The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Women in France during the Eighteenth Century.
By Julia Kavanagh, author of " Madeleine," &c.
One Vol. Pp. 491. Smith, Eider, and Co.
Few sensational novels are crowded with such
startling vicissitudes, or adorned with heroines so
various and remarkable as Miss Kavanagh has here
collected in these brilliant pages—records of that
Truth which is " stranger than Fiction." During
the last century, in France, "a series of moat re-
markable women," says Miss Kavanagh, "exercised
a power so extensive, and yet so complete, as to be
unparalleled in the history of their sex," "They
ruled society as women of the world, the empire of
letters es patronesses of the fine arts, the State as
favourites and advisers of kings. They gave the
tone to feeling, philosophy, and thought. Their
caprice made wars, and signed treaties of peace.
They hastened rte fall of a monarchy and the out-
break of the greatest revolution of modern
times. They could attempt to check or direct
that revolution in its rapid or fearful
course; they shared to its fullest extent its
errors, its crimes, and its heroic virtues."
Startling contrasts, indeed, are the heroines of these
pages—from the brilliant court beauties who adorned
the salons of the Regency, to the courageous victims
of the fearful " deluge" of which those gay scenes
were the prelude. Here we listen to sarcasms frooa
the sprightly Duchesse da Maine, and there we
admire the heroic devotion of Madame Elizabeth.
In one page we find Madame du Deffand lamenting,
as her friend caresses a child, that she herself " never
could love anything!" And in others we hear frantic
cries of " Viva le Itoi" from the wives of condemned
Royalists, anxious, by that exclamation, to earn
death with their husbands. At the close of her very
interesting and elaborate task, Miss Kavanagh takes
the following vivid retrospect of her labours :
Madame du Maine and the Callatnare conspiracy, volup-
tuous Madame de la Verrue, and intriguing Madame do
Tencin, reappear before us with the profligate days of the
regency : they add to its deep corruption : whilst chastened
by penitence, sorrowful Mademoiselle Alsi,e dies, silently
asserting, though she knows it not, the undying strength
of woman's faith and purity. The name of learned Madame
du Chatelet remains associated with that of Voltaire and
his cold philosophy. Madame de la Popeliniere, graceful
and elegant as she is, is only the protectress of that degraded
art which suits a degraded age, when four sisters became
the mistresses of a king. The haughty favourite, Madame
de Pompadour, has no power beyond that political power
she wrings from her lover. The philosophic Madame
d'Epinay ; the good-natured Madame Geoffrin ; Madame
du Defraud, selfish, caustic, and ennuyee ; and impassioned
Meddle. Lespinasse, with so much that is generous and true
in her erring nature, rule society under Louis XV. The
abandoned old king dies; Louis XVI., young, pure, and
weak, ascends the throne to reap the thorns his grandfather
has sown. Women still govern society : Marie Awoinette,
the gay and imprudent queen, the clever and supple Mdme.
de Geniis, Mdme, Necker, sedate and grave, have their day.
But this empty world is passing fast away. The storm which
has gathered through centuries breaks forth. In that new
contest destined to ruin her power, woman still takes an
active part. She rules pat ths, defends a monarchy with
Marie Antoinette, or founds a republic with Madame
Roland. We behold her avenging outraged humanity
under the form or Charlotte Corday ; teaching wen how to
suffer and dig in every prison and on every scaffold ; over-
throwing the whole fabric of tyranny wi:h the generous
Madame Tallien, and defending the freedom of thought
with the ghted daughter of Necker.
To this attrective analysis of the subject of her new
work, we need only append a word of commends.-
Lion as to the very felicitous manner in which the
subject has been treated by the eloquent biographer
of " Madeleine."

The Application of Prophecy to the Crimean War.
By O. H. Hildebrand. One Vol., pp. 522. Jas.
Blackwond.
The author tells us in his preface that " the
manuscript of this work was never meant to meet
the public eye ;" and it is much to be regretted that
his first intention was not adhered to.

Glimpses of Real Life, as Seen in the Theatrical
World and in Bohemia : being the Confessions of
Peter Paterson, a Strolling Comedian. 0 aeVol.,

PP. 352. Nimmo.

