The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
DI .i; I L 1: 1 , .Vu.
Longman, London, 1844.
The subject of " Popular Delusions "—a prolific
theme—is amusingly treated in this Number. The
Reviewer, however, is mistaken when, in reference to
the crime of poisoning, so general in Italy during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centurie, he states that
"in France awl England this crime, though occa-
sionally practised, never became common." Unfor-
tunately in the reign of Elizabeth, and more
especially of her successor James, no mode
of assassination was more common among
our higher classes, and not a few women
are known to have lived in affluence in the metro-
polis by their skill in compounding deadly drugs, and
the handsome sums which were paid for them by
their reckless customers. In France the practice of
poisoning was of still more frequent occurrence, and
was first introduced into that country by the Italian
druggists and perfumers, who swarmed in Paris
during the demoralising sway of Catherine de Medici,
and received no stinted share of Court patronage.
Catherine herself was a first-rate genius as a poi-
soner. She dispatched her enemies in the most
scientific manner possible, and with an adroitness that
bade defiance to discovery. One was got rid of by a
pair of perfumed gloves, sent her as a mark of delicate
attention by her royal mistress ; another, by a per-
fumed rose ; and a third, by the ingenious contrivance
of a poisoned billet. In the reign of Louis XIV. this
crime reached its acme, but the severe measures
adopted by Government contributed greatly to its
suppression, and still more the general horror excited
by the trial of the infamous Marchioness of Brin-
villiers, who was found guilty of having poisoned
her father and her two brothers, and of having at-
tempted also the lives of her husband and her sister.
This amiable creature was remarkably gentle in her
manners, of a prepossessing countenance, and much
addicted to sentimentality. The' " Late Census"
states some curious particulars relative to the increase
of population within the last ten years ; and alluding
incidentally to one distinguishing point in Sir R.
Peel's tariff, which it appears has been in some de-
gree a failure, the Reviewer remarks :—" The Pre-
mier allowed the importation of foreign cattle
and of American junks ; but, alas! it was found,
though oxen could be fed in and shipped from
distant countries at a cheaper rate than under
the present system they can be slaughtered in
England, yet that the Bay of Biscay affords too
hazardous a transit, and the heats of summer too
insidious an hostility, to encourage the importation of
live cattle or of fresh meat; while the salted com-
modity supplied by our transatlantic brethren occupies
a position below that to which British stomachs have as
yet generally descended." In the " Memoirs of the
Duke de la Force," we have arapid summary of some of
the most remarkable events that took place in France
from the period of the St. Bartholomew massacre
down to within a few years of the breaking out of the
childish and ridiculous wars of the Fronde. Refer-
ring to the favourite policy of Richelieu, the Re-
viewer says that "by levelling social superiorities,
abolishing privileges, and dismantling the citadels of
the reformed party, this arbitrary Minister pre-
pared future dangers for the monarchy." This
is perfectly true, as the sequel proved, for
during the feeble and disastrous reign of Louis XVI.,
when the Crown most needed support against the
rapid encroachments of the revolutionary principle,
the noblesse—who had been deprived of substantial
power for upwards of a:century, and had become
the mere sycophants and hangers-on of the throne
—were found wholly unable to render that
support, and the Monarch, was left to fight
his battle with the people a10ne.... " George
Selwyn and his Contemporaries" is a notice of Mr.
Jesse's pleasant gossiping work on this subject. The
Reviewer enlivens his criticism by brief biographical
sketches of some of the most remarkable characters
who flourished during the last half of the eighteenth
century. The following is, his account of the Duke of
Queensberry—an eccentric, profligate nobleman, who
died in the year 1810, at the patriarchal age of 85 :
" He was born in 1725, succeeded his father in the
earldom of March in 1731, his mother in the earldom of
Ruglen in 1748, and his cousin in the dukedom of Queens-
berry in 1778, being then in his fifty-third year. Few
men of his day acquired greater notoriety, or were more
an object of inquiry .or speculation ; yet he took little
part in political events, except so far as his own interests
were affected by them, and it would have been better for
his reputation had he taken none. When the King's
malady grew serious, in 1788, he gave in his allegiance
to Fox ; and on the recovery of his royal master, was
unceremoniously dismissed from his situation of Lord of
the Bedchamber, which he had held for twenty-eight
years, notwithstanding the known profligacy of his life.
