"Who shall decide when doctors disagree?" Non nostrúm tantas componere lites! one, 6 . therefore, that they "upon the adverse fac-| for the privates.'Yes, sir, I do,' was the tival entertainments. Not, however, deterred tion" should accuse him, which they do, of stern reply; it is discipline makes the scholar by the evident displeasure with which his queswishing to misrepresent Dr. Parr as a secret-it is discipline makes the soldier-it is dis- tions were received, or rather repulsed, he still convert to Unitarianism, at the expense of his cipline makes the gentleman-and the want of persisted; and, among other inquiries, pressed, sincerity. They assert, on the contrary, that discipline has made you-what you are. To with peculiar earnestness, for an answer to the the doctor was perfectly tolerant, and that another ycung man, by whom he had been following: Whether Mahomet had ever seen though he did not agree (as is very evident) much annoyed, he said- Sir, your tongue the Christian Scriptures?' 'Sir,' answered with the tenets of established orthodoxy in the goes to work before your brain; and when Dr. Parr, coldly and tauntingly, I have not Church of England, yet that he was a sound your brain does work, it generates nothing but the pleasure of Mahomet's acquaintance.'member, and untinetured with Unitarian apos-error and absurdity.' To a third, who was 'But,' resumed the querist, Dr. Parr, do you tacy. one of bold and forward, but ill-supported, think that Mahomet had seen only a false gospretensions, he said- B-, you have read pel, and the epistle falsely ascribed to Barlittle-thought less-and know nothing.' It nabas ?' Sir, I have not the honour of knowThe second volume of Mr. Field, to which is happened in a large company that the questioning Mr. Barnabas either,' replied Dr. Parr, prefixed another portrait of Parr with a round was proposed to him, and urgently pressed with increased sternness of accent and manner. nose, the first Volume exhibiting a square upon him, why he had not published more? But, nothing daunted even by this rebuff, the devotes its early pages to party feel- or something more worthy of his fame? The young inquisitive returned once more to the ings and portraits, eulogies upon every body of expressions of surprise and regret which went charge: Excuse me, Dr. Parr; but let me the same political creed, and abuse of every round the company, he bore with perfect good ask you, do you think that Mahomet had ever thing, as well as person, opposed to that creed. humour; till at length a young scholar, jest-seen a true gospel or not?' Sir,' answered It is a melancholy picture of the engrossing ingly perhaps, but somewhat pertly, called to Dr. Parr, greatly irritated, if you will draw power of faction (we care not on which side), him Suppose, Dr. Parr, you and I were to my teeth, why then, to save my dinner, I must which blinds us to the merits of those who write a book together?' Young man,' he re- say that I think Mahomet had never seen a happen to differ from us in opinion, and weds plied, if all were to be written in that book true gospel.' 'And pray,' said Mr. C., who us even to the vices of those with whom we which I do know, and which you do not know, had been looking on, watching, perhaps with a happen to agree. It was the misfortune of it would be a very large book indeed! Even little spiteful pleasure, the old lion vexed and Parr's life to be a violent partisan. But we ladies were not spared who incurred his dis- chafed by the teazing buzz of the insect, calling will pass from the subject to offer a few spe- pleasure, either by pertinacious adherence to out from the corner of the table where he sat cimens of his conversational powers, as they the wrong in opinion, or by deficiency of atten- And pray, Dr. Parr, did you ever see a true are adduced by his biographer. tion to the right and the amiable in conduct. gospel ? Unprepared for this new and sudden "He was insisting upon the importance of To one who had violated, as he thought, some attack, Dr. Parr seemed for a moment condiscipline, established on a wise system, and of the little rules of propriety, he said founded; and the attention of the whole comenforced with a steady hand, in schools, in Madam, your father was a gentleman, and I pany was anxiously directed towards him. But colleges, in the navy, in the army, when he thought that his daughter might have been a soon recovering himself, and rising from his was suddenly and somewhat rudely interrupted lady.' To another, who had held out in argu- seat, with an imposing air of dignity, and with by a young officer, who had just received his ment against him, not very powerfully, and a commanding voice of authority, he spoke commission, and was not a little proud of his rather too perseveringly, and who had closed thus: H. C., if you had ever seen a true blushing honours. What, sir,' said he, do the debate by saying, Well! Dr. Parr, I still gospel, you could not have understood the you mean to apply that word discipline to the maintain my opinion;' he replied Madam, learned language in which it is written; and officers of the army? It may be well enough you may, if you please, retain your opinion, if you had seen that true gospel, and could but you cannot maintain it. To another, who Apollonius was, is an enigma we cannot solve! Was it had also ventured to oppose him with more the poet of Rhodes? or was there a partisan of Herod of warmth of temper than cogency of reasoning, The following may be quoted as an instance, and also and who afterwards apologised for herself, by as an example of Mr. Field's manner. Though he de- saying, that it is the privilege of women to lighted most in the easy, careless flow of unrestrained con- talk nonsense.' 'No, madam,' replied Dr. versation, yet sometimes his discourse would take the form of a set harangue, extended to considerable length, Parr, it is not their privilege, but their and delivered with oratorical effect. Of this an instance infirmity. Ducks would walk if they could; occurs to the writer's recollection. He was dining some but nature suffers them only to waddle.'" years ago at Hatton, in company with several clergymen; and among them was an Irish dignitary, who talked long We fancy few people will coincide in thinkand loudly of our excellent church, of our venerable ing these speeches very praiseworthy; for ourestablishment,' in whose fair face, it should seem, he could selves, we look upon them to be instances of discover neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing.' Having suffered him to run the whole length of his line, bad temper, bad manners, and over-bearing, with no other interruption but a smile, now and then, of or rather bearish, rudeness, which would hardly pity, or a frown, sometimes, of displeasure, Dr. Parr rose be tolerated in polite society, or at all, except usual deep potations, he