The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-03 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

ME2IIOIRS OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE 11.
By Ho ace tfalpole. Edited by the late Lord Holland.
3 Vets,
As well from his position in society as from his natural
temperament, Horace Walpole possessed many peculiar
facilities for obtaining a clear insight into the political
transactions of his contemporaries. The son of a
twentyyears' Prime Minister, the companion, if not the
friend, of many of the chief politicians of his time, he
was naturally familiar with all the mysteries of political
intrigue; to him the secrets of the prison-house were
revealed. He mingled in public life more as a spectator
than as an actor, but it was as a spectator behind the
scenes; near enough to understand all the secret work-
ings of the machinery, without himself bearing a part in
the play. While the public, further removed, looked on
with wonder and admiration, believing all they heard,
deeming all that glittered gold, he, from his more proxi-
mate position, disenchanted and undeceived, recognised
the illusion and understood the cheat; and yet, also, from
that very cause, he was the better enabled to admire
some piece of clever acting (knowing it to be such), or
to appreciate the cunning of some marvellous deceit.
And not only was he in this manner enabled to pursue
such investigations, but he took a pleasure in. so doing.
Though his judgment and his heart alike condemned
much of what he was a daily witness of', yet, as he tells
us himself, he had " a love of faction;" he felt an in•
terest in the progress of the pow though conscious of
the worthlessness of the consoullosts and the athletes
who were struggling fo. the stet* The results of his
continued and scrutinising observations—the various ad-
ventures and anecdotes with which he became acquainted
—the secret causes of many a public transaction, and his
own shrewd guesses and suggestions thereupon, formed
the topics of his numerous epistles to his familiar cor-
respondents, and also constituted the theme of many
volumes of manuscript, which we may almost regard asa
continuation of his letters addressed to posterity. Of these
are the " Memoirs" now before us, which, with many
others of a similar kind, were, after his death, in accord-
ance with his strict injunctions, kept sacredly sealed up
in a wainscoat chest until a given period had arrived.
At the appointed time this chest being examined, was
found to contain many manuscripts, and among others
memoirs of the reigns of George H. and George III.;
the latter of which was published about two
years back. and a second edition of the former

is now before us. Thus after fifty years have
passed over his grave, and nearly a hundred have
elapsed since the events of which he relates, we are
startled by the appearance of a new work by Horace
Walpole. And very welcome is it—it comes to us like
the communication of some familiar friend, as in such a
light we are accustomed to consider its author ; for in
our sentiments with regard to authors whom we know
only from their works, it is the same as in our relations
to the individuals whom we meet with in every-day life.
There are some, there are perhaps many, with whom,
though well acquainted, we can never become intimate ;
while, with others, on the contrary, owing to some
peculiar affability of temperament we can be friends
from the first introduction. To this latter class belongs
Horace Walpole, a friendly, nay a familiar, relation
seems to subsist between him and his readers ; an almost
colloquial freedom characteris s his writings, partly
attributable, perhaps, to his great epistolary practice. So
easy and agreeable is his style, so happy are his descrip-
tions, so interesting and entertaining the various anec-
dotes and reminiscences scattered through his pages,
but, above all, so natural and communicative is his
manner, that while perusing his works we seem as it
were to be listening to the passing cow ersation of some
intimate companion. These Memoirs of George 11. are,
however (comparatively speaking), somewhat deficient
in this agreeable characteristic, and on this account they
are hardly so entertaining as were the delightful
volumes relating to George 111., which preceded them
in this edition. Though disavowing all claim to the

