The Baroness de Bode, 1775-1803

Front matter

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE

SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND

THE GIFT OF

Chapter I Eaely Maeeibd Life 1775-1780

PAGE

A squire's daughter — Falls in with a foreign suitor — Marries at Marylebone Church — The Baron's relations — Birth of an EngUsh-born son — Lady-in-waiting — Court of Saarbriick- Nassau — Duchess of Cumberland and Miss Luttrell — Wears rouge on and shyness wears off — A week of gaiety — Apathetic contrast — Court of Deux-Ponts — War of Bavarian succession — Long silence — Want of money- — Sister Kitty, ' I wish you durst cross the water ' — Death of the Princess of Saarbriick- Nassau ........... 1

CHAPTEE II

1780-1782

Prudence and Privilege — ' I go on to have a Numerous Family ' — A little ' Chevalier of Malta ' — ' A very pecuniary advantage ' — Convenient institutions and pedigree-hunting — Empress Maria Theresa unfortunately ' quits the stage of life ' — Boyal sponsors — Visit to England — Presented at Court . 20

CHAPTEE III

1782-1784

Bergzabern — A wine and cider country on the borders of France — A very spacious garden, the Zig-zag — An Earthly Paradise — English hounds for his Serene Highness — He waits with viii BAEONESS DE BODE

PAGE the impatience of a child — Sir Edward Littleton's, Mr. MeyneU's, and Mr. Talbot's packs — A particular favour to the Baron — The Duke ' vastly inquisitive ' — A terrible winter- Innumerable wolves — Floods — Influenza .... 26

CHAPTEE IV

AN ABUNDANT SUMMEB 1784

A Trip to Switzerland — Meeting with old friends at Strasburg — The Zig-zag — Prodigious quantity of fruits and flowers — Loneliness and reflections — Pros and cons of married life — ' How fortimate do I find myself ! ' — ' Except for want of money' — Duchess of Deux-Ponts — An insatiable dancer — Death of the Heir of Deux-Ponts and Bavaria — Frederick the Great's League of the German Princes against Austria — Prince Max must marry 33

CHAPTEE V

DOMESTIC INTBEESTS

1784-1785

Annual confinement — Neighbours- — Dairy — Beceipts — Occupations — Industry — Irons in the fire — Mr. Arkwright's spinning-jennies — Lace-making and philanthropy — A school for improving female morals — Incorrigible hoentiousness of Bergzabern — Bad servants 41

CHAPTEE VI

Courts of Wiirtemberg and Deux-Ponts — Prince Max's wedding — A bevy of princes and princesses — Court of Hesse-Darmstadt — A letter from Queen Prederica of Prussia — The Baron with his regiment — Hard-hearted M. de S^gur — The Baron sells out of the army and returns home — Education of sons — ' To render them presentable everywhere '—Death of the Baron's brother 47

CONTENTS ix

PAQE

CHAPTER VII

FBVBES AND SMALL-POX

Little iEmilius dies — Children at death's door — A guest dies — A poor girl distracted — Tragic scenes — SmaU-pox gains ground — The Abbess of Altenberg comes to nurse — Madame de Bode visits her at Altenberg — Visits the Landgrave and Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg — A pretty little tour — Eeturns home 57

CHAPTER VIII

A PIEP IN ALSACE

Great expectations — ^Ambitions realised — Austrian influences — The Archduke— Elector-Bishop— The Fief of Soultz— Naturalisation in France — Sovereign rights — 'Our future subjects ' — Taking possession — Ceremonies of investiture — A happy family 62

CHAPTER IX

THE OLD OEDBE CHANGES

An unlucky start — A loan required — Generous relations — Help through the storms — The Lords of Alsace — Les Etats G^n^raux — Privileges threatened — Abolished^ — ' One hardly dare say one's opinion of the Bevolution ' — ' Tolerably quiet here — thanks to Auguste ' — Commercial enterprises — ' Very difficult to weather through ' — ' Glad I am not in Paris ' . 73

CHAPTER X

A PLEASANT BE SPITE

Back at the Zig-zag — ' We Alsatians stiU hope ' — Trust in German Princes — Foregone privileges — ' Our subjects owe us 10,000 livres ' — But ' salt works go on well '—A little patience wanted — Vastly joUy here — A barn of strolling players — Visit to Baden — Taking the waters — The Margrave — The hereditary prince and princess — Return to Soultz — New house finished at last 82

