The Sun.
London, England, 1829-08-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

FOREIGN QUARTERLY REVIEW, No. VIII.
The singular history of Masaniello, the fisher-
man of Naples, who, in ten days, raised himself
from the condition of a fisherman to the sove-
reignty of one of the finest cities in the world,
has been of late rendered familiar to the public
by Constable's popular Miscellany, and now
forms the opening article of the number before
us. This article is written with much spirit and
grace, but is, we think, rather severe upon the
mental qualifications of Masaniello. The man
who could so adroitly contrive to gain the public
ear, as in the brief space of three days to be ena-
bled to put himself at the head of 40,000 souls ;
who could organize, carry on, and accomplish a
revolution which conferred the most lasting
benefits on his country ; and, above all, who
could gain such a magical ascendancy over
the minds of the Neapolitans, that " when he
waved his hand the people shouted ; when he
placed his finger on his lips, the roaring multi-
tude became hushed as • death : when he com-
manded them to return to their homes, the
court-yard, as if by magic, was evacuated in an
instant ;" such a man must, we conceive, have
possessed a very superior order of intellect.—
But the- Reviewer objects to him that he was the
mere creature of circumstances. So, more or
less, is every man. What was Napoleon but the
creature of the Revolution ? Does the Reviewer

imagine that if this transeendant warrior had

I lived fifty years earlier, he would have been Em-
peror of the French ? fiver ;he was moulded'
' like Masaniello by the events that immediately
preceded, and grew up about him, and like the
Neapolitan fisherman (and herein both showed
their superior intellect) knew how to avail
himself of them. The close of the Revo-
lution at Naples, in which the Duke de
Guise figured, is highly interesting. The
Reviewer gives an animated sketch of this Prince's
private character—for the materials of which,
so far as our memory serves us, he seems to be
indebted to the late Mr. Seward--of his chival-
rous turn of mind, his gallantry and love of in-
trigue, his splendour, acquirements, and dissi-
pation. It seems that, after the death of Masa-
niello, who on the eighth day of his exaltation
to unlimited despotism was seized with madness,
and on the tenth was put to death by the fickle
populace who but a week before had hailed him
as their saviour, the Spanish Viceroy at Naples
wished to induce the people to return to their
old allegiance. France however, to which the
kingdom had about a century before belonged by
right of her acquisition of Anjou, was anxious
to renew her claim, and accordingly empowered
the Duke de Guise, then intriguing fora divorce
at Rome, to recover it for her. This Prince
gladly undertook the task, intending however to
secure the kingdom for himself; but finding
every thing in a state of anarchy—a blacicsmith
at the head of the people, the- Spanish Viceroy
at the head of the nobility, and both parties
equally unwilling to enter into any sort of ac-
commodation, the expedition ,failed, and the
Duke was compelled to return to Paris, where,
lost in some degree to political life, he ultimately
figured as Grand Chamberlain tti Louis the
Fourteentii; thln a young and dissipated sove-
reign. Such is the substance of the present ar-
ticle which, as we before observed, is strikingly
interesting, if only from the extreme contrast
between its two heroes. Masaniello, the rude,
rough, unlettered fisherman, figures strangely,
next the courtly, polished, handsome, and well-
informed Duke. Both, singularly enough, were
revolutionists; but the man of the world failed,
while the dreaming.enthusiast, with little but his
mental energy to back him, succeeded. We re-
commend this portion of Italian history to Sir
Walter Scott ; it is all comprised within a period
of three years, or less, and from its amazing va-
riety of character and incident cannot fail in his
hands to make a first rafd tale. We subjoin a
description of the Duke de Guise ; he is a hero
of romance ready made for him :
_ _

" Henry de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, was one of the
most remarkable men at the Court of Fiance. Richelieu
had, indeed, subdued and chained to the throne those great
princes whose power had repeatedly shaken it ; but their
children still continued tf) cherish the high spirit of
chivalry which had been the idol of their fathers; and
glory and lady's love were no less the topics of the
Court than when Francis I. did homage to the beautiful
Diana of Valentinois at Fontainebleau,

