pare notes, the parties are both surprized at the discrepant results of the two valuations, and neither is satisfied with that of the other, while he is not able to defend his own, The principle on which a fair and judicious valuation of land under different circumstances of soil, situation, proximity to markets, poor's rate, &c. can be made, is extremely desirable to be known by the parties concerned; for then the agent of a man who, but for the natural bias of his own personal interest, would himself be competent to make a just valuation of the farm which he is about to let or to hire, will feel that his estimate is to be scrutinized by a competent person, and will consequently be more careful in making it. So far as we can judge about these matters, we think that Mr. Bayldon has laid down some rules for the government of the incoming and the out-going tenant, as well as for that of the landlord, which will be extremely serviceable to all the three.

Art. 20. May you Like it. By a Country Curate. Vol. II. 12mo. 8s. Boards. Boys. 1823.

We are happy in being able to give, on the whole, a more favorable account of this little work than of its precursor, which we took occasion to notice in our xcviiith volume, p. 112. The writer (who, we believe, has good claims to the title which he has assumed,) appears to have profited by the experience which an introduction to the public has afforded him, and to have abandoned some of the faults to which we adverted in examining his first volume. He is less affected, and consequently more easy and pleasing in his narrative, though he is still not altogether natural and simple. Occasionally, indeed, he strives to be too simple, which is a fault altogether as great as an overstrained refinement. We would have him write in his own language, without imitating either the artless innocence of a child or the naked simplicity of a Quaker: for the powers both of description and sentiment, which he displays in the present tales, are highly respectable; and, if united to a greater purity of taste, they would render his writings as pleasing as they would be useful. Nothing, indeed, can be more honorable to him than the tone of moral feeling which pervades his pages, and the excellent lessons which they inculcate.

.

In the present volume, the tales intitled A Sister's Love' and 'An Old Incumbent' are the most pleasingly written. Mary Hope' is supposed to be the composition of an old gentleman of the last century, and the language is intended to be conformable to that idea, but the simulation is poorly supported. Incongruities of this kind have a very ill effect.

Art. 21. Essays and Sketches in Prose. By George Milner, jun. Author of "Stanzas written on a Summer's Evening," and other Poems, &c. 12mo. pp. 172. 5s. Boards. Printed at Derby for the Author, and sold by Longman and Co. London.

Whatever mistaken opinions may have gone forth regarding the undue severity and hard dealing, with which critics are said to visit the early efforts of writers not exactly of the highest order, we can truly assert that, on our part, it is always gratifying to be

able

able to make favourable mention of any manifestations of rising genius and merit, in whatever department they occur; and this is not rendered a less pleasing task by its comparatively rare occurrence, among the numerous candidates for public approbation: a fact which is strikingly illustrated by those effusions of a secondary class, to which our attention is daily and hourly solicited.

This gratification we are happy in the present instance to be enabled to indulge, inasmuch as the pleasing and unpretending little volume before us will be found to contain, we think, something more than a mere promise of better things. While it evidently bears the impression of youthful and inexperienced feelings, in its entire sentiments and descriptions, we observe a vividness in its fancies, and in its delineation of incidents and characters, which intitle it, beyond its own little world of poetic joys and sorrows, to a favourable reception from those who are wont to prize the genuine touches of nature and simplicity. Whatever may be its youthful deficiencies and blemishes, easily excusable at the author's tender age, to us his effusions read like an unpremeditated and faithful transcript of his heart and mind, with sufficient indications of genius and pathos to impart a spirit and a relish to the imaginary scenes in which he has delighted to embody them. For this reason, we give the preference to a few of the short stories of a purely descriptive and pathetic cast, rather than to the author's disquisitions on general subjects; in which his deficiency in experience, observation, and judgment, is more apparent, whatever good sense and good feeling may have dictated the remarks.

Among these little tales, also, we may point out those of Helen Lefevre, a Village Church-yard,' and the conclusion of Andrew Hopeful's early Life,' as most likely to reward the reader's perusal : portions of which cannot fail to reach the heart, not merely (we trust) of the youthful reader, but of all who are alive to the sweetest charities of life. A few of the essays are distinguished by original remark, with a portion of cleverness, and a degree of elevated feeling which is creditable to the writer's taste.

CORRESPONDENCE.

We have received the sensible and obliging letter from Eastwood but we fear that some circumstances, which we cannot explain here, will prevent us from adopting the suggestion of the writer. The matter, however, shall have farther consideration.

R. J. S. is referred to our eighty-eighth volume, p.335., Number for March, 1819.

We would send a private answer to our correspondent who dates temporarily from Windsor, if we knew his exact address.

The APPENDIX to the last volume of the Review is published with this Number, and contains numerous articles on interesting Foreign Works: together with the General Title, Table of Contents, and Index for the Volume.

THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For OCTOBER, 1823.

ART. I Memoirs of the Private Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and Navarre. To which are added, Recollections, Sketches, and Anecdotes, illustrative of the Reigns of Louis XIV., Louis XV., and Louis XVI. By Madame Campan, first Femme de Chambre to the Queen. 8vo. 2 Vols. 17. 8s. Boards. Colburn and Co. 1823.

