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tion to a most unpopular body exposed him to destructign; and that he went into exile, leaving his fortune behind, and subsisting when abroad upon the sale of his books, rather than be contaminated by any share whatever in the enormities of the first Revolution, is a

mated by no spirit but that of blind and furious bigotry. The overthrow of the dynasty once more brought M. Talleyrand upon the scene; and he has ever since been the most trusted, as the most valuable and skilful, of all the new Government's advisers; nor have the wisdom and the firmness of any counsels, except in-circumstance equally true and equally kept in the deed those of the Monarch himself, contributed so signally to the successful administration of that great Prince, in the unparalleled difficulties of his truly arduous position.

shade by his traducers. When the dissipations of his earlier years are chronicled, no allusion is ever made to the severity of his studies at the Sorbonne, where he was only known as a young man of haughty demeanThat these well-known passages in M. Talleyrand's our and silent habits, who lived buried among his life indicate a disposition to be on the successful side, books. Unable to deny his wit, and overcome by the without any very nice regard to its real merits, can charms of his conversation, envious men have refused hardly be denied; and when facts, so pregnant with him even solid capacity, and more important services evidence, are before the reader, he has not merely to society; but they have only been able to make this materials for judging of the character to which they denial by forgetting the profound discourse upon Lotrelate, but may almost be said to have had its linea-teries which laid the foundation of his fame; and the ments presented to his view, without the aid of the works on Public Education, upon Weights and Meahistorian's pencil to portray them. But the just dis-sures, and upon Colonial Policy, which raised the crimination of the historian is still wanting to com- superstructure. No mitigation of the judgment proplete the picture; both by filling up the outline, and by correcting it when hastily drawn from imperfect materials. Other passages of the life may be brought forward; explanations may be given of doubtful actions; apparent inconsistencies may be reconciled; and charges which at first sight seemed correctly gathered from the facts, may be aggravated, extenuated, or repelled, by a more enlarged and a more judicial view of the whole subject. That the inferences fairly deduced from M. Talleyrand's public life can be wholly countervailed by any minuteness of examination, or explained away by any ingenuity of comment, it would be absurd to assert; yet is it only doing justice to comprise in our estimate of his merits, some things not usually taken into the account by those who censure his conduct, and who pronounce him,-upon the view of his bearing part in such opposite systems of policy, and acting with such various combinations of party,-to have been a person singularly void of public principle, and whose individual interest was always his God.

nounced upon his accommodating, or what has perhaps justly been called his time-serving, propensities, has ever been effected by viewing the courage which he showed in opposing Napoleon's Spanish war; the still more dangerous energy with which he defended the clerical body in his diocese at a time full of every kind of peril to political integrity; and his exclusion from power by the restored dynasty, whose return to the French throne was mainly the work of his hands, but whose service he quitted rather than concur in a policy humiliating to his country. Nor has any account been taken of the difficult state of affairs, and the imminent risk of hopeless anarchy on the one hand, or complete conquest on the other, to which France was exposed by the fortune of war and the hazards of revolution;-an alternative presented to him in more than one of those most critical emergencies in which he was called to decide for his country as well as himself. Yet all these circumstances must be weighed together with the mere facts of his successive adhesion to so many governments, if we would avoid doing his memory the grossest injustice, and escape the most manifest error in that fair estimate of his political virtue which it is our object to form.

His conduct towards the order he belonged to has been remarked upon with severity. But to that order he owed only cruel and heartless oppression, and all for an accident that befell him in the cradle. He was not only disinherited, but he literally never was allow- But if the integrity of this famous persónage be the ed to sleep under his father's roof. His demeanour in subject of unavoidable controversy, and if our opinion respect to sacred matters, unbecoming his profession regarding it must of necessity be clouded with some as a priest, has called down censures of a far graver doubt, and at best be difficult satisfactorily to fix-upon description. But he was made by force to enter a pro- the talents with which he was gifted, and his successful fession which he abhorred; and upon those who forced cultivation of them, there can be no question at all; and him, not upon himself, falls the blame of his conduct our view of them is unclouded and clear. His capahaving been unsuited to the cloth which they compel-city was most vigorous and enlarged. Few men have led him to wear. It, moreover, is true, but it has ever been endowed with a stronger natural understandbeen always forgotten in the attacks upon his ccclesi-ing; or have given it a more diligent culture, with a astical character, that he gallantly undertook the view to the pursuits in which he was to employ it. defence of his sacred order, at a time when such devo- His singular acuteness could at once penetrate every

