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moulins. The executioner separates them: 'Wretch,' said he to him, thou canst not hinder our heads to kiss each other presently in the basket.""

Of "Timon," in his description of military eloquence, as exhibited by Napoleon, and in the portraits he has drawn,

always wittily and with a fine skill, if not always with supreme justness, of the orators and ministerial leaders belonging to the Restoration and to Louis Philippe's France-the France of this day-we may speak in another number.

FOREIGN MISCELLANY.

THE Literary Intelligence from abroad is of small variety or moment this month. The political news is of more interest, but does not vary greatly from that of the last arrival. We have received one of two letters from Paris, partly on general topics of the time, partly a pleasant description of the Parisian life in May.

PARIS, May 16th, 1847. The difference between Greece and the Sublime Porte is far from being adjusted. The Russian cabinet, and, after long hesitation, the Austrian also, have given in their adhesion in favor of Turkey. Instructions to this effect, even more peremptory than those of Lord Palmerston have been dispatched from their respective courts to the ambassadors of Russia and of Austria at Athens. The danger which threatened the Greek government on the side of the English, is diminished by the proposition of M. Eynard, an ardent Philhellenist, to become personally responsible for the interest of the British loan. It is rumored that designs have already been formed at Constantinople with a view to replace King Otho on the throne of Greece by a son-in-law of the Emperor of Russia. The Græco-Turkish affair becomes daily more complicated, and may lead to serious consequences.

It is stated in the journals of this morning that the Queen of Portugal has been forced to quit Lisbon and seek refuge on board an English vessel of war lying in the Tagus. However this may be, it is certain that she has at length ceased her obstinate resistance to the terms proposed by the mediation of Great Britain. Colonel Wylde embarked on the 30th of April for Oporto with the instructions of the Queen and the English Minister. These instructions offer to the Junto, the moment it shall lay down arms, a complete amnesty for all political offences committed since last October, and the recall of the exiles; the immediate revocation of all edicts issued since the same period, inconsistent with the established laws and the constitution of the country; the convocation of the Cortés, directly after the new elec

tions; and the formation of a ministry composed of men belonging neither to the party of Cabral, nor to that of the Junto.

A great sensation was excited at Madrid on the 4th of May by a supposed attempt to assassinate the Queen Isabella. Don Angel de la Riva, a newspaper editor, formerly an advocate, and whose antecedents by no means justify the accusation, has been arrested upon suspicion of being implicated in the crime. The Queen, by a decree on the 5th prorogued the Cortés, sine die. On the next day, more than 80 deputies of the moderate opposition nominated a permanent committee, whose duty shall be, during the suspension of the parliamentary session, to watch over the general interests of the party.

In Germany, all eyes are turned upon Berlin, where the Diet, skillfully avoiding unpleasant collision with the royal will, has eluded or put off the irritating difficulties of theories and principles, and confines itself, for the present, to the discussion of positive, practical affairs. Many journals complain of the sterility of the debates of the Diet, which, according to them, wastes a great many words without really accomplishing anything. But it is unjust to consider the part that is played by this assembly as useless and altogether barren. It has already obtained from Frederick William a modification of the bitter and haughty language of his opening discourse, in which absolute monarchy gravely presented itself to the people under the colors of mysticism. Prussia may yet be obliged to struggle a long time for the attainment of its ardent desires, but its first step towards this has now been made, and is only the beginning of an end.

In France, a singular state of things just now is presented in the political world. In a recent debate upon French colonial slavery, the most frightful details, in all probability, however, exaggerated, were given by M. Lédui-Rollin, in reference to the present condition of the slaves in the colonies, and the inefficiency with which government has prosecuted the means devised for speedy emancipation. After this subject had been discussed, the ques

negotiation with a railroad corporation, which shows how rare is political integrity even in the highest places of trust. The parties in the case are a lieutenantgeneral, peer of France, ex-minister of the King, and another peer of France, president of the chamber of the Court of Cassa tion, and also ex minister. The letters of Lieut. Gen. Cubières accuse not only an ex-minister, but the entire government of not being guiltless in this scandalous transaction. The whole affair is only one stray leaf from the secret history of the present day. How many shameful mysteries may not this history conceal! It is due to the French people, however, to declare, that while on all hands the changes are rung on this expression of Tacitus, "corrumpere et corrumpi, sæculum vocatur," the very fact that such complaints are reiterated, proves that corruption cannot after all be so deep and extensive as might be feared, in a community where the late deplorable instance of it in the Chamber of Peers is so bitterly and universally lamented.

