quite those of an accomplished idler.-Lord At this crisis Lord Malmesbury-forgetFitzharris's Note-Book for 1805-1806.'-vol. ful of all his former indignation against iv. pp. 341-347. Lord Auckland for a like conduct-urged After the death of Mr. Pitt and the ac- the Duke of Portland, with whom he had cession of the Talents Administration, always maintained his early relations of there is little to notice till we arrive at the confidence, to communicate to the King celebrated attempt to inveigle the King into his Grace's sympathy on what he heard of the first step towards a concession of what His Majesty's feelings on this subject, and were called the Catholic claims, which to acquaint him that if he should be driven ended in the dismissal of that arrogant to extremities by his present ministry, and fraudulent ministry, in whose detection there were others who were ready to underand discomfiture Lord Malmesbury took take the responsibility of office on the adinore part, as we have already hinted, than verse principle. This letter was dated the was commonly supposed. 12th of March, 1807; but before it was despatched-indeed before it was written out 'On the 9th of March [1807], I found that a fair-the King himself had anticipated its bill was actually preparing, evidently as a sort advice by sending for Lord Grenville, comof preliminary step to other bills still more ex-plaining of the deception attempted to be plicit, to take off the restrictions now existing practised on him, and declaring that he against the Catholics. The Bill in the first never had consented, and never would con

instance was stated to be one that had no oth

The Duke

er object in view than to give the Irish Catho-sent, to Lord Howick's Bill. lics, serving in England, the same security of Portland's letter arrived no doubt opporagainst the pains and penalty of the law tunely to confirm the King's resolutions, against Popery as they enjoyed in Ireland by which were also supported by some of the the Bill of 1793, which bill enabled them to existing Government. hold commissions in the army as far as the rank of Colonels.

'The King said the Prince had come down The Union made these regiments liable on purpose on Saturday [March 14] to declare to serve in England and Scotland, and the his intentions of acting and speaking against Act as it now stood (they said) gave them se- the bill; that the Chancellor (Erskine) has curity in Ireland only. This appeared a just also been from the beginning against it, as measure if pursued, and one not to be oppos-well as Lord Ellenborough and Lord Sidmouth. This last he said had behaved handsomely.'-vol. iv. p. 373.

ed.

'To this Bill the King did not object, and in this shape it first appeared in the House of Commons, as a clause attached to the Mutiny Bill, of which it was naturally to make a part. But Ministers finding this go down with scarce And upon this the King gave the Duke any remark made upon it, thought they of Portland carte blanche for forming that might go a step further; they withdrew the administration which, with many serious clause to the Mutiny Bill, and substituted in modifications, and the sudden or premature its room a Bill which, by one stride, gave to deaths of no less than five of its leadersthe Catholics in every part of His Majesty's Portland, Perceval, Londonderry, Liverpool, dominions, the privilege of entering into the and Canning-and many vicissitudes of army or navy, of holding any rank in either, and of being allowed to attend their own plac difficulties and prosperity, terminated the es of worship. This gave rise to a very spir-most perilous, but eventually the most gloited debate, in which Perceval, with great rious war recorded in our annals by the force and ability, showed to the House the rad- most triumphant peace-and may be said ical alterations such a measure would make in to have lasted till, by a series of mistakes our Constitution, and the dangerous innova- and misfortunes, it was led-as always tions with which it would be attended both in Church and State. Government was violent happens to a party too long and too comin support of it, and Lords Howick and Tem-pletely prosperous-to terminate by suicide ple talked vehemently.

