The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-02 00:00:00

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

In the present chapters of Mr. Hook's " Fathers
and Sons," we find Mrs. Smylar—what an apt
na.ne for a sly, intriguing housekeeper to an elderly
widower l—manoeuvering with a tact and ingenuity
that might become the most wily diplomatist. Phis
character is clearly a favourite with the author, and
accordingly he lavishes all his strength on her,
drawing out her peculiarities through that best pos-
sible medium, dialogue. " Sketches of Modern
Character" are by Mrs. Gore ; and the present
subjects of her analysis, "Plausible People"—a nu-
merous race, and always well to do in the world.
How true is this remark, " your plausible folks are
the fatted kine of this world. They insinuate
themselves like the weasel into the meal-tub ; and
like reynard, their stealthy steps make an unexpected
way into the hen-roost. While your cars are still
fascinated by their gentle protestations, you find
they have been picking your locks or your pocket.
You hear a patriot praising himself for more than
Spartan virtue, watching your eye all the time for
a favourable opportunity to escape up the back
stairs, and sneak into the presence of royalty.
The next time you see him, he will be on the
Treasury bench !" It is by an assumption of
sanctity, however, that plausible people achieve
their greatest triumphs. By cultivating a long,
solemn phis, and chaunting psalms through the
nose at a conventicle, they win the ear of some
rich, pious old maid, whose sole remaining com-
forts arc prayers ;.nd the brandy-bottle in the
corner-cupboard, marry her, spend all her fortune,
and then take ship for America, where plausibility is
sine to make a livelihood. There are various classes
of plausible people, some of a lesser, some of a deeper
(lie, in point of hypocrisy ; but the worst form they
can assume, is when they graft the Saint
upon time attorney. This last is a character
which makes as close an approximation to pure
diabolism as the imperfect limits of human nature
will allow. " Early English and German Dramas"
is a heavy, prolix essay, stuffed full of matters which
few or none care a straw about. " Ambition" is a
readable article, but some of the instances which

the writer adduces, are rather those of vanity, than
ambition. There is a wide distinction between the

two passions. Ambition is an all-engrossing prin-
ciple of action, which proposes to itself the achieve-
ment of some great, particular end ; which knows
neither ebb nor flow ; but presses boldly forward,
through a thousand difficulties, to the goal ; vanity
is a shallow, inconsistent impulse, ever fluctuating,
ever changing its direction, ever haunted by mis-
trust, and, as a necessary consequence, ever ending
in bitterest disappointment. Sometimes, however,
though but seldom, we see the two passions com-
bined in the same individual—as in Lord Chatham,
for instance, who though among the ►cost au►bi-
tious, was also among the vainest of mankind.
" Foreign Sporting " is by Nimrod. It is too
strictly professional. The " Life and Adventures
of Charles Chesterfield " will hardly raise the re-
putation of Mrs. Trollope, whose chief object in
writing it seems to have been, to fill up space. The
major►ty of her dialogues are very poor, constantly
aiming at effect, and as constantly missing it.
" Some account of the late Mr. Dodge " is lively,
and not devoid of humour, though the humour ►s
more that of words than of ideas. The closing
portions are by far the best. Au " Evening with
M. Thiers" is happily timed. We would quote the
whole of this article, dill bpaCe 'and 'time permit,

but must content ourselves for the present with the
followilg extract :
There is no such thing as keeping M. Thiers stationary
for live minutes; we might say, perhaps, for five scoonds.
Ile sits, he stands, he sits again, and all in half a minute.
lie walks up and down the room, runs, jumps, tilts on his
toes, shrugs his shoulders, raises them almost to the top of
his head, puts on his spectacles, takes them off again, and
all with the rapidity of a sleight-of-hand man on the Place
de la Bourse.

Oct the evening in question M. Thiers spoke to every
one as fast as he could ; and perhaps in three hour 3 sai4 a
greater number of words than any man who ever lived from
the time of Adam downwards.

" Que voulez vous, moo cher ?" said M. Thiers to a
member of the ccatredroit, who had lODIC doubts as to the
legality of a:resting and imprisoning a Prince's. without
putting her upon trial. Quo voulez vous ?" and then he
went on to say, " This state of things was impossible. We
could not bit bearded by the Duchoss of Berry. God knows
our revolution was moderate enough ; we merely sent them
out of France, and told them not to come back again ;
their property, their lives, their titles all preserved to them,
and yet they persist in conning back. I could endure it no
longer; I could not see the throne of the King continually
disputed by this heroine, as they call her. It became in-
dispensable to terminate all these Chouan hopes and Vcn-
dean plundcrings and rapine—and now all is finished."
Every sentence pronounced by M. Thiers during the
evening 13-gan or closed with " Tout est fini ;" sometimes
varying it by "Jl nintcnznt tout est fini." lie rang the
double changes on these phrases fur three mortal hours.
M. Odilon Barrot made his appearance. This was a
sort of event. He was at that time the political anta-
gonist of M. Thiors ; for the latter was then a Conserva-
tive, and the former was, what he is still, the chief of the
gauche._

M. Odilon Bsrrot was only a lawyer under the Resto.
ration, but the revolution of 1830 made him one of the
Commissioners charged to conduct Charles X , and the
Duke and Duchess d'Angouleme, &c to Cherbourg. lie
is a cold, calm, calculating man, enamoured of his own
views of a Parliamentary Government, and believes ths
every thing may he effected by the influence of the
Ballot. On the night in - question he was more excited
than he is wont to be, and appeared to regard M. 'niers
as a sort of prodigy.
" Eh hien I M. Barrot," said the host to him, as he
entered the second saloon, " quo pcnzes vous maintc-
nant ?"

M. Barrot replied, " C'cst fres habile, M. le Ministre,"
and M. Thicrs was delighted,
lie shuffled his spectacles a little nearer his eyes, doubt-
less that he might examine with more attention the move-
ments of the f•ice of M. Barrot, and then continued,
" Maintenant tout cat fini."

M. Blrrott looked credulous, and simply said " Oui
out cst fini dans la Vendee."

This was not enough to satisfy M. Thiers.
" All is finished every where, M. Barrot, not only
in La Vendee, but every where. The hopes of the Le-
gitimists are finished ; the plots of the factions are
finished; the opposition Ito our wise and moderate re-
volution is finished ; the attacks to our form of Govern-
ment are finished ; the secret enmities of foreign Powers
are finished ; the reputation of the Bourbons is finished;
the Henry V. party is finished ; the hope of recognising
the throne d France is finished ; the Carlists arc finished ;
they can exist no longer as a party ; all predictions so in-
jurious to a new throne and new institutions are finished ;
in one word, tout est fini .

This was uttered with a rapidity almost inconceivable,
and in an air of triumph almost burlesque. M. Barrot
smiled—not acquiescence, but a littlo good-humoured sa-
tire, and he seemed to say, " I am glad you have finished
your harangue."
M. Barrot was not convinced by the flourish of drums
and trumpets which had just reached his ear; but, as is
the case with all who listen to M. Thiers, he was at least
amused.

Few men can talk better, that is more fluently and " co-
zily" than M. Thiers. lie goes on and on, and on and
on, never hunting for a word, never seeking for a phrase;
but manceuvring with his tongue so ably that he adopts
all its accents and words without your perceiving it, to the
emotions depicted on :your faces, or on the auditory he is
addressing. Coleridge was more eloquent than Thiers,
but by no means so persuasive.