No political economist can dispute these valuations. Every one who possesses the above items should, therefore, consider himself in the possession of a capital of from thirty to thirtyfive thousand francs, and entitled to live at the rate (in so far as they are concerned) of somewhere about fifteen hundred francs a-year. I put a most moderate value on these noble properties, and I know they would be snapt up" by many an old banker and vieille marquise if they could get them at double the price." And so for many more pages does the young count take notice of his inheritance, as some of earth's more fortunate children look over their estates. By fewest will it be thought that his estimate is exorbitant, for have there not been in our own land Hertfords and Queensberrys who would have given the thirty-two thousand pounds (at which such properties are estimated in England) for the loan of them for a single year? What marchionesses, whether old or young, might consider them worth in our moral and delicateminded country, far be it from us to guess. Yet if, as Count Hypolite supposes, the vieilles marquises desire such things for their own personal improvement, our notions of female beauty must be different from the Paris standard. For, though we can appreciate, even in the softer sex, the advantages of a constitution of iron and stomach of bronze, we are puzzled what is to be done with the black and bushy whiskers, the broad shoulders, or even the calf seven inches in diameter. Such are the obscurities that arise from international ignorance; for who, in this sea-surrounded island

almost divided from the whole world -can solemnly predicate that French marchionesses (especially of the old régime) did not sport whiskers and glorify themselves in gigantic legs?

After sundry deep observations, which, for brevity's sake, we pretermit, gay Hypolite, not without deep yearnings after the intellectual advancement of the species, gives his notions on the great subject of education. This he divides into two sorts: 1. Education by books. 2. Education by the eyes.

Of these he gives greatly the pre

ference to the last.

"Book education," he says, "furnishes but few recruits to the class of men comme il faut-(parenthetically let us translate this phrase in the language of Hibernian Curran, the Clean Potato,')-for book education supposes a degree of knowledge incompatible with genteel life-an acquaintance with our own language deep and searching as Voltaire's or Southey's-of Greek like Thucydides's, or the Bishop of Lichfield's of Latin like Cicero's or Niebuhr's. They are not content with mathematics unless they know as much of them as Babbage-of astronomy, unless they are as familiar in the milky way as Herschel or Arago. What use can be made of such impracticable spoons ? They lodge in a triangle, dine on an experiment, and sup on a problem; glass in hand they gaze round the theatre, where all the performers are stars; attend soirees among the constellations; have Jupiter for their friend and Venus for their mistress. A pair of stout shoes and a biscuit is ample provision for such mortals. But the Eye education is the proper system for the Clean Potato, and is already far more generally cultivated than the other. Nor do a few terms spent at college materially interfere with it; for a sprinkling of such scholastic phrases as gyp,'' scout,' 'chum,' 'procter,'' oak,' 'commons,' 'battels,' does, indeed, rather tend to place the eye education in a better light, and give an air of high scholarship to one's discourse. You know, vaguely enough (yet still you know), that Cicero is an orator, Virgil a poet, and Horace a wag. The name of Seneca has become so tiresome to you in the mouth of your tutor that you remember without difficulty he is a moralist; Perseus and Juvenal (whom you have never

read) you feel certain were satirists; and you know as well as Monk or the Scaligers that Livy is full and flowing, Sallust energetic and moral, and Tacitus vigorous and concise. You can't tell at what exact time those notables, and others you have an equal acquaintance with, lived and flourished; but you know they were Romans, and were the Lions of Ancient Rome. This fact is very useful to bear in mind, as it prevents you making any mistake between Ovid and Thomas Moore, Scipio and General Evans, or Tacitus and Doctor Lingard.

"Your knowledge of life, in the meantime, progresses the more rapidly the less you encumber yourself with books. You know the best hotels, get admittance behind the scenes, attend Persiani's rehearsals, and have a private view of the Bayaderes before their public appearance. You know the cut of a coat, and the shape of a pair of

trowsers better than Stultz or Ashton, the flavour of wine the moment the cork is drawn, and can give the geography of the Palais Royal more correctly than Malte Brun or Major Rennel could give the geography of the world. I say nothing of your judg ment in horse-flesh, in beauty, in music; nor of your power of small talk and paying compliments,-nor even of your gallopading better than Coulon, or waltzing like a Russian Secretary;-nor do I mention other accomplishments, which, of course, you possess; for who is there left in this breathing world who can neither scrape on a fiddle nor whistle with a flute?" His education-(in addition to the physical properties mentioned before) represents to the Clean Potato capital of sixty-eight thousand francs, giving a sum-total under both heads of one hundred thousand francs, or an income of five thousand a-year.

