The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-01 00:00:00

BENTLEY'S MISCELLANY.

What Charles Dickens is to the Cockneyisms of
" London Life" that is Albert Smith to those of " Pa-
risian Life." His conclusion of "Mr. Ledbury's Adven-
tures" in the present number is full of broadly hu-
mourous but most truthful sketches of life in the
" Quartier Latin." His description of the dinner
" Chez Viot" (in our student days Flicoteau was the
patronized of the Paris students) is as minutely
graphic as an .interior by Teniers. Dr. W. C.
Taylor brings down the history of the Albigenses
and the Troubadours to the time of the
defeat of Raymond VII., and the destruction of the
Albigenses by the establishment of the Inquisition in
Toulon, where the renegade Bishop Folquet prac-
tised a system of cruelty and plunder, dooming men
to torture as heretics because they were suspected of
being suspicious, until science faded from the land
and literature disappeared; but, as Dr. Taylor justly
observes, " a remnant of the reformed religion sur-
vived in the mountains of Cevennes until Louis XIV.
completed the destruction which Louis IX. had com-
menced. The war of the Camisards was the com-
pletion of the war against the Albigenses."
The history of that most iniquitous war,
of the intrigues which led to it, of the
manner in which the superstitious fears of that
drivelling old bigot Louis XIV. were worked upon
by the sanctified demirep Madame de Maintenon
and the designing Jesuit Pere la Chaise, has yet to be
written. No living author is so fitted to do justice
to this theme as Dr. W. C. Taylor, and we beseech
him to set about it straight. Under the title of " Shots
from an old six-pounder," we have some agreeable re-
miniscenses by an old soldier of the Great Marlow
military school in its infancy (1808). The next paper,
" Travels and Travellers in Italy," should be studied by
everyone who travels, not only in Italy but in any other
country, and who wishes to derive the greatest pos-
sible amount of benefit from his travels. The fol-
lowing observations on the ignorance and presumption
of certain modern tourists are not more severe than
just

" There is no country that has not suffered under the
injustice of ignorance ; none that has not been wronged
and insulted with a levity that, between man and man,
fear of consequences renders impossible. But the un-
generous, the presumptuous, and the reckless know that
they may calumniate a whole people with impunity--
alasl with success and advantage. This is a war in
which the battle is pre-eminently to the weak. The un-
calculating levity of a sprightly woman, or the discom-
posed habits of a self-indulging one, or the mortifi
cations of a vain one, have sent streams of gall flowing
through all the hidden channels of society, and added
to the difficulties which the masculine vices of lust of
power, of glory, or of blood, are continually raising up
in the way of tnose who sacrifice their own peace to the
peace of the world. While people think it lawful and
expedient to publish their impressions' of a country,
of which they do in fact know nothing, and which they
are, nine times out of ten, incapable of judging ; while
these ' impressions' are almost always communicated by
the most impressionable, consequently the least reflect-
ing, part of society ; while conscience is not even con-
sulted about the truth, this evil will continue, and will
increase ; till, at length, the public will turn round upon
its pleasant deceivers, and will ask for more trust-
worthy guides."
This paper is from the pen of Mrs. Austin.
The Doctor's story is continued in the present
chapter of Brien O'Linn, and then follows " An In-
dian Tragedy," by Agnes Lascelles, which would not
be unworthy the pen of Cooper. "The Flaneur in Paris"
continues his agreeable sketches of Parisian life, while
Alfred Crowquil gives us an amusing peep at society
in London. The illustrations to the present number
are " Mr. Ledbury in an awkward predicament," by
Leech, and a portrait of Hans Christian Andersen,
the Danish novelist, accompanied by a memoir.
" Scenes of Italian Life," "Doncaster," by the author
of " Gaming, Gaming: Houses, and Gamesters," and
" Military Punishments of the Romans," by Everard
Clive, are all well written articles. The number
concludes with a personal narrative by Mr. C. Kean,
of the unfortunate attack upon Heki's Pah, in New
Zealand, in 1845, in which Lieutenant Philpotts and
Captain Grant were killed, and our troops defeated
with considerable loss.