was carried off senseat length from his seat; and, after puffing in clouds for a moment or two, laid down his pipe; then resting one arm where one man was exalted into Sir Oracle, less to his bed. The following anecdote is told on the table, and enforcing all he said by the ponderous in whose presence no dog should bark. Who by one of Dr. Parr's pupils :-Of flippancy of movements of the other, he broke out into a vehement declamation on the state of the church, painting in glaring that ever inet in company on an equal footing, remark on religious subjects he was highly imcolours the grievances under which it was sick, though, and were not sycophantic satellites of a social patient. He once, in my hearing, rebuked he hoped, not dying' especially in the unequal distribu- unsocial Ursa Major, could have borne the be- Mr. F, a barrister, in good set terms. creed-in the absurdity of some of its articles-in the ser-haviour here described? This gentleman had somewhat inconsiderately vile spirit, too prevalent both among its higher and lower "Some years ago, Dr. Parr was passing a observed, that it was human authority which clergy, and in their obstinate resistance to the most rea- few days with an old pupil, an eminent barris- had put the seal of authenticity on the books of sonable and desirable improvements. He insisted that the church was fast losing ground, both in the esteem of ter, at his house in Staffordshire, when it hap- Scriptures; and that the councils of Trent and the more reflecting part, and in the affections of the great pened that another visiting inmate was the Nice had decided which were apocryphal and body of the community. Unitarians,' said he, multi-celebrated H. C. esq. a brother barrister. One which were not so. Dr. Parr, with some diffiand swagger. High churchmen hate both and abuse both; day, a large company were invited to dinner, culty, heard him to the end of his sentence; and deny the necessity of reforming themselves." The church is in danger. I own it,' said he, but let them consisting, amongst others, of several neigh. when, after a most ominous puff from his pipe, look to it who have brought it on, and who will not adopt bouring clergymen, of whom one was fresh he addressed him nearly in these words: Mr. the only method for saving us.' Reform,' cried he, from college, just initiated into holy orders, Frith, or Mr. Forth, or Mr. Froth-excuse me roaring out with a voice that literally thundered, and and strangely ignorant, or strangely forgetful, if I forget your name I have not the honour tion-reform! I say, is the only safety for our church. of the little proprieties which regulate social of your acquaintance; and the specimen you As sure as the uprooted tree must bend, or the tower intercourse, at least in the higher circles. This have just given of your theological knowledge undermined must bow, so surely our church must fall, unless it be refired in the good opinion of the people, young ecclesiastic, whether conceitedly, for the d es not make me highly ambitious of it. Sir, Then turning to the reverend dignitary, Sir,' said he, purpose of display, or unseasonably, if with a give me leave to tell you, that you are as far I give you your choice-reform? or ruin?-and mark view of gaining information, proposed to Dr. from correct chronology in your remark, as you be, must take effect. He concluded with giving as a Parr question after question, on subjects of are from right reasoning. These two councils, toast, the Church of England and Ireland may it be theology, much to the offence of the great which sat at widely remote periods of time, had delivered from all its enemies, and from undistinguishing divine, who exceedingly disliked the introduc- nothing to do with the distinction of books, as admirers and extravagant encomiasts-cf all its enemies, tion of such topies in mixed companies, at fes- at present received into our church. It arose that name? tion of its revenues-in the mysticism of some parts of its ply and calmly persevere. Methodists multiply, and rage, assuming an attitude which seemed to defy all contradic my words, within twenty years, that chcice, whichever it the worst!"'" have understood that learned language, you could not have comprehended the sublime cha racter it delineates, or the pure morals it inculcates; and if you could have read that true gospel, and comprehended that sublime character, and those pure morals; yet, to shelter your own bad propensities and habits, you would have struggled hard to prove the character a fiction, and the morals a falsehood!' It scarcely need be added, that all present were struck with mingled awe and admiration; the bold assailant was abashed, and sunk into silence, from which, during the evening, he could not recover; and after indulging in his from the consent of the early Christians, and is built upon the authority of the ancient fathers. You have given an opinion upon a subject which you ought not to have approached; and have betrayed ignorance without modesty, and pedantry without learning. Leave these matters to maturer knowledge and sounder understandings. This advice I honestly give you. In the words of Lucretius I will enforce it: help detracting from the highest living name man asserting that the queen was not charged that Scotland could boast, and merely, it should with a state crime-the charge being high treaseem, because its owner was a Tory. This is son ;-that it crumbled into dust at the first very paltry, and would be the same were a touch of examination; and, lastly, that the Tory to shew a like want of just estimation whole population rose (against whom, then ?) in towards a Whig-for it is the principle and her defence; and, nevertheless, that they rose in the fact, and not the difference of politics, that an unequal strife against more powerful op. makes the distinction contemptible. pressors than the whole population of Great "He was (says Mr. Field) once or twice in Britain!!! To us this seems to be egregious the company of an author of greater and more nonsense; and earnestly do we hope that the Ne mea dona, tibi studio dispôsta fidell, extended celebrity, perhaps, than any other of memory of this misguided and unfortunate Intellecta priusquam sint, contempta relinquas." his time; whose diversified talents have been lady will have abler defenders than the rev. We may subjoin the following by way of a displayed in the various departments of poetry, author, whose posthumous services appear to heavy variety. No wonder the doctor disliked biography, history, criticism, and works of fic-be of about as much value as those rendered to punning, if his attempts were always as blank! tion. This, the reader need not be told, is Sir her while living by his friend Dr. Parr. "Of all species of wit, punning was one Walter Scott; whose conversation, however, which Dr. Parr disliked, and in which he it was noticed, that Dr. Parr rather avoided Mexican Illustrations, founded upon Facts; seldom indulged; and yet some instances of it than solicited. He conceived, whether justly indicative of the present Condition of Society, have been related. Reaching a book from a or unjustly, that the literary Hercules had &c. &c. By Mark Beaufoy, late of the Cold high shelf in his library, two other books came proved himself, on certain occasions, a political stream Guards. 