The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 4 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe volume 4Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
History
The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 4 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe volume 4
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de, 1768-1848
The year 1822--My first dispatches from London--Conversation with
George IV. on M. Decazes--The noble character of our diplomacy under
the Legitimacy--A parliamentary sitting--English society--Continuation
of the dispatches--Resumption of parliamentary labours--A ball
for the Irish--Duel between the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of
Buckingham--Dinner at Royal Lodge--The Marchioness Conyngham
and her secret--Portraits of the ministers--Continuation of my
dispatches--Parleys on the Congress of Verona--Letter to M. de
Montmorency; his reply foreshadowing a refusal--A more favourable
letter from M. de Villèle--I write to Madame de Duras--Death of
Lord Londonderry--Another letter to M. de Montmorency--Trip to
Hartwell--Note from M. de Villèle announcing my nomination to the
Congress--The end of old England--Charlotte--Reflexions--I leave
London--The years 1824, 1825, 1826 and 1827--Deliverance of the King
of Spain--My dismissal--The Opposition follows me--Last diplomatic
notes--Neuchâtel, in Switzerland--Death of Louis XVIII.--Coronation of
Charles X.--Reception of the knights of the Orders.
It was in London, in 1822, that I wrote, without intermission, the
longest part of these Memoirs, including my travels in America, my
return to France, my marriage, my passing through Paris, my emigration
to Germany with my brother, my residence and misfortunes in England
between 1793 and 1800. There is found the description of old England,
and, as I retraced all this at the time of my embassy (1822), the
changes that had come over the manners and persons of the time between
1793 and the end of the century struck me: I was naturally led to
compare what I saw in 1822 with what I had seen during the seven years
of my exile across the Channel.
In this way were told, by anticipation, things which I should now have
to place under the proper date of my diplomatic mission. I spoke to you
of my emotion, of the feelings recalled to me by the sight of those
spots dear to my memory; but perhaps you have not read that part of my
book? You have done well. It is enough that I should now tell you of
the place in which the gaps that will be found in the present story of
my embassy in London are filled up. You see me, therefore, writing in
1839, among the dead of 1822 and the dead that went before in 1793.
In London, in the month of April 1822, I was within fifty leagues
of Lady Sutton. I strolled in Kensington Gardens with my recent
impressions and the early past of my young years: a confusion of times
which produces in me a confusion of memories; life which burns out
mingles, like the fire of Corinth, the molten brass of the statues of
the Muses and Love, of the tripods and the tombs.
[Sidenote: The Marquess of Londonderry.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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