IN announcing this publication, in our last number, we expressed an opinion generally of its merits. We are not inclined to retract what we have there said, nor has the work grown so much in our estimation, from a more attentive perusal, as to make it necessary to add much to the commendation we have already bestowed upon it. As a literary production it has no claim to praise. There is not a page in these volumes that does not offend by some violation of syntax; and the want of perspicuity, which must inevitably result from ungrammatical construction,is unfortunately increased by a ridiculous affectation of turgid phraseology. Lady Morgan is ambitious of possessing a style. She cannot consent to make the most trifling observation in common language. The vernacular is altogether too vulgar for her notions of gentility, and her endeavours to avoid it are for ever apparent. At least one half of every sentence consists of expletives, introduced for the sake of euphony. The equipoise of her periods reminds us of the ingenious practice of some people we have read of, who balance a bag of corn in one pannier by putting stones in the other. Mannerism is a fault into which many great writers have fallen,-though it is not on that account the less a fault, whilst it is the more to be regretted, but the pretensions of common-place thinkers to peculiarity serve only to render insipidity disgusting. The fate of the ape who undertook to flourish his master's razor should be a lesson to all imitators. Lady Morgan is evidently striving to rise to the level of those who are at least a head taller than herself, and tries in vain to make up for want of stature by stepping on tiptoe. We are sorry to be obliged to treat her ladyship so discourteously. We honour her sex, and had we discovered more of its attributes in her present production, could easily have pardoned the vanity and ignorance which it betrays, but the flippancy with which she deals out her political dogmas, and the eagerness with which she seizes every occasion to sneer not only at superstition, but at christianity, to say nothing of grosser indelicacies, of which she is frequently guilty, are sufficiently unfeminine to excuse us for sometimes forgetting that of which her ladyship is herself so unmindful. If we have been deficient in respect, her

ladyship's freedom has given a warrant to our liberties.

Since Buonaparte's abdication of the imperial throne, the English press has teemed with the journals of impatient tourists who have visited France. In all the tableaux thus exhibited of the condition of that country and of the character of its inhabitants, the prejudices of the painter may be traced. The most amusing sketches of the manners of the French people, that we have seen, are contained in Scott's Visit to Paris,' and 'Paris Revised,' and 'Paul's letters to his Kinsfolk.' These however are caricatures, though they may preserve traits of close resemblance. But if some travellers have made themselves merry at the chapfaln faces of the loungers in the Louvre, others have cordially entered into their chagrins, and boldly stood forth in their cause. From the discordant reports of observers we draw, on the whole, an inference favourable to France. The state of society has meliorated by the revolution, though its benefits have been dearly purchased.

Lady Morgan carried into France the feelings of a native of Ireland. Her experience of legitimate government at home, led to no pleasing anticipation of its effects abroad. All the happiness which she discovered, she immediately imputed to the benign influence of institutions which had emanated from the popular will, and all the misery that she saw or apprehended, she was ready to ascribe to the policy of those who had been reinstated in power with the same dispositions which had incurred its loss. If there be a fallacy in her reasoning, the general grounds of her argument are, nevertheless, correct. But we do not despair of the progress of liberal ideas in Europe, nor can we believe that their advancement is like to be retarded by the overthrow of the gigantic despotism of Napoleon. The comparative feebleness of existing dynasties affords some security against encroachment on the rights of the people, even if there be no inclination to enlarge them. It is foreign to our purpose, how ever, to pursue this discussion.

The actual state of the French peasantry is contrasted by lady Morgan with the degrading servitude which they endured under the feudal system. Instead of being appurtenant to the soil and trans

ferable with it, the industrious cultivator is now often the proprietor of his farm, and always the master of his own time and acquisitions. "No longer un peuple serf, corveable et taillable," all are alike free to offer their labour for adequate remuneration; and all now feel that this newly possessed power of self disposal is property, in itself.” Our author distributes the peasantry of France into proprecors, farmer-tenants and labourers. "The agricultural surface of France, is divided," we are told," into what is called, in the language of the country, te pays de grande, et de petite culture." In the former, the size of the farms has been little affected by the revolution: the only difference that has occurred is, that several farms belonging to one landlord may have been purchased by the farmers who formerly cultivated them, or by a small proprietor, whose exertions are confined to the ground he has bought. The possession of small plots of ground by the day-labourers has become very frequent; and it is sometimes usual in these countries to let them to the great farmers who are desirous of having them, to complete the quantity of land which the size of their establishment demands."

"The pays de petite culture is composed of small farms, for the cultivation of which the landlord finds the tenant in horses and ploughs, and divides with him the profits. Upon the large farms the condition of the tenant is very much like that of our English farmers; and in the pays de petite culture there exists a race, long disappeared from England, of poor but independent yeomen, who rear their families in a degree of comfort as perfeet, as it is remote from luxury. The dwelling of a French farmer presents the same scene of rural bustle, activity, and industry, as is usually found in the Engfish farm-houses. The women always appear full of occupation and energy, and share, in common with their husbands, fathers, and brothers, the toil and anxiety of their condition." [p. 27.]

Lady Morgan draws a very engaging portrait of the character and manners of the French villagers. She ascribes to them all those graces and virtues which appear so amiable in the shepherds and shepherdesses of Florian, and which we had never expected to find but in the creatures of fancy. There is, however, a constitutional gayety in these people, which if it be not the ebullition of that cheerfulness that innocence inspires, may easily be mistaken for it, and which at least evinces the absence of the malignant VOL. 11. NO. 1,

passions. It unequivocally denotes, too, their exemption from a vice which is even more prolific in crime than baneful in itself:-il the peasantry of France have retained a simplicity of mind and an amenity of dis, osition which are sought for in vain in the corresponding classes of society in other countries, they owe their happiness to their sobriety.

The modes of every-day life in France," says lady Morgan, “even among the peasantry and lowest classes, are poweriully influenced by the happy and genial temperament of the people. And though the peasantry are not without a certain brusquerie of manner, arising out of their condition, it is tempered by a courtesy, which indicates an intuitive urbanity, beyond the reach of art to teach, or the means of cunning to acquire; and it explains what Casar meant, when he declared, he found the Gauls "the politest barbarians he had conquered." There is, however, among the peasantry of the present day, as among all the lower classes, a certain tone of independence, which almost seems to claim equality with the superior person they address, and which is evidently tinged with the republican hue, so universally adopted during the revolution. A French peasant, meeting his brother peasant, takes off his hat, with the air of a petit-maitre; and I have seen two labourers argue the ceremonies of their bare-headed salutation, with as many stipulations as would go to a treaty of peace." [pp. 54, 55.]

"The domestic manners of the French peasantry," continues lady M. "like their domestic affections, are mild and warm; and the possessive pronoun, which denotes the strong binding interest of property in the object to which it is attached, is profusely given to all the endearing ties of kindred. "Notre mari," or more frequently "notre maître," is the term which the wife uses, when speaking of or to her husband; and the adjectives of

bon," or "petit," are generally attached to every member of the family, according to their rank, or age. The grandsire is always "le bon papa," and all sisters and brothers are "pelite" and “petit.” [p. 56.]

It is common, lady Morgan observes, to deplore the decline of religion in France, but she advises us, before we make ourselves too unhappy on this head, to inquire what kind of religion it was that has declined. Among many instances of the stupidity of the clergy, and the ignorance and credulity of their flocks, in the age of Louis 14th, the golden age of tyranny, she quotes an anecdote fi

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a Sunday, falls short of the luxury now enjoyed by the lowest peasant, who is able to enrich his pottage with a little flesh even on week days. The attention that is paid to dress, too, by the labouring classes, contributes much to the appearance of comfort.

"The influence of the toilette is universal in France, and it is far from being exclusively an object of female devotion, even among the peasantry. The young farmer" qui se fait brave," is, in his own estimation, as attractive as any merveilleux of the chausseć D'Antin can suppose himself. His well-powdered head and massive queue, his round hat, drawn up at either side," pour faire le monsieur," his large silver buckles, and large silver watch, with his smart white calico jacket and trowsers, present an excellent exhibition of rural coxcombry, while the elders of the village set off their frieze coats with a fine flowered linen waistcoat, whose redundancy of flaps renders the texture of the nether part of their dress very unimportant.

"But, however tasteless or coarse; however simple or grotesque, the costume of the French peasantry may appear to the stranger's eye, it still is a cos tume! It is a refinement on necessity, and not the mere and meagre covering of shivering nature. It is always one, among many evidences, that the people are not poor, are not uncivilized, that they require the decencies of life, and are competent to purchase them." [pp. 94, 95.]

In introducing us into higher life, lady Morgan takes a survey of the history and materiel of French society, in which she gives full scope to her propensity to declamation. It is well known that Buonaparte was inclined to fortify his power by drawing the ancient nobility round the throne, and that he succeeded in filling his court, in a great measure, with the representatives of illustrious houses, who preferred the experience of imperial favour to the prospect of royal gratitude. The facility with which he reversed outlawries, and the liberality with which he indemnified the losses of loyalists, gave considerable umbrage to his military nobles. It was a part of his ambition to excel the legitimate' sovereigns of Europe in regal splendour, and in this endeavour he assured the pomp of an Asiatic monarch. The pride of the emperor in this respect was the chief motive of his lenity to emigrants, and the principal source of all those magnificent establishments which have endeared his memory to France, and which will confer on him a more durable fame than the re

nown of conquest. His patronage to men of learning, and his liberal encouragement of sciences and the arts, rendered them subjects of national attention, and gave a tone to public taste which foreigners never fail to remark.

Lady Morgan has displayed all her wit, in ridiculing the royal family and their partisans. She is continually diverted by the follies of the 'preux chevaliers' and veteran dames of the ' vielle court.' The following extract will serve as a specimen of her humour.

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Among those of the elder royalists attached to the person of the king, and believing that they contributed to his restoration, there is a sort of lifeless animation, resembling the organic movements which survive the extinction of animal life, and which are evidenced in the hopping of a bird after decapitation. I have frequently amused myself by following the groupings of these loyal vieilleries, who, like old Mercier, seem to continue living on merely “par curiosité pour voir ce que cela deviendra.”—I remeinber one morning being present at a rencontre between two "voltigeurs* de Louis XIV. on the terrace of the Thuilleries. They were distinguished by the most dramatic features of their class;-the one was in his court-dress (for it was a levée day), and with his chapeau de bras in one hand, and his snuff-box in the other, he exhibited a costume, on which perhaps the bright eyes of a Pompadour had often rested : the other was en habit militaire, and might have been a spruce ensign, “joli comme un cœur," at the battle of Fontenoy. Both were covered with crosses and ribands, and they moved along under the trees, that had shaded their youthful gaillardise, with the conscious triumph of Moorish chiefs restored to their promised Alhambra. Their telegraphic glasses communicated their mutual approach, and advancing chapeau bas, and shaking the powder from their ailes de pigeon, through a series of profound bows, they took their seat on the bench, which I occupied, and began, “les nouvelles à la main," to discuss the business of the day. -A lerée, a review, a procession, and the installation of the king's bust, which in some remote town had been received with cries of "Vive le roi, mille fois répétés,” were the subjects which led to a boundless eulogium on the royal family."

"Personal devotion to the king," con

“*The name given in derision to old military men, re-established in all the rank and privileges they enjoyed before the revolution."

tinues lady M. " is not however exclusively confined to the elders of the privileged classes. It was a profane maxim of a profane French wit, that "les vieilles et les laides sont toujours pour Dieu ;" and his present Majesty of France seems to enjoy a similar devotion, as a part of his divine right. Many of the aged members, of the middle classes of the capital, have remained true to the good old cause; and the petits rentiers, or stockholders of the Fauxbourg St. Germaine (that centre of all antiquity and royalist), assemble morning and evening before the windows of the Thuilleries, in the hope of seeing the king pass and repass to and from his morning's drive; and they remain seated on the benches which front the facade of the palace, among piping fawns, and fighting gladiators. These monumental figures contrast themselves, with peculiar force, to the marble wonders of the chisel which surround them, and to the flitting groups of the present age, which glide by, turning on them looks of the same pleased curiosity, as I have seen bestowed on the monumens François, at les petits Augustins. Here the costumes of the three reigns which preceded the revolution are preserved and amicably united. Here is still to be seen the "hurlubrelu" head-dress, the subject of so many of Mad de Sevigné's pleasant letters. Here too may be found the bonnets à papillons pointés and petites cométes of the du Deffnds and Geofrins, with the fichus de souflet, and the more modern néglige of the Polignacs and Lamballes. These venerable votaries of loyalty, who have so long" owed heaven a death," that they se m to have been forgotten by their creditor, are chiefly females. They are always accompanied by a cortege of little dogs, which, half-shorn, and half-fed, fastened to girdles, no longer the gift of the graces, by ribands no longer "couleur de rose," are under the jurisdiction of large fans, frequently extended to correct the "petites folies" of these Sylphides and Fdles, when they sport round their ancient mistresses, with unbecoming levity." [pp. 144, 145.]

One cannot help observing in reading these volumes, how invariably the fair author's opportune remarks, of which she has favoured us with a prodigious number, are addressed to Madame la Duchesse, Monsieur le Prince, Monsieur le Comte, Madame la Marquise, Madame la Vicomtesse, or Madame la Baronne. We will confess that we Suspected some little affectation in this-we could scarcely imagine it possible that such people should be at

hand, to listen on all occasions ;—but lady Morgan has incidentally accounted for it, in a manner entirely satisfactory. “A few years back," says her ladyship, "all ranks and distinctions were lost in the affectedly simple appellations of citoyen and citoyenne. At present France is inundated with titles, multiplied far beyond the heraldic dignities of those aristocratical days, when, according to Smollett, "Mons le Comte," called to his son, in the business of their noble verger, “ Mons. le Marquis, avez-vous donné manger aur cochons ?*-If nobility is so cheap in France as her ladyship represents, it is, to be sure, no great affair to be talking with a count or a marquis, nor can there be much difficulty in finding something of the sort to speak to whenever one has any thing to say.

Lady Morgan has so mixed herself with all she saw or heard in Paris, that it is not ea y to select any picture from her portfolio in which she does not occupy the most prominent place. This desire to show herself off is very annoying to her readers. We shall not pretend to pick up the opinions which she has scattered through her Journal. They are not generally of much moment,-but her judgment of the French character in one respect, is too singular to pass unnoticed. Lady Morgan considers the French as a peculiarly grave people, and adduces their profound attention at the theatre and in the saloon as evidences of this disposition. We cannot consider the disproportionate interest taken in trifling entertainments or conversation a great proof of gravity. If it be, children who can amuse themselves alone, by the hour, with a few billets of wood in piling them up and pulling them down, must be wonderfully grave. Lady Morgan complains of the formality that prevails in the circles of the ancient nobility. They are "precise," she says, "to a degree that imposes perpetual restraint; the ladies are all seated à la ronde; the gentlemen either leaning on the back of their chairs, or separated into small compact groups. Every body rises at the entrance of a new guest, and immediately resumes a seat, which is never finally quitted until the moment of departure. There is no bustling, no gliding, no shifting of place for purposes of coquetry, or views of flirtation; all is repose and quietude among the most animated and cheerful people in the world. My restlessness and activity was a source of great aston

*"Mons. Marquis have you fed the hogs?"