title of historian, yet, in inditing memoirs illustrative of
history, Walpole 'evidently felt it advisable to assume a
certain degree of decorum and dignity: he could not
introduce so insignificant a person as himself into such a
work, or at least, if occasionally necessary, it must be in
the third person. This little circumstance, in a certain
degree, destroys his ordinary familiarity of style; and on
this account, and also because diversified with fewer
anecdotes, the volumes relating to G,eorge 11. are, to
our thinking, less entertaining than those concerning his
successor ; for in the latter, as if the unwonted formality
were irksome to him, he again assumed his natural
egotism, shall we call it?—he again indulges us with the
ego et rex nzeus style.
Before attempting, to analyse the contents of these
volumes, we cannot do better than give the author's own
account of his intention, together with the comments of
his distinguished editor. " I am no historian," says
Horace Walpole, speaking of this work—" I write
casual memoirs ; I draw characters ; I preserve anec-
dotes, which my superiors, the historians of Britain, may
enchase into their weighty annals, or pass over at their
pleasure ;" and in another place he speaks of " having
never proposed to write a regular history, but to throw
together some anecdotes and characters which might
cast a light on the times in which I have lived, and
might lead some future and more assiduous historian to
an intimate knowledge of the men whose counsels or
actions he shall record." " Here are no assassins, no
Poisoners, no Neros, Borgias, Catilines, Richards of
York ! Here are the foibles of an age, no very bad one;
treacherous Ministers, mock Patriots, complaisant Par-
liaments, fellable Princes. So far from being desirous
of writing np to the severe dignity of Roman historians,
I am glad I have an opportunity of saying no worse ;
yet, if I had, I should have used it." Lord Holland's
preface is likely to be of advantage to the reader of the
memoirs; it may serve as a correction to some of the
errors of the author. After awarding him due praise,
the noble editor judiciously draws attention to some of
his faults, especially to the variable nature of his judg-
ments ; in his delineation of character, it appears, that
he
swhaes
describesnflu nc di moreu th e ‘l'abs
tyt h
oat
cnhceu
rbcryeo
nn
cdaeu c tt
sh(ta)
efta tdhbyer o uPage,nl ird-t
them before his eyes,
comprehensive view of their merits and defects. Hence,
excepting the very few individuals to whom he was con-
stant in his attachments or dislikes, there is scarcely any
strong expression of commendation or censure which in
some subsequent passage he does not quality, soften, or
correct. It is a proof; however, of his fairness, at least
of his desire to give his readers the impression he formed
at the time of the personages and transactions he de-
scribes, that even when he changed his opinions, he
allowed his original account to remain, leaving it to be
effaced in the minds of others, as it was not unfre-
quentlyinhis own, by subsequent reflections and events."
The contents of these memoirs may be divided
into three classes, namely, a sort of epitome
of the principal political events of the years
to which they relate ; a series of portraits of the
politicians who were then chiefly conspicuous ; and,
,hirdly, a very excellent summary of the debates in both
Houses of Parliament, including outlines of some of the
principal harangues. Walpole's industry was here most
usefully employed, for be it remembered, that in those
days there were no newspaper reporters with their rapid
succession of " five minute turns," to jot down Nord for
word as it fell from the speakers, neither was the infal-
lible referee, Hansard, then in existence.
" The account of Parliamentary debates in these Me-
moirs," observes Lord Rolland in the preface, " would alone
be a valuable addition to our history. No one is ignorant
that from the fell of Sir Robert Walpole to the American
war, our reports of the proceedings in Parliament are more
barren and unsatisfactory than at any period since the reign
of James the First. For the last ten years of George the
Second, Mr. Walpole has supplied that deficiency in a manner
equally entertaining and instructive. His method was, to
make notes of each speaker's argument during the debate,
and frequently to take down his expressions. He afterwards
wrote out the speeches at greater length, and described the
impression they made on the House."

Some of these debates are very interesting, and the
speeches are given very effectively; but there are, per-
haps, almost too many details of ordinary affairs; too
many pages that read like the summaries of our daily
papers, nevertheless they are interesting to a certain
extent; and great praise is certainly due to Walpole for
preserving them. Some of Mr. Pitt's (the elder Pitt's)
orations are detailed with great force and apparent
fidelity, and their effect is described with a degree of
enthusiasm. The second volume contains some very
excellent remarks upon the orators and oratory of the
day. The various peculiarities of the various speakers
are admirably demonstrated by contrasting them one with
the other, as for example:—
Mr. onway soothed and persuaded ; Lord George Sack-
vine informed and convinced ; Charles Townshend astonished ;
but was too severe to persuade, and too bold to convince.
Conway seemed to speak only because he thought his opinion
might be of service; Lord George because he knew that
others misled, or were misled Charles Townshend, neither
caring whether himself or others were in the right, only
spoke to show how well he could adorn a bad cause, or demo-
lish a good one. It was frequent with him, as soot; as he
had done speaking, to run to the opposite side of the house ;
and laugh with those he had attacked, at those who had de-
fended. One loved the first, one feared the second, one ad-
mired the last without the least mixture of esteem. Mr.
Conway had a cold reserve, which seemed only to veil good-
ness : Lord George, with a frankness in his speech, had a
mystery in his conduct, which was far from inviting.
Charles Townshend had such openness in all his behaviour,
that he seemed to think duplicity the simplest conduct : he
made the innocence of others look like art. But what supe-
riority does integrity contract, when even uniformity of
acting could exalt so many men aboves.the most conspicuous
talents that appeared in so rhetorical an age! Mr. Towns-
bend was perhaps the only man whdhad ever genius enough
to preserve reason and argument in a torrent of epigrams,
satire, and antithesis !"

