The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Louis X I'M Iles Life, his S.tferitsy, Ais 1).&e The
rompeasiss of fAs licerwl Fends in eles Temp.... By A
bs bliatultallan Translated and Edited by W. Me
tier, E.g. Vivtelly sail Co.
M. de Beaucheene has consecrated a large portion
of his life to the endeavour to pierce through the
cloud in which the miserable life of the son of Louis
XVI. is enveloped. The slightest incident that
maws before him, with the guarantee of an eye-
witness, or of other unimpeachable reporters, be
garners up and reproduces with the fidelity of a
devotee writing the life of a saint. There is a chance
that narrations of this kind may fail to produce their
intended effect upon the mind of the reader, from
the fact ot their bring pitched in too high a key. A
story told by an admirer in tile seventh heaven of
enthusiasm often falls rather flatly_ upon the tars of
an audience nut equally earliest. M.& Beam:home s
narrative is of this dare. It is a laboured
eulugium on the virtues of Louis XVI. and his
family, interspersed with tierce invective against the
authors and conductors of the revolution. This is to
be regretted, as the same task has been undertaken
too many times already, and the indiscriminate
abuse heaped upon the revolu'ionists has had the
effect of excitin4 a sympathy in their favour. A
simple statement of the facts connected with the
lutetium treatment of the son of Louis XVI. would
bare been fir mire touching than the ambitious nar-
rative of M. de liesuchesne. It would also have
spared us the tirst volume, which contains little that
is new, except the intense heroics of the author,
and the style which is not very easy to be appre-
ciated by English readers. When, for example, we
are told that " The sacrifice of Louis XVI. cow.
rnenced on the 2dth June ; on that day the Christ
of royalty took the painful path on which he
clearly saw his Calvary ;" the feelings with
which wo listen to this bombast are not likely
to produce a resuit very favourable to the authors
popularity. In spite, however, of these objections,
M. de Beauchesne a book has many claims to the
attention of the reader. He is honest and enthu-
siastic, and if • clever Frenchman does not write
exactly after the manner of an Englishman, we
may criticise the difference of language, but can-
not very well complain of it. The second volume is
remarkably interesting, containing, as it does, •
greater number of documents concerning the Daopiin
than have ever been collected, and bringing forward
much new matter. We cin scarcely wonder at the
elevation of the author'. indignation in describing
the crimes of the republican government against
their unfortunate Prisoner. The slow mur-
der of the son of Louis XVI. is one of
the most fearful crimes of the Revolution. The
execution of the King and Queen may be
accounted for upon other motives than those excited
by mere brutalit3 . It is not easy to reply to the
arguments made use of by those who assert that the
two executions alluded to were the natural effects of
a power entrusted to the hands of a populace irritated
to madness by the consciousness that they had been
the traditionary victims of a tyranny of • thousand
years, and goaded on by the daily efforts of an elo-
quence to which nothing in the French language
affords a parallel. But the terrible murder of the
young king, by daily insult, torture, and privet ion, car-
tied over a lung space of time, is a deep disgrace to
the government.
The true history of the miseries of the son of Louis
XVI. begins in the second volume of the work before
us, where he is separated from his mother. The re-
volutionary government, alarmed at the proclama-
tion by the emigrants of Louis XVII. as King, de-
termined to subject the young prisoner to a more
rigid surveillance, and withdrew him from the guar-
dianship of Marie Antoinette. He was entrusted to
the are of Simon, a ci decant cobbler :

, .
LOUIS 'TICS 1111.4 T INTRODUCTION TO RIS GAOL'S..
It was half-past ten o'clock at night when Simon's future
pupil was brought to him. It will be readily comprehended
what poignant recollections must have been recalled to the
young prince's mind, by the apartment when he badmen
his father for the last time. It has not been given to us to
know how that first night passed, nor by what scenes the
frightful struggle between the child and his destroyer be-
gan. We only know that the child wept long, that he re-
mained for hours seated on a chair in the darkest corner of
the room, and that Simon had great difficulty in gaining a
Ssw brief answers to the questions that be inspert, Italy put
tottion, swearing and smoking his pipe as he spoke.

LOUIS VIILST 'MUSLIM. I.OkPOKAL PUNISHMIINT.
Still, to show that he was inv. seed with both attributes of
n master—the power to pun ah and the power to reward—
Simon, in a moment of generosity, or becamee he deemed
it his interest to do so, mode his pupil • ',resew of a Jews*-
harp, which is a favourite instrument with the little Savo-
yard.. " Your she wolf of a moiler and bitch of an aunt
play on the piano." said he, " and you must acvmpany
them on the Jews'•barp. What a line row that will make !"
The child felt that there was a mockery in the gift, and he
would not mingle insult with his amusements; he pushed
the Jews' harp aside, and declared that he would not play
upon it. This refusal was considered as at once an act of
rebellion and ingratitnde, which aroused the wrath of
Simon, and drew dogs on the descendant of Louis SIY.
the first blows be had ever received.