The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-18 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

FRAGMENTS DES OEUVRES D' ALEX-
ANDRE DUMAS. Choisis a rusaye de la Jeun2sse
par Miss Mary Russell Mitford.
There is a writer in France who has risen from
obscurity and indigence to affluence and celebrity,
who has travelled more, read more, written more,
seen more, and talked more than any twenty men of
the same age in the length and breadth of Christendom.
This remarkable man—as volatile in temperament as
he is copious in imagination and perpetual industry—
was born at Villers-Cotterets, in the department of
the Aisne, on the 24th July, 1803, so that he is
scarcely four months past the forty-fourth anniversary
of his nativity. Without patronage, and with scarcely
any systematic education, he has acquired for himself a
fame as wide if not as permanent as the literature of
his country. He set out from Villers-Cotterets
with just fifty-three francs in his pocket to seek his
fortune at Paris. Without any better introduction
than a simple letter from an elector of Aisne, he
waited upon General Foy to obtain his patronage.
As good luck would have it, he was received cour-
teously, and some such conversation as the following
ensued :
" Let us see ! what can we do for you ?"
" Everything you wish, General."
" It is necessary at first, however, that I should
know what you are good for!"
" 0 ! nothing wonderful."
" Let us see ! what do you know ? a little mathe-
matics ?"
"No, General."
" You have at least some knowledge of geometry,
of physics ?"
" No, General.".
" You have passed your examination ?"
" No, General."
" You know Latin and Greek ?"
" Very little."
" Perhaps you understand book-keeping ?"
" Not the least in the world."
The patron was puzzled, and the client abashed,
for it was the first time he had recognised his
!gum suce, c'etazt la premzere fois 'naiad
ainsi face a face avec mon ignorance.'
" Give me your address," said the General after
while, " and I will think over what I can do for
you."
The young man took the pen and wrote his address,
his protector watching him while he did so. All at
once the latter clapped his hands, crying out—
" We are saved ! you write a beautiful hand!"
From this talent as a calligrapher the ad-
venturer was installed as a copying clerk in the
office of the Due d'Orleans, since Louis Phi-
lippe, at a salary of a hundred francs a month.
Since that appointment he has rendered himself
famous by the fruitfulness of his fancy, by the versa-
tility of his powers, and by the unconquerable indus-
try and enthusiasm of an intellect which has been
strengthened by the animal robustness of his consti-
tution. Within an interval of seventeen years he has
penned a whole library—dramas, stories, essays,
dissertations, romances, histories, biographies, travels,
lyrics, odes, and almost every species of poetic and
prose composition. He has proved himself the Vol-
taire of belles lettres, the Crichton of students, the
Deucalion of novelists. Books have poured from his
brain as the golden shower poured into the lap of Dana.
And yet, while his intellect has been thus prolific, no
man ever saw him at his studies. There is a fiction in
Paris that he has never been seen with a pen in his
hands. In pleasure excursions, in picnics, in balls, in
masquerades, shooting, riding, and boating, rattling
through the Peninsula in a post-chaise, scaling the
mountains of Switzerland, flying from Leeds to
Manchester in the train of a steam-engine, jour-
neying through the deserts of Africa on the hump of
a dromedary, in all kinds of places, in the most impro-
bable positions, he is the noisiest, merriest, and most
light-hearted. Need we say who this writer is ? Need
we say that it is Alexandre Dumas, the Marquis de
la Pailleterie, the Prince of Feuiltonists ? To form
an adequate estimate of the intellectual powers of an
author so prolific and voluminous, it is necessary that
one should be familiarised with his compositions. But
as this would be scarcely possible, from a dozen suffi-
cient reasons, to the readers in a foreign country, it
becomes essential to afford them some knowledge of
his writings, either by translations or by a judicious
selection of fragments from the originals. The latter
course we cannot but regard as preferable :
first, because of the spirit and the style
which are untranslateable ; and, secondly, because
his excellences may be therein the more readily
perceived and appreciated. These sentiments
seem to have originated the publication of the ele-
gant volume now placed before us for consideration.
The responsibility of selection, moreover, has been
