[The Idler in France by Marguerite Gardiner]@TWC D-Link bookThe Idler in France CHAPTER XX 12/13
Napoleon himself, with all the glory associated with his name--a glory that intoxicated the French--would have failed to inebriate the sober-minded English. Through my acquaintance with the Baron de Cailleux, who is at the head of the Musee, I obtained permission to take Lord John Russell, Mr. Rogers, and Mr.Luttrell, to the galleries of the Louvre yesterday, it being a day on which the public are excluded.
The Baron received us, did the honours of the Musee with all the intelligence and urbanity that distinguish him, and made as favourable an impression on my countrymen as they seemed to have produced on him. Rogers has a pure taste in the fine arts, and has cultivated it _con amore_; Luttrell brings to the study a practised eye and a matured judgment; but Lord John, nurtured from infancy in dwellings, the walls of which glow with the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the old masters and the best works of the modern ones, possesses an exquisite tact in recognizing at a glance the finest points in a picture, and reasons on them with all the _savoir_ of a connoisseur and the feeling of an amateur. It is a pleasant thing to view collections of art with those fully capable of appreciating them, and I enjoyed this satisfaction yesterday.
The Baron de Cailleux evinced no little pleasure in conducting my companions from one masterpiece to another, and two or three hours passed away rapidly in the interesting study. The Marquis and Marquise de B----, Comte V----, and some others, dined here yesterday.
The Marquise de B---- is very clever, has agreeable manners, knows the world thoroughly, and neither under nor overvalues it.
A constant friction with society, while it smoothes down asperities and polishes manners, is apt to impair if not destroy much of the originality and raciness peculiar to clever people.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|