utter scorn the affected wisdom of those who think they prove themselves sound practical men by holding cheap every proposal to which the world has been little, or not all accustomed, and which appeals for its support to principles rarely resorted to. His own plan for maintaining the peace and independence of Belgium may be cited as an example of a policy at once refined and profound. He would have had it made the resort of the fine arts and of letters, with only force enough to preserve its domestic peace, and trusting for its protection to the general abhorrence which all Europe must have, in these times, of any proceeding hostile to such a power.

subject; his clearness of perception at a glance unravelled all complications, and presented each matter distinct and unencumbered; his sound, plain, manly sense, at a blow got rid of all the husk, and pierced immediately to the kernel. A cloud of words was wholly thrown away upon him; he cared nothing for all the declamation in the world; ingenious topics, fine comparisons, cases in point, epigrammatic sentences, all passed innocuous over his head. So the storms of passion blew unheeded past one whose temper nothing could ruffle, and whose path towards his object nothing could obstruct. It was a lesson and a study, as well as a marvel, to see him disconcert, with a look of his keen eye, or a motion of his chin, a whole piece of wordy talk, and far-fetched and fine-spun argument, without condescending to utter, in the deep tones of his most powerful voice, so much as a word or an interjection;-far less to overthrow the flimsy structure with an irresistible remark, or consume it with a withering sarcasm. Whoever conversed with him, or saw him in conversation, at once learnt both how dan-ever attained, and certainly none have surpassed. His gerous a thing it was to indulge before him in loose prosing, or in false reasoning, or in frothy declamation; and how fatal an error he would commit who should take the veteran statesman's good-natured smile for an innocent insensibility to the ludicrous, and his apparently passive want of all effort for permanent indolence of mind. There are many living examples of persons not meanly gifted who, in the calm of his placid society, have been wrecked among such shoals as these.

Although M. Talleyrand never cultivated the art of oratory, yet his brilliant wit, enlivening a constant vein of deep sense and original observation, and his extraordinary mastery over all the resources of the language in which he expressed himself, gave to the efforts of his pen, as well as to his conversation, a relish, a charm, and a grace, that few indeed have

thorough familiarity with the best writers of his own country was manifest in all his compositions, as well as in his talk; which, however, was too completely modulated to the tone of the most refined society, ever to wear the least appearance of pedantry. To cite examples of the felicitous turns of his expression in writing, would almost be to take any passage at random of the few works which he has left. But the following description of the American Planter may suffice to show how he could paint moral as well as natural scenery. The writers of Chateaubriand's school might envy its poetical effect, and might perhaps learn how possible it is to be pointed and epigrammatic without being affected, and sentimental, without being mawkish.

'Le bucheron Americain ne s'interesse à rien; toute idée sensible est loin de lui; ces branches si elegamleur vive qui anime une partie du bois, un verd plus ment jettées par la nature, un beau feuillage, une coufort qui en assombroit une autre, tout cela n'est rien: il n'a de souvenir à placer nulle part: c'est la quantité de coups de hache qu'il faut qu'il donne pour abattre un arbre, qui est son unique idée. Il n'a pointe plante; il n'en sait point les plaisirs. L'arbre qu'il planteroit n'est bon à rien pour lui; car jamais il ne le verra assez fort pour qu'il puisse l'abattre: c'est de detruire qui le fait vivre: on detruit par-tout: aussi tout lieu lui est bon; il

