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THE

METROPOLITAN.

APRIL, 1849.

CONTENTS.

Swissiana. Chap. VIII.

'Tis not for me. By G. W.

My White Charger. By Lieut.-Col. Hort.

Forest Thoughts. By Fitz-James O'Brien.

The Pearl. By Mrs. Edward Thomas. Chap. I-III.
The Shining Stone. By Mrs. Abdy.

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The Storm and the Conflict. A Tale of the First Rebellion.
Mrs. Charles Tinsley. Part II. Chap. X.-XI.

Do You Remember? By C. A. M. W.

Flights of Fancy. By Walter R. Castelli.

Women as they are. By the Editor.

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The Secretary. A Novel. Chap. III. By the Author of "The

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Macfarlane's Glance at Revolutionised Italy. By J. E. R.

LITERATURE.-NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.

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Cosmos. A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe. By

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Lectures addressed chiefly to the Working Classes. Vol. IV. By

W. J. Fox, M.P.

474

Zayda: a Tale; The Lady's Dream; and other Poems. By Thomas

Stuart Traill, Esq.

474

1

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"A "Twice-told Tale' is generally considered a tedious affair; but their is no rule without an exception. Mr. Hawthorne's tales are worth twice telling. These tales, or rather tales and meditations, are of a peculiar character. There is something quaint and singular in the conception of nearly all of them; but that very singularity adds to their effect. The moral of the whole is excellent; almost every page of the little volume contains some admirable advice, curiously set forth, or some beautiful thought, forcibly expressed. The peculiarity of the writer's manner has at times a thrilling and powerful effect."-Sun.

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They will bear another and another raconte."-Bristol Journal.

"The elegant little volume now lying on our table, does not consist exclusively of tales. Often, like the weary knife-grinