German
Minor Poetry, Now Quite Forgotten, Attracted Him Almost As Much As The
Great Pages Of Schiller, Buerger, And Goethe.
The Misses G. possess a
manuscript translation in three volumes, in the Major's own hand, of
Wieland's Agathodemon done into English.
This he evidently intended to
publish, as he had written the title-page which is worded as follows:
"Agathodemon, a philosophical romance translated from the German of Wieland
by W.E. Frye, member of the Academy degli Arcadi in Rome, and of the Royal
Society of Northern Antiquarians of Copenhagen, ex-major of infantry in His
British Majesty's service."
Frye describes with accuracy, and shows much appreciation of fine scenery
and architecture. His judgements in painting and sculpture are sincere,
though often betraying the autodidact and amateur. He loved music,
especially Rossini's operas which were then beginning their long career of
triumph. Theatricals of all sorts, especially ballets, had a great
attraction for him and elicited his enthusiastic comments. In comparing
tragedies and comedies which he had seen performed in different countries,
he gave repeated proofs of his knowledge and critical insight. We can take
him as a good example of that intelligent class of English travellers whose
intercourse with the Continental litterati has so well contributed to
establish the good reputation of British culture and refined appreciation
of the arts.
The chief interest of Frye's reminiscences lies, however, in quite another
direction. He was a friend of liberty, a friend of France, an admirer of
Napoleon, and a hater of the Tory regime which brought about Napoleon's
downfall. "France's attempts at European domination, in the Napoleonic era,
are graciously described as but so many efforts towards spreading the light
of civilization over Europe." These words, written about a quite recent
work and a propos of the "Entente cordiale," apply perfectly to Frye's
reminiscences. Travelling immediately before and after the Emperor's
collapse, he found that everywhere, excepting in Tuscany, the French
domination was regretted, because the ideals of liberty and equality had
shone and vanished with the tricolour flag. He admires the French people,
though not the Ultras and bigots, and has fine words of praise for the
French army: "Yes, the French soldier is a fine fellow. I have served
against them in Holland and in Egypt, and I will never flinch from
rendering justice to their exemplary conduct and lofty valour." He takes
trouble to refute the exaggerated reports which were then circulated all
over Europe about the cruelties and vandalism practised by the French: "If
the French since the Revolution have not always fought for liberty, they
have done so invariably for science; and wherever they carried their
victorious arms abuses were abolished, ameliorations of all kinds followed
and the arts of life were improved. Our government, since 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 Liege - 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 "Goetz 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 Elysees - Saint-Cloud - The
Hotel des Invalides - The Luxembourg - General Labedoyere - Priests and
emigrants - Prussian Plunder - Handsome behaviour of the English
officers - Reminiscences of Eton - Versailles.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 2 of 149
Words from 1064 to 2118
of 151859
