The Portland daily press., 1891-04-18
NEW PUBLICATIONS

Memoirs of the Prince de Talleyrand edited
with preface and notes by the Due de
Broglie of the French Academy. Translated
by Raphael Ledos de Beaufort, with an In.
PRODUCTION by the Hon. Whitelaw Reid, Am
erican Minister at Paris, with fac simile
letters and portraits. New York: G. P. Put
MANS Sons; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
MON Tho-r~- -yun,t---~-.t, u.as,--,-. a.
his memorable address at the Centennial of
the Massachusetts, Historical Society, spoke
in serio-humorous vein of the ancient and
now almost obsolete method of editing his
torical material, a method which enabled
an editor to present his hero in clothes of
the editors own fashioning. Several notable
cases were cited. wherein the ideas of dead
writer were made to masquerade in garments
foreign and at times two fine for them. The
modern method, he declared, was to present
writer to the public in his common, every
day clothes. whatever those clothes might
be, whether fashionable or otherwise $40
naught extenuate, naught set down in mall
ice" This method may not always beIthe most
agreeable to the fastidious reader, but, upon
the whole, it is the fairer. To many readers
of this book the question will arise. whether
1t is altogether genuine; whether the editor
has not taken too many liberties with his
material. Space will not permit discussion
of this point: enough, that Talleyrand, so
admired for wisdom by our fathers, is again
brought before the more critical observer of
the latter days of the 10Th century, in all his
picturesque personality; and that we renew
an acquaintance almost forgotten, with
the tall, spare, selfish, egotistical. but
withal shrewd and worldly-wise French
man, who played so conspicuous a part
in the diplomacy of the closing
years Of the 18th and opening years
of the 10Th centuries. He was not man to
love or initiate; indeed he belonged to a class
which has always been overestimated and
will continue to be overestimated until men
are measured by better standards than are
commonly used in measuring character and
ability. A few of his sententious obserya-
tions respecting men and things appeared to
our fathers as oracles and to many of their
descendants they still wear similar delusiye
appearance. The book before us opens with
the life of Talleyrand from 1854 to 1891 treats
OF the life of the Due d. Orleans, the Direc.
tory. the consulate, and the first years of the
empire. A brief account is also given of bis
career In America Although the confiden-
tial advisor of Napoleon, and the guider of
those diplomatic affairs which followed the
French Generals numerous victories, he Oft
en- ventured to thwart his masters plans.
acts which Napoleon did not fail to observe.
and in due time to punish. The closing
chapter is Frenchy in the extreme,
and exhibits Napoleon in the midst of
the royal puppets whom he has brought
under his control, with host of actors and |
actresses In the glittering tinsel of the frater-
nifty, all OF whom have been brought together |
to set off in the most dazzling manner the
whilom little corporal, the leading actor in
the comedy. No one can wonder that such
an empire soon came to grief.
The Journal of Sir Walter Scott. From
The original manuscript at Abbotsford
New York; Harper & Brothers; Portland: |
Loring, Short & HARMONY The editor of the |
Journal OF Sir Walter informs us that upon /
the death of the distinguished author his
literary remains passed into the hands of his
'on-in-law, the late j. G. Lockbart, who in
preparing his life of Sir Walter drew largely
upon the Journal for his particulars; but
.nat out OF regard for the feelings of living
persons, he did not feel authorized to use it
Is freely as he desired. de also acknowl-
edged that in the extracts which be made
from the journal he altered and omitted sucb
portions as he thought proper. Tho tinoo
having arrived when the persons whose
James Scott freely used have passed auoy
he custodian of the precious manuscript boa
bought it proper to present it to the nnhlic
n its entirety, and there can be no doubt NJ
is hearty reception by all lovers of Scott
he Journal begins at Edinburg Nov. %.
825. and ends at Rome April 16, 1882, five
lonths before his death, in the following
lords:
We entered Rome by gate renovated by one
the old Pontiffs, but which forget, and so pa |
AIDED the streets by moonlight to discover, II pos
lbe some appearance Of the learned Sir William |
iel or the pretty Mrs. Ashley. Atlength we
Dund one old servant, who guided us to the lodg- |
lgs taken by Sir William Cell, where all was
omlortable, good fire included, which our ia
lleue and the cbillineSs of the night required. |
me and water. I.
og we slept reasonably, but on the next morn
inese are said to be probably the last
Vorus OF the great novelist.
Inc journal is interesting reading. and