The Sun.
London, England, 1836-01-08 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Is AND THE PAR I:1 Nn IN 1835, 2 VoL4,

. _
- Bentley; itstOhi, 1835.
Mrs. Trollope,thOusli one of the mast
uriters of the dav-,-generally illn/.jllB her appearance
once or twice a year as ,a novelist or atraveller—is by
'HO means remarkable for her soundness or profundity
of obP,ervation. She is fond of sacrificing truth to
effret, as in her well-known work on America, which
'as full of 'broad, reckless ccricatute, and seemed to
be written with no other view than to raise a laugh
against Brother Jonathan. This, however, it was, that
formed its chief recommendation in the eves of the
Quarterly Review—a journal which, WC regret to
state, has not yet got over its old transatlantic pre-
judices—and it was in consequence. of the favourable
manner in which her talents were regarded by this
periodical, that Mrs. Trollope has been enabled to
take a tolerably high stand as an authoress. But her
present work will scarcely sustain her reputation. In
many places it is as much a novel as her " Tremordyn
Cliff," and, througholit, seldom or never pierces below
the surface in its estimation of Parisian character.
Yet, though we do not rate its intellectual power very
highly, it is impossible to deny it the praise of being .
an amusing book. Though Mrs. Trollope occasion-
ally dogmatizes, yet her dogmatism is not offensive
from any pompous air of superiority she assumes. The
tvorst we can, .say of it isv that it is- specious and flip-
Pant, and thrown off with an air of utter indif-
ference). so. that 'the reader may pin his faith on it
or not, just as he pleases. It will be seen from the
ohjoined extract that Mrs. Trollope is no admirer of
the " Glorious Three Days," which, she says in her
usual quiet sarcastic manner, have given the Parisians
1.1.0 other privilege than that of " presenting themselves
(tiny, ;
instead of clean, before the eyes of their mag-
nates".
•---,
tis4b. L:" the present moment, however, some of the rub-
,;" !Jlt the commotion of " the Ordonnances' stirred up
4,511 be seen floating about
in what
surface ; and. it is
'cult to observe without a smile what chiefly consists
1:0 liberty which these immortals have so valiantly bled to
4equire. We may truly say of the philosophical popula-
tion of Paris, that " they are thankful for small matters ;'
one of the most remarkable of their newly-acquired rights
Ping certainly the privilege of presenting themselves
wrtY. instead of clean, before the eyes of their magnates.
" I am sure you must remember in days of yore,that
a to say, before the last Revolution—how very agreeable
part of the spectacle at the Louvre and in the Tuileries
Gardens 'was. constituted by the people—not the ladies and
look pretty much the same everywhere ;
but the
, careful coquetry of the pretty costumes? now a
c"*loise, and now a toque—the spruce neatness of the
men *he attended them,—nay, even by the tight and tidy
trimness of the wee things' that in long waist, silk apron,
and
th snow-white cap, and faultless chaussure, trotted beside
'am All these added greatly to the pleasantness and
gaiety of the scene, But now, till the fresh dirt. (not the
fresh
gloss) of the Th. ree Days' labour be worn off,'dingy
jackets, uncomely easquetles, ragged blouses, and ill-favoured
round-eared caps, that look as if they did duty night "and
day, must all be tolerated ; and in this toleration appears
te consist at present the principal external proof of the
In creased liberty of the Parisian mob."
Mrs. Trollope gives a moderate tribute of praise to
the pacific policy of Louis Philippe, of whose saga-
city, however, she has doubts, because, forsooth, he
laughs like one of the greatest men of the 18th century,
Frederick the Second of Prussia, " at treasonable ca-
ricatures and seditious pleasantries of all sorts'!" This
" doubt" gives us no very elevated idea of Mrs. Trol-
lope's sagacity. Of Victor Hugo's productions, which
she discusses at some length in a chapter expressly de-
voted to the subject, she speaks in terms of marked
reprobation. Some of her observations on this bead
are deserving of attention; but, generally speaking,
they are too severe and l'..arneasured in their tone. The
volunes are embellished with a variety of engravings,
Nvhich*add greatly to, their attractions.

LIFE of PRINCE TALLEYRAND. Vols. 111. and IV.
The Life. London : Churton, 1836.
of Talleyrand is yet to be written. These
volumes, interesting as they undoubtedly are, convey
but a very faint impression of the real character, and a
still fainter idea of the social habits, of the ex-BiShop of
Autun. The author is too much of a politician, and
too little of an agreeable gossip, to write lives of such
men as the Prince of Benevento, in the only way in
-which the world would like to read them. Hetella us
that he studied diplomacy under Talleyrand, and that,
In fact, he belonged to the Foreign-office during the
Consulship ; but though this may inspire confidence in
such statements as regard official questions not yet
sufficiently authenticated, it by no means proves that
he possesses those talents absolutely necessary to the
productiOn of interesting biographical memoirs. He
has betides several positive faults, which in themselves
amount almost to a disqualification. One of these is
tlye constant introduction of himself, standing on tip-
toe, between the reader and the great diplomatist, as if
lie wished for a time to overshadow the celebrated hero
of his work. Thus, at the opening of every chapter,
we are almost sure to find him prepared to apprise us
that he is going to relate somethi:og startling ; and
-what is more, that the story when told shall be true I
Then there is the anticipations of a thousand critical
attacks on his statements% followed by tens of thou-
sands of, assurances tl,lat the writer does not care a
single sous for all the~ critics in the world. Besides the
singular number is never used to denote the writer ;
and though he is constantly obtrudinn• himself on our
notice, he does not relate a single anecdote showing
that Talleyrand ever held a personal conference, or
took part in a conversation with him. All this shows
a great want of true delicacy; a great deficiency in the
tact of writing the biography of a man still living ; and
by implication, a want of the faculty of representing
With fidelity a picture of the mind Aud imuners of the
prince tie Talleyraml, The writer, moreover, betrays
a number of prejtlilace-3, without which his. work would
have been equally perfect, and quite•as,valuable. The
Worst epithets apr)ear to him too good to apply to
England ; and w:lien be gets into the camps of the
First Consul and the Emperor, or takes his place at the
European Dauncil Board, it requires the reader to have
a,g°°d sto'4l.; of patience to await his re-appearance at
the uffici'al or private residence of Prince Talleyrand.
This, 'work is, however, of the greatest importance as
a key "to the diplomatic history of the Consular and
hape.rial Governments' of Napoleon. It is, moreover,
the
only historical record in which we have a correct
representation of the state of public feeling among all
"'classes in Paris during these memorable and eventful
periods. Neither is it deficient as an apology for
many of the crimes and errors imputed to Talleyrand
by his enemies, nor as a depository of his witticisms ;
but while the Minister and the Courtier is exhibited at
fultlen
gth it rarely occurs that we catch so much as a
glimpse of the
man. To be brief, it is rather a sum-
nrry•
the h
i
story of the Consulate and the Empire,
t ,an the. hie of
an individual who certainly exercised
great in. fluenee over the affaits of France during the
brief period of her Consular and Imperial glory.
.
There . in truth, but one person in Europe capa-
ble of writing tin, memoirs of Tallevrand, and that
person is—himself. Profound, penetrating,
sagacious,
fond of mystification, witty, shrewd, frivolous, and li-
bidinous---a 'stickler for rank, a stockjobber, a gam-
blerdiplomatist b
for power, a y nature, and a rake by
constitution—only in earnest when most in jest, and
never earliest when seeming most serious_Tallevrand
presented too many phases to be observed, much less
understood by any person save himself. With him.
there was no outpourings of the heart—no moments of
involuntary weakness when the man is disclosed, naked