Page images
PDF
EPUB

propensities were not sins, but graces: he regarded continence as the only unnatural vice; and he taught that to enjoy is to obey: the household at Cirey being worthy of such a chaplain, and exhibiting in fact the probable effects of such licentious, mischievous, and degrading opinions.

In the second part of Mad. DE GRAFIGNY's letters are detailed the personal inconveniences to which she became exposed at Cirey, in consequence of a suspicion formed there that she be trayed the secrets of the family. Indeed, it appears but too probable that she copied and transmitted to her correspondent a canto of the unpublished Pucelle; by which means her friend communicated it at the court of Stanislaus in Luneville, and it stole into print. Voltaire was furious, not without grounds of displeasure; and he, or the Marchioness, in order to ascertain the truth, took the liberty of opening sealed letters coming to and from Mad. DE GRAFIGNY: when, having detected her treachery, which is however somewhat extenuated by the circumstances, they determined to dismiss her from the house. The narrative of this involuntary removal, at a time when her pecuniary resources rendered it very distressing, constitutes the third part of this correspondence; and it gives a tragic catastrophe and a wholeness to the series of letters, which reflects back on the earlier portions of them the interest of a novel. Mad. DE G., after her separation from this family, acquired distinction as a writer; having composed a Spanish Tale, - the Peruvian Letters, (which are still remembered,)—Cenie, a successful comedy, — the Daughter of Aristides, an unsuccessful drama,—and a musical entertainment intitled Azor, founded on the story of Beauty and the Beast; which, as retouched by Marmontel, still forms throughout Europe a popular after-piece. The music of Gretry has, however, much contributed to its longevity.

The letters here collected are full of feigned names, of personalities about insignificant people, and of details very trifling: but here and there a needle sparkles among the chaff. We give a specimen or two:

Yester-evening, Voltaire was charmingly gay at supper, and related stories which are only good from his lips. He told me anecdotes of Boileau, which are to be found no where, and which consisted of impromptu verses happily applied. If I can get copies of them, I will send them to you.' P.55.

I will tell you a kind proceeding of your idol. A week ago, the scullion broke an earthen pot on the head of Voltaire's man-servant: the man was confined to his bed several days; the girl was dimissed; and a crown was detained from her wages, and given to the sufferer as an indemnity. Yesterday the valet-de-.

chambre

chambre mentioned that the lackey had given back to the girl the crown-piece. "Call him," said Voltaire. "Why did you give back the crown ?" "Sir, I am now very well, and the girl is sorry that she hit me."-" Ceran," (the valet-de-chambre,) "give this fellow one crown instead of that which he has returned, and another to shew him that we feel the merit of good actions. Go, friend, you are in luck to know how to perform them; keep it up."' P. 160.

[ocr errors]

To the epistles of Mad. DE GRAFIGNY, succeed fifty hitherto inedited letters of Voltaire, addressed to various distinguished persons of his time; such as Pope Benedict XIV., Marshal Richelieu, the Duchesses de Maine and d'Aiguillon, the Chancellor d'Aguesseau, the President Hénault, the Duke de Praslin, and others. Kings and empires pass away,' says the editor in his preface, but the writings of the sage remain. In vain have the malignant defenders of fanaticism and tyranny endeavoured to overthrow the glory of Voltaire, they have but established it for ever. Europe, whom certain people would recall to the infancy of civilization, will never discover the mad antagonist of God, of government, and of morality, in the orator of the rights of conscience and of mankind, in the eloquent advocate of Sirven and Calas, in the writer whose long career was a series of benefits to individuals and to nations, and whose only purpose was to restore communities degraded by slavery and superstition to the natural dignity of their existence, by teaching them to think and to be free.' We will transcribe, from p. 334., the letter to Ganganelli; which does no great honour to the Italian proficiency of Voltaire :

'To Pope Benedict XIV.