consigned to a lady eminently fitted for such an un-
dertaking, by a taste in literature which has beets
verified in her own productions, and confirmed by no
inconsiderable share of popularity. The mere appear-
ance of the name of Miss Mary Russell Mitford on
the title-page will be an authentication of the remark
uttered in the " Advertisement," that the specimens
contained in the book have been "so carefully
selected that it may be left with safety on the
drawing-room table, or placed with confidence in the
hands of youth." Al.hough the varied character of
the fragments which constitute this compilation would
induce many to conjecture that Miss Mitford has
culled from most of the effusions of M. Dumas, it is
a remarkable proof of the brilliancy and fertility of
the works of the latter to know that they have been
principally transcribed from his Travels and Histo-
ries, as they are "more susceptible of an independent
interest," and " convey in the pleasantest manner
the most solid information." The volume is daintily
bound and emblazoned in imitation of enamel; the
contents are arranged with an eye both to perspicuity
and contrast ; and several of the chapters are illustrated
with coloured engravings. Among the more excel-
lent papers in the collection we may particularise :
" The Pilgrimage to Mount St. Bernard ;" prefaced
with that comical adventure of Alexandre Dumas
in Search of a Mattrass ; " The Cabinet Portraits
of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony Van Dyck,"
those two illustrious artists who, when dead, had a
chapel for a sepulchre, and a cathedral for a mausoleum,
" snorts, ils ont une chapelle pour se'pulcre, et une ca-
thedrale pour mausolee ; and the exquisite sketch of
Chilon, where Bonnivard was confined in a dungeon,
in darkness, chained to a pillar, for six years, in ex-
piation of his patriotism, until one day a tumult
arose in the castle, and a hundred voices cried out
together :
" Bonn/acted, tu es libre 1"
" Et Geneve IP"
" Libre aussi l"
Who can ever forget, again, the narrative of Dumas'
visit to the Chateau d' Arenenberg to Hortense de
Heauharnois, ex-Queen of Holland ? Who can ever
forget who has once read it, the account of his agita-
tation, when he is walking to the castle, to see for the
first time, the queen of his imagination, pausing on
the gravel walk, dreading that his dream of the step-
daughter of Le Grand Napoleon may not be realised;
hoping that it may ? Who can ever forget the emo-
tion of Dumas, when he has seen her ; when the ideal
has been exceeded; when she thrills him into admira•
tion by her look, her words, her gentle dignity? "Bien,
mon eceur ! " he exclaims, "cette fois, tune fitais pas
trompe ,je une hornme, c'est la reine de ton enfance gruel-
euse et bonne ; pate, c est ce son de voix, c'est
ce regard que tu as rive a la flue de Josephine;
laisse battre librement ton caul.; une fois la realite s'est
trouvee a la hauteur du solve, regarde, ecoute, sois
heureux." And when the ex- Queen shows him the
portrait, the magnifique portrait of Napoleon on the
bridge of Lodi ; and when Dumas sits down before
it with his face buried in his two hands ; and when
he sees, in the imperial reliquary of Hortense, the
talisman of Charlemagne (a piece of the true cross
enclosed in an emerald, and suspended to a chain of
solid gold), which was given to Napoleon by the
citizens of Aix-la-Chapelle, and worn by him on the
days of Austerlitz and Wagram ; and when the ex-
Queen, seated at herpiano, sings toDumas that plain-
tive air,
which she had e
gl oire,"
Empress,
and
had sung to the dead Emperor in a
roo., m in the
a
Tui-
leries !---the picture, to our thinking perhaps hDap the
most exquisite one ever painted by Alexandre s
It is historic and graceful—like a passagen men'3l.'eas.
citus illustrated by Boccaccio. Then there is the
-
noble delineation suggested by a memorable annecdote
in the memoirs of the Duchesse d'Abrantes—"Napolion
et Lucien." When, after depicting a solitary man in
one of the superb halls of the palace of Milan, he
says—" At this time, this man rules over one hundred
and twenty millions of men, ten people chaunt in
their hearts the hosannahs of his glory in ten dif-
ferent languages; for this man is more than Caesar,
is beyond even Charlemagne; it is Napoleon the
Great, the Jupiter Tonans of France." It were
hopeless, however, to attempt an enumeration of the
pieces contained in the volume within the space we
can here allow ourselves. The book is a monument
to the genius of the Prince of Feuiltonists better than
brass or marble : it is crowded with passages emi-
nently worthy of perusal, and not unworthy of re-
membrance.