Of' the delineations of character and individual por-
traits, of which these memoirs contain very many, and
to all appearance excellently well drawn, by far the
most effective and the most interesting are the sketches
of Lord Bolinbroke en.' of Sir Robert Walpole (the
father of the author)• The character of Sir Robert is
contrasted with that of Mr. Pelham, his successor in
office ; and, notwithstanding that the one was the
father of the author, and the other that father's
rival and supplanter, there is apparently a de-
gree of impartiality in his delineations of their
respecive characters. Horace makes no secret of
Sir Robert's irvatrions habit of buying support ;
for example, " In the knowledge of the reveoue, he (Mr.
Pelham) and all other men must yield to Sir R. Walpole,
though he and all other men make the same use of :bat
knowledge, which is to find new funds for the neces-
sities of the Government, aed for the occasons of the
Administration; by those occasions, I mean corruption, in
which I believe Mr. Pelham would never have wet his
finger, if Sir Robert Walpole had not dipped. up to his
elbow ; but as he did dip, and as Mr. Pelham was per-
suaded that it was as necessary for him to be minister as
it was for Sir Robert Walpole, he plunged as deep." The
portraiture of Bolingbroke begins as follows.--
"The 12th died Lord Bolingbroke, a man who will not be
seen in less extraordinary lights by posterity than he was by
his contemporaries, though for Very difierent reasons. His
own age regarded him either as the greatestgenius
la statesman,ers eeuted
t))in, preserved by
s abandoned by
betrayed.
op-
pressed. by
"the
consummategreatest
v. i
hi.
aollovioypea't fr et or
sr, ,and thewhom
he
th
dt r eac ero
successively
Posterity-
Will look on him as the greatest plailoaoplar from Pope§

writings; or as an author of a bounded genius from his own.
To see him in a true light they must neither regard all the
incense offered to him by Tories, nor credit all the oppro-
brium cast on him by Whigs. They must see him corn-
pounded of all those vices and virtues that so often enter into
the nature of a great genius, who is not one of the greatest.
" Was it being master of no talents to have acted the
second part, when little more than a youth, in overturning
such a Ministry, and stemming such a tide of glory as Lord
at bay
t,
for in
s oho manyldin
Godolphin's and the Duke of Marlborough's? Were there
suchno a
power abilities, afatse r
Sir
rs
Rroebteurmt
polemb's anias
years, even when excluded from the favourable opportunity
of exerting his eloquence in either House of Parliament?
Was there no triumph in having chiefly contributed to the
fall of that Minister? Was there no glory in directing the
councils and operations of such men as Sir William Wind.
ham, Lord Bath, and Lord Granville? And was there no art
in persuading the self-fondest and greatest of poets, that the
writer of the Craftsman was a more exalted genius than the
author of the Dunciad? Has he shown no address in pal-
liating the exploded treaty of Utrecht? Has he not, in his
letters on that event, contrived to make assertions and
hypothesis almost balance stubborn facts? To cover his owh
guilt, has he not diverted our attention towards pity for the
great enemy, in whose service lie betrayed his own country?
"On the other hand, what i, famy to have sold the con-
queror to the conquered! What ingratitude in labouring the
ruin of a Minister, who had repealed his sentence of banish-
ment! What repeated treasons to the Queen, whom he
served ; to the Pretender, who had received and countenanced
of
the
e the
present late King,Kiog,
by
him ; to the late King, who had recalled him ! What
n in-
effectualieao so
f tiearts acquireDtooches
sof
thee
odsl
confidence,and o
Lady Suffolk! What unwearied ambition, even at seventy
years of age, in laying a plan of future power in the favour
of the Prince of Wales:"

lie concludes by contrasting him with his own father,
Sir Robert Walpole—his rival—his successful rival
and the object of his vehement hate. Mr. Smythe
has very forcibly depicted both the cause and the
extent of Bolingbroke's hatred, when, in his " Op-
position Scene," he imagines him bitterly pointing out
the " two words which mean one thing—St. John and
Disappointment!" and seeking for any refuge, " where,"
as he passionately exclaims—
" Where I might never meet the accursed thought,
That I—l—Bolingbroke, should be remembered
As one who could do all things but succeed !
And then you ask me not to hate this thing—
This lackered sham, this mediocrity—
This counterfeit that does! Youth, wealth, and beauty,
And courage and high thoughts and genies
I have had all—and what have they availed?
Men say he might have been, but Walpole is !"
The following is Horace's account of their rival
careers :

" Sir Robert Walpole and Lord Bolingbroke had set out
rivals at school, lived a life of competition, and died much
in the same manner, provoked at being killed by empirics;
but with the same difference in their manner of dying as had
appeared in the temper of their lives : the first with a calm-
ness that was habitual philosophy, the other with a rage
that his affected philosophy could not disguise. The one had
seen his early ambition dashed with imprisonment, from
which he had shot into the sphere of his rival, who was
exiled, sentenced, recalled ; while Walpole rose gradually to
the height of temperate power, maintained it by the force of
his single talents against Bolingbroke, assisted by all the
considerable geniuses of England; and when driven from it
at last, resigned it without a stain or a censure, and retired
to a private life without an attempt to re-establish himself,—
almost without a regret for what he had lost. The other,
unquiet, unsteady, shocked to owe his return to his enemy,
more shocked to find his return was not to power, incapable
of tasting the retirement which he made delightful to all who
partook it, died at last with the mortification of owing his
greatest reputation to the studies he had cultivated to dis-
tress his antagonist. Both were beloved in private life; Sir
Robert from the humanity and frankness of his nature;
Bolingbroke from his politeness of turn and elegance of un-
derstanding. Both were fond of women ; Walpole with little
delicacy, Bolingbroke to enjoy the delicacy of pleasure. Both
were extravagant; and the Patriot who accused, and the
Minister who had been accused of rapine, died poor or in
debt. Walpole was more amiable in his virtues, Bolingbroke
more agreeable in his vices."

As regards their third qualification, (namely, that of
historical summary), these volumes are certainly not
deficient in interest ; in this respect they are chiefly
valuable for the lights they throw on the causes of cer-
tain events. " 'Tis trifles make the sum of human
things," and it is often to circumstances apparently most
insignificant that events of great importance may be
attributed. In ordinary histories we are too often
obliged to take things for granted ; to receive certain
transactions as faits accomplis, without being able to
find out how they were accomplished. With
Walpole it is quite otherwise • his memoirs mightappear to any habitual reader of brief histories
somewhat similar to an introduction to the cele-
brated manufacture of Gobelins tapestry, where,
as is well-known, unlike similar manufactures, all the
work is performed on the wrong side: so that to any
looker-on instead of a beautiful grouping of flowers and
figures it presents only an assemblage of joins and knots.
Of a somewhat similar appearance are these memoirs:
we have a continued succession of petty intrigues,
jealousies, quarrels and raccommendemens, and the
perusal is somewhat interesting it, as we have already
observed, we only regard it as we might look upon the
playing of some game ofskill, in that case we maybe perhaps
amused, perhaps interested—though it is sad child's
play at the best—" much ado about nothing." But if
we come to look upon the whole as a history, if we think
that these men were our ministers, and that these mat-
ters concerned the welfare of millions, then, indeed, we
cannot peruse many of these pages without a sensation of
contempt almost ofloathing. To judge from Walpole's per-
haps rather severepicture of his contemporaries, the grand
and, indeed, almost the chief object of all the great men
of his day, was the possession, not so much of power
as of place. This desire was the source of all their
jealousies, animosities, and heart-burnings—the cause of
their apparenay noblest actions, and the instigator of
their many, we may almost call them criminal, practices.
These marvellous plots and counter-plots, cunning de-
c.ptions, and pett reprisals—these " jostlings, by dark
intrigue, for place"—which Walpole here unfolds to us,
are not, perhaps, without some interest ; they would
almost, indeed, appear ridiculous, were there not some-
thing motonful in their very contemplation. Mournful,
indeed, for in all the varied combinations of public affairs,
what can there be more execrable, or more
tit serving
uunive sal reprehension. than the unhappily not very
ncommon practice of making the welfare of a nation,
and the happiness of countless thousands, subservient to
the paltry pride or ambition of a few? All the heroes
of Walpole's memoirs are not, however, of this un-
hapy character ; conspicuous among, and above all, is
the illustrious name of Pitt—the great Pitt. Although
Horace Walpole was not at all times very favourably
disposed towards him, yet even in his perhaps partial
records, amid the mass of intrigue and petty arnbitioa
and selfishness, Pitt stands forth pure and immaculate—
" the noblest Roman of them all." One of the most
interesting portions of this work is Walpole's account of
the trial and (as we may surely term it) judicial murder
of Admiral Byng. All the particulars of this extraor-
dinary affair are detailed in a most interesting manner—
and nxturally so, for Horace Walpole was personally
concerned in them—it was mainly through him that the
execution was delayed for a fortnight, and the matter
brought before Parliament. In this affair Walpole him-
self appears in a more than usually honourable and
noble character—his conduct here, as Lord Holland
observes, "does credit to his feelings and humanity."
The following is Walpole's opinion of the opposite st)lQs
of Pitt and Fox, or perhaps we should say Lords Chat-
ham and Holland:—

