"What, then, was wanting to render this solemnity truly grand? There was wanting what the greatest of men himself could not infuse into it; there was wanting, in the first place, religion; not that which men affect and strain to possess, but that which is sincere and spontaneous, and without which the dead are always but coldly celebrated; there was wanting the genius of Bossuet, for there are species of greatness which never reappear in nations, and if the Turennes and the Condés have successors, the Bossuets have none; lastly, there was wanting a certain sincerity, for this homage to a hero renowned above all for his disinterestedness was too visibly affected."

Too visibly affected indeed! The ceremony of this Washington oration preceded, by only ten days, Napoleon's lodgment at the Tuileries.

liked not either to command or to obey; and this was true. He obeyed under General Bonaparte, but not without murmuring; he sometimes commanded, but in the name of another, under General Jourdan, for example; assuming the command by a sort of inspiration amidst the battle, exercising it like a superior captain, and, after the victory, resuming his character of lieutenant, which he preferred to any other. Kléber was licentious in his manners and language, but upright, disinterested, as men were in those days, for the conquest of the world had not yet corrupted their dispositions.

"Desaix was the reverse in almost every respect. Simple, bashful, nay, somewhat awkward, his face hid by a profusion of hair, he had not the look of a soldier. But, heroic in action, kind to The principal military incidents in the first vol- the soldiers, modest with his comrades, generous ume are Massena's distress in Genoa, and the to the vanquished, he was adored by the army and blockade of that ill-fated city (admirably described, by the people conquered by our arms. His solid but with enormous, though of course very natural and eminently cultivated mind, his intelligence in French sympathies); and the campaign of Maren- war, his application to his duties, and his disingo. Nothing could have been told more pictur-terestedness, made him an accomplished model of esquely than the passage of the Alps. Here the all the military virtues; and, while Kléber, indoease and charm of the narrative are very great. cile, refractory, could not endure any superior auBut surely the lucky chance of the battle of Ma-thority, Desaix was obedient, as though he had rengo is a little overdone. Heliopolis and Hohen- not known how to command." linden are the campaigns of the second volume; and, the first especially, are treated with consummate skill, and, for matters known so well, marvellous freshness. But before we offer any further remark, let us show the variety, sagacity, and power of treatment which M. Thiers exhibits, by a few selected examples.

His anecdotes are brief, striking, and always well told though we think he rejects Bourrienne's authority too often (had he overlooked, in reference to the battle of Marengo, the Secretary's famous battle of the pins?) Here is a narrow escape of Bonaparte from the famous Chouan chief.

NAPOLEON AND GEORGES CADOUDAL.

And in what follows, of his portraits of statesmen, or men so called.

TALLEYRAND AND FOUCHE.

"M. de Talleyrand descended from a family of the noblest lineage, destined by his birth for the army, doomed to the priesthood by an accident, which deprived him of the use of one foot, having no liking for this imposed profession, successively bishop, courtier, revolutionist, and emigrant, then afterwards minister for foreign affairs under the Directory, M. de Talleyrand had retained something of all these different states; there was to be found in him a touch of the bishop, of the man of Having no "When he was conducted to the Tuileries, the quality, and of the revolutionist. aide-de-camp ordered to introduce him conceived firmly fixed opinion, but only a natural moderation such apprehensions from his look, that he deemed which was opposed to every species of exaggerait unsafe to shut the door of the first consul's cab- tion; capable of entering at once into the feelings of those whom he wished to please, either from inet, and went every now and then to steal a glance at what was passing. The interview was liking or from interest; speaking a unique lanlong. In vain General Bonaparte addressed the guage peculiar to that society which had Voltaire words native country and glory' to the ears of for instructor; full of smart, poignant repartees, Georges; in vain he held out even the bait of ambi- which rendered him as formidable as he was attion to the heart of that fierce champion of the tractive; by turns caressing or disdainful, demoncivil war; he had no success, and he felt constrative or impenetrable; careless, dignified, lame vinced himself that he had failed when he looked without loss of gracefulness,-in short, one of the at the face of his visitor. Georges, on leaving most extraordinary personages, and such a one as him, set out for England with M. Hyde de Neu- a revolution alone can produce, he was the most ville. Several times, when giving his fellow-seducing of negotiators, but at the same time intraveller an account of this interview, he exclaimed showing his vigorous arms, What a blunder I committed in not strangling that fellow!'"

Here a specimen of the military portraits:

KLEBER AND DESAIX.

