The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint Simon. Abridged
ft om the French by Bayle St. John. Two vole.
Chapman and Hall.
The Memoirs of Saint Simon occupy a prominent
place in French historical literature. They form
one of those works, less va'orable from their direct
information than for that incidentally given, and-
more to be valued as giving a vivid and lifelike
picture of the minds anti monue!s of the time than
as an authentic record of history mad politics. The
work in French, we are told by the editor, occupies
twenty volumes, which he has reduced to four, the
first series being now issued, and the second to be
published in a short time. They furnish a sum-
mary of Court life during the latter-years of the
reign.of LouisXlV. and the Regency of the Duke of
Orleans, and the effect is very similar. to the
view of the fairy world by daylight. Mr..S t. John,
a most decided democrat, who very probably con-
siders Robespierre a greater man than Napoleon, is
delighted with such a congenial picture' prov-
ing ro his mind the innate wickedneas and media..
crity of kings; and leading him at last to wonder
at the small amount of the executions during the
French Revolution ! Those who may be inulined
to dispute the justness of these conclusitns, will
yet see in the extravagance and misgovernment of
this dissipated Court ti,e signs of the coming storm.
The last volume leaves the King, after his mawj ~
re-
verses in the% campaigns with Prince Eugene and
Marlborough, putting tax after tax on his over-
burdened people, while the lavish expenditure of
the Court •and its unworthy satellites was scarcely
curtailed. In that gaudy and dissolute circle, as one
after another dropped from it, their deaths seem-
to have been hardly heeded. A hurried whisper, a
day of excitement, a few hours of pretended sorrow,
were the only tributes rendered to the brother and
son of the King. The selfishness and heartlessness
of the head of the court set an example, readily
followed by the .others. St. Simon occasionally
indulges in a little moralising, but rejoices just as
much as the others over the death of his opponents.
The Duke of Bourgogne was the honourable excep-
tion to the Royal family. Had he come to the
throne instead of his contemptible son, Louis IV.,
how much mischief might have been delayed, if
not averted. The last chapter, of this series, leaves
him succeeding to the dignities cf his father. The
next will probably commence by telling us of the
death of his charming Duchess, so soon to be fol-
lowed by his own. The editor has exercised a
judicious description in his abridgment of the work,
but a little more severe censorship would have
been acceptable to English readers. In his
desire to show the closing days of that brilliant
court as they really were, and to give the gossip of
the day with the vraisemblance of the original, he
has admitted some Court scandals that could have
been well dispensed with. He asserts, no doubt
with correctness, 'that the undertaking has been
tedious and difficult. M. de St. Simon having
bleu most elaborate in his descriptions of all festi-
vities, ceremonial., and the like, and most diffu,e
in kis histories of the relations of relations of alt con-
cerned in any particular event, these detiila have
been wiseiy omitted, and also almost all St. Simon's
numerous discussons on points f precedenc,, &c.,
on which subject he seems to have been as i;Ja! tutted
as his Royal maser. Lie following extract from
the preface, by the editor, may be interesting to
those unacquainted with the biography of St.
Simon :

" The army was the first scene of St. Simon's worldly
experience. When very young he entered the King's Mus-
keteers; and in time rose to the command of a regiment.
He served in more than•one campaign, and appears to have
disch aged his duties conscientiously and well. While
still in the camp he began to mote down in a journal the
events that were occurring around him, incited to do so by
the pleasure he had received in reading the Memoirs of the
Marechal de Bassompierre. Even at this early time it is
evident that he was endowed with a rare power of obser-
vation, and good natural sagacity; and with a certain
rigidity of opinion which prevented him from much shar-
ing the vices with which he came in contact.
St. Simon's military career did not last long. Ho had
served more than five, years when the peace of Ryswick
I was signed ; and the field never saw him again. The great
war of the Spanish Succession began in 1702, and nearly
all Europe was involved in it, until the treaty of Utrecht
decided the question at issue; but St. Simon, being de-
prived of the promotion he thought himself entitled to,
resigned his rank. In this, doubtless, he acted wisely.
He seems to have had no special predilectionfor a military
life—never speaks of his interrupted career with soldierly
regret—does not even imply that he had talent in that
direction. The court, not the camp, claimed him. He
was formed to move, not amidst helmets and plumes, but
amidst powdered wigs and gold-headed canes—to wander
observant amidst fans and hoops, not tents and trenches.
In that sphere, looking on at the intrigues and schemes
that thickened or dispersed around him, joining in them
himself when a friend was to be served—for St. Simon
was evidently capable of friendship—or an enemy to be
thwarted—he was equally capable of enmity ;—maiutain-
ing himself in intimacy with most of the courtiers whose
views were in harmony with his own, and with many whose
views were very different; fighting for the rights and dig-
nity of his order with the tenacity of a man who regards
them almost as passports to eternal salvation, and who sees
that in the confusion of new grades and unusual privileges
arising, he and his fellows are counting for less and less
every day ; criticising the plans of government in opera-.
tion, and drawing up new plans of his own • noting with
a sort of prophetic cunning all political and diplomatic
changes threatened, the struggles to gain power and the
struggles to preserve it ; and all the while keeping his ear
open to reports of all domestic occurrences at the court—
the love-affairs, the scandals, the marriages, the tragedies
in this direction, the comedies in that; -such bzing his
position and occupation, we need not be surprised at the
vast extent and varied nature of his Memoirs. A more
active and public mode of life in which he would have been
forced to find work for the critics rather than play the
critic himself, would not have suited him so well ; and
would have injured the interests of posterity. We see this
plainly in the review of his career.
" During the lifetime of Louis XIV., St. Simon enjoyed
much indirect favour from his popularity with the leading
personages of the Court and the Government; but the
King, displeased with him in the first instance for his re-
tirement from the army, and afterwards for his deter-
mined stand in support of the most petty privileges of the
order to which he belonged—to say nothing of his pedan-
tic and meddling disposition— never bestowed much no-
tice upon him, and sometimes evinced marked coldness.
It was nut until the government fell into the bands of the
Duo d'Orleans, the Duo do Chartres of St. Simon's child-
hood, that his position changeo. With the Duo d'Orleans
he had always been on good terms. He had stood by him
in fair weather and in foul; and now to a certain extent
reaped the reward of his devotion. He became a mem-
ber of the Council of State ; and had nominally a voice in
deciding the affair aof the nation. But he was not meant
by nature to be a statesman any more than he was meant
to be a soldier. Abler and more unscrupulous intriguers
got hold of the helm ; and St. Simon, despite of his inti-
Macy with the Regent, never had any sensible influence on
great affairs, and continued to jot down notes of what he
know of the manners and character of the Court.
The historical portion of the work, the details of
Blenheim, Ma'plaquet, &c., and the account of how
the news was received in Paris will be to many the
most interesting portion. After the terrible re-
verse of Blenheim none dared to send the news, and
the public anxiety and suspense were fearful. On
another occasion after much delay the king dab-
patched Chamillart himself to bring the true state-
ment. The work will be welcome to many who
are desirous of rendering themselves in some de-
gree acquainted with so remarkable a work, afford-
ing as it does, through the lapse of a century and a
half, a glimpse of the petty strifes and dis
the splendid dissipation and selfish ambition, the
golden chains that were too often worn in the Court
of the Grand Monarque.

Ernest Basil. A Novel. By J. M'Grigor Allan,
author of "The Woman Hater," &c. 3 vole.

Newby.
This story may serve to amuse an idle hour.. It
is written in an agreeable manner, and contains
immense variety. The various adventures
and
Ernest Basil meets with are very entertainintga,tja ds
it is very curious to notice the
benefit
to which he is subjected in his
e Cters are well
those around him. The severfalc
theh awraisehief-maker,
.nusirlltsreste:
described, particularly that o
place to
generallypla ''ceo dnitsrsiev n3i
nig-
hhifalsehoods in order
IFlalactiiiidg'
the stories. Miss Fair-
weather is a sample of an arrogant and selfish girl,
and she is truly shown to be the style that_gene-
rally deceives people by false appearances. Elinor
Lawrence is a direct contrast to this, and the little
that is seen of her is very attractive. One of the
chief points of the story is the account given of the
hypocrisy that is practised to so great au extent by
persons . pretending to be so much better than
their neighbours, till they are suddenly discovered
giveh whois d a.gn go elaubso
to be worse than the generality. Of such wan
Sir Penny-wise Close, and also Flaccid. On the
whole, it is most probable that this tale will please
those who like lively and anecdotical sketches.

There is a Sardinian priest at Turin at present who is
in the 104th year of h:sage, being born in 1753. He hal
been presented to the King, who has added 100 f. to his
yearly pension. He does not look more than 60, and hie
hair is still black.
REPRESENTATION OF LEEDS.—Out of respect to the
character and memory of Mr. R Hall, the late member
f.r the borougl of Leeds, the leaders oreef the twoost chief
d to one
political patties in that borough have ag p p
all meetings or other active steps as to the future repre-
sentation of the borough until after the funeral of the
deceased hon. member. Ic is understood that the pro-
position for this arrangement was first made by the
Liberals, and was at once acceded to by the Conserva-
tives. Notwithstanding this highly creditable disposi-
tion on the part of the political leaders—a disposition that
has met with the approval of the great bulk of the inhabi-
tants of the borough—a placard, without imprint,
wa posted in Leeds yesterday, naming
s
Sir W. Clay as
a fit and proper person to be put in nomination as Mr.
Hall's successor. The Latne of Mr. Might has also
beta me!,tioned, even in preference to Mr. Cobden. by
some o line Liberals. but until after the funeral of Mr.
woica will take place to-morrow (Friday) at
Whitolcirk Church, mar Leeds, nothing certain can be
known or done.