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Iris first coming than in private he was, he did at her coach side take his leave, by kissing her sufficiently to the middle of the shoulders, for so low she went bare all the days I had the fortune to know her; having a skinne far more amiable than the features it covered, though not the disposition, in which report rendered her very debonaire.' Vol. I. pp. 1941.96.

Of James himself, the memorialist uniformly speaks in terms of the utmost contempt, and attributes, in a great measure, to his follies and weaknesses the disasters of his unfortunate son.

The next article is the work of Sir Anthony Welldon, and contains the Court and Character of King James,' , the Court of King Charles,' 'Observations instead of a Character upon the King from his Childhood,' and 'Certain Observations before Queen Elizabeth's death.' These tracts are of considerable value, as secret and contemporary memoirs, In his strictures upon the characters and events which come under his cognizance, Sir Anthony is, no doubt, frequently led aside by partialities and antipathies; but he is a writer of considerable acuteness, and even from his erroneous statements we may obtain something in the way of illustration, if not of knowledge. The following character of the celebrated Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, is written with ability, and, on the whole, with fairness.

This Strafford, without doubt, was the ablest minister that this kingdome had since Salisburies time; and, to speak uprightly, there was not any but himselfe worthy of that name amongst all the kings councell; yet I am confident, by the weaknesse of that boord, his abilities in state affaires were judged more than they were; and besides, that very word of statesman was now grown a stranger to our nation. Nor was he, as Salisbury, or our ancient heroes, a generall statesman, nor was it possible he should be, he not having that breeding himselfe; nor kept he any upon his charge in forraigne parts for intelligence; nor had he such a tutour as the other had of his father, who was the most absolute statesman in the world, whose very papers (which were left to this Salisbury, and served as so many rich presidents and instructors to him) were able, if wanting in abilities of his own, to make him an able statesman. But I held Strafford's abilities to be more on this side then beyond the seas; yet might he challenge the title of a good patriot: And so indeed he was, before he turned courtier; after that he converted his studies and endeavours to make the king an absolute arbitrary monarch, by screwing up the regall prerogative to so high a strain as hath made it crack, and by raising his revenues so high that he made them fal; in which also his owne interest was concerned, for he did neither serve God nor the king for naught. Nor would Straffords abilities have been so transparent had any such concurrents as Buckhurst, Walsingham, or Hatton been now living, or such an one as the Earl of Essex, who was Salisburies antagonist. But this man had onely the archbishop (whose proper element too was but the

church) and they drew both in one line. And here I shall give you one note of Strafford's failings in his master-piece, that he was no such absolute wise man (that could not find the just medium of the people's temper) but by striving to make the king all, and on a sudden, he made the king lesse and himselfe lesse then nothing. And had he beene wise, he could not but find the kings spirit was not to undergoe, nor to goe through with great actions, but would faile under them and crush the owners: which he to his lamentable experience hath found and felt too true. Besides, I much doubt Straffords owne spirit, that, seeing his wisdom was too short to protect him, his spirit was so low to faile him, that hee did not, like Sampson, pull down the house upon others heads, but fall like a tame foole, himself alone, caught in a gin, and lay still without any Aluttering; when, surely, some others of the cabinet councell were as deep as himselfe in any designe,' Vol. II. pp. 56-53.

Aulicus Coquinaria is an answer to the preceding, and is said to have been compiled from Bishop Goodman's materials, by William Sanderson, author of the Histories of James I. and Charles I. It seems to us inferior to its rival, both in acuteness and spirit; but it certainly corrects several misstatements; gives a more favourable turn to many circumstances which in Welldon's invective appear somewhat more than suspicious; and contains some curious details on points connected with the secret history of the times.

Sir Edward Peyton's Rise, Reigne, and Ruine of the kingly Family of the Stuarts,' is the work of a desperate and fanatical partizan: but we agree with the writer, that it contains many minute particulars worthy of preservation, respecting the politics and incidents in the court of the two first princes of the house of Stuart.' The volumes close with part of a pamphlet, said to be extremely rare, intitled the Court and Kitchin of Elizabeth, commonly called Joan Cromwel; the wit of which principally consists in sneers at the frugality of the Protector's wife.

On the whole, this is by no means a bad collection of Memoires a servir; the articles are not only amusing reading, but bring forward a number of facts, which, if not altogether new, are, at least, exhibited in an unaccustomed point of

view.

Art. XIV. Biographe Moderne. Lives of remarkable Characters, who have distinguished themselves from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the present time. From the French. 8vo. 3 vols. pp. 1125. price 17. 11. 6d. Longman and Co. 1811.

HOWEVER limited and precarious, in the opinion of

many of our readers, may be the Liberty of the Press, in this country, we are yet, no doubt, at a considerable distance from the period when the circulation of any book, and every

book, that may presume to tell a little offensive truth about recent and contemporary public characters, that have possessed, or for the time being possess, the powers of govern ment, shall become a thing of such extreme difficulty and hazard, as it is now in France and most other parts of the continent. Our situation in this respect is, perhaps, not entirely what a high-spirited and free people might wish; but still we do, by means of the press, obtain in one way or another many pieces of such information concerning our occupiers of power, as the people of Frauce have no chance of gaining with respect to their high political class. So much at least of the truth is suffered to be told, as ought to keep actively alive that necessary suspicion, that incredulity of official virtue, which no nation can dismiss without surrendering itself to imposition, extortion, and despotism. But in France, the great authorities now existing, and even those that have had their day, seem to be a subject as sacred and interdicted as the economy of the Grand Turk's Seraglio. A book, that in ever so cool and chronicle-like a style undertakes to state plainly why a certain number of persons claim to be more noted for some time to come than the ordinary currency of names, is seized upon at the printing-office, or intercepted on its way to the publisher's; and if by some accident or legerdemain two or three copies escape, and make their way to the extremities of the empire, and this country, it is through such a series of lucky incidents and hair-breadth turns, as to furnish a little romantic history, -as curious as that of Sir Sidney Smith's escape from durance in France, or that of an enslaved captive, who baffles the precautions, the fetters, and the sentinels of the Dey of Algiers. The original of the present work, it seems, has need of all a thief's dexterity. The account prefixed to this translation is extracted from an article understood' to have been contributed to one of our most popular critical journals by Mr. Walsh, the author of the American's "Letter on the Genius and Disposition of the French Government."

This work, under the title of Modern Biography, purports to be a history of all those who, by their rank, their talents, their virtues, or their crimes, have contributed to illustrate or to disgrace the end of the last and the commencement of the present century.The following are the circumstances, which, as we are informed, attended the publication of the work in Paris. In the year 1800, a dictionary similar in form to the present, but characterized by far greater asperity and boldness, was published in the French capital, and immediately suppressed by the police. The authors seem to have had it in view to expose the inconsistency of those who had enlisted themselves in the consular government, after having signalized themselves by their zeal for a democratical equality.

The book, though written in a republican spirit, was particularly levelled at the members of the Convention, and contained much pointed declamation against the agents and emissaries of the parties which alternately usurped so sanguinary a dominion over their wretched country. In 1806 the undertaking was revived in a shape which it was supposed would prove less obnoxious to the public authorities. The vitriolic acid, to use an expression of the author, was wholly extracted; and particular care was taken to exclude from the biography of the imperial family, and of the chief favourites of the monarch, whatever might be offensive. The better to secure themselves from suspicion, they professed not to pass judgment, but merely to furnish materials for decision, and to embrace, at the same time, the names of all their foreign contemporaries of political note. These sacrifices however were not sufficient to propitiate the favour, or lull the vigilance, of the police. The authors were punished, and the circulation of the book immediately prohibited. The copy now before us was secreted and given to the individual from whom it has passed into our hands.' pp. iv. v.

Additional importance and power of stimulus, are endeavoured to be given by the hint of unexplained difficulties about the copy caught on this side of the water, as we suppose.

A copy was, after considerable difficulty, obtained, but the loan of it, though granted in the kindest manner, was, for important reasons, limited to a period barely sufficient to allow of its being translated, and the work was pursued with that ardour which the emergency of the case, and, above all the awakened curiosity of the public, demanded.' p. v.

The reader may be inclined to fancy that this very grave and large-meaning sort of language, about the very short time it was permitted to retain a printed French book-which most certainly contained no specific for paying off the national debt, or turning bank paper into gold, or even for concealing or protecting the peculation of public functionaries-seems rather to overdo the importance of the concern.

The present work is a translation of part only of the origi nal; the foreign portion of the biography, which is pronounced to be miserably scanty and erroneous,' being omitted.

• Those memoirs alone have been chosen which relate to the greatest events in question, and which claim attention and credit for the authentic sources in which they originate. These sources are, principally, the jour. nals of the legislative bodies, the files of the Moniteur, and the several memoirs published at different times by persons in every way competent to the task of recording the events of the Revolution. A narrative of facts is thus furnished, the authenticity of which cannot be doubted.'

The Biographie Moderne exhibits two great features of impartiality and correctness; it abounds with facts, and is sparingly furnished with comments. The style of the original is not elegant; but it is clear and concise, entirely divested of studied ornament, and free from those tricks VOL. VIII. 3 N

of eloquence which always mar the effect of a plain tale. The narratives are copiously interspersed with anecdotes at once extraordinary and characteristic; and the portraits occasionally introduced of the principal actors in the Revolution, are sketched with a rapid bút skilfu! hand. If there be any instances of deviation from the strict line of impartiality which the authors seem to have had in view, they are to be found in those articles which relate to the present reigning family in France, and to their particular favourites.' p. vi.

If the literary character of the original has been faithfully conveyed into the translation, most of these observations are .correct. There is very little comment; the memoirs are bare details of fact. There is little attempt at elegance of diction; there is a welcome absence, for the most part, of that vile factitious rhetoric which is so intolerably disgusting in much of the French writing; and there is truly very little favouritism: for, excepting the Annals of Newgate,' and two or three si-milar repositories of human renown, there never was a biographical work so miscellaneous, and comprizing such a multitude of persons, in which the writers have seemed so uniformly willing for their subjects to be detested or despised.

With regard to the authority of the historical details, as a large proportion of the facts are of such a public nature as must have been put on record in the contemporary journals, there is no reason to doubt, that whoever possesses the Moniteur of those times would be able to verify as much, perhaps, as one half of the particulars stated in this work. By facts of a public nature, we mean propositions, debates, and decrees, in the several national assemblies of the revolution, and in the formidable voluntary societies that so often overawed those assemblies—the acts of official men and administrative bodiesand the otorious proceedings of the armies. From the rule of brevity adopted as essential in the plan, and so rigidly adhered to in the execution, of the work, a very large proportion of these facts are in the narration so divested of all illustrativ matter, and given so much in the form of mere annals, as to make a very uninteresting kind of reading, while they are acknowledged to be of value in the way of historical docu

ment.

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With respect to the portion of these records that more directly displays personal history and character, it is extremely obvious that the collective memoirs of many hundreds of individuals, who were brought into action from all parts of France-many of whom were very obscure, except during a few revolutionary mouths-some of whom were alternately, or indeed at the very same moment, extolled in terms almost of adoration, and assailed with hootings and imprecations some of whom were possibly the subjects of base but unconvicted