having invited him to a shooting party. It is manifest that such theories would be absurd in the highest degree, even if supported by the most plausible appearances of external evidence; because nothing can overcome the incredibility of the Court taking the steps known to have been pursued towards this unhappy personage, without some adequate motive;-and that can only be found in the supposition of his having been a man of such importance as to create extreme alarm to the Government. All the probabilities are certainly in favour of his being a brother of Louis XIV., so like him that his resemblance would have made the dangerous disclosure. But whether he was a twin brother legitimately born, or an adulterous child of Anne of Austria, or her natural son born so soon after Louis XIV.'s death as to render his legitimacy possible, we can have no means of deciding. Our author inclines towards the last opinion. The solution of the question is not of very high importance: But it is of great moment to reflect on the state of a country subject to a government like that which could with impunity shut up in distant dungeons, and afterwards in the heart of its metropolis, during a period of above forty years, an individual so distinguished, that his jailor, always a person of high rank and trust, served him with his own hands; that during so long a time this victim should have been compelled to hide his face on pain of instant death, which the guard had orders to inflict by firing on him when he went to mass if he showed himself; that no public mention should ever have been made of the incident, until Voltaire, many years afterwards, told the story; that though many persons saw acts of violence committed in securing him, the subject should have so long been confined to whispers; and that several persons should have been found dead suddenly, after accidentally being placed in situations where they might have made the important discovery. This is the state of things to which many of our wise politicians bid us cast our eyes as tranquil and happy; this is the kind of government which is deemed by them as far preferable to any change, and most of all to the change effected by the Revolution.

This dissertation upon the Iron Mask is followed by a number of short pieces, containing anecdotes and reflections upon various political and historical subjects. There is none of these tracts that require particular attention, unless it be one upon the fortunes amassed by Ministers of State in France.

calculation makes the sums got and spent by Cardinal Mazarin during his administration, including his buildings, foundations,

The mask was not of iron, but of black velvet clasped with steel and a hinge, by means of which he could eat.

portions to relations, and money left to his heirs, amount to the enormous sum of 8,333,3331. Sterling, (two hundred millions of livres). Dubois, at his death, enjoyed an income of above 110,000l. a year, in which our author includes a pension of 40,000l. from England, which he appears, we know not upon what authority, to think was unquestionably paid to this profligate wretch, How nobly does Fleury appear among such scenes of rapacity, confining himself to 5000l. a year, with all the revenues of the State and Church at his disposal during a long and prosperous ministry! It seems even the virtuous Sully had above 30,000l. a year, in places and church preferment held by him notwithstanding his being a protestant; a sum equal to 60 or 70,000l. in the present day. Colbert, from the many high offices united in his person, is reckoned to have had nearly as much; beside the large sums which he occasionally received from the King, and which were equal to his other appointments. Le Tellier and Louvois had revenues and emoluments upon the same enormous scale; and our author estimates the gains of five ministers including Colbert, during forty-two years of Louis XIV.'s reign, at two hundred millions. These men are above all suspicion of having owed their fortune to peculation or illegal exactions; but the result is, that they and Mazarin together, received from the people of France for their ministerial services about seventeen millions sterling, being a sum equivalent perhaps to fifty millions in this country and at the present day. A cardinal who had no legitimate family whose inheritance could gratify his vanity, might now and then seek to perpetuate his name by endowments of a charitable and religious kind; but laymen spent the sums thus obtained in the usual ways. Thus, Louvois spent above half a million upon a house. It is probable that Milton may have had these things in his eye, rather than what he saw at home, when he said that the trappings of a monarchy would suffice to set up a commonwealth. It seems, however, that such gains were reserved for the Prime Minister;-in Louis XV.'s reign, at least, we find the salary of Secretary of State only about 6000l. a year, and those of Comptroller-General, Chancellor, and Keeper of the Seals, at from 5500l. to 6500l.

We now come to the last, the longest, and by far the most curious of these miscellaneous pieces. It is a kind of irregular Journal kept by a certain Madame du Hausset, femme-de-chambre of the celebrated Madame Pompadour, and occupies about 170 pages of this volume. The Editor properly introduces it by stating the manner of obtaining it. M. Marigni, it seems, brother of the royal favourite, was one morning burning some old papers, when a friend of his, M. de Senac de Meilhan, called

upon him. The former happening to say, Here is a journal of my sister's waiting-maid, who was a very worthy person,'M. de Senac saved it from the flames, and asked him for it, to which he assented. Mr Crawford purchased it from this gentleman; and found it ill written and badly spelt, without any arrangement, and, as might be supposed, full of defects in style; for, though a gentlewoman, Mad. du Hausset was but ill educated. In the present publication nothing has been changed except the orthography, and some of the proper names, which were confounded. She begins by mentioning, that she kept the Journal at the request of a friend, who was a woman of talents, and who wished her to write a book after the manner of Mad. de Caylus's Souvenirs. Her intention was to give her friend the Journal, that it might be made more like its model. But we cannot help rejoicing that things took another course; for the work appears now in all the simplicity of its original composition; and one advantage, among many, which it derives from thence, is the air of naïveté and honesty that pervades it all, and gives the reader an entire confidence in its truth. Of course we do not mean to give any general account of the King's private habits-of his decorous visits in secret to Mad. de Pompadour-of his scraglio at the Parc aux Cerfs, where he generally carried on intrigues of an inferior description-of his mistress's alarms lest other persons of rank might supplant her, while she had hardly ever any jealousy of those low amoursor of the kind of life generally which was led by the principal persons who are mentioned in this piece. We shall only select some of the most interesting particulars which are to be found in it; preferring those which throw light either upon remarkable men, or upon the administration of the French government in former times, to those passages which only gratify an idle curiosity.

t.

One of the fortunate circumstances attending this journal is, that Mad. du Hausset happened to be mistress of the celebrated Quesnay, the founder of the sect of the Economists. He was, as is well known, a distinguished physician, and began to practise physic at Nantes, from whence he accompanied the Duc de Villeroi to Paris, as his medical attendant. There, as Mr Crawford informs us in a valuable note, he happened to be in the Duke's carriage when Mad. d'Estrades, M. de Pompadour's favourite, and d'Argenson's mistress, was taken ill with an epileptic attack; and being called in, he concealed the nature of the malady with such discretion from all the family, that she recommended him to her powerful friend, who made him her physician, and obtained for him a place at Court, as well as

apartments at Versailles. He was the son of a ploughman; and having passed his early years in the country, retained for its pursuits a strong predilection, which perhaps helped to bias his political doctrines. His disciples or followers, the Economists, reverenced him as the ancient philosophers did the founders of their sects; they called him le Maître,' and used to say 'le Maître l'a dit. Of a most active and indefatigable nature, he required new food for his mind, and began to cultivate the mathematical sciences with success, when he was upwards of seventy. He died in 1774, at the age of eighty: and the Marquis de Mirabeau (distinguished by the name of Mirabeau here from his well-known son) pronounced a funeral discourse upon him to a great assembly of Economists in deep mourning. Our author terms it a chef-d'œuvre d'absurdité et de ridicule.' He adds the following particulars respecting this celebrated per

sonage.

6

Quesnay avoit beaucoup de gaieté et de bon hommie; il se plaisoit dans la conversation à faire des especes d'apologues qui avoient en generale pour principe quelque objet de la campagne. Il dissertoit avec beaucoup de chaleur sans envie de briller. Logé dans un petit appartement qui tenoit de tres pres à celui de Mad. de Pompadour, il y recevoit quelques gens de lettres et quelques personnes de la cour, On y parloit tres-librement, mais plus des choses que des personnes. Le roi l'appeloit son penseur : il lui accorda des lettres de noblesse et voulant lui-même composer ses armes, il fit mettre sur l'ecusson la fleur appelée pensée.'

It is singular how complete an account of a man, pleasing and even delightful in society, these few particulars contain; and that this character was possessed by the founder of the Economists, we were certainly little prepared to expect. Every thing relating to him in the Journal, however, confirms the remarks of the Editor, and only makes us regret that more is not known of Quesnay, perhaps, too, that he did not apply himself more to lighter studies. Mad. du Hausset introduces him to our notice at the very beginning of her narrative, with her usual simplicity. J'étois devenue en peu de temps l'amie du docteur Quesnay, qui venoit souvent passer deux ou trois heures avec moi. Il recevoit chez lui des personnes de tous les partis, mais en petit nombre, et qui toutes avoient une très grande confiance en lui. On y parloit très-hardiment de tout; et ce qui fait leur eloge et le sien, jamais on n'a rien repeté.'-' Quelquefois, mais rarement, j'ai voyagé dans sa voiture avec le docteur, à qui Madame (de Pompadour) ne disoit pas quatre paroles, quoique ce fût un homme d'un grand esprit. Mr Crawford mentions the Doctor's way of amusing himself in society, by conveying his

arguments, or giving instructions, in the form of fables. Mad. du Hausset has in this Journal preserved one of these, which is interesting enough, from the economical tinge of the ideas. We shall extract the passage, as it shows, moreover, the way in which this singular little groupe, the King, the mistress, the maid and the philosopher, all lived together.

Le Roi sortit pour aller à la figuerie avec Madame, et bientôt après entra Quesnay, ensuite M. de Marigni. Je parlai avec mepris de quelqu'un qui aimoit beaucoup l'argent; et le docteur s'etant mis à rire, dit:"J'ai fait un drôle de rêve cette nuit. J'étois dans le pays des anciens Germains; ma maison étoit vaste, et j'avois des tas de blé, des bestiaux en grand nombre, et de grands tonnéaux pleins de cervoise; mais je souffrois du rheumatisme, et ne savois comment faire pour aller a cinquante lieues de la à une fontaine dont l'eau me queriroit. Il falloit pas chez un peuple etranger. Un enchanteur parut et me dit : " Je suis touché de ton embarras; tiens, voilà un petit paquet de poudre de Prelinpinpin; tous ceux à qui vous en donneras, te logeront, te nourriront et te feront toutes sortes de politesses. Je pris la poudre et le remerciai bien." Ah! comme j'aimerois la poudre de prelinpinpin, lui dis-je ; j'en voudrois avoir plein mon armoire. Eh bien, dit le docteur, cette poudre, c'est l'argent que vous meprisez. Dites moi de tous ceux qui viennent ici quel est celui qui produit le plus d'effet?" Je n'en sais rien, lui dis-je. "Eh bien! c'est M. de Montmartel qui vient quatre ou cinq fois l'an "-Pourquoi est-il consideré? "Parce qu'il a des coffres plein de prelinpinpin" (il tira quelques Louis de sa poche) "tout ce qui existe est renfermé dans ces petites pieces, qui peuvent vous conduire commodement au bout du monde. Tous les hommes obeissent à ceux qui ont cette poudre, et s'empressent de les servir. C'est mepriser le bonheur, la liberté, les jouissances de tout genre, que de mepriser l'argent. Un cordon bleu passa sous les fenetres; et je dis: Ce, seigneur, est bien plus content de son cordon que de mille et mille de vos pieces-" Quand je demande au roi une pension," reprit Quesnay. "C'est comme si je lui disois: Donnez moi un moyen d'avoir un meilleur diner, d'avoir un habit plus chaud, une voiture pour me garantir de la pluie, et me transporter sans fatigue. Mais celui qui lui demanda ruban, s'il osoit dire ce qu'il pense, disoit: "J'ai de la vanité, et je voudrois bien, quand je passe, voir le peuple me regarder d'un œil bêtement admirateur, et se ranger devant moi; je voudrois bien, quand j'entre dans une chambre, faire un effet et fixer l'attention de gens qui se moqueront peut-être de moi à mon depart, je voudrois bien être appelé Monseigneur par la multitude. Tout cela n'est-il pas du vent? Ce ruban ne lui servira de rien dans presque tous les pays; il ne lui donne aucune puissance: mais mes

* Alors banquier de la cour, qui laissa une fortune de trente-deux millions à son fils le Marquis de Brunoy-Ed.