Greville; or, a season in Paris

Front matter

GREVILLE; OR A SEASON IN PARIS GREVILLE; Oil, A SEASON IN PARIS. BY MRS. GORE, AUTHORESS OF <kTIIE COURTIER, " " POSTHUMOUS MEMOIRS OI A PEERESS," ETC, ETC. " Oh' English people,— English people!— why can jou not stay and perish of apoplexy and Yorkshire pudding at home?— Pelham PARIS, PUBLISHED BY A. AND W. GALIGNANI AND (]".. N". 18, RLE VIVIENNE. 1841. miNTED DY r DItlERE, 5 5, HUE STE. ANNE, A SEASON IN PARIS. n T-.-__-9>~i__i CHAPTEB I. " II saut en finir avec cette reine douairifere, qui d'ailleurs prolonge de la ma niere la plus illegale l'exereice de son autorite. — Bernard." A avidoaved countess, possessing a suflicient jointure and an only son arrived at years of discretion, is a personage to Avhom the gay world is sure lo concede becoming respect. BetAveen the men who have views upon herself, and the women Avho have vieAvs upon the young earl, a considerable number of potent links are created betAveen her ladyship's interests and those of society.

Harriet, Countess of Greville, enjoyed to the utmost the advan tages of such a position. She AA'as a AA-oman of high descent and honourable alliances, of good appearance and unblemished character. No one remembered much of the circumstances of her married life. The late Earl Avas much her senior in years, — a A-aletudinarian,— almost a misanthrope. — They had lived out of the AA-orld, forgetting and forgotten ; and Avhen the newspapers at length related that the sick man AA'as no more, and that the young Earl, a boy of only eight years old, Avas left to the sole guardianship of his mother, nobody cared much about the matter, except a distant cousin,— the heir presumptive ;— avIio had some hopes that the child might be killed Avith kindness, if the Countess Avere not tempted to marry again.

She never AA-as. The young Earl greAv up into manhood, and his parent was still a AvidoAV. By the will of his father, he Avas not to attain his majority till the age of five-and-twenty ; and though most of his college friends agreed among themselves that in this particular " Greville Avas deucedly ill-used," that " it Avas doubt-. less by the influence of his mother over the late Earl she had attained such extraordinary authority over the fate and fortunes of her unlucky son,"— such Avas the respect teslilied towards her by the young Lord, that no one presumed to say more to him than that " it Avas a monstrous nuisance to be so hampered ! " Whether Greville were of the same opinion, it Avas impossible to conjecture. Habitually reserved, passing his holidays and vacations alone Avith his mother at Greville Abbey, he Avas graver than AYas either natural to his years, or than altogether became them.

Chapter II

" La Comtesse avail reiissi au-dela de ses esperances. En relour d'un denoue ment dont la gravid fortiflait la tendresse, elle avail obtenu de son eleve une soumission sans bornes, un respect digne des temps antiques."— L'Arbre de Science. The young Earl of Greville, the object of so much solicitude on the part of his mother, and of discussion in the dining-room at Hill Hall, possessed considerable personal endoAvments, in addition to those of wealth and aristocratic inheritance. Above the common height, his figure Avas Avell shaped and pro portioned. His complexion Avas fair,— almost too fair for a man ; particularly as the slightest excitement of mind, or even embarrassment of manner, sent the eloquent blood flushing even to the roots of his someAvhat redundant brown hair. But his forehead Avas expansive and noble, his mouth expressive ; and his countenance redeemed from the insipidity commonly attributed to blondins, by the dark eyebrows and eyelashes surmounting his full grey eyes.

On the Avhole, he Avas Avhat is called strikingly handsome for an unmarried earl, with a rent-roll of forty thousand a-year. Still, Mr. Massingberd Avas right. His air Avas deficient, his manners were defective. In direct opposition to the faults and foibles of the age, he Avas too reserved, too diffident. He had declined addressing his tenants ata dinner previous to his departure for the Continent, at Avhich his health had been " drunk Avith unbounded applause;" and Lord Brooks, avIio at present retained the control of his parliamentary interest, felt satisfied that the young Earl would never find courage to support in the Lords the principles advocated by his delegates in the Commons. He might be clever and Avell informed, but he Avanted conversational poAver, the ready money so much more available than consols or exche quer bills.