"Kléber was the handsomest man in the army His lofty stature, his noble countenance, expressing all the pride of his soul, his valor at once intrepid and cool, his quick and solid intelligence, rendered him a most formidable commander on the field of battle. His mind was brilliant, original, but uncultivated. He read incessantly and exclusively Plutarch and Quintus Curtius; there he sought the food of great souls, the history of the heroes of antiquity. He was capricious, indocile, and a grumbler. It was said of him, that he

capable of directing, as head, the affairs of a great state; for every leader should possess a resolute will, settled views, and application, and he had none of these. His will was confined to pleasing, his views consisted in the opinions of the moment, his application was next to nothing. In a word, he was an accomplished ambassador, but not a directing minister; be it understood, however, that this expression is to be taken in its most elevated acceptation. For the rest, he held no other post under the consular government. The first consul, who allowed no person the right to give an opinion on the affairs of war and of diplomacy, merely employed him to negotiate with the foreign ministers, on basis previously prescribed, and this M. de Talleyrand did with an art that will never be surpassed. He possessed, however, a moral merit,

that of being fond of peace under a master who | nately overthrowing empires or rearing a cottage, was fond of war, and of showing that he was so. it may be useful to record such caprices, if only to Endowed with exquisite taste, uniting with it un-tempt the masters of the earth to imitation; but erring tact, and even a useful indolence, he was such an act reveals something more. The human able to render real services, by simply opposing to soul, in those moments when it is filled with ardent the first consul's exuberance of language, pen, and desires, is disposed to kindness; it does good by action, his sobriety, his perfect moderation, and his way of meriting that which it is soliciting of Provvery propensity to do nothing. But he made lit-idence." tle impression on that imperious master, from M. Thiers is careful to avoid, as far as may be, whom he extorted no respect either by genius or the bandying of national reproaches. He wisely by conviction. Thus he had no more empire than thinks that in matters of national blame, instituM. Fouché, nay, even less, though quite as much tions should have the largest share; and so winds employed, and more agreeable. Then again, M. his way with the least possible offence, and with de Talleyrand said just the contrary to what M. the wary eye of a practised statesman, through Fouché said. Attached to the ancient régime, the intricacies, incapacities, errors, and oversights minus the persons and the ridiculous prejudices of of cabinets. We like, in this respect, the tone of other times, he recommended the reëstablishment his history. of the monarchy as soon as possible, or an equivalent for it, by availing of the glory of the first consul in lieu of blood-royal, adding that, if we wished to have a speedy and a durable peace with Europe, we ought to make haste to resemble other states. And, while his colleague, Fouché, in the name of the revolution advised that we should not go too fast, M. de Talleyrand, in the name of Europe, advised that we should not go so slow. The first consul prized the plain good sense of M. Fouché, relished the graces of M. de Talleyrand, but absolutely believed neither the one nor the other on any subject.'

Our last extract is a picture very happily framed.

NAPOLEON CROSSING THE ALPS.

66

But should none, save his own countrymen, in matters of individual glory, have liberal largess of his praise? He strains his sight at Marengo, why should he narrow it at Copenhagen? He characterizes Mr. Pitt as "obstinate but not enlightened;" in another place, as with more passion than understanding; in a third, as an able and powerful leader but with little enlightened views" (the translator is not careful here) "as a statesman;" in a fourth, as destroyed by Napoleon's successes; and, finally, as "The greatest statesman England ever had!" In other words, England never had a statesman of enlightened views. We observe in the same page with the latter notable assertion, a very large If and a very doubtful inference. If he succeeded," says M. Thiers, in an argument as to Bonaparte's relations with England, "if he succeeded in crossing the English channel with an invading army, England was lost."

There is a happy and pleasantly written notice in the second volume, of the Royalists during the Consulate, their childish plots, their foolish gossip, and Josephine's silly encouragement to both. But we must part with M. Thiers for the present.