But his political sagacity was above all his other great qualities; and it was derived from the natural perspicacity to which we have adverted, and that consummate knowledge of mankind-that swift and sure tact of character-into which his long and varied experience has matured the faculties of his manly, yet subtle understanding. If never to be deluded by foolish measures, nor ever to be deceived by cunning men, be among the highest perfections of the practical statesman, where shall we look for any one who preferred higher claims to this character? But his statesmanship was of no vulgar cast. He despised the silly, and easy, and false old maxims which inculcate universal distrust, whether of unknown men or of novel measures; as much as he did the folly of those whose facility is an advertisement for impostors or for enthu-ne tient pas au champ où il a placé son travail, parce siasts to make dupes of them. His was the skill which knew as well where to give his confidence as to withhold it; and he knew full surely that the whole difficulty of the political art consists in being able to say whether any given person, or scheme, belongs to the right class or to the wrong. It would be very untrue to affirm that he never wilfully deceived others; but it would probably be still more erroneous to admit that he ever in his life was deceived. So he held in

que son travail, n'est que de la fatigue, et qu'aucune idée douce n'y est jointe. Ce qui sort de ses mains ne passe point par toutes les croissances si attachantes pour le cultivateur; il ne suit pas la destinée de ses productions; il ne connoit par le plaisir des nouveaux essais; et si en s'en allant il n'oublie pas sa hache, il ne laisse pas de regrets là où il a vecu des années.'

Of his truly inimitable conversation, and the mixture of strong masculine sense, and exquisitely witty turns in which it abounded,-independently of the interest,

and the solid value which it derived from a rich fund of anecdote, delivered in the smallest number possible of the most happy and most appropriate words possible, -it would indeed be difficult to convey an adequate idea. His own powers of picturesque, and wonderfully condensed expression, would be hardly sufficient to present a portrait of its various and striking beauties. Simple and natural, yet abounding in the most sudden and unexpected turns-full of point, yet evidently the inspiration of the moment, and therefore more absolutely to the purpose than if it had been the laboured effort of a day's reflection, a single word often performing the office of sentences, nay, a tone not unfrequently rendering many words superfluous-always the phrase most perfectly suitable selected, and its place most happily chosen-all this is literally correct, and no picture of fancy, but a mere abridgement and transcript of the marvellous original; and yet it all falls very short of conveying its lineaments, and fails still more to render its colouring and its shades. For there was a constant gaiety of manner, which had the mirthful aspect of good-humour, even on the eve or on the morrow of some flash in which his witty raillery had wrapt a subject or a person in ridicule, or of some torrent in which his satire had descended instantaneous but destructive there was an archness of malice, when more than ordinary execution must be done, that defied the pencil of the describer, as it did the attempts of the imitator-there were manners the most perfect in ease, grace, in flexibility—there was the voice of singular depth and modulation, and the countenance alike fitted to express earnest respect, unostentatious contempt, and bland complacency-and all this must really have been witnessed to be accurately understood. His sayings his mots, as the French have it are renowned; but these alone convey an imperfect idea of his whole conversation. They show indeed the powers of his wit, and the felicity of his concise diction; and they have a peculiarity of style, such, that, if shown without a name, no one could be at a loss to whom he should attribute them. But they are far enough from completing the sketch of his conversation to those who never heard it. A few instances may, however, be given, chiefly to illustrate what has been said of its characteristic conciseness and selection.

in

Being asked if a certain authoress, whom he had long since known, but who belonged rather to the last age, was not 'un peu ennuyeuse.' 'Du tout;' said he, 'elle était parfaitement ennuyeuse.' A gentleman in company was one day making a somewhat zealous eulogy of his mother's beauty, dwelling upon the topic at uncalled-for length-he himself having certainly inherited no portion of that kind under the marriage of his parents. 'C'était, donc, monsieur votre père qui apparemment n'était pas trop bien,' was the remark,

which at once released the circle from the subject.
When Madame de Stael published her celebrated novel
of Delphiné, she was supposed to have painted herself
in the person of the heroine, and M. Talleyrand in that
of an elderly lady who is one of the principal charac-
ters. 'On me dit' (said he, the first time he met her)
'que nous sommes tous les deux dans votre Romans,
deguisés en femme.' Rulhieres, the celebrated author
of the work on the Polish Revolution, having said,
'Je n'ai fait qu'un inconsequence de ma vie;' 'Et quand
finira-t-elle?' was M. Talleyrand's reply.-'Genève est
ennuyeuse, n'est-ce pas?' asked a friend—‘Surtout
quand on s'y amuse,' was the answer.-'Elle est in-
supportable' (said he, with marked emphasis, of one
well known; but as if he had gone too far, and to take
off somewhat of what he had laid on, he added,)
'Elle n'a que ce defaut-là.'—'Ah, je sens des douleurs
infernales,' said a person whose life had been supposed
to be somewhat of the loosest. 'Deja?'* was the en-
quiry suggested to M. Talleyrand. Nor ought we to
pass over the only mot that ever will be recorded of
Charles X., uttered on his return to France in 1814, on
seeing, like our Second Charles at a similar reception,
that the adversaries of his family had disappeared, ‘Il
n'y a qu'un Français deplus.' This was the sugges-
tion of M. Talleyrand. He afterwards proposed, in
like manner, to Charles' successor, that the foolish
freaks of the Duchesse de Berri should be visited with
this Rescript to her and her faction-Madame, il n'y
a plus d'espoir pour vous. Vous serez jugée, con-
damnée, et graciée.'