"A sensible youth, but devoid of all energy or ambition!" Avas the private hint of Lord Brooks to the minister, Avho inquired into the nature and politics of the young Earl possessing so large a stake in the country. " A raAV, shy young man, Avho hales dancing, and blushes Avhen a Avoman speaks to him!" was the information of Lady Brooks to Lady Hardy ; and it Avas the invitation despatched to Lord Greville, in consequence of this intelligence, to join a party at Sir Thomas Hardy's, to shoot his pheasants and be shot at by his daughters, that eventually accelerated the departure of the Coun tess from Greville Abbey. It Avas, in fact, impossible to be more resolutely determined than her ladyship to postpone to the latest moment the epoch of her doAvagerhood. Her interests and affections Avere equally engaged in the struggle.

For one and tAventy years, her son had engrossed her care and attention ; and as Lady Greville Avas arrived at a period of life when her care and attention were of little importance to any other human being, any event that tended to dissever her from the young Earl Avas a decree of bankruptcy. Greville Abbey, too, Avas a place of her OAvn creation. Totally neglected during the reign of her valetudinarian husband, she had found a desert, and founded a paradise. It Avas true she had done all this at the expense of other people's taste and her sons money,— Avithout design, Avithout intelligence. But it Avas something to have done it. She was as proud of the sine gardens which brought all the county to admire them, as she Avas of the handsome young son, for whom she seemed to dread a similar destiny; and, glorying in her supremacy both as mistress of the family seat and mother of the earl, with the short-sightedness of human Avisdom she exiled herself from the spot during the last years of her regality, lest her sway should be prematurely divided.

The affection of Lord Greville for his mother, meanAvhile, Avas of a nature even yet more exclusive. He loved nothing else on earth ; or if he loved Greville Abbey, it Avas as OAving its merit to her superintendence. His childhood and youth had been sur rounded by the parasites of his mother, by Avhom he Avas accustomed to hear her described and addressed as a being of super human excellence; and though their neighbour Lady Brooks was a beauty, and their neighbour Lady Hardy one of the finest musi cians of the day, Greville had been taught to believe that the Countess Avas handsomer and more accomplished than either. It might have touched a warmer heart than that of "poor dear Lady GreA'ille" to see the eagerness Avith Avhich their expatriation AA'as seconded by her unsuspecting son, from the moment the state of her health was cited as an incentive to the measure.

Though a middle-aged countess is rarely included among the sin gular varieties of freight authorized by the Avhims and caprices of the Royal Yacht Club, Greville AA'as eager in offering a passage to Naples to his mother, till satisfied, by her repeated assurances, that she preferred transferring herself thither by land. His next object was to precede and provide for her coming; and if the young Earl were eventually persuaded into leaving his mother at Naples, and proceeding on his projected tour in the East, it was not till he had obtained professional certification that Lady Gre ville AA-as free from all personal ailment, and that her nervous disorder would be more speedily benefited by being forced into the society of strangers. Thus enfranchised, young Greville set sail for the Levant. It AA'as the first outbreak of his independence.

He was master of himself and his yacht; and dearly as he loved his mother, it was something to feel freed from a frustrating influence. Though Lady Greville's poAver over his mind had been obtained by minis tering to its caprices, he Avas not sorry to be able to provide for his own. — Those only Avho have been uniformly subjected to control, can understand the delight of being able so much as to eat one's dinner at one's own time and discretion. And now, "the Avorld Avas all before him whereto choose!"— He spent weeks at Athens,— Aveeks at Constantinople,— Smyrna, —Damascus; Avhere a cultivated education supplied him Avith the means of extracting double enjoyment from the scenes of classic story and oriental romance. The impulses of youth and health were fresh upon him. " His tent on tbe sbore, bis galley on tbe sea," enabled him to taste the raptures described by most travellers in the East, from Chateaubriand and Byron doAvn to the menu fretin of fashionable ramblers, smitten of late years Avith a passion for crocodiles and hieroglyphics.

