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And he in his instinctive knowledge wise
Replied" And may the world-illuming God
Free you from every ill, and send you home
Into a house, whose riches bring no tears.
Remembering this your goodness-nor will I,
Without my gift, suffer you to depart.
And that the god may hear when you ascend
With your due sacrifice, into your hands
This shining wondrous crystal I deliver."

The philosophy of Orpheus was brought from Egypt, where can be discovered a clue to the mythology of the Greeks and Romans. The veiled Isis was a symbol of the inner or esoteric doctrine, that the world was Deity. Orpheus makes the Sun a type of the universe, and even its source. He seems to have inculcated a more material pantheism, whereas the Egyptians connected their solar and planetary worship with the supposed transmission of the souls of the virtuous ancestors of mankind to the Stars. Hesiod appears to glance at this belief, though without the reference to a solar translation, in his good demons. This may, however, have been a branch of the exoteric or outward doctrine promulgated to the people for social and political purposes, as the residence of the virtuous souls in the stars meant probably nothing more than a physical energy.

Having spoken thus of the works and philosophy of Orpheus, it would seem very ungrateful, with Vossius and others, to deny his existence, and assert that Orpheus, Musæus, and Linus, were merely names deduced from

the Phoenician language. Origen doubts not the personality of these, but whether their books had been preserved. Plato, however, speaks of Orpheus as a real person, and refers not merely to the Orphic writings, but to those of the individual Orpheus himself. He was supposed to have lived before the Trojan era. Great doubts exist whether the remains extant are genuine. They were produced by Onomacutus, who lived in the time of Xerxes and the Pisistratidæ, but it should be added, he was banished on a charge of having issued forged oracles. It has been objected to the genuineness of the Argonautics, that we have authority for Orpheus having used the Doric dialect; but the objection is not valid, for Onomacutus may have changed it for the Homeric; and it appears more probable that he should have been in possession of certain fragments, which he made the groundwork of the poems, than that he should have been their entire inventor, as the name of Orpheus was too well known, many of his traditionary verses being dispersed abroad, to render such a forgery plausible.

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nary agents, created by circumstances -but they have been, like Casimir Perier, "the" men adapted to the moment, and the agents raised up either to accomplish great and permanent good, or to prevent vast and coming evils. And, if we turn over in our memories the pages of history, whether sacred or profane, and whether of ancient or of modern date, rereading all our readings, and calling back to our memories the leading events of the world which we inhabit, we shall find that at various epochs in this world's history, "it is always the same man;" that is, a powerful agenta master mind always a man far above his fellows who is "the" man for the moment, and apparently the "only" man.

And we have been forcibly struck with this fact in considering the subject of this memoir-CASIMIR PERIER. A Legitimist leader, in opposition to the Revolution of 1830, could have had no influence with the Chambers, with the Crown, or with the lower orders. A Bonapartist would have been suspected of intentions in favour of the family of the Corsican usurper, and would have been rejected as entertaining opinions allied to those of the Propagandist party.

A Republican Chief would have armed against him all the middling classes, and his government could have been only that of the mob. It was necessary that the conqueror of the Revolution of 1830 should be a man identified with the Opposition during the Restoration a man of fortune and good moral character, to inspire the mass with respect, and the middling classes with confidence-a man who had the power of addressing the public, and of causing himself to be respected by it-a man whose private fortune should protect him against the charge of wishing office for the sake of its pecuniary advantages, and yet who should in no wise belong to the old aristocracy of the country. It was necessary that this man should have a commanding appearance, that he might feel that confidence in his person as well as in his mind, which it was necessary he should feel at such a conjuncture, and which enabled him to

say,

"Comment veut-on que je cede avec la taille que j'ai ?"

