The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-02 00:00:00

TAI T.

A perfectly astonishing title is given to the fore-
most article in this number of Tait—" Passages in
the Life of a Literary Blackguard." It is the exten-
sion of the biography of the notorious " Pietro Are-
tino," as given in the commencement of that great
Biographical Dictionary issued by the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and which if pro-
perly supported by the public might even yet be a
splendid national work. And a wonderful " black-
guard" this same Pietro was unquestionably ; a
villain, a poltroon, a debauchee, a parasite, a mercenary
swordsman under Giovanni Medici, a public mendi-
cant when residing in Venice, an insolent charlatan
in the very title-pages of his books, a calumniator, a
liar, a publisher of infamous sonnets and obscene en-
gravings—a fellow who abused his friends when they
were overwhelmed with misfortune, and who after a
life illustrated with the perpretration of almost every
imaginable atrocity received extreme unction when
stretched upon his death. bed, and perished with that
brutal jest upon his lips, that, seeing his body was
now well oiled, his attendants would do well to keep
the rats from eating him I The writer of this article
in the magazine observes at the outset that he intends
it to constitute a kind of literary scarecrow. Ile
had remarked " a battered leaden statue of a half-
naked man on horseback," in the area fronting the
Edinburgh courts of justice, and finding that
it was erected to the memory of the " pious"
and " unconquered" King Charles the Second,
he declares that the very sight of it was " enough to
make any man, for the moment, a republican." Con-
ceiving that a wholesome moral might be extracted
from the contemplation of such a sculptured effigy,
and that some sound lessons in government might be
drawn from the mere inscription, he looks for an
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'of literature. For the nonce he hits upon iet
1 Aretino; and undoubtedly he could not have selected
a more appropriate scoundrel. There is something
infinitely astonishing in the history of this remark-
able person. Perfectly uneducated, and without even
the semblance of good principles, he adventures, at
the ripe age of five-and-thirty, upon the fabrication
of a literary celebrity. Without genius, without
even any very remarkable talent, without being
scholarly, without patronage, without money, without
character, he nevertheless fabricated for himself a
fame which extended over every portion of Europe,
and penetrated even into Asia, and assumed a con-
spicuous position in the dawning of the sixteenth
century. He was the friend of Titian, of Tinto-
retto, and of nearly all his most illustrious
contemporaries ; he was the correspondent of the va-
rious Italian princes, of the monarchs of Germany,
France, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and England ; he
was the stipendiary of all the leading statesmen of the
time; he frequently received bounties from the cof-
fers of Sultan Solyman, and drew largely upon the
spoil of Barbarossa the pirate. He styled himself
"The Scourge of Princes" while penning the most
pitiable and sycophantic petitions to the different so-
vereigns ; he signed himself " Peter the Truthteller"
at the end of documents laden with falsities; appended
to his name the epithet " The Divine," though his
whole life was notoriously mean and vicious ; and at
other moments called himself " Peter, by the grace
of God a Free Man," though he battoned on the fickle
favour of kings. Anything more astonishing, whether
for deliberate audacity, for utter degradation, or for
flagrant immorality can scarcely be adduced in the
whole range of letters. The contributor has done
well in producing this biographical paper; it will
serve a high purpose ; it will be the warning he de-
sires it to be, and will demonstrate by the gloomy
contrast of crime, the lustrous purity of virtue.
" The Belle" is concluded with much sprightliness,
and we have a promise of the termination of Mrs.
Gore's story in December. Among the poetical con-
tributions for this month we cannot discern a single
verse worthy of commendation. " The Dove "is so
weak and tame in its nature that we conjectured it
must be what Bottom calls a "sucking dove," Some
of the rhymes are especially vile, for instance the
second and fourth " bind ' and " joined," which
imply a cockney euphony, as thus :