OLIVER AND BOYD'S THREEPENNY

ALMAIVAC FOR 1848.

This is really a marvel of cheapness, neatness, and
accuracy. Every person connected with travelling i
into Scotland should invest threepence in the purchase
of an Oliver and Boyd, inasmuch as in addition to
all the usual information contained in an almanac,
it conveys a large quantity of special information on
matters locally connected with Scotland. To the
man of business the list of Scotch fairs, and the state
of the fiars' prices of the different counties of Scot-
land for crop and year 1846, will be of great service,
while the tourist in Scotland will find that he will
save himself much valuable time by referring to their
list of Scotch railway trains.

COURT CIRCULAR.
WINDSOR, WEDNESDAY.—m Queen will hold a
Privy Council on Monday next,the 22d inst., at the
Castle, at one o'clock in the afternoon.
The Queen and Prince Albrt walked this fore-
noon on the Easter Terrace and lopes.
The Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, the Princess
Royal, and the Princess Alice tok walking and pony
-exercise. The Princess Helenawas taken an airing.
Prince Albert rode out on hoseback this morning,
attended by Captain the Hon. 4.. Gordon, his Royal
Highness's Equerry in Waiting
Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge and the Princess /iary, accompanied by
his Serene Highness Prince Frederick of Hesse, and
attended by a Lady and Gentleman in Waiting, are
expected to arrive at the Castle this evening, on a
visit to her Majesty, from their residence at Kew.
The Right Hon. Sir George and Lady Grey are
expected to arrive this eveninf from town.
The Marquis of Anglesey, _..ord and Lady Ashley,
and Colonel Wylde are also expected to arrive this
evening on a visit to the Queel.
The royal dinner party at the Castle this evening
will include her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent,
their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge and the Princess Nary, his Serene High-
ness Prince Frederick of Heste, the Marquis of An-
glesey, Baroness de Speth, the Lady in Waiting on
the Duchess of Cambridge ; Lord and Lady Ashley,
the Right Hon. Sir George and Lady Grey, Colonel
Xtrylde, and the Gentleman in Waiting on the Duke
of Cambridge.
The band of the Grenadier Guards attend during
dinner. Her Majesty's private band will afterwards
attend in the Castle.

The Bishop of Tasmania had an interview with
Lord John Russell, yesterday, at his •official residence
in Downing-street.-
Mr. Charles Russell, Chairman of the Great West-
ern Railway Company ; Mr. William Goodenough
Hayter, Director ; and Mr. Charles secre-
taryS......vdc--'.
to the Company,
),„d interview with the
Riuht otrutt, yesterday, at the office of
....
the Commissioners of Railways, in the Board of Trade.
Mr. Glyn, Chairman of the London and North-
Western Railway Company; had also an interview
with the Right Hon. Gentleman yesterday.
The Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord President of the
Council, arrived in town yesterday afternoon, from
his seat, Bowood Park, Wilts.
The Right Hon. Edward Strutt, Chief Commis-
sioner of Railways, had an interview with the Chan
cellor of the Exchequer yesterday.
Lord John Russell gave a dinner to the Cabinet
Ministers yesterday evening, at his residence in
Chesham.place.

MR. FERRAND AND THE POOR-
LAW COMMISSIONERS.

In Michaelmas Term, 1846, a rule for a criminal
information was granted by the Court of Queen's
Bench, on the application of Mr. G. C. Lewis, then
one of the Central Poor-law Commissioners, and
now Member for Herefordshire, iind Secretary to the
Board of Control, against Mr. W. B. Ferrand, the
late Member for Knaresborougb, for certain charges
affecting Mr. Lewis contained in two letters written
by Mr. Ferrand, and published by his desire in the
Times, in August, 1846. We are authorised to state
that the matter has been arranged through the inter-
vention of friends—Lord John Manners acting for
Mr. Ferrand, and• Mr. Hay ward (Queen's Counsel)
for Mr. Lewis ; and the charges in question have
been withdrawn. The following is the form of with-
drawal definitively agreed upon by, Lord John Man-
ners and Mr. Hayward, on behalf of the parties re-
spectively :

MEMORANDVII.
" Mr. Ferrand withdraws the letters which constitute
the alleged libels in this case, and also the pleas
pleaded in justification of them.
" Both letters" were written under feelings of con-
siderable irritation and excitement, when Mr. Fer-
rand was suffering from illness, and had no opportunity
of consulting with his friends. Before writing the
first (of August 6, 1846), he had received information,
which at that time, and for some time afterwards, he
saw saw no reason to distrust, leading him to conclude
that Mr. Lewis had co-operated with Sir James
Graham to lower him in public estimation ; and he
wrote the second letter (of August 10, 1846,) under
a bond fide, though erroneous impression, that the
mistake into which Mr. Lewis fell in his evidence,
and which was the sole cause of the second letter's
being written, was an intentional mis-statement. On
full and calm inquiry, and after consulting with his
friends, Mr. Ferrand is now convinced that he acted
hastily, and without accurate. information, in both
instances. He therefore withdraws the charges con-
tained in the letters, so far as they affect Mr. Lewis,
who will stand precisely as if they had never been
written; and Mr. Ferrand regrets that he ever wrote
and published them.
" Nov. 16, 1847."

