomplaining patience. In July the doctors ordered him to Dieppe, whither he went accompanied by the faithful Misses Power; but it was too late; death was evidently at hand. At the end of the month he returned to Paris, to die.

On 2nd August, the Archbishop of Paris visited him, and on parting, embraced him, saying: “J’ai pour vous plus que de l’amitié, j’ai de l’affection.” The next day he received the last consolations of the Church at the hands of the curé of Chambourcy.

Madden had visited him during his last weeks, and has left a strange account of an interview with him, which must be quoted verbatim:—

“The wreck only of the _beau_ D’Orsay was there.

“He was able to sit up and walk, though with difficulty and evidently with pain, about his room, which was at once his studio, reception room, and sleeping apartment. He burst out crying when I entered the room, and continued for a length of time so much affected that he could hardly speak to me. Gradually he became composed, and talked about Lady Blessington’s death, but all the time with tears pouring down his pale wan face, for even then his features were death-stricken.

“He said with marked emphasis: ‘_In losing her I lost everything in this world—she was to me a mother! a dear, dear mother!_ a true _loving mother to me!_’ While he uttered these words he sobbed and cried like a child. And referring to them, he again said: ‘_You understand_ me, Madden.’”

Madden believed D’Orsay to have been speaking in all sincerity. What are we to believe? There is something almost terrible in this scene of the dying dandy, broken down in body and spirits, making a gallant effort to clear the name he had for years besmirched. But the statements of the dying must not be allowed to weigh against the deeds of the living. And would the dead lady have been pleased?

Madden continues:—

“I said, among the many objects which caught my attention in the room, I was very glad to see a crucifix placed over the head of his bed; men living in the world as he had done, were so much in the habit of forgetting all early religious feelings. D’Orsay seemed hurt at the observation. I then plainly said to him:—

“‘The fact is, I imagined, or rather I supposed, you had followed Lady Blessington’s example, if not in giving up your own religion, in seeming to conform to another more in vogue in England.’

“D’Orsay rose up with considerable energy, and stood erect and firm with obvious exertion for a few seconds, looking like himself again, and pointing to the head of the bed, he said:

“‘Do you see those two swords?’ pointing to two small swords (which were hung over the crucifix crosswise); ‘do you see that sword to the right? With that sword I fought in defence of my religion.’”

He then briefly narrated the story of the duel which we have already told.

During his last illness, D’Orsay received from the Emperor the appointment of Director of Fine Arts. The honour came too late.

At three o’clock in the morning of the fourth of August 1852, aged fifty-one, died Alfred, Count d’Orsay, the last and the greatest of the dandies.

He was buried at Chambourcy; the same monument covers his ashes and those of Lady Blessington. In the absence of the Duke de Grammont, who was confined to bed by illness, D’Orsay’s nephews, Count Alfred de Grammont and the Duke de Lespare, were the chief mourners; the Duchesse de Grammont, his sister, was there, and among others Prince Napoleon, Count de Montaubon, M. Emile de Girardin, M. Charles Lafitte, M. Alexandre Dumas fils, Mr Hughes Ball, and several other Englishmen.

Gronow says: “His death produced, both in London and Paris, a deep and universal regret.”

But one who did not love him, Count Horace de Viel Castel, whom we have before quoted, did not join in the chorus of regrets:—

“Count d’Orsay is dead, and all the papers are mourning his loss. He leaves behind him they say, many _chefs-d’œuvres_, and on his death-bed requested Clésinger to finish his bust of Prince Jérôme.

“D’Orsay had no talent; his statuettes are detestable and his busts very bad; but a certain set cried him up for their own purposes, and called him a great man. One newspaper goes so far as to affirm that on hearing of his death the President said: ‘I have lost my best friend,’ a statement which I know to be perfectly false.

“D’Orsay’s friends were the President’s enemies—the Jérôme Bonapartes, Emile de Girardin, Lamartine, etc. He never pardoned the Prince for not appointing him Ambassador to the Court of St James’, forgetting, or purposely ignoring, the fact that such a thing was impossible. No Government would have received him. His debts are fabulous.… The papers inform us that he has been buried at Chambourcy (on the property of his sister, the Duchesse de Grammont) in the same grave as his mother-in-law, Lady Blessington. The incident is sublime; to make it complete, perhaps they will engrave on his tombstone: ‘That his inconsolable and heart-broken widow, etc. etc.’

“He died ten years too late, for he became at last merely a ridiculous old doll. The President does not lose his best friend; on the contrary, he is well rid of, a compromising schemer.”

Clésinger one day asked D’Orsay why he did not come to see him oftener.

“Because people say that it is I who make your statues,” responded D’Orsay, with a smile.

“Really!” replied the sculptor, “I will come and see you; no one would accuse me of being guilty of _yours_.”

Dickens wrote in _Household Words_: “Count d’Orsay, whose name is publicly synonymous with elegant and graceful accomplishments; and who, by those who knew him well, is affectionately remembered and regretted, as a man whose great abilities might have raised him to any distinction, and whose gentle heart even a world of fashion left unspoiled.”

Landor writes:—

“The death of poor, dear D’Orsay fell heavily tho’ not unexpectedly upon me. Intelligence of his painful and hopeless malady reached me some weeks before the event. With many foibles and grave faults, he was generous and sincere. Neither spirits nor wit ever failed him, and he was ready at all times to lay down his life for a friend. I felt a consolation in the loss of Lady Blessington in the thought how unhappy she would have been had she survived him. The world will never more see united such graceful minds, so much genius and pleasantry, as I have met, year after year, under her roof.…”

Macready:—

“To my deep grief perceived the notice of the death of dear Count d’Orsay. No one who knew him and had affections could help loving him. When he liked he was most fascinating and captivating. It was impossible to be insensible to his graceful, frank, and most affectionate manner.… He was the most brilliant, graceful, endearing man I ever saw—humorous, witty, and clear-headed.”

