...a species of creature composed entirely of air and fire...

[anteros_lmc]

Anyone who has read nodbear's journal will already have come across the dashing French Captain Jaques Bergeret. Bergeret was the young captain of the frigate La Virginie when she was defeated by Sir Edward Pellew in the Indefatigable in April 1796. Pellew was so impressed by Bergeret's bravery and gallantry that he invited him to stay with his family while he was on parole. Bergeret became a close friend and confidant of Pellew, and their families formed a close and lasting attachment that outlived both officers. As Pellew was obviously at sea for much of Bergeret's parole his hostess would have been Mrs Susan Pellew. One can only imagine how Susan, a woman of reputed grace and accomplishment, entertained her charming guest, and nodbear and I have often speculated on the reaction of Cornish society to the appearance of such a dashing house guest!

Admiral Jacques Bergeret

So when I came across this little passage earlier today it naturally made me think of Susan. This is one Mrs Elizabeth Carter writing to a friend about the impression made by French officers on parole in Deal in 1748.

"....one was a most agreeable man, who talks a good deal, sings a good deal, and yet I cannot very well define why I do so greatly admire him. I believe, however, the strange enchantment that renders him so universally agreeable must be the most settled look of good nature and happiness that ever appeared in any human countenance. All the world is charmed with him as much as I....There is another officer a prodigious scholar and a poet, and a wit who writes satires and panegyrics....I was thinking of a French officer who was there, and who was very entertaining. Miss Hall and I shared him by way of partner and between us did not suffer him to sit down a single dance, which perhaps you may think somewhat unmerciful; but surely there is no need of scruple about a Frenchman, a species of creature composed entirely of air and fire, with no one principle of lassitude in it."

Of course what Mrs Carter is really saying is "French officers are hot"! But isn't "a species of creature composed entirely of air and fire" an infinitely more elegant way of saying so? ;)

Letters between Mrs Elizabeth Carter and Miss Catherine Talbot, 1741 - 1770, etc. Vol 1, p248, 1809.

Quoted in:

Elton, Mrs O., (1945), Locks, Bolts, and Bars. Stories of prisoners in the French wars, 1759 - 1814, Frederick Muller Ltd, London.

ETA: apologies for mistakenly posting an unfinished version of this earlier :}

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

You can see from his portrait that Admiral B may have indeed been a hottie, once.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Definitely a hottie. And he was only 25 when Pellew captured him for the first time. (He captured him a second time in 1805, but I'll let nodbear tell that story!) I suspect it was no hardship for Susan to entertain Captain Jacques! nodbear has been looking for a portrait of him as a younger man but hasn't managed to find one yet. Sadly there are no known portraits of Susan either.

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Delightful turn of phrase there!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Mrs Carter has a very fine pen doesn't she?! I also liked her reference to "that strange enchantment". :) And here is the talented Elizabeth Carter:

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

"a species of creature composed entirely of air and fire" Sounds like the French rugby team

Brilliant stuff - thanks for posting it.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the French rugby team
ROFL! "And no one principle of lassitude in them?" ;) It's a lovely quote isn't it?

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Yes - have been hoping to post about this quite remarkable friendship which did as anteros_lmc says well outlast the lifetime of the two men themselves.But glad to see this lovely picture of him getting posted in this post first. A very handsome man even in his 70s as he was when was painted - and I love the stylish pose - it has to be French :)

In my most prized piece of Pellewiana which is a handwritten copy by one of EP'S descendants of the family's own personal annotations to their copy of Oslers' biography,Edward and Susan's sons George and Fleetwood,who would have been about 4 and 8 respectively at the time, wrote:

"He used to escort my mother about with great politeness which on one occasion almost brought him into trouble..."

that is the gunwharf story and I have mentioned it before but the fill tale in upcoming post!

Madame Bergeret died in the same year as Susan Pellew (1837) but Bergeret lived on in Paris to be a very old man dying in the centenary year of his good friend Pellew's birth,1857.

One of the manuscript letters I am privileged to own (and which Anteros accompanied me to buy on our first actual meeting!) is one written by Jacques Bergeret in 1854 in which he actaully signs himself le tres vieux amiral Bergeret which is rather sweet.

I will post soon about the two admirals -but there is some potentially exciting "breaking news" about Bergeret so am holding off just for a short while.

I cannot very well define why I so greatly admire him

No? :D Mrs Carter doth protest too much methinks !

I think she had avery good idea of why:D

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Ah! That's where the gunwharf story came from! I had completely forgotten. I searched for it in Osler, Parkinson and on pellew.com and couldn't find it. And all the time it was in the copy upstairs!

le tres vieux amiral Bergeret
Aww bless! Somehow I think he never really grew old though :)

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Ah! That's where the gunwharf story came from! I had completely forgotten. I searched for it in Osler, Parkinson and on pellew.com and couldn't find it. And all the time it was in the copy upstairs!


yes George wrote the reminiscence but it was corrected in Fleet's hand - given that Fleet was 8 or 9 or so and George not yet 4 it is not surprising his memory was the better I think !

great story in itself !

and it is Fleet who gave a copy of Osler to Bergeret which the latter then gave to his grandson when he joined the navy as inspiration:)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised George was able to remember anything from the age of 4! But I suppose he had been told the story many times by family. Which kind of suggests to me that it was a story that Susan herself found highly entertaining! The more we piece together about her character the more I adore the accomplished Mrs P :) Btw did you get that link I sent you for the dissertation on naval officers wives?

And now I am finally off to read your fic! :*

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Yes I did - though I have owned it for a while and have been remiss that I had never passed it on.
Hope you don't find the dashing Jacques and the accomplished Susan disappointing as I know you are a fan of both like me :)

[venusinfurs90.livejournal.com]

This is brilliant. I also like that the ship was called La Virginie :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes! This is the frigate they named after you! :D When the dashing Captain Bergert struck La Virginie's colours to the Indefatigable and was told she was captained by Sir Edward Pellew he is alleged to exclaimed:

"Oh! That is the most fortunate man that ever lived! He takes every thing, and now he has taken the finest frigate in France."

nodbear and I are big fans of Captain Jacques! Can you tell? ;)