• Beatissimo Padre,

Ho ricevuto co' i sensi della più profunda venerazione e della gratitudine più viva, i sacri medaglioni di quali vostra santita s'è degnata honorarmi. Sono degni del bel' secolo de' i Trajani ed Antonini; ed è ben giusto che un sovrano amatore riverito al par di loro abbia le sue medaglie perfettamente come le loro lavorate. Teneva e riveriva io nel mio gabinetto una stampa di vostra Beatitudine, sotto la quale ho preso l'ardire di scrivere :

"Lambertinus hic est, Romæ decus et pater orbis ;

Qui scriptis mundum edocuit, virtutibus ornat.”

Quella inscrizione che almeno è giusta fù il frutto della lettura che avevo fatta del libro con cui vostra Beatitudine ha illustrata la chiesa e la litteratura; ed ammiravo come il nobil fiume di tanta erudizione non fosse stato turbato del tanto turbine degli affari.

Mi sia lecito, Beatissimo Padre, di porgere i miei voti con tutta la Christianita, e di domandare al cielo che vostra santita sia tardissimamente ricevuta trà quegli santi dei quali ella, con si gran' fatica e successo, ha investigato la canonizatione.

Mi concede di bacciare umilissimamente i sacri suoi piedi, e di domandarle col più profondo rispetto la sua benedizione.

'Di vostra Beatitudine

Il divotissimo, umilissimo
ed obligatissimo Servitore,

• VOLTAIRE."

With the exception of Cicero and Pliny, no great writer, we believe, has left to posterity so large a collection of familiar epistles as Voltaire; and they are truly unaffected: for he never makes phrases, but speaks from the soul with the first words that come, and thus is enabled to act so strongly on the sympathy. His letters have powerfully tended to propagate his opinions, and to inspire that free-thinking spirit which distinguishes his philosophy from the calmer and more comprehensive liberalism of a Gibbon or a Wieland.

A portrait of Mad. DE GRAFIGNY is prefixed to her correspondence.

4

ART. IX. Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire ; &c. i. e. Memoirs towards the History of Charles XIV. John, King of Sweden and Norway containing the Itinerary of a Journey in Sweden; an Account of the Revolution in 1809; the Political and Military Life of Bernadotte while a General in the French Service; his Election to be Prince-Royal of Sweden; his Acts and Correspondence; his Campaigns against Napoleon in 1813 and 1814; his Norwegian Campaign; the Close of the Reign of Charles XIII.; the Accession of Charles XIV. John; his Coronation at Stockholm, and his Consecration at Drontheim. The whole collected and arranged from authentic Papers, by COUPÉ de St. Donat, Knt. of the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour, and formerly superior Officer on the Staff of the Prince of Ponte Corvo, (Bernadotte,) &c. &c. and B. DE ROQUEFORT, of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, &c. 8vo. 2 Vols. Paris. 1820. Imported by Treuttel and Würtz. Price 11.

THE

HESE volumes consist principally of diplomatic correspondence, legislative enactments, official speeches, and public documents of various kinds relative to the accession of Bernadotte to the crowns of Sweden and Norway by the title of Charles XIV. John. So much of narrative precedes and connects these vouchers as to furnish an outline of the biography of the individual: but the object of the author is rather to display the King than the man; - rather to dwell on those

[blocks in formation]

military exploits and local accidents which paved the way for his singular exaltation, than to give publicity to his private life and character. The state-papers collected are so complete, and many of them of so confidential a character, that some assistance to the author must have been derived from high quarters; and, as the praise bestowed is temperate, (perhaps unjustly temperate towards a man of talents and qualities so great and extraordinary,) it may be conjectured that the work has been drawn up under the sanction, if not the personal inspection, of the King of Sweden himself.

After a preface, which contains some anecdotes inadvertently omitted in the course of the narrative, the author gives an account of his tour through Sweden, and especially of a journey from Stockholm to Gottenburg, along the magnificent canal which has been made to connect the inland-lakes. This statistical journey, for it seems every where to have had political information as its object, is instructive, and is variegated with some succinct antiquarian particulars of the antient religion, or mythology, of the Scandinavians. The author

praises especially an Essay on the Skalds, published at Pisa in 1809 by the Swedish consul at Genoa, Mr. James Graeberg of Hemso. Odin is supposed to have flourished in the time of Constantine, and to have found the worship of Thor already established among the Fins who then inhabited Scandinavia, and were afterward compressed into Lapland by the Gothic intruders. We shall re-quote the fragment here given of a poem by M. de Parny, in which he describes Valhalla, the paradise of the northern nations:

• Du Valhalla les belles messagères

Planaient sur nous brillantes et légères;
Un casque blanc couvre leurs fronts divins,
Des lances d'or arment leurs jeunes mains,
Et leurs coursiers ont l'éclat de la neige.
Du brave Ornof préparez le cortége,
Filles d'Odin. Cet enfant des combats,
Foulant les corps des guerriers qu'il terrasse,

D'une aile à l'autre et sans choix et sans place

Porte le trouble, et sème le trépas.

Ces feux subits qui dans la nuit profonde

Fendent les airs et traversent les cieux,

Semblent moins prompts: Ornof s'éteint comme eux
Isnel a vu sa fureur vagabonde,

Et fond sur lui, léger comme l'oiseau :
Scaldes sacrés, élevez son tombeau.
En brave il meurt; les belles Valkyries,
Du grand Odin confidentes chéries,

En les touchant rouvrent soudain ses yeux,

Un

Un sang plus pur déjà gonfle ses veines ;
Du firmament il traverse les plaines,
Et prend son vol vers le séjour des Dieux.
Du Valhalla les cent portes brillantes
S'ouvrent; il voit des campagnes riantes,
De frais vallons, des coteaux fortunés,
D'arbres, de fleurs et de fruits couronnés.
Là, des héros à la lutte s'exercent,

D'un pied léger franchissent les torrens,
Chassent les daims sous le feuillage errans,
Croisent leurs fers, se frappent, se renversent;
Mais leurs combats ne sont plus que des jeux;
La pâle mort n'entre point dans ces lieux.
D'autres, plus loin, sont assis sous l'ombrage;
Des temps passés ils écoutent la voix :
Le Scalde chante, et chante leurs exploits;
Un noble orgueil colore leur visage.
L'heure s'écoule, et celle du festin
Les réunit à la table d'Odin:

Sur des plats d'or Vérista leur présente
Du sanglier la chair appétissante;
Leur voix commande, et les filles du ciel,
Qui du palais gardent les avenues,
Belles toujours et toujours demi-nues,
Versent pour eux la bière et l'hydromel.

The

In the statistical survey of Sweden, which forms a part of the prefatory matter, the country is said to contain 14,000 German square miles of area; of which 1800 are cultivated, 5000 are occupied by forests and lakes, and 7200 still lie waste: but of this last portion much consists of mountainous district perpetually buried under snow. The lakes Wener and Weter, which have each a length of 85 miles, and the lake Malear, of 50, have been connected by navigable cuts. population of the country is estimated at 3,000,000 of persons. The Swedish language is a Gothic dialect allied to the Icelandish and the Norwegian: but in the north the Fins and Laplanders preserve a peculiar tongue, more resembling the Sclavonian. Lutheranism is the established religion, but all other Christian sects are tolerated. The exportation of timber, deals, tar, and pitch, is estimated to produce 2,666,000 of florins yearly; and the copper and iron mines also afford a large exportable revenue. About 600,000 tons of herrings are annually caught on the coasts, of which 50,000 suffice for the domestic consumption.

The roads in Sweden are remarkably good: but, as there are no public carriages, the traveller must purchase his own, and hire relays of horses at every stage. The price of posting is regulated by government-authority, and so is that of the meals ordered at the inns; and, where no public houses are provided,

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »