“M. d’Argenson was already returned to France, and Madame de Broglie had set out the same day, hoping to escape the decree against the emigrants.
“Madame de la Châtre received me with great politeness. She is about thirty-three, an elegant figure, not pretty, but with an animated and expressive countenance; very well read, pleine d’esprit, and, I think, very lively and charming.
“A gentleman was with her whom Mrs. Lock had not yet seen, M. d’Arblay. She introduced him, and when he had quitted the room, told us he was Adjutant-General to M. Lafayette, Maréchal de camp, and, in short, the first in military rank of those who had accompanied that General when he so unfortunately fell into the hands of the Prussians; but not having been one of the Assemblée Constituante, he was allowed with four others to proceed into Holland, and there M. de Narbonne wrote to him: ‘Et comme il l’aime infiniment,’ said Madame de la Châtre, ‘il l’a prié de venir vivre avec lui.’ He had arrived only two days before. He is tall, and has a good figure, with an open and manly countenance; about forty, I imagine.
“It was past twelve. However, Madame de la Châtre owned she had not breakfasted - ces messieurs were not yet ready. A little man who looked very triste indeed, in an old-fashioned suit of clothes, with long flaps to his waistcoat embroidered in silk, no longer very brilliant, sat in a corner of the room. I could not imagine who he was, but when he spoke was immediately convinced he was no Frenchman. I afterwards heard he had been engaged by M. de Narbonne for a year, to teach him and all the party English.
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ALEXANDRE G. P. D’ARBLAY
He had had a place in some College in France at the beginning of the Revolution, but was now driven out and destitute. His name is Clarke. He speaks English with an accent tant soit peu Scotch.
“Madame de la Châtre, with great franchise, entered into details of her situation and embarrassment whether she might venture like Madame de Broglie to go over to France, in which case she was dans le cas où elle pouvait toucher sa fortune immediately. She said she could then settle in England, and settle comfortably. M. de la Châtre, it seems, previous to his joining the King’s brothers, had settled upon her his whole fortune. She and all her family were great favourers of the original Revolution; and even at this moment she declares herself unable to wish the restoration of the old régime with its tyranny and corruptions - persecuted and ruined as she and thousands more have been by the unhappy consequences of the Revolution.
“M. de Narbonne came in. He seems forty, rather fat, but would be handsome were it not for a slight cast in one eye. He was this morning in great spirits . . . . He came up very courteously to me and begged leave de me faire sa cour at Mickleham, to which I graciously assented.
“Then came M. de Jaucourt, whom I instantly knew by Mr. Lock’s description. He is far from handsome, but has a very intelligent countenance, fine teeth, and expressive eyes. I scarce heard a word from him, but liked his appearance exceedingly, and not the less for perceiving his respectful and affectionate manner of attending to Mr. Lock; but when Mr. Lock reminded us that Madame de la Châtre had not breakfasted, we took leave, after spending an hour in a manner so pleasant and so interesting that it scarcely appeared ten minutes.”
Juniper Hall, where these interesting people met together on that November day, stands, within its smooth lawns and gay flower-beds, a little back from the main road between Mickleham and Burford Bridge, being half hidden from view by a group of magnificent wide-spreading cedars. At one time this house was an inn, bearing the sign of the “Royal Oak,” but a purchaser of the property in the middle of the eighteenth century - Sir Cecil Bishopp - enlarged the building and fitted it up with much taste and elegance for his private residence. From Sir Cecil it passed into the hands of a Mr. Jenkinson, “an affluent lottery-office keeper,” who, as we have seen, let it to the émigrés.
Although Juniper Hall has been much altered of late years, some of the more important rooms remain almost the same as when occupied by Madame de la Châtre and her friends. The
THE SCULPTURED DRAWING-ROOM, JUNIPER HALL
walls and ceiling of the large drawing-room still retain the delicate sculptured wreaths and scrolls of the Adam style of decoration, and its tall chimney-piece of carved grey and white marble belongs to the same period.
About three-quarters of a mile from Juniper Hall, at the lower end of the pretty village of Mickleham, stands the modest dwelling once occupied by Mrs. Phillips and her family. We have been able to identify it by the description given by Madame d’Arblay in the “Memoirs” of her father, and also by reference to an old tithe map. The dwelling known as “Mickleham Cottage” stands just where the high road takes a sharp turn towards Leatherhead, and is separated from Norbury Park by the river Mole. In former times there was a ford at this point where the bridge now stands.
Fanny speaks of her sister as “settled at Mickleham in a house at the foot of Norbury Park,” and she also mentions its being opposite “the ford.” In the tithe map this ford is marked, the only one in that neighbourhood, and the cottage is also marked exactly in the position mentioned by Fanny, the only building so placed.
The cottage has been enlarged in later years, but it is still a cottage with quaint low rooms, which open into a sunny garden bounded by an old wall covered with roses, above which rise the sheltering elms of Norbury Park.
Mrs. Phillips’s husband, Molesworth Phillips, was a Captain of Marines. He had travelled far and wide before marrying and settling in his country home. He had made the voyage round the world in company with Captain Cook, and was actually standing by the side of that good man when he was murdered by the natives of Owhyhee.
The author of the “History of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage,” after describing the terrible scene of his death, goes on to say: “It has been already related that four of the marines who attended Captain Cook were killed by the islanders. The rest, with Mr. Phillips, their Lieutenant, threw themselves into the water, and escaped under cover of a smart fire from the boats. On this occasion a remarkable instance of gallant behaviour, and of affection for his men, was shown by that officer. For he had scarcely got into the boat when, seeing one of the marines who was a bad swimmer struggling in the water, and in danger of being taken by the enemy, he immediately jumped into the sea to his assistance, though much wounded himself; and after receiving a blow on the head from a stone which had nearly sent him to the bottom, he caught the man by the hair, and brought him safe off.”
THE HOUSE OF CAPTAIN AND MRS. PHILLIPS
It was during the voyage of Captain Cook that Phillips became acquainted with James Burney, the eldest brother of his future wife who was serving under Captain Cook, and in whose honour one of the newly discovered islands was called Burney Island.
Norbury House, the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lock, stands on the summit of a range of wooded hills and dominates the valley of Mickleham.
Mr. Lock was a generous patron of art and literature. Sir Joshua Reynolds had been his guest, introduced by Dr. Burney, and Sir Thomas Lawrence, when a young man, received from him hospitality and encouragement.
In after life Sir Thomas remarked to one of the Burney family, “I have seen much of the world since I was first admitted to Norbury Park, but I have never seen another Mr. Lock!”
We shall visit this hospitable household later on, in company with the émigrés, but for the moment, we would ask the reader to take a peep into the cottage of Mrs. Phillips. That lady writes to her sister Fanny on Wednesday, November 7: “Phillips was at work in the parlour, and I had just stepped into the next room for some papers, when I heard a man’s voice, and presently distinguished these words: ‘Je ne parle pas trop bien l’Anglais, Monsieur.’ I came forth immediately to relieve Phillips, and then found it was M. d’Arblay.
“I received him de bien bon coeur, as courteously as I could. The Adjutant of M. Lafayette, and one of those who proved faithful to that excellent
MRS. PHILLIPS’ DRAWING-ROOM<
br />
General, could not but be interesting to me. I was extremely pleased at his coming, and more and more pleased with himself every moment that passed. He seems to me a true militaire, franc et loyal - open as the day - warmly affectionate to his friends - intelligent, ready and amusing in conversation, with a great share of gaité de coeur, and at the same time of naiveté and bon foi.
“We went up into the drawing-room with him and met Willy on the stairs, and Norbury capered before us. ‘Ah, Madame!’ cried M. d’Arblay, ‘la jolie petite maison que vous avez, et les jolis petits hôtes!’ looking at the children, the drawings, &c. &c. He took Norbury on his lap and played with him. I asked the child if he was not proud of being so kindly noticed by the Adjutant-General of M. Lafayette.
“‘Est-ce qu’il sait le nom de M. Lafayette?’ said he, smiling. I said he was our hero.
“‘Ah! nous voilà donc bons amis! There is not a better man upon the earth than Lafayette.’
