  D’Orsay, had he devoted his time and his mind to the matter, could doubtless have attained high eminence as a painter and sculptor, but he was wise and refused to be bitten by the temptation; he well knew that there are many artists, but few dandies. The gifts that other men would have cultivated exclusively, he used to heighten and perfect his genius as a master of dandyship. It is perhaps the highest attribute of genius to be able to recognise genius—in oneself; only mediocre men are modest. Modesty is a sign of incompetency or stupidity. Could D’Orsay have achieved greatness as a writer? Byron thought very highly of the journal which, it will be remembered, D’Orsay wrote during his first visit to London, but we cannot accept this criticism as final, for the poet’s literary judgment was often faulty. He is reputed to have been a contributor to some of the journals of the day and he was put forward as the “editor” of the translation published in London in 1847 of a French novel, Marie, Histoire d’une Jeune Fille. But other men have gained fame with as little regular literary baggage as the Count, literature in the form of familiar letters, written always, or almost always, without a thought that they would meet the public eye. Of casual letters we have a fair number of D’Orsay’s, Here is a note from him to Landor, written in September 1828:— “I have received, dear Mr Landor, your letter. It has given us great pleasure. You ought to feel sure that we should particularly appreciate a letter from you, and it will appear that our intimacy in Florence counted for nothing with you if you doubt the pleasure that your news arouses in us. As soon as I have received the pictures I will carry out your commission carefully. I do wish you would come to Paris, for we have some fine things to show you, particularly pictures. Apropos, I am sending you herewith the portrait of Prince Borghese, which I hope you will find to be a good likeness.… We talk and think often of you. It is really strange that you are in the odour of sanctity in this family, for it seems to me it is not exactly this sort of reputation you pique yourself on possessing. “Lady B. and all our ladies send you a thousand good wishes and I renew the assurance of the sincerity of mine.—Yours very affectionately, “D’Orsay.” “All our ladies,” included Lady d’Orsay. Then of a much later date, probably 1842 or 1843:— “I think that Henry the Eighth was at Richmond-on-the-Hill when Anne Boleyn was beheaded. They say that he saw the flag which was erected in London as soon as her head fell. Therefore, as you make him staying at Epping Forest at that time, and as I am sure you have some good reasons for it, I will thank you to give them to me. “We regretted much not to have seen you at Bath, and I was on the moment to write to you, like Henry the Fourth did to the brave Crillon after the battle! “‘Pends toi, brave Landor, nous avons ÉtÉ À Bath, et tu n’y Étois pas—’ “You will be glad to hear that the second son of my sister has been received at the Ecole of St Cyr, after a ticklish examination. Hoping to see you soon, believe me, yours most affectionately, “D’Orsay.” There is not very much of distinction, perhaps, in these two letters, but they serve to show the familiar friendship of the two men and also that the dandy studied his English History, at any rate as far as concerns the disposal of wives. With John Forster he kept up a fairly lively correspondence, some of the letters containing points of interest:— “Gore House, 25th October 1844. “It is really an age since you’ve been here. It’s a poor joke! Where have you been?… Macready has sent me a Boston paper, in which I “Eugene Sue gets better and better; he leads you to his moral by somewhat perilous roads, but once you get there you find it pure and beautiful. The fecundity of his imagination surpasses all previous works; the Jesuits are smashed up, the convents broken down and the workman raised upon their debris. Amen.—Yours ever, “D’Orsay.” Was it not to this practical Forster that D’Orsay wrote upon his project for establishing a means of communication between the guard and the engine-driver of a train? But the “sacrÉs directeurs de rail road” would not adopt his idea because of their own ideas of economy. “P.M., 4th August 1845. “I am determined to follow up the directors until they take up my scheme, and if you will assist me” (i.e. by writing in the papers), “these continual accidents will establish a ‘raw,’ which we will tickle continually with cayenne pepper, and in the end they will take real steps to heal the wound. My idea is this, that they shall have a seat behind the last carriage of every train, just like the coachman’s of a hansom cab. It would be in communication with the engine by a long cord passing along the whole length of the roof of the carriages; on pulling the cord a hammer would strike a gong by the engine and would indicate that a halt must be made.…” There was also to be an arrangement of lamps “Gore House, 25th September 1845. “I am sorry to tell you that Lady Blessington a reÇu des nouvelles” (from here the letter is in French); “very alarming concerning the health of Lady Canterbury. There is no doubt she is gradually sinking, surrounded by those who choose to blind themselves to her condition.