"PP t was undoubtedly one of the greatest masters of or-
namental eloquence. His lag ;wage was amazingly fine and
tl ,wing; his voice admirable; his action most expressive;
his figure genteel and commanding. Bitter satire was his
forte : when he attempted ridicule, which was very seldom,
he succeeded hanp:ly ; when he attempted to reason, poorly.
But where he chiefly shone, was in exposing his own con-
duct: having waded through the mo3t notorious apostasy
in politics, he treated it with an impudent confidence, that
made all reflections upon him poor and spiritless, when
worded by any other men. Out of the House of Commons
he was far from being this shining character. His conver-
sation was affected and unnatural, ilia manner not engaging,
nor his talents adapted to a country where Ministers must
court, if they would be courted.
" Foalt,,with a great hesitation in his elocution, and a bar-
renness of expression, had conquered these impediments and
the prejudices they had raised against his speaking, by a
vehemence of reasoning, and closeness of argument, that
beat all the orators of the time. His spirit, his steadiness,
and humanity procured him strong attachments, which the
more jealous he grew of Pitt, the more he cultivated. Fox
always spoke to the questioo., Pitt to the passions; Fox, to
carry the question; Pitt to raise himself: Fox pointed out,
Pitt lashed the errors of his antagonists: Pitt's talents were
likely to make him soonest, Fox's to keep ban first Minister
the longest."
These volumes are embellished with portraits o; George
11., of Lord Chatham of Newcastle, and some others of the
chief personages mentioned in them. Lord Holland has care-
fully revised the whole of the letter-press, and added to
the notes and appendix of the author. Having said thus
much of this work, we will now, alter commending it to
the attention of those too prone to look upon the surface,
and be led astray by appearance and captivated by great
names, dismiss it with the authors own portrait of himself.
" Walpole had a warm conception, vehement attachments,
strong aversions; with any apparent contradiction in his
temper—for he had numerous caprices, and invincible perse-
verance. His principles tended to republicanism, but without
any of its austerity ; his love of faction was unmixed with
any aspiring. He had great sense of honour, bat not great
enough, for he had too much weakness to resist doing wrong,
though too much sensibility not to feel it in others. He had
a great measure of pride, equally apt to resent neglect, and
scorning to stoop to any meanness or flattery. A boundless
friend; a bitter, but a placable enemy. His humour was
satiric, though accompanied with a most compassionate
heart. Indiscreet and abandoned to his passions, it seemed
as if he dispised or could bear no restraint; yet this want of
government of himself was the more blameable, as nobody
had greater command of resolution whenever he made a
point of it. This appeared in his person: naturally very
delicate, and educated with a too fond tenderness, by unre-
laxed temperance, and braving all inclemency of weathers,
he formed and enjoyed the finest and unabated health. One
virtue he possessed in a singular degree—disinterestedness
and contempt of money—if one may call that a virtue, which
really was a passion. In short, such was his promptness to
dislike superiors, such his humanity to inferiors, that, con-
sidering how few men are of so firm a texture as not to be
influenced by their situation, he thinks, if he may be allowed
to judge of himself, that had either extreme of fortune been
his lot, he should have made a good prince, but not a very
honest slave."

ONE HUNDRED SONGS OF BERANGER,
with Translations. By William Young.
Great is the tame of a true poet, but immeasurably
the greatest is the fame of a national poet. It is the na-
tionality of the verses of Bryant that renders them so
conspicuous in the poetical literature of America. The
nationality of the lyrical writings of Burns and Moore, is the
secret of their supreme glory in the poetical literatures of
Scotland and Ireland. But Pierre. Jean de Beranger is
a national poet more strictly speaking than either
Bryant, Burns, or Moore. Berauger has vivifyed his
Chansons with the very quintessence of the French cha-
r nntmera.ileris o His
rhymesFrancber, pourtrayeu th
ethe
voiceofFrance, depict
the passions of France,
reveal the partialities and prejudices of France. They
are instinct with a sentiment peculiarly French, and are
coloured with mannerisms exchigvely French. Ifeuce,