D’Orsay’s good friend, Emile de Girardin, wrote in _La Presse_ of August 5th, 1852:—

Le Comte d’Orsay est mort ce matin à trois heures.

“La douleur et le vide de cette mort seront vivement ressentis par tous les amis qu’il comptait en si grand nombre en France et en Angleterre, dans tous les rangs de la société, et sous tous les drapeaux de la politique.

“A Londres, les salons de Gore House furent toujours ouverts à tous les proscrits politiques, qu’ils s’appelassent Louis Bonaparte ou Louis Blanc, à tous les naufragés de la fortune et à toutes les illustrations de l’art et de la science.

“A Paris, il n’avait qu’un vaste atelier, mais quiconque allait frapper au nom d’un malheur à secourir ou d’un progrès à encourager, était toujours assuré du plus affable accueil et du plus cordial concours.

“Avant le 2 Décembre, nul ne fit d’efforts plus réitérés pour que la politique suivît un autre cours et s’élevât aux plus hautes aspirations.

“Après le 2 Décembre, nul ne s’employa plus activement pour amortir les coups de la proscription: Pierre Dupont[38] le sait et peut le certifier.

“Le Président de la République n’avait pas d’ami à la fois plus dévoué et plus sincère que le Comte d’Orsay; et c’est quand il venait de la rapprocher de lui par le titre et les fonctions de surintendant des beaux-arts qu’il le perd pour toujours.

“C’est une perte irréparable pour l’art et pour les artistes, mais c’est une perte plus irréparable encore pour la Vérité et pour le Président de la République, car les palais n’ont que deux portes ouvertes à la Vérité: la porte de l’amitié et la porte de l’adversité, de l’amitié qui est à l’adversité ce que l’éclair est à la foudre.

“La justice indivisible, la justice égale pour tous, la justice dont la mort tient les balances, compte les jours quand elle ne mesure pas les dons. Alfred d’Orsay avait été comblé de trop de dons—grand cœur, esprit, un goût pur, beauté antique, force athlétique, adresse incomparable à tous les exercises du corps, aptitude incontestâble à tous les arts auxquels il s’était adonné; dessin, peinture, sculpture—Alfred d’Orsay avait été comblé de trop de dons pour que ses jours ne fussent pas parcimonieusement comptés. La mort a été inexorable, mais elle a été juste. Elle ne l’a pas traité en homme vulgaire. Elle ne l’a pas pris, elle l’a choisi.”

There is one more general summary of his character which must be given. Grantley Berkeley tells a pleasant story of a dinner at the Old Ship Hotel at Greenwich:—

“I remember a dinner at the Ship, where there were a good many ladies, and where D’Orsay was of the party, during which his attention was directed to a centre pane of glass in the bay-window over the Thames, where some one had written, in large letters, with a diamond, D’Orsay’s name in improper conjunction with a celebrated German _danseuse_ then fulfilling an engagement at the Opera. With characteristic readiness and _sang-froid_, he took an orange from a dish near him, and, making some trifling remark on the excellence of the fruit, tossed it up once or twice, catching it in his hand again. Presently, as if by accident, he gave it a wider cant, and sent it through the window, knocking the offensive words out of sight into the Thames.”

Then he continues:—

“D’Orsay was as clever and agreeable a companion as any in the world, and perhaps as inventive and extravagant in dress as Beau Brummel, though not so original nor so varied in the grades of costume through which his imagination carried him. There were all sorts of hats and garments named after him by their makers, more or less like those he wore, and a good many men copied him to some extent in his attire. He and I adopted the tight wristbands, turned back upon the sleeve of the coat upon the wrist, in which fashion we were not followed by others, I am happy to say.…

“Among the peculiarities and accomplishments for which D’Orsay desired to be famous was that of great muscular strength, as well as a knowledge of all weapons, and when he shook hands with his friends it was with the whole palm, with such an impressive clutch of the fingers as drove the blood from the limb he held, and sent every ring on the hand almost to the bone. The apparent frankness of manner and kind expression in his good-looking face, when he met you with the exclamation, ‘_Ah, ha, mon ami!_’ and grasped you by the hand, were charming, and we, who rather prided ourselves on being able to do strong things, used to be ready for this grasp, and exhibit our muscular powers in return. There is no man who can so well imitate D’Orsay’s method of greeting in this particular as my excellent friend, Dr Quin.

“Poor dear D’Orsay! He was a very accomplished, kind-hearted, and graceful fellow, and much in request in what may be called the fashionable world. I knew him well in his happier hours, I knew him when he was in difficulties, and I knew him in distress; and when in France I heard from Frenchmen that those in his native country to whom he looked for high lucrative employment and patronage, and from whom D’Orsay thought he had some claim to expect them, rather slighted his pretensions; and when in his last, lingering, painful illness,[39] left him to die too much neglected and alone.

“That D’Orsay was unwisely extravagant as well as not over-scrupulous in morality, we know; but that is a man’s own affair, not that of his friends. His faults, whatever they were, were covered, or at least glossed over by real kindness of heart, great generosity, and prompt good-nature, grace in manner, accomplishments, and high courage; therefore, place him side by side with many of the men with whom he lived in England, D’Orsay by comparison would have the advantage in many things.”

XXX

WHAT WAS HE?

Witnesses have been heard for the defence and for the prosecution; the defendant himself has been examined and cross-examined; what is the verdict?