X BAEONBSS DB BODE

CHAPTEE XI

HOPING AGAINST HOPE Beginning of 1791

PAGE

Miseries accumulate at Soultz — ^A parcel of low tyrants — France without justice or judges — Inquisitors upon the catch — War is inevitable — Prance must be covered deep in human blood — ' Woe to those that are with child ! ' — ' If we could have foreseen the Eevolution ! ' — Daily humiliations — ^Intervention of foreign potentates to shake off the yoke of tyrants . . 88

CHAPTEE XII

CBOSSES THE EHINB

1791 — continued

The tide of the Eevolution and effects of death of Mirabeau — Letters posted over the border — ' Citizen Bode ' stays at Soultz — May Alsace again become German — The Princes of Germany still dawdling — Birth of a ' Stout brat ' at Soultz — Princess of Baden godmother — Serious illnesses of Madame de Bode — She and children cross the Ehine to Baden — Death of the baby-girl— A beautiful country — Primitive vUlages — Dining at Baden-Baden — A vast company of emigres — Manifesto of the Allies — Common cause of kings — League of the German Prmces — Confident hopes — But 'twill take time to arrange so great an affair 94

CHAPTEE XlII

BACKWAEDS AND FOEWABDS

All quiet at Soultz — Necessary to show ourselves — Armies moving — Astonishing quantities of lies — Meanwhile the salt and coal mines prosper — Large sums to pay away — An infidel tutor dismissed- — A sleighing party at Gernsbach — Assassination of Gustavus of Sweden — Anonymous letters — The great Cordon — ' My hair is almost white ' — The war begins well — Elasticity and industriousness — Botany and painting — Visit to the court of Carlsruhe — Margrave's letter to Prince of Hohenlohe — Clem took it himself — A long and dangerous ride — ^Austrian Light Horse — Hungarian Infantry — Melancholy letter from the Baron — A model of tenderness and courage — Fatal noblesse lOg

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTEE XIV

' THE WONDBEPUL BAEON '

Attacked in his house— By eight of the National Guard— Defends himself^' Gentlemen, there must be some mistake ' — ' No, no, we will kill you ' — Calmness and persuasion — Escapes to Haguenau — In hiding— Over the Ehine in time — Priests and people in the Capuchin church all murdered at Haguenau . 116

CHAPTEE XV

HOEEOES AND AI/AEMS

Wagons with guillotines parade the streets in France — Passengers instantly beheaded if tolerably well dressed — Jourdan head of the criminal judges— The cutthroat of Avignon — King and queen hitherto wonderfully preserved — Eewards for mm-deriag crowned heads — Husband and son take the baths at Baden — Winning a lawsuit — Asphalt works progress — Difficulties of living — News of September massacres in Paris — Princesse de Lamballe's head carried on a pike — The combined armies hitherto victorious — Duke of Brunswick and King of Prussia — Imprudence of French emigres — Narrow escape of Harry — Victories and losses — Constant alarms . 119

CHAPTEE XVI

A DECEEE OF THE EEPUBLIC

1792-1793

Husband and sons return to France precipitately — Dread of confiscation — Madame detained by iUness — Fear of being caught out of the country — The day of grace already passed — Hopes of a passport to return — Case of Lady Elizabeth Vitzthum — The last of the Mac-Carthys — Enormous riches of the Earls of Clancarty — Confiscated in the Irish Eebellion — Application to Sir Henry Cavendish — Madame returns to France — Cautious letter — Commercial prospects — A IxiU in the storm 127 xii BAEONESS DB BODE

CHAPTER XVII

THE EEIGN OP TEEEOE 1793

PAGE

Iniqmtous lawsuit — Ignorant judges — Liberty there is none— Every one forced to serve — Baron takes jalap — -111 five weeks — Plot to kill him— Friendly warning — Hides— Tribunal at Strasbourg — ' N.B. — No one ever comes from there ' — Escape — A fervent prayer — A long conflict — Madame decides to fly with Clem and Harry — For dear life — Safe at last . . 133

