The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-10 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 10, 1853.

LITERATURE.

Priest. Life and Public Cela:aities ; or, the Early Life of
Alexandrine des Echerolles. From the French.
Bentley.
The story of this book is that of a young lady, the
daughter of a French noble, whose youth fell upon
the times of the first French revolution. The storm
scattered abroad the family u it did hundreds of
others—whirling away the members of it like birds
from a blown-up nest—some abroad, some to prison,
some to the guillotine. and all to one form of wretch
edness or another. Alexandrine, the heroine of these
pages, shared the lot of her miserable relations in
France—their penury, trials, and flights—till at last
she obtained a situation in a royal family. The book
is addressed to a niece, on whose mind she wishes to
impress the moral of her life ; and now, as many
readers as may be inclined, are invited to ponder
upon it.
Of course everybody is prepared for the " viiw "
which a " Des Echerollee with such a history will
talk of the French Revolution. You expect at once
the impression which it is intended to make. And
truly it is natural enough that the tone should he sin-
gularly plaintive and querulous. Let the English
reader fancy such a destiny his own, and picture to
himself or herself some such series of mishaps as
this—

He has been born to a snug family estate of some
thousands a year—the fag-end of a batch of church
lands which a minion of Harry the Eighth's sold to
his ancestor. His race have always "lived on their
land "—intermarrying with the neighbouring aris-
tocracv—subscribing to the fox houuda—providing
for thit younger sons in the army and the church—
and departing (well satisfied with the British consti-
tution) to the family vault, leaving execrable por-
traits of themselves in the gallery ! They are so asso-
ciated with their acre:, that the soil seems part and
parcel of their vety blood, and as if it were the pecu-
liar earth of which their bodies are made. Well,
after some dark and terrible rumours and agitations
from the capital,which have spread and been imitated
in the county town, the storm bursts: Swigville is
confiscated! The Swigvilles run off with whatever
personal property they can seize, and any one of
them found in the neighbourhood is carried off by a
tailor's apprentice and an apothecary's boy to the
" Tribunal" sitting (and not always sober) in
that town, where once every hat was
touched as he went by, and where the tailor
escorted old Mr. Swigville to his carriage door
bowing like a mandarin, and promising him his new
buckskins in forty-eight hours. The "tribunal"
finds him generally guilty of being an "aristocrat,"
and off he goes to gaol—whence he emerges to be
beheaded in company with another "proprietor,"
whom ho last sat with on the bench, where they
sentenced one of the " Tribunal" to imprisoment for
pinning a hare. In the meanwhile, Swigville is the
scene of the revels of the whole tag•rag of the
neighbourhood, who are drinking punch nut of the
race cups of the previous generation. Fancy an
account of a movement, attended by circumstances
like this, written by a junior Swigville who escaped.
The " Des Echerolles" writes accordingly of the
Revolution—not as of a great movement, attended
with excesses ever to be deplored, yet still a fact in
modern history which must be taken as a necessary
stepping stone to the future—no, but, as an affair
entirely condemnable, and to be looked back on u a
crime altogether. The story must, therefore, be taken
as written from a peculiar and personal point
of view. Doubtless, her narrative is true, and
her sentiment natural ; but of coarse, the
reader will remember that tho whole story is not
hero, and that there are innumerable phenomena in
the French revolution, of which he will find here no
explanation. With this reservation in mind, let him
read the book and be thankful for what is of value
in it. It did so happen that the mighty change
of European affairs which had become inevitable by
A.D. 1789, caused an immense deal of matter to be
regretted in the course of its proceedinee, and occa
sioned much suffering to harmless individuals. It is
the way of revolutions, and has been so since the be-
ginning. When the ancestors of the French nobles
(including, we presume, the ancestors of Alexandrine
des Echerolles) first established themselves in France
there were many terrible things done! Had we but
the memoirs of some poor young lady of a Gallo-
Roman family of the days of Clovis, what stories
should we hear!

We do not know that this book adds much to our
general knowledge of the revolutionary proceedings
of the period. It is bat one testimony more to the
general story. But it is sltisfactory so far, in giving
us more instances of the fine way in which some of
those who suffered bore their fate. We find in these
pages instances of sufferings borne with a Stoicism
tempered by French gaiety which may serve as an
example to people everywhere. The tone is sad
enough generally, and this is the best aspect of the
work, which shows how virtues unexpectedly dis-
played themselves in those who, but for the trial,
must have passed through life frivolous and unpro-
fitable. Our autobiographer narrates clearly and
sadly—a tinge of piety colouring the reflection of a
perplexed and troubled mind. Her book reads like
the story of some recluse, turned out into the world
unwillingly, and moving about with high impulses,
but little clearness of discernment among its
troublous ways.

FINE ARTS.