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

LITERATURE.

Women in France durin;the E;ghteentit century.
By Julia Kavanagh, author of " Madeleine," Ike.
One Vol. Pp. 491. Smith, Elder, and Co.
Few sensational novels ace 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 most 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 as patronesses of the fine arts, the State as
favourites and advisers of kings. They gave the
tone to feeling, philosophy, and thought.
caprice made wars, and signed treaties of peace.
They hastened the fall of a monarchy and the out-
break of the greatest revolutfon 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 from
the sprightly Duchess° du 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 Roi" 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 Cellamare conspiracy, valuta-
tuoue Madame de la Yerrue, and intriguing Madame de
Tencin, reappear before us with the profligate days of the
regency : they add to its deep corruption : whilst chastened
by penitence, sorrowful Mademoiselle Aisse 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 Popelinire, 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 Deffand, selfish, caustic, and ennuyee ; and impassioned
Madlle. Lespinasse, with so much that is generous and true
in her erring nature, rule society under Louis X.V. 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 Antoinette,
the gay and imprudent queen, the clever and supple Mdme.
de Geniis, Md me, 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 au
active part. She rules patties, defends a monarchy with
Marie Antoinette, or founds a republic with Madame
'Roland. We behold her avenging outraged humanity
Under the form of Charlotte Corday ; teaching men how to
suffer and die in every prison and on every scaffold ; over-
throwing the whole fabric of tyranny with the generous
Madame Tallien, and defending the freedom of thought
'with the gifted daughter of Necker.
To this attractivaanalysis of the subject of her new
work, we need only eppend a word of commenda-
tion as to the very felicitous manner in which the
subject has been treated by the eloquent biographer
of " Madeleine."

Their

The Application of Prophecy to the Crimean War,
By G. H. Hildebrand. One Vol., pp. 522. JAs.
Blackwood.
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. Ono Vol.,
pp. 332. Nimmo.
'• Who ever heard of a contented player," asks
Peter Paterson, and then answers his interrogative
in the negative. "Such a character," ho adds,
" would indeed be a rara avis. The very principle
which gives votaries to the stage repels all content."
As a matter of course, then, Peter Paterson's own
histrionic experiences are neither successful nor
satisfactory ; but, to make amends, his mis-
cellaneous adventures and vicissitudes are 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 are taken
to a hall 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.