" Hail, emblem of the dearest tie
That human hearts can bind,
Love's all-devoted constancy
When kindred souls are fined 1"
" The Fairy Ladye's Love," again, reminds us of
the everlastingly still small voice. The translation
from the French of Augusta Barbier, in which
France is typified as a mare, and Napoleon as a
demon-rider, breathes terribly of the orange peel and
sawdust of Franconi's. The best verse is that descrip-
tive of France, young, vigorous, and untainted, at the
period of the Republic :
" The eye of fire set in her slender head
Shot forth a tameless ray ;
Reared up erect the whole world she dismayed
With her shrill savage neigh."
An elaborate analysis of Dr. Brown's "Ethical Lec-
tures," and a careful review of Dr. Alexander's
"Switzerland and the Swiss Churches," together with
several other literary notices of less pretension,
complete the light literature of Tait for November.
The political article for this month is almost as great
a curiosity as in October; it is now, however, con-
fined to the consideration of Irish destitution and our
foreign diplomacy. With reference to the present
condition of Ireland, Tait gives rather too bitter a
home thrust to both landlords and peasantry—it de-
clares that "every Irishman is from this moment a
pauper or a semi-pauper, supported half by work,
and half by extras from the parish"—the landowners
praying for grants to improve their land by drainage,
and so forth—the peasantry pleading for grants to
pay them Government wages for Government employ-
ment. Supposing it were literally true that all
Irishmen were paupers, this is surely not the
moment for the announcement of that pain-
ful fact, for flinging the reproach in the
teeth of our countrymen across St. George's
Channel. The Irish are starving ; let us wait till they
be extricated from that abyst-, before we dream of
balancing the interests of the Skaie. The observations
which follow upon our foreign relations are singular
enough. We transcribe one paragraph :
" The function of Government, in regard to foreign
affairs, is the same as its function in regard to domestic.
Its sole office is to protect the citizen or subject in the
free exercise of his lawful rights, and compel him to dis-
charge his lawful duties. The merchant, or any other
person who ventures abroad for profit or pleasure, re-
tains his claim for protection upon his native Govern-

moot. The merchant, or other, who remains at home,
but engages in negotiations with subjects of other Go-
vernments, ur with subjects of his own resident abroad,
must, if they refuse to fulfil their engagements, endea.
vour to force them through the ministry of his own. The
limited business of Government, outside of its own domi-
nions,is to take care that the persons and property of its
subjects are safe. To this end fleets and, military stations,
on distant shores, are maintained, in order that the police
of the high seas may be maintained, or aid kept at ,hand
in the vicinity of barbarous tribes who respect not the
laws of civilized nations. To this end consuls are main-
tained in great trading ports and inland emporia, and
diplomatic envoys at seats of government. The busi
ness of our admirals and commandants at our military
stations is to serve as a substitute for police in regions of
the world's surface where there is no established go-
vernment ; to protect all Britons, travelling on their
lawful occasions by sea or by land, from' assaults of
pirates or robbers at all times ; from assaults of national
forces with whom we may be at war; from aggressions
on the part of belligerents when neutral. The business
of our consuls is to see that justice be neither denied nor
unduly withheld, nor sold at an extortionate price to
British subjects, within limits to which they are ap-
pointed; and to promote the business of residents at
home from whom their rights are withheld. The bum-
ness of diplomatic agents (by whatever name known), at
seats of government, is to care for the personal immu-
nities of their fellow-subjects within the territories of
the Government to which they are accredited; to nego-
tiate,
for the reform of any laws or ordinances militating
against the interests of their country; to watch any alli-
ances or hostilities which the Government near which
they are, may contract or engage in; and, under the
direction of the Foreign Secretary, to endeavour to give
affairs such a turn as to avert any partial restrictior
upon our commerce that might be the result of the one,
or any accidental dangers to the persons and property of
British subjects that might proceed from the other."
So far unquestionably the writer has enumerated
some of the principal responsibilities and duties of the
agents of the Foreign Department; but he has en-
tirely overlooked two very important points upon
which the Spanish marriage encroaches—we mean
the preservation of the balance of power in Europe,
and the prevention of the violation qf solemn treaties.
The balance of European power is endangered by
this alliance between the royal families of Spain and
France; a solemn treaty is violated by disregarding
the stipulations of the one signed at Utrecht ; and
when England protests in dignified and decisive terms,
France evades the interference, first by an ungenerous
silence, and secondly by a deceitful subterfuge. Never
had England more cause for complaint or indig-
nation.