WITHIN these few years, many volumes of memoirs relative to the French Revolution have appeared, which fornish invaluable documents to the future historian, and in the mean time supply most interesting themes to the curiosity of the age. Many of them have preserved facts illustrative of those times of horror and of blood, which might not otherwise have seen the light; and most of them may be safely consulted as authentic depositaries of those concealed movements and private intrigues, which have so efficient an influence in all political changes. Thus the memoirs of Barbaroux have disclosed much of the secret history of the tenth of August; and those of Camille Desmoulins, published with the title of "Secret History of the Revolution," have removed the veil from the more hidden machinery and the less avowed motives, which produced that most tremendous of popular convulsions. The interesting and well-known narrative of the transactions in the Temple, by Clery, is also a touching but faithful picture of the captivity of Louis XVI, and his family. To these and other important documents, we may now add the Memoirs of Madame Campan, whose character must induce her readers to confide in the generality of her relations. They may, indeed, draw their own conclusions from them, according to their own mode of reasoning or habits of feeling: but the tone, the manner, the spirit, all in short that goes by the name of internal evidence, bear testimony to their authenticity.

Although various interesting memoirs of the unfortunate Queen of France have been published, none, we think, exhibit a clearer mirror of her character and dispositions than we have now before us, because none shew her more as she VOL. CII. I

was,

was, in the privacies of social life, and disencumbered of the pomp and formality of greatness. The work contains also curious particulars relative to the court of Louis XV., as well as that of Louis XVI. To enable our readers to estimate the degree of confidence due to Madame Campan, it is fitting that we should give a short account of her; and this we have abridged, with considerable trouble, from the biographical notice prefixed to her Memoirs by the French editor: who has by no means performed his task with the compendious brevity, that is so essentially requisite for that part of a book which is merely preliminary.

Henriette Genet, afterward Madame Campan, the daughter of a gentleman who had filled some official situation under the Duke de Choiseul, was born in the year 1752. Her education was anxiously superintended by her father, who was competent to the task; and, in addition to the usual accomplishments of her sex, she made considerable progress both in Italian and English literature. It was also her good fortune, under this excellent parent, to acquire the rare talent of fine elocution: which, through the interest of several ladies of high rank, procured her, while yet very young, the place of reading companion to the daughters of Louis XV. She was then but fifteen; and her father felt some regret in committing her, at so early an age, to the malice of courtiers. When, dressed for the first time in the costume of the court, she went to take leave of him in his closet, the tears fell from his eyes, and mingled with the joy which his features expressed at her promotion. He summed up all the advantages which she possessed, to guard her the more against the inquietudes which they would not fail to draw down on her. "The Princesses," said he, "will be delighted with your talents, and the great have the art of praising gracefully, but always to excess. As often, however, as you receive these flattering testimonies, you will have the more enemies. I warn you, my daughter, of the risks that are incidental to your new condition; and I declare to you that, on this very day, when you appear in ecstacy with your good fortune, if I could have established you in any other situation, I would not have delivered you to the torments and dangers of a court."

This situation, however, proved to have few charms for Mademoiselle Genet; the court of the Princesses being grave, formal, and sombre. The eldest, Madame Adelaide, lived entirely by herself, Madame Sophie was proud, and Madame Louise was a devotee, but Madame Victoire won her heart. She had once been handsome, and her conversation was gentle, easy, and unaffected. The young Genet passed whole

days

days with this princess in her apartment, where Louis XV. frequently visited them. That king, she says, had a distinguished appearance, and graceful demeanor: but even in these volumes we have evidence that he has left a reputation which has been deservedly stigmatized by posterity. Credulous, saturnine, and melancholy, dignified at his court, but wavering and irresolute in council, and governed by a common prostitute, he fled to intemperance and intrigue as a refuge from care. About this time, the marriage of the Dauphin with the Arch-duchess Marie Antoinette, of Austria, had been negotiated; an alliance projected by the Duc de Choiseul before his disgrace, and which that minister conceived to be a master-stroke of policy. These ill-fated nuptials, of which the daughter of Maria Theresa was destined to be the victim, were celebrated in May, 1770; and shortly afterward the writer of these Memoirs was placed near her person, and honored with her confidence. No other member of the royal family but the Dauphin being married, the Dauphiness had at first little society except that of the Princesses; and it was in the apartments of Madame Victoire that she was struck with the beauty and the talents of Mademoiselle Genet, who frequently accompanied her on the harp or the piano, to the airs of Gretry.

Such patronage soon led to her establishment in life; and not long afterward she became the wife of M. Campan, a widower, whose father was private secretary to the queen. Louis XV. settled on her 5000 livres per annum by way of dowry; and she was placed in the household of the Dauphiness as woman of the chamber, but continued her duties as reader to the Princesses. For the space of twenty years, from the marriage of Marie Antoinette down to the fatal attack of the 10th of August, 1792, Madame Campan never quitted her benefactress; and from this period her life was singularly eventful. Her fidelity to her mistress necessarily exposed her to danger, but it remained unshaken. She threw herself at the feet of Petion to implore the melancholy privilege of sharing the captivity of the Queen; and, although this favor was denied her, she expected every moment to experience the same fate. Denounced and actually pursued by Robespierre, who had discovered that she was the depositary of several important papers, confided to her care by the King and the Queen, she at last found a place of concealment at Coubertin. Her sister, Madame Auguié, destroyed herself on the very day on which she was arrested, hoping by that dreadful act of despair to preserve the remains of her fortune to her children: but, had she deferred her fatal

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