Of his temper and disposition in domestic life, it remains to speak; and nothing could be more perfect than these. If it be true, which is, however, more than questionable, that a life of public business hardens the heart; if this be far more certainly the tendency of a life much chequered with various fortune; if he is almost certain to lose his natural sympathies with mankind, who has in his earliest years tasted the bitter cup of cruel and unnatural treatment, commended to his lips by the hands that should have cherished him; if, above all, a youth of fashionable dissipation and intrigue, such as M. Talleyrand, like most of our own great men, undeniably led, has, in almost every instance been found to eradicate the softer domestic feelof a neglected bosom-surely it is no small praise of ings, and to plant every selfish weed in the cold soil his kindly and generous nature, that we are entitled to record how marked an exception he formed to all these rules. While it would be a foolish and a needless ex aggeration to represent him as careless of his own interest, or ambition, or gratifications, at any period of

*Certainly it came naturally to him; it is, however, not original. The Cardinal de Retz's physician is said to have made a similar exclamation on a like occasion; Deja, Monseigneur?'

his life, it is nevertheless quite true that his disposition continued to the last gentle and kindly; that he not only entertained throughout the tempest of the revolutionary anarchy the strongest abhorrence of all violent and cruel deeds, but exerted his utmost influence in mitigating the excesses which led to them in others; that his love of peace in all its blessed departments, whe-l'Atlantique: vous n'aurez pas fermé les yeux, qu'un ther tranquillity at home, or amity and good-will abroad, was the incessant object of his labours; that, in domestic life, he was of a peculiarly placid temper, and full of warm and steady affections. His aversion to all violent courses was even, in some instances, carried to a length which prevented his wonted calmness of judgment, and his constant and characteristic love of justice, even when an adversary was concerned, from having their free scope. He never could speak with patience of Carnot, for having continued, during the Reign of Terror, to serve and to save his country by directing the war which defended her against Europe in arms;-forgetting how much less could be urged for his own conduct under the conscriptions of Napoleon, and under the military occupation of the Allies,-even admitting his predominant desire to prevent anarchy and conquest,-than might

most fairly be offered in defence of that illustrious Republican's inflexible and uncompromising, though stern and undaunted virtue.

NAPOLEON'S WIDOW.

c'est tout ce qui restait de la puissance de l'homme qui fendit les rochers du Simplon, planta ses drapeaux sur les capitales de l'Europe, réleva l'Italie prosternée depuis tant de siècles. Bouleversez donc le monde, occupez de votre nom les quartre parties de la terre, sortez des mers de l'Europe, élancez-vous jusqu'au ciel, et allez tomber pour mourir à l'extrémité des flots de voyageur passera le Pô et verra ce que nous avons vu.' her illustrious husband was pining under a treatment Unworthy creature! and as foolish as base! Whilst more impolitic even than it was cruel, and more senseless still than it was impolitic, she never heaved a sigh for his fate, nor cast an eye of affection towards the rock to which flinty-hearted men* had chained him. While the other members of his family, on whom it was so much less incumbent, and some of whom, in the caprice of unlimited power, he had used moderately well, wearied gods and men with their instances to be allowed the sad privilege of sharing his sufferings, she on whom his eye had never beamed but in love and courtesy-she, wrapt up in the stupid indulgences of Germanic etiquette, but not satiated with these, must give her person up to the first Austrian soldier that approached her, and by whom, according to the above passage, she was occupied in the disgusting office of breeding half-brothers to the son of Napoleon. For that son, it seems, by this same passage, she retained as much affection as for his great father, showing herself to be as unnatural a parent as she is a grovelling and degenerate consort, The reader will be pleased to observe that this revolting picture of legitimacy comes not from our hand. It

From an article in the Edinburgh Review, on Chateau- is drawn by the powerful and loyal pencil of the Aus

briand's Congress of Verona.