“‘And how shamefully he has been treated,’ cried I. A little shrug and his eyes cast up was the answer. I said I was thankful to see at least one of his faithful friends here. I asked if M. Lafayette was allowed to write and receive letters. He said yes, but they were always given to him open.
“Norbury now (still seated on his knee) took courage to whisper to him: ‘Were you, sir, put in prison with M. Lafayette?’ ‘Oui, mon ami.’ ‘And - was it quite dark?’ I was obliged, laughing, to translate this curious question. M. d’Arblay laughed too. ‘Non, mon ami,’ said he, ‘ we were placed in a tolerably comfortable room. That was at Nivelle.’
“‘You were there, sir, with M. Lafayette?’
“‘Yes, Madame, for a few days; after that we were separated.’
“Upon my mentioning,” writes Mrs. Phillips, “the sacrifices made by the French nobility, and, by a great number of them, voluntarily, he said no one had made more than M. de Narbonne; that previous to the Revolution he had more wealth and more power than almost any except the Princes of the Blood.”
Narbonne, whose mother was Dame d’Honneur to Madame Adelaide (daughter of Louis XV.), had been brought up at Court, where he was looked upon almost as a relation by the Royal family. M. le Dauphin (father of Louis XVI.) had “deigned himself to superintend the child’s early studies,” and, in after life, Narbonne dwelt with pleasure on the fact that he had received from him his first lessons in the Greek language.
After speaking of his own property M. d’Arblay continued: “And now, Madame, you see me reduced to nothing save a little ready money and but little of that. What Narbonne may be able to rescue of his shattered fortune I cannot tell but whatever it be we shall share it between us.
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MR. LOCK OF NORBURY PARK
I shall make no scruple of doing this since we have always made common cause together and have loved each other like brothers.[]
“I wish I could paint to you the manly franchise with which these words were spoken; but you will not find it difficult to believe that they raised MM. de Narbonne and d’Arblay very high in my estimation.
“The next day,” she continues, “Madame de la Châtre was so kind as to send me the French papers, by her son, who made a silent visit of about five minutes. Friday Morning. I sent Norbury [to Juniper Hall] with the French papers, desiring him to give them to M. d’Arblay. He stayed a prodigious while, and at last came back attended by M. de Narbonne, M. de Jaucourt, and M. d’Arblay. M. de Jaucourt is a delightful man - as comic, entertaining, unaffected, unpretending, and good-humoured as dear Mr. Twining, [] only younger and not quite so black. He is a man likewise of first-rate abilities - M. de Narbonne says perhaps superior to Vaublanc - and of very uncommon firmness and integrity of character.”
On his resigning his membership of the Legislative Assembly when “all hope of justice and order seemed to be lost,” he was “thrown into the Prison of the Abbaye, where, had it not been for the extraordinary and admirable exertions of Madame de Staël . . . he would infallibly have been massacred . . . . This lady was indefatigable in her efforts to save every one she knew from this dreadful massacre.
* * * * *
“M. de Narbonne brought me two volumes of new ‘Contes Moraux’ by Marmontel, who is yet living; they are printed at Liège, and in this year (1792). He was in very depressed spirits, I saw, and entered into some details of his late situation with great openness . . . . Last May il donna sa démission of the place of Ministre de la Guerre being annoyed in all his proceedings by the Jacobins, and prevented from serving his country effectually by the instability of the King, for whom he, nevertheless, professes a sincere personal attachment. ‘But I found,’ said Narbonne, ‘that it was impossible to serve him. All his best friends have found it so, and this on account of his very virtues as well as his faults. Indeed, to speak the truth, the King did not even rely upon himself, and in consequence he was distrustful of all others.’”
“M. d’Arblay was the officer on guard at the Tuileries the night on which the King, &c., escaped to Varennes, and ran great risk of being denounced and perhaps massacred, though he had been kept in the most perfect ignorance of the King’s intention.”
[Old Houses on the Seine]
CHAPTER VII. JUNIPÈRE
“THE next Sunday, November 18,” continues Mrs. Phillips, “Augusta and Amelia[] came to me after church very much grieved at the inhuman decrees just passed in the Convention including as emigrants, with those who have taken arms against their country, all who have quitted it since last July; and adjudging their estates to confiscation and their persons to death should they return to France.
