German
Minor Poetry, Now Quite Forgotten, Attracted Him Almost As Much As The
Great Pages Of Schiller, Buerger, And Goethe.
The Misses G. possess a
manuscript translation in three volumes, in the Major's own hand, of
Wieland's Agathodemon done into English.
This he evidently intended to
publish, as he had written the title-page which is worded as follows:
"Agathodemon, a philosophical romance translated from the German of Wieland
by W.E. Frye, member of the Academy degli Arcadi in Rome, and of the Royal
Society of Northern Antiquarians of Copenhagen, ex-major of infantry in His
British Majesty's service."
Frye describes with accuracy, and shows much appreciation of fine scenery
and architecture. His judgements in painting and sculpture are sincere,
though often betraying the autodidact and amateur. He loved music,
especially Rossini's operas which were then beginning their long career of
triumph. Theatricals of all sorts, especially ballets, had a great
attraction for him and elicited his enthusiastic comments. In comparing
tragedies and comedies which he had seen performed in different countries,
he gave repeated proofs of his knowledge and critical insight. We can take
him as a good example of that intelligent class of English travellers whose
intercourse with the Continental litterati has so well contributed to
establish the good reputation of British culture and refined appreciation
of the arts.
The chief interest of Frye's reminiscences lies, however, in quite another
direction. He was a friend of liberty, a friend of France, an admirer of
Napoleon, and a hater of the Tory regime which brought about Napoleon's
downfall. "France's attempts at European domination, in the Napoleonic era,
are graciously described as but so many efforts towards spreading the light
of civilization over Europe." These words, written about a quite recent
work and a propos of the "Entente cordiale," apply perfectly to Frye's
reminiscences. Travelling immediately before and after the Emperor's
collapse, he found that everywhere, excepting in Tuscany, the French
domination was regretted, because the ideals of liberty and equality had
shone and vanished with the tricolour flag. He admires the French people,
though not the Ultras and bigots, and has fine words of praise for the
French army: "Yes, the French soldier is a fine fellow. I have served
against them in Holland and in Egypt, and I will never flinch from
rendering justice to their exemplary conduct and lofty valour." He takes
trouble to refute the exaggerated reports which were then circulated all
over Europe about the cruelties and vandalism practised by the French: "If
the French since the Revolution have not always fought for liberty, they
have done so invariably for science; and wherever they carried their
victorious arms abuses were abolished, ameliorations of all kinds followed
and the arts of life were improved. Our government, since the accession of
George III, has never raised its arm except in favour of old abuses, to
uphold despotism and unfair privileges or to establish commercial
monopoly."
Sometimes, indeed, speaking of his own country and its government, Major
Frye uses very hard words, which might seem unpatriotic if we did not know,
from many other memoirs and letters, to what a terrible strain orthodox
Toryism, coupled with bigotry and hypocrisy, had put the patience of
liberal Englishmen at that period.
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