It Avas not till the spring that Lord Greville returned to Naples. The Countess, Avho had no Avish to entangle him in the mob of English absentees besetting the Chiaja during the Avinter months, had been unvarying in her entreaties to him to enjoy to the utmost his facilities for surveying countries he Avas unlikely Ho revisit; and Avhen, at the close of March, she had the happiness of folding him once more in her arms, it Avas a genuine impulse of motherly tenderness that caused her to exult in his sine manly appearance, knit into firmer vigour, and bronzed into manlier grace, by exposure to the hazards of sea and land in tropical cli mates. For a moment, she felt sincerely proud of her handsome Hugo; for a moment she fancied that it Avould be a triumphant thing to see him figure at the court of Naples, and in the dull coteries of high-born English among Avhom she had been dozing away her Avinter.

"You Avill find a few pleasant people here," said she. The Eng lish set is someAvhat broken up; — most of them are off for Rome, for the ceremonies of the holy week. But there are the old Marquis of Droneham and his two daughters, — the DoAvager Lady DaAvdle, the EbsAvorths, the Macmichaels, and Lady Louisa Clare. We make up our Avhist every evening." " So you Avrote me Avord. I Avas delighted, my dear mother, to find you Avere passing your time so agreeably." "The Droneham's talk of spending the summer at Sorrento, —the Ebsworths and Macmichaels are going to Lucca. I have scarcely made up my mind which of the tAvo parties 1 shall join." "I thought— I fancied—" hesitated Greville, — "that you in tended returning to England?" " To Greville Abbey ?" " To London,— for the season." "The season?" — reiterated the Countess, Avho had never before heard that cabalistic Avord escape the lips of her son.

"A season in London would destroy at once all the benefit I have derived from my residence abroad !" — "In that case, to the Abbey at once," frankly resumed her son. "If you remember, you desired me to pledge myself at the tenant's dinner, that our absence should not be prolonged beyond the summer." " Did I?— At the tenant's dinner ? — I don't remember anything of the kind. At all events, it can be of no importance to them. DowdesAvell manages everything during our absence Avith the most impartial regard to their interests; and as you have no tie at present in the House of Lords—'' "True," interrupted Greville, in an absent, careless tone. "I do not see Avhat object there AA'as in making a declaration on the subject. HoAvever, as the pledge was given — " " There will be quite sufficient excuse for resuming it in the state of my health," rejoined the countess, coolly.

You have no particular attachment to London, or taste for the croAvds of heated ball-rooms—'' "None AA'hatever," again and more eagerly interrupted Gre ville. " But I am just as little inclined to reek aAA-ay the summer in a southern climate. I have promised Massingberd a month's shooting at the Abbey in September. The interval, I should like to spend in Switzerland or Germany." "Massingberd?" — repeated Lady Greville, in some surprise. " Fred Massingberg, whom I met in quarantine at Malta, and to whom I gaA'c a cast hither in mv yacht." '•The son, I presume, of those people at Hill Hall?" — "The son of the Massingberds of Hill Hall. Old Massingberd, I am told, was a great friend of my father." "His nearest country neighbour, which in England is a com mon substitute for friendship," replied Lady Greville, taking up her Avork as some cover to her surprise and embarrassment.

"Fred came to Naples last autumn with the Cobhams, Avith Avhom you are acquainted," resumed her son. Lady Cobham, I fancy, is one of his sisters?" "Yes,— AA'e visit,— I am slightly acquainted with her. The Cobhams are gone to Borne." "No— they have been Availing here for Fred Massingberd, avIio has been making excursions in the Mediterranean. I have half promised to join their party Avhen they quit this place, as I fear I shall be too active a compagnon de voyage for an invalid like yourself." "Certainly— you cannot do better"— replied Lady Greville, Avith apparent unconcern ; too experienced in her vocation to exhibit, and consequently call forth, a spirit of resistance, nor Avas it till she had taken leave of her son for the night, that she addressed herself to deliberate cogitation upon the evils likely to arise from his sudden intimacy with young Massingberd and his relations.

The family at Hill Hall were people Avhom she Avould have dis liked, had she not despised them. They were neither subser vients nor equals- Old Massingberd had opposed her projects on various occasions of county interest ; and his Avife, who, till the marriage of her tAvo daughters, Avas in the habit of spending her season in tOAvn, had proved the sort of standing bore Avhich most country neighbours are felt to be by the great ladies of their county, from the moment they set foot in the metropolis ;— always Avanting to be introduced to somebody out of their sphere, or to obtain an invitation to some party out of their reach ; and having nothing to offer in return, but their fussy thanks and humdrum society. Even in Oxfordshire, she savv as little of them as she could help. They Avere thesort of respectable people whose family affairs afforded little to excite interest or surprise.