“I was more shocked and affected by this account than I could very easily tell you. To complete the tragedy M. de Narbonne had determined to write an offer - a request rather - to be allowed to appear as a witness in behalf of the King upon his trial; and M. d’Arblay had declared he would do the same, and share the fate of his friend whatever it might be.
“On Tuesday, the 20th I called to condole with our friends on these new misfortunes. Madame de la Châtre received me with politeness and even cordiality; she told me she was
NORBURY PARK FROM THE VALLEY
a little recovered from the first shock - that she should hope to gather together a small débris of her fortune, but never enough to settle in England - that, in short, her parti était pris - that she must go to America. It went to my heart to hear her say so.
“Presently came in M. Girardin.[] He is the son of the Marquis de Girardin d’Ermenonville, the friend of Rousseau, whose last days were passed and whose remains are deposited in his domain. This M. Girardin was a pupil of Rousseau.”
In his “Journal et Souvenirs” M. Girardin gives an interesting account of Rousseau’s peaceful life at Ermenonville.
“Jean-Jacques used to rise,” he tells us, “with the sun, and spend the whole day in roving through the woods and meadows in search of herbs. In the evenings he would take a row with his friends on the lake, himself plying an oar, so that the children used to call him their ‘Sweet-water Admiral.’ Sometimes the party would sit in some shady spot by the riverside listening to the strains of the clarionette; or when confined to the house Rousseau would sing to them songs of his own composition, whilst the young Stanislas accompanied him upon an old spinet. His voice, though enfeebled by age and somewhat quavering, was still full of passion and sentiment. I loved Jean-Jacques dearly,” continues Stanislas, “though unable, at that time, to appreciate his genius.”
M. Girardin had been a member of the Legislative Assembly and an able opponent of the Jacobins. When it was proposed to hurl an accusation of treason against Lafayette it was Girardin who mounted the tribune and defended him at the risk of his life.
“M. Girardin,” continues Mrs. Phillips, “had been riding as far as to the cottage Mr. Malthouse had mentioned to him - l’asile de Jean Jacques - [saying] it was very near this place” (it is at the foot of Leith Hill, Mr. Lock has since told me).
“[Our fr
iends] then talked over the newspapers which were come that morning. M. de St. Just who made a most fierce speech for the trial and condemnation of the King, they said, had before only been known by little madrigals, romances, and épitres tendres, published in the ‘Almanac des Muses.’ ‘But now,’ said M. de Jaucourt laughing, ‘he is a bold republican, and there is the Abbé Fouché, too, who harangues the meetings, and does it by no means badly.’
“‘Certainly he shows ability,’ said Madame de la Châtre, ‘for his arguments are precisely those calculated to convince the Convention.’
“For Condorcet, in despite of his abilities, they feel a sovereign contempt. They spoke of his ingratitude to the Duc de la Rochefoucauld with great disgust, and of the terrible end of that most respectable man, with a mixture of concern and indignation that left them and us for a few minutes silent and in a kind of consternation.
“It appears that there is an exception in the detestable law concerning the emigrants, in favour of such persons as are established in other countries in any trade. M. de Jaucourt said, ‘It seems to me that I have something of a vocation for cookery. I will take up that business. Do you know what our cook said to me this morning? He had been consulting me respecting his risking the danger of a return to France. “But you know, Monsieur,” he observed, “an exception is made in favour of all artists.” “Very well, then,” concluded M. de Jaucourt, “I will be an artist-cook also!’”
“M. de Narbonne delighted me by his accounts of M. de Lafayette, who is, I am now certain, precisely the character I took him to be - one whom prosperity could never have corrupted, and that misfortune will never subdue. ‘An access of bonté de coeur,’ M. d’Arblay said, ‘was almost the only fault he knew him to have.’ This made him so unwilling to suspect treachery in those who called themselves his friends, that it was almost impossible to put him on his guard. ‘Il carressait ceux qui cherchaient a l’égorger.’
Complete Works of Frances Burney Page 715