After Waterloo: Reminiscences of European Travel 1815 1819 - Major W. E Frye
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AFTER WATERLOO
Reminiscences of European Travel 1815-1819
By
MAJOR W.E. FRYE
EDITED WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES
By SALOMON REINACH
Member of the Institute of France
LONDON
1908
To
V.A.M.
S.R.
PREFACE
The knowledge of Major Frye's manuscript and the privilege of publishing it
for the first time I owe to the kindness of two French ladies, the Misses
G----. Their father, a well known artist and critic, used to spend the
summer months at Saint Germain-en-Laye together with his wife, who was an
English woman by birth. They had been for a long time intimately acquainted
with Major Frye, who lived and ended his life in that quiet town. The
Major's hostess, Mme. de W----, after his death in 1858, brought the
manuscript to Mrs. G---- and gave it to her in memory of her friend. It was
duly preserved in the G---- family, but remained unnoticed. The Misses
G---- rediscovered it in 1907, when it had been lying in a cupboard for
upwards of half a century. On their showing it to me I thought it was
interesting for many reasons, and worthy of introduction to the public. I
hope the reader will share my opinion, which is also that of several
English scholars and men of letters, to whom I communicated extracts from
the manuscript.
The reminiscences are in the form of letters addressed to a correspondent
who, however, is never named and of whose health, family and private
circumstances not the slightest mention is to be found. So I am inclined to
believe that he never existed, and that Major Frye chose to imitate
President de Brosses and others who thus recorded their travelling
experiences in epistolary form.
The manuscript--which will eventually be deposited in a public library--is
entirely in Major Frye's large and legible hand; at some later time it was
evidently revised by himself, but many names which I have endeavoured to
complete were left in blank or only indicated by initials. There are three
folio volumes, bound in paper boards. In this edition it has been thought
advisable to leave out a certain number of pages devoted to theatricals, of
which Major Frye was a great votary, and also some lengthy descriptions of
landscapes, museums and churches, the interest of which to modern readers
does not correspond to the space occupied by them. For the information
contained in the footnotes I am indebted to many correspondents, English,
French, Swiss, Belgian and Italian, to whom I here express my hearty
thanks. I am under special obligation to Sir Charles Dilke, Mr Oscar
Browning, Professor Novati, Professor Corrado Ricci, Commandant
Esperandieu, Professor Cumont, Professor Stilling and Mr Hoechberg.
Major Frye's tombstone is in the cemetery of Saint Germain, and reads thus:
"To the memory of Major William Edward Frye, who departed this life the 9th
day of October, 1858." On the same stone has been added in French:
"Perceval Edmond Litchfield, decede le 15 Avril, 1888." About P.E.
Litchfield I know nothing; he must have been the Major's intimate friend
during the last period of his life.
* * * * *
W.E. Frye was born Oct. 29, 1784, and received his education at Eton
(1797-9) in the time of the French Revolution. "The system was," he says,
"to drill into the heads of the boys strong aristocratic principles and
hatred of democracy and of the French in particular." The effect produced
on the youth was the reverse of that intended. From 1799 to 1822 he
belonged to the British army: here is an abstract of his services:
Ensign, 2nd Foot, 5th August, 1799.
Lieutenant, 2nd Foot, 7th March, 1800.
Half-pay, 4th Foot, 14th April, 1808.
Lieutenant, 24th Foot, 8th December, 1804.
Captain, 56th Foot, 18th April, 1805.
3rd Ceylon Regt., 15th Feb., 1810.
Half-pay, 3rd Foot, 7th March, 1816.
4th Foot, 24th Feb., 1820.
Brevet-Major, 12th August, 1819.
Sold out, 15th August, 1822.
In 1799, Frye took a part in the British Expedition to Holland. In 1801 he
was in Egypt with Lord Abercrombie's army and received the medal for war
service. His career in India lasted six years and gave him occasion to
visit the three presidencies and Ceylon. In 1814 he returned on furlough to
Europe and was in Brussels during the Waterloo campaign. The subsequent
years--1815 to 1819--he employed visiting Western Europe, as appears from
his reminiscences. I have read letters of his which prove that he lived in
Paris from 1830 to 1832. Later, about 1848, he took an apartment in Saint
Germain, and died there in 1858.
