The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-20 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

CHURCH OF ENGLAND QUARTERLY RE-
VIE W. No. XXX. Painter, London, 1844.
The " History of the Wars of the Fronde," a work
lately published by the Count de St. Aulaire, French
Ambassador at the' Court of St. James's, forms the
subject of a hasty and slight, but amusing notice -in
the present number of this journal. The Reviewer
warmly insists on the childishnes and want of faith
and sincerity that characterises the majority of those
those who took part in those wars, and with justice;
for there was scarcely a man among them all who
knew or cared what he was fighting about; even the
Court party, with Anne of Austria and the wily Car-
dinal Mazarin at their head, who might have 'been
supposed to be terribly in earnest in their efforts to
retain possession of their despotic authority, were con-
stantly changing their views, shifting their ground of
attack, and giving way to their apprehensions; while,
as regards the heads of the movement party, they were
found changing sides, with unparalled expedition and
effrontery—one day fighting in the foremost ranks of
the Frondeurs, the next offering their swords to the
Court, as in the case of the Prince de Conde—a sort
of privileged turn-coat, who sided with either party,
just as suited his whim, his interest, or his conveni-
ence. In all the voluminous records of ancient or
modern history, there is no chapter so absurd, so
rife with the materials of the richest farce, as that
which relates to the wars of the Fronde. -In
the notice of "Doctor Bloomfield's Thucydides "
there is not much critical comment of value, but we
find instead a biographical sketch of the great Greek
historian, together with a rapid summary of his cha-
racter as a man and as a writer. This summary is
well digested in point of matter, and is full of truth,
especially the following remark :—" Thucydides as-
certained his facts correctly, and threw his own ar-
dour into the scene by making himself an actor in it,
and thinking how he should have spoken and acted
under similar circumstances. '1 his he did without at
all falsifying history, though the words may net be
the very words used on the occasion, for the character
of the speaker, as well as the actual state of things
and the results, are all scrupulously attended to."
The " Reformation Unavoidable" is a difficult and
complicated subject, treated with temper, and with
more fairness than we should have expected. "Doc-
tor Hookwell " is a notice of a religious novel, pub-
lished a few months since, and which is more remark-
able for its zeal than its ability. We quote from the
article on the Fronde some amusing details connected
with the Prince de Conde :
" It was characteristic enough of Mazarin, that while
Paris was in this condition, and the Parliament had
ordered the Princes to be restored to freedom, he him-
self hastened to Havre, to give liberty to Conde and his
brother, as though the boon came from the Cardinal,
and not from the people and Parliament. The wily
Minister employed every means to acquire the friendship
and co-operation of the man he had betrayed ; but the
latter had present thoughts but for his triumph ; he
hurried from Havre, leaving the Cardinal to seek a
refuge in some one of the fortified towns of the king-
dom, and entering Paris like a conqueror, he repaired to
the palace, to manifest his joyful respects to the Queen,
as she lay,..pale, haggard, and enraged, in bed. The
people, no'less volatile than the Prince, cheered him on
his return to freedom, even as they had cheered when he
was dragged to captivity. The power of his house be-
came greater than ever. Mazarin was an exile ; the
Queen without influence ; and the Parliament despised.
The nobility rejoiced in the triumph of the Prince, as a
triumph belonging to their order ; and there is no dDubt
that this was the period when the suggestion was first
whispered into Condes ear to seize upon the person of
the King, who was yet a minor, and so possess himself
of sovereign and supreme authority. And now, too, it
was that the French clergy, in a body, first openly
espoused the cause of the nobility against the Parlia-
ment and people ; and the opposing factions were the
burgesses and magistracy against the aristocracy and the
Church. The nobles, confident in their position, so little
respected the power of the Great Chamber, that, on the
latter remonstrating against the factious union opposed
to them, the chiefs of the aristocracy threatened to pro-
ceed, to the Parliament, and fling the President and his
son into the river ! In this struggle, however, the legal
authorities remained victorious ; for Conde, after re-
maining neutral for a time, gave them the advantages of
his secret co-operation ; and out of the intrigues which
followed, but which we have not time to narrate, the
Queen, the Cardinal, and Conde himself, rose to power
and authority. But it was again the fate of the last to
be betrayed, and that by (the Queen, who hated and
feared him, and who did not rest till he was again a pro-
scribed and flying enemy. His terror was so great, that,
at the head of a body of armed men, he fled at early
dawn, before a corps of pursuers, which daylight re-
vealed to be nothing but a number of old women and
children going to market on high trotting donkeys !
After partaking for a while of the gaieties of St. Maur,
and leaving Gondi in Paris, plotting against him in per-
son, where an air of sanctity and the society of the
clergy by day were exchanged by this licentious priest
for drunken orgies and the company of his mistresses by
night, Condo took heart at length, and boldly returned
to the capital to overcome his enemies in general, and
Gondi, who was moving the Frondeurs and the Parlia-
ment against him, in particular. These two foes met in
that assembly, flung reproaches and invectives at each
other day after day, and excited such universal interest,
that four thousand citizens escorted the public mistress
of their Archbishop, for such Gondi now was, on her
way to hear the debates that concerned her lover and the
Prince."