We must fairly confess that the merit of this book, to our taste, consists much less in the serious discussions than in the anecdotes, told in an agreeable and lively manner, which it contains. The interview which he had with that fallen woman, who had once the honour to share Napoleon's bed, is thus described:

"Nous refusàmes d'abord une invitation de l'archiduchesse de Parme; elle insista, et nous y allâmes. Nous la trouvâmes fort gaie: l'univers s'étant chargé de se souvenir de Napoléon, elle n'avait plus la peine d'y songer. Nous lui dîmes que nous avions rencontré ses soldats à Plaisance, et qu'elle en avait autrefois d'avantage; elle repondit: "Je ne songe plus à cela." Elle prononça quelques mots légers, et comme en passant, sur le roi de Rome: elle était grosse. Sa cour avait un certain air délabré et vieilli, exceptè M. Nieperg, homme de bon ton. Il n'y avait là de singulier que nous dînant auprès de Marie-Louise, et les bracelets faits de la pierre du sarcophage de Juliette, que portait la veuve de Napoléon.

trian Emperor's friend and correspondent, the chivalrous, the romantic champion of the old dynasties of Europe,-who has sacrificed himself for the Duchess of Berri's house, and has prostrated himself before that of the other woman, whose name shall not soil our page except in M. Chateaubriand's periods.

From the Edinburgh Review.

MRS. FITZHERBERT'S MARRIAGE TO
GEORGE IV.

We have received from Lord Stourton a Letter respecting our notice, in the above Article, of Mrs. Fitzherbert's marriage; and we have much pleasure in lay

* Ου γαρ πω τεθνηκεν επι χθονι διος Οδυσσευς,
Αλλ' έτι που ζωος κατερύκεται ευρεί τονίῳ

• Νήσω εν αμφίρρυτῳ χαλεποί δε μιν άνδρες έχουσιν.
Hom. Od. A.

'En traversant le Pô, à Plaisance, une seule barque nouvellement peinte, portant une espéce de pavillon This is not our citation; it is the admirable one of impérial, frappa nos regards; deux ou trois dragons, en Lord Holland, whose noble conduct and that of his famiveste et en bonnet de police, faisaient boire leurs che-ly towards the illustrious exile, worthy of his name, is vaux; nous entrions dans les états de Marie-Louise: above all praise.

ing before our readers a communication so creditable antique and setting criticism completely at defiance. I to the feelings of the noble writer.

"To the Editor of the Edinburgh Review. 'SIR,-A mistatement, no doubt unintentional, of the circumstances attending the marriage of Mrs. Fitzherbert, in one of your late Articles, being liable to a construction, in the views of members of her religious communion, injurious to her reputation, you will, I am sure, readily oblige me by inserting in your next number the following more accurate statement, for the fidelity of which I pledge my honour.

The marriage ceremony was performed, not out of this kingdom, as you have stated, but in her own drawing-room, in her house in town, in the presence of an officiating Protestant clergyman, and of two of her own nearest relatives. All the parties being now deceased, to ordinary readers this discrepancy will appear of little moment; as the ceremony, wherever it was performed, could confer no legal rights; and no issue followed this union. But when I inform you, that in the one case, that stated in your Article, it would have been an invalid marriage as affecting the conscience of Mrs. Fitzherbert in the sight of her own Church; and that in the other case it formed a conscientious connection in the opinion of such portions of Christendom as hold communion with the See of Rome, I am confident you will permit this statement, under my name and responsibility, to appear in your Journal. I shall, moreover, add that the conscientious validity of the contract depended upon the fact, that the discipline of the Council of Trent as to marriage has never been received in this country. I owe this plain counter-statement to the memory of Mrs. Fitzherbert, in order that aspersions which, from peculiar circumstances, she was herself unable to rebut when living, should not be inscribed without contradiction on her tomb. That I have not officiously imposed on myself an unnecessary duty in endeavouring to protect the fame of this virtuous and distinguished lady, or am about to mislead by erroneous facts, I must appeal to the following extract from one of Mrs. Fitzherbert's letters to myself, which closely followed certain confidential communications, on which I rely for the perfect accuracy of my information on this delicate subject.

