The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

PICTURES
.fZih EVOLV lONARY PARIS. :
• 2 Vols. 4J. lielgrave Simpson. I
Hans Christian Andersen first conceived the notion
of Writing a, "Picture !Book without Pictures."
• Those 'Who have once .perused the beautiful glimpses
of the moon, scattered in patches over the leaves of
that most poetical of all the graceful volumes penned
by the Danish novelist; will remember that litre
may, in truth, be'some descriptions so vivid in colour- •
ing, and so distinct in outline, as to dispense with any
necessity for pictorial illustration. To obtain an
accurate idea of the incidenti and characters grouped
together in. the Improvisatere for example—that
.exquisite cot-Lipari* of Madame de Stael's Corinne—
the reader requires no embellishments from the needle,
of the engraVer. Mr. Palgrave Simpson—ekeady
distinguis,.ed by his brilliant fictions of " Second
Love' and " Gisella"—has recognised the possibility
of substituting letter-press for painting. That he himself
possesses the capacity for effecting thistigreeable substi-
tution is shown in a very striking manner by the two
volumes now submitted to our criticism. They have
• all the gorgeous hues of Laroche, and all the anima-
tion. of Vernet. Throughout the twenty-two chap-
' ters into which the narrative is partitioned passages
may be detected which recal to our remembrance the.
delineations given from time to time,. according as
events succeeded each other, in the French capital,
,and distributed through a number of our most
eminent contemporary periodicals. As " Our own
Correspondent" in the Times, as the "Flaneur" in
Bentley's Miscellany, and as a casual contributor to
131ackwood's Magazine, -Mr. Palgrave Simpson had
depicted, in glowing dyes, the tragedies and pomps
of thelast revolution. Here, according to the an-
nouncement made in the preliminary " Preface," the
least perishable portions of those descriptions have..
been accumulated, in a substantial form, and placed
together with a certain symmetry of sequence. Se-
• ,
veral parts 'are altogether new, others are rewritten,
and the whole presents a result something better than
tt ,mere, lukewarm rechattifie of casual scraps and
ephemeral paragraphs. As an example Of the pic-
turesque. and animated' Character of the narrative we
will transcribe into our columns the account given by
Mr. Palgrave Simpson of the sublimest act Of the
• whole revolution. Here is his narrative of ,
LAIIARTiNB REPUDIATING TUE BED FLAB I
" In the midst of that scene of uproar, excitement; and
mistrust, ready to recommence anarchy and destruction,
one deed—a great and good deed—was done, however,
"upon which, probably, depended for the time the destiny
of France, perhaps of the whole world; and it 'was done
by Lamartine, the man of imagination, and not &Action
(except in moments, when he can act a part before the
face of the world)—the, poet-statesman,' as he will
'• heneeforwari be called 'I)Y his. allies, and glory in: the
nairieonce the ardent legitimist—then the pretender
to poWer under Louis Philippe—now the republican.
"Upon the barricades had been raised aloft the red.flag
of revolution; it even then waved over the Hotel de
Ville; but to .that blood-red banner popular fancy ;had
alwiys attached the idea of a republic of violence, war,
and revenge; it was the bloody pirate flag of propagan-
_ dism-by force of arms—the symbol of a rule of terror by
the scaffold. This Lamartine knew: the policy which
he intended to put forward as his own- was to be that of
peace; and order, and tolerance; and of that the tricolour
flag was to be the emblem, as it had been the banner of
' the reign which took for its motto, Liberty and Public
Order.' "He knew'too, probably, bow easily the French
might be led away by the ' outward show, and engage
their future` sentiments in their. outward symbols; and
he felt that hi the change of colpitrs on, a flagstaff lay
• the present` fate of Paris, of prance, of the rule on which
he'.' had staked his own deitinies. In the face of the
waving crowd' of those thousands of stormy men, choking
in nianifeld group the square, he stood before the gate-
way of that picturesque historical old building—upon
thbso steps on which so many scenes of history had
already passed, and none more important in' its results
than this—pale,rPiii.ereit, and seemingly resolute. The
- picture was a grand one, and .may be often painted in
future days. He presented the.tricolour flag in his hand,
tore down the blood•red banner. Then, even then was
' who-again' afterwards fell so low in-lhe awards of
n history, the man of the moment—the man of courage—
the man of right feeling; that deed was to make him,
for- the tittle, the hero of. France, the respected of
'"Europe. It 'was done at the hazard of ,his life; for, at
'thersiglA hf 'this suspicious deed in the face of a mis-
' " -Wistful crowd, a single cry, He is a traitor! he deceives
:."':its-rinight'heie been the signal for his death; and guns,
•
swords, -pikes, daggers, every instrument ,of .death, were
.at that moment presented at his head. Yes, he was the
man of the-moment. Hepade a powerful appeal—one
of those appeals, that beer:me words, in history. He
spoke of the triumphant colours that had gone round
the world;' he declared 'that none other ought to be
waved aloft in thenewreptiLlic; he flattered with poetic
and porierfUllanguage the instincts of the mob; and he
touched them; he communicated one of those electric
flashes of simnitane-ous sentiment which sometimes per-
thrillinfihrough all frames alike at once,
as if it were a supernatural influence, but which few
mortal men know how to direct, when; and far less as:
therwOuld.' The'eledfrld shock ran through that armed
infuriatecl.niOb.; guns, swords, and pikes were lowered;
Vive tamartiner issued from 'every mouth; the tri-
colour banner was raised, accepted, recognised as the
national standard; the cause of humanity was gained—
for 'the time at least: .Wheh'Litmartine; after a sitting of
sixty_ hours Ifiiba.urs a the Provisional Govern-
ment at the Hotel de Ville, returned to his own house, it
was with 'difficulty that he. could escaptm,from the throngs
who received him with eteclareeticin, on his passage, or
diseinSairasit:hlinself from the embraces of his admirers.
At that time men-kissed-the skirts of his coat."
•
Yes."!the-picture's,* a grand one—and already the
vivid peheil of nalippoteaux has:embodied the heroic
deed upon canvass. Whatever may-be the ingratitude
°fibre pOple,*.theblindness of.theindifferent, or the
calumny of the • unserupulous—Lamartine will reap
the rewards of that sublime -act the panegyric.of
the historian, in the homage of posterity, and in. the
.11;'c perpetual- ad;ttitlitiott: wiiiich Will Shine back upon his
,
- ‘:. memory ,from the distance -of the future. In the
general:tone-of the wbrk we 'are altogether opposed
to-Mr: 'Palgrave Siinpabb, for that tone is a tone of
disparagement to the, revolution. Our anthor looks
upon the whole of theastohnding .speptacle presented
, to l'm in gaiis;,befween ,Tune, and February, with
imagination jaundiced by the •reflection of the
atiabilious hue,pf his ultra:conservative temperament.
Democracy, in its struggles against despotism, finds
no :throb of sympathy in. ;his bosom rhe perceives
only a. treacherous conspiracy in the thirat'of unsatis-
fied patriotism, In
..,the downfal of the Orleans
dynasty he can. detect orily'the successful issue of a
dark and -bloody plOt,ooncecte4 and
.carried out by
that hatidsimiest of demagogues—Lagrange.' The
only'aihrtietits when the beating of his heartresourids
, through his..delineations, are those when he:tells'of
death , uvivu? „
the f 'to r while waving his (plumed hat
at Abe foet,of a barricade, or • when, heesiepicts the
• awful and touching assassination of 'Denis Affre, the
Archbishop of Paris. As affording -materials to the.
ftiture, annalist or - biOgropher,* •the two volumes
written by Mr. Palgrave Simpson in the midst of the
city of revolutions- must be regarded as peculiarly
• valuable.'