Major Frye was a very distinguished linguist; besides knowing Greek and
Latin, he understood almost all European languages, and was capable of
writing correctly in French, Italian and German. The Misses G---- have
shown me a rare book published by him at Paris in 1844 under the following
title:
"Trois chants de l'Edda. Vaftrudnismal, Thrymsquidal, Skirnisfor, traduits
en vers francais, accompagnes de notes explicatives des mythes et
allegories, et suivis d'autres poemes par W.E. Frye, ancien major
d'infanterie au service d'Angleterre, membre de l'Academie des Arcadiens de
Rome. Se vend a Paris, pour l'auteur, chez Heideloff & Cie, Libraires, 18
Rue des Filles St. Thomas. 1844" (In 8vo, xii, 115 pp.)
At the end of that volume are translations by Major Frye of several
Northern poems--in German, Italian and English verse--from the Danish and
the Swedish; then come two sonnets in French verse, the one in honour of
Lafayette, the other about the Duke of Orleans, whose premature death he
compares with that of the Northern hero of the Edda, Balder. A part of
Frye's translation of the Edda, before appearing in book form, had been
published in _l'Echo de la Litterature et des Beaux Arts_, a periodical
edited by the Major's friend, M. de Belenet.
Frye loved poetry, though his ideas on the subject were rather those of the
eighteenth century than our own. It is interesting to find an English
officer reading Voltaire, Gessner, Ariosto, and quoting them from memory
(which explains that some of his quotations had to be corrected). The
sentimental vein of Rousseau's generation still flows and vibrates in him,
as when he says that he has never been able to read the letters of Wolmar
to St Preux in Rousseau's _Nouvelle Heloise_ without shedding tears. German
minor poetry, now quite forgotten, attracted him almost as much as the
great pages of Schiller, Buerger, and Goethe. The Misses G. possess a
manuscript translation in three volumes, in the Major's own hand, of
Wieland's _Agathodemon_ done into English. This he evidently intended to
publish, as he had written the title-page which is worded as follows:
"Agathodemon, a philosophical romance translated from the German of Wieland
by W.E. Frye, member of the Academy degli Arcadi in Rome, and of the Royal
Society of Northern Antiquarians of Copenhagen, ex-major of infantry in His
British Majesty's service."
Frye describes with accuracy, and shows much appreciation of fine scenery
and architecture. His judgements in painting and sculpture are sincere,
though often betraying the autodidact and amateur. He loved music,
especially Rossini's operas which were then beginning their long career of
triumph. Theatricals of all sorts, especially ballets, had a great
attraction for him and elicited his enthusiastic comments. In comparing
tragedies and comedies which he had seen performed in different countries,
he gave repeated proofs of his knowledge and critical insight. We can take
him as a good example of that intelligent class of English travellers whose
intercourse with the Continental _litterati_ has so well contributed to
establish the good reputation of British culture and refined appreciation
of the arts.
The chief interest of Frye's reminiscences lies, however, in quite another
direction. He was a friend of liberty, a friend of France, an admirer of
Napoleon, and a hater of the Tory regime which brought about Napoleon's
downfall. "France's attempts at European domination, in the Napoleonic era,
are graciously described as but so many efforts towards spreading the light
of civilization over Europe." These words, written about a quite recent
work and a propos of the "Entente cordiale," apply perfectly to Frye's
reminiscences. Travelling immediately before and after the Emperor's
collapse, he found that everywhere, excepting in Tuscany, the French
domination was regretted, because the ideals of liberty and equality had
shone and vanished with the tricolour flag. He admires the French people,
though not the _Ultras_ and bigots, and has fine words of praise for the
French army: "Yes, the French soldier is a fine fellow. I have served
against them in Holland and in Egypt, and I will never flinch from
rendering justice to their exemplary conduct and lofty valour." He takes
trouble to refute the exaggerated reports which were then circulated all
over Europe about the cruelties and vandalism practised by the French: "If
the French since the Revolution have not always fought for liberty, they
have done so invariably for science; and wherever they carried their
victorious arms abuses were abolished, ameliorations of all kinds followed
and the arts of life were improved. Our government, since the accession of
George III, has never raised its arm except in favour of old abuses, to
uphold despotism and unfair privileges or to establish commercial
monopoly."
