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352 THE LEADER. [No. 420/ April 10, 1858...
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M. GUIZOT'S MEMOIRS. Memoirs of my Own T...
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NEW NOVELS. The ITethenoooch of Otterpoo...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Jfjr. Buckle's Lecture At The Royal Inst...
consulted a woman , -who advised her to drink a glass of vinegar daily ; _ the young lady followed her advice , and her plumpness diminished . She was delighted with the success of the experiment , and continued it for more than a month . She began to have a cough but it was dry at its commencement , and was considered as a slight cold , which would go off . Meantime , from dry it ^ beca me moist ; a slow fever came on , and a difficulty of breathing ; her body became lean , and wasted away ; night , sweats , swelling of the feet and of the legs succeeded , and a diarrhoea terminated her life . " Therefore , young ladies , be boldly fat ! never pine for graceful slimness and romantic pallor ; but if Nature means you to be ruddy and rotund , accept it with a laughing grace , which will captivate more hearts than all the paleness of a circulating library . At any rate , understand this , that if vinegar will diminish the fat , it can only do so by affecting your health . 'A Few Words on . Social Philosophy' is the title of a pleasant , sensible , humorous dissertation on modern social life in general and women's influence in particular . There is a passage on the early marriage question in which there is a good deal of truth . The Dublin University Magazine this month has good papers on ' Becent Oxford Literature / and ' Beranger . '
352 The Leader. [No. 420/ April 10, 1858...
352 THE LEADER . [ No . 420 / April 10 , 1858 .
M. Guizot's Memoirs. Memoirs Of My Own T...
M . GUIZOT'S MEMOIRS . Memoirs of my Own Time . By F . Guizot . Vol . I . Bentley . These Memoirs constitute not only a criticism upon French events and characters during forty years , but a broad and clear exhibition of the _ writer ' s moral and intellectual consciousness so far as it influenced his actions in public life . Of himself , M . Guizot speaks with sombre dignity ; he has neither abdicated , lie says , nor does he desire to restore , his position as a statesman . At present a spectator , he is not unwilling to emerge from retirement , but on this point his sentiments are neutral . He has had his share in the _ government of men ; and now , composing his personal history amid the silence of the Empire , lie believes the retrospect may be calm , and that the past episodes of a career not yet ended may be judged without passion or timidity . M . Guizot has written no work with more masterly art than this ; it is noble in style and thought ; it contains a richly diversified gallery of historical portraits , a subtle analysis of national and individual motives , a series of disclosures painting vividly the inner life of politics , a frank confession of
opinions upon men and circumstances . The point of departure is the decline and fall of the Bonaparte Empire , and the first volume approaches the eve of the Revolution of 1830 . Thus M . Guizot has already carried his tracings over an extensive surface—France before the Restoration , the deportation to Elba , the reign of Louis XVIII ., the Hundred Days , the Second Restoration , the parliamentary rule of 1815 under the Duke de Richelieu , the Government of the Centre from 1816 to 1821 , the rule of the right-hand party under M . de Villeleup to 1827 , Charles the Tenth ' s regime and M . Guizot ' s opposition , the omens of resistance in 1830 , and the elections of that decisive year . Everywhere M . Guizot writes freely , but with an evident conviction that he is committing no injustice . Whether or not his verdict is in all instances judicial , it would be rash to say ; but as the figures of Napoleon and of Chateaubriand stand in these pages , there can be little doubt that they will stand eternally in history .
