The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-24 00:00:00

ITERAT URE

Caste. By the author of " Mr. Ark." 3 vols.

Hurst and Blackett.

Those who have read "Mr. Arle" will recognise
in these volumes the same vigorous style and
grapLic description, with the additional attrac-
tions of some characters more interesting, and a
story better developed. As may he supposed from
the title, the purport of the work is to demonstrate
the evil effects accruing from pride awl prejudice
in the mingling and meeting of the different classes
of society. Isabel Weld, the heroine, is an
effective character, which is finely drawn and fully
illustrated. She presents altogether a most finished
sketch of how an imperious temper and an H.-
directed ambition can combine to mar and destroy
the more genial influences of a kindly heart and
the more noble aspirations of an upright mind.
She defeated her own object by her overweening
pride. Had she accepted Reginald Long, ber's
would, in all probability, have been a better fate ;
but, in marrying such a ram as Percy Blanchard,
she set the seal on her doom. From henceforth
there spread before her one long desert march of strife,
anger, and dissension. She had allied herself with
unworthy motives, on a wrong principle to a man
she could net even respect, and therefore with her
scornful spirit and undisciplined temper, her misery
was to be expected as a matter of course. She was,
like many other enthusiasts, inconsistent in her
actions. She began life by assuring those around
her that she d.espi=ed the sneers of sarcastic rank,
and the frowns of those who demurred at her leav-
ing for an lost int the precincts of her station,
" Their pride is yet no match for mine,
Too proud to care from whence I came,"
she indignantly exclaimed, but she denied this
assertion in her actions when she married into a

higher sphere, and especially to one who was so
unfitted for her in every way as Percy. The suc-
ceeding pains and penalties which she underwent
for some years after her ill-assorted union are very
well described to us, uor is there anything exag-
gerated in these seemingly strange colours, she had
sown the whirlwind and she reaped the storm,
nothing wild or gentle could have wrought a change
or effected a diversion, in one of so adamant a will,
and of so heidstrong a disposition. To show her
altered, must have been to show her as passing
through the furnace by which iron is tempered, or
as facing the hurricane in which the forest
king is laid low. The author has vary
aptly displayed the faults and follies of both sides
in the warfare of "caste;" it is often the custom iu
works of this sort to pouttray the lower orders as
possessed of virtues and talents to an unlimited
extent, and the higher classes as full of all imaginable
defects, here we have a clearer insight and a better
judgment pressed into the servica. v Isabel was not
the one, with all her merits, to break down any
barriers of reserve, and quell prejudices by disarming
criticism and censure. _ Reginald Long..pAsessed

the power and displayed the spirit so seldom seen
and rarely encountered, of acknowledging merit
wherever it exists, and recognising talents in a
more equivocal position than obscurity i self. He
thought thr: pride of genius could match the pride
of birth, and was superior, inasmuch as its patent
of nobility was not bestowed by man. Will a
character like this, the fate of the wayward Isabel
would have augured the happiest auspices, and
she would have seen the companion she had chosen
for the world's highway, neither make an empty
boast of his courage at first, nor when put to the
trial in the ordeal of polite society, be ashamed of his
choice. Mr. Blanchard, the father of Percy, is an
instance of the absurdity people evince iu endea-
vouring to suit their own convenience, and
fulfil their wishes. It was inconsistent to refuse
to allow the bryther to enter his family, and then
solicit the sister to do so ; as Isabel told him, he
was choosing the worst of the two. Clara Blanchard
is of a weaCdisposition, but amiable, and likely to
do more good in her quiet way, than Isabel, with
.all her impulsive, but ill-directed feelings. It is
evident in this work, from its opening to its close,
that it is designed fora higher purpose than that of
mere amusement, and the reader will allow it to
have been well carried out in its execution. It is
the result of thought on an important and a
weighty question, ono which concerns some vital
interests of the community, and one fur want of
whose right understandii, the welfare of society is
at stake. It may fairly lay claim, then, to some
share of attention, and merits respect even from
those who do not subscribe themselves advocates
of its principles, on account of its temperat 3 spirit
and straightforward arguments, an ingenuity in
description, and a power in detail, characterise
the narrative, and impart a zest and energy
which render attractive the common-place and
mean, while they add.. lustre to the higher and
more noble.