Sometimes, indeed, speaking of his own country and its government, Major
Frye uses very hard words, which might seem unpatriotic if we did not know,
from many other memoirs and letters, to what a terrible strain orthodox
Toryism, coupled with bigotry and hypocrisy, had put the patience of
liberal Englishmen at that period. He called the British government "the
most dangerous, artful, and determined enemy of all liberty,"--"England,"
he says, "has been always ready to lend a hand to crush liberty, to
perpetuate abuses and to rivet the fetters of monarchical, feudal and
ecclesiastical tyranny." And later on he inveighs against the English
merchants, who "contributed with their gold to uphold the corrupt system of
Pitt and to carry on unjust, unreasonable and liberticide wars."
Whatever may be the final judgement of history on the Tory principles in
politics in the days of the Congress of Vienna, Major Frye's love of
liberty and intellectual progress entitle him to the sympathy of those who
share his generous feelings and do not consider that personal freedom and
individual rights are articles for home use only. Since Frye wrote, the
whole of Europe, excepting perhaps Russia, has reaped the benefits of the
French Revolution, and reduced, if not suppressed, what the Major called
"kingcraft and priestcraft." He did not attempt to divine the future, but
the history of Europe in the nineteenth century has been largely in
accordance with his desires and hopes. It is not a small merit for a
writer, in the midst of one of the most rabid reactions that the world has
known, to have clung with such tenacity to ideals, the complete victory of
which may now be contemplated in the near future.
S.R.
CONTENTS
PART I.
CHAPTER I
MAY-JUNE, 1815
Passage from Ceylon to England--Napoleon's return--Ostend--Bruges
--Ghent--The King of France at Mass--Alost--Bruxelles--The Duke of
Wellington very confident--Feelings of the Belgians--Good conduct of
British troops--Monuments in Bruxelles--Theatricals--Genappe and
Namur--Complaints against the Prussian troops--Mons--Major-General
Adam--Tournay--A French deserter--General Clinton's division--Cavalry
review--The Duke de Berri--Back to Bruxelles--Unjust opinions about
Napoleon and the French--Battle at Ligny--The day of Waterloo in
Bruxelles--Visit to the battlefield--Terrible condition of the
wounded--Kindness of the Bruxellois.
CHAPTER II
From Bruxelles to Liege--A priest's declamation against the French
Revolution--Maastricht--Aix-la-Chapelle--Imperial relics--Napoleon
regretted--Klingmann's "Faust"--A Tyrolese beauty--Cologne--Difficulties
about a passport--The Cathedral--King-craft and priest-craft--The
Rhine--Bonn and Godesberg--Goethe's "Goetz von Berlichingen"--The Seven
Mountains--German women--Andernach--Ehrenbreitstein--German hatred against
France--Coblentz--Intrigues of the Bourbon princes in Coblentz--Mayence--
Bieberich--Conduct of the Allies towards Napoleon--Frankfort on the
Mayn--An anecdote about Lord Stewart and Lafayette--German poetry--The
question of Alsace and Lorraine--Return to Bruxelles--Napoleon's surrender.
CHAPTER III
From Bruxelles to Paris--Restoration of Louis XVIII--The officers of the
allied armies--The Palais Royal--The Louvre--Protest of the author against
the proposed despoiling of the French Museums--Unjust strictures against
Napoleon's military policy--The _cant_ about revolutionary robberies--The
Grand Opera--Monuments in Paris--The Champs Elysees--Saint-Cloud--The
Hotel des Invalides--The Luxembourg--General Labedoyere--Priests and
emigrants--Prussian Plunder--Handsome behaviour of the English
officers--Reminiscences of Eton--Versailles.
CHAPTER IV
From Paris to Bruxelles--Visiting the plains of Waterloo--The Duke de Berri
at Lille--Beauvais--Return to Paris--Remarks on the French theatre
--Talma--Mlle Duchesnois--Mlle Georges--French alexandrine verse--The Abbe
Delille--The Opera Comique.
CHAPTER V
From Paris to Milan through Dijon, Chalon-sur-Saone, Lyons, Geneva and the
Simplon--Auxerre--Dijon--Napoleon at Chalon-sur-Saone--The army of the
Loire--Macon--French _grisettes_--Lyons--Monuments and theatricals--
Geneva--Character and opinions of the Genevois--Voltaire's chateau at
Ferney--The chevalier Zadera--From Geneva to Milan--Crossing the
Simplon--Arona--The theatres in Milan--Rossini--Monuments in Milan--Art
encouraged by the French--Mr Eustace's bigotry--Return to Switzerland
--Clarens and Vevey--Lausanne--Society in Lausanne--Return to Paris--The
Louvre stripped--Death of Marshal Ney.
PART II
CHAPTER VI
MARCH-JUNE, 1816
Ball at Cambray, attended by the Duke of Wellington--An Adventure between
Saint Quentin and Compiegne--Paris revisited--Colonel Wardle and Mrs
Wallis--Society in Paris--The Sourds-Muets--The Cemetery of Pere La
Chaise--Apathy of the French people--The priests--Marriage of the Duke de
Berri.
CHAPTER VII
Journey from Paris to Lausanne--Besancon--French refugees in Lausanne
--Francois Lamarque--General Espinassy--Bordas--Gautier--Michau--M. de
Laharpe--Mlle Michaud--Levade, a Protestant minister--Chambery--Aix
--Details about M. de Boigne's career in India--English Toryism and
intolerance--Valley of Maurienne--Passage across Mont Cenis and arrival at
Suza--Turin.
CHAPTER VIII
Journey from Turin to Bologna--Asti--Schiller and Alfieri--Italian
_cuisine_--The _vetturini_--Marengo--Piacenza--The Trebbia--Parma--The
Empress Maria Louisa--Modena--Bologna--The University--The Marescalchi
Gallery--Character of the Bolognese.
CHAPTER IX
Journey across the Appennines to Florence--Tuscan idioms and
customs--Monuments and galleries at Florence--The Cascino--Churches--
Theatres--Popularity of the Grand Duke--Napoleon's downfall not
regretted--Academies in Florence.
CHAPTER X
Journey from Florence to Rome--Sienna--Radicofani--Bolsena--Montefiascone
wine--Viterbo--Baccano--The Roman Campagna--The papal _douans_--Monuments
and Museums in Rome--Intolerance of the Catholic Christians--The Tiber and
the bridges--Character of the Romans--The _Palazzi_ and _Ville_--Canova's
atelier--Theatricals--An execution in Rome.
CHAPTER XI
From Rome to Naples--Albano--Velletri--The Marshes--Terracina--Mola di
Gaeta--Capua--The streets of Naples--Monuments and Museums--Visit to
Pompeii and ascent to Vesuvius--Dangerous ventures--Puzzuoli and
Baiae--Theatres at Naples--Pulcinello--Return to Rome--Tivoli.
CHAPTER XII
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, 1816
From Rome to Florence--Sismondi the historian--Reminiscences of
India--Lucca--Princess Elisa Baciqochi--Pisa--The Campo Santo--Leghorn--
Hebrews in Leghorn--Lord Dillon--The story of a lost glove--From Florence
to Lausanne by Milan, Turin and across Mont Cenis--Lombardy in winter--The
Hospice of Mont Cenis.
PART III
CHAPTER XIII
MARCH-SEPTEMBER, 1817
Journey from Lausanne to Clermont-Ferrand--A wretched conveyance--The
first dish of frogs--Society in Clermont-Ferrand--General de Vergennes--
Cleansing the town--Return to Lausanne--A zealous priest--Journey to Bern
and back to Lausanne--Avenches--Lake Morat--Lake Neufchatel--The Diet in
Bern--Character of the Bernois--A beautiful Milanese lady.
CHAPTER XIV
SEPTEMBER, 1817-APRIL, 1818
Journey from Lausanne to Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples--Residence at
Naples--The theatre of San Carlo--Rossini's operas--Gaming in Naples--The
_Lazzaroni_--Public writers--Carbonarism--Return to Rome--Christmas eve at
Santa Maria Maggiore--Mme Dionigi--Theatricals--Society in Rome--The papal
government--Lucien Bonaparte, prince of Canino--Louis Napoleon, ex-King of
Holland--Pope Pius VII--Thorwaldsen--Granet--The Holy Week in Rome--The
Duchess of Devonshire--From Rome to Florence by the Perugia road.
