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    9 &4T TBTIT li E A 3> B' &. [No. 384^ At...

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    THE JOURNAL OF THOMAS RAISES. AJP °^l f ...

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    The Current Numbers Of The Revue Lies De...

    antf ' contrasts ifr with that of the continental nations , very imtch , certainly , to the advantage-oftne former . Though not Uiai to our defects , the cntic does fulf rastfee to our national virtues ; his comparison , which is a striking one throughout , beingi in fact , an eloquent tribute to the independence and moral strengtir ttiat ^ distinguish EngKsh Kfe both national and domestic . After this introduction , M . Montegvt proceeds to give a full , but condensetlV ouiaikc of Miss Bronte ' s life , a careful estimate of her genius , and a cnticaf analysis ofher works ; but his main effort throughout is to solve the pro ^ blem of nerpecuKar-characterand influence , the life and works being , m fact , but subsidiary to this end . The writer , like all who have come within the sphere of ; her influence , evidently feels the fascination of thatplaifc , quiet keen-eyed , shrinking , yet resolute little woman , and seeks to trace the secret of its strange power His effort is in a high degree a successful one . We have read no iraalvsis- of Cubreb Beli ' S character equally satisfactory and complete . In thefudffment of the author , the best criticism of ^^ earae fro m the pen- of * Frenchman , M . E . roncABE , and appeared in the pages of the Revue des Deux Monde * . The best estimate of the whole character and career of Char-< lotte Bbobte now appears in the same journal .

    9 &4t Tbtit Li E A 3> B' &. [No. 384^ At...

    9 & 4 T TBTIT li E A 3 > B' & . [ No . 384 ^ Attctost 1 , 1657 . ¦ , m the uchess of York made party to bwater to

    The Journal Of Thomas Raises. Ajp °^L F ...

    THE JOURNAL OF THOMAS RAISES . AJP »• •*—***» Thomas Raikes , ^^^ " ^ gj ^ jg These volrcnres derive their interest solely from the circumstance that their - « sS-hSd a . good position in society , and was in the habit of detailing in a pSvSe-Teeordthe gossip of the day . Personally , he was an utterl yr insignScTnt hanger-on of the Tory Clubs , a man of essentially feeble intellect , WuIaxtsrgarrulouSj and prejudiced . But be was known at Brookes ' * ; paXmeMar y eMefe converged ' with him ; the flying mots o £ the W came tohis ear- in short , being well-born-to use a vulgar phrase—and opulent , Ks ^ l ^ rtu ^ tie *^ re considerable , and , though without the ability to dfeth ^ trishVbmise ^ he . could keep a journal of ainusing triviality . Be-* f ^ h ^« r ^ is ^ ieefrom the ™ dU under ^ the Carltoi *; it is . the moan STan oW , ol ^ Tery ;• i * is a new insight into , the silhness of high hfe , and exposes tnewe ^ t side of the lordly classes-. Any oae who regrets that he is Sot favoured by the companionship of gentlemen who lounge in the bowwindows of St . James's , and the ladies who sicken over exotics m Belgrave-* quare , nas only to read the memoirs of Thomas Raikes and . be grateful . ^ Ss third vo lume opens InParis , the date being July 1836 He was then m . coSespoadeiusewith -l—aad — , and the whole cabal agreed that theWhlgs ^ erj ?« min « r Efcgjand , their sole consolation being that Lord Thanet could S ^ Weahe ^ y sneei , and that the Radicals couTd be laughed at as a political gang ; In those days , O'Connell tw » ' a purple far , ? and Raikes is SagSL , « 3 enough toWnplimenfc the Duke of ^ Bedford for subscribing toward * b « defence * The king thereupon ordered the Duke ' s bust to be expelled front the gallery at Windsor Castle and burnt , n a lime-kiln . M ^ iSkeavery propelly laughs , yet , had not Km ^ Wdliam jissented to the Keform Bill , Ms satire might have been turned into congratulation . William IV ., in and out of the Cabinet , was no doubt a sorry old trembler , who forged a false popularity when he could not help it ; but Thomas Raikes wafnot the right man to throw stones at an incurable . Indeed , so intolerable is the diarist ' s pedantry , that were it not for his industrious collection of small anecdote ^ the book would be repulsive . He relates how the Duke of WelKn « tori arguing with . an . arrogant civilian , told him that , as a militaW m ^ fhfi wght be inistaken about Waterloo , but that as a sportsman he would , not be contradicted about percussion caps ; how the Stock . fcx-¦ chanae employed hawks on the Kentish coast to intercept the pigeon expresses of certain jobbers ; how Sir William R got lO i OOOJ . from the Liberal party , and then vent ov « r to the Tones ; and how , when news arrived tfcWt the English h » d been beaten at Waterloo , he , Thomas Raikes , waeeredfour Kuadced pounds that the . rumour was false : — - Thme , wa » a . ball that , night at Six : Gewga Talbot ! a * and when I arrived there aboutdBveiLo ' clock , I found . the whole house in confusion and dismay ; ladies calling for tte * carriages , and others fainting in the anteroom , particularly the Ladies Page ? , wh ^ seemed in the . utmost distress , The mystery ,. however , was soon ^ cleared wnflWCaaldereiigh hadjusfc made her appearance in the . ballroom , with the offish ^ q £ X the battle and a partial list of the . killed and wounded which bad cau 8 ed ! acTmtt « U distressing the various relativea of the supers . She had been at » granovSer given by Mrs . Boehm in St . Jamea ' a-square , to the Pnnce Regent , aurinf-wfcfchColonelP « oy ^ bavtog- frrafc driven , to CaxltonPou ^ had « nveJ ma , ch « is * i m * Jour aft ttobouaev and presented , to hi » royal aighnesaat the table , the . official despatches from , the nuke of Wellington ( recounting his victory ) , aa well as , the Erenoa eagles , which he had brought as trophies with him in his carnage . The Duke of Torfc dined frequently with Mr . Kaikesi and ^ Mr Raikes entertained a high opinion of the Puke of York . "If he had hved to icowMS ' tO' the throne , I shoold never have been where I aw . " George IV . he liked v bub despised . " He never had any private , friends ; ho selected his confidants from . his minions : "In the latter , day * of . his reign , and before hia health had rendered it nocossary , he -very seldom went , out , oven in hia favourite low phaeton and ponies , at Windsor ; hie moire general habit was to remain in his robe de ohambro all the maming , and never <| ree * tfgl tfce h < ra » of' dinner . In thi » dishabille ho receive * h | a miniature ,, inspected tlift anvwromwrt , of . all the curiosities which now adorn the galbary in the Ooatlo , and ax & standing monuments , of his good taste , amused himself with mimicking Jack Radford , the stud groom , who oarao to receive orders , or lectured Davison , the tailor , on the cut of the lost ne ^ r coat . His dres * was an object off the . greatest attention to the . last : ondy incredibleaa it may . appear , I have . been , told by , those about Mm , and by Bachelor , who , on the . death of the Duke of York , ontorod hia service aa vaUt dp chaml / re , that a plain coat , from its roppated alterations , would often cost flOOZ ; before it met his approbation . Rniken could remember George Selwyn , with Beau Bruramell , Eoottoby ¦ who- shot ' Ininaelf because he wa » tjrock o £ ; dreseingr and was fwrnahar and ; * oW Blu « t Hangw / Locd Coleraine , a djandw ., of tbo finest water , alwaya beai | i ^ fu % p <) iwdered ,, { a , a light-gveen coat with a rose in his buttonhole , and moreover an unmitigated ! fool : —

    ; I remember many years ago D a go y Richmond in which Coleraine was included . We- all met at a given hour at Whitehall Stairs , and found the Admiralty Barge , with the Royal Standard , ready to reeeive us-- but hy some miscalculation of the tide , it was not possible to embark for near halfxxl hour , and one of the watermen said to the Duchess * " Your Royal Highness must wait for the tide . " Upon which Coleraiae with a very profound bow , remarked , "If L had been , the tide , I should have waited for your Koyal Highn 6 Watier ' s Club , the great Macao gambling-house , was a place of which Mr Raikes understood the mysteries . It was very genteel he says , and no one ever quarrelled there ; but among the members was Bligh , a notorious m evening at the Macao table , when the play was very deep , Brummell having lost a considerable stake , affected , in his farcical way , a very tragic air , and cried out , " Waiter , bring me a flat candlestick and a pistol . " . yPcm which Bhgh , who was sitting opposite to him , calmly produced two loaded pistols from his coat pocket , Zul he ° placed on the table , and said , " Mr . Brummell , if you are really desirous to put a period to your existence , I am extremely happy to offer you the means without troubling the waiter . " The effect upon those present may easily be imagined , at finding themselves in the company of a known madman who had loaded weapons about : him . . * ¦ , , , Concerning the Watier Club there is a suggestive paragraph , broken by : a still more suggestive blank : — . The club did not endure for twelve years altogether ; the pace was too quick to last : it died a natural death in 1819 , from the paralysed state of its members ; the house was then taken by a set of blacklegs , who instituted a common bank for gambling . To form an idea of the ruin produced by this short-lived establishment among men whom I have so intimately known , a cursory glance to the past suggests , the following melancholy list , which only forms a part of its deplorable results . . None of the dead reached the average age of man . _ , , ¦ Throughout the volumes there are frequent suppressions , which , in many instancesf entirely destroy the meaning of the passage . The following had better have been omitted altogether : — m _ An event has occurred in London that causes the utmost dismay m society . The first intimation which I had of it was in a letter shown to me by Lord Lowther from Croker . in which he says * has levanted and gone abroad . After winning considerable sums of money at whist from Mr — - and others he has been detected in playing with marked cards at Graham ' s Club , and is disgraced tor ever . ¦ . . ¦• _¦ . ¦!_• „„„ , ~>» -.,. cVm memoirstrusts ^