… It will be best, I think, for you to tell our dear Dickens why for the moment we must abandon our plans. I should most willingly have gone with you to Knebworth, we will arrange to go there together when I can manage a day.…” Knebworth was Lord Lytton’s country seat. The letter continues, throwing a light upon the dark side of our comedy:— “Think of poor Lady Blessington losing in so short a time her niece, her little niece, her nephew, her brother-in-law, and her sister dying.…” Then again he returns to his railway scheme:— “I was just going to write to you from the country, where I have been some time, to tell you that Lady C? and Lady Sophie de V? went to Derby by rail; they were in the last carriage of the train. One of the connections is broken, the carriage is tossed from right to left and left to right so violently, that the two unhappy people think they are lost, and wave their handkerchiefs out of the window. They call out; no one sees them; no one hears them, and happily they reach the station, not a moment too soon—the “Bournemouth, Hants, 9th September 1848. “We are in the most charming neighbourhood in the world, a kind of Wheemby Hill with the sea: it is three hours from Southampton. Come and see us! You will be delighted, it is perfection for bathing, and the weather is superb; it is the climax of summer.…” Of Mathews’ friendship with D’Orsay in Italy, an account has already been given; the following letters show that it was continued on paper:— “17th November 1831. “My Dear Charles … I have lost my poor friend Blessington and my mother within two months; they died in my arms, and when I think of them it is always their last moments that come to my mind. I would it were in other times, but that is difficult.…” The following from London:— “1st September. “My Dear Charles … I was the other day at Goodwood.… Since I learnt that you had taken the Adelphi I agreed with Lord Worcester that we would do all we could to interest society in your favour by thinking and talking about it. I understand that the first idea of Y(ates) “D’Orsay.” The Adelphi was opened by Yates and Mathews on 28th September 1835; the house was full, but the season was not satisfactory. The details of acting and stage production were not beneath D’Orsay’s notice:— “My Dear Charles,—I like your new piece very much, and you acted very well. You must ask the orchestra to accompany you a little less noisily, for the noise they made made it impossible to follow a quarter of your Aria. You “D’Orsay.” The bright vivacity of the following letter to Dr Quin had best be left in its native French:— “8th AoÛt 1831, Cher et estimate Quin,—RÉgÉnÉrateur de l’humanitÉ souffrante! Nouveau ProphÈte dont les disciples s’essoufflent À chanter les louanges, et qui finira par triompher comme la civilisation rÉgnante; comment se fait il que vous oubliez entiÈrement votre disciple Alfred, n’attendez pas en vain l’arrivÉe d’un ange du ciel pour m’Éclairer mais dÉroulez vos Papyrus pour y graver les progrÈs de la marche gigantesque de cette methodus medendi, qui jointe À votre intelligence vous assure pour votre vieillesse un outrage de Lauriers dont l’Épaisseur permettroit À peine que vous soyez encore plus eclairÉ par le rayon de gloire que le Ciel dirigera sur vous—Maintenant que je vous ai dit ma faÇon de penser À votre Égard, parlons de moi dans un style moins laconique. “Depuis mon arrivÉe dans ce pays il Étoit difficile de pouvoir donner un Fair Trial, À la “Alfred d’Orsay.” Dr Quin was the first homoeopathic practitioner in England, and in his early days was denounced as a quack. He was endowed with an inexhaustible fund of good humour, was a wit and a master of repartee. In a postscript to another letter D’Orsay writes:— “You have, my friend, an unbearable mania, that of always defending the absent. Don’t you know that there is a French proverb which says, ‘Les absens ont toujours tort?’ This fashion never goes out, and, the devil, you who are the ‘pink of fashion,’ you must be in the mode.” Jekyll declared to Lady Blessington that he “was asked gravely if quinine was invented by Doctor Quin!” Here is a quaint little note to the Doctor:— “Gore House, Saturday. “My Dear Dr Quin,—M. Pipelet (D’Orsay) requests that you will send him the letter about Mr ? you promised he should have. I suppose it is in vain to tell you we are going to the Opera to-night. Of course you have 999 impatient patients who must see you every five minutes throughout the course of the day and night, and as many more friends who expect you to dinner. However, en passant, I venture to hint that we go with Mdme. Calabrella, so if you manage to kill off the maladies, and put the friends under the table in turn, we shall be delighted to see you ready and waiting, as Homer says in the fifth book of the Iliad, line forty-nine. Farewell, may you be happy whilst I—Sobs choke my utterance. Adieu.” |
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