It was necessary that he should belong to the people-have been brought up amongst them-have made his fortune in the midst of them-and have been associated with all the errors, as well as with all the mingled justice It was neand truth of their cause. cessary that he should have great powers of oratory-great personal courage-a firm confidence in the system he espoused-at the same time that he could point to his antecedents and say, "Was I not one of you when you rose against the ordinances of Charles X.? and when you proclaimed Louis Philip the King of the French ?" It was also necessary that his antecedents should have a still more ancient datethat he should be identified with the Neys and Manuels, and Foys and Benjamin Constants of the Restorationand that he should be able to point to the records of the Opposition during that epoch, and say, "Was I not then also one of the foremost in your ranks ?" and above all this, it was necessary that this man of ten thousand should be willing to devote all the powers of his body and all the energies of his mind to the cause he believed to be just, national, and true. Now there was but "one" man in France in whom all these qualities and all this fitness were united, and that man was CASIMIR PERIER! and when we say this, it is not in haste or with inconsideration. We have looked over in our minds-yes, and with contemporary histories in our hands-all the men of 1830, with their powers, their relations, their defects, their qualifications, and their influence over the Crown, the Chambers, and the people; and we declare most positively that CASIMIR PERIER was the "only" man-there was no other. There were too many prejudices against M. Guizot; the Duke de Broglie belonged to the old aristocracy of France; Lafayette was the chief of the Republicans; Lafayette could not so suddenly rise in opposition to the Revolution he had aided in organizing; Gerard was a mere soldier; Lamarque was an avowed Bonapartist; Benjamin Constant was old and withered; Dupin was nothing but a lawyer, rather suspected than otherwise by the popular party; Odillon Barret and Mauquin were scarcely known; Count Montalivet was too young; Barthe was a mere barrister, of the Carbonari school in politics;

Thiers was unknown but to a few friends or cronies in the republic of letters; Marshal Soult had served the Restoration as he had the empire, with equal fidelity; Count d' Argont had been charged by Charles X. to negotiate for him with the Provisional Government at the Hotel de Ville; and Talleyrand had no moral influence over even three individuals in all France we were about to say in all the world. So Casimir Perier was the only man who could dare-who did dare to attempt to conquer the Revolution of 1830-and who, in the end, even though cut off in the midst of his labours, did, by his successors and disciples, succeed in conquering it.

To the life of this man, then, we invite the attention of our readers; and though his life, like those of most of us, will be found to be a mingled yarn of good and evil, yet, on the whole, much benefit may be derived from the contemplation and study of his individual history.

CASIMIR PERIER was born at Grenoble on the 12th of October, 1777. His family, originally from Mens, a small town in the environs of the capital of Isere, had become wealthy from its commercial and enterprising character, and even enjoyed a reputation superior to its fortune. The grandfather of Casimir Perier, about 1720, had transported to Grenoble the principal establishment of the family; he was the founder of the manufactory of the linens of Voiron, the produce of which amounted to several millions of francs per annum at the beginning of the Revolution, and he concentrated at Grenoble, and in his house, the concern of the "Tissas de l'Inde," with which he supplied the centre and the south of France. One of his sons was named director of the " Companie des Indes." His eldest son, Claude, the father of Casimir, extended his commercial operations to the two branches of industry created by his father, and undertook to introduce at Vizille the then new invention of printed cotton goods. The position of the grandfather of Casimir Perier was such as to justify him in deciding that his son Augustine should become counsellor to the Parliament. He purchased the necessary qualifications-but, in order to exercise those rights, it was necessary to obtain the consent of the company. Another proof of the wealthy and re

spectable position in society of the family of Periers may be derived from this fact, that, two years before the Revolution of 1789, the province of Dauphiny suffered much from a very serious famine. It was necessary, therefore, to make large purchases of provisions in neighbouring districts of France. Claude Perier, the father of Casimir, put his capital and credit at the disposal of his native province; and in order to reward him for this signal service rendered to Isere, the Parliament of Grenoble rendered spontaneously a decree, by which the charge of counsellor was presented to his eldest son. The family of Perier appears to have been destined to represent, in the most full and comprehensive manner, the political aggrandisement of the middling classes in France. The father of Casimir Perier died a member of the legislative corps; his two brothers-in-law, Messrs Pascal and Duchesne, were, one a member of the same corps, and the other a Tribun. Six of his eight sons, Messrs Augustine, Alexandre, Casimir, Camille, Alphonse, Joseph Perier, have been Deputies; the three last are so still; and M. Augustine Perier died Peer of France. His two sons in-law, Messrs Savage de Rollin and M. Tesserie, were Deputies, the first after having been a Tribun. One of his nephews was Camille Jordan, and another, M. Duchesne, is still member of the elective Chamber.