CHAPTER XVIII

CHILDEEN EESCUED BY ALLIED AEMIBS

Lines of Wiessembourg taken — Prince Eoyal of Prussia — Prince of Cond^ — Prince of Waldeck — Wiirmer — Solm, Mirabeau, and Michaelivitz — Duke of Brunswick — Good kind Priace of Salm- Kirburg — ^Guards the children — Princess of Salm-Kirburg — Complete rout of Eepublioans — Prince of Salm-Sahn — Will the Emperor take Alsace ? — Hopes raised — Narrow escape of httle Mary — M. Bosentritt and Madame Le Bel in chains — Prince of Leiningen — Guillotining at Strasbourg- — Death of Queen of France — Whole families destroyed — Every one taking care for themselves 141

CHAPTER XIX

PUETHEE PLIGHTS

Illness of Count of Wartemberg and of Princess of Salm-Kirburg — Another battle expected — Doubtful result — Prince Louis of Baden — Prince de la Tr^motiille — Flight to Mettenheim — A most bloody battle — French drunk like devils — Duke of Orleans's merited death — Marqmse d'HerzeUes's death — Flight to Convent of Altenberg — Beautiful situation — Conventual rules 148

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTEE XX

PAGE

Allies completely routed — Alsace devastated— God's will be done 1 — His mercies — All the children safe — Kindness of the chanoinessea^The Baron's mother — Pate of Mademoiselle de Bode — And of other relations — Arrival of the whole family — Their miraculous escapes — Irreparable losses . . 155

CHAPTEE XXI

A PEACEFUL EBTEEAT

Matchmaking — Vacancies in the Convent — The Misses Clifford — Agreeable society — M. Eosentritt and Mme. Le Bel set at Uberty — General Wurmer — Mr. Koelner plays the spy — Jacob recounts experiences — Abbess of Biblisheim — Fate of servants — Death of Prince of Nassau- Saarbriick — The Nuns — Dance three days a week — A pretty concert — Vastly employed — Practical lessons — Project for the future — Only requires resolution — ' World is large enough ' — Arrangements for departure proceed — Tears of tenderness — Charles's and Mary's first communion — Two old nuns — Prince and Princess of Solms-Braunfels 162

CHAPTEE XXII

SETS FOETH TO SEEK HBE FOETUNE

A bold enterprise — Husband remains at the Convent — Empress Catherine's offers — ' A Fief in South Russia ' — £!n route for Petersburg— Visits German Courts— Kind reception every- ■(vhere — Carlsruhe — Mannheim — Darmstadt — Homburg — Hanau — Berlin — Queen of Prussia's extreme kindness — Eoyal children — Gifts and recommendations — Taking of Cracow — Prussian ladies — Compared with London — ' Widow's Jug ' — Caution— Kitty's remarks too free— Via Stralsund, Ustelt to Stockholm— Baron's fears— Reverses of the Rhine— Treachery among Allies— Children's education— Madame delighted with Sweden— By sea to Petersburg 170 xiv BAEONBSS DE BODE

CHAPTEE XXni

LAUNCHED IN PBTBBSBUEG 1794

I'AGE

Suburban friends — English Ambassador — Presents Ms carriage • — Intention of Catherine — Utilising indgris — Eussian hospitality — State of society — Position of women — Influential introductions — Grand Duchess Elizabeth — Grand Duke Alexander — Sexagenarian Empress — Last and yoimgest favourite— Zouboff all powerful — His sister — English sympathies — Doctor Boggerson — Empress dines in public — Dances — Grand Duchess Marie — ' The country we shall go to ' — Productive but desolated — A list of useful things — Best society — Clem repwndu — ^His dancing — Countess Schouvaloff — Three sets — Coaches and six — Eussian costimies . . 182

CHAPTEE XXIV

EN :fivIDENCE

Around of amusements — Madame Zagriajsky — Her receptions — Her origin — The Eazumofskis — Her uncle's marriage to Empress Elizabeth I. — Her father the Hetman — His immense wealth — Clem pays court to the Favourite — Court ball — Countess Soltikoff's ball — Clem Lieutenant in the Artillery — Zouboff gives sword and uniforms — Plants for Countess Schouvaloff — Her daughter — Bad news from Flanders — Neva frozen — Eussian Predestination 198

CHAPTEE XXV

COUNT ZOUBOFF PEOCBASTINATES

Baron's plight at Altenberg — German troops biUeted in convent — News of his wife's accident — Zouboffs sister — A land of enchantment — ' I cannot divide myself ' — Prudence necessary

— Leaves Madame Zagriajsky — Stays at English Embassy

Empress will pay Baron's joraney — Gratitude to sisters in England— Court mourning— Supper at Princess Galitzin's — Monsieur de Calonne — Comte de Choiseul — Lady Craven

detested — Priuce Galitzin's birthday — Monsieur Christine

Letters detained — Baron's lamentations — Misunderstandings and delays — Difi&culty of communicating — Uncertain destina-

CONTENTS

XV tion — Baron starts at last — A cavalcade across Europe — Good, kind Empress — ZoubofPs boundless liberality — Two pleasure trips — Getting into breath 204

CHAPTEK XXVI

FEOM NOETH TO SOUTH

Prodigious journey — Chariot and six — Kibitka and four — Flat country— Hilly country — Immense woods — Chklof — General Zoritch— A little Sovereign — Operas and ballets — Festivities and sports— Delays — Arrival at Ekaterinoslow — Family of Pallas — Arrival of the Baron and children — An interesting scene — Madame departs for Crimea — A caravan — Escort of soldiers — Perekop, key of Crimea — Gengis Chan — An owl — Salt lakes — Tartar inhabitants — Simpharapol — Sudac — Vineyards — Beautiful dates — Bakhtshisarai — Tartarian Prince — Long dinner — Eetum to Ekaterinoslow .... 215

CHAPTEE XXVII

Town of Ekaterinoslow — Festival of St. Catherine — Imperial bounty — Contentment — Pine cattle — Elvers — Lakes — ' Like a novel ' — News of the Abbess of Altenberg — Her politeness and escape — Comte de Choiseul d'Ailcourt's death — Quantity of fish and fowl — The Dnieper frozen — People carried away on the ice — Spring brings small-pox and sickness — Civilisation — Peasants skilful — Women build houses — Chimneys of wood — Dress — Crimean Tartars Mahomedans — ' Little Tartary' — Calmuek Nogays — Zaparages — Peasants' love of brandy — Death from spontaneous combustion common — Fossils and minerals 225

CHAPTEE XXVIII

AN EMPEROE'S gift 1796-1797

Visits Petersburg — Her interests at stake — Empress Catherine dead — Paul's accession — A gift of two hundred peasants — A northern estate — Visits an old friend — Madame Zagriajsky's neighbours — Count Strogonofif — Sir James Wylie — Ex-King of Poland — A great match — Lottery for the Empress Marie's Convent— Death of Mrs. Adderley 234 xvi BAEONBSS DE BODE

CHAPTEE XXIX

PAGE

A great calamity — Terrible situation of chUdren — Death of Trusty Jacob — Madame sells her southern estates— Exchanges some villages in the north — Economy necessary — Bussian landlords — Children's education — More emigres arrive — Eussia's new acquisitions — Clem's illness — His mother starts to the rescue of children — Details of the Baron's death and burial . . 240

CHAPTEE XXX

APFAIES DOMESTIC AND PUBLIC

1799-1800-1801

Clem in charge of Eopsha — His ships — One wrecked — Bussian peasants — Women workers — Clem's engagement — Miss Gardner — Madame's letters detained — Critical times — Embargo on English ships — Emperor Paul's hatred of England — Paul strangled — Zouboff — Battle of Baltic — Alexander and Elizabeth — Universal joy — Paul's funeral — Michel Palace — Past Court festivities — Mary's beautiful dress — Her ofifers — Eeoeption at Court — Clementina's and Pritzel's education — Clem's marriage 247

CHAPTER XXXI

HOPES RAISED 1801

Great projects — To reclaim Soultz — A family arrangement — Clem a British subject — Madame visits Altenberg again — Awaits passports to Alsace — Universal peace — Telegraph — Beconciliation with Mr. Kynnersley — Lord St. Helens — A letter of peace 255

CHAPTER XXXII

NO PAVOUE IN PAEIS 1802

Hastens to Wiessembourg— Visits Bergzabern and Soultz

Property confiscated and sold— M. Bosentritt again — Madame fears imprisonment for debt— Goes to Paris Fresh disappointments — Proposes to publish her memoirs Duchess of