Was it, when James Watt was slumbering in cradle in the far north, revealed by stars (prophet-voiced, though inaudible to our ears), that by that chubby infant should be dragged forth from hid caverns where unknown it lurked, the Steam Giant, and subjected to man's dominion, carrying him over illimitable seas, storm-defying? Or were the heavens illuminated with no star-manuscript, as if James Watt had been but Jack Robinson or Tom Smith? Strange subject for contemplation is it, the earth-destiny of men, say fitliest children; so unknown while yet in long clothes,—so unsearchable by closest observation, either of planet, aspect in sky, or bumps on small cranium. Who could tell whether twomonth-old Napoleon would overturn king's seats and elevate new ones, or simply, as village carpenters, repair old chairs, or in busier moments make them? Small difference perceptible at six weeks old, between Wellington and Espartero; nor even at quarter of a year between Pitt and Melbourne. So, before years and experience had developed the faculties in young Count Hypolite, difficult, almost impossible would it have been to decide with certainty, whether he would not creep through life as uselessly as Thiers, or turn out the benefactor of his species

VOL. XLIV. NO. CCLXXVII,

the Truth-finder, more honourable than King or Kaiser. The few doubts that over our mind hung-like mist on high hill-are now dissolved before those sun-bright verities; and grateful are we that the author has made us the channel for such fructifying truth-streams; deeply also do we pray that whatever pecuniary benefit may result from the sale of his volume, may find its way to him, yet more than dubious are we on such a subject-meantime we can but recommend. Needless is it ofthis high argument to give all the minute details. Knowledge of lifeFrench, Paris life—is visible in every page, and a wild gleam is thrown over those solid Thought masses, but whether by a flame thrown upward in jets and outburstings, from the Satanic firelake of irony and contempt, or else by the mild sparkling of wit, we cannot always determine. The character and disposition are assessed in the fourth chapter of the Treatise at a hundred thousand francs, completing the natural inheritance of the man comme il faut, or Clean Potato. As all men have their dispositions (humeurs) divided into sulkinesses (bouderies) and gaieties, he recommends such an am. ple discharge of the former in solitude, or on the heads of unfortunate lackey or groom, as to leave free scope for

2 R

the gaieties before the eyes of the world. Yet in no chapter is Count Hypolite so altogether sensible and straightforward as in that entitled The Borrower (L'Emprunteur); and gratifying is it beyond all things to us, as lovers of our country, to find the rhapsodic poetic manner in which he lauds England and the national debt in reference to this subject.

"What!" he exclaims, "shall we be told that what is just, honourable, noble in a nation, shall in an individual be thought mean or base?-Nations," he adds, in a spirit of recondite discovery worthy of Macculloch, "are but collections of individuals, and therefore what enriches the whole (as the debt has undoubtedly done to England) it must be patriotic in individuals to practise."—"The power," he "which enabled the Sea- Queen says, to build her vast throne upon the waters to struggle aquo Marte with embattled Europe--to conquer the Indies-chain the colonies of the world to her footstool, and cast down the Battle-God Napoleon, had this (the borrowing system) for its basis." Then follows a strain of panegyric, which we despair of imitating, and therefore omit altogether, on the only standard a true philanthropist would fight under-the lily flag and the tricolor, and even the eagles, being little worth in the comparison-"le drapeau du credit."

High-reaching efforts after the sub. lime require some relaxation (as people become sleepy on the lofty summit of Chimborazo), and so Count Hypolite lays himself down and murmurs gentle words in a sort of half-sleep. Wisdom among the ancients was typified by an owl, a somnolent-looking fowl; and accordingly Owl Hypolite snores platitudes like a true political economist. "Il faut," he says, "surtout vous endetter, conformement aux saines idées d'économie politique qui veulent une sage division des richesses." "It is

evident," he continues, "that there are many people who have too much, and many more who have too little. Superabundance and deficit are the antagonist principles between which some medium is to be established. To contract debts among people who have too little, what is that but to increase the disorder? 'Tis to add to the misfortunes of the unfortunate."

To contract debts, on the other hand, among people who have too much-this is to establish the equilibrium. If, for instance, the Clean Potato, whose shoes begin to gape, thinks, foolishly, of having a patch put to them by the cobbler in his miserable stall, and allows the poor devil to whistle for his payment, he commits a crime, a sacrilege, a murder. Merely to have dry feet he deprives the poor wretch of his cheese to his brown bread, and of his pint of half-and-half.

Let him have his tops of Hoby-his pumps of Dean and Davis-his Hessians of Sakosky-do those gentlemen dine less sumptuously-drink a pint of claret the less, or sport a nag the fewer?-With them there is a superabundance of leather; while with the cobbler in his stall there is a deficit.

But not content with this scientific arrangement of his subject, the Count grows still more laboured in his explanations. Minuteness is a characteristic of all philosophers. To him an emmet is as gigantic an object of contemplation as an elephant :— and careful Hypolite subdivides his superabundances-from which a certain per centage is exactable by the Clean Potato-into these three heads :

:

:

Surabondances Budgetaires, Surabondances Commerciales, Surabondances PatrimonialesThe first comprehends all placeholders employés Ministers of State marshals ambassadors — judges. The second to which a whole chapter is devoted, comprehends-but we will transcribe it entire :

-

of thick brains and broad acres. These are, as it were, floating capitals-or rather mere waifs and strays, which to the Clean Potato (who may call himself Lord of the Manor, wherever such things are intercepted) appertain

of just right and possession. Pass we now to the conclusion or summing up, where, in high judgment chair, the author recapitulates his instructions.

"Beloved pupil, yea, heart's brother of my soul," he exclaims,-" if you have studied this book attentively, as books are seldom studied now, except at Newmarket, you will perceive that naked as you were born, you possess a capital of two hundred thousand francs" (Anglice, guineas.)

"That none but fools unacquainted with Adam Smith and M. Say, can pretend that you are useless, or a burden on society; since I have proved to you that you produce.

"That in placing your fortune at legal interest, your income is ten thousand a-year.

"That this income must be furnished to you voluntarily ;-(for you will find that gentlemen of your profession are generally in favour of the voluntary system in all things ;) and paid to you, either in money or equivalents, by those superabundant fortunes where money is unprofitably heaped up, and kept out of general circulation; in return for which the owners of them receive from you counsel, society, amusement, and not unfrequently fashion and notoriety.

"And, finally, that for the attainment of this income you have no power of distraint, except what is furnished by good looks, good manners, strict moral character, exquisite taste in dress, untiring good-humour, and high standing in Crockford's or Almack's. I think I have created for you an enviable existence; spoil it not I entreat you. Preserve the noble independence that befits a Clean Potato. Ask no office under Government; no secretaryship to a commission; no inspectorship save of sweet faces and fair forms. With even half your income and moderate economy you

will do very well. You are in a free condition; take no trouble save how to enjoy life the most. Rise late; breakfast and dine copiously; saunter idly, or canter gaily, they are excel lent for the digestion; be steady, regular, sober; go out occasionally to

tea with pious ladies; squeeze their hands when they talk of heaven, you will find the effects of it in their wills. The nature of your fortune puts you beyond the chance of uneasiness. Let stocks rise or fall, you are very little disquieted about the matter. You fear no poor-rates, excise-duties, incometax. You are naturally assured against fires or shipwrecks, without having recourse to the Sun or Phonix. Finally, brother, be happy as a clear conscience, good appetite, and a total exemption from biliousness can make you; and so farewell."

And farewell, Bonton, Count Hypolite Montmorenci de St Leon, "sagest of moralists and usefullest of Frenchmen." If somewhat too clumsily we in our harsh Saxon, not unmixed with Gothic, nor even with Celtic-gutturals, have translated your tripping, light, hop-step jump phrases, forgive us for the amity wherewith we did it. If (as thou threatenest or promisest rather) thou shalt send us the supplement to thy present work, the art of driving Duns (in French idiom, L'Art de promener vos Creanciers)—we pray thee so far to exercise thy talents as to convey thy parcel to us by means of the ambassador's bag, for in this unenlightened country there are few peo ple so unwilling to be promene'd as the porters of the Bull and Mouth. What for thee can be done by puffing, or else by fair representations of thy merits and achievements, we will do, nay have already done. And when the International Library laws shall be perfected, and we shall (from the liberality of Maga) have received payment for thy copyright, then, oh Hypolite-guide at once and pattern in the ways of honour and virtuewe shall owe it thee. Yes! in the words of London's peripatetic philanthropists, who ever in open streets express their sympathy with fat Suffolk or fat Devonshire Squire, whether in search of his hat, wind-blown from his head, or of his purse, finger-lifted from his pocket," We wish you may get it."

THE characters of Lord Glenelg, Lord Palmerston, and the few other despicable trimmers of the class to which those persons belong, are we believe, well understood and duly appreciated by the country. It is right that it should be so. Fortunately, the class is very small, and therefore public men generally are viewed by the people with feelings different to those excited by the Foreign Secretary and the other converted statesmen. If it were otherwise-if truckling the most mean, inconsistency the most glaring, selfishness the most grovelling, unscrupulousness the most flagrant, were observable in many political leaders, the destinies of the nation would truly be confided to men unworthy of the least respect and the slightest responsibility. We pass by Lord Palmerston as one specimen of the tribe with that complete contempt which every honest man in Europe necessarily feels for the beau-Talleyrand, the petty actor in the political stage, whose ambition is to ape that lying and grasp ing, diplomatist without even the ability to copy his manners. But let Cupid revel on; he is fit only for a Melbourne Ministry; to that he is admirably suited; there never can be another, and therefore the creature will die when the present crazy Cabinet falls to pieces, though his name will live long in the land to serve as a synonym for selfishness and folly, or a by word for public scorn. We pass him by; there can be no words fit for these pages and for his lordship We rejoice that even in this age of O'Connellism we have not descended quite so low as that. But of Lord Glenelg, the smoothed-tongued though somnolent Simon Pure, we must say a very few words, if only for old acquaintance sake. He came into public life ushered in by an excellent and honoured father; a man who deservedly took his place with the Wilberforces and Thorntons of the time, both as a Christian and a politician; and, thus favourably introduced, he obtained the sympathy and regard of the people. He continued with the party to which his father was attached; he associated with supporters of constitutional principles; he

too.

obtained and remained in offices which were generously given before competency was fully developed; and he professed with warmth his ardent affection for the civil institutions, and espe cially for the religious establishments of the nation. But at length he began to falter; signs appeared of probable changes, and he magnanimously resolved to follow, whithersoever it might lead, the uncertain current of popular feeling. Gradually he fell off more and more; first he temporized, then he trimmed; and lastly screwed up his courage to the sticking point and resolved to adopt new connexions and new opinions. He had his reward. It is a true saying, "A very small man as a Tory is a very great man as a Whig," and Charles Grant the reformer found it so. First he was made President of the Board of Control, then he rose to the post of Colonial Secretary, and finally, without much property, without a single claim to it, except the impossibility of re-election in Inverness-shire, he obtained the long coveted peerage. But that man must be strangely constituted who envies Lord Glenelg in his robes, or would follow him in his devious career. True, he is among the nobles of the land, but his path to power was over every barrier honour and public spirit could present; true, he is a ruler of this vast empire, but the process of his personal aggrandizement has been to crouch to the prosperous, and to abandon the weak. But here we will let him pass too. Let him slumber still, insensible to shame. We merely wish to speak to the British public, to tell them the evils his pernicious influence has produced, to unveil the imbecility of his policy, and to ask seriously if they are indeed content any longer to trust in a Colonial Secretary who has sacrificed principle after principle, and perilled colony after colony; who is treacherous enough to apply doctrines and attempt schemes abroad which he does not venture to mention at home; who tampers with the loyalty of the well-affected, and gives hopes to the conspiracies of the rebels in every corner of the dominions to which his trembling sway is now unhappily extended? We do not wish to enter on