The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Volume 2Gwynn, Stephen Lucius
History
The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Volume 2
Gwynn, Stephen Lucius
Dilke, Charles Wentworth, Sir, 1843-1911; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 19th century
'Relations of the pleasantest kind,' says Sir Charles, were formed with
the Due d'Aumale, in Mr. Bodley's phrase 'last of the grands seigneurs
of France.' On September 25th, 1895, the Duke wrote asking them 'to
spend a whole day going through the books at Chantilly.' 'The charm of
these books, however, and of these repeated visits of 1895 and 1896, lay
in the fact that books and drawings alike excited historic memory.'
'In October, 1895, we were in Paris, and took Went [Footnote: Sir
Charles Dilke's son, the present Sir C. Wentworth Dilke.] to stay at
Vaux, that he might see the finest of the châteaux, and also the
room where, according to Dumas, Aramis and Porthos carried off Louis
XIV., though d'Artagnan saved him again. We also went ourselves to
lunch at Chantilly with the Due d'Aumale, who told us how Mme.
Adélaïde, his aunt, used to slap his brother, the Prince de
Joinville, already a distinguished naval officer, and stop his
talking politics with, "Tais-toi, méchant morveux, qui oses
critiquer la politique de ton père." Comtesse Berthe de Clinchamp
has looked after the house since the days of the Duchesse d'Aumale,
though she lives in another house. This distinguished old dame was
also there. A daughter of the Due de Chartres was once slapped by
her aunt, the Comtesse de Paris, in public, for asking to be taken
to stay at Chantilly with "tante de Clinchamp." In 1896 to 1897 we
were a great deal at Chantilly, finding the Duke interesting with
his reminiscences of his father's account of the Court of Louis XVI.
With the ex-King of Westphalia, and Bismarck, the Duc d'Aumale was
in old age the most interesting companion that I have known. It was
the projecting of his stories into a newer generation that made them
good. Sir S. Smith ("Long Acre") was a bore at the Congress of
Vienna, but would have been delightful to us could we have known
him.' [Footnote: Sir Sidney Smith must have been prolix over his
achievements at the siege of Acre and elsewhere. It is certain that
a reputation for bombast injured his career and caused his
remarkable achievements to be underrated.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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