    Mr Raikes , criticising the VVraxaU , vnw uu > uwu ay «« . allowed to have more claims to veracity . ' He denies , for example , the venality of Pitt , and his predilection for strong port : — . No Minister was ever the subject of so many caricatures , or of so much virulent abuse from the Opposition , as Pitt ; even his predilection for a bottle of port , whicn . after his violent exertions in debate was probably necessary to his existence , was imputed to him as an excess . One of the best of these , called Uncorking old Sherry" ( alluding to the debate on the Eegency Bill , when some remarks from him roused the ire of Sheridan ) , represents Pitt uncorking a bottle and completely inundated with the effervescent contents , -while the bloated countenance and red nose of Sheridan is apparent in the foam- One vulgar paper gave the following character of him in dog-Latin . — " Wurcarryonissimus , taxgatherissimus , vinum guzzleando potentissimusf prettygirlibus iudifferentissimus , et filius Mtcha , damnatissimus . When Ewart and Roebuck were rejected by the constituencies in-1837 , Mr . Raikes thought the new House would be " more respectable than the last , " and . with unction , he says , " Monday , July 2 nd , Hume and O Connell were hooted in the streets * " . . ,,. This iournal is a book to be described by extracts ; it contams a multitude of amusing paragraphs , of which we quote a few specimens . Mr . Raikes records a scandalous rumour , concerning the Pope , of 18 dJ : —¦ The pope is frequently intoxicated in his own palace ; and indeed his outward [ appearance corroborates , the imputation . Louis Philippe , who has flMM * ^ h $ turn the faiUngs of others to Ms own advantage , lately sent him , as a present , 1000 bottles of the best champagae , and as many of the best claret , aa could be procured in France . . We are afraid that this anecdote of Talleyrand is not new : — Alvanley mentioned an anecdote of Talleyrand : —Some one stated before him that Chateaubriand complained he was growing deaf . Talleyrand replied , "Jl ae croit sourd , parce qu'il n ' entend plus parler de lui . " ... xl , . , A , Mr . Raikes had few scruples asto the gossip he bequeathed to his cjvC' cutors : —• .... Albert

    Pans ,-Friday , January Slat . —Parliament haa reduced the grant to Pnnco to 30 , 000 £ The Queen wanted 100 , 000 / ., and Lord Melbourne had great dlihuulty m persuading herto consent to the ministerial proposal of 60 , 000 / . His next allusion ia oracularly vague : ¦—Monday , { WA . —A letter from London mentions that Prince Albert has shown somo Tory feelings which are not palatable at tho palace . We have an abundance of court gossip : — The Duke of Sussex claims from tbo Whig ministry the public acknowledgment of his marriage with Lady Cecilia Underwood , and an addition of 6000 / . a year to Wb income . This is th © explanation on the- occasion of Prince Albert ' s precedonco : tney first applied to the Duke of Sussex for bis acquiescence , which ho most violently refused . They then went to tho Duke of Cambridge with the same request , to wUicn he made less difficulty , saying , that ho -wished to promote harmony in tliofnmUy ; and as it ) conld n o * prevent him- from being- the aon of hia father , » f the UuKo oi Sussex consented , ho should not object . Lord Melbourne then returned to the latter , saying , that tha Duko of Cambridge had agreed at once ; upon which Suasox , luiiung that ho should lose all tho merit of the concession , wont straight to tho Qucon , ana professed to bo the first to moot her wishes j but stipulating also , that ho expected » great favour ftwr hrmaelfin return . This now proves to have been his object in view . Prince : Albert eeema anxious to conciliate mattera at tho palace ; tuo Queen is becoming more civil to the Tory party , and they are invited raoro froquontiy . We never heard of Mr . Raikes as an author ; but it seoms that ho wroto books and offended Montrond : — Montrond is . very angry nt my having consurod tho revolution of July ia "V ^ o 0 * upon Franco , and erica it dovm everywhere j , but even hia wlkineea ia amusing . ^ n ?" Harriet said to > him , •? II paraifc , quo vraua manages peu 1 ' ouvrago de won pore , »« answered , ' Voua 6 tea le . Beulou-vnage d « votro p 6 » o quo j , ' ftlme . " Thia anawor la very characteristic of the neatness of his turn of wit . Tho journal contains somo free references to tho Queen : —

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 1, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01081857/page/18/