She knew they had a son, nearly of Hugo's age ; but she remembered him only as an insignificant young man, of no manner of consequence except to the small estate he Avas to inherit. The daughters Avere pretty insipid girls ; and it Avas a relief to her Avhen Julia Massing berd married Sir James Cobham, and Mary, a few months after- AA'ards, a country clergyman ; as it abridged the Hill Hall parly Avhen they came to dine at the Abbey, and afforded some diver sification to Mr. Massingberd's family narratives, Avhen they victimized each other Avith morning visits. As to giving her attention to the pretensions of either, or interesting herself in the destinies of those whom she had seen expand from girlhood to Avomanhood, it AA'as an effort beyond the limit of her profound selfishness. Lady Greville noAV began to regret her ignorance and inatten tion.

What AA'as this Fred Massingberd, — who Avhere these Cob hams,—to Avhom accident might assign so much influence? The young man might be half a foot shorter than her son, and yet dangerous. The Cobhams? — There AA'as no saying Avhat mischiefs might not be concentrated in the Cobhams!— Sir James, as Avell as she could recollect, Avas a sporting man, — a rider of steeple-chases. He AA'as perhaps a gambler, — perhaps on the turf! Lady Cobham belonged, she was pretty nearly sure, to the class of pretty young married EnglistiAA'omen Avho drive about with a carriage full of nurses and children covered Avith lace frills and huge cockades, in Avhom they invest their vanity rather than in their own silken ringlets and delicate complexions. But she might be mistaken. Instead of one of these gentle nonentities, Lady Cobham might he a designing coquette; and though there AA'as no unmarried sister in the case, icho Avas to insure her against a young cousin or a pet friend ?— The Countess resolved at once upon a violent taste for Mont Blanc and the mer de glace ; or, if the German Spas AA'ere to be the order of the sum mer, she had as much right to be ordered to Baden or Tœplitz as any member of the Massingberd family.

She must not, at such a critical moment, lose sight of the Earl ! It AA'as some relief to her fears that, on the morroAV, she expe rienced no opposition from Hugo. Young Greville's heart Avas yet warm with the joy of his return to the mother from Avhom he had borne so long a separation. All the little presents collected for her on his travels, Avere accepted Avith even more than her usual graciousness. Never had he seen her so affectionate,— so ingratiating; never had he felt more strongly |her claims upon the time and tenderness of the only son to Avhom her OAvn had been exclusiA'ely devoted. As yet, indeed, he Avas unconscious that such claims could eA'er become importunate, for as yet no tie existed to interfere Avith their exercise ; and he accordingly announced to Massingberd that his mother was anxious to join their traA'elling party, as if affording a considerable addition to its pleasures.

" Your mother, my dear felloAv?"— exclaimed Fred, as much amazed as if he had been threatened with the company of the lady of Loretto, or her of Hill Hall.— "And Avhat the deuce are Ave to do with her?" "She will have her OAvn carriage and sen'ants," replied Gre- A'ille, "as the Cobhams theirs; and you and I can travel in my dormeuse." ' ' Of course ; — but think of the gine of the thing ! — At Bome, — at Florence, — Milan, — Paris, — everyAvhere,— Ave shall be so cur sedly hampered Avith all these petticoats ! — Julia Ave might easily throw over; Cobham is bound to take care of her. — But think of beauing about Lady Greville all the Avay from St. Peter's to St. Paul's! — My dear boy, you don't knoAV AA'hat you have under taken !" Greville's cheeks Avere suffused for a moment. Eton and Oxford had done something toAA'ards habituating him to the brazen slang of the day.

But it Avas nearly tAvo years since he left college, and under no circumstance had he heard the name of his mother thus roughly approached. Still, it Avas difficult to be angry Avith his cool off-hand friend. " I perceive you have forgotten my mother, or you Avould not talk of her as an incumbrance. She is twice as young and hand some as the General's Avife to Avhom I saAv you paying such assi duous court at Valetta," said he, Avith a smile. " Ask the Cobhams !" " I beg your pardon ;— I remember her perfectly. -I have a distinct recollection of the cold proprieties of our dinner, Iavo Avinters ago, at Greville Abbey !"— cried Massingberd. "As to Julia, she AA'asahvays frightened out of her Avits at Lady Greville; and Cobham counts for nothing, as he hates all female society except that of his Avife."