"Artists have delineated him crossing the Alpine heights mounted on a fiery steed. The plain truth is, that he ascended the St. Bernard in that gray surtout which he usually wore, upon a mule, led by a guide belonging to the country, evincing, even in the difficult passes, the abstraction of a mind occupied elsewhere, conversing with the officers scattered on the road, and then, at intervals, questioning the guide who attended him, What his tone is likely to be in his later and making him relate the particulars of his life, his most important volumes, we can hardly anticipate pleasures, his pains, like an idle traveller, who from these. But let us hope he will have time to has nothing better to do. This guide, who was remember, in the midst of the imperial glories, quite young, gave him a simple recital of the de- that chiefly his hero fell because of his propensity tails of his obscure existence, and especially the to forget, till it was too late, that such things as a vexation he felt, because, for want of a little people existed. He forgot it in the country he money, he could not marry one of the girls of his governed, and he forgot it in the countries he invalley. The first consul, sometimes listening, vaded. The great events of Napoleon's career sometimes questioning the passengers with whom will have found a worthy historian, if this moral the mountain was covered, arrived at the Hospice, is not wholly lost sight of by a mind so admirably where the worthy monks gave him a warm re-qualified to give to it its proper weight and range. ception. No sooner had he alighted from his There is one principle, theory, or dogma, immule, than he wrote a note which he handed to plied rather than distinctly adopted by M. Thiers, his guide, desiring him to be sure and deliver it to against which we would most earnestly warn him the quarter-master of the army, who had been left in the progress of those future volumes. He on the other side of the St. Bernard. In the even-seems to think that Napoleon carried out, upon ing, the young man, on returning to St. Pierre, the whole, the intention and purpose of the French learned with surprise what powerful traveller it Revolution; and that this, suspended but a time was whom he had guided in the morning, and by the return of the elder Bourbons, has been rethat General Bonaparte had ordered that a house sumed by the revolution of '30. Surely there is and a piece of ground should be given to him im- a confusion of ideas here. The very basis of the mediately, and that he should be supplied, in revolution of '30 was the reverse of an aggressive short, with the means requisite for marrying and policy: it was the right of an independent nation for realizing all the dreams of his modest ambition. (a right we hold to be indisputable) to change its This mountaineer died not long since, in his own government, when, how, and as often as it pleases. country, the owner of land given to him by the Mr. Pitt denied that right in 1800, but the Duke ruler of the world. This singular act of benefi- of Wellington bowed to it in 1830. Omit the cence, at a moment when his mind was engaged aggressive policy of Napoleon-who, having based by such mighty interests, is worthy of attention. his power on victory, could only by victory sustain If there were nothing in it but a mere conqueror's it-and we will grant that the later revolution was caprice, dispensing at random good or evil, alter- indeed but the supplement of the first. The great

soldier, on receiving the dignity of first consul, | divines. This pursuit gives novelty of subject and made it his duty, as doubtless it was, to repress earnestness of character to great part of the work: within bounds the spirit of revolution, still “ ex- nor is Mr. Trench devoid of qualifications to travel travagant and erring;" and to endeavor to consol- with advantage. He has seen the Alps, Italy, idate and establish. But he made grievous error Vesuvius, and Etna; so that he brings knowledge in the process. The whole principle of his gov- of other countries to bear upon the Pyrenees and ernment was forced and unnatural, or the reim- the landscapes of France and Spain. He has also posed yoke of the Bourbons would never have been the readiness and willingness to converse with borne. Society, cramped and crippled by his des- strangers, that generally distinguishes the pracpotisms, submitted to the relief of even that miser-titioners of the liberal professions-at least the able change; and when, in 1830, it broke loose general body, for barristers, like captains, and again, the principle it asserted was not Napoleon's dons in the church, stand more upon their digtyranny, but the resistance to every form of ty-nity, such as it is. Hence he profited from casual ranny established by the first revolution. It was encounters with the people, especially as his tracts the great doctrine that no government can be se- were often a mode of introduction, either in comcure which does not provide for giving effect to munity or question. the general sense of the community it governs: a principle which still waits its complete development in France. For we sincerely believe that if such provisions for representative liberty were made effective there, we should hear no more of the glories of this most mean, false, and futile aggressive policy." The electoral representation of France is a representation by means of Paris newspapers, as it stands at present. And so it will remain till enlightened French statesmen cease to copy Napoleon's grand mistake, and leave the people out of all their calculations.

Mr. Campbell's translation is very good, but with occasional slips here and there and is published at a very moderate price, on the plan of the cheap and spirited series of books called the Foreign Library.

From the Spectator.

TRENCH'S TRAVELS IN FRANCE AND SPAIN. THE Reverend Francis Trench, with his wife, his man, and a light open pony-carriage, started for an autumnal tour in the south of France; but circumstances extended it to Spain in point of region, and nearly a year in point of time. As regards mere novelty of country, there is not much in Mr. Trench's early route-Dieppe, Rouen, Paris, the valleys of the Loire, the Garonne, and the Adour, with the Pyrenean watering-places, and the Spanish frontier-towns. The latter part, leading through Auvergne, has more of freshness; for it has been rarely visited by the traveller, and not at all frequented by the tourist. The character of the book, however, is not dependent upon high-roads, but partly arises from the author, and partly from his ponies.

