General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1888 Original Publisher: Chapman and Hall, limited Subjects: France History / Europe / France Travel / Europe / France Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER IV. VISIT TO ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 1835 – 1836. The habits of the English aristocracy are very different from French customs. In England people spend the winter in their country houses, and the fine weather in London. Consequently, I started for England in the beginning of the month of April. There, as elsewhere, perhaps more than anywhere else, I felt the study of places would be incomplete without the study of men, and in order to enter at once that political circle into which I wished to penetrate, I took with me several letters of introduction, among them being one for Mr. Bellew, an Irish member of Parliament, and another for General Alava, the Spanish Ambassador. General Alava had been the Duke of Wellington’s aide-de-camp during the war in Spain against the Emperor Napoleon. In a cavalry charge, a curious wound had rendered him, to use his own expression, a useless husband, had set him at variance with Madame Alava, and had forced him to exchange a military for a diplomatic career. He had manyfriends in France. In England, the Spanish Chapel served as a parish to a great number of Catholics, and the old General enjoyed doing the honours of it. He much liked to keep an open table, rather after the campaigning fashion, that is to say without luxury and without preliminary invitation. His words were,
Come when you like, you will always find an omelette ready, if there is not anything else. His conversation, as cheery as that of a young man, instructive as that of an old …