8vo. pp. 310. London, 1828. tumbling down; of which one, a critical work Proteus: and the slightest deviation from pubCarpenter and Son. of Lambert Bos, fell upon the other, which was lic principle was with him an offence not easily ILLUSTRATIONS "C a volume of Hume. See!' said he, what forgiven. This suspicion of the public man, founded on facts!" what has happened-procumbit humi bos.' On an- no doubt, influenced the opinion which he al-else could they be founded upon? gravelled us other occasion, sitting in his room, suffering ways avowed of the author. He thought that at the title-page of this book, and we turned under the effects of a slight cold, when too his fame was more brilliant than solid or last-over the leaf to the dedication. Here, again, strong a current was let in upon him, he cried ing. As a critic or a biographer, who,' said we were startled; for the work is inscribed to out,Stop, stop! that is too much. I am at Dr. Parr, will attempt to carry up his claims the Duke of Cambridge and the Coldstream present only Par levibus ventis.' At another very high?'. time, a gentleman having asked him to sub-continued he, depend chiefly upon his poems most satisfactory, &c. mode of attaining rank - His reputation must, then,' Guards, because the author "believes the profession of killing without murder to be the scribe to Dr. Busby's translation of Lucretius, and his novels. But is not his poetry even he declined to do so, saying it would cost too now,' added he, almost forgotten? And does There is no accounting for much money; it would indeed be Lucretius not their fading popularity threaten the same tastes; but we should have thought there were a few still more satisfactory modes of thriving It may be imagined that we have made Yet will he shine in the roll of fame, when in the world than by any way of killing: prethese selections invidiously: on the contrary, the learned Doctor and all his learned biogra- serving, saving, benefiting, improving our felthey are the best bits of the book which we phers shall be covered in oblivion. Waverley willow-creatures, for example; rendering men could pick out for the amusement of our read-outlast the Spital Sermon; the Lady of the happy, rather than knocking out their brains If we wanted to display the trivial and Lake please, when Bellendenus de Statu has with the but-ends of muskets; dispensing the objectionable, we would quote such as the sunk into its pristine insignificance; and the enjoyments, and reading the blessing in a following passages. author of Tales of a Grandfather be viewed nation's eyes, rather than slaughtering tens with admiration and delight, when Philopatris bereaved parents, and widows, and orphans! of thousands, and witnessing the mourning of Varvicensis shall be a forgotten name. Mr. Field, however, appears to have coincided too But Mr. Beaufoy is of another mind, and we warmly in these opinions of Dr. P. to have dare say sings with great gustofelt much disapprobation of the equally puerile and unjust perversion into which they betrayed him. He panegyrises the Doctor's adhesion to Queen Caroline, in terms so glowing that they come to be absolute nonsense. carus.'" ers. 66 fate to his novels?'" Early in 1819 Dr. Parr formed the project of a tour through the northern counties of England, and the southern counties of Scotland, from which he anticipated much pleasure; and which proved to him the source of many agreeable reflections through the remaining years of life. Thus, in arranging his plans, he writes for information to his friend, Mr. Parkes: Dear Sir,-If it be practicable, I shall go from Carlisle into Scotland. Will you "The year 1820 (says he) unfolds a dark and favour me with an account of the distances from distressing page in English history, from which Carlisle to Glasgow, and from Glasgow to Edin- every reader who honours his king and loves his burgh? Note, if you please, the intermediate country, would gladly turn away, with an ardent stage; and add the names of the second or third wish that it could be blotted out, as a tale of best inns. I never go to hotels, or grand houses falsehood or fiction, for ever. This is the of entertainment. Be so good as to write at amazing and melancholy story of Queen Caroyour leisure, fully, on a large sheet of paper.line, wife of George IV., of whom posterity It may be the last journey I shall ever take; will be astonished to read in British annals, and certainly it is the longest I ever did under- that, though a sovereign princess, and the take. Yours, very truly, S. Parr.'" royal consort of England, she was brought to The whole of this tour is an example of similar public trial, by the demand, not of the people, weakness in attaching consequence to trifles. but of the court; and that on the charge, not In Edinburgh the doctor was feted, and "he of a state crime, but of a civil or moral offence, seemed to entertain a higher opinion, if pos- which, if committed at all, was committed sible, than before, of the literary men who so under circumstances usually regarded as exculwell supported in their time the honour re-patory in the courts of English judicature. flected on their country, by the fame of David More astonished still will posterity be, as they Hume, Robertson, Adam Smith, John Home, read on, to learn that even this charge, on the Black, Blair, and others. He often spoke with very first touch of examination, crumbled into admiration of their great intellectual powers, dust. or, as he expressed it, their confounded strong heads.'" No man who has witnessed a fair symposium with "the mountain dew" could say less. But even here" the Birmingham doctor," as he was scornfully called by one of his adversaries, carried his strong party predilections along with him. He not only admired Jeffrey, Malcolm Laing, and other able as well as inferior Whigs, but he could not "The whole population seemed to rise as one man, hastening to mingle in the unequal strife; hurling defiance against the ministerial oppressors, and throwing the shield of their protection round the oppressed." Now, we are not about to rip up this unhappy controversy again, nor to express the least judgment one way or other upon it, but merely wish to point out the rank folly of any and fortune"!! "What a glorious thing's a battle! Then the cries of wounded flying! Then the groans of soldiers dying! What a glorious thing's a battle!" Hoping for better in the preface, we proceeded to that; but once more we were repelled from the volume, by an intimation of the writer in these words:"That many of the anecdotes related are indelicate, I am unwillingly obliged to admit; but when a man attempts to delineate a beast, he must be careful not to substitute Hyperion for a satyr." " Stumbling thus on the first three steps of the threshold, it is very natural to suppose that we were in no hurry to advance farther into this work, which will account for its having been laid aside by us from the hour of its publication till now. On perusing it, however, though we certainly observe some passages which stand much in need of the apology offered by the author, and which it is astonishing he should have retained to impeach his judgment, being obviously aware of their impropriety; yet it is but candid to say, that we have met with nothing so offensive as to banish the Illustrations from the circle of general readers. The objec tionable parts are rather disagreeable, from describing too plainly nasty habits and appearances (see page 40, &c.); but we are not aware of any indecency, or of any expressions unbes coming in a gentleman to pen. Perhaps a mora decided fault in the narrative is, the tone of supercilious censure with which the autho treats almost every subject and person. Call. ing the justly celebrated traveller Humboldt "Baron Humbug," is poor wit; and if the Baron has been wrong in some of his state- and children, have been crowding round to envelopes all but their face: a long cape hangs ments, it is still equally poor argument. Mr. listen to a musical snuff-box I used to produce Bullock is spoken of with little more respect; in the hot country, things might have been and every thing Mexican is despised in the high-easily stolen without my knowing it, if the est style of John-Bullism. Indeed, Mr. Beau-people had been so inclined." foy seems to have been too delicate in his appe- The subjoined are further and characteristic tites for a rough wayfarer in foreign and half-traits. Duke of Rovigo's Memoirs. Vol. III. [Second paper.] from each arm, which the riders hold before their eyes when they dash through a thicket; but I once saw two savage-looking fellows, who were galloping fearlessly in every direc tion, although completely naked.. * "A good saddle-horse, for the cities or tracivilised lands. He missed the cuisine of the "Huts are almost always guarded by a dozen velling, is taught what they term the páso; Coldstream at Zacual-pan, in spite of its pro-curs; as, though the natives will not hesitate which is effected by striking the inside of the mising termination: St. James's Street had to stab a Christian, they will by no means kill knees of the animal when exercising, until it exported none of its refinements to Tlalpuxa-a dog: the brutes will run out a long distance attains a pace between the trot and the canter; hua. Thus he tells us of his eating tortillas: to bite your horses' heels; but if you turn and a sort of waddle ridiculous enough to look at, "I rather liked these tortillas when toasted shew symptoms of fight, they will sneak back but extremely easy and agreeable to the rider. crisp; but as I knew the way in which they as quickly as they advanced. One of the fa-Journeys of twenty miles a-day, for weeks towere patted by hands not always delicately vourite habits of the great mass of the commu-gether, may thus be accomplished without faclean, I took care not to eat the two or three nity in Mexico, not only in the hot country tigue." top cakes of a series." where the sun overpowers the inhabitants with Besides sketches of the foregoing kind, there We are afraid that a similar intimate ac- lassitude, but also in the mountainous regions is some mining information, some antiquarian quaintance with the very best cookery at home where the thermometer often sinks below the investigations, and a number of cuts which would not improve our relish for the most re-freezing point, is killing the vermin in each contribute much to the interest of the work: cherché dishes: it is not amiss, therefore, in other's hair. Towards sunset not a hut is to so that, notwithstanding what we have noticed England or in Mexico, to enjoy such matters be found where this employment is not going unfavourable to it, we must own that is lively as you find good, savoury, piquant, and palat-forward. The men are seen extended on the and amusing. able, asking no questions for conscience' sake. ground, with their heads on the knees of the "The manner" (continues the author, in rather women, who with infinite dexterity catch the a whimsical fashion of deterioration)—“ the disagreeable intruders; taking especial care, manner in which the Creoles receive each other however, to kill only a certain number daily, THIS volume comes down to the period when and strangers, is with an overpowering polite- that the recreation may never fail: the lords the allies pressed on Paris, and it was resolved ness, which they scarcely even pretend possesses of the creation will then cleanse the hair of that the Empress and King of Rome should fly a single spark of sincerity: they embrace on their wives and children in the same manner. for safety. It is, as we have already meneach side, throwing the arms round the neck On Saturdays many of the women and girls tioned, full of remarkable relations, which, and shoulder first one way and then the other, from the villages go down to the rivulets, and however distorted by the writer, cannot fail goodnaturedly striking the back with the open stripping themselves naked, except a very short to excite a lively interest, and throw a vivid palm: they place every thing they have at the petticoat, sometimes commence washing their light upon the transactions to which they al disposal of the new comer, wishing he may live garments, their long black hair, and parts of lude. The rascality of the police under Savary a thousand years; but unhappy is the indis- their person: the passing and repassing of is divulged in a style of ludicrous simplicity, creet person who takes them at their word." workmen or others causes not the slightest something resembling the chuckling sincerity As we never met with any body who had interruption in the scene. with which a trickster, after he has gained been indiscreet enough to take a compliment of "To a foreigner, the confusion of sounds his aim, tells how he has swindled you into your this sort in earnest, and live a thousand years, between the a and the j, the 6 and the v, the losing bet or bad hargain. The intrigues put us we are not prepared to contradict the author ash and the g, pronounced with a cigar in the strongly in mind of some of the horse-cases to the unhappiness of the result. We will mouth, is perplexing to a degree; but the an- tried in our courts of law, where the lowest make some inquiries, however, as the point is