The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-30 00:00:00

SUN,

oneis
is
certainly
thetai n
ymoonsteianfdeftbefte
tigable of historic writers, land
ah
she e
isost fortunate. After Mr. Carlyle, she is, to our think-
ing, the most fortunate. Facilities are aiforded her, un-
doubtedly, for rutin-nag-mg among old manuscripts, or
as Captain Cuttle might term it, "overhauling the
black letter ;" but those facilities are by no meansliorti-
parable to the opportunities of a like kind which.bare
presented themselves to sundry of her contemporaries.
M. Adolphe Thiers, for example, in the composition
of his .Histoire du Constdat et de f Empire, has been
in a situation only to be illustrated by that of Sinbad
in the Valley of Diamonds. He has walked amongst
heaps and wastes of precious things, selecting at his
leisure and at his option treasures never .before
placed within reach of a man like unto himself.
Sir Henry Ellis, again, has bad all the world of an-
tique papers before him where to choose. Mrs. Thom-
son, by enkindling a Jacobite enthusiasm among the
descendaets of those who, during a century of perils,
remained loyal to the fallen dynasty of the
Stuarts, has received from the northern fast-
nesses Of Caledonia manuscripts that might other-
wise have fallen into oblivion and perished irre-
nevahly. Mr. Payne Collier, with an extraordinary
perseverance and an uediminishable enthusiasm, has
vparstsed, that
and such
toraunw d suchmh:
from readingsa
been enabled to track anecdotes to their original but
s
forgotten sources—to decipher hew it had come to
nh
gpuo
gt
e on): s
"every sho se
Gc, d (to
had employ
se e
incongruitiesuhtraddre hundred been
differentof
r-
e
directions
upon the obscurities a
gthloarticouolsoslsaani
ehdis setown
his seal to give the world assurance of a Mann." toLo rd
Campbell, again, has been happily guided in his legal
researches, Merle D'Aubigne in his theologico-cr.t.
cal investigations,. and Augustin Thierry in his 1 pis
historical reveries. But beyond all of them in sue-
cessful discoveries, with the solitary exception; is
we
have said before, of Mr Carlyle, is Miss Agnes
Strickland. " The treasures of antiquity-laid up," •
she says with Beaumont, "in old historic rolls I
opened;" and she has certainly opened them to some
purpose. - We would by no means be understood
.to de. -
preciatethe revelations roadeby-Uird-Ciiiirpßllli hit ---Flgertr
biographies .of the Chancellors., by Thierry, in his
Anglo-Norman narrative, by Payne Collier in his
dramatic commentaries, by Sir Henry Ellis in his
miscellaneous labours as an antiquary in let.
ters, by Thiers, by Mrs. Thomson, or by
Merle D'Aubigne. We acknowledge that in
the majority of those instances the histories
of her contemporaries are of immeasurably
greater importance than these "Lives of the Female
Sovereigns .of England," by the graceful and fluent
pen of Miss Agnes Strickland. But we would dis-
tinctly aver our opinion, that the number and sin-
gularity of the disclosures contained in these last-
mentioned volumes, the odd and startling insights they
afford one into the palaces of our bygone monarchs,
ewitle us to designate the authoress as the most
fertunate bookworm now living after Thomas Carlyle.
The tenth volume, recently issued, is before us,
awaiting our consideration. It is not inferior to
any of its predecessors, if due allowance be made
for the proportionate interest attached to the
different Queens regnant and Queens Consort.
The melancholy career of the long. suffering
Mary Beatrice of Modena, the wife of James 11.,
is here brought to a conclusion, occupying two-
thirds of the entire volume, and recounting the
events and sorrows which broke the monotony
of the exiled lady during her residence at
Versailles, at Paris, and at the most favourite
of her French habitations—the Convent of ChaMot.
The generosity of Louis XIV. to his cousins of Eng-
land is scarcely depicted in the most amiable light,
seeing that it sprang directly from mingled
sentiments of expediency and ostentation. Never-
theless, we are fain to regard, in the
most charitable manner, this incident in the
otherwise irredeemably selfish reign of the Grand
Monarque. Al:hough -Mary Beatrice was not maligned
as a woman of profligate character, as was the noble-
minded, unfortunate, and virtuous Marie Antoinette,
she was libelled as a person of singular duplicity, and
as an odious adept in the mysteries of state intrigue.
That such assertions are most erroneous the closing
chapters of her memoir by Miss Strickland testify.
An amiable, patient, accomplished, gentle, unrepining
being is Mary Beatrice of Modena, as depicted to us

in this biography. Exactly the reverse is the heart-
less and unnatural woman, who, as Princess of
Orange, and afterwards a; Mary the Second,
presents so despicable a spectacle to the imagination.
It is scarcely possible for any one connected with
" Historic Fancies" to think of the daughter tf 'the
luckless James 11. without calling to mind the moment
" When England's Goneril thrighl to hear
The shunts that triumphed o'er her crownless Lear."
Miss Strickland seems to have become the historian
of this . graceless Princess rather with abhorrence.
The series, however, would have been incomplete
without a record of her existence and vicissitudes.
Therefore, and therefore alone, is that dismal-under
tone in a great outburst of harmonies individualiied.
To think, too, that the melodious lute of Waller—he
who had sung in verse "mellifluously bland" the
graces of Sacharrissa—should have been tuned in ce-
lebration of the marriage of the unfilial Mary!
Listen.to the courtly sycdpliancy of his stilted epi-
"As
o7inteoof thethe
thalamium
rno nh go us
en3e' hg a re
sweetness came,
-A royal hero no lets brave
Produced this sweet—this lovely dame.