66 The Duke of Guise united in his person the qualities
both of the romantic heroes of the period, and of such as
stood high in the political world. Young, handsome, ac-
complished in all exercises, witty and agreeable as Gram-
mont, amorous as Amadis, and inconstant as his brother
Don Galaor, he was accounted irresistible among the fur
sex. A soldier brave as Bayard, and possessed of all the
ambition of all the Guises, Henry of Lorraine was fit
both to conceive and to execute the most extraordinary
enterprises. With the most perfect resolution, and the
most acute discernment, be possessed the art of eloquence
that addresses the heart through the ear, the graces of dig-
nified simplicity which men love, but in a superior degree
the power of using at will that species of cold politeness
which is the most poignant way of expressing contempt.
Such a character was formed to amuse, and perhaps to
scandalize, the Court with his amours, and disturb it with
his political intrigues, in both which spheres he was re-
markably active.
" The Duke of Guise had been originally designed for
the church, and at fifteen years of age was promoted to
the Archbishopric of Rheims, though his taste inclined
hint towards the army. But on the death of his elder
brother, the Prince ofJoinville, in 1639, he instantly re-
nounced the Archbishopric, the duties of which had been
performed by other hands while lie was pursuing his mili-
tary career in Italy and Germany, and on the death of his
father next year, he joyfully returned to France, to ex-
change the first ecclesiastical peerage of the kingdom for
the peerage of his family, more happy in his freedom than
within the limits of a profession to which he could have
done no honour. He fell in love with Anne de Gonzague,
youngest daughter of the Duke of Nevers and Mantua, and
the lady shared his passion. But having entered into the
conspiracy against Richelieu, formed by the Count de
Soissons, the Duke de Bouillon, and others, and fomented
by the Court of Spain, the Duke of Guise partook of their
disgrace in 1641, and was obliged to fly. Anne de Gon-
zague rendered his triumph complete by escaping in pur-
suit of him in male attire. She hastened to Flanders to
console her lover under the sentence of high treason and
confiscation, pronounced against him during his absence ;
she came—and found Guise not only in love with, but ac-
tually married to another woman. Indignant at his per-
fidy, she instantly returned to France.
" The lady who bad the honour of fixing for a moment
his wavering affections was a Flemish beauty, Honorine de
Glimes, widow of the Count de Bossu. The marriage
ceremony was performed by a Bishop, one of the lady's re-
lations ; what were the grounds on which the Duke after-
wards sought to annul the marriage, we have not been able
distinctly to make out. The union, however, did not last
much above three years, during which he contrived to dis-
sipate his wife's fortune, at the end of which time both
Richelieu and Louis XIII. were dead; and the Duke of
Guise having submitted himself to the Queen's (Anne of
Austria's)' mercy, and -received 'his pardon, secretly left

Brussels and his Wife, and in 1644, reappeared in all the
splendour of his adventures at the French capital. The
Duke's next conquest was that of the beautiful Madame
Monthazon, which led him into an adventure that reminds
us of the catastrophe of that one among Gil Bias's masters
who was killed in the flower of his age fin' circulating
forged billets.;.dou.i'. Madame de Montbazon, who nou-
rished some feniale spite against. Maclaine tongueville,
had imputed to that fa,iy the writing of c
which were not her's. The courtiers took different parts
on this important occasion, and Henry of Lorraine loudly
advocated the cause of his mistress. The Count de Coiigni
was the champion of Madame de Longueville ; and the
lineal representatives of the great Guise and the no less
great Admiral de Coiigni, who fought with the fate of a
kingdom and its religion on their swork waged as deadly
a war about a lady's love-letters. The Duke of Guise was
victorious; he disarmed and wounded Coiigni, who died
within five months, partly of grief, partly of his wounds.
Shortly after the Duke's liaison with Madame Montbazon
was broken off by the exile of his mistress.
" After this separation, the Duke of Guise fixed Its fluc-
tuating affections upon Mademoiselle 'le Pons, of the highly
descended family of d'Albret. This lady, whose vanity
was much more flattered than her affections were excited
by the attentions of the Doke, showed herself inaccessible
to every species of courtship save that which led to the
altar of Hymen. The Duke of Guise would have gratified
his passion even at that rate, but the claims of his Flemish
spouse formed an impediment which must first be removed.
Measures were adopted to obtain a divorce betwixt the
Duke and the Countess, who pertinaciously maintained her
conjugal rights. Meantime the Duke of 'Guise made two
campaigns in Flanders, among those gay volunteers who
entered the trenches to the musk of violins, amid showed the
same gaiety in the field of battle es in the ball-room. - On
his return, though covered with glory, Mademoiselle de
Pons seemed to look coldly on him, and objected (like an
unreasonable woman) to the duration of his suit with Ma-
dame de Bossu, as if, either in France, Rome, or else-
where, a law-suit can end when a lady is tired of it.
Guise, spurred by her reproaches, and fancying that his
agents were remiss in his interests, declared his resolution
of setting out instantly to Rome, and using his personal in-
terest with the Pope to hasten the conclusion of his divorce.
But his jealousy made it a condition that during his ab-
sence Mademoiselle de Pons should retire to a convent,
which the lady. regarded as a considerable sacrifice. This
was in the autumn of 1646."

" Mozart" is an animated biographic sketch
of that great composer, more especially of his
younger days. The subject is scarcely new,
nevertheless it is well worked out. One trait of
character is worth noticing. " Mozart was rather
vain of the proportion of his hands and feet,
but not of having written the Requiem or the
Don Juan." We can readily understand this
feeling : it is strictly in accordance with one of the
commonest peculiarities of human nature. All
the world admired Mozart's music ; it could not,
therefore, increase his vanity to tell him that it
was excellent ; such praise, by frequent repeti-
tion, bad become stale to him, like the homage

to which a king is subject from his youth.—
With regard, however, to his " hands and feet,"
these points interested him personally as a man
whose company was every where courted ; he

had long since seen the advantages of a good
appearance, and was anxious—if only for no-
velty's sake—to be admired as a man, as well as
a composer. It is from a feeling similar to this
that a mother frequently dotes upon a deformed
child, whom none but herself can be found to
appreciate, in preference to her handsome off-
spring, whom all her acquaintance admire.—
Hieroglyphics," like its subject, is puzzling
and as we ourselves belong to the family of
Davus not CEdipus, we shall use our privilege
of discreetly passing it by. " Lord Byron and
M. Casimir Delavigne" is 'a contrasted criticism
on the merits of the " Faliero" by these two
authors. Of course the preference, and we
think deservedly so, is in every respect given to
the English dramatist. " Ercilla's Araucana"
is an analysis of a Spanish epic poem, by Don
Alonzo de Ercilla, on the subject of Philip the
Second's invasion of the Chili Araucanians in
the year 1554. From the specimens of transla-

tion adduced, we should conceive it to be more
curious than amusing. " The Black Sea and
the Caucasus" teems with pertinent and well-
digested information as regards these Russian
provinces, which, according to the Reviewer,
wear the yoke of St. Petersburg!' with the same
ease and readiness that a spirited half trained
colt wears the bridle rein. He adds—
" There is no part of the Russian dominion so vulnerable
as the Caucasian provinces. In the country between the
Caspian and Black Seas, the Mahomedan tribes are the
most numerous and independent. They are interposed be-
tween Russia and its Georgian province; and if they could
be brought to combine their operations, might easily cut
off all communication between them. The Russian for-
tresses in the Caucasus are of the most contemptible kind,
' from which we may conclude,' says 111. Gamba, ' that
the Russians bear the same relation to the Turks and Per-
sians, which the English bear to the Hindoos.' But it is
not from the contempt with which they regard their ene-
mies, that they are satisfied with forts of loose bricks or
rough paling ; it is because they actually want the means
of erecting better. While attacked on the frontiers of
Georgia they are zealously supported by the people of that
country, who are the inveterate enemies of Turks and
Persians; but a war kindled in the heart of the Caucasus
would infallibly shake to the ground an authority which is
but loosely established. Sueh a scheme of operations, how-
ever, could not be put in execution, unless the Turks and
Persians were to act with more concert and energy than is
to be expected from their enfeebled state, or their ancient
animosity."

Of Sinope—that famous Sinope, which Dio-
genes and Burke have both damned with so
much heartiness, the Reviewer gives a very flat-
tering account. "It has a deep and capacious
harbour,—the finest timber in the world grows
in its vicinity,—and the district of the interior,
with which it immediately communicates, is one
of the most productive and industrious in
Asiatic Turkey." With the remaining articles
our necessarily contracted limits compel us to
make short work. Enough to say that they are
none of them below par, and that " The History
of the Knights TQmplars," to those who are
curious in such matters, will be found abun-
dantly entertaining. Altogether the number is
a very superior one, and deserves the large circu-
lation that we understand it has attained.

The Duke of WELLINGTON arrived in town
yesterday afternoon from Walmer Castle, Kent. Earl
BATHURST, Mr. Secretary PEEL, Sir GEORGE MURRAY,
and the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER had a confer-
ence with his Grace, after his arrival, at his residence in
Downing-street.

Earl BATHURsT arrived i❑ town yesterday
From his seat at Cirencester, Gloucestershire.

The Danish and Sardinian Ministers, and
Viscount STRANGFORD, transacted business on Friday at
the Foreign Office. The Right Hon. STRATFORD CAN-
NING transacted business at the sante office on Saturday.
THE GARRICK PAPERS.—It is pretty ge-
nerally known that Mr. COLBURN has had in his possession,
for two or three years, the Private Correspondence of DA-
VID GARRICK, with the most celebrated persons of his time,
which he purchased of the Executors of Mrs. GARRICK ;
and we understand that he has determined to commence
their publication forthwith, in his new Weekly Paper,.
The Court Journal. So curious and important a eollec-,
tion of private letters, we are assured, has never before been
suffered to meet the public eye.