The Memoirs of the Duke of Saint ,Simon.
Abridged from the French. By Bayle St. John.
Vols. 3 and 4. Chapman and Hall.
Thesis are the two concluding volumes of this
work, and bring the reader do wn to the death of M.
D'Orleans, the Regent, in 1723, eight years after
the death of the Grand Monarque himself. Though
the style of the translation is not always commend-
able,ae. d though it isan al most hopeless task to in-Ake
such a brief abridgment of such a voluminous work,
yet to the reader, unacquainted with the original,
it serves to convey some idea of the style and cha-
racter of those celebrated memoirs. It also will
give a view of the Court life of that (by,
of the open heartlessness and di-sipation, the un-
concealed sycophancy that ran from the death-bed
of the king to pay court t.) the slighted Duc
D'Orleans, but on hearing the king was a little
better immediately ran back again. Louis XIV.
died on the Ist of September, 1715. in the 75th
year of his age, and the 72d of his reign. "Europe,"
exclaims St. Simon, " never saw a reign so long
nor France a king so old." He saw his sons and
his grandsons, and his great grandson die before
him; the King of Spain being his only remaining
grandson, and the only heir to the throne being the
fragile Louis XVta.,cwkli-ili o
iiiiis inf
arrowallyeye. As
s)ed if
in
with life
a serious a'
judg-
ment of the harshness and selfishness with which
he treated his relatives, he survived them almost
all, and was hirnself deserted in Lis last hours by
Madame de Maintenon. Who can tell how much
the extravagance and vices of that Court, the mis-
government and oppression of the Grand Monarque
and his ministers had to answer for the o-mvulsioris
that desolated France—for the victims of the guillo-
tine, and the horrors of the Reign of Terror ? St.
Simon gives at some length the character of the
King and of Madame de Maintenon. Here is an
extract from the former :
"Louis XIV. was made for a brilliant Court. In
the mid,t of other men, his figure, his courage, his
grace, his beauty, his grand mien, even the tone of
his voice and the majestic and natural charm of all
his person, distinguished him till his death as the
King Bee, and showed that if he had only been born
a simple private gentlemen, be wo&rl equally have ex-
celled in fetes, pleasures, and gallantry, and would have
bad the greatest success in love. The intrigues and
adventures which early in life he had been engaged in—
when the Conitesse do Soissons lodeed at the Tuileries,
as superintendent of the Qeeen's household, and WA.
the centre figure of the Court group—had exercissd
an unfortunate influence upon him : he received those
impressions with which he condi never after success-
fully struggle. From this time, intellect, education,
nobi.ity of sentiment, and high principle, in others,
became objects of suspicion to him, and soon of hatred.
The more he advanced in years the more this senti-
ment was confirmed in him. He wished to reign by
himself. His jealousy on this point unceasingly,
became weakness. He reigned, indeed, in little things ;
tie great he could never reach ; even in the former,
too, he was often governed. The snperier ability of
his early ministers aed his early generals soon wearied
him. He liked nobody to be in any way superior to
him. Thus he chose his ministers, not for their know-
ledge, but for their ignoraace ; not for their capacity,
but for their want of it. He liked to form them, as he
said ; liked to teach them even the most trifling things.
It was the same with his generals. He took credit to
himself for instructing there ; wished it to be thought
that from his cabinet be commanded and directed all
his armies. Naturally fond of trifles, be unceasingly
occupied himself with the most petty details of his
troops, his household, his mansions ; would even
instruct his cooks, who received, like novices, lessens
they had known by heart for years. This vanity, this
unmeasured and unreasonable love of admiration, was
his ruin. His ministers, his generals, his mistresses,
his courtiers, soon perceived his weakness. They
praised him with emulation and spoiled him. Praises,
or to say truth, flattery, pleased him to such an extent,
that the coarsest was well received, the vilest even
better relished. It was the sole means by which yeti
could approach hint. Those whom he liked owed his
affection for them to their untiring flatteries. This is
what gave his ministers so much authority, and the
opportunities they had for adulating him, of attributing
everything to him, and of pretending to 1 arti every-
thing from him. Suppleness, meanness, an admiring,
dependent, cringing manner—above all, an air of no-
thingness—were the sole means of pleasing him."
The following is not without its moral :
" On Friday the 6th of September. the Cardinal de
Rolla!' carried the heart to the Grand Jesuits, with very
little accompaniment or pomp. Except the persons
necessary fer the cerernoey, not half-a-dozen courtiers
were present. It is not for me to comment upon this
prompt ingratitude, I, who for fifty-two years have
never once missed going to St. Denis on the anniver-
sary of the death of Louis XIII., and have never
seen a single person there on the same errand. On
the 9th of September, the body of the late King was
buried at St. Denis. The Bishop of A leth pronounced
the oration. Very little expense was gone to ; and
nobody was found who cared sufficiently for the late
King to murmer at the economy. On Friday the
25th of October, his solemn obsequies took place at
St. Denis in a confusion, as to rank and precedence,
without example. On Thuraday, the 28th of Novena.