The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-02 00:00:00

FRASER'S MAGAZINE.

The Church question, which just now engrosses
the attention of the laity as well as the clergy, is here
canvassed in a more temperate and conciliatory spirit
than we should have expected from such a High
Church periodical as Fraser; and the writer is of opi-
nion that an Act of Parliament authorising the
Bishops to take the question of rites and ceremonies
as observed in the Church into consideration, and to
settle the same from time to time, as to their collec-
tive wisdom might appear expedient, would prove at
once the most effectual and the least unpopular re-
medy for the serious evils under which the Establish-
ment laboured. This suggestion is not amiss, but we
fear it would be found very difficult to carry it into
execution. " A Walk from London to Fulham" is a
dull collection of local and other reminiscences, which
are only redeemed by the clever little wood-cuts with
which they are profusely illustrated. In a brief essay,
with the quaint title of " Glimpses of the Pageant of
Literature," the writer, in opposition to the theories
of Wolf and—if we remember rightly—of Payne
Knight, strenuously insists on the unity of Homer,
which no dispassionate individual could ever doubt
who had perused attentively the Iliad and the Odyssey.
" Some Rambling Remarks on Horace" contains
some passable critical observations. The remark that
" Horace was a selfish man" is perfectly just; he was
indeed a quick-witted man of the world, who never
lost sight of the interests of Number One, but his
selfishness was not of a repulsive order, but, on the
contrary, sate pleasantly, and even gracefully, upon
him. " A Fine Day in the Temple" consists of a
series of recollections of eminent lawyers who have
for the last two or three centuries taken up their
abode in this locality. Perhaps our readers may be
amused by the following anecdotes of Louis the
Eight tenth and Sir Sidney Smith, which we quote
from an article headed " Retrospective Gleanings :"
" Louis XVIII. made dining an object of the first im-
portance. The stories of his gourmandise are numerous:
when in England, an exile, he would daily insist on
seeing the fowls alive that were designed for his table,
and on examining into their plumpness himself. The
caustic remark of Talleyrand upon the journal which
the King published of his escape from Paris, is upon
record It was a journal of his fears and his bills of fare,
his bills of fare and his fears.' The last time we ever
saw him, he passed us in an open carriage as we were
crossing the Place Vedome. Be was of frightful bulk,
seeming to enlarge rapidly; from the knees upward, in
one formless mass of flesh and integument. We never
saw in humanity a more uncouth development of the
body, from the effects, no doubt, of his favourite indul-
gence in eating. It was the opinion of some that Louie
XVIII. was fond of reading: one of the garde de corps,
a young Irishman, being asked if this was the case by a
friend of ours, desired him to come to the Tuileries the
next day, when he should be there on duty, and he
would show him the royal library. The invitation was ac-
cepted ; the young garde de corps led the way to a place
which commanded a view of one of the lower apartments,
where there was a cook in a white dress spitting larks:—
That is the King's library,' said the young soldier ; I
knew no other nearer than the Rue Richelieu'—referring
to the great national library of France.
" We once saw the royal gourmand, in the character
of a soldier, reviewing troops for the first time : Louis
was comfortably seated in a calkhe, accompanied by her
whom Napoleon used to style the only man of the family,
the Duchess of Augouleme. The marshals of France,
whe had led the French armies to victory under a diffe-
rent ruler, were all there. On the ground were twelve
battalions of French guards, three Swiss regiments, two
regiments of cuirassiers, with chasseurs, dragoons, lan-
cers, and hussars of the guard ; a regiment of hussars
of the line, and six departmental legions, besides horse
and foot artillery; in all, above 20,000 men. The Duke
of Wellington and King of Prussia, we were told, were
on the ground incognito. The King of France and the
members of the Royal Family remained on the right flank.
We were much struck with the rapidity of the fire of the
artillery, which seemed to be a very perfect military
arm in the French service. We shall not easily forget
the dust and warmth of that day. Paris, in the height
of summer, has a degree of heat at times perfectly
tropical.
" At this review was Sir Sidney Smith, whom we had
met long before in England. His brother, Mr. Spencer
Smith, we had known almost from the time of his arrival
from Constantinople, where he had been charge d'affaires.
Sir Sidney was distinguished at that time by his leading
a grey horse about the streets, on the back of which we
never once saw him mounted ; he was peculiar for the
smartness of his dress, wearing a claret-coloured coat
with gold buttons. Sir Sidney's merits were never duly
appreciated by the Ministry under which he was em-
ployed : he was too chivalrous for cabinet men and
officials at home ; they disliked him, and he had no love
for them ; he saw much further than they did. His
agreement with the French for the evacuation of Egypt,
which Lord Keith rescinded on his arrival, was repre-
sented to Sir Sidney's disadvantage at home. What was
the result but that, after a most expensive expedition
from England, the blood shed in two or three sanguinary
contests, with the death of Abercromby and the expense
of a second army sent from India—after all these useless
sacrifices, the French obtained terms very little more to
their disadvantage than Sir Sidney had granted. Sir
Sidney's mind was extremely active: simple and straight-
forward, his imagination was continually at work."