-

"To her the prince that did oppose
Gaul's mighty armies in the field,
And Holland trom prevailing foes
Could so well free—himself does yield.

" Not Belgia's fleets (his high command)
Which triumph where the bun does rise,
Nor all the force he leads by land,
Could guard him from her conquering eyes.

" Orange with youth experience has,
In action young., in council old,
Orange is what Augustus was—
Brave, wary, provident and bold.
" On that fair tree which bears his name,
Blossoms and fruit at twee are found;
In him we all admire the same,
His flowery youth with wisdom crowned.
" Thrice happy pair! so near allied
In royal blood and virtue too,
Now love has you too-ther tied,
May none the triple knot undo."
Turning from the consideration of this most unbe-
witching Princess to her more heroic husband, we
transcribe two striking but contrary instances of his

prowess
Great asceretainlayupe:ls before sesse
d theby
William o
a g'ew
personal otir
Moloch centuries gradually blend-d into the sweeter
afpoerrsaotnigael, c
andour
sway of Mammon, waq c .nsidered tantamount to all
other virtues. In one of the blo,siy drawn battles, after
the furious strife had commenced b,tween Louis XIV.
and Spain in the L iw Coutr.ries, the Prince of Orange
received a inutetet snot in the arm ; his loving Dutch•
men grand and retreated when their young general
took off his hat with the wounded arm, and waving if
about his he id to show his arm was not broken,o cheeredfo
them on to renew the charge. Another anecdote
pleasant.
William's conduct in the field is not quite
and led
In his lost battle of M nt. Cassel, his becisturpaellitseedh,ivgiment
pertinaciously retreated. The Princefied, and carried
Th diminutive hero,
him with them to the main body. and his own Dutch in
them to the charge, till they
however, fought berth the Frenchreat
cowardly. Dutchman he
his unwilling transit. ,One
exclaiming. s Coquinje to marquerai
slashed in the face,
dr ' . Rascal! I will set a mark
utterlye
au moles afro de to pen .
may
hang thee afterwards.'
on thee, at least, that I
This adventure leans fron.i..the perpendicular of the
to the ridiculous. It was an absurd
sublime
as an imprudent sally of venomous
cruelty, as well
there was no glory gained by slashing a man's
temper;
who was too much of a poltroon not to demolish
him face,
ho en 6srcoehms provocation."een"taNt•ol utne conducts the reader to the
time when the Princess of Orange was approaching
London from Holland. "Notwithstanding his
deep enmity to James II.," says Miss Strickland,
"the Pope was duly burnt in effigy ; he was provided
with a companion, the fugitive father Petre • these
were accompanied by the representation of the' rival
of the Princess of Orange in the succession to the
British throne, even the image of her poor little infant
brother." A worthy trjbute to the unsisterly callous-
ness of a depraved daugntur! Queen Anne's reign
will afford a noble opportunity for the continuation of
Miss Strickland's able and elegant narrative.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.
WOOLWICH, JULY 2Q.—The following is an extract
from a- letter received from on board the Terrible steask
frigate :
" We have beat the Sidon steam-frigate with half
steam against her whole power. We first had the
Amazon in tow (the Amazon is a 46-gun frigate, 1,078
tons, with her quarter-deck and forecastle cut off). We
have four boilers, but with only two towed her wind
ahead about nine knots, and passed tehis7elabSn.iceednolnay,
h, she
th
e
with her, sad
having nothing in tow, but doing her uttnoit to keep
ut day3l
twen.ogab:ei l
ehresr, three miles'
pressor
usirwnardesaioef ounpe mile an hour-
& t PZ
ST"iehdeoonnnleising her full power and doing her best to keep'
Le-s the other day it was expected
opened fire upon us ; we got eleven
56-pounder
talphvhaehse
saufedond.r
itc,heeWr% .eeb,
wouldne
tahhttoioann
v.
beating
her however, soon
six of the 68-pounders and five-
of our guns on one side, •
or tile lung
us ; we would s( , and nothing could have with-
stoodthe fort to atoms. wi:011, if necessary, have knocked
it coining out we put her under
s,,il alone tor about twelve hours, and in the squalls we
n
atti
but
went eleven knots a
not
only
mt, hour, wheels disconnrct, d. We
sail well without steam, to the ad-
niiration 01 the admiral and all the officers of the squa-
dro ' •
II to wtileh we belong."

The Marquis of Lansdowne, Lird President of. do
Council, arrived in town yesterday, from his ante
BowoQd Park, Wilts.