Cumberland— Her opinion of booksellers— Galignani and his wife— Madame fears to offend— Advised to return to Eussia . 261

CONTENTS xvii

CHAPTER XXXIII

HOME AT PETEBSBUBG 1802-1803

FAOS

Lord St. HeleBS — Prince William of Gloucester — Madame decides to live in Petersburg — Clem's ships wrecked — Euin in expectation — Madame'slast letter — Account of the children —The Gascoigne family— Lady Haddington — Brighter prospects — A point of quiet — ' The greatest pitch of true phiosophy' — A host of friends . 267

APPENDIX (Convent of Altbnbbeg) 283

INDEX OF NAMES AND PLACES 285

LIST OF PORTRAITS

MARY KYNNEBSLEy, BARONESS DE BODE . . Frontispiece

\From tJie original in the possession of the Baron de Bode.]

THOMAS KYNNERSLEY, 1680 To face p. 22

IFrom tlie original inherited by the late Mr. Ohilde- Pemberton.J

ELIZABETH KYNNEESLEY, 1680 .... „ 28

IFrom the original inherited by the late Mr. Childe- Pemberton.]

CHARLES AUGUSTUS LOUIS FREDERICK, BARON

DE BODE, MONSEIGNEUB DE SOULTZ . . „ 62

IFrom the original in the possession of Lord Norton.]

CONVENT OF ALTENBEBG ,,154

MARY KYNNERSLEY, BARONESS DE BODE . . „ 271

[From the origitial in the possession of Lord Norton.]

CLEMENT, BARON DE BODE „ 27S

IFrom the original in the possession of M. Cazalet, Esq.]

THE

CHAPTEE I

EAELT MARRIED LIFE 1775-1780

A squire's daughter — Falls in with a foreign suitor — Marries at Marylebone Church — The Baron's relations — Birth of an English-bom son — ^Lady-in-waiting — Court of Saarbriiok-Nassau — Diiohess of Cumberland and Miss Luttrell — Wears rouge on and shyness wears off — A week of gaiety — ^A pathetic contrast — Court of Deux Ponts — War of Bavarian succession — Long silence — Want of money — Sister Kitty, ' I wish you durst cross the water ' — Death of the Princess of Saarbrtick-Nassau,

The heroine of this chronicle, which is founded chiefly on her letters, was Mary fourth daughter of Thomas Kynnersley, of Loxley Park, Staffordshire, who had died in 1755, leaving his widow with a young family — namely, one son, Clement, his heir, and five daughters ; of whom Penelope married John Sneyd, of Bishton and Belmont, Staffordshire, and was dead (leaving children) before these letters were written ; Dorothy (to whom most of the letters are addressed) married, first, Thomas Byrche Savage, of Elmley Castle, Worcestershire, and was early left a widow, and marrying secondly, in 1778, Ealph Adderley, of Coton, Derbyshire, by him was grandmother of Lord Norton, the inheritor of the h^ letters ; ' Barbara died, of consmnpfcion, unmarried, in 1782 ; and Catherine (the ' Kitty ' or ' Kyttilini ' of the letters), the youngest, never married, and was the other chief correspondent of her sister Mary.

The daughter of a Staffordshire Squire of good estate and ancient Hneage,^ Mary Kynnersley in the ordinary course might, like her sisters, have wedded some neighbouring squire had she not early showed a taste for travel and adventure, seized the opportunity of a tour abroad with her friend. Lady Ferrers,* and accepted the addresses of a foreign suitor whom she fell in with in Flanders. Meeting vpith just sufficient opposition from her relations at home to add romance to the situation, and not so much as to be insuperable, she married, on October 21, 1775, at Marylebone Church, and at the French Embassy,^ the husband of her choice, Charles Auguste Louis Frederick, Baron de Bode.^

> The Editor is greatly indebted to Lord Norton for his kindness in giving him the letters.

* The family of Kynnersley is extinct in the male line.

