The Idler in FranceBlessington, Marguerite, Countess of
History
The Idler in France
Blessington, Marguerite, Countess of
France -- Description and travel; France -- Social life and customs
I have presented Mr. Rogers with some acquisitions for his cabinet of
antique _bijouterie_, with which he appears delighted. I outbid M.
Millingen, who was bargaining at Naples for these little treasures, and
secured a diminutive Cupid, a Bacchus, and a small bunch of grapes of
pure gold, and of exquisite workmanship, which will now be transferred
to the museum of my friend, Mr. Rogers. He will not, I dare say, be
more grateful for the gift of my Cupid than his sex generally are when
ladies no longer young bestow their love on them, and so I hinted when
giving him the little winged god; but, _n'importe_, the gift may
please, though the giver be forgotten.
Lord Pembroke dined here yesterday, he is peculiarly well-bred and
gentlemanlike, and looks a nobleman from top to toe. He has acquired
all the polish and _savoir-vivre_ of the best foreign society without
having lost any of the more solid and fine qualities peculiar to the
most distinguished portion of his countrymen. Lord Pembroke maintains
the reputation of English taste in equipages by sporting horses and
carriages that excite the admiration, if not the envy, of the
Parisians, among whom he is, and deserves to be, very popular.
The Duke of Hamilton paid me a long visit to-day. We talked over old
times, and our mutual friend Dr. Parr, in whose society we formerly
passed such agreeable hours in St. James's Square. The Duke is a very
well-informed man, has read much, and remembers what he has read; and
the ceremoniousness of his manners, with which some people find fault,
I have got used to, and rather like than otherwise. The mixture of
chivalric sentiments, Scotch philosophy, and high breeding of the old
French school which meet in the Duke, render his conversation very
piquant.
He has, indeed, the dignity of his three dukedoms; the _fierté_ of that
of Chatelherault, the reserve of that of England, and the spirit of
that of Scotland: witness his dignified reproof to the Duc de Blacas at
Rome, when that very unpopular personage, then Ambassador from the
court of France, presumed to comment on the frequency of the Duke of
Hamilton's visits to the Princess Pauline Borghese, who, being a
Buonaparte, was looked on with a jealous eye by Blacas.
Monsieur Mignet spent last evening here. The more I see of him the more
I am pleased with his society. To a mind stored with knowledge he joins
a happy facility of bringing forth its treasures, never as if
ostentatious of his wealth, but in illustration of any topic that is
discussed, on which he brings it to bear most aptly and appropriately.
His countenance lights up with expression when he converses, and adds
force to an eloquence always interesting and often instructive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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