" Who ever heard of a contented player," ask
Peter Paterson, and then answers his interrogative
in the negative. "Such a character," be adds,
" would indeed be a rara axis. The very principle
which gives votaries to the stage repels ail content."
As a mater of course, then, Peter Paterson's own
histrionic experiences Lira neither successful nor
satisfactory ; but, to make amends, his mis•
cellaneous adventures and vicissitudes aro suffi-
ciently entertaining, and his critical remarks and
anecdotal reminiscences are exceedingly amusing.
These reminiscences are not wholly theatrical : he
introduces us also to the social Bohemians of high
and low degree—that is, according to a French
definition, Bohemians whose existence is a problem,
their condition and fortune an enigma, having no
resting-place, who are never to be found and yet
are to be seen everywhere. Their empire,
however, is divided—there is among them a
St. Giles's and a St. James's. We aro taken
to a hail in the latter precincts at the
house of a lord who but for his coronet would be
in the Queen's Bench—a magnificent house for
"somehow the houses of the Bohemian nobles are
grander and more luxurious than those of quieter
people." Mr. Peter Paterson's observations are
occasionally shrewd and telling, and his memorials
may serve to wile away an idle hour.

Sidney Herbert's Son,

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Henry, ninth Earl of Pembroke and sixth Earl of
Montgomery, elder brother of the ancestor of the
Earls of Carnarvon, was appointed a Lord of the
Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales on the acces.
sion of George 1., and was re-appointed by the
Prince on his accession as George 11. He was
afterwards Groom of the Sole to the latter King,
rose in the army to the rank of LieutenanteGentral,
and acted several times as one of the Lards Justices
duriog the Royal absences from England. He
was particularly noted for his taste for the fine
arts, especially architecture. Not only Wilton,
bat several seats of his friends, had the benefit of
his favourite pursuit, and be took great pleasure in
watching over the construction of Westminster-
bridge. He died very suddenly January 9, 1751,
and was succeeded by hie son Henry, tenth E of
Pembroke, and seventh Earl of Montgomery, who
was in his minority. He returned from his travels in
1755, and held some appointments in thearmy. Next
year he was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Wilt-
shire, and a Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince
of Wales, afterwards George 111., and continued in
this office for some time after the commencement of
the new reign. Hs became a General in the army,
and was High Steward of SalisbUry. He died
January 26, 1791, and was succeeded as eleventh
Earl of Pembroke and eighth of Montgomery by his
only son George Augustus, who also became a Lieu-
tenant• General in the army, and went, May, 1807,
on a special embassy to Vienna. He was also
Governor of Guernsey, High Steward of Salisbury,
and a Knight of the Garter, besides the almost
hereditary office of Lord-Lieutenant of Wilt-
shire. He was appointed Vice-Chamberlain of
the Household in 1784 under Pitt'a
minis-
try, and retained this office ti!! 1794.
the French
While Lora
Herbert he had served in the war s.7Revolution, being in command of the English force
attached to tae Prussian army on the French hen
tier. He greatly improved the rent-roll of his
estates, which at hi 4 accesstou to the title Were cati-
meted at £35,000 a-year, but at his death, Get. 26,
1827, having laid out £200,000 on them, they were
estimated at nearly treble that sum. Ho Was twice
married, first to a daughter of 'Popham Beauelork,
and secondly, to t::.ztherine, daughte): of Count Worm).
zew, Itussi,,n Ambassador in this ecuntrv. By the
first marriage he had cue sun, Robert Henry, who
succeeded as tavelith Earl of Pembroke and ninth
Earl of Montgomery, and to whom he left a legacj
of £lO,OOO. The bulk of his very large disposable
property Earl George bequeathed to his son Sidney
by his second marriage, well known as the late
Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, and created Lord Her-
bert of Lea, 13th January, 1861. The twelfth
Earl, Who resit..!ed itt Paris, leaving Wilton to the
occupation of his brother, died April 25, 1862, and
was succeeded by his nephew, George Robert
Charles, thirteenth and present Eerl of Pembroke
arid tenth Eerl of Montgomery, son of Sidney, Lord
Herbert of Lea (who died 2d August, 1861), a lad
of fourteen years of age, who, if ho reaches man's
estate, will in 1871 find himself ono of the very
grtateat of English nobles.— Spectator.