The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-01 00:00:00

TAIT'S MAGAZINE.

The progress of the Corn-law agitation has fur-
nished materials for a clever article in Tait's co-
lumns of this month. The writer is sanguine as
to the speedy triumph of the abolitionists. " In-
gliston," is a clever review of a Tale so called, from
the pen of Grace Webster—a writer of no ordinary
ability, judging from the extracts quoted by the
Reviewer, for we have not seen the book itself.
A " Defence of Modern Poetry," by Ebenezer
Elliott, the Corn-law Rhymer, is a revival of the
old contest about the rival claims of the ancient and
modern poets to pre-eminence. Ebenezer Elliott
professes to know nothing of the language of
Greece, and yet he hazards the following bold as-
sertion :—" Page. for page, I believe there is more
of the truth of poetry in Scott than Homer I" No
man that ever reada line of Homer in the original,
could have entertained such a belief for an instant.
" Recollections of Days in Belgium, " by Amelia
Opie, is a light gossiping article, such as we love
to read in hot weather, when appeals to our deeper
feelings would be sure to melt us altogether.
" Hints for Historians," contains a curious passage
from the memoirs of Tallemont des Reaux, the con-
temporary of the great Sully, the original manu-
script of which is preserved in the Bibliotheque
Royale of Paris. It ought to make us a little
cautious how far we credit the fidelity of the por-
traits which Ministers of State hand down to pos-
terity as exact likenesses of themselves :

" Sully is fond of boasting that when the Due di
Biron, and twelve other of the first gentlemen of the
Court of Henry I V., were getting up a ballet, they could
not manage their performances till the King commanded
him to take a part in it. Dancing is Sully's weak side.
Every evening till the King's death, La Roche (his Ma-
jesty's valet de chambre, who was famous for playing on
the lute the fashionable dances of his day), used to per-
form at the Arsenal, where Sully, as grand master of
the artillery, then resided, in order that the minister
might practise his steps—a feat which he always per-
formed in the singularly shaped velvet cap he usually
wore in his private study. The spectators of this cu-
rious performance were Duret, President de Chevry,
La Clavelle, Seigneur de Chevigny, and several women
of indifferent reputation ; all of whom passed a portion
of the day with him in buffoonery and riot. It was
scarcely possible to be more clumsy than Sully's per-
formance as a dancer ; but those of his household were
expected to be loud in their applauses. It was for this
purpose that the grand master constructed in the Ar-
senal the ball-room, having a double gallery for specta-
tors, of which he acted as door-keeper when ballets
were performed. . .

Sometimes he would get on horseback, and perform
feats of horsemanship in the Court-yard of the Arsenal,
and so awkwardly as to be an object of universal de-

rision.

When Henry IV. appointed Sully Minister of
nance, the " virtuous Minister" affected to have an in-
ventory of his property drawn up, which he deposited in
the hands of the King, stating that he intended to live
on his salary, and economize his private fortune, which
consisted at that time in the small estate of Resny.
Soon afterwards, he effected such immense acquisitions
in land, that every body made a jest of his fine inven-
tory, the King among the first. One day, as Henry
and his courtiers were standing on a balcony overlook-
ing the court-yard of the Louvre, as Sully approached
and attempted to perform his obeisances, he stumbled
and fell, " Don't be surprised," said the King, ad-
dressing his companions, " the strongest of my Swiss
guards would be puzzled to stand upright, if he had on
his head such a weight of corruption."
At one time Sully was so detested by the peop'e for
his rapacities, that they cut down, as a mark of con-
tempt, the elm trees which he had caused to be planted
on the highroads of the kingdom—" These are Rosnys,
let us make Birons of them !" cried they, in allusion to
the recent decapitation of the Marechal de Biron.

Sully's conversation in his own family was obscene to
a degree that will not bear recapitulation. Among
other incidents on which he expended his coarse hu-
mour, was the infidelity of his wife. In building his
house he caused a private staircase to be made to her
apartment, stating that it was to favour the escape of
her gallants. " I don't care to meet them on my own
stairs, cried he, " as I might be tempted to make them
jump from top to bottom."
Sully was inordinately fond of personal display. He
used to wear jewels and neckchains five-and-twenty
years after the fashion of such trinkets was exploded.
When tricked out in his finery, lie was fond of saunter-
ing under the arcades of the New Place Roy
joining his princely residence in the Rue St. Antoine),
followed by a retinue of ill-accoutred. retainers. To-
wards the end of his days, when residing on his estate
at Sully, or in his chateau de Villebon, he kept in his
household some twenty shabby esquires, and eight or ten
decayed gentlemen, to turn out and form a line of
ceremony for him whenever he quitted or re-entered
the house. In addition to these he bad a sort of Swiss
guard, which followed his litter when he went airing on
the high road.
These are the carious chronicles of an observant con-
temporary, a contemporary who also records of Henri
I V., that, in spite of his prowess in the field, he was
invariably attacked with dysentery when the enemy
came in sight, and could never resist the temptation Co
lay his hands upon whatever property fell in his way,
Henri used to say of himself, that had he not been a
Sovereign, he should have died on the gallows. The
first public love affair of the yen galant was with the
beautiful nun at Passy; and his last war was undertaken
in pursuit of the youthful wife of his friend and relative.
Henri admitted his courtiers to strange familiarities.
Marshal Bassompierre was one day describing to him
the beauty of a certain mule on which, as ambassador of
France, he had made his public entry into Madrid.
" That must have been a fine sight," cried the Kin' ;
" an ass mounted on a mule."
" Your Majesty forgets that I was there as your re-
presentative," replied Bassompierre ; a sally Which was
rewarded by the hearty laughter of the King,

THE COLONIAL MAGAZINE.
Every question of our Colonial policy touched
upon in this Magazine is ably, temperately, and
I judiciously treated. The Editor, Mr. Robert
Montgomery, is eminently practical in his
views and suggestions ; and the coi,„Ect
Magazine in his hands, conveys more useful
information in one Number than is to be found in

volumes of vast pretensions upon our Colonial his
tory and policy. The present Number contains
nine oriainal articles, severally on the colonization
of New Zealand—commerce and civilization of Africa
—the Canadas—Van Diemen's Land—and con-
cludes with a review of the past and present state
of the Russian navy, upon which we shall have
something to say hereafter in our leading columns.
Spirited woodcuts illustrate the article on New
Zealand.

UNITED Sk.RVICE JOURNAL.
There are generally some well-timed articles in
this Journal ; and the present Number contains an
historical and descriptive notice of Aden, lately cap-
tured by the British, which just now will be sure to
be read with interest. " Records of an Expedition
up the Quorra, or Niger," which was undertaken
by Captain Allen, in company with the enterprising
Lander, is also an article calculated to attract
attention.