BELGIAN AND DUTCH PAPERS.
COMMERCIAL IN TELL IGENCE.
THE HAGUE, Nov. 16.—Very few transactions
were made at the Bourse, and • integrals were offered
at the same price as on the day previous. All the
other Dutch funds maintained their standard. In
shares of the Commercial Company especially there
was a good deal of animation, and toWards the close
of the day they rose 1 per • Cent. In the Spanish
funds business was slack, and the prices sustained no
variation. The other foreign funds were much the
same as yesterday, but in the Russian Four per Cents.
there was an improvement. Five o'clock—lnland
integrals still maintained their price; the Three and
Four per Cents. are improving. Commercial Com-
pany in great demand. The rise in the London funds
has a very visible effect upon our Bourse, and there
is a marked improvement on nearly all the funds,
both inland and foreign ; Peru and Mexico were in much
greater demand then during the last few
days, and
there is a general activity. The discount is still five
per cent. The failure of the house of Rolleghemd,
has plunged the family of Mr. Nollet into the deepest
affliction. .This gentleman had, it appears, signed
several large bills for Gillies and Nenin, payable at
the house of Imbrecht ; they were, of course, pro-
tested on the failure of that house ; this circumstance,
together with the arrest of three merchants who had
failed, and the probable inevitable result of his own
failure and imprisonment weighed so heavily upon
Mr. Nollet's spirits, that he left his home
early on Thursday morning, and proceeding
to the river at the extremity of the town,
he threw himself into it. The water was so low
that it scarcely covered his body,- yet he was not
found until about seven o'clock the same evening.
The proposition relative to the suppression of the
tax on the culture of rye, which was proposed to the
Second Chamber of the States General last session,
not having been accepted by it, the Government,
which continues engaged in the revision of the present
system of taxation, has judged it advisable so far to
put the project into effect as to make free the permits
and bills of entry of such grain as is not subject to
the impost. The suppression of these formalities will
be a great relief to the people, for about a million and
a half of these permits are annually given out.—
Dutch Papers, Nov. 15.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.—VIENNA, Nov. 15.
5 per Cent. Metathque5.................. 104 •
4 per Cent. ditt0............ •• • • 98%
3 per Cent. 64
Loan, 1834 155
Ditto, 1839 .............. • • .• • • • • • • • • 119 X
Bank Shares • .........................1609
• EstorhazY's Loan • • ...... ~........ 61%
RAILWAYS.
The Northern, or Ferdinand ••••• • • • • 151%
Gloggnitz ••••.....................110
Vienna—Milan •. . .
Sienna • • .... • • ..... 69%
BELGIAN FUNDS.—BaussgLs, Nov. 16.
Actual Debt, 1% per Cent
Rothschild's Loan, Five per Cent
Loan of Thirty Millions, Four per Cent.. ..
Ditto Three per Cent..
Ditto Thirty-seven Millions, ditto • .....
Ditto,ditte,lB4o.• •• • • .......... _
Ditto,ditto,lB42.• • • • •
Ditto, 1844..• • • • • • • • • • . •....... 93,
Ditto, 1836... • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Ditto, 1838 .• .• • • • • • • • • • •
Ditto of the City, 1832 993
BanknoftlEtTel:ulumiz•s......• • Ix* • •81.•
Ditto, 1843 •94%
—Brussels Papers. Nov. 16.
Money. Bills
Actual Debt, 2% per Cent • • 54
54% Ditto, 3 per Cent •••••• • • .• . • 65% 9G
Ditto, 4 per eent.• ••••• • • • • ........ 84
Amort Syndic, 3% per Cent • 84%
Commercial Company, 4% per Cent .• 163% 1—
East India Loan, 4 per Cent.. .. 63%
Exchange on London, at sight
12
Two months.. • 11 12
On Hamburgh, at sight • 35 92
Two months... 34 25
On Paris . • _ 66 62
Two months. •. • . • 58
50
HAMBURGII BORSENLIALLE, Nov. 13.
Austrian 5 per Cents
:jag" 1.:y:01,8.31546.
B.fils. Mosey.
Bank Shares
1600
Anglo-Russian Loan
101%
Russian 5 per Cent., Hamb. Certificate. 100%
Ditto Ist serieslnscription.... 101 x
Ditto, Rope and C0.,3d and 4th series.. 95
Ditto, in Certificate •••••• • - • • • .... 95
New 4 per Cent., Hope and Co. 86%
xi-
Ditto Stieglitz •••••• • • • • • • ••••• • • • • 86% 86
Spanish New 5 per Cenl• •••••• • • • • • • 1214 12
Ditto 3 per Cent ••••••••• • • • • • • • • • 22% 22
Anglo-Portuguese Loan, 2% per Cent • .
30
Dutch Actual Debt, 2% per Cent
Ditto 3 per Cent. • • • • • • • •
Polish New 4 per Cent. Loan, 1844.... 79
Anglo-Danish Loan, 3 per Cent • • • 81
80
National Bank Shares.• ••••••• • • • • • • • _

MR. BROOKE,' THE RAJA OP SAB.AwAK.—This
distinguished philanthropist has been invited, it is said,
to Oxford, to receive the honorary degree of D.C.L.
from the University, as a mark of the esteem in which
he is held by that learned body for his labours in pro•
moting the cause of civilisation and the extension of the
Church of England among the 'sync tribea of Borneo.