After The Storm | Page 3

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 Liége--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 "G?tz 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 Elysées--Saint-Cloud--The H?tel des Invalides--The Luxembourg--General Labédoyère--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 Abbé Delille--The Opéra 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.



CHAPTER VI
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PART II

CHAPTER VI
MARCH-JUNE, 1816
Ball at Cambray, attended by the Duke of Wellington--An Adventure between Saint Quentin and Compiègne--Paris revisited--Colonel Wardle and Mrs Wallis--Society in Paris--The Sourds-Muets--The Cemetery of Père La Chaise--Apathy of the French people--The priests--Marriage of the Duke de Berri.

CHAPTER VII
Journey from Paris to Lausanne--Besan?on--French refugees in Lausanne --Francois Lamarque--General Espinassy--Bordas--Gautier--Michau--M. de Laharpe--Mlle Michaud--Levade, a Protestant minister--Chambéry--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