Mr. Trench himself is an Anglican clergyman, we should think with Evangelical views; and his tour was made subordinate to Christian objects. When he arrived at any place where any English were residing, he immediately issued cards for divine service on the Sunday, in his apartments; and this invitation was invariably responded to, and not unfrequently by French Protestants. An object of nearly equal interest was to search out the Reformed churches, and to attend their service by both which means he was introduced into more society and of a much better class than common travellers. The state of the Romish religion in France was another object: this led him to frequent the Catholic churches, with a view to examine their practice and the views they inculcated, (which he found heathenish beyond his expectations,) and occasionally brought him into courteous controversy with some of their

But the pet ponies must not be defrauded of their due merit; for a good deal of the freshness of the book must be attributed to them. They enabled Mr. and Mrs. Trench to do without the diligence, to quit the high-road for the by-ways, to visit places inaccessible to the usual run of travellers, and even to reach towns where neither the books of the hostel nor the memory of man recorded the appearance of an Englishman. The necessity of looking after the stable of the little creatures, and the excitement their appearance produced, also give a feature to the book, from the sensation they produced among that easily excited people.

THE PONIES IN FRANCE.

A stall is an equine luxury almost unknown at French inns: at least I have not yet seen one. This renders great care under any circumstances needful for those who take their own horses about the country. Still more did my little ponies require protection against the monstrous animals. often met with at the inn-stables, from whom one kick would have been utter destruction. In vain did landlords, landladies, ostlers, and lookers-on innumerable, say to me, "Soyez tranquille, Monsieur,' or "Pas de danger, Monsieur," when I thought a position in any way precarious; and I must say that almost invariably efforts were good humoredly made to meet my wishes_and remove all apprehensions. In saying this, I do not speak of this watchfulness as involving any trouble which proved disagreeable to me. On the contrary, I often found that my visits to the stable brought me into amusing and instructive communication with travellers or natives of each separate locality; and besides this, as I have said before, few Englishmen will look upon their horse, especially on a long journey, otherwise than as a friend. I must say also that the ostlers were very gentle towards the ponies; and indeed they were so small and harmless, notwithstanding their unwearied spirit and endurance, that they were quite treated as pets by all who came near them. Not only did gentlemen pay them visits, but mammas came and put their children on their backs: one lady who was an invalid had the little gray absolutely led into her room; and another handsome and sprightly young landlady was so charmed with them on our arrival at her door, that she called out, patting them, and summoning the household to see them, "les amours!-les amours!"

On one occasion Mr. Trench followed a few hours in the rear of Franconi's celebrated troop; and the little chaise with the little ponies connected in public opinion the Anglican divine with

the equestrians ahead, and induced the belief along the appetite was not so strong; and in a shrewd, the road that he was "le directeur de la com- confidential manner, she explained that on this pagnie. On arriving at Périgueux, he was ad- principle it was quite as well for her to give some dressed "Franconi n'est ce pas;" whilst in Spain wine. he had to exhibit his equipage.

THE PONIES AT PAMPELUNA.

FRENCH CULTIVATION COGNAC ANGOULEME.

Occasionally we passed large tracts presenting My pony-carriage also made, if not an equal, at the richest and most cultivated appearance. They all events a most unexpected sensation. It was were not enclosed, but occupied by all kinds of visited by several parties, including ladies and crops dispersed in small parallelograms. Every gentlemen, who heard of its being in the inn-yard; inch of soil was tilled. The lines between each and I had four or five special requests addressed division were as straight and fine as possible. to me, that I would drive it out in the town and Not a weed was to be seen. The stones were all let the inhabitants see it. Accordingly, one even-carefully picked out and laid in regular heaps. ing I gratified their desire; and, as it passed, At one part the land sloped towards us from a people called one another out of their houses, and considerable distance, and I could not help thinkhurried to the side of the public walks, forming ing of it as like one vast and flourishing "allotsuccessive lines, to see my unpretending little ment" garden. Those who take an interest in equipage. Here, as in many other places, I have the agricultural laborers of our own country will had some interesting conversation, which com- at once recognize the term and comparison. menced by remarks or inquiries relative to the carriage or ponies. In the salon at the hotel, a party of four gentlemen referred to me a little discussion which they had had as to the price of such a vehicle. I told them that I had given fifty pounds for it; which they seemed to think, as many others for the inquiry was a very common one-a very moderate price."