' Miss Anne Elliot married to Washington, fifth Earl Ferrers. (He had succeeded his brother, the fourth Earl, who was hanged at Tybiurn, 1760, for the murder of his steward.) Lady Ferrers's party, which embarked at London Docks, consisted of Lord Ferrers ; Ms nephew and heir, Mr. Shirley ; Lord Byron (celebrated for having killed Mr. Chaworth in a duel, and for being convicted of manslaughter by the House of Lords) ; Lord Bristol (till recently the Honourable Augustus Hervey, and celebrated as the husband of the notorious Miss Chudleigh, who had bigamously married the Duke of Kingston, and was now to be arraigned by the House of Lords for that crime) ; and Miss Horneck (one of the two fascinating sisters, both very popular in the Society of the day, to whom their Mend and admirer, Oliver Goldsmith, had given the pet-names of ' Little Comedy ' and ' The Jessamy Bride '). Miss Horneck, however, with some others of the party, suffered so terribly from sea-sickness that she landed at Margate and returned to town. Our heroine, undaimted by the winds and waves, started afresh with Lady Ferrers and some of the braver spirits, and proceeding to Dunkerque, met her fate.

* The French Ambassador, the Comte de Guigues, gave a fete in honour of the bridal party.

^ Baron of the Holy Boman Empire.

EAELY MAEEIBD LIFE 3

Some years older than his wife, a soldier in the service of the King of France,' but of German birth,^ grandson of a Privy Counsellor to the Emperor Charles VI., intimately associated with the princely family of Hesse Darmstadt, and having friends at more than one foreign court, the Baron de Bode amply atoned for the deficiencies of a somewhat slender purse by an ardent devotion to his wife, and a disposition the most excellent, affectionate, and faithful. Throughout the harassing vicissitudes and misfortunes of her subsequent career, our heroine had never cause to regret her marriage, and though, in a moment of impatience, perhaps, at the burden of an increasing family, we find her advising sister Kitty that ' the single state is ever preferable,' her letters constantly testify in warmest terms to the never-failing support of her husband, ' a model of perfection, tenderness, and goodness, joined to resolution and courage.'

After passing the winter with the bride's relations in England, the newly married pair proceeded in the spring of 1776 to Lille, where the Baron's regiment, the Eoyal Deux-Ponts, at this time was quartered. Thence, later in the year, they crossed the French border into Austrian Flanders in order to pay visits to the Baron's relations established in that country. Some delay had occurred before his relations extended a welcome to the young English lady of whose pedigree they knew nothing. Among these were the Marquis de Trazenies and the Marquis d'Yttres, who both possessed large estates, and the Marquise d'Herzelles ' who had held the first rank among the most beautiful ladies at the Court of Prince Charles of Lorraine,* and had been also the ornament of the Court

' Louis XVI. ' Born at Fulde, Hesse-Cassel.

" Brother of the Emperor Francis, and Regent of the Netherlands (1750-1781). Madame de Bode had seen Prince Charles of Lorraine

b2 of the Empress Maria Theresa, by whom she was exceedingly beloved.' The Marquise, who had brought up the Baron de Bode from his infancy, was now living retired from the world, ' although only fifty years of age and still what one would call a beauty.' Her portrait Madame de Bode mentions having seen in the Eoyal Palace at Brussels.

The pride of these relations of the Baron, who counted also among his family alliances those of the Princes of Creuz and of Gavres, did not allow them to receive the Baron's English bride without first making inquiries as to her pedigree, and, great opposition having been raised to her marriage by her own family, she was now, in retaliation as it were, to be subjected to a kind of inquisition on the part of her husband's relations. The Baron besought them to refer to the Heralds' College in London ; and it was not until this had entirely statisfied them that the Kynnersley family was ' one of the most ancient in England, and nobly allied daring eight hundred years,' that they accorded the young couple a most cordial and affectionate welcome, and invited the Baroness to stay with them two months, during her husband's absence with his regiment.

The Baroness, now ' expecting the joy of becoming a mother,' returned to her relations in England, the Baron remaining in France ; and while staying with her brother at BrusBels, where he held his Court, in 1775, the year before her marriage, when she was travelling with Lady Ferrers. In writing to her mother, she then described him as ' very like the late Duke of Cumberland ' (the hero of Culloden), ' that is, very fat, and pitted with the smallpox ... a very pretty small palace, superbly fitted up, a pretty museum, aviary, &o., &c.' At last he became quite childish, but continued to say, as he had done before, even if things happened which he did not approve of: 'Eh bien, n'importe, je n'en serai pas moins le Prince Charles de Lorraine.' — Vehse's Court of Austria.

EAELY MAEEIED LIFE 5

at Loxley Hall she gave birth to her eldest son Clement on April 23, 1777.

His being bom in England led in the end to a remarkable result ; for on this fact, years afterwards, was based his claim to be a British subject, and from it arose, half a century later, a cause eeUbre, still remembered, which dragged on for forty years before the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The Baron being informed of this joyful event, writes to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Savage (afterwards Mrs. Adderley) :

Saarlouis : May 2, 1777.

Dear Sister Savage, — You have made me quite happy with the good account you have been so obliging as to give me of my dear Mary's safe delivery of a stout boy. I make two wishes to God now : the first is to preserve my dear Mary in health ; and the second, if the dear boy should live, as I hope, that he may be an honest man with good morals. I give him entirely into the hands of the Almighty, that He may direct his heart during his whole life to our and to his family's happiness and satisfaction; if he should not turn out according to my heart's wishes, I should rather wish God would take him again, but I shall surely give myself all possible trouble and care for his good education. Eeceive my hearty thanks, dear sister, for your kindness to acquaint me so soon. I was sure my dear Mary would support her pains and labour with great patience and resolution. . . . You cannot imagine how easy I am now, neither how unhappy I have been the whole time. . . .'

Later in the year the Baroness joined her husband, traversing the dangerous forest of Ardennes to Saarlouis, where he was now quartered, he having exchanged into the regiment of the reigning Prince of Saarbriick-Nassau, to whom he was ' Grand Mareohal de Voyages,' though still in the service of the King of France. At Saarbriick the Baroness made the acquaintance of the Princess of Saarbriick-Nassau/ which led to her becoming lady-in-waiting to the princess, a post which she filled imtil the premature death of that lady two years later. Of her introduction she writes :

Saarlouis : » November 20, 1777.

Yesterday we dined at Saarbriick, the road not over and above good ; and, one thing which I did not like at all, we crossed a river in a barge. They drove into it and out of it without our getting out of the carriage : after this I was in such a fright at first when I went in to the Princess that I could not say a word, but that soon went off, and the Princess was extremely affable. She had only one dame d'honneur with her, who was a very agreeable young lady. The Princess placed me at her table. She served several of the dishes herself, was cheerful, and kept up the conversation very well. The Prince, her husband, was not at home, but the young Prince, her son, who is a very pretty-behaved boy,' dined at the table with us. She went out of the room first herself to go to dinner. Monsieur de Bode ran to give her the hand. She had two pages (gentlemen) to wait on her. Her knife and fork and spoon and salt-cellar were gold, but the rest of the table had only silver.

^ Wilhelmina Sophie Eleanore, wife of Ludwig, reigning Prince of Saarbriick-Nassau, whora she married, at the age of fifteen, in 1766, was daughter of Prince Johann Friedrich von Schwarzbxirg- Budolstadt.

^ Saarlouis and Saarbriick on, what was then, the frontier of France and the Ehine provinces, and both situated on the river Saar, which flows northwards into the Moselle, near TrSves.

' Prince Heinrioh Ludwig Carl Albreoht was born March 9, 1768. He married at the age of eleven, but left no issue. On his death, in 1797, this branch of the House of Nassau became extinct.

EARLY MAEEIED LIFE 7

After coffee she desired me to play upon the pianoforte, which was a very good one. She had it made at Deux-Ponts, and the cost but seven guineas. She liked my playing, said a thousand obliging things, and has asked me to come and spend some days there, which I believe I shall do some time, as I found it so agreeable. 'Tis a pretty palace in a charming situation. The river Saar sweeps along the side of the garden, and various hills diversify the view. The palace stands upon one of the hills. There was a few sentinels about, but not in the style of St. James's — two or three upon the stairs, and a few others in the courts. She is not fond of cards, which I am glad of, as I shall not be expected to play. She is not above six or seven and twenty, and is fond of dancing, therefore perhaps some day or other I may come in for a little of that amusement there. She is a young woman of unblemished character. I add that, as ladies of that high rank are not the most virtuous.