PARIS, 31st May, 1847.

heat, even at noon, is not yet so violent as May is a pleasant month at Paris. The in summer, and for some time past, each returning dawn might have inspired the exquisite lines of old Herbert:

tion of supplementary credits came up. The cipher of this budget increases annu. ally, and well deserves to be called, as it has been, the "ulcer of the body-politic" of France. In connection with this matter, the affairs of Algeria were touched upon, but only in a cursory manner. The consideration of the project of postal reform will, likewise, in all probability, be adjourned until another session, under the pretext of giving the new minister time to study the question, which was not at all likely to have been determined even had no change taken place in the administration. The change of ministry, or rather of ministers, which took place last week, involves no change of policy. It simply became convenient for the influential ministers-that is, M. Guizot and M. Duchatel-to sacrifice three of their colleagues by way of expiation for the faults of the cabinet. MM. de Mackau and Moline de St. You, ministers of the marine and of war, and M. Lacave-Laplagne, minister of finance, were therefore bowed out of their places. The sailor and the soldier obeyed the countersign of their chiefs, but the financier was not so flexible, alleging that if the treasury was in a bad state, it was the fault of the whole government, and could not be charged exclusively upon his shoulders. He was therefore dismiss ed, while the other two resigned. It is said that some difficulty was experienced in providing them with successors, and, at length, the telegraph communicated to M. Jayr, prefect of the Rhone, to the In the public gardens, the foliage vies Duke of Montebello, ambassador at Na- with that of June, while the blossoms and ples, and to Lieutenant-General Trézel, flowers of an earlier season refresh the that they were elevated to the subal- eye. Nothing is now more enchanting tern posts which the great ministers have than the garden of the Luxembourg. The been pleased to assign to them. M. cool breezes of morning or of evening are Dumon, minister of public works, (put in there laden with fragrance. White stathe place of M. Jayr, whose name is quite tues gleam forth from shady avenues, birds unknown in Paris,) has himself been ap- sing happily, emulating the voices of chilpointed in place of M. Lacave-Laplagne, dren playing under green trees, strains of late minister of finance. This was effected martial music are in the air, tremulous at the very moment that M. Dumon was light lingers and plays about the murmurthe object of severe attacks for the inabili- ing fountain of Jacques Debrosses, swans ty manifested by him to say the little glide over the pretty lakelet in the par word no, in his former position, and terre, which is gay with lilacs, tulips, behold he is now comfortably placed young roses and geraniums, moving groups where he will be able to pay for what he exhibit all varieties of complexion, coshas hitherto been unable to refuse. The tume, and manner, the fine palace, with three newly appointed ministers, were all its memorable associations, rises in front members of the Chamber of Peers, and all of the distant Observatory, telegraphs absent from their seats, at the lucky or wave their long arms mysteriously on the fatal moment when they were detected towers of St. Sulpice, the cross surmountaway from the scene of their legislative ing the Sorbonne is burnished by the sun, duties and condemned to "travaux and the whole animated scene is crowned forcées"-in the ministry. Perhaps it by the dome of the Pantheon. may not be long before the royal pleasure will commute their sentence to-dismission.

The Chamber of Peers has been summoned to assemble as a high court to judge one of its members for being engaged in a certain

"Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright, The bridal of the earth and sky!"

At the very moment that such attractions enliven the metropolis, the annual emigration to watering places commences. But while a small flock of summer wanderers, who have fluttered during the winter in the gilded cages of fashion, hurry

away by one of the thirty-six gates of Paris, thousands of provincials and foreigners enter by the others, and throng the gardens and promenades in and around the capital.