Lamb has told us that we must not take the immoral comedies of the Restoration seriously. His argument does not bear precisely upon the case in point, but it is of assistance. Lamb, speaking of plays, whereas we are writing of history, says: “We have been spoiled with—not sentimental comedy—but a tyrant far more pernicious to our pleasures which has succeeded to it, the exclusive and all-devouring drama of common life.” For “comedy” substitute “history”; for “drama” put “psychology” and we can fit our text to our sermon, a thing often more easy to achieve than to fit one’s sermon to one’s text. We had been surfeited with sentimental history, with the white-washing of sinners and the super-humanising of saints; we therefore turned to what we are pleased to call real life, and taking everything seriously have made everything dull.

Let us return to our Lamb for a moment:—

“I confess for myself that (with no great delinquencies to answer for) I am glad for a season to take an airing beyond the diocese of the strict conscience—not to live always in the precincts of the law-courts—but now and then, for a dream-while or so, to imagine a world with no meddling restrictions—to get into recesses, whither the hunter cannot follow me—

‘⸺ Secret shades
Of woody Ida’s inmost grave,
While yet there was no fear of Jove.’

I come back to my cage and my restraint the fresher and more healthy for it.”

That is the point of view we must take if we are to judge D’Orsay justly; we must lock up our conscience for the nonce, we must get away from the unimaginative atmosphere of the law-courts, we must snap the shackles of convention which always make it impossible for us to form a fair opinion of the unconventional.

Judged by the standards of life and conduct which must control everyday men and women, D’Orsay was a monster of iniquity, and also, as _Punch_ would put it, he was worse than wicked, he was vulgar. His friends cannot have weighed him by any such standards, or they would have condemned him and scorned him. They could not then have accepted him as one of themselves, as a man to be almost loved; they would have turned cold shoulders to any ordinary mortal who treated the love of woman as a comedy and debts of honour as mere farce.

But your real dandy is not an ordinary man and must not be judged by common standards. He stands outside and above the ordinary rules of life and conduct; he has not any conscience, and questions of morality do not affect him. All that is for us to do in viewing such a one as D’Orsay is to weigh his physical and mental gifts, and to examine the uses to which he put them, to look to the opportunities which were given to him and the advantage which he took of them.

Of the multitude of witnesses whom we have summoned there is not one who denies that D’Orsay was a man of supreme physical beauty, and the portraits of him support their verdict. Good looks that were almost effeminate in their charm were supported by the physique of a perfect man, and in all manly sports and pursuits he was highly accomplished. Of his mental qualities it is not so easy justly to weigh the worth; he was an accomplished amateur in art some say, others deny it, but on the whole the evidence seems to be in his favour; he was endowed with a pleasing habit of talk, though scarcely with wit. He was good-humoured, a _bon garçon_ and good-natured. He was an accomplished _gourmet_. In the art of dress he was supreme. He was more greatly skilled, perhaps, than any other man, in the art of gaining and giving pleasure. He was brave.

Morality, as has been said, does not enter into the consideration of such a man; he was above morality, or outside it. There have been and there are others like him. They are grown-up children, utterly irresponsible; not immoral but unmoral; they “please to live and live to please” themselves. They do not realise that their actions may prove costly to others and therefore do not count the cost. They are children of impulse not of calculation. They are emotional not logical. Pleasure is their pursuit and they shun all that is unpleasing and displeasing. They are so different from us ordinary folk that we cannot appraise them or even fully understand them. Fear of consequences that would appal us have no terrors for them; they do not need to set them aside, they are not aware of them. Conventions which hamper us, for them do not exist. To fulfil the desire of to-day is their one aim and ambition and they take no heed of to-morrow.

It is as a dandy that D’Orsay must be judged, and in that _rôle_ he achieved triumph. It was as a dandy he lived and as a dandy that he is immortal. Such men as he, if indeed there are others with his genius, should—as we have said—be pensioned by the State, should be set above the carking cares of questions of want of pounds—shillings and pence do not trouble them; they should be cherished and sustained as rarely-gifted and rare beings, to whom life presents not any serious problems, and to whom life is a space of time only too brief for all the pleasures which should be crowded into it. “Life’s fitful fever” should be kept apart from such sunny souls, and our only regret should be that there are so few of them.

There are mouldy-minded people who put out the finger of scorn at D’Orsay. Is it not the truth that they are jealous of him, and that at the bottom of their hearts there is a muttered prayer: “I would thank God if He _had_ made _me_ such a man”?

FOOTNOTES

[1] De Guiche. See p. 35.

[2] D’Orsay was but twenty at the time of his first appearance in London.

[3] _Cf._ Sterne, _A Sentimental Journey_, ch. i. l. 1.

[4] Sir David Wilkie.

[5] His unsuccessful three-volume novel.

[6] If any, only a temporary estrangement.

[7] Created Baron Dalling and Bulwer in 1871.

[8] _France, Social, Literary and Political._

[9] He died in 1839.

[10] See page 202.

[11] Referring to his devoted wife.

[12] The first mention of His Imperial Majesty Napoleon III., who was an _habitué_ of Gore House, and well known to all who frequented it. The A.D.C. was M. de Persigny, who accompanied the Prince everywhere.—[_Note in Greville._]

[13] Lady Blessington had a good deal more talent and reading than Mr Greville gives her credit for. Several years of her agitated life were spent in the country in complete retirement, where she had no resources to fall back upon but a good library. She was well read in the best English authors, and even in translations of the Classics; but the talent to which she owed her success in society was her incomparable tact and skill in drawing out the best qualities of her guests. What Mr Greville terms her vulgarity might be more charitably described as her Irish cordiality and _bonhomie_. I have no doubt that her _Conversations with Lord Byron_ were entirely written by herself.—[_Note in Greville._]

[14] Forster.

[15] Possibly Lady Canterbury.