The family of Perier, like the family of Peel, belongs, then, to the mercantile and manufacturing classes of society; and as the father of Sir Robert Peel founded a sort of dynasty of wealth, talent, and patriotism, so did the father of Casimir Perier, both having one son, above all others of their children, who distinguished themselves by their senatorial and statesman-like talents. As Sir Robert Peel, on all suitable occasions, not only admits, but even boasts of the fact that he belongs to the industrious and trading, the middling and manufacturing classes of society-so did Casimir Perier-and on one occasion, when reproached by the French Radical party with being a great Signior, and with being unable to sympathize with the middling and industrious classes, he exclaimed, "miserable and ignorant creatures that ye are! Do ye forget, then, that my grandfather was a weaver, and my

father a spinner, and that I am only their son? I know what it is to rise early and to work late, to eat the bread of carefulness and of honest labour; but I know also that the laws are as essential to the workman as they are to the manufacturer, and as necessary for the middling classes as they are for the wealthy. I desire nothing more than the triumph of the laws, and with the laws the liberty which their triumph must assure me."

On another occasion, when called an "aristocrat," and one of the privileged classes, he replied, "my only aristocracy is the superiority which industry, frugality, perseverance, and intelligence will always assure to every man in a free state of society. I belong only to those privileged classes to which you may all belong in your turn. They are not privileges created for us, but created by us. Our wealth is our own; we have made it. Our ease and prosperity are our own; we have gained them by the sweat of our brows, or by the labour of our minds. Our position in society is not conferred upon us, but purchased by ourselves with our own intellect, application, zeal, patience, and industry. If f you remain inferior to us, it is because you have not the intellect or the industry, the zeal or the sobriety, the patience or the application, necessary to your advancement. This is not our fault, but your own. You wish to become rich, as some men do to become wise; but there is no royal road to wealth any more than there is to knowledge. You sigh for the ease and the repose of wealth, but you are not willing to do that which is necessary to procure them. The husbandman who will not till his ground shall reap nothing but thistles or briars. You think that the commotions in human society are useless and misdirected if you do not become wealthy and powerful by the changes; but what right have you to expect, you idlers and drones in the hive, that you shall always be fed on the honey and the sweets of life? What right have you, who do nothing for yourselves, your families, your communes, your arrondissements, your departments, your country, or your kind, to imagine that you will be selected by them for their favour, their confidence, and their rewards? I am not an Aristocrat in that sense of the term in which it may

be applied in absolute governments or under imperial rule; but if, by an Aristocrat, you mean a man who has earned his promotion by his labour, his honours by his toils, and his wealth by his industry-oh, then, indeed, I am an Aristocrat-and, please God, I hope always to remain so. The distinctions in human society displease you, because you have not the talent or the industry to amend your own position. You are too idle to labour, and too proud to beg, but I will endeavour to take care that you shall not rob me. I throw back, then, with indignation and resentment the charge which is made. I belong to the middling classes of society. These classes must take their part in the government of society. I have been selected by my fellow-citizens, and by my king, as one of their representatives, and, by the blessing of God, I will represent them."

On the approach of the Revolution in France, the tiers état did not perhaps feel the importance of its high destinies; but it must be admitted that it prepared to merit them. It had reaped the harvest of nearly all that had been sown for two centuries. For it were accomplished the progress of order, of ease, of ideas. For it the influence of the privileged classes was weakened, and the power of royal authority was increased. It had raised itself, little by little, to that point of force and maturity, which enabled it to say, and justified it in saying, that it was the nation. In its bosom, or rather at its head, were to be distinguished families, who allied to the manners of the past the opinions of the then present; and one of these families was that of Claude Perier. Having arrived at affluence by labour and economy, it had remained simple, moderate, serious. It participated in those ideas of independence which assimilated it to the spirit of the times, at the same time, that it preserved those habits of subordination, and of respect for the past, for the old monarchy, and for olden events and times, which were weakening generally every day. The chief of this Perier family was an able merchant-having an imperious character, habituated to demand much from himself, and much from others, and his authority was felt around him. He was no believer in agrarian laws, in republican spolia.

tions, in false systems of equality; but, on the contrary, he was an advocate for paternal government at home, and for a firm and regular, and even a severe government of the nation. His wife, the mother of Casimir Perier, Marie Pascal, was endowed with a singular mind and with a lively imagination. She was an admirable mother of a family; but her religious opinions approached almost to mysticism. The natural independence of her ideas, and the sweet mildness of her character, tended to render less austere the otherwise strict aspect of the Perier family. She was one of those, however, who understood and felt in all its force the value of maternal instruction; and who maintained that the education of a child began in its cradle. She was not ashamed to acknowledge the obligations of woman to Christianity; and, in her turn, she sought to bring up her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Around her was grouped a numerous family, or, as was said repeatedly, "a tribe ;"-ten children, remarkable for a most decided physiognomy; for a mélange of new principles and old manners, of severity and of affection, imagination and prudence; for a knowledge and aptitude for business; for vivacity of impressions, clearness of judgment, and the sentiment, not a little pronounced, of personal dignity. The eldest of the eight sons of Claude Perier, AUGUSTINE, was destined by his father to inherit the best part of his fortune, and to become a member of the French magistracy; but the French Revolution arrived, with all its positive wrongs and positive injustice; with its real evils and imaginary troubles; with its excesses, its horrors, its good, and its evil. It is known that it was preceded, and even as it were announced by the emeutes of the Parliament, and by the resistance of the provinces. From the Peace of America to the Assembly of the StatesGeneral the kingdom was agitated by troubles as the avant-couriers of an unknown and approaching crisis. Dauphiny was certainly not one of the provinces which were least excited; and when, in 1788, the states of that province began those conflicts where Mounier dominated, and Bernave commenced his career, the chief of the Perier family offered them an asylum.

Claude Perier had purchased the chateau of Vizille, the residence of Villeroy, built four leagues from Grenoble, in a deep valley on the banks of the Romanche, by the Connetable de Lesdiguieres. It was in the vast saloons of that last feudal manor of this palace, appropriated now to the humble and peaceful labours of industry, that met openly, but illegally, that assembly which demanded the double representation of the tiers-état, thus precluding the constituent assembly. At Vizille, in the property of the Periers, commenced the first portion of the French Revolution. În vain did Brienne contend against the demand of the Parliament and Peers of the realm in July 1787-against the clergy in its assembly of Paris, and against the states of Dauphiny in the assembly of Vizille. The States-General had become, perhaps, the only means of government and the last resource of the throne. The provincial states had, partially at least, prepared the public mind for it, and the Notables had been its harbingers. The King, after having promised, on 18th December, 1787, the convocation within five years, fixed, on the 8th August, 1788, that the StatesGeneral should open on the 1st May, 1789.

Then Necker was recalled, the Parliament re-established, the "Cour plenière" abolished, the bailiwicks destroyed, the provinces satisfied, and the new Minister made every arrangement for the election of the Deputies, and the holding of the States.

But though the family of Perier demanded the organization of the States-General, and powerfully contributed to its constitution, yet it must not be supposed, for a moment, that either in that family, or in Dauphiny generally, the spirit of innovation, or the adventurous love of change, were the principles of those movements which brought about a Revolution. That province was united to the crown by a contract, the conditions of which it believed it was only requiring to be faithfully executed when it combated a power which it felt or judged to be arbitrary. Thus, the resistance of Dauphiny was most unlike that of other provinces and other places, and that which others could only justify by abstract maxims was defended in this province by texts of treatises

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