a fine wind at first, which fell calm for some time, but rose again, so that we made the harbour without losing our tide. Leonard was for some time very sick, but was quite fresh and well before we quitted the ship. He remained on deck. I had myself laid in a birth at once, (I wonder they do not call it a death rather,) and resigned myself to my fate in a recumbent posture; but all my wretchedness is over now, so I will not keep up the recollection of it. We shall not start till to-morrow morning, and, as we do not mean to attempt to travel more than fifty English miles a day, it will be Saturday forenoon before we arrive in Paris; where I have apartments already secured to me in the Place Vendôme, and orders gone before me to have fires lighted; by the politeness of a French gentleman whom I met with at Lord Holland's, whose lodgings these are. There is no end to the kindness of every body; but Leonard's is greater than all. He is, I think, quite well; indeed, remarkably so, not a tinge of yellow, of the breadth of a hair, in any part of his face. He will probably add something in the other page; he is at present busy at the quay. We shall not hear of you till we reach Paris; but there I trust we shall have good and full accounts. My tenderest remembrances to dearest Mary: I hope the other two children will be like her, I cannot wish them to be better. God bless you. Affectionately yours, FRA. HORNER. LETTER CCLXXXV. LORD HOLLAND TO MR. HORNER'S FATHER. Dear Sir, Holland House, 24th Oct. 1816. Your letters shall be duly forwarded to your son. All his friends here are sensible of the advantage of his kind and affectionate brother Leonard being with him, and cannot but admire the disinterestedness of Mrs. L. Horner in promoting such an arrangement. We had the satisfaction of finding the opinions of the London physicians less unfavourable than those of Edinburgh had been represented to us; and though I am not sanguine enough to think there is no cause for uneasiness, I certainly parted with him with a better opinion of his prospects than I entertained from the reports I had heard. His countenance was better, and both he and his brother maintain that he has gained flesh, which, if well ascertained, is a very consolatory symptom indeed, and one that outweighs very many of a less favourable description. No thanks are due to us from him or his friends. I am quite sure that nothing would make Lady Holland or myself happier than the power in any degree of promoting the recovery or contributing to the comfort of one of the best friends and best men I ever knew. You may depend upon it, my dear Sir, that there is no man in England who has more sincere friends, as there is certainly none who deserve them more; and there is none who has greater pride in reckoning himself one, than your Obliged humble servant, VASSALL HOLLAND. LETTER CCLXXXVI. TO LADY HOLLAND. My dear Lady Holland, Paris, 29th Oct. 1816. Several little things to be done have kept us one day longer in Paris than we meant; but I think we shall certainly be off to-morrow, early enough to reach Nemours. I have just received your packet of last Thursday; it is a vast comfort to both of us to get our letters so surely and frequently, and I am particularly pleased on my brother's account that his separation from Mrs. Horner and his children should be relieved as much as possible from any continued anxiety. I find I must trouble Allen with a medical epistle, so I shall not burden you with any more egotism of that sort to-day. Ward lives within three doors of us, and has been here repeatedly; very pleasant and entertaining; he sat by my bedside yesterday, that is my sofa, while Leonard went to see Talma in Hamlet. His master, he says, is to remain some time longer here; a fortnight or more: and he seems to suspect, that Canning, besides re-conducting his lady home, has some political reason for being here at this time; but he evidently makes no confidences of that sort with Ward. Canning is of opinion, that the Ultras are about to commit a great fault, in declaring themselves for a free press; and he tells them so the spirit of a party question carries them for the moment so far out of their own element, that an old emigrant magistrate, whom I knew in London, a Presi dent à mortier of one of the Parliaments, and who, in all his opinions, is for every thing of the old régime, maintains that nothing will save France but the liberty of *The Hon. J. W. Ward, the late Earl Dudley. the press. This is not founded, that I can hear, upon any speculation that the country might be roused by the press to any declaration in favour of their views; but was suggested first by the proceedings against Chateaubriand's pamphlet, and is kept up by feeling that they have here a change, and a general question to debate, in which they will have the general feeling of the nation with them against the ministers. But besides this, and accusations of undue and unconstitutional influence in the elections, with which they are to open their campaign, they talk of other popular questions, such as abolishing the qualification of age for the chamber of deputies, enlarging the number of that assembly, and giving it the initiative. I am afraid the Ultras have more of the discipline, as well as zeal of a party, than any of their rivals. I told you of Madame de Souza's kindness to me, in preparing for my arrival, and coming to see me immediately; she has paid me a visit every day, and while she had the goodness to amuse me by conversing in my hearing, she enforced your instructions in prohibiting me from taking a part. There is something very pleasing in her affection for her son,* and her anxiety on his account. Pray take some opportunity of saying to her soon how gratefully I feel her unexampled kindness to a stranger. We shall write from the road in a day or LETTER CCLXXXVI. TO LADY HOLLAND. My dear Lady Holland, Paris, 29th Oct. 1816. Several little things to be done have kept us one day longer in Paris than we meant; but I think we shall certainly be off to-morrow, early enough to reach Nemours. I have just received your packet of last Thursday; it is a vast comfort to both of us to get our letters so surely and frequently, and I am particularly pleased on my brother's account that his separation from Mrs. Horner and his children should be relieved as much as possible from any continued anxiety. I find I must trouble Allen with a medical epistle, so I shall not burden you with any more egotism of that sort to-day. Ward lives within three doors of us, and has been here repeatedly; very pleasant and entertaining; he sat by my bedside yesterday, that is my sofa, while Leonard went to see Talma in Hamlet. His master, he says, is to remain some time longer here; a fortnight or more: and he seems to suspect, that Canning, besides re-conducting his lady home, has some political reason for being here at this time; but he evidently makes no confidences of that sort with Ward. Canning is of opinion, that the Ultras are about to commit a great fault, in declaring themselves for a free press; and he tells them so the spirit of a party question carries them for the moment so far out of their own element, that an old emigrant magistrate, whom I knew in London, a President à mortier of one of the Parliaments, and who, in all his opinions, is for every thing of the old régime, maintains that nothing will save France but the liberty of * The Hon. J. W. Ward, the late Earl Dudley. |