NOW AND-THEN."

[On Christnias7day VVQ briefly alluded to the pub-
liCati9n of the Third Edition of Mr. Warren's latest
ifinticm. We have now the gratification of laying
before our readers' the whole' of the 'simple and
-manly "preface" prefixed to it, in extenso
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.

I am at a loss for terms in which to express my
sense Of-the'favour Niith which' this 'work hai been
received by the publiC,.', both at home and abroad.
TWo Very:large editions, thrice asi large as I could
-have contemplated, before yielding to the cOnfidenceof
my publishers,were exhausted almost immediately, and
the second has been ,now out of print for several
months. :I greatly:: regret-the ,delay :;which thas oc-
curred in bringing out -this third editiotiould the dis-
appointment which may have been felt by numerous
• „applicants for copies of the work.' That delay has
been occasioned by the pressure of numerous engage-
ment.% which, prevented, my bestoWing upon the pre-
sent edition the careful revision which it has now
received:" The necessity orthat.reVision may be ac-
counted for by the rapidity' and .suddenneas with
'Which " Now and Then" was written, and passed
./...through.the;press.,- Not aline of the manuscript was
in existence previously to near midnight on the 20th
" Neirember; 1847;'- yet it was 'in the hands .of the
printer at a very early hour in the morning of the
qth of December, and was actually ,published on
Saturdat,the ll3th'of December; on which day, and
theensuinggonday,, the entire editlon was disposed
of, and the second. in preparation. :During the brief
interval above mentioned, I wrote principally in the
night time, my days being 'necessarily otherwise
Occupied. While'making these Statements, however,
anxiously depreoate the imputation of having
rushed before an iindulgent ;public without ,due
• -and respectful consideration ; for this story, the
elements tof which had been' long floating in
my mind, had been
_thoroughly thought out,
in all its parts, during the two months
.immediately w
preceding the day on whiah I began to rite ; and I
venture to doubt whether. many modern books of this
- description have occasioned their authors more delibe-
rate and-anxious consideration than I had bestowed on
this. one before, sitting down to write.- Whatever
faults 'of execution' and detail may still he found, this
at least.l can truly affirm, that every character, con •
versation, and incident introduced, is the result of
• much' reflection; and is in strict subordination to a
'f-d'eternained purpose, steadily kept in view from . be-
ginning to end. The ;plan may be faulty, and the
conceptions - unsatisfactory ; but Mar las it is it: has
been completely carried out.,
I had,- as I conceived; very important objects in
view; in= writing this work; but it would be almost an
. impertinence here to indicate them, for they are'suffi-
ciently obvious to a thinking reader. I. have, hnvv-
ever, two observations to offer on this subject.
.Firsti—that . most advisedly abstained, for grave
reasons, froni 'so 'bontribing- the.' plot of tivo story,
as to make it in accordance with what is under-
stood by the words " poetical justice." Had I been