noyance occasioned by those incessant phrases practices, the basest lies, and the most uninteresting on the score of longevities, and trust poco à poco,' and quien sabe,' is quite in- blushing effrontery, adorn the heroes of the to be able to speak more definitely in our Re-tolerable. The first is an excuse for every cause, who swear, point blank too, to the most view of Mr. Beaufoy's second edition. The kind of idleness; that it is too hot or too cold, direct contradictions and diametrically opposite following may meanwhile be read as a sample the wind is too high or too slight, it is time for statements. M. Savary would have been a prince of his sweeping censures. dinner, time for a (siesta) nap, that to-morrow of a horse-dealer! But we will not detain our "The descendants of the Spaniards in Mex- will do just as well. The other means every readers with much more of his business in the ico pay not the slightest attention to veracity. thing; the precise interpretation depends on police way than we have already quoted; our They do not understand the meaning of word the way in which it is drawled out. It is the remaining selections shall rather refer to higher of honour,' but interpret it into words of con- French shrug, the English knowing wink, the affairs-affairs of government, of monarchs, of venience. In every transaction they will cheat sign of ignorance, of indifference, of doubt. revolutions; and assuredly some of these are you if possible; making no scruple to deny A man, I will undertake to say, might travel passing strange. Savary, among other expromises, contracts, loans, or debts. The law- throughout the Republic, visiting every person ploits, arrested an officer belonging to the yers are there quite a different sort of persons and place worth his attention, without know- Prince of Orange, at the time a match befrom the respectable portion of the profession ing another word of Spanish than poco à poco, tween him and the English Princess Charin England. Confidential queries and acknow- quien sabe, usted, and si;* and that, provided lotte was in contemplation; and, from rifling ledgments to a legal adviser in Mexico are the he had a constant supply of cigars in his pocket, his papers, he says he discovered that this most certain means you could adopt of ruining he should quit the country with the reputation your own affairs; for if there is a doubt, no of being a remarkably well-informed and agree-original anecdote. About an hour after the execution at the * Of the police at this period we can give a singular an sooner have you turned your back, than the able companion. On the few large pieces of castle of Vincennes, two gendarmes, who had been present worthy lawyer seeks your adversary, makes water met with in Mexico, the Indians make at the murder of the unfortunate Duke d'Enghien, entered his own terms, and betrays the weak points of use of a long shallow boat for the purpose of of the shop the scene they had just witnessed. An agent of into a wine-shop near the barrier, and related to the master your cause. Creoles of title have been more fishing; which is so narrow, that persons un-police, who overheard their conversation, represented to than once caught in the fact, when endeavour-accustomed to the mode of managing it, would ing to purloin prints, books, &c. from the shop immediately lose their balance and get upset. of a highly respectable European established in It is formed of the trunk of one tree; and the the capital; and what was even worse, laughed at their detection as a good joke, instead of being ashamed of their knavery." Yet he adds, which seems inconsistent :"But as far as my own experience goes, I must differ from the sweeping accusation of theft so often alleged against all the lower classes of Mexicans; for throughout my excursions, I cannot recall to mind a single instance in which any article was stolen from my baggage. It is true I kept my eyes about me; but on some occasions, when half a hundred men, women, Indian owners are often seen in the rainy sea- usted, you; si, yes. them that they ought to be more guarded in spreading such false reports, at a moment when the city was already in a state of great agitation: (Plchegru had just been arrested). The gendarmes persisting in their assertion, in the execution, the agent of police put them under and even affirming that they themselves had been engaged arrest, and conducted them to the préfecture. The préfet was in bed, it being only about six o'clock in the morning. The officer, however, entered his bed-room, and made his report. The préfet, supposing that the two gendarmes were conspirators, who had assumed that disguise, wrote instantly to Buonaparte, to inform him that two conspirators had just been arrested, who were spreading reports injurious to his character and honour; that they had the insolence to say that a prince of the house of Bourbon had that he had been shot at the castle of Vincennes, &c. been arrested in Germany by some French troops, and The above fact shews the secrecy in which the foul murder of the unhappy prince was enveloped, when even his arrival at Paris was unknown to the préfet of police.→→ Ed. L. G. was "a connexion not much to the young | prince's taste. He alleged as his motive an apprehension of not finding in that union the happiness which is the only object of marriage, without a certainty of which he would renounce all thoughts of it. He plainly said, in short, that he feared he never could accustom himself to the domineering conduct which he thought it would be the lot of her future husband to submit to. This was no praise of the princess of England; and his mind had not yet acquired a philosophical turn respecting the female character. It was, no doubt, his wish that the Princess Charlotte should be nothing more than Princess of Orange, but that he should become a Prince of England." "The style (he continues) of that correspond- | my intentions. They expected to be reprience was no enigma to me. I found the true key manded; and received, on the contrary, some to it in the many injunctions it contained; and proof of my satisfaction. I opened every paper, felt more than ever convinced that the project of even the ambassador's packet,-and sent it succeeding to the emperor was deeply rooted in back to him with so much haste, that he might the mind of the King of Naples, who had never have had doubts of its being any thing more relinquished it until the birth of the King of than a mistake, if his experience had not told Rome. I entertained the impression that his him otherwise.[Characteristic gent!] obstinacy in insisting upon retaining about the person of his ambassador in Paris a host of gallant youths, all military men, was nothing more than a precaution on his part, for the purpose of obtaining correct information of the personal dispositions of the individuals holding high employments, of whose concurrence he would have stood in need if the event had come to pass, which was a previous condition to car The following respecting Murat, in 1811, goes beyond any thing we previously remem-rying his views into effect."