The great merit of "the ponies," however, was in carrying their owner into the country, enabling him to choose his own manner and time of seeing things, and allowing him leisure to examine a prospect or a district, to stop in a town as long as its features or its vicinity offered any attraction, or there was any social or spiritual call in the place and we think with Mr. Trench, that it was lucky he disregarded the solemn warnings of his friends touching the troubles his "turn-out" would bring

upon him.

Besides the advantage of a distinct pursuit, with the means of penetrating into the country and examining it at leisure, the Diary of Travels in France and Spain exhibits judgment in the treatment of subjects, and an attractive style. The more common themes-as Paris, the spas, and so forth are passed over, except so far as they furnish something peculiar to the writer's pursuits; and he runs nothing down in description, unless perhaps occasionally his religious topics. His diction is terse, and has that rapid, pointed, and easy manner, which is not so much scholarly as gentlemanly-smacking of public schools and university training. Of the matter of his miscellaneous passages the following quotations may be taken as fair specimens.

WAGES OF LABOR IN THE SOUTH.

Stopping for a quarter of an hour to-day at a small way-side inn, an intelligent and obliging hostess gave me freely such communication as I sought regarding the condition of the people in the neighborhood. She said, that when laborers were hired, it was always the custom to feed them; and that, in addition, from twelve to fifteen sous were given. She sometimes employed them herself; when they had for breakfast bread or chestnuts; for dinner, soup and such things as omelette, meat, rye-cakes; for supper, the same as at dinner. Generally also wine; but this year it is so extremely dear, that, she said, this was out of the question. Lowering her voice, she made an admission, such as that which the teetotallers often enforce, that when wine was given,

SPANISH FIRE.

"The kitchen-fire in Spain is usually made in the following manner. A square portion of the floor is allotted as hearth. On this are laid logs of wood, six or seven feet in length, with their ends together, like the sticks of a gipsy fire. As they are consumed, these logs are pushed forward till burnt out. Above is the chimney, formed of boarding in the shape of an immense funnel, with the broad part downwards, and reaching within about seven feet of the fire. The funnel conducts to a narrower orifice above. Meat is roasted, and all the cookery is carried on by the mere use of the burning wood on this primitive hearth. The fire is usually of enormous size; and at the inn of Roncesvalles a bench occupied two sides, on which I was not sorry to take an half-hour's seat after my supper, the elevation of the spot having made the air chilly."

ELECTRIC CLOCKS.-The following extract from a letter from Mr. Finlaison, of Loughton Hall, appears in the Polytechnic Review: Mr. Brain has succeeded to admiration in working electric clocks by the currents of the earth. On the 28th of August he set up a small clock in my drawingroom, the pendulum of which is in the hall, and both instruments in a voltaic circuit, as follows:On the N. E. side of my house two zinc plates, a foot square, are sunk in a hole, and suspended to a wire: this is passed through the house, to the pendulum first, and then to the clock. On the S. E. side of the house, at a distance of about forty yards, a hole was dug four feet deep, and two sacks of common coke buried in it: among the coke another wire was secured, and passed in at the drawing-room window, and joined to the former wire at the clock. The ball of the pendulum weighs nine pounds, but it was moved energetically, and has ever since continued to do so with the self-same energy. The time is to perfection, and the cost of the motive power was only 7s. 6d. There are but three little wheels to the clock, and neither weights nor spring; so there is nothing to be wound up.”

CALMNESS IN COMMOTION.-Robert Hall said of John Wesley, "The most extraordinary thing about him was, that while he set all in motion. he was himself perfectly calm and phlegmatic: he was the quiescence of turbulence."

WOMEN gifted like Zoe often present instances of aberration from the standard of female rectitude. It is not that high talents are in their own nature inimical to the delicate and refined virtues, but they require in proportion a stronger and wiser In this volume fourteen questions are answered, guidance than they often get. The motives that but another is promised with a completion of the influence the generality of women do not touch current catechism. An instance or two will women of high powers; they do not feel the obliexhibit the happy choice of the compiler. gations of those small moralities, the fear of To the question, "What is your character?""being singular," of rendering themselves the put to a gentleman, these are some of the an-subject of "remark," which wholesomely qualify