The Sun.
London, England, 1836-01-07 00:00:00

mated andiapid,expressions discovered and enlightened
his subject, and flashed conviction on his auditors. If
opposed again, he returned to the charge still. more
forcibly and more clear, and displayed the truth in
images either striking or terrible. If the situation of
affairs were difficult, and the minds of all wearied by a
long discussion, or intimidated by danger, some electric
expression, or decisive sentence, would escape from
him, his countenance, at such moments, becoming
terrible, from the combined expression of ugliness and
genius ; and the assembly, enlightened or confirmed in
their opinions, passed wise laws, and entered into
.vigorous resolutions.
" Proud of his great qualities, and making vice his
amusement ; alternately haughty, or courteous and
flattering, he seduced some, intimidated others by his
boldness and irony, and brought all into his train by a
guitar power of fascination. His party was every-
whereamong the people, in the assembly, in the
court itself, and in all those to whom he addressed
himself at the moment. Mixing familiarly with all
men, and just when it was expedient, he applauded the
rising talents of Barnave, although he did not like his
young-friends; he appreciated the profound genius of-
Sieyes, and flattered his eccentric temper; he feared
.
the.. purity 'of Lafayette's life; and he detested in
Necker an extreme severity of principle, a pride of
reasoning, and the pretension of governing a revolu-
tion, which he knew was a .part that belonged to him-
self. The Duke of Orleans; and his vague ambition,
but little suited him ; and they had never a ,Common

interest. Thus singly, and without any support but
from his own genius, he attacked despotism, which he
had sworn to destroy. Yet, if he was an enemy to the
vanities of monarchy, he was no less so to the ostra-
cism of republics; but not being yet sufficiently
avenged on the great, and on power, he still continued
his. hostilities. In addition to this, being harrassed by
.poverty, and discontented with the present, he pushed
forward to an unknown future, and made everything

supposable from . his talents, his ambition, his vices,
and the bad state of his fortune ; and authorized, by
the impudence of his discourses, every suspicion and
calumny."
Such was Mirabeau at the commencement of the
French revolution. Thiers, than whom few historians
are more to be depended upon, throws considerable
light on his public character about this period ; and
while he acknowledges that the Deputy of Aix was in
communion with the Court, and even owed' his sup-
port to the private liberality of the King, he produces
proofs in abundance of the integrity with which he ad-
hered to the constitutional principles of the Assembly.
The particulars of his death are happily given by the
same historian ; but it will be time. enough. to allude
to that event when the publication of these Memoirs is
concluded. In one of the volumes before us, there is
a long account of Mirabeau's writings, accompanied
by a critical analysis of their merits, upon which we
have no opinion to offer. With the exception of his
treatise on despotism, and extracts from his speeches
the National Assembly, Mirabeau did not write a
line that will go down to posterity.
The fourth volume is embellished with a portrait of
Mirabeau, accompanied with a fac-simile of his auto-
graph. The phrenologist will discover in it every trait
of his character. It is well executed.