Journal of a four months' absence from England, in the summer of 1815 - including a tour in Flanders, Holland, and France; and a short residence at Brussels and Paris, [ca. 1825-1826].

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Journal of a four months' absence from England, in the summer of 1815 - including a tour in Flanders, Holland, and France; and a short residence at Brussels and Paris, [ca. 1825-1826].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/702176886

Holograph journal, with numerous corrections in pencil, of the writer's travels in Flanders, Holland, France, Brussels, and Paris with her siblings John and Charlotte. Many of her observations concern social activities and military scenes, especially concerning Napoleon Bonaparte. She describes the characters of her fellow passengers, including Sir Neil Campbell, going to Belgium as an extra Aide de Camp to the Duke of Wellington; and numerous other military men. On a boat to Ghent, she meets an English officer on his way to Flanders to fight Napoleon, and who has been posted away from his family for 10 years. In Ghent, she goes to the theater, where she describes the dress of the audience but is disappointed in the play itself; in Utrecht, she visits the botanical gardens, but though she finds the flowers pretty, does not much care for gardens; she also visits churches and admires the artwork within them. The manuscript also includes a lengthy description of a visit to the battlefield of Waterloo, where she notes the "rude graves" and other detritus of battle, especially the papers which litter the field, where she picks up as a souvenir a letter written from a soldier's wife to her husband, and recounts details of the battle itself. On leaving Cambray, their carriage is threatened by "ruffians"; in France, she admires the statues in the Louvre and describes her impressions upon seeing English troops encamped in the Bois de Boulogne; visits the Tuileries, where she imagines the "ex-emperor" Napoleon having designed his plans for Europe; attends the Grand Opera Francoise where the Duke of Wellington and Lord Castlereagh are also present; visits the National Library of France; and watches 65,000 soldiers pass in review before the Duke of Wellington on the plain of Clichy. The manuscript is prefaced by an introduction, signed J. W., Hendersyde Park, October 1815, in which the writer explains her motives for keeping a journal; apologizes for cursory allusions to private events which she did not feel right to commit to paper; and reminds her audience that the journal had been intended for her eyes only. The manuscript's corrections are evidently for printing; often, the corrections often strike through personal names. An earlier version of the second part of this journal is Osborn d185.

1 v. (430 p.) ; 26 x 18 cm.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 8024997

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

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