[16] If Lady Blessington wrote this in good faith, “our Count” must have deceived her grossly as to the amount of his debts.

[17] Bulwer was at this time _chargé d’affaires_ at Paris.

[18] Son of Lord Tankerville.

[19] Did he love D’Orsay?

[20] The Duke de Guiche, son of D’Orsay’s sister, had been attacked by a wild boar while out hunting.

[21] The inaccuracies here are obvious.

[22] Now (1910) no more.

[23] Better known to us now as Bernal Osborne.

[24] Frederick Henry Yates, actor and theatrical manager. Father of Edmund Yates.

[25] Probably the founder of the famous menagerie.

[26] The first is meant.

[27] _Alias_ Sloman, a well-known catchpole.

[28] A shy cock being a “Sunday” man, such as D’Orsay.

[29] M.P. for Southwark.

[30] At Crockford’s.

[31] In 1880. He was born in 1796.

[32] She never was there. Seamore Place is meant.

[33] Apparently they had been pawned.

[34] See _Infra_.

[35] _I.e._ in Paris.

[36] Of Lady Blessington.

[37] _Vide supra_, p. 225.

[38] The well-known poet and lyricist.

[39] An amazing version of D’Orsay’s death has recently been made public; namely, that in addition to the disease of the spine, the Count suffered also from a carbuncle, which “was a euphemism for a bullet aimed at the Emperor as they were walking together in the gardens of the Elysée.”

Index

A

Abinger, Lord, 177

Adam, fig-leaf breeches, ix

Ainsworth, William Harrison, 191

Alcibiades, xi

Allen, Lord, 124, 140, 220

Alvanley, Lord, 125

Anglesey, Lord, 189

Anson, George, 151

Auckland, Lord, 220

Auldjo, John, 169, 170

Avignon, 46

Avillon, letter to Lady Blessington, 282

B

Ball, Hughes, 304

Ballantine, Sergeant, 204

” on _Star and Garter_, 156

Balmoral brose, 130

Baring, Hon. Francis, 203

Basanville, Comtesse de, 121

Bates, Joshua, 203

Beaconsfield, Lord, 131, 145, 186, 190

” as a dandy, xi, xii, 130, 193, 194

” at Lady Blessington’s, 140

” _Endymion_: Colonel Albert St Barbe, 207

” _Endymion_, quoted, 174

” _Henrietta Temple_, Count Alcibiades de Mirabel, 256 _seq._

” Letter to Lady Blessington, 280

” Meets D’Orsay, 142

” on Louis Napoleon, 201

” on party at Gore House, 172

” _Vivian Grey_, xii, 105, 140, 142, 193

Beauharnois, Eugène, 200

Beckford, 141

Belancour, de, 172

Belvedere Palazzo, 53, 54, 58, 68

” Routine at, 59

Belvedere, Prince and Princess, 53

Berkeley, Grantley, on D’Orsay, 37, 133, 308

” on Gore House, 157

Berry, Misses, 102

Blakeney, Sir Edward, 28

Blessington, Charles John (Viscount and Baron Mountjoy), Earl of, 28,
65, 68, 75

” Attitude towards D’Orsay, 45

” Purchased the _Bolivar_, 52

” _Reginald de Vavasour_, 54

” Sketch of, 29 _seq._

” Will, 69, 70, 245

Blessington, Lord and Lady, tour abroad, 42 _seq._

Blessington, Marguerite Power, (Mrs Farmer), Lady, 24 _seq._

” Anxieties, 270, 272, 277

” at Gore House, 157 _seq._

” _Book of Beauty_, 271

” Characteristics, 274, 275, 276

” conversation, 138, 161, 178

” _Conversations with Lord Byron_, 51, 177_n_, 179, 271

” Lady, Contributor to _Daily News_, 271

” Death, 88, 287

” Epitaphs, 288

” Finances, 270 _seq._, 280

” in Paris, 81 _seq._, 284

” in Rome, 76 _seq._

” in Seamore Place, 101 _seq._

” Journal, 48, 50

” Duchesse de Guiche, 71, 73

” on Queen Hortense, 197

” _Keepsake_, 271

” Leaves Gore House for Paris, 280, 283

” Letter to Henry Bulwer, 210

” Letter to Forster, 264, 280

” Letters to Landor, 84, 90, 221

” Mausoleum, 287, 290

” Meets Byron, 49, 50

” Personal appearance, 31, 137

” on D’Israeli, sen. and jun., 105

” on General d’Orsay, 16

” on Countess Guiccioli, 163

” on Luttrell’s conversation, 93

” on opera, 144

” on Pompeii, 57

” on Portrait of Byron, 165

” on Waltzing, 46

” _Salon_ in London, 32, 33, 137, 160

” Writings, 271

_Bolivar_, The, 52, 60, 68

Bonaparte, Jérôme, 206, 293

Bradenham, 174

British in Rome, 77

Brookfield, Charles, 124

Brougham, Lord, 33, 158, 176, 183, 185, 188, 252, 293

” Report of his death, 183

Brown, Major, 30

Brown, Mrs (Lady Mountjoy), 30

Brummel, Beau, xii

Buckingham, Duke of, xi

Buller, Charles, 176, 180, 182, 260

Bultera, Prince and Princess, 66

Bulwer, Sir Henry, Baron Dalling and Bulwer, 108, 210, 215

” _France, Social, Literary and Political_, 105

” Letters to Lady Blessington, 213, 284

Burdett, Sir Francis, 82, 220

Bush, John, 124

Byng, “Poodle,” 201, 202

Byron, Lady, 163

Byron, Lord, 106, 107, 145, 164, 165, 177, 223

” at Genoa, 48, 49

” Charmed with D’Orsay, 51

” _Don Juan_, quoted, 38

” Letter to Lord Blessington, 39

” Letter to Count d’Orsay, 40

” on Lord Blessington, 30

” on Count d’Orsay, 38

” on meeting Lady Blessington, 51

” on Rogers, 93

” Yacht _Bolivar_, 52

C

Cambridge, Duke of, 184

Campbell, Lord, 251

Campbell, T., 102

Canning, George, 33

Canterbury, Lady, 169, 170, 239

Canterbury, Lord, 169, 170, 177, 261

Carhampton, Lord, 94

Carlyle, Jane Welsh, 187

” on D’Orsay, 267

Carlyle, John, 187

Carlyle, Thomas, 166

” on D’Orsay, 187, 188

” on Landor, 219

Caroline, Queen, 56

Castlereagh, Lord, 33, 140

Catholic Emancipation Act, 88

Cattermole, George, 264

Cavaliers as dandies, xi

Centolla, Princess, 66

Chalon, portrait of Lady Blessington, 282

Chambourcy, 287, 290, 304

Chambre, Major, _Recollections of West-End Life_, 150

Charles II., xi, xii

Chesterfield, Earl of, 118, 125, 151, 152, 158, 189, 241, 261

” Dinner to, 127

Chesterfield House, 266

Chesterfield, Lady, 266

Chorley, Henry Fothergill, 143, 166, 176, 183, 187, 261

Clésinger and D’Orsay, 305

Clonmel, 25, 26, 28

Cole, Sir Henry, story of D’Orsay, 231

Coleridge, S. T., 223

Colman, George, 102

Congreve, high priest of dandyism, xii

Conversation a lost art, 135

Cooper, Anne, on Lady Blessington, 276

Cotton, Sir St Vincent, 151

Cotton, Sir Willoughby, 134, 220

Courvoisier, F. B., murdered Lord William Russell, 262

Craven, Keppel, on Sir W. Gell’s last days, 78

Crawford, Mme. (Mrs O’Sullivan), 16, 17, 83, 84, 93

” Fond of her grandson, 18

Crean, Christopher, 155

Creighton, Commodore, 106

Crockford’s “Palace of Fortune”, 148 _seq._

” Play-room, 151

Cunningham, Peter, on white-bait, 148

Curtis, Lady, 102

D

Damer, Colonel, 150

Dancing, 46

” Taglioni’s, 86, 87

Dandies, definition of, xiii

” Elizabethan, xii

” Gathering, 172

” in history, xi

” Psychology, xii

” “a public benefactor,” 103

” Three, 193

Dandyism, ix _seq._

” History, ix, x

” Literature, varied, xi

” of D’Orsay and Disraeli, 140

” Universities and, x

D’Angoulême, Duc, 45

D’Arlincourt, Victor Prévost, Viscount, 131

Deacon, Captain, 106

De Contades, on D’Orsay and sheriff’s officer, 278

Dickens, Alfred Tennyson, 266

Dickens, Charles, 145, 261

” as a dandy, xii, 192, 193

” at Gore House, 265

” _Bleak House_, Lawrence Boythorn, 218

” Friendship with D’Orsay, 191

” _Household Words_ on D’Orsay, 306

” in Paris, 293

” Invitation to Macready, 264

” Letters to Lady Blessington, 192

” on D’Orsay, 133

Dieppe, 302

Dinners, English, 127

Dino, Duchesse de, story of D’Orsay, 134

Disraeli, Benjamin, _see_ Beaconsfield, Lord

D’Israeli, Isaac, 105, 188

Donzelli, 144

D’Orsay, Count Albert, 16, 82

D’Orsay, Comtesse Albert, 82, 99

D’Orsay, Countess Alfred, 70, 74, 82, 102, 146, 236, 245

” Leaves Seamore Place, 103, 267_n_

D’Orsay, Eléanore, Baroness de Franquemont, Comtesse, 16

D’Orsay, Gédéon Gaspard Alfred de Grimaud, Count, xii

” as artist, 225 _seq._

” as a dandy, 194, 235, 314

” as _gourmet_, 126

” as leader of fashion, 116 _seq._

” as a wit, 123 _seq._

” Birth, 15

” Bonapartism, 20, _see_ Relations with Louis Napoleon

” Bust of Lady Blessington, 234

” ” Emile de Girardin, 233

” ” Lamartine, 225, 292

” ” Duke of Wellington, 230, 231

” Characteristics, 21, 23, 51, 60, 145, 162, 185, 189, 195, 253, 254,
255, 259, 265, 294, 309, 310

” Connection with Lady Blessington, 45 _et passim_

” Death, 304, 310

” Dinner in Paris, 293

” Director of Fine Arts, 304

” Finances, 132, 162, 212, 215, 226, 245 _seq._, 270, 278

” Friends, 77, 145, 188, 189 _seq._, 260, 261, 263

” Gambling, 148, 151, 152

” Grief at Lady Blessington’s death, 289, 290

” Horsemanship, 20, 118, 195

” Illness, 302

” in London, (1821), 35 _seq._

” in Paris, 18, 279, 284 _seq._

” Invents paletot, 120

” Journal, 38, 39, 40, 41, 235

” ” on Lord Holland, 137

” Leaves London for Paris, 279

” Letters, 235 _seq._

” ” to Duncombe, 251, 252

” ” Fonblanque, 205

” ” Forster, 233, 237 _seq._, 291

” ” Hayward, 294, 300, 301

” ” Landor, 85, 98, 236, 237

” ” R. J. Lane, 228, 290

” ” Madden, 229

” ” C. Mathews, 240

” ” Dr. Quin, 242, 244, 289

” Marriage, 74

” Monument, 304

” Monument to Lady Blessington, 287, 290

” on _Coup d’État_, 208, 299, 301

” Painting of Duchesse de Grammont, 220

” Personal appearance, 20, 116

” Portrait drawings, 226

” Portrait of Prince Borghese, 236

” Portrait of Byron, 165

” Portrait of Duke of Wellington, 232, 282

” Provision for, 70, 71, 75, 245

” Qualities, 313

” Railway scheme, 238, 239

” Relations with Louis Napoleon, 197, 202, 204, 208, 210, 211, 285

” Residence in London, 101 _seq._

” Separated from his wife, 103, 246

” Sledge, 96

” Statue of Napoleon I., 228

” Statuette of O’Connell, 233

” Statuettes of Duke of Wellington, 229, 230

” Stories of, 121 _seq._, 278

” Studio, 159

” Visits Disraelis, 174

Douro, Lord, 158

Drummond, Sir William, 67

Duchesnois, Mlle., 19

Dudley, Lord, 67

Duelling, 101, 109

Dufferin, Lord, 293

Dumas, Alexandre, 293

Dumas, Alexandre _fils_, 304

Duncombe, Thomas Slingsby, 151, 186, 250, 253

Dundas of Carron, 293

Dupont, Pierre, 307

Durham, Earl, 158, 176, 177, 179, 180, 260

Duval, Claude, xi

E

Ellis, Joseph, 155

Elphinstone, Lord, 140

_English Spy_, 249

Esterhazy, Prince, 172

Eugénie, Empress, 196

Euphuism, xi

_Every Man in his Humour_, 263

F

Fairlie, Mr and Mrs, 169, 170

Farmer, Captain Maurice St Leger, 26, 27, 28, 31

Feist, Moritz, 117

Florence, 53, 69, 222

Fonblanque, Albany, editor of _Examiner_, 123, 139, 140, 161, 205,
261, 291

” Letter to Lady Blessington, 185

Fonblanque, Edward Barrington de, 126, 261

Forester, Charles, 125

Forli, Duchess di, 66

Forster, John, 145, 166, 168, 188, 204, 260, 261, 264

” at Gore House, 265

” on Landor, 218

” Sub-editor of _Examiner_, 176

Funchal, Count, 106

G

Gardiner, Lady Harriet Anne Frances, Comtesse d’Orsay, 30.
_See_ also d’Orsay, Comtesse Alfred

Gardiner, Luke Wellington (Viscount Mountjoy), 28, 30

” Death, 69

Gardiner, Lady Mary, 71

Gastronomy, French, 294

Gazes, Duc de, 86

Gell, Sir William, 56, 57, 66, 166

” Death, 78

” Letter to Lady Blessington, 79

Genoa, 38, 48, 69

Georges, Mme., 19

Girardin, Emile de, 293, 304

” on D’Orsay’s death, 307

Goldsmith, Oliver, 33

Gore House, 157 _seq._

” Novelists at, 190, 191

” Sale at, 282

” Sunset of its glories, 270

Grammont, Count Alfred de, 304

Grammont, Duc de, 19, 35, 84, 220

Grammont, Duc et Duchesse de, 304

Grammont, Duc et Duchesse de Caderousse, 46

Grattan, advice to his son, 110

Greville, Charles, 94, 180, 261

” at Gore House, 175, 176

” on Blessington and D’Orsay, 45

Greville, Charles, on Lady Blessington, 177

” on D’Orsay, 45, 122

” on D’Orsay’s art work, 159

” on Lord Douro, 158

” on Sir William Gell, 56

” on _Richelieu_, 190

Greville, Henry, “Diary,” quoted, 94

” on Taglioni’s dancing, 87

Gronow, 117

” on Count d’Orsay, 36, 123, 304

” on Duc de Guiche, 35

Grosvenor, Hon. R., 66

Gudin, Theodore, 292

Guiccioli, Countess, 106, 107, 114, 144, 162, 163, 165

Guiche, Duc de, 19, 35, 71, 75, 81, 93, 220, 224_n_, 245.
_See_ also Grammont, Duc de