Of Napoleon , the character drawn by M . Guizot has been outlined and filled in with elaborate accuracy . No ruler , he says , could have been endowed with a more energetic or masculine genius , with more profound instincts in governing , or with a greater faculty for constructing a system of his own . But he had neither conscience nor religion ; he coarsely understood the moral necessities of human nature ; his pride passed the limit of impiety . He seldom received advice except to insult the giver and drive him from his presence ; at the hei g ht of power he was intoxicated to insolence , and when be fell it was with bitterness , hesitation , and imbecility . Even during the Hundred Days , instead of laying a concrete basis for hia throne , he was engaged in ordering garments of white tafieta for the princes of his family , and orange-coloured mantles for his chamberlains and pages , " a childish attachment to palatial splendour , which accorded ill with the
state of public affairs , and deeply disgusted public feeling , when , in the midst of this glittering pageant , twenty thousand soldiers were seen to march past and salute the Emperor on their road to death . " While acting upon this parti-coloured stage , he endeavoured simultaneously to conciliate the populations of the Faubourgs St . Antoine and St . Marceau , and to check their traditional enthusiasm . A few of them were formed into a band of " confederated soldiers , " and M . Guizot saw a hundred of the corps , in shabby uniforms , raising a tumult in the garden of the Tuileries , in order to attract a recognition from the Emperor . It was long before he complied ; but at length a window was opened , he came forward , and waved his hand ; almost instuntly the window was reclosed , and , adds M . Guizot , " I distinctly saw Napoleon retire , shrugging his shoulders ; vexed , no doubt , at
being obliged to lend himself to demonstrations so repugnant in their nature , and so unsatisfactory in their limited extent . " The splendour that surrounds the fame of Bonaparte has visibly waned of late years ; the Marraont Memoirs sullied it deeply ; Miot de Melito has contributed the testimony of hia contempt ; but we doubt whether any one more than M . Guizot has , in a few words , shown the vulgarity that strutted under the Tyrian purple . Chateaubriand is described as a man of genius , and a slave to selfishness and vanity . M . Guizot first knew him through his writings , when in 1809 the Martyres wereipubliahed . He read that work , admired , quoted , and defended itunateaubriana tno
. acKnowjeugea me justice anu courtesy rendered to him by his young contemporary , and a correspondence sprang up . How the intimacy ripened is tola fit largo , but with what result in one curt phrase . " Between M . de Chateaubriand and myself , frankness and honour , most certainly , have never been disturbed throughout our politicul controversies ; but friendship has not been able to survive them / ' Nor oven respect , wo must believe , for M . Guizot cannot but despise the individual of whom he writes . "He was , I admit , a troublesome ally ; for he aspired to all things , and complained of all . On a level with the rarest spirits and most exalted imaginations , it was his chimera to fancy himself equal to the greatest masters in the art of government , and to feel bitterly hurt if he were not looked upon as tho rival of Napoleon us well as of
Milton . " In another passage , M . Guizot declares Chateaubriand to have been passionately absorbed , on the stage of the world , in his own person and reputation , more annoyed by the slightest check than gratified b y the most brilliant triumph , more jealous of success than power , greedy to excess of praise and fame . That he attributes to Chateaubriand better and hi gher qualities , is a proof of his desire to be just ; but an acrimony of classic coldness and polish gives an edge to every allusion throughout the volume to that singular man whose genius was eaten up in his vanity , a French Ugo Foscolo of another type , who could make no figure in the world without fancying himself its centre .
The Memoirs are chiefly interesting as preserving M . Guizot ' s estimates of public men—Napoleon , Chateaubriand , Blacas , Montesquiou , Charles X . "We , therefore , notice one other historical portrait . Louis XVIII ., after the second restoration , is pictured as he was—a personification of impotence and dignity , an old man who sat as if nailed in his arm-chair , confident in the midst of his feebleness of supreme right and power , listening with condescending interest to light couplets and epigrams in his own praise , prohibiting all mention ot "serious causes of uneasiness , " threatening to place his throne upon the bridge of Jena to preserve that monument of German defeat , and talking with his thin voice about suppressing ranges of mountains . " Louis XIV . levelled the Pyrenees ; I shall not allow them to be raised again . "
But there are fragments of M . Guizot's volume which , detached from their contexts , are lessons of wisdom to the living race of Frenchmen . When he argues in favour of limiting the rights of the press and of public discussions , he is transparently a casuist ; but concerning the policy of the royalist restoration generally , his statement is undeniable . He is speaking of " the electoral bill introduced in 1817 : — -. I was well informed as to its intent and true spirit , and I speak of it without embarrassment in presence of the universal suffrage , as now established . If the electoral system of 1817 disappeared in the tempest of 1848 , it conferred on France thirty years of regular and free government , systematically sustained and controlled ; and amidst all the varying influences of parties , and the shock of a revolution , this
system sufficed to maintain peace , to develop national prosperity , and to preserve respect for all legal rights . In this age of ephemeral and futile experiments , it is the only political enactment which has enjoyed a long and powerful life . At least it was a work which may be acknowledged , and which deserves to be correctly estimated , even after its overthrow . A ruling idea inspired the bill of the 5 th of February , 1817 to fix a ter m to the revolutionary system , and to give vigour to the constitutional Government . At that epoch , universal suffrage had ever been , in France , an instrument of destruction Or deceit—of destruction , when it had really placed political power in the hands of the multitude ; of deceit , when it had assisted to annul political rights for the advantage of absolute power , by maintaining , through the vain intervention of the multitude , a false appearance of electoral privilege .