Several patronal fêtes which are held at this season in the vicinity of Paris, afford to strangers illustrations of the national character. The most interesting of these -the coronation of the Rosière, as it is called-was celebrated last week at Nanterre. Here the village maiden whose eighteen years have passed most innocently and virtuously, is selected and crowned, with a garland of May flowers. This beautiful custom is only one out of a thousand showing the tenacity with which the French, in spite of their proverbial ficklemess, cling to time-honored observances. The church where the ceremony was performed presented a brilliant assemblage of persons of distinction and rank, who, perhaps, in the midst of their own dazzling pleasures, might well envy the simple joys of this village festival.

The dance, which is an angel on the village lawn, may, in the city ball-gardens, be a "demon in disguise." But it is at least skillfully disguised, and the deception is scarcely detected behind the bravery of silks and satins, and in the excitement of eccentric motions. One does not at first perceive that the wreath here encircling the brow of meretricious beauty is like the fig leaves in the basket of the Egyptian Queen, which bore the asp's trail and slime upon them, while the sly worm itself lurk ed beneath.

The summer ball at Paris bewilders by its fascinations-its illumination, rendering the flowers and foliage distinctly visible, its various amusing games, its gay crowds, its polkas and mazourkas, with their wild extemporaneous variations, its voluptuous waltzes and cachucas, and its enlivening music: "intextas habebat cupiditates, voluptates, delicias, illicebras, suspiria, desideria, risas, jocos, blanda verba, gaudia, jargia, et hujusmodi, quibus amatorum vita constat." The JardinsMabille mourn this year the loss of one of their living incarnations of the dance, la reine Pomaré, one of the most renowned nymphs of the Parisian Olympus.

Not only the public balls, but also the floating baths on the Seine, are now open, and afford one of the greatest physical luxuries. The annual exhibition at the Louvre is closed, but many of the best pieces of painting and sculpture will be secured for the galleries of the Luxembourg, and the people are consoled for not seeing any longer the portraits of Ibrahim Pacha and the Bey of Tunis by the privilege of daily staring in the streets at BouMaya, the pretended Messiah of the Arabs, who, by the way, voluntarily surrendered himself, and was not captured, according

to the erroneous statements of the French journals. The evening services in the different churches during this month, devoted to the honor of the blessed Virgin, are highly interesting to the Catholic. But it is characteristic of the Parisians, that the picturesque attitudes of the fair penitents lisping the sweet words, "Qu'elle est bonne, Marie !" — and the exquisite music,

"And storied windows richly dight

Casting a dim religious light,"

lend to these services, especially at the elegant Notre Dame de Lorette, the boudoir of our Lady, as it has been called, a peculiar charm which has more of earth than of heaven, and places them decidedly among the most refined amusements of the

season.

But the chosen diversions of the Parisians during the last six or eight weeks, have been equestrian. The "lions" have been transformed into centaurs, and everywhere, at the steeple-chase of the Croixde-Berny, at the races of Versailles, the Champe-de-Mars, and Chantilly, at the Cirque and at the Hippodrome, the horse has been the hero. The Hippodrome, particularly, has offered unprecedented attractions. Not content with the monkey and stag and hurdle and Roman chariot races; with the Carrousel or with the invitation of the dainty minuet, and more extravagant modern dances by the miraculous horses of Franconi, the director has attempted to revive the memory of those splendid and graceful shows which threw so much light and elegance over the dames and warriors of yore. The famous "Field of the Cloth of Gold" has been represented with a surprising perfection of detail and general effect. The spectator is transported in imagination to the chivalric ages, and almost believes himself present at the tournament with its gorgeous display of royal and baronial pomp, as the brilliant cortège defiles before him. At its head ride Francis I. and Henry VIII., in company with Claude of France and Catharine of Arragon, and followed by a brilliant train of the most valiant lords of France and England. There pass the King of Navarre, the Dukes d'Alençon, de Vendôme, de Lorraine, Strafford, York, Lancaster, and the rest-" tous portants, says Dubellay, a chronicler of the time, "chamarres de velours cramoisi, grosses chaines d'or au col, et en general tres bien accomodés, tant d'habillemens que de chevaux enfin, magnifiquement empanachés, dorés, surdorés tellement que plusieurs entre eux portaient leurs forêts, leurs prés, et leurs moulins sur leurs epaules. Court ladies, mounted upon white palfreys, precede a band of Knights armed for combat, the lustre of gold and silk blending with that of flashing