Guiche, Duc and Duchesse de, jun., 286

Guiche, Ida, Duchesse de, 19, 35, 36, 71, 81

Guildford, Lord, 87

Guizot, M., 214

H

Hall, S. C., 261

Hall, Mrs S. C., on Lady Blessington, 274, 275

Hallam, Henry, _Middle Ages_, 78

Ham fortress, 201, 204, 207

Hatherston, Lord, 189

Hawes, Mr, 252

Haydon, Benjamin Robert, 159, 188

” on D’Orsay, 233

Hayward, Abraham, 119

” in Paris, 293

” on English dinners, 127

Heath, publisher, death, 271

Heathcote, Sir T., 34

Herschel, Sir John, 57

Hertford, Lord, 282, 283

Hobhouse, Sir John Cam, 165

Holland House _salon_, 33, 136

Holland, Lady, 136, 137

Holland, Lord, 137

Honey, Mrs, 241

Horsemanship, 118

Hortense, Queen of Holland (Duchesse de St Leu), 197 _seq._

” Diamonds, 199

Houssaye, Arsène, on d’Orsay, 297

Hugo, Victor, 141, 291

Hunt, Leigh, 107, 163

I

Irving, Washington, 33

J

Jeffrey, Lord, 268

Jekyll, Joseph, 33, 34

” on quinine, 243

” on Seamore House, 102

Jenkins, Captain Thomas, 28, 31

Jerdan, William, 261;
_Autobiography_, 271

” on J. Jekyll, 34

Jerrold, Douglas, 264

Josephine, Empress, 199

Joy now a stranger, ix

Julien le Jeune de Paris, _Mes Chagrins_, 111 _seq._

K

Kemble, Charles, 87

Kemble, Fanny, _Francis the First_, 87

Kemble, John, 33, 87

Kenney, James, 169, 171

Kildare, 28

Knebworth, 239

L

_La Presse_, on D’Orsay as artist, 225

Lablache, facial expression of thunderstorm, 263

Lafitte, Charles, 140, 304

Lamartine, 145, 291, 293

Lamb, Charles, 222

” on plays, 311

Lamington, Lord, on D’Orsay, 154, 293

Landor, Walter Savage, 69, 78, 80, 84, 85, 125, 145, 188, 204,
216 _seq._

” Autobiography, 216

” epitaph on Lady Blessington, 288

” Letters to Lady Blessington, 88, 89, 208, 220, 222

” on Lady Blessington, 65

” on D’Orsay’s death, 88, 89, 306

” on Duc de Guiche, 35

” Visits to Gore House, 166, 167, 219, 220

Landseer, Sir Edwin, 158, 261

Lane, Richard, 210

Lane, Richard James, on D’Orsay’s sketches, 227

Laval, Montmorenci, Duc de, 77

Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 33, 34, 87

” Portrait of Lady Blessington, 282

” Portrait of Dauphin, 97

Leech, John, 264

Lennox, Lord William Pitt, 114, 124

” on D’Orsay, 18, 19

Léon, Count, 202

Lespare, Duke de, 304

Leveson Gore, Hon. F., on D’Orsay, 266

Lewis, C., 251

Lichfield, Lord, 151

Lillers, Marquis de, 82

Lind, Jenny, 188

Liston, 261

Liszt, 261

London in 1830, 100

Louis XIV., 43

Louis XV., 43

Louis Napoleon, King of Holland, 197

Louis Philippe, 204, 208

Lover, Samuel, 143;
_Handy Andy_, 144

Luttrell, 93, 94, 95

Lyly, a literary dandy, xi

Lyndhurst, Lord, 94, 142, 143, 145, 173, 177, 185, 188, 253

Lytton, Lord (Sir Ed. Bulwer), 104, 108, 139, 142, 145, 260, 291

” on Sir W. Gell, 79

” on Gore House, 158, 161, 173, 176, 186, 188

” _Money_, 189

” _Pelham_, xii

” _Richelieu_, 190

M

Macaulay, Lord, 136

Maclise, Daniel, 238, 291

Macready, 169, 176, 188, 189, 261, 264, 291

” as actor and man, 224

” Diary on D’Orsay 260

” Letter to Lady Blessington, 170

” on D’Orsay’s death 306

” on _Richelieu_, 190

Madden, Richard Robert, 62, 64, 112

” on Disraeli, 140, 142

” on Comtesse Albert d’Orsay, 99

” on Comtesse d’Orsay, 74

” on D’Orsay’s _bons mots_, 126

” on D’Orsay’s extravagance, 253

” on D’Orsay’s fascination for children, 259

” on Gore House, 161, 165, 265

” on Napoleon III., 206, 210

” Visits D’Orsay, 302

Malibran, 144

Malmesbury, Lord, on Louis Napoleon, 200

Marc Antony, xi

Marriott, Captain, 176

Marryat, Captain, 191, 261

Mars, Mlle., 19

Mathews, Charles James, 55 _seq._, 93

” on D’Orsay, 58

” on Palazzo Belvedere, 59

” Quarrel with D’Orsay, 60 _seq._

Mathews, sen., 33, 34, 55, 92, 93

Mathias, Thomas James, _Pursuits of Literature_, 66

Meredith, George, x

Mignet, M., 95

Milligan, James, 67

Mills, John, 152

Milnes, Monckton, 261

Minton, Mr, 231, 232

Montaubon, Count de, 304

Montgomery, Alfred, 183, 185

Montholon, Count, 202

Moore, Tom, 33, 38, 43, 48, 94, 136, 177

” at Seamore Place, 139

” on duelling, 109, 110

” on Sir William Gell, 56

” Singing, 110

_Morning Chronicle_ on D’Orsay’s statuette of Duke of Wellington, 230

Moskowa, Prince of, 140

Mountford, Lord, 101

Murray, Captain, 26

N

Naples, 53 _seq._, 69

Napoleon I., on Albert, Count d’Orsay, 16

Napoleon III., Louis Napoleon, 186, 195 _seq._, 205, 285

” at Gore House, 176_n_

” at Seamore Place, 114, 115

” Descent upon France, 200

” Projected duel with Léon, 115, 202

” Sketch of, 196

Napoleon, Prince, 293, 304

_New Monthly Magazine_, on D’Orsay, 234

Ney, Marshal, 82

Nicholson, T. H., 230

Ninon de l’Enclos, 17

Normandy, Lord, 261

Nugent, Lord, 201, 202

O

O’Connell, Dan, 108, 110, 111

Opera, 143, 144

Osborne, Bernal, 233, 288

Ossulton, Lord, 220

Ossuna, Duke of, 172, 173

P

Paget, Sir A., 184

