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telligence and freedom of communities. He conceived it possible that Europe very soon might be over-run by Russia, or entirely subject to Republican Governments. He attributed his ruin greatly to his marriage with Maria Louisa. As to the charge made against him that in Egypt he had conformed to the Mahometan religion or customs, he denied it positively, but jocosely observed, that "the dominion of the East, and the subjugation of all Asia would have been well worth a turban and a pair of trowsers." He considered suicide as no fault against morals, but, in his individual case, he viewed it as derogatory from his glory. He read the Bible solely as a book of history, observing at the names he came to of places," I encamped there," "I carried that place by assault," I gave battle here," &c. Had he reached America it was his design to have assembled a sort of French colony around him, and he observed that the state of Europe would have induced 60,000 persons to repair to his settlement, a sort of second France." thought he might have reached America, but he would not condescend to use any disguise or resort to flight. A great maxim of his policy was that agriculture should be more attended to than manufactures, and manufactures than trade; but his attention to manufactures was such, that he offered 1,000,000 of francs as a reward, merely for the invention of any means of spinning flax like cotton. He refused taking the sacrament, declaring that he had no faith in it, but would not profane it by hypocricy. He thought highly of Mr. Fox, saying, that "half a dozen men such as Fox and Cornwallis would be sufficient to establish the moral character of a nation."

He

It is necessarily beyond the limits of any magazine to quote or even to enter into the numerous and important passages respecting the policy of the different potentates and cabinets of Europe, or respecting the great political system which Napoleon had adopted, and which, had he been successful, was to have ter minated in his being the arbiter of the fates of nations and of kings, and in his governing his vast domi

nions with a union of wisdom and virtue that would have realized the golden age. Even with all the prejudices of Englishmen about us, there is something so beautiful in the picture which Napoleon has drawn of his ultimate intentions of government, that we can scarcely abstain from exclaiming, "Oh! its a consummation devoutly to be wished."

As we have referred to or quoted so much relative to the Emperor's opinions of individuals, and of books and principles, we shall now terminate this article by a few of his opinions and views of several of those great events which so recently shook the civilized world to its centre.

Speaking of Waterloo, he exclaims in a tone of sorrow, "Incomprehensible day! Concurrence of unheard of fatalities! Grouchy, Ney, Derlon-was there treachery or only misfortune? Alas! poor France. And yet all that human skill could do was accomplished. All was not lost until the moment when all had succeeded." As to his continuing the struggle for power after the loss of the battle, he observes, "It would have been necessary to arraign great criminals, and to decree great punishments. Blood must have been shed and then who can tell where we should have stopped. What scenes of horror must not have been renewed. pursuing this line of conduct should I not have drowned my memory in the deluge of blood, crimes and abominations of every kind, with which libelists (libellers) have already overwhelmed me? Posterity and history would have viewed me as a second Nero or Tiberius if, after all, I could have saved France at such a price. I had energy sufficient to carry me through any difficulty." And he continues in a strain which evinces that his own name in history and the happiness of France were paramount to any considerations of his continuing to reign.

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Marengo," said the Emperor, "was the battle in which the Austrians fought best; but that was the grave of their valour. The battle of Austerlitz, which was so completely won, would have been lost if

I had attacked six hours sooner. The Russians shewed themselves on that occasion such excellent troops as they have never appeared since. The Prussians at Jena did not make such a resistance as was expected from their reputation. As to the multitudes of 1814 and 1815, they were mere rabble compared to the real soldiers of Marengo, Austerlitz and Jena." But battles, after all, are not such sanguinary affairs as we timid civilians and stay at home gentlemen are wont to imagine. The Emperor says, that at Wagram he had 160,000 men, and the killed were only 3000. At Esling he had 40,000 and lost only 4000 men, although this was one of the most severe battles. The estimates of other battles are incomparably lower.

It was a subject of regret with Napoleon that, after his victory at Wagram, he had not reduced the House of Austria to a lower condition, and separated the crowns of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia. He tells us that even one of the Emperor of Austria's family had proposed to him to dethrone the Emperor, and to raise the proposer to the throne in his stead. In short, it is evident that the Cour's of Europe, and even the different royal families, are replete with crime and meanness. The alternations of crouching servility, of professions of friendship and of love, and finally of treachery and of persecution, evinced by the Emperors Francis and Alexander and by the King of Prussia towards Napoleon, indeed, justify all that satirists have said against kings and palaces.

Of Ferdinand of Spain, for whom thousands are now to bleed, and for whom some of the finest regions of the earth are to be desolated, these volumes afford a lamentable portrait. So eager was this proud Bourbon to be allied to the "Corsican Upstart," that he solicited his permission to marry Mademoiselle de Tascher, cousin-german of Josephine; and, on being refused, he then solicited the hand of Marshal Lannes's widow, "or of any other French lady whom the Emperor might think proper to adopt." Napoleon treated this sorry creature and his family with great liberality at Valencey: he says, "the princes hunted and gave balls at

Valencey, without being physically aware of their chains. They experienced courtesy and respect at all hands; old King Charles IV. removed from Compiegne to Marseilles and from Marseilles to Rome, whenever he wished, and yet how different are those places from this (St. Helena)." Speaking of the weakness and the wickedness of Ferdinand, and of the revolution of his subjects to emancipate themselves from his tyranny, Napoleon, in February 1816, foretold the revolutions that have since taken place in Spain, and added " Ferdinand in his madness may grasp his sceptre as firmly as he will, but one day or other it will slip through his fingers like an eel." In Vol. II. Part IV. page 189, the whole of Napoleon's policy as to Spain, and the data on which he proceeded, are laid open with the Emperor's usual brief and business-like manner; and his plans appear at least more justifiable than they had hitherto been represented to the world. The Emperor shews in what points his policy towards Spain was bad, and declares that his right course would have been to have given Spain a free constitution, and to have left the execution of it to Ferdinand. However, the knot was to have been cut, and all errors repaired by the restoration of Ferdinand on his marrying the daughter of Joseph Buonaparte, a scheme which failed solely on account of Napoleon's downfall in 1814. But on the reports of the Emperor's having inveigled away King Charles and his son Ferdinand, he declares, "History will do me justice; the world will one day be convinced that in the principal transactions relative to Spain I was completely a stranger to all the domestic intrigues of its court; that I broke no promise, made either to Charles IV. or to Ferdinand VII.; that I violated no engagement with the father or the son; that I made use of no falsehoods to entice them to Bayonne, but that they both strove which should be the first to shew themselves there.' When I saw them at my feet and was enabled to form a correct opinion of their total incapacity, I beheld with compassion the fate of a great people; I eagerly seized the

singular opportunity held out to us by fortune for regenerating Spain, rescuing her from the yoke of England, and intimately uniting her with our system." But if the Spanish revolution proved the ultimate ruin of Napoleon, even its commencement was no bed of roses. The Emperor declares, "that unlucky war ruined me; it divided my forces, obliged me to multiply my efforts and caused my principles to be assailed: and yet it was impossible to leave the Peninsula a prey to the machinations of the English. The intrigues, the hopes, and the pretensions of the Bourbons." The most splendid and successful Monarch of history was Napoleon, and yet these volumes bear ample testimony, that " uneasy lies the head

that wears a crown.'

We have been induced to go into this voluminous journal at such a length, on account of the great variety and still greater importance of its contents. Napoleon's style of conversation is remarkable: it is brief, sententious, full of fire, and always leading to some great result by the shortest road. His conversation is to style, what Rembrandt's style is to painting. There are no

elaborate and careful touches, but all the prominent points are seized upon and given with the utmost possible vigour. If we may be allowed the sic parvis componere magna solebam we should say that the very opposite to this is the style in which the Count Las Cases has composed his journal. The Count is not to Napoleon what Sully was to Henry IV. but rather what Boswell was to Dr. Johnson. However, these four volumes of the journal (two more volumes are expected from the press) contain much amusement, with an inexhaustible fund of data for the politician, and of subjects of reflection for the moralist. They will be volumes of research and of authority with the historian, who may write the eventful period of Napoleon's career; and even the superficial reader will find few works capable of affording more amusement. We must conclude, with expressing a hope that Count Las Cases, in his future volumes, will confine himself to simple narration, and not intrude upon the reader any of his own observations, or continue to expatiate upon what may fall from the Emperor.

TRANSLATION OF THE FRENCH LINES

Under the recently published Print of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Secretary Chatelar; supposed to be the Subject of the Secretary's Song.

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THE FINE ARTS.

EXHIBITIOn of the ROYAL ACADEMY AT SOMERSEt house.

TRUTH compels us, however reluctantly, to commence our remarks en the exhibition of the present year, by a confession that it is, in our opinion, inferior to several which have preceded it. Far are we from denying that it contains a number of individual productions of considerable, and a few of superlative merit; but, as a whole, we own that we do not think it conveys an adequate notion of the degree of talent which we know exists in the country. Why is this? We fear that the reply would deeply implicate the national taste and feeling for the fine arts. The fact really is, that although one here and there meets with a man of rank or fortune, who is properly impressed with the intrinsic value of the productions of genius, and with their importance in every respect to a great empire, the higher classes of society in England are, generally speaking, extremely ignorant of the subject; and, of course, very insensible with regard to it. We have long been convinced that the only remedy for this evil (which is a much more serious one than an ordinary observer is aware of), would be the adoption of the judicious plan suggested some years ago by Mr. Prince Hoare; namely, the appointment of Professors of the Fine Arts in our Universities; so that a knowledge of their principles might come to be considered an indispensable part of a liberal education. The rest would follow.

The present Exhibition consists of 1131 works of various kinds. We shall confine our observations to some of those which would do honour to any collection, age, or country; and which do not require the relief which they nevertheless receive from the mass of mediocrity surrounding them.

HISTORICAL AND POETICAL. No. 196. Comus, with the Lady in the Enchanted Chair. W. HILTON, R.A.This is a delightful Eur. Mag. May, 1823.

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Lady;" unmoved as she is by the allurements of the wine-flushed Comus, and by every other incitement to a participation in the Bacchanalian revelry of the scene. The attitude of Comus is remarkably fine, and reminds us of some of the most beautiful relics of Grecian sculpture. Indeed, the whole group of figures, which is numerous, evinces the benefit Mr. Hilton now derives from the laborious study of the antique to which his early days were devoted.

H.

No. 21. The Solar System. HOWARD, R.A.-A suitable companion to the "Pleiades," which we noticed in our last number as now adorning Sir John Leicester's Gallery. Apollo, with his lyre, sits in the centre, while the planets, most happily personified, move round the God of light, with astronomical precision, and poetical beauty. We did not before know that we were so worldly in our inclinations; but really, of all "the starry host," we were most charmed with the figures of our own "green earth," and her fair lunar attendant. The composition is eminently graceful and picturesque, and the whole affords another proof of the elegance of Mr. Howard's conceptions, and the refinement of his taste.

No. 197. The Child exposed by Antigonus on the sea-shore found by the Shepherd. H. THOMSON, R.A.—Mr. Thomson's pencil is full of amenity. The subjects which he chooses are invariably pleasing. Without advancing any high pretensions, the character of the present picture is very agreeable. The surprise of the Old Shepherd and his son at the discovery of the

H

Fine Arts.

infant Perdita, in its royal swaddling clothes, is very naturally pourtray. ed. The child itself is beautiful, both in form and in colour. Nor must we forget the faithful dog, who forms an important part of the pyramidal composition; and who is looking on with the interest which all animals of his species take in every thing that concerns their masters.

No. 77. The Bay of Baice, with Apollo and the Sybil. J. M. W. TURNER, R.A.-A gorgeous painter's vision. We were much annoyed by a cold-blooded critic, standing near us while we were admiring this dazzling and magnificent picture; who observed that it was not natural. Natural! No, not in his limited and purblind view of nature. But perfectly natural to the man who is capable of appreciating the value of a poetical concentration of all that nature occasionally and partially discloses of the rich, the glowing, and the splendid.

No. 22. The Dawn. H. FUSELI, R.A.-Simple and affecting; and, if not sublime, a near approximation

to it.

No. 34. John Knox admonishing Mary, Queen of Scots, on the day when her intention to marry Darnley had been made public. W. ALLAN.Although we will not flatter Mr. Allan by saying that we think this picture equal to some of his former productions, we are most ready to admit and to admire its beauties; and especially the intense expression in the countenance of the fair Scottish Queen, suddenly thwarted as she is in the prosecution of her amorous intent by the remonstrances of the austere reformer. Who does not nevertheless see that all his representations will be unavailing! No. 305. Discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, and taking of Guy Fawkes. H. P. BRIGGS.-There is a manly boldness and breadth in Mr. Briggs's style, both of conception and of execution. We wish we could observe his powers exerted in a more ample field, and on subjects of higher interest. He appears to us to be capable of great things, if he had encouragement to undertake them. Nothing can be finer than the figure of Sir Thomas Knevett in the present composition.

[MAY,

J. MARTIN. Highly characteristic
No. 427. The Paphian Bower.
of the boundless exuberance of Mr.
Martin's imagination. In such a
scene too, the extraordinary vivid-
priate.
ness of his colouring is quite appro-

R. WESTALL, R.A.
No. 384. The Lily and the Rose.
A beautiful
little specimen of this veteran ar-
tist's peculiar qualities.

D.

FAMILIAR SUBJECTS. No. 135. The Parish Beadle. WILKIE, R.A.-We will venture to before quoted as affording the say that Burn's Justice was never theme for a work of art! Whatever may be the gravity of Mr. Wilkie's authority, he has however made a highly entertaining picture of this exhibition of official dignity manifested towards an unfortunate bear, monkeys, dancing-dogs, &c. group of Savoyards, with their all of whom are on the point of being consigned to the parochial vidual in the piece, the animals, cage. The character of every indiand the still-life, are all painted with of detail. Mr. Wilkie has evidently extraordinary truth and minuteness had Rembrandt in his eye, in point of effect; but, surely, the general hue of his half-tints and shadows is considerably too cold.

No. 128. The Reconciliation. J. P. STEPHANOFF.-The triumph of verity, of a legitimate and permapaternal affection over paternal senent over an unnatural and tempoably depicted. The emotion of the rary sentiment, is here most agreedaughter, who is promising on her knees,

"that if forgiven this once returning love of the father, the she will never do so any more," the joyful surprise of the mother, and tranquil observance of the bridethe comparatively hut not wholly played. groom, are all interestingly dis

No. 13. A Scene from the Spoiled Child. Mrs. Harlowe, Mr. TayMiss Pickle, Tag, and Little Pickle. leure, and Miss Clara Fisher, as led in dramatic subjects of a comic G. CLINT, A.-Mr. Clint is unrivalductions. The resemblances are very nature. This is one of his best prostriking, especially that of Tayleure, whose Tag is allowed by all who

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