The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

can be relied on; but without dwelling further
on his detects, we may say that we cannot
accede to his being treated as a great classic,
and we think that he has been overrated as an
authority.
Mr. Bole St. John has abridged a large
portion of the St. Simon memoirs, and put
them into an English dress, and to many
persons they will be quite new. It is scarcely
a quarter of a century since a full edition of
these memoirs was published at Paris. There
is some exaggeration in the translator's state-
ment :

It was not until 1829 that anything like a complete
edition of the memoirs was given to the public. The
work at once made a great sensation, and the caution that
had directed its long suppression was to a certain extent
justified. Never did the Bourbon family receive such a
blow. At a glance the public had presented to them that
Court which had hitherto been regarded as the most
brilliant ever seen in France—its tinsel and gilding
stripped from it, its tatters and rags displayed it. all their
wretchedness. The success of the work was immense.
Since the publication of Scott's novels, says M. Sainte-
Bence, no book had been more widely welcomed.
This success has gone on increasing for years. Every
French literary man, I had almost said every French
student, reads St. Simon.

The Bourbons received many greater blows
than the publication of these memoirs; but
that they were much read and quoted on their
first complete publication is true. Three edi-
tions of the memoirs are now going through
the French press, and if printed at full length
the whole of St. Sinion's works would occupy
about two dozen octavo volumes ! Their full-
ness of detail is one of their greatest merits ;
and, as we cannot judge of Walpole's merits as
a letter-writer merely by Pinkerton's " Wal-
poliana," or as "Mr. Pepys " would be grie-
vously shorn in abridgment, so this abbrevia-
tion can scarcely convey an adequate idea of
St. Simon's voluminous gossiping. But, on
the whole, Mr. Bayle St. John has executed his
portion of the work with great skill, and he
has contrived to preserve much of the original
spirit of his author.
We shall choose some extracts which faith-
fully characterise the sort of matter to be
found passim in these curious memoirs. We
shall commence with the account of the mar-
riage of the Due do Bourgogne to the Princess
of Savoy. It must be premised that the illus-
trious couple were not permitted to live
together for two years after the ceremony here
recorded :

The day passed wearily. The King and Queen of
England came about seven o'clock in the evening,
and some time afterwards supper was served. Upon
rising from the table, the Prineesse was shown to
her bed, none but ladies being allowed to remain in
the chamber. Her chemise was given her by the
Queen of England through the Duchesse de Lode.
The Due de Bourgogne undressed in another room, in the
midst of all the Court, and seated upon a folding•chair.
The King of England gave him his shirt, which was pre•
sented by the Due de Beauvilliers. As soon as the
Duchesse de Bourgogne was in bed, the Dun de Bourgogne
entered, and placed himself at her side, in the presence of
all the Court. Immediately afterwards everybody went
away from the nuptial chamber, except Monseigneur, the
ladies of the Prineesse, and the Duc de Beauvilliers, who
remained at the pillow by the side of his pupil, with the
Duchesse de Lode on the other side. Monseigneur
stopped a quarter of an hour talking with the newlyniarried
couple, then he made his son get up, after having told him
to kiss the Princesse, in spite of the opposition of the
Duchesse de Lude. As it proved, too, her opposition was
not wrong. The King sand he did not wish that his grand•
son should kiss the end of the Princesse's finger until they
were completely on the footing of man and wife. Monsieur
le Duc de Bourgogne after this redressed himself in the
antechamber, and went to his own bed as usual. The
little Due de Berry, spirited and resolute, did not approve
of the docility of his brother, and declared that he would
have remained in bed.

Court ceremonies have changed much since
those days. Our shores will soon be visited
by a Russian Prince, and we are amused with
reading in these volumes of the eccentricity of
Peter the Great. St. Simon writes:—

The Czar, Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, had at
this time already commenced his voyages; he was in
Holland, learning siiip•building. Although incognito, he
wished to be recognised, but after his own fashion ; and
was annoyed that, being so near to England, no embassy
,was sent to him from that country, which he wished to ally
himself with for commercial reasons.

At last an embassy arrived ; he delayed for some time
to give it an audience, but in the end fixed the day and
hour at which he would see it. The reception, however,
was to take place on board a large Dutch vessel that he was
going to examine. There were two ambassadors ; they
thonght the meeting-place rather an odd one, but were
obliged to go there. WLen they arrived on board, the
Cur gent word that lie was in the " top," and that it was
there be would see Urn. The ambassadors, whose feet

507

to rope•ladders,!ried to eseu4e them-

selves from mounting; but it was all in vain. The Czar
would receive them in the " top " or not at all. At last
they were complied to ascend, and the meeting took place
on that narrow place high up in the air. The Czar re-
ceived them there with as much majesty as though he had
been upon his throne, listened to their harangue, replied
very graciously, and then laughed at the fear painted upon
their faces, and good-humouredly gave them to understand
that he had punished then' thus fur arriving so late.

St. Simon is not a picturesque writer. The
glitter and bizarre effects of Court life are not
brilliantly described, but hero and there ho
gives us some close, sharp, and various sketches
of it. Thus, when the Due de Chartres was to
be married, an " apartment " was held by the
Court, of which we get the following p►c-
ture :

That evening an " Apartment " was held at the palace,
as was customary three times a week during the winter ;
the other three evenings being set apart for comedy, and the
Sunday being free. An Apartment, as it was called, was
an assemblage of all the Court in the grand saloon, from
seven o'clock in the evening until ten, when the King sat
down to table; and, after ten, in one of the saloons at the
end of the grand gallery towards the tribune of the chapel.
In the first place there was some music : then tables were
!laced all about for all kinds of gambling; there was a
lansquenet, at which Monsieur and Monseigneur always
played ; also a billiard-table: in a word, every one was free
to play with every oue, and allowed to ask for fresh tables
it' all the others were occupied. Beyond the billiards was
a refreshment-room. All was perfectly lighted. At the
outset the King went to the "apartments " very often and
played, but lately he had ceased to do so. He spent the
evening with Madame de Msintenon, working with dif-
ferent Ministers one after the other. But still he wished
his courtiers to attend assiduously.

This evening, directly after the music had finished, the
King sent fur Monseigneur and Monsieur, who were
already playing at lansquena ; Madame, who scarcely
looked at a party of hombre at which she had seated herself ;
the Due de Chartres, who, with a rueful visage, was play-
ing at chess; and Mademoiselle 41e Blois, who had scarcely
begun to appear in society, but who this evening was ex-
traordinarily decked out, and who, as yet, knew nothing
and suspected nothing ; and therefore, being naturally
very timid, and horribly afraid of the King, believed her-
self sent for in order to be reprimanded, and trembled so
that Madame de Maintenon took her upon her knees,
where she held her, but was scarcely able to reassure her.
The fact of these royal persons being sent for by the King,
at once made people think that a marriage was in contem-
plation. In a few minutes they returned, and then the
announcement was made public. I arrived at that mo-
ment. I found everybody in clusters, and great astonish-
ment expressed upon every face. Madame was walking
in the gallery with Chiltranthiers—her favourite, and
worthy of being so. She took lung strides, her handker-
chief in her hand, weeping without constraint, speaking
pretty loudly, gesticulating, and looking like Ceres after
the rape of her daughter Pmserpine, seeking her in fury,
and demanding her back from Jupiter. Every one re-
spectfully made way to let her pass. Monsieur, who had
returned to lansquenel, seemed overwhelmed with shame,
and his son appeared in despair; and the bride elect was
marvellously embarrassed and sal. Though very young,
and likely to be dazzled by such a marriage, she under-
stood what was passing, and feared the consequences.
The accounts of battles arc r.ot well executed
by St. Simon. His pen wanted force and
poetry required for such writing ; but there is
great fairness in many of his descriptions, and
a desire to avoid exaggeration. It is difficult
for a Frenchman to write an account of the
Battle of Blenheim, or Hochstedt. St. Simon
thus narrates the first defects of Tallard's
strategy :

The Elector of Bavaria had joined his forces to ours,
and had already done us some service. On the 12th of
August he led his men into the plain of Hochstedt, where,
during the previous year, he had gained a victory over the
Imperialists. In this plain he was joined by our troops,
who took up positions right and left of him, under the
command of Tallard and Marsin. The Elector himself
had command of all. Soon after their arrival at Hochstedt,
they received intelligence that Prince Eugene, with the
Imperialist forces, and the Duke of Marlborough with the
English, were coming to meet them. Our generals had,
however, all the day before them to choose their ground,
and to make their dispositions. I c would have been diffi-
cult to succeed worse, both with the one and the other. A.
brook, by no means of a miry kind, ran parallel to our
army, snd in front of it a spring, which formed a long
and large quagmire, nearly separated the two lines of
Marshal Tallard. It was a strange situation for a general
to take up who is master of a vast plain, and it became, as
will be seen, a very sad one.

He is thoroughly just to Marlborough, and w•o
hope that passages like the following will not
be overlooked by those who seem anxious to
vilify that great man :

The number of prisoners that fell to the enemy in this
battle was infinite. The Duke of Marlborough took charge
of the most distinguished, until he could carry them away
to England to grace his triumph there. He treated then►
all, even the humblest, with the utmost attention, consi-
deration, and politeness, and with a inodesty that did him
even more honour than his victory. Those that came under
the charge of Prince Louis of Haden were much less kindly
treated.

508

Here we will pause, but on a future day
we may return to these interesting volumes
for some further specimens of St. Simon.

Tom Brown's School Days. By an Old Boy.
Cambridge : Macmillan.
THIS spirited volume is a highly natural de-
scription of school life at Rugby, under the late
Dr. Arnold. The author is an enthusiastic ad-
vocate of what is known as the " Public-school
system "—of the power of the sixth form, of
fagging, fighting, and foot-ball. He says, and
we believe with great truth, that the best pre-
vention of bullying is to be found in the
system of fagging. The master of a fag is
not obliged to bully, for he can got all he
wants without it, and he is at the same time
invested with authority to check bullying in
others. Little boys are not now obliged to
perform any very sordid or menial offices, and
as a rule, we believe, would always be found in
favour of the authority of the seniors. The
enemies to the system are the big dunces,
who bully covertly, and are ashamed of
being compelled to succumb to their physical
inferiors. But these, without some such cheek,
would be the curses of every large school.
Perhaps it is the upper boys themselves to
whom the system is in reality the most danger-
ous. It doubtless has a tendency to give
them somewhat elevated notions of their own
importance. But this is largely compen-
sated for by the advantages arising from
the early exercise of responsibility; and a
little experience in the world very soon rubs
off the crust of self-complacency. On the
subject of fighting let the " Old Boy" sneak
for himself:—
And now, boys all, three words before we quit the sub-
ject. I have put in this chapter on fighting of malice
prepense, partly because I want to give you a true picture
of what everyday school life was in my time, and not a kid-
glove and go to-meeting•coat picture ; and partly becaase
of the cant and twaddle that's talked of boxing and light-
ing with fists now-a-days. Even Thackeray has given in
to it; and only a few weeks ago there was some rampant
stuff in the Times on the subject, in an article on field
sports.
Boys will quarrel, and when they quarrel will sometimes
fight. Fighting with fists is the natural and English way
for English boys to settle their quarrels. What substitute
for it is there, or ever was there, amongst any nation under
the sun ? What would you like to see take its place ?
Learn to box then, as you learn to play cricket and foot-
ball. Not one of you will be the worse, but very much the
better for learning to box well. Should you never have to
use it in earnest, there's no exercise in the world so good
for the temper, and for the muscles of the back and legs.
As to fighting, keep out of it if you can, by all means.
When the time comes, if it ever shculd, that you have to
say " Yes" or " No " to a challenge to fight, say "No " it
you can,—only take care you make it clear to yourselves
why you say " No." It's a proof of the highest courage, if
done from true Christian motives. It's quite right and
justifiable, if done from a simple aversion to physical pain
and danger. But don't say " No" because you fear a
licking, and say or think it's because you fear God, for that's
neither Christian nor honest. And if you do fight, fight it
out; and don't give in while you can stand and see.
Fighting, we fear, is a necessary evil. To
prevent boys from fighting would require
such an amount of surveillance as would
rob them of all self-reliance, and turn them
out into the world with passions and vices
smothered instead of conquered. In the
next place, if boys do not box, for one that
is actuated by "true Christian motives" or
genuine refinement of feeling, it is to be feared
five hundred will be moved by cowardice, or
dislike of pain. In this manner a nremium
would be offered on effeminacy, and boys grow
up with that love of self indulgence and ten-
dency to sneer at all voluntary self-sacrifice
which the greatest admirer of the nineteenth
century must acknowledge to be even now too
prevalent. We are aware, however, that this
plea can be pushed too far ; yet we cannot for-
get Dr. Johnson's argument about the advan-
tage of a man's being accustomed to the sight
of his own blood.,
School life in general is described in these
pages with vast liveliness and truth ; the
feelings of boys are thoroughly understood,
and the way to win their confidence ably
pointed out ; nor are graver topics wanting.
The fever in the school, and various conversa-
tions among the boys themselves, arc made
vehicles for exhibiting schoolboys in their
more serious and impressible moments. Hero
we think the author just hits the proper
medium. Few writers succeed in depicting
tho religious emotions of the young. They