Pahlen, Count, 139

Paletot invented, 120

Paris in 1815, 18

Paris, Lord Blessington’s house in, 82

Parquin, Colonel, 202, 203

Pasta, 144

Patmore, on D’Orsay, 118

Payne, George, 151

Pembroke, Lord, 130, 197, 219, 220

Perlet in _Le Comédien d’Etampes_, 19

Perron, _Chef_, 293

Persigny, 201

Phillips, Catalogue of Sale at Gore House, 282

Phipps, General, 102

Piazzi, astronomer, 67

Pisa, 71

Planché, James Robinson, 189, 261, 262

” on Lablache, 263

” on Louis Napoleon, 201

Pompeii, 57

Poniatowsky, Prince, 172

Ponsonby, John, 139

Powell, Mr, 124

Power, Edward, 24

Power, Ellen, 24, 25

Power, Ellen and Margaret, 158, 192, 283, 291, 302

Power, Margaret, 219, 220

” Account of Lady Blessington’s death, 285

” Account of Sarcophagus, 288

” Letter to Madden, 289

Power, Marguerite, _see_ Blessington, Lady

Power, Mary Anne, Comtesse de St Marsault, 24, 42, 43, 54, 96

Power, Michael, 24

Power, Robert, 24, 75, 245

Procter, “Barry Cornwall,” 169, 170

” Epitaph on Lady Blessington, 288

Pugin, Augustus, 55

_Punch_, “The Mrs Caudle of the House of Lords,” 185

Puritans, xi

Purves, Mr and Mrs, 170

Q

_Quarterly Review_, English dinners, 127

Quin, Dr, 112, 113, 114, 243, 261, 283, 310

R

Rachel, in _Phèdre_, 298

Raikes, Tom, 123

Ratcliffe, Lt.-Colonel, 202, 203

Redding, Cyrus, on Lady Blessington, 90

Reeve, Henry, 183, 184, 185

” on Countess Guiccioli, 163

” Gore House, 167

Revolution, 1830, 96

Reynolds, Frederick Mansell, 169, 170

Ritchie, Lady, on D’Orsay, 182

Robespierre, 112

Robinson, Crabb, 65, 143

Rocco Romano, Duc di, 67

Rogers, S., 33, 93, 95, 102

” Attitude towards Byron, 94

Rome, 53, 69, 76 _seq._

Rosslyn, Lord, 88

Rothschild, Antony, 274

Rotival, _Chef_, 293

Rubini, 144, 261

Russell, Lord John, 95, 137

Russell, Lord William, murdered, 262

S

St Aulaire, Count, 211, 213, 214

St Germain-en-Laye, 43

Saint Marceau, Countess, 165

St Marsault, Comte et Comtesse de, 43

Sala, George Augustus, on Louis Napoleon, 196

_Salon_ at Holland House, 136

” at Gore House, 160

” at Seamore Place, 136

” Its decline and fall in London, 135

Schodel, Madame, 219, 220

Scott, Sir Walter, 223

Seamore Place, 101 _seq._

” Evenings at, 138

” Guests at, 102 _seq._

” Robbery at, 272

Shafto, Mr, 183

Shakespeare, _Love’s Labour Lost_, xi

Shaw, George Bernard, xii

Shee, W. A., 144

” on Gore House, 160

” on Countess Guiccioli, 162, 165

” on Duchesse de Guiche, 36

” on Louis Napoleon, 196

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 107

Sheridan, _School for Scandal_, xii

Simon, Dr Léon, 286, 287

Smith, Albert, on Napoleon III., 196

Smith, James, 102, 109, 112

Smith, James and Horace, _Rejected Addresses_, 107

Smith, Sydney, 123, 180

Somerset, Lady Fitzroy, 134

Southey, Robert, 223

Soyer, _Chef_, 293

Standish, 261

_Star and Garter_, Richmond, 147, 155

Stuart, Hon. W., 293

Stultz, “Tailor to M. le Comte d’Orsay,” 117

Sue, Eugène, 224, 238

” Account of, 296

” _Mysteries of Paris_, _Wandering Jew_, 295

Sumner, Charles, 188, 195

” on Gore House, 186

” on Landor, 218

T

Taglioni, Mlle., 86, 87, 144

Talbot, Mr, 140

Talma, Mme., 19

Tamburini, 144

“Tamburini Row,” 261

Tankerville, Lord, 220

Tarentum, Archbishop of, 67

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord, 266

Teufelsdröckh, Professor, definition of a dandy, xiii

Thackeray, W. M., 188, 191, 283

” Letters to Mrs Brookfield, 182, 281

” _Vanity Fair_, “Mr Moss’s Mansion,” 253

” Visits D’Orsay in Paris, 292

Thanet, Lord, 34

Thiers, M., 95

Thomson, Poulett, 95

Ticknor, George, 180

Trelawney, the _Younger Son_, 169, 170

Tullemore, Lady, 134

Tyrone, 32

U

Ude, _Chef_, 295

” story of, 150

Uwins, painter, 57

V

Valence, 44

Viel Castel, Count Horace de, on D’Orsay, 298, 304

Vigne, Casimir de la, _Columbus_, 67

Vigny, Count Alfred de, 176, 181, 260

” Letter to Lady Blessington, 180

Vizetelly, Henry, on D’Orsay, 250

W

Walewska, Countess, 202

Walewski, Count, 93, 95

Webster, Sir Godfrey, 136

Wellington, Duke of, 158, 188

” Catholic Emancipation Act, 88

” in Paris, 18, 19

” on Napoleon III., 209

” on his portrait by D’Orsay, 232

Westmacott, sculptor, 57

White-bait, 147, 148

Wild oats, 147

Wilkie, Sir David, 33, 72

Williams, Lady, 94

Willis, Nathaniel Parker, 139

” Description of Lady Blessington, 137

” on Disraeli, 140

” on D’Orsay, 122

” Visits Lady Blessington, 104

Wilton, Lord, 102

Wombwell, George, 242

Worcester, Lord, 240, 241

Wordsworth, W., 223

Würtemberg, King of, 16

Wyatt (Wayatville), Sir Jeffrey, 149

Wycherley, high priest of dandyism, xii

Y

Yates, Edmund, on D’Orsay and Louis Napoleon, 195

” on Planché, 262

Yates, Frederick Henry, 240_n_

Z

Zichy, Count, 172, 173

COLSTONS LIMITED, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH