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17 November 1891 — Trent | |
Tuesday. 17th November [1891]. Breakfast at 9 & then prepared to go out at once & Ct Seckendorff fetched us & we went with him & Herr Oesterreicher to see the Castle & examine the beauties of Romanino’s frescos there. We had to go before 12 so that we might see the place during the time the soldiers were out exercising & we must have sorely tried the patience of the young Austrian officer who showed us over—but the treat was great & it was hard to tear oneself away– At last the soldiers came tramping up the long passages & we took our leave. We went to the Palazzo Salvador & were very politely received by the Count of that name & he showed us his pictures—2 very fine Moroni’s wh had much suffered in the restorer’s hands—the Ct had unfortunately allowed them to pass thro’ the hands of Profr Fabus at Venice—a man who has ruined most of the pictures in this part of the world & was known by the name of old “Stoppabusi”. The Count is related to the Marcello family & belongs to the Italian party at Trent. He accompanied me part of the way to the Hotel & promised to call on us if he came to Venice. We turned in to the photographer’s & bought a few photos of the Castle frescoes & then we went back to the hotel & had lunch with the Empress. Directly after we all set out on our expedition & went in 2 little carriages. H. Majesty & I in the 1st carriage with Herr Oesterreicher on the box. Henry with Mlle Faber du Faur & Princess Margaret with Ct Seckendorff on the box in the next carriage. We drove up the hill to a little village called Val but soon got out & walked. It was pretty stiff uphill work & the Empress goes a good pace so that I had some difficulty in keeping up with her. Henry did not attempt it & remained in the carriage. We got the most lovely views down into the valley of the town of Trent & the villas & castles & forts on the surrounding hills & the Empress was in ecstasies over the scenery & enjoyed the mountain road with its ferns & rocks & heather which she said reminded her of her dear Scotland. After a tremendously steep pull we got up to the little village where the carriages turned & went back the same road & the Empress, Pss Margaret, Ct Seckendorff & I went down by a very steep stony mule path—very rough walking pilotted by Herr Oesterreicher & finally joined the carriages got in & drove down to Matarello & by the valley road back to Trent. The sun was setting as we got to Matarello & the snow mountains round & the tops of the hills were tinged with pink; there was not a cloud & we had a lovely evening & drove quickly back to Trent. The Empress said she liked driving in the gloaming but I thought she grew silent & sad & afterwards at the tea table I saw her eyes were red. She said she grew fonder of nature & scenery as she grew older. She talked a good deal of her family & lamented the unsympathising manners of the reigning Empress. I said I thought she had not much influence—she said on the contrary she had and that being very narrow minded she did a deal of mischief & it was entirely owing to her that the Emperor had been so angry with his sister Pss Sophie for changing her religion. The Emperor had declared that he would not allow Pss Sophie to come into Germany & would give orders to the police to stop her on the frontier & he would never speak again to his sister. At wh the Empress had said in that case she would never speak to the Emperor herself. When Pss Sophie came to Germany he had not carried out his threat abt the police but there had been many violent scenes wh made the Empress very unhappy. She regretted herself that Pss Sophie should have gone over to the Greek church but she had been taken by the ceremonial—& had never liked the German protestant form. Besides she could not stand her child being brought up in a different religion & seeing what an angel of goodness her mother in law was she thought it must be owing to the influence of the religion. The Empress spoke of Pss Victoria of Lippe how happily her marriage was turning out but lamented that P. Adolf her husband being entirely & blindly devoted to the Emp. William was his partizan as against his mother in law & Pss Victoria naturally tried to please her husband & she herself could say nothing to disturb her faith in P. Adolf. He seems to regard his mother in law with distrust & “there is no getting nearer him—tho’ I am very fond of him.” | |
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