Lehzen,” the “best and truest friend,”
she declared, that she had had since her birth.
Her journal, begun when she was thirteen, where she
registered day by day the small succession of her
doings and her sentiments, bears on every page of
it the traces of the Baroness and her circumambient
influence. The young creature that one sees there,
self-depicted in ingenuous clarity, with her sincerity,
her simplicity, her quick affections and pious resolutions,
might almost have been the daughter of a German pastor
herself. Her enjoyments, her admirations, her
engouements were of the kind that clothed themselves
naturally in underlinings and exclamation marks.
“It was a delightful ride. We cantered
a good deal. Sweet little rosy
went beautifully!! We came home at a
1/4 past 1... At 20 minutes to 7 we went out
to the Opera... Rubini came on and sang a song
out of ‘Anna Boulena’ quite beautifully.
We came home at 1/2 past 11.” In her comments
on her readings, the mind of the Baroness is clearly
revealed. One day, by some mistake, she was allowed
to take up a volume of memoirs by Fanny Kemble.
“It is certainly very pertly and oddly written.
One would imagine by the style that the authoress must
be very pert, and not well bred; for there are so
many vulgar expressions in it. It is a great
pity that a person endowed with so much talent, as
Mrs. Butler really is, should turn it to so little
account and publish a book which is so full of trash
and nonsense which can only do her harm. I stayed
up till 20 minutes past 9.” Madame de Sevigne’s
letters, which the Baroness read aloud, met with more
approval. “How truly elegant and natural
her style is! It is so full of naivete, cleverness,
and grace.” But her highest admiration
was reserved for the Bishop of Chester’s ‘Exposition
of the Gospel of St. Matthew.’ “It
is a very fine book indeed. Just the sort of
one I like; which is just plain and comprehensible
and full of truth and good feeling. It is not
one of those learned books in which you have to cavil
at almost every paragraph. Lehzen gave it me
on the Sunday that I took the Sacrament.”
A few weeks previously she had been confirmed, and
she described the event as follows: “I
felt that my confirmation was one of the most solemn
and important events and acts in my life; and that
I trusted that it might have a salutary effect on
my mind. I felt deeply repentant for all what
I had done which was wrong and trusted in God Almighty
to strengthen my heart and mind; and to forsake all
that is bad and follow all that is virtuous and right.
I went with the firm determination to become a true
Christian, to try and comfort my dear Mamma in all
her griefs, trials, and anxieties, and to become a
dutiful and affectionate daughter to her. Also
to be obedient to dear Lehzen, who has done so
much for me. I was dressed in a white lace dress,
with a white crepe bonnet with a wreath of white roses
round it. I went in the chariot with my dear Mamma
and the others followed in another carriage.”
One seems to hold in one’s hand a small smooth
crystal pebble, without a flaw and without a scintillation,
and so transparent that one can see through it at a
glance.