Wraxall says he took a journey fb Windsor to learn the
exact condition of the King, but he was misled by Dr.
Warren. The mistake mattered little. His business was
pleasure, his passions were women and the turf ; and he
contrived to gratify both, without impairing either his
fortune or his constitution. As regards the turf, he was
thoroughly versed in all its ;mysteries, and seldom in-
lulged in any sort of gaming unconnected with it, or
relating to matters where any undue advantage could be
taken of him. On, the contrary, he was generally on
the look-out for opportunities of turning his own shrewd-
ness and coolness to account. A curious instance is
related. in Edgworth's memoirs.
" Lord March had noticed a coachmaker's journeyman
running with a wheel, and oh'ininuting him by a stop-
watch, found that tie actually Tatra considerable distance
taster with it than most men could run unencumbered.
A. waiter in Betty's fruit-shop was famous for speed.
Lord March adroitly introduced the topic, and maintain-
ng what appeared a paradox, easily got bets to a large
tmount, that the waiter. would run faster for a mile than

my one c.arld run with the kintl•wheel of his Lord-
.hip's carriage, then standing at the door. But he com-
mitted a trifling oversight. The wheel was lower than
:he wheel the man was used to run With;' find the biter
could have been bit, had not Sir Francis Blake Delaval
:t.lirgested an expedient. The night before the match.
Blanks were obtained from the Board of Works, and a
..aised groove, for the wheel to run in, was constructed
across the course. The journeyman won, and the Jockey
Club decided in Lord March's favour. Another of his bets
came before the Court of King's Bench. He had laid a
.eager of five hundred guineas with young Iff. Pigot, that
Id Mr. Pigot (the father) would die before Sir William
Codrington. Old dr. Pigot died the same 'morning be-
ore the making of the wager, but neither of the parties
was acquainted with the fact. The Court held that the
dutiful and hopeful heir must pay. A startling example
if this style of bet is mentioned by Walpole. I, t'other
eight at White's, found a very remarkable entry in our
very remarkable wager-book!—Lord bets Sir
twenty guineas that Nash outlives Cibber. How odd
;hat these two old creatures should live to see both Itheit
,vagerers put an end to their own lives!' Lord March's
rate or betting was never very high. The largest sum
he appears to have won or lost at any race or meeting,
(lining the period over which this correspondence ex-
tends, was 4,1001., and this is mentioned as a rare oc-
currence."

CONSTANCE D'OYLEY. 3 Vols.
Bentley, London. 1844.
The incidents in this story—which, like those of
Miss Austen, is wholly of a domestic character—are
few and simple, and put together in the most inarti-
ficial mariner possible. They have all, however, the rare
merit of probability, and, in consequence, the reader's
interest is kept up throughout the narrative. The princi .
pal recommendation, however, of Constance D'Oyley
consists in the skill with which the leading characters
are delineated. Those, in particular, of the heroine
Constance, and her unfortunate young friend, Isabel
Hernshaw, are discriminated with great nicety; the one
exhibiting in her career the effects of a careful and
conscientious education ; the other, of an artificial
and dishonest one. The dialogues are uniformly
natural and appropriate, and, when opportunity offers,
by no means deficient in sprightliness. A little
more variety and breadth of incident would not have
been amiss ; still the story is worth reading, and
points an excellent moral. The lighter scenes are the
most successful, with the sole exception of that
wherein the author relates the tragic death of Isabel
Hernshaw, which is described with no ordinary vigour.