The ROYAL FAMILY of HANOVER.
(From the Liverpool Journal.)
A young gentleman from Liverpool, who has been
residing for some time back at Hanover, has furnished
us with the following interesting particulars of the
domestic life of the King of Hanover and his family,
—being a continuation of a paper on the same sub-
ject which appeared in the Journal a couple of months

since :
More gossip from Hanover—The English Church—Little
known about it—Strange observances—Diplomatic indig-
nation and Royal resentment—Appearance of the whilom
Duke of Cumberland—lntere.sting particulars of the
Crown Prince—Affecting deportment of himself and
father at the Sacrament—Laxity of the King in high
Church observances—Dancing arid amusements on a Sun-
day at Court—Popularity of the English language at
Court, and the reason of it—Little respects shown to the
ex-Grand Master of Orangemen—Attachment of all classes
to the Crown Prince—Scarcity of English residents at
Hanover—Pranks of John Bull, and consequent estimate
of the British character by the natives—Tyranny of
fashion in England, and the ridicule it provokes on the
Continent—Word of advice to Cockney tourists.
Of the 30,000 inhabitants of Hanover, who, mind-
ful of their business, and caring much more for their
pipes and their beer than for the million creeds which
are tearing this poor world to tatters, there are not
fifty who suspect for an instant, that in the heart of
their city, and in the palace of their king, there
is performed every Sunday, by an English chap-
lain, the service of the Church of England.
Though naturally open as the day, and as much ex-
posed to be known as is possible in a country where
there is no press, yet, in speaking to a native upon
the subject, it is difficult to make him believe that
there is such a thing as this hidden church in exis-
tence. A few words about this mysterious institution
and its upholders, may not prove totally uninteresting.
On becoming monarch of the realm of Hanover,
Ernest Augustus did not resume the religion of his
famed ancestors, the elder Electors, but retained that
of his father, the King's : and, accordingly, as, after
the fatigues of Government, he must needs pray
in the good old English popery-hating fashion, it
was necessary he should have a suitable place to pray
in. But from the small number of his country-
men who honoured his capital with their residence,
it would not be worth while to build a church for his
sole Royal use ; and he was, therefore, necessitated to
put up with the sdme excuse for one that had been
used by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, at
the time the Royal dining-out Duke was viceroy;
and also to order, from the Archbishop of Can-
terbury, a special minister for his chaplain. This
said building is, as I have already stated, in the
King's palace. On entering, one passes by a pair of
sentinels, whiskered, musketed, and inoustached, in
the most approved Prussian manner, and who con-
stantly greet one with the greatest astonishment at
seeing so many foreign-looking people entering the
Royal residence, as if for a deuner with the King.
After passing these armed " aids to reflection," it
is necessary to proceed through corridor after corridor,
on the way to the church, at one moment knocking
against against a greasy cook wending to the kitchen,i
into
threading a drawing-room, or, perllpps,u tumbling
but by
a bed-room, whose occupant
dstii
re
asleeps'nd there, one
the help of a few hussars poste
ins.
orea t t
laasat sae
lt a
rrgi ge ltrhee
rc hs
itlrarb.c
litisecelkf
ni sg id! oi ngg.
room ,• and formerly where luscious odours used to
1 and; r la'
ascend, and toasts and songs went round with the
champagne, there are now”only heard pious responses
and deep-toned " Amens. in a corner, at the head
of the room, there is a small pulpittr are
er
placedthe clergy-
man, the Rev. Mr. Wilkinson, and close to it a small
l
iallatnard.somlemiymeaddioartneleydbefore
chairs, thwhicheaa one understands
at a glance have been set there for the King, the
Crown Prince, and the Crown Princess, the latter of
whom, however, but seldom attends,_ from the fact of
her being a member of the Lutheran church. Be-
hind the royal seats are five or six chairs for the
British Ambassador, the Hon. Mr. Bligh, and the rest
of the embassy ; and behind these again are a num-
ber of indiscriminate chairs for allwhomay desire to
form a part of the congregation,
the whole of whom,
however, king and canaille, never amount to more
than fifty. people. On last Christmas-day, when the
sacrament was given, the sight was most interesting.
After being seated for some time, I heard a clatter of
tongues within the folding-doors, all.speaking in an
angry tone, but far above them all was heard raging
the continual squeak of one of the most unmusical
voices I ever heard in my life, which some one near
me whispered was the property of his Majesty, Ernest
Augustus. Suddenly all ceased, and in walked the
old King, in his usual undress hussar uniform, his
face seemingly red and broiling with anger, which,
contrasting with his snow-white whiskers and mous-
taches, gave his physiognomy a most, odd appear-