New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-12-10
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

MES MEMORIES us2c-lsl9. Par LIZ CoMTE dalton
sIEF Ancien Par de- France. Paris. 1869. lacr0l1'
VerbOeckhOYeu ct Gle.
Nootber literature can compare with that of the
French in the department of memoirs German
who undertakes to give to the world the biography
Of his friend. makes out of it psychological study
lie attempts to creep into the personality OF the
dead man forgetting to leave his own beblndh ana
write out from that; he tears his love aHairS DIS
hates and ambitions to tatters in his zea Ior mon piu
analyses the identity Of the man disappears III "
metaphysical fog English or American memoirs on
the contrary. are usually examples Oh mere spooi"i
pleading: the writer having formed his own
bypothesis of the character of his subject bends ana
comforts every incident of his life TO justify that
theory Poor Boswell gained his proud prominence
in this class of work simply because he told the
whole story without decent reservation, and every
reader is vain of drawing his own differences.
French memoirs however, form the most cOnscien-
tous and brilliant part Of their literature. Scarcely
man or woman of note has been suffered to die out
of their history they reproduced with the frame
work of the peculiar society to which they belonged
IN pictures sngularly bold and effective. There snO
attempt to dssect their inner life for but we see
them as their friends saw them; we know the very
pastillcs they burned in their salons we hear their
bon ots see the dresses they wore; there is no need
20 descan to us upon the secret character OF that OLD
tester SCarron. or his wife; have not known them
both-from the day the little D'Aubign6 came IN,
blushing for her ilftting gown, to grave DE Nam
tenon stitching in the Kings closeti They are more
real to as now than many living people whom we
meet every day.
For the same quick artistic eye and perception OF
dramatic effect which enables Frenchman to catch
the available points in his own homely person, and
SO bring them out properly adorned, as to make an
impressive and noteworthy picture, gives him the
power to perceive the salient features of life gone
ont of the world, and to reproduce the living man
from them again. The result has been that French
history is known TO us by series of flesh and blood
individual dramas rather than in the dreay DISGUISE
lions on wars and politics which form the record OF
other nations
Knowing this, it was with no slight degree OF in
terest that we opened the book before us. men,
Der of the Chamber of Peers from 1876 to lS4s must
have gathered in his memory the likenesses Of men
who swayed with irresistible power the time in
which they lived; glimpse at them in their every
day life through the eyes of their cOmpatriOt would
be no ordinary pleasure. The COmte Sh6e, how
ever is of British extraction fact which has doubt
less imbued him with n sense OF the decency OF
retcence and nearly spoiled in him one of the most
entertaining gOssips of his time. He has an uneasy
conscience which cuts off the point of his very best
stories, and makes him clap the door of Bluebeards
chamber III faces lust he has made up his mind
m.
tell us nothing of his private life, which. perhaps
was wise enough, he appears to have been in his
youth not only mGUrdjs Sujd but an exceedingly
dun and nspd Sjet altogether, who was drawn into
vice from sheer inertia: good-tempered we imagine
and vain with a fancy for writing shallow phos-
ophy in ford periods His book is nothing but
prolonged gossip about his daily life but as his asso-
ciates were the political and literary leaders OF the
day every page offers curious information upon
the history of the time racy personal anec-
dOte.
In l7sG he tells his grandfather, 81 Shoe intro
duced Major dalton 20 the Due dOrleans as an old
and brave officer the father Of seventeen children
The Prince Immediately presented him with the
eanonry of Etampes for one of his sons, and two
years later, summoning NJ. Sh6e, mentioned another
vacant STALL adding. Give it to son of the poor
man who has seventeen By this lucky accident
NJ lie Comte SAYS, naiyely, tone of my unces became
q canon at the age of thirteen, and my father at
eleven" The Revolution not tardy in relieving
them of their benefces. The father of NJ. lie COmte
Shee held high Office under HOche; it was from his
maternal grandfather, however. that he received his
title and estates.
He gives MS a cOmicaly horrible glimpse of the
teiCn of heathendom in the colleges during his mi
nority; of the boys of ten and twelve chattering
atheism and quoting VOltaire while the Prince
Abb6 de Rohan adjures them Compatrios of Saint
Louis, Jeanne dare and Bayard"
After this infLnte bath in what be gravely calls
the philosophy of the Eighteenth Century, he became
one of the pages of Charles Y His disappointment
was extreme at penetrating into this citadel of the
right divine 1t was captivity half clOistral and
half military from which he not sorry to escape
after three years officer of infantry. lie retained
this rank but year, resIgning his commission and
.punging headlOng into the career Of man about
town. life both stale and bare in the record. even
though the town were Paris, were it not for the vivid
sketches of his compatriots. We have room but for
a few likenesses, en- silhouette, as specimens
With Alfred de Musset he lived for years on terms
Of intimacy which never however, attained friend
ship. The poet he describes a slight, finely built
man OF fair complexion brown eyes long nose pleas
ing though suky mouth. The habit of incessant
smoking had yellowed his teeth. lips, even fingers
With men he talked little, and laughed much it
was for women he reserved all his strength for them
bls manner was full of fascination and his converse
ton of wit and cpiglai but, like Them he dreaded
ell political and serious subjects. Upon his own Gre
alive power he prided himself but little but of his
good birth and reputation rs rouG, he was vain 70
thildishneSs.
OF Heine and Bellini he tells n curious anecdote
They met in the salon Of the Princess Begiojoso.
The Scilian composer naif, superstitous, tender.
affectiOpate, familiar, refined by nature but not
having the slightest idea Of social distinctions. of
sORrGNots Of morals seated himself at the feet of
the ladies and rested his charming head on their
knees He hated nobody, but his merit and renOwn
were too great for him to be without enemies and
the antpathy felt for him by Hene. i have never
seen equaled. The rnercless satrist chose him this
day for bis victim, and gravely demonstrated by
merOus examples that all great composers died in