"My dear Lord Stourton,

"I trust whenever it pleases God to remove me from this world, my conduct and character, in your hands, will not disgrace my family or my friends. Paris, Dec. 7, 1833.' 'I remain, Sir, "Your obedient humble servant,

'Mansfield street, 30th June, 1838.'

From Bentley's Miscellany.

'STOURTON.

THE ORIGINAL OF "NOT A DRUM WAS HEARD."

Water-grass-hill.

say supposed, for the gentleman himself never claimed its authorship during his short and unobtrusive lifetime. He who could write the "Funeral of Sir John Moore," must have eclipsed all the lyric poets of this latter age by the fervour and brilliancy of his powers. Do the other writings of Mr. Wolfe bear any trace of inspiration? None.

I fear we must look elsewhere for the origin of those beautiful lines; and I think I can put the public on the right scent. In 1749, Colonel de Beaumanoir, a native of Britanny, having raised a regiment in his own neighbourhood, went out with it to India, in that unfortunate expedition commanded by Lally-Tolendal, the failure of which eventually lost to the French their possessions in Hindostan. The colonel was killed in defending, against the forces of Coote, PONDICHERRY, the last stronghold of the French in that hemisphere. He was buried that night on the north bastion of the fortress by a few faithful followers, and the next day the fleet sailed with the remainder of the garrison for Europe. In the appendix to the "Memoirs of LALLY-TOLENDAL," by his Son, the following lines occur, which bear some resemblance to those attributed to Wolfe. Perhaps Wolfe Tone may have communicated them to his relative the clergyman on his return from France. Fides sit penès lectorem. P. PROUT.

THE ORIGINAL OF "NOT A DRUM WAS HEARD."

I.

Ni le son du tambour... ni la marche funebre...
Ni le feu des soldats. ne marqua son depart.—
Mais du BRAVE, à la hâte, à travers les tenebres,
Mornes... nous portâmes le cadavre au rempart!

II.

De Minuit c'était l'heure, et solitaire et sombre-
La lune à peine offrait un debile rayon;
La lanterne luisait peniblement dans l'ombre,
Quand de la bayonette on creusa le gazon.

Π.

D'inutile cercueil ni de drap funeraire
Il gisait dans les plis du manteau militaire
Nous ne daignâmes point entourer le HEROS;
Comme un guerrier qui dort son heure de repos.

IV.

La prière qu'on fit fut de courte durée:

Mais on fixait du MORT la figure adorée...
Nul ne parla de deuil, bien que le cœur fut plein!

Mais avec amertume on songeait au demain.

V.

Au demain! quand ici ou sa fosse s'apprête,
Ou son humide lit on dresse avec sanglots,
L'ennemi orgueilleux marchera sur sa tête,
Et nous, ses veterans, serons loin sur les flots!

VI.

Ils terniront sa gloire...on pourra les entendre
Nommer l'illustre MORT d'un ton amer... ou fol;—
Il les laissera dire.-Eh! qu'importe À SA CENDRE
Que la main d'un BRETON a confiée au sol?

VII.

Au sommet du Befroi:-et le canon lointain Tiré par intervalle, en annonçant l'approche, Signalait la fierté de l'ennemi hautain.

When single-speech Hamilton made in the Irish Com-L'œuvre durait encor, quand retentit la cloche mons that one memorable hit, and persevered ever after in obdurate taciturnity, folks began very justly to suspect that all was not right; in fact, that the solitary egg on which he thus sat, plumed in all the glory of incubation, had been laid by another. The Rev. Mr. Wolfe is supposed to be the author of a single poem, unparalleled in the English language for all the qualities of a true lyric, breathing the purest spirit of the

VIII.

Et dans sa fosse alors le mîmes lentement... Près du champ où sa gloire a eté consommée: Ne mîmes à l'endroit pierre ni monument

Le laissant seul à seul avec sa Renommée!

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