CHAPTER XV
APRIL-JULY, 1818
Journey from Florence to Pisa and from thence by the Appennines to
Genoa--Massa--Carrara--Genoa--Monuments and works of art--The
Genoese--Return to Florence--Journey from Florence through Bologna and
Ferrara to Venice--Monument to Ariosto in Ferrara--A description of
Venice--Padua--Vicenza--Verona--Cremona--Return to Milan--The Scala
theatre--Verona again--From Verona to Innspruck.
CHAPTER XVI
JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1818
Innspruck--Tyrol and the Tyrolese--From Innspruck to Munich--Monuments and
churches--Theatricals--Journey from Munich to Vienna on a floss--Trouble
with a passport--Complicated system of Austrian money--Description of
Vienna--The Prater--The theatres--Schiller's _Joan of Arc_--A
_Kinderballet_--The young Napoleon at Schoenbrunn--Journey from Vienna to
Prague.
CHAPTER XVII
SEPTEMBER, 1818-MARCH, 1819
The splendid city of Prague--The German expression, "To give the basket"--
Journey from Prague to Dresden--Journey from Dresden to Berlin--A
description of Berlin--The Prussian Army--Theatricals--Peasants talk about
Napoleon--Prussians and French should be allies--Absurd policy of the
English Tories--Journey from Berlin to Dresden--A description of
Dresden--The battle of Dresden in 1813--Clubs at Dresden--Theatricals--
German beds--Saxon scholars--The picture gallery--Tobacco an ally of
Legitimacy--Saxon women--Meissen--Unjust policy of Europe towards the King
of Saxony.
CHAPTER XVIII
MARCH-APRIL, 1819
Journey from Dresden to Leipzig--The University of Leipzig--Liberal
spirit--The English disliked in Saxony--The English Government hostile to
liberty--Journey to Frankfort--From Frankfort to Metz and Paris--A.F.
Lemaitre--_Bon voyage_ to the Allies--Return to England.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I
MAY-JUNE, 1815
Passage from Ceylon to England--Napoleon's return--Ostend--Bruges--Ghent--
The King of France at Mass--Alost--Bruxelles--The Duke of Wellington very
confident--Feelings of the Belgians--Good conduct of British
troops--Monuments in Bruxelles--Theatricals--Genappe and Namur--Complaints
against the Prussian troops--Mons--Major-General Adam--Tournay--A French
deserter--General Clinton's division--Cavalry review--The Duke de
Berri--Back to Bruxelles--Unjust opinions about Napoleon and the
French--Battle at Ligny--The day of Waterloo in Bruxelles--Visit to the
battlefield--Terrible condition of the wounded--Kindness of the Bruxellois.
BRUXELLES, May 1, 1815.
I proceed to the fulfilment of my promise, to give you from time to time
the details of my tour, and my reflections on the circumstances that occur
at this momentous crisis.
To me, who have spent the greatest part of my life out of Europe, the whole
scene is so new that I am quite bewildered with it; and you will, I am
afraid, as I write on the impulse of the moment, find my ideas at times
rather incoherently put together. What changes have taken place in Europe
within the last two years! and how great were those which occurred during
the interval of my passage from Ceylon last year, which island I quitted
about the time that we received in that part of the world intelligence of
the battle of Leipsic! Having had a long passage from distant Taprobane, it
was only on my arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, that I learned, to my
utter astonishment, the news of the capitulation of Paris to the allied
powers, and of the overthrow of the power and dynasty of Napoleon. I
recollect that at the Cape there was great rejoicing and jubilee on this
occasion; but I confess, as to myself, I did not see any reason for giving
vent to this extravagant joy; and I must have had even at that time somehow
or other a presentiment of what would soon happen, as in communicating this
intelligence to a friend in India I made use of these words: "get a court
dress made, my good friend, and a big wig, ruffled shirt, and hair-powder,
and stick an old-fashioned sword by your side, for, depend on it, old
fashions will come into play again; the most arbitrary and aristocratic
notions will be revived and terrible machinations will be framed against
the liberties of Europe."
Of course at the Cape we only heard one side of the question; and I began
to be almost convinced that it was as necessary for humanity, as for the
repose of Europe, that the giant should be put down; and I was consoled
when it was effected, ostensibly, at least, by the voice of the people.
I had scarcely been three months in England, when the return of Napoleon
from Elba, and the extraordinary dislocation of the Bourbons from the
throne of France, summoned Europe again to arms; the crusade is preached at
Vienna, and behold! his Grace of Wellington appointed the Godfrey of the
holy league. I had reason, about six weeks before the news of this event
reached London, from some conversation I had with an intelligent friend,
who had just returned from a tour on the Continent, to suppose that the
slightest combination against the Bourbons would prove successful, from
their injudicious conduct and from the temper of the people; but I never
could have supposed that the return of the man of Elba would be hailed with
such unparalleled and unanimous acclamation. As I had long ago wished for
an opportunity of visiting the continent of Europe, which had never before
occurred to me, I eagerly embraced the offer made to me by my friend
Major-General Wilson, formerly Lieut.-Governor of Ceylon,[1] to accompany
him on a military tour through the country about to be the theatre of war.
Though I had never before visited the Continent (except with the British
army in the invasion of Holland in 1799, when I began my military career),
yet I was not wholly unprepared for travelling, having united to a
classical, as well as military education, a tolerable knowledge of history,
and a partial acquirement of the principal modern European languages, which
I had begun to learn when very young and which I kept up during my leisure
hours in India, which, like those of Don Quixote, were many. I preferred
this study infinitely to that of the Asiatic languages, for which I never
felt any taste, as I dislike bombast, hyperbole and exaggeration; and
though an ardent admirer of the Muses, I never could find pleasure in what
Voltaire terms "le bon style oriental, ou l'on fait danser les montagnes et
les collines," and I prefer the amatory effusions of Ovid to those of the
great King Solomon himself.
The war will no doubt commence in Belgium, and of course the Emperor
Napoleon will be the assailant, for it cannot be supposed that after the
act of ban passed against him by the Amphictyons of Vienna he will remain
tranquil, and not strike the first blow, which may render him master of
Belgium and its resources.
We embarked at Ramsgate on the first of May for Ostend on board of a small
vessel bound thither. Our fellow passengers were two officers of dragoons,
several commissaries with their servants, horses, etc. After a passage of
twenty-four hours, we entered the harbour of Ostend at one o'clock the
following day. Ostend, once so flourishing and opulent, has long since
fallen into decay; its usual dullness is however just now interrupted by
the bustle of troops landing to join the allied army. Cavalry, infantry,
artillery, horses, guns, stores, etc., are landed every minute. The quays
are the only parts of this city which can boast of handsome buildings; the
fortifications seem to be much out of repair; in fact, the aggrandizement
of Antwerp occasioned necessarily the deterioration of Ostend.
The General and myself went to put up at the _Tete d'Or_, the only inn
where we could procure beds; and we embarked early next morning at the
embouchure of the canal on board of a _treckschuyt_ which conveyed us in
three hours to Bruges.
The landscape between Ostend and Bruges is extremely monotonous, it being a
uniformly flat country; yet it is pleasing to the eye at this season of the
year from the verdure of the plains, which are all appropriated to
pasturage, and from the appearance of the different villages and towns, of
which the eye can embrace a considerable number. There is a good road on
the banks of the canal, and the troops, on their line of march, enlivened
much the scene. Bruges, formerly the grand mart and emporium of the
commerce of the East, not only for the Low Countries, but for all the North
of Europe, seems, if we may judge from the state of the buildings and the
stillness that prevails, to be also in a state of decline. We however had
only time to visit the _Hotel de Ville_ and to remark the immense height of
the steeple on the _Grande Place_. We observed a number of pretty women in
the streets and in the shops employed in lace making. Bruges has been at
all times renowned for the beauty of the female sex, and this brought to my
recollection a passage in Schiller's tragedy of the _Maid of Orleans_,
wherein the Duke of Burgundy says that the greatest boast of Bruges is the
beauty of its women.