* ber. The emperor directed the arrest of a chamberlain of the King of Naples, who had not left Paris. His directions were obeyed; and an examination took place of the chamberlain's papers, amongst which were found nineteen letters in the King of Naples' own hand-writing. There could no longer exist any doubt, after the perusal of these documents, that whether the idea had originated with himself, or whether it emanated from the brains of some of the persons in his service in Paris, this prince seriously entertained the hope of succeeding to the emperor, in a given case, that of his death, for instance. Most of those letters were dated in 1809, and had been written whilst the emperor was at Vienna, and the English had possession of Flushing." According to his own report of himself, not only on this, but on all other occasions, the worthy minister of police knew every thing that happened every where. But, to make assurance doubly sure, and at least become acquainted with these secrets, for his own purposes, he took an opportunity of Buonaparte's absence from Paris; and he tells us I gave orders (such is the rogue's confession)† that, under pretence of some awkward mistake, a Neapolitan courier should be arrested instead of another courier, and placed for a couple of hours at my disposal. We should remark, that Savary is inveterate against Fouché throughout his work, and does not spare Talleyrand.+ "This (he adds) is the proper place for mentioning that the emperor had already contemplated to separate the crown of Italy from that of France, and to bestow the former upon his successor: he only delayed making a declaration to that effect until the birth of a second son, who would have been king of all Italy. He had sometimes indulged with his friends in that pleasing hope; and as he treated the King of Naples as a man whom he considered to be inseparably linked to his system, the idea did not occur to him that he would ever dare to oppose his views, if the anticipated event should occur. Nevertheless, this was really the case." The fact is, every one was playing his own game, and there was neither confidence, honesty, truth, nor attachment, in the whole crowd of these worthless sycophants. No wonder that the catastrophe came at last; but the wonder is prodigious that the rotten fabric should have stood so long, ay, and laid Europe prostrate at the feet of such a set of charlatans. "The first Neapolitan courier was not The empress seems to have been out of their long in making his appearance; and my in- pale; for the author confesses, "No pains were structions were so judiciously carried into taken to trumpet forth her praise; but her effect, that he was brought to my hotel. merits were known and appreciated by all who Those who conducted him there were, in fact, surrounded her. I feel pleasure in repeating, under the impression that they had actually that on no occasion did I find it necessary to committed a mistake, with the exception, how-resort to any underhand means of securing tó ever, of one person, who was in the secret of the empress a good reception from the public, by whom she was sincerely esteemed and be The archbishop's countenance, however, appeared the loved." most discomposed. On perceiving their confusion, I guessed the subject of their conversation, and could not The breaking-up of the vile knot, who had help saying to them, This time, at least, you cannot so long disgraced authority and humbled the deny it, I find you in the act of conspiring. I was right in my conjecture: they set up & laugh, and endeavoured world, (we are not disposed to think highly of to deceive me as to their intentions; but I requested them courtiers generally, but surely they cannot all in vain to continue their conversation: they had lost the be so depraved and so contemptible as these thread of it. I withdrew, under the conviction that they were hatching some plot, though I was ignorant of its volumes shew the court of Buonaparte to have exact nature.”—[What a disgraceful business for a high been)—the breaking-up of the system apminister of state?!] proached, and the picture of the last hours of an empire sustained only by force, is deserving of calm and philosophical contemplation, as a lesson for all times. Napoleon had been defeated in his endeavours to restore victory to his arms in the campaign which succeeded the calamitous invasion of Russia. The German states had fallen off from him one by one, as they dared; Murat had deserted him; and Wrede (whom he deemed he had attached by largesses) only marked his sense of them by becoming, as the friend of Bavaria, one of the most able of his enemies. *After all, the King of Naples died like a chivalrous hero, in comparison with his brother-in-law. His protest against the tribunal, his letter to his wife, and his noble meeting of the fatal sentence, belong to the character of fame; while all Buonaparte's St. Helena tenaciousness of life and littleness class with the contemptible and piteous.-Ed. L. G. "M. Fouché was of a restless disposition; he always wanted to be employed on something, and generally against somebody. He had already contrived to get access to the empress, whose favour he was eagerly endeavouring to gain, in order to turn it to his own purposes when Occasion should serve. For my own part, I was not sorry for this removal; as it relieved me from the annoyance of receiving the condolence of persons who thought it impossible that the Duke of Otranto should not return to a post, for which they considered him exclusively competent. If the emperor had not called him to Dresden, it is probable that he and I would not long have continued on a footing of good understanding; for I was resolved to take my revenge whenever he might attempt any intrigue, the object of which could only be to cast ridicule on me. We should then have seen which of the two would have outstripped the other. I was far from concurring with those who attributed to him a vast share of talent. It will be seen whether experience has justified my opinion." † On another occasion, when he wanted to get at the Respecting him at the period when the allies were despatches of the Russian embassy, he says "I knew near Paris, he states:-" I had a positive order to abstain that the Emperor Alexander's aide-de-camp was about to from measures of severity, and was therefore under the take his departure, and that every one was getting desnecessity of allowing him to run on. I affected not to un-patches in readiness. Men of all characters and descripderstand, though in fact my curiosity was the more ex-tions are to be met with in Paris. I had of