"Then I am afraid I must declare off from your party," was Lord Greville's resolute reply. "I have left my mother alone here all the Avinter to pursue my OAvn diversions ; and feel that I oAve my summer to her, particularly so long as she remains abroad." " You mean, in short, to attach yourself to mamma's apron string for the remainder of your days!"— cried Massingberd, Avith a provoking laugh. "My dear Grev., I thought there was more bottom in you !— 'Tis no fault of yours, of course, that your father's will makes you a blank in creation till sive-and-tAventy ; but I fancied you had too much nous not to lengthen your leading-strings so as to make them hang easy." " My mother has taken care never to render them irksome," replied Greville, frankly; "and I have therefore no excuse for thAA'arting her in matters of indifference."

"Matters of indifference?" cried Massingberd, shrugging his shoulders. "Our expedition to Paris, a matter of indifference? — Think of all the glorious fun Ave had promised ourselves !" "And Avhat occasion have Ave to break our promise? — I mean lo amuse myself to the utmost!" "Amuse yourself?— Avith a family party? — under the eyes of its mamma?— Better-engage a travelling tutor at once ; or dismiss your courier, and hire the sec. of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, to keep our cash book?'' Lord Greville laughed, for he saAv that a laugh was expected. Still, he ventured to persist that it Avould be impossible to break his engagement Avith the Countess. "Not impossible, — only diflicult,"— retorted Massingberd. " At Borne, Ave wiU turn Lady Greville over to the Cobhams, and go fonvard to secure accommodation for the party.

Let us all start fair together, and leave the rest to me." Fred Massingberd had, in fact, determined that a considerable portion of Lord Greville's arrangements should for the future be left to him. Idle, expensive, and dissolute, he taxed his father's resources to the utmost for the entertainment of his pleasant vices. The old gentleman was indulgent, weakly indulgent, to the excesses of the only son in Avhom his soul delighted. But an income of three thousand a year, hampered to pay off his daugh ters' fortunes and keep up his county respectability, could not afford a sufficiently liberal allowance for a young gentleman of Frederick's pretensions. Young Massingberd Avas fond of hunting, shooting, and yachting, hazard, champagne, and the opera; had his corner at Crockford's and in the omnibus, his name in the books of Cooke and Inkson, Adams and Forsylh.

This Avas perhaps "pushing the duke" too far for the son of an Oxfordshire squire; and it naturally folloAved that ho became, shabby, as a penalty for having pretended to be too fine. In accepting his brother-in-law's proposal to spend the Avinter with them at Naples, he had been actuated rather by anxiety to keep out of the way of his Christmas bills and his father's indignation, than by any desire to visit the sine scenery of Italy. Cobham he considered a bore, except at his-hunling box in Leicestershire, with a good stable at his disposal;— Julia, everyAvhere; — and Avhen, at the close of an expedition to Malta, planned to get rid of his ennui in their society, he stumbled upon his country neigh bour and Oxford chum, Lord Greville, theAvandering roue saluted him as sent by the express hand of fortune to his relief.

There Avas much in the deportment of Massingberd to Avin the fancy ofa very young and very reserved man. Fred Avas a man of ten years' knoAvledge of the Avorld, — Fred had been a man from the day he set foot in Eton. He Avas iioav almost an old man, or, at least, an old dandy;— hard, insolent, jovial, and, Of course, " the best felloAv in the Avorld." He AA'as good looking, too, though described by Lady Greville as insignificant. Deficiency of stature Avas atoned by exquisite finish in his toilet and deportment. He Avas one of those Avhom ladies love to look on, — that is, very young ladies or very old ones, — lounging in the corner of a Avell turned-out cabriolet, or leaning superciliously against the door of a croAvded ball-room. Such was the Avorst of Fred Massingberd. The best Avas, that he was livelier than the average of nothings of the same class — evermore floating on the surface of London society.