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steel. Heralds, pages and squires bring up the rear. Eighty horses prance and caracole under their caparisons of iron or of velvet. Feathers, white plumes, and banners covered with fleurs-de-lys, toss and wave in the wind. The opponents are ranged in due order after having done obeisance to the monarchs and queens and noble dames, who survey the field from a pavilion adorned by fitting heraldric emblems. And now, as sings the old verse of Palamon and Arcite,

"the challenger with fierce defy His trumpet sounds; the challenged makes reply.

With clangor rings the field, resounds the vaulted sky.

Their visors closed, their lances in the rest,
Or at the helmet pointed, or the crest,
They vanish from the barrier, speed the race
And spurring we see decrease the middle

space.

At Chantilly, the Duke of Aumale, the wealthiest and most parsimonious of Louis Philippe's sons, has this year loosened his purse-strings, and aimed to rival the magnificence of the Condé, whose heir he is, and to eclipse the fêtes celebrated during the present month at Loo. It is singular that the latter place, in Holland, is the only one in Europe where falconry, the mystery of rivers," the favorite sport of the ancient feudal nobility, is still practised to any extent. The little village of Falconswaerd has for many years furnished falconers to the rest of the continent, and to Great Britain. The fine old game was not revived at Chantilly, and no one rode there

66

"With grey gros hawk on hand," as Chaucer says. But hunting-the "mys tery of woods"-diversified the sports of the turf, and lansquenet-the French "brag"-lent its excitements to the occasion, and led, by the way, to the most awkward consequences in the case of one visitor. This person was detected in cheating at cards, and his prospects of a brilliant career in France are forever cut off. Belonging to a distinguished and wealthy family, his mother possessing an enormous fortune,one of his sisters married to a great banker of Paris, another to a General, a third wearing one of the most illustrious names of the empire, himself enjoying an annual income of twenty thousand francs, and on the point of being promoted from the post of captain to that of chef d'escadron, he had no excuse for resorting to the piracies of gambling, except as a means of supplying the prodigalities of a " lionne" who belongs neither to the opera nor to the parish of Nôtre Dame de Lorette, but to the same exalted circle of rank in which he has himself moved. He had the assurance to present himself before the prince on the morning

after his detection, but was ordered immediately to retire, yield his commission and quit the country. So much for corruption in the highest spheres of fashionable life in France.

Of course, one must not expect to find more integrity in political circles. The case of Gen. Cubières, charged with attempts at bribery in reference to certain concessions sought for by the proprietors of a mine,-a case implicating, it would seem, not only himself, a peer and exminister, and another peer and ex-minister, but also, to an unknown extent, several persons holding high authority,-will be brought before the House of Peers, summoned already to his trial, within a few days.

steamers.

Curious developments of the secret history of the time are anticipated. Even if it were impossible to accuse the present government with the taint of corruption, still the charge of slowness in effecting national reforms and industrial enterprises may be justly preferred against it. It is desirable that the government should be less dilatory in the establishment of the proposed lines of trans-Atlantic Seven or eight years have elapsed since the matter was decided upon, and the consideration of questions relating to all of them, except that from Havre to New York, was again adjourned the other day to a future session. The York was to have sailed to-day, but its first French steamer from Havre to New departure has, for some unknown reason, been postponed for at least a week. In addition to the numerous projects of reform which have been rejected during the present session of the Chambers, the proposition of postal reform has just been set aside on the ground that it would be unsafe to expose the country in the reduction of the revenue which would necessarily follow, for at least three or four years, a reduction in the price of postage, in the present state of the finances.

The recent change in the ministry is merely a change of instruments, but not of policy. M. Lacave Laplagne, Minister of Finance, and MM. de Mackau and Moline St. You, Ministers of Marine and of War, no longer belong to the cabinet of which MM. de Montebello (for the Marine), Drézel (for War), and Jayr (for Public Works, in place of M. Dumon, who succeeds M. Lacave Laplagne), are the new members. Guizot and Duchâtel, who have thus sacrificed their colleagues at their own good pleasure, are the only effective ministers. But if, as is conjectured, their present personal differences should remain unadjusted, an entirely new ministry may soon be substituted for that now in power.