late found cited. His experience, however, was proof against the out one who knew the secret by which letters were shut bait thus held out. I could obtain no positive informa- up with certain padlocks, called à la Reynier. Had not tion from him. I was correctly informed of all the visits the aide-de-camp left Paris, I should probably have be he received; but his conduct was so artfully disguised, come acquainted with whatever was contained in the that he could give it the appearance of being quite natural, press in the wall close by the chimney of his apartment. by successively receiving persons of every opinion, and of By means which it is unnecessary to divulge, I at last sucall characters. I took care not to have one of them spoken ceeded in obtaining possession of the whole contents of to: the state of our affairs was far too desperate to induce the Russian officer's despatch, dated 21st February, 1812. any of those persons to renounce the court favours which drew out of his portfolio the report he addressed to the they already anticipated the prospect of obtaining. What, Emperor of Russia, with its accompanying letter; the besides, could they have told me? of a conversation in copy of the instructions given by the emperor two days which no positive fact could be discovered, or of their before to the director-in-chief of the war department, on private opinions respecting the intentions of M. de Talley- the subject of forwarding the military equipages of the rand, which were in a great measure known to me. I was army; and, lastly, a summary of the organisation of the -in this state of uneasiness, when happening to ride about grand army, in different corps, according to the orders town it occurred to me to pass close by the prince's hotel. given to the Duke de Feltre, minister of war. I first deI descried from a great distance the carriage of the Arch-termined to ascertain whether I was not myself the dupe of bishop of Mechlin, and imagined they were in close con- some snare laid to entrap me; and I repaired to the emference together. Being determined to satisfy myself on peror, who admitted his having recently given the orders the subject, I dismounted in the street, and walked in in question. On the day of the departure of unexpectedly, instead of having the folding-door of the the Russian officer, it occurred to me to pay a visit to the hotel thrown open to me. The porter recognised, but had prefect of police, with whom I lived on terms of friendly not the courage to stop me. I quickly ascended the stair-intimacy. I found him closing a letter to my address, in case, and reached M. de Talleyrand's closet without meet- which he sent me copies of all the written papers found in ing with any one in the ante-chamber. He was in close the apartment of the Emperor of Russia's aide-de-camp: conference with the archbishop. I entered so suddenly, the originals were on the table, and ready to be sent to that my appearance had as striking an effect upon them as the Duke of Bassano, the minister for foreign affairs, if I had got in through the window. They stopped short in who had asked for them. Though I could not but feel their conversation, which had been exceedingly animated; hurt at what a mere accident had enabled me to discover, The legislative body had been for a long time I both seemed to have suddenly lost the power of speech. I was not surprised at it.” The legislative body was assembled in Paris, but here also abandonment and opposition were manifest. "The emperor possessed a considerable treasure, the fruit of his economy. He transferred thirty millions to the public treasury; but this resource was far from being sufficient to meet the exigencies. The credit of the government was shaken; and without money it was impossible to rely with certainty on any thing. Under these circumstances, it was resolved to have recourse to the sale of the communel estates. This resource would have been sufficient; but although the measure was carried into effect, by the regular administrative authority, it nevertheless formed one of the grounds of complaint, of which the legislative body availed itself, in order to deprive the government of the last support it possessed. 6 he will soon be forgotten. He has several ex- How ridiculous this must appear to English NO. IV. SCHOOL AND CHILDREN'S BOOKS. at Paris; but the session was not opened. | number of adventurous men to run the chances are losing the game with fine cards in our How great a responsibility rests on those per- of its fortune. At all events, such a proposi- hands. Such is the consequence of the folly sons who dissuaded the emperor from this act, tion could do us no harm. On the contrary, of some ignorant men who persevere in exerin order to serve their petty private interests! if it were listened to, it might bring about cising from day to day a fatal influence. The Already were the mischievous and designing changes which would soon place us in a state emperor is really much to be pitied; and yet occupied with machinations. They tampered in which we would have little to repair. An- this will not be the case, for he is very unreawith the deputies, who were discontented, in other consideration is, that your allies having sonable in so obstinately confiding in the people consequence of the inactivity in which they failed you, you can now do nothing solid ex- who beset him: it is a mere act of weakness, were kept, and particularly on account of the cept with new men, connected from the be- which is quite unaccountable in such a man. state of affairs which they exaggerated, because [ginning with the conservation of your system. Consider, sir, what a downfal for the pages of it was not brought under their view. They The emperor listened to M. de Talleyrand, but history to record! He should have given his soon began to make all sorts of reflections, desired him to speak out more plainly, remark-name to the age he lives in, instead of which and this amongst others, that if the constitu-ing, that he was always the same, and that it will only stand conspicuous in the catalogue tion had been stronger, and the resources, there was no knowing what he would be at. of adventurers! I am deeply mortified at the both of population and finance, had been not so Thus pressed, Talleyrand mentioned the Wel-bare idea. What course are we now to adopt? entirely placed at the disposal of the govern-lesley family, and said, Look at Wellington, It is not the duty of every one to remain ment, such misfortunes would not, and could who may be supposed to have something in under this edifice now crumbling to ruins: not, have happened. Private resentments view. If he submit to live on his reputation, however, we shall see what will happen. The mixed themselves up with these reflections. emperor would have done much better to The legislative body contained some old pubspare me