Chapter III

" II n'est pas connoissable depuis qu'il me banle, ce petit bomme. II est vrai que je n'ai pas mon pareil pour debourgeoiser un enfant de l'amille '."— Reghard. Between a positive old Avoman and a positive young man, the match is pretty nearly equal. Lady Greville Avas determined to take her departure from Naples in company Avith her son ; Fred Massingberd no less so that Lord Greville should not reach Milan in company Avith his mother. Both succeeded in their projects. The English, though by nature less gregarious than other nations, are apt to become sociable on the highway. If fond of staying at home in solitude, they delight to travel in parties ; and the Cobhams were accordingly enchanted Avith the idea of having the Countess of Greville and her son superadded to their caravan. It looked well in the road-books ; it Avould sound Avell at Cobham Park and Hill Hall ; to say nothing of the charming difficulties of having twelve pair of post-horses in request, and the certainty of sleeping in their carriages for Avant of beds, at more than one country inn on the road.

Sir James and Lady Cobham, indeed, being people of fortune, made their tour as uncomfortable as people in independent cir cumstances have a right to do. Sir James was accompanied by an English butler, avIio "valeted" his master, and tAvice every day aggraA'ated his discontents with hints of the impositions of the "rascal of a currier," and grumbling against the privations of foreign diet ; Avhile his lady Avas equally happy in the feuds and miseries of Iavo English nurses and a lady's-maid. Wherever they stopped for the night, squabbles and miscomprehensions set the Avhole establishment in an uproar ; and it Avas no great stretch of candour on the part of Fred Massingberd to admit, before they quitted Rome, that the mild, Avell-bred Countess was a pleasanter travelling companion, than the pretty silly Julia, Avhose maternal solicitudes were always in paroxysms ; or the sulky Baronet, avIio, fancying himself ill-used Avhenever his Avife Avas not ready to give him hor exclusive attention', Avas incessantly quarrelling with her out of pure conjugal affection.

" By Jove, Avhat nuisances they all are ! "—cried Massingberd, seizing Greville's arm, as they sallied forth together, after one of those vain attempts to organize a party to the opera at Bologna, which characterize the insensibility of the English to dramatic entertainments. " Unless they are able to do exactly Avhat they like in precisely their own way of doing it, they would rather sit at home grumbling at each other by way of passe temps. My dear felloAv, this will never do ! For the love of mercy, make up your mind, or let me make it up for you, to be off for Paris to-morrow. Leave me to make our story good to Lady Greville, and I ansAver for her approval." And the approval of the Countess Avas given with so much plausible acquiescence in Massingberd's arguments, that even he, the worldly Avise, little suspected she Avas growing anxious touching Sir James Cobham's discovery that Lord Greville was too young and too handsome, and his Aviso too young and too pretty, to render their nearer intimacy either safe or desirable.

Tavo days aftenvards, the young men Avere en route for Flo rence; and though Greville had stoutly denied to his companion that his mother's presence Avas ever the slightest restraint upon him, he Avas forced lo admit, even to Fred, even to himself, that J 17 he now more fully appreciated the delights of an Italian tour. They visited Venice ; and uttered the usual niaiseries, concernin"- Byron, the Bridge of Sighs, Desdemona, and the Bravos I. and II. of Monk LeAvis and Cooper. They spent a happy Aveek among the gay coteries of Milan ; gossiped aAvay their evenings at the Scala, and gossiped aAA'ay their mornings talking of the preceding evenings. They loitered at Como ;— they lingered here, and idled there ;— and, AA'hile SAvearing to each other fifty times a-day that nothing could exceed the beauties of Italy, animate and inanimate, found themseh'es gradually attracted across the frontier of the enchanting, though frightful country, Avhich, as Stendhal hath it, " calls itself la belle France."

On a AA'arm eA'ening early in May, the travellers found themselves yaAvning in each other's faces over an indifferent dinner, in a small inn in the little tOAvn of Dole. " After all, they make a better fricandeau anywhere than in the mother country ! " cried Fred, pushing aside a plateful of dry threads which he had accepted under the designation of that ubiquitous plat. " For Heaven's sake, my dear Grevr, let this be our last stage to Paris. The AA'eather is delicious. — your car riage tAventy times easier to sleep in than the stuffy ned-room of a AA'a y-side inn. Two nights more, and Ave shall be comfortably lodged at the Bristol ! " " I hate travelling all night Avhen there is no occasion for it," replied GreA'ille, Avho AA'as beginning to discover that the selfishness of his particular friend Avas a more irksome burthen than the discreet authority of his mother.