The opposition journals complain bitterly of the decline of French influence

abroad. At Madrid it is null in spite of the vaunted Spanish marriages, one of which-that of the Queen-has become so much sooner than could ever have been anticipated the cause of discord and unhappiness: Isabella is resolute in suing the Pope for a divorce. At Lisbon, France sees herself forced to join Spain in an arrangement which has been planned and almost accomplished by England, who will reap the principal advantages. But we must rejoice that the intervention of these three countries, now rendered requisite by the refusal of the Junto of Oporto to accede to the terms recently proposed, will probably secure a respite from civil war to Portugal, now so fallen, but once a noble nation. At Athens, the Greek cabinet has accepted the humiliating conditions proposed by Austria, whom it chose, in preference to France, as arbiter in its difficulties with the Ottoman Porte, and Coletti will probably proffer due apologies for the alleged insult to Mussurus. Even at Rome, the French, who style themselves "the eldest son of the Church," and have

just paid a rich tribute to the Holy See, by the passage, in the Chambers, of the bill relative to the Royal Chapter of St. Denis, are fearful of the effect on their influence there which will be caused by the renewal, now deliberated upon, of relations between the Papal court and the court of St. James.

Ireland is now mourning the loss of O'Connell, whose recent death, at Genoa, has naturally produced a deep sensation, but is of much less political importance than it would have been, had it occurred a few years ago. The great champion of Repeal had, in fact, outlived his day of power over the wills of his countrymen. What a wonderful power it was which he wielded!

But I may not dwell upon this prolific subject. My principal aim in this letter has been to give you some idea of Parisian amusements in the month of May. The hour for the departure of the mail has come, and I must abruptly close. Yours respectfully,

C.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

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A book about Italy, or even any part of Europe, nowadays, must have some considerable merit to be at all readable.

We are surfeited with ruins, and beggars, and illuminations, and ceremonials, and paintings. There is a glut in the market. People have their houses full of Italian views, and their libraries full of Italian travels, and boarding-school misses are twaddling nelle parole Tuscane.

Yet here is another book from Mrs. Butler-and it sells. It gives a run through France, and a year in Rome. The name of Fanny Kemble alone would insure its circulation, had it but little merit of its own. But merit of a certain kind it has. It is gossiping, lively, with here and there strokes of wit, and upon the whole a natural and truth-telling air.

We cannot always, it is true, approve her taste in pictures-as when she sneers at the wonderful Vanity and Modesty of Da Vinci, or the Judgment of Angels; or in statuary-as when she prefers Antinous to the Gladiator, or the Red Satyr of the Capitol; or in words-as when she uses such expressions as these: "they are triple-cased in the impervious callousness of the lowest degradation"

(p. 67, vol. i.)" the boat kicked like an old rusty fowling-piece" (p. 52, vol. i.)— "I smiled a sort of verjuice smile" (p. 11) -"as sick as possible and a great deal crosser" (p. 1)-"nosegays so thick and heavy, that they stove in one's bonnets" (p. 79). And when we find her speaking, as in page 133, of "the imbecility of the government, being like dung spread upon the soil," and in page 32, of "men and women, stinking of garlic," and in page 3, of "the ingenious twisting up of the horses' tails, with an eye to her own backhair!"-it makes us tremble for her womanly delicacy.

And having seen Madame Butler-and that, too, in the streets of her 'admired Rome, and in the very gust of that Carnival which she so well describes-and hav. ing seen her modest, womanly-bearing— nay more-having actually been honored with a bunch of blue violets at her hands, and having given a sweet rose-bud in return-we wondered a little to find her in use of such hard words as we have set down.

But she has pretty language as a setoff: her description of the gorgeous Illumination is both one of the best written and truest that we have ever seen, and (setting aside Dickens) the same may be said of her Carnival Scene-in which she is true, even to her own and her sister's

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