his insults, and to form a more corlic functionaries, who imagined they had cause rect estimate of those who instilled prejudices to complain of the emperor, those especially into his mind. He would have discovered that who had obtained neither favour nor distincsuch friends as the latter are much more to be tion. They believed that a favourable moment dreaded than open enemies. What would he had arrived for bringing him to a strict account. have said of any one else who might have They gave the rein to their passions, instead involved himself in the like difficulties?'" of occupying themselves with the danger which menaced the state. They had all flattered the emperor's government during his prosperity; they had lavished praises on all the acts of his administration, when all they had to do was to give their assent; they made him a thousand protestations of fidelity and attachment when he was the master of the world; and in the only conjuncture probably in which he could have Not so in France; for even during the grand had need of their assistance, to extricate the invasion in the spring of 1814, when the last state from a danger which could not fail to in- stake was at issue, "strange rumours were in volve themselves in destruction, they proved circulation respecting Prince Joseph. He is THIS work is an importation from America, and untractable, and selected that moment for asserted to have said, within the hearing of reprinted in England. It is compiled on a prinregulating the limits of a power, which others, that it was no longer in the emperor's ciple similar to the little work of Mr. Cobbin could not be too absolute for the circum-power to make peace; but that he himself (noticed last week), and possesses one apparent stances of the moment, and the bounds of would bring it about by means of the empress. advantage over it; viz. the introduction of a which they would themselves have readily My only reason for crediting the assertion was, variety of questions after every subject, for the extended, at a period when it might really that the emperor's brothers had on other occa- purpose of exercising the pupil in what he has have been abused. This conduct of the le- sions ventured to suppose that they could act a read or already learnt. At first sight, it would gislative body completed our misfortune.". conspicuous part without his assistance. What seem that these questions refer to an immense The amount of which is, that seeing their surprised me most in the present case was, that quantity of matter on which the work precountry drained to the last franc, and exhausted Prince Joseph should give way to such illu-sents no information; but the preface informs to the last man, they were not such slaves of sions. He was less presumptuous than the us, that, "in the use of this work, it is inBuonaparte as the minister of his police. Tal- rest of the family, and was, besides, sincerely tended that the pupil should derive most of leyrand was, in this extremity, offered the seals attached to his brother. Nevertheless, the his information from a careful examination of of foreign affairs; but he was too wily to accept spirit of intrigue was actively at work about the maps and chart, (which are published in a them. "M. de Talleyrand, (says the author,) his person. He spoke to me himself of a plan separate volume, 4to.), as the only substantial who knew the object which had been aimed at which had been suggested to him. This was basis of a knowledge of geography. No pains by all the preceding coalitions, was not de- nothing less than to have him proclaimed as should be spared to render this part of the ceived respecting the views of the present. regent by the assembled senate, who would subject familiar to his mind. To effect this He related to me that he said to the emperor, also have pronounced the emperor's forfeiture object, the questions have been made as numeHere is your work destroyed. Your allies, of the throne. Joseph clearly saw, that, if rous and particular as the limits of such a work by successively abandoning you, have left you this event had occurred, he would have been will allow, and it is not designed to give him no other alternative but that of treating with- at the enemy's mercy, after thus opening the any information in words which he can obtain out loss of time; treating at their expense, road to Paris, which the fascination still at- from the maps." Thus far it appears good, and at all hazards. A bad peace cannot be so tached to the emperor's name had the effect of and, with the aid of the Atlas, the pupil may, fatal to us as the continuance of a war which keeping still closed against them. I felt, how with these "Rudiments," obtain a tolerable must be unsuccessful. Time and means to ever, the conviction that the leaders in the initiation into the first principles of geography; recall fortune to your side are wanting, and scheme had fed him with hopes of success pre- but farther than this he cannot go, as the your enemies will not allow you a moment to viously to his quitting the metropolis." book itself is too bare of such instruction as breathe. There are, however, among them It was now, as afterwards at Waterloo, cannot be obtained from the maps. What, for different interests, which we should endeavour sauve qui peut at Paris; every one for him- instance, can be learnt from Mr. Woodbridge's to bring in conflict. Private ambitions present self, and the d-1 take the hindmost. Even book, of that venerable and interesting counmeans, of which we might avail ourselves to Savary hesitated about raising the mob, but try, Egypt? when the information he deigns prepare a diversion.' The emperor asked was afraid that they would tear him to pieces; to afford thereof is wholly contained in the him to explain himself, and M. de Talley- and so he ran too. His account of the last following six lines! rand continued: There is in England a council at the Tuileries is quite a curiosity: family which has acquired a distinction fa- we can only give its finale, and ours also of vourable to the encouragement of every kind this notice. "Egypt is celebrated for the wonderful pyramids, near Cairo, and other works of the ancient inhabitants. It is a hot but very of ambition. It is natural to suppose that "On quitting the palace of the Tuileries, fruitful country, which is watered by the it possesses ambition, or, at least, that by shew- M. de Talleyrand came up and addressed me overflowing of the Nile, instead of rain. There ing a disposition to second its ambition, we in these words: Well,' said he, thus ends are some professed Christians in Egypt, but may excite in it the desire of elevation; and all this business. Are you not also of the the people are generally in the lowest state also, that there are in England a sufficient opinion of the council? It must be owned we of ignorance. and oppression.". |