Upon the liberty of the press his argument has , at least , the merit of candour , and it is not without its points of truth : — I am one of those who have been much assisted and fiercely attacked by the press . Throughout my life , I have greatly employed this engine . By placing my idea 3 publicly before the eyes of my country , I first attracted her attention and esteem . During the progress of my career , I have ever had the press for ally or opponent ; and I have never hesitated to employ its weapons , or feared to expose myselt to its blows It is a power which I respect and recognize willingly , rather than compulsorily , but without illusion or idolatry . Whatever may be the form of government , Dolitical life is a constant struggle ; and it would give me no satisfaction—I will of to mute and fettered
even say more—1 should feel ashamed finding myself opposed adversaries . The liberty of the press is human nature displaying itself in broad daylight , sometimes under the most attractive , and at others under the most repelling aspect ; it is the wholesome air that vivifies , and the tempest that destroys , the expansion and impulsive power of steam in the intellectual system . I have ever advocated a free press ; I believe it to be , on the whole , more useful than injurious to public morality ; and I look upon it as essential to tho proper management of puoJic affairs , and to the security of private interests . But I have witnessed too oiten aim too closely its dangerous aberrations as regards political order , not to feel convinceu that this liberty requires the restraint of a strong organization of effective laws anu of controlling principles . . From one of his conversations with M . Manuel , he detaches the following reminiscence : — . ... " What France requires at present is to oxpel tho revolutionary sp irit whicii aim torments her , and to exercise tho free system of which she is in full P osseS 3 ' ; V ™ House of Bourbon is extremely well suited to this double exigence of tho counnv . Its government is anti-revolutionary by nature , and liberal through " " " >; should much dread a power which , while maintaining order , would oithcr 11 mot » appearance be sufficiently revolutionary to dispense with being liberal , i suouh * apprehensive that tho country would too easily lend itself to such a nue . " quire to bo a little uneasy as regards our interests , that wo may learn how to iuu tain our rights . Tho Restoration satisfies while it keeps us on our 6 » ttrd - xl . nt tho same time as a spur and a bridle . ( Both are good for us . I know noc would happen if we wore without either . " _ .. . We make one more quotation , which occurs as a goncrnhty , hut wm has a present meaning : — ohscur « A great public terror is worso than a groat positive evil ; above nil , wiiono porapoctivoa of the future excite tho hopes of enoimoa and blunderers , as won na alarms of honest men and frienda . . Wo have read this volume with unabated interest from tho first toti w . i ;™ It is nroat in its aualitv as a political autobiography , ana oiw
great in its wisdom and finely . tempered eloquence A tinge o' » J £ bitterness mellows the richer momorios , but tho book is emp liaticay * work--of-a ~ 0 tate 8 inan-who-wi'itoa ^ wjth 4 us , eyo ^ mind reviews tho past .
New Novels. The Itethenoooch Of Otterpoo...
NEW NOVELS . The ITethenoooch of Otterpool : a Novel . 3 vols ; cBenttoy . )— - ^ owjjjj JJ harm in hinting nt tho p lot of this story since it w one of immoino antiquity . The rich master of Ottorpool hath a sensitive son , who , ^ indiscreet hour , plights his troth to tho daughter of " baronet w . tl w the ancient Derbvonire gentleman has n feudT Tho father desnos en to abandon his first lovo , which tho young man straightway rotus os * ° although upon that instant tho broad lands , the , ancestral trees , t »«
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10041858/page/16/
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