'Strong symptoms, however, soon appeared, that they met with opposition in the closet, as the second reading of the bill was postponed from day to day. On Wednesday, the 11th, the King came to town, and saw his Ministers as usual at the Queen's House, to whom (it was told us) he expressed himself very distinctly, that to such a measure he never could assent.'—vol. iv. pp. 358, 359.

an existence of five-and-twenty years. In the Duke of Portland's ministry Mr. Canning received the Foreign Seals, Lord Fitzharris became his under-secretary-Lord Granville Leveson went as ambassador to Russia and Lord Malmesbury, confidentially consulted by Mr. Canning, brings down to the Battle of Wagram and the Convention of Cintra-but with little de

tail and no novelty-his summary of our [in his Diary-so that truth itself becomes foreign and domestic transactions.

Here,' says the Editor, in his parting words

'Here Lord Malmesbury appears to have closed this Diary.

an auxiliary to falsehood. On the whole we are bound to say, this publication seems to us to be in principle wholly unwarranta. ble-that as regards either political events or personal character, it would be in genOf the journal which I have published, and eral a very fallacious guide;-that any which composes this fourth volume, it may be historical value it may have is nearly counsaid that it contains much matter already terbalanced by the false impressions it so known to the reader. I have not suppressed frequently creates-and, finally, that the it on that account, because I think that no cor- confidence and security of private life-the roborative evidence of history can be produced great foundations of society-are seriously so unsuspicious as a diary, in which events and conversations are regularly recorded compromised by a precedent, which is the within a few hours of their occurrence, and more dangerous from the amusement that that by an intelligent observer (like Lord it affords, and the respectable names Malmesbury), whose personal ambition has with which it is unfortunately connected. been satisfied with high rewards, or arrested by incurable infirmity. The man who is in this position, having nothing to hope or to fear, and writing for no immediate purpose of the day, will probably relate history with as little excitement or prejudice as can possibly be

found in any active mind.'-vol. iv. pp. 411, MISS BERRY ON FRENCH AND ENGLISH

412.

SOCIETY.

From the Quarterly Review.

England and France: a Comparative View of the Social Condition of both Countries, from the Restoration of Charles the Second to the present time. To which are now first added: Remarks on Lord Orford's Letters-the Life of the Marquise du Deffand-the Life of Rachael Lady Russell-Fashionable Friends, a Comedy. By the Editor of Madame du Deffand's Letters. A New Edition. London, 1844. 2 vols. 8vo.

WE rejoice in the publication of this excellent and useful essay, as the avowed production of Miss Berry, because the value of its original remarks upon the society of both countries, in which she has so long moved as a member at once admired and beloved, is greatly increased by the authori

To some of these last observations we have by anticipation replied in the distinction we took between the sincerity of the journalist and the accuracy of the facts or justice of the opinions he records : with that reservation we grant to the noble Editor all the merit that he claims for his grandfather, who is beyond doubt entitled to as much credence as any journalizing politician and quidnunc can be entitled to. But, however trustworthy the author may personally be, it by no means follows that we are to give him that kind of implicit confidence which the Editor seems to challenge. In the first place he is very often deceived by a second-hand narrative of facts; but even when the naked fact is true, it may be so disguised by being clothed in black or in white as not to be recognizable. Of such a diary it may be said, as the Stoic said of human life in general-ty of her name, a name never to be proταράσσει τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οὐ τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλὰ nounced without the respect due to talents, тà лɛgì tшν лo̟αɣμátan Soyμára-no one alive learning, and virtue. We place in the front would, we believe, be much disturbed by of our criticism that which all rightly conany of the facts recorded by Lord Malmes- stituted minds must regard as the highest bury, if simply and accurately narrated, panegyric, that she who has experienced and though great and serious pain has been in- enjoyed the pleasures of fashionable as well flicted by the color that he gives them and as literary intercourse more and longer than the opinions which his grave authority pro- any living author, has passed through both nounces upon them. No man, however the frivolities and the corruptions of her honest, or even kind-hearted, can be free times, in Paris as well as in London, withfrom temporary impressions and personal out a shadow of a taint either to her heart, prejudices-which, though they should her feelings, or her principles. The histohave only flashed momentarily across his rian of society in her own as well as in mind, stand permanently Daguerreotyped former periods, the fond admirer of genius,

whatever form it assumed, and the partaker | tinged with unworthy prejudice. The sex with a keen relish of all the enjoyments of the author, as well as the nature of the which the intercourse of polished life affords, subject, naturally suggests a comparison she has never shut her eyes for a moment to either the follies that degraded or the vices that disfigured the scene, nor has ever feared to let her pen, while it described for our admiration the fair side of things, hold up also the reverse to our reprobation or our contempt. It was a great omission in our journal never to have an article on any of the former editions of this Comparative View-though we have more than once quoted it as an authority. It now appears, however, with not a few improvementsand with the addition of some other pieces partly published before in separate forms, partly new to the world.

The difficulty of giving a sketch of society in any country, still more of exhibiting a comparative view of it in more countries than one, most of all in tracing its varying forms through successive stages of its history, needs hardly be stated or illustrated in any detail. The artist who would execute such a delineation must bring to the task not only a very extensive knowledge of the sciences, the arts, the letters that flourished in the community at different periods, but an intimate acquaintance with the human character, and what is not quite synonymous, an acquaintance with men both in action and seclusion. But, above all, whoever would undertake this task will feel a vast proportion of his materials wholly wanting in all the books that can be written and read; and must draw conclusions from the facts recorded, reasoning according to probabilities, and guided by a nice and familiar knowledge of mankind and of the world. Accordingly, in this branch of history or of moral painting there is hardly any work, the gossiping of numberless memoirs excepted, that can be cited to satisfy a curiosity naturally raised by the great interest of the subject. The few pieces or rather fragments that we could name are exceedingly slight, much affected by prejudice and personal feeling-altogether unsatisfactory. That Miss Berry has entirely succeeded in accomplishing so arduous a work, and has left no room to lament blanks and deficiencies, we shall not undertake to affirm. But it is quite undeniable that she has presented us with a sketch of great power, the result of various and accurate learning, instinct with deep but sober reflection, ever exhibiting a love of justice and of virtue, nor deformed by affectation any more than it is

with Madame de Staël; and it is a high praise to say that though the latter might have written such an Essay as this with more passages of striking eloquence, and a greater variety of original thoughts, might have shown more imagination, and declaimed more roundly, her page would have wholly lacked the sober judgment, the careful attention to the truth of her representations, which makes Miss Berry so safe a guide; while it would have abounded in mere conceits, far-fetched fancies, extravagant theories, wholly unsuited to the dignity of the inquiry as destructive of all its uses.

The most honorable characteristic of these volumes we have noted; their unexceptionable tendency, their perfect purity in all respects. But they who set a higher value upon talents than upon virtues, will be charmed with the sagacity and temper of the observations, with the fine perceptions, the acute penetration of which the delicacy and quickness of the female mind seems alone capable; while the style is pure, easy, and wholly unaffected, showing the familiarity of the writer both with the study of good models and with the habits of good society. It is not among the least recommendations of the work, that though apparently dealing with a general and even abstract subject, nothing can be more entertaining and even amusing; which is owing, no doubt, to the judicious union of belles-lettres with philosophy, the copious admixture of anecdote, personal and literary, the avoiding of all tiresome dissertation, and, above all, the shunning of political argumentation. Many years have passed since we have taken up a more readable book to enliven the appointed dulness of our ordinary labors.

Desirous of presenting our readers with a sample of the manner as well as the lively matter of this work, we meet with one at the threshold. Nothing can be more appropriate than the design, nor happier than the execution of the comparison or simile with which it opens. Here are the first three paragraphs of the Introduction :—

'In considering and comparing the manners and habits, the opinions and prejudices, of England and France, it is remarkable that two nations so contiguous, so long and so intimately connected, and having always, either as friends or as enemies, seen so much of each other, should still continue so essentially dissimilar.

'Like country neighbors, of uncongenial

'Even when upon the most friendly footing, we have neither of us disliked hearing our neighbors abused, their peculiarities laughed at, and their weaknesses exaggerated, and have seldom been disposed to do them justice, except when we conceived that we had humbled and worsted them.'-vol. i. p. 1.

characters, we have never, during our heredita-party in the lowest state of discredit; and ry and necessary intercourse with each other, the Restoration at once eradicated all the continued long upon good terms, and have rigorous observances of the Roundheads, generally fallen out when any attempts have and set the fashion of the day universally been made to increase our intimacy or unite us in favor of the Cavaliers; introducing a more closely. loose morality, an elegant life, and a free intercourse with the continent, long interrupted; but especially an intercourse with France. Miss Berry makes Buckingham figure largely in the scene; indeed lets him occupy rather a disproportioned space in her narrative and description. The entertainMiss Berry begins by taking a brief view ment, however, received from his humors, of the state of England and France in the and especially from his controversy with the time of Charles I. and the Commonwealth, Irish Friar, sent by the Duke of York and as much of the state of society in both (James II.) to convert him, form a very countries as is necessary before entering on agreeable ingredient in the composition. the proper subject of her work, the history Upon the principle of corruptio optimi pessiof its changes after the era of the Restora-ma, we think she has judiciously selected tion. The comfort of the people at large as the most striking proof of the immoral in England, the general diffusion of moder- and indecorous state of society the scene ate wealth and enjoyment of ease, with-in which the judges who had a day or two out the modern contrast of superabundant before condemned Algernon Sidney to die, riches and squalid poverty: the insulation exhibited themselves in a drunken debauch of the country from the continent, with at a city marriage, attended by the mayor, which all the connexion of travel and foreign residence, so usual in former ages, had ceased in consequence of religious differences the austerity of religious feelings and demeanor in the bulk of the nation, and the relaxed morality of the prominent section of the patrician order, all afford a marked contrast to the lofty refinement of manners which distinguished the nobles as a class in France, including all the landed proprietors of any account-the freedom from restraint whether of religious or moral ties which all polished society enjoyed-and the wretched poverty of the great body of the people, the cultivators of the soil, the dealers in merchandises, the handicraftsmen, the few who exercised any thing like manufacturing industry; in a word the gens taillables et corvéables, as they were wittily and truly called in reference to the state-taxes they paid and the feudal burthens they endured.

the sheriffs, the aldermen, and many of the nobles. At the same time our author most justly remarks that the indecent and licentious manners of the great in the metropolis by no means indicate those of the people at large. The regard for religion was still maintained among the venerable gentry who seldom stirred from their provinces, and even in towns generally among the middle and humbler classes; their moral habits were assailed, but not overcome or changed; and the ancient virtue of the rural gentry, clergy, and yeomanry, as well as the tradesmen, remained entire, to overthrow the tyranny of the restored family under the next reign, and to save, with the liberty and religion, we may truly add, the monarchy of England.

Then follows a full and interesting account of society in France during the same period; but rather than abridge or analyze it, we shall extract the judicious and correct statement which our author gives of a very important subject-the differences of the French and English national character, as exemplified in the civil and military transactions of the two countries in these times of trouble.

The work properly begins with a compendious account of English society after the Restoration. It presents a still greater contrast than even that of France to the republican times which immediately preceded. The extreme severity of the fanatical days, in which asceticism was blended with religion, and made almost the test of faith, had been united to levelling 'The difference of national character is peropinions and rebellious conduct. The de-haps nowhere more strongly marked than in the motives and conduct of the contemporary struction of the Commonwealth, which its civil wars of France and England. The excesses and the misconduct of its chiefs Fronde was directed entirely against individhad brought about, also left the democratic ual character-our Rebellion against princi

ples of government. Both may be said to j in these passages she anticipated so much have failed in their object, the one by the es- of what has since been exhibited and extablishment in power of Cardinal Mazarin, the pounded more fully in the historical pages other by the Restoration of Charles II. But of M. de St. Aulaire and Lord Mahon. the war against principles had served to develope the human mind, and to throw light on the real end and only true means of government. The war against individual character had debased the mind, and given expansion, only, to private pique and hatred. It took away all dignity of motive, and all shame of abandoning or supporting leaders, except as they rose or fell with the wheel of fortune. The Parliament of Paris, after having put a price on the head of Mazarin in 1653, publicly harangued him as the saviour of the state in 1660, without any other change in circumstances than his having established his authority. By this conduct they lost the power ever to do more than make useless remonstrances against measures which they had neither the right to oppose, nor the virtue to control.

But the Parliament of England, which had defended five of its members from the King himself in person, when coming to seek their punishment in 1642, preserved and developed within it the seeds of that power, which, in 1676, voted the exclusion of the only brother of the reigning King from the succession to the throne, and, in 1688, spoke the voice of the nation in declaring that brother for ever an alien to that throne, of which he had proved himself unworthy.

'Nor is the difference of the two national characters less remarkable in the conduct than in the motive of their civil commotions.

The sketch which is subjoined of the female society in the two countries is exceedingly entertaining, and fully proves the contrast between the two to be in this particular much greater than even that of their respective statesmen, and courtiers, and churchmen. The Duchess de Longueville here, of course, occupies a large space: in fact she is treated of with disproportioned fulness, and even minuteness, as Buckingham had been in the English chapters. The same want of keeping may be charged and the comparative view of the Irish and upon the length of the dramatic criticism, English theatres; but it has a redeeming virtue in the accuracy of its description and the unbiassed fairness of the judgments pronounced. It is, indeed, one of the most remarkable portions of the work before us.

The era of the Revolution and the subsequent reigns of Queen Anne and the two first Brunswick princes, afford the materials for copious and interesting sketches, both of a general kind and of individuals whose eminent qualities affected the state of society; and here our principal fault with this essay is to be found. The ac'With us, the troops were enlisted, not as count is quite accurate, and is both disthe follower of such or such a leader, but tinctly and luminously given, of the low called on to defend by arms, in the last resort, state into which the arts fell under princes a solemn league and covenant between the so little capable of appreciating their value governors and the governed, which they had all as our illustrious deliverer and his very individually sworn to observe and to maintain. submissive but little significant consort, and The few followers who surrounded the stand- her dull though worthy sister, with whom we ard of the unfortunate monarch, when first erected against such opponents, proved how may justly in this particular class the two entirely a conviction of the identity of their first Georges. The description of society, own rights, with those they were called on to too-correct, unenlightened, unrelieved, assert, was necessary to bring them into action. unvariegated, sombre-is well, if it is some'The great Condé, and the still greater Tu- what succinctly given; and it forms a great renne, while enlisting troops, throwing them- contrast to the political features of the age, selves into fortresses, and making treaties with full of what the newspaper language of our Spain to expel a powerful minister the moment he opposed their individual pretensions, day-borrowed from novels, and mixed appear to the unprejudiced eyes of posterity with slip-slop, any thing but English-terms merely employing a morbid activity to get pos- stirring,'-marked by public violence, by session of power which they knew no more foreign wars and civil strife, and even in than their opponent how to use. All idea of peace full of factious broils and tainted with bettering the condition of the country was parliamentary corruption. 'Plenum variis alike out of the question on either side. Nor were these leading personages, in fact, better casibus, atrox præliis, discors seditionibus, informed of their real interest and real duties, ipsa etiam pace sævum.' But our objection or less vulgarly ignorant of every principle of lies to the individual portraitures and to the civil liberty, on which they supposed them- principle upon which the author has conselves acting, than the lowest follower of their fined her pencil to those traits which she camp.'-vol. i., p. 108-111. conceives alone belonged to their social intercourse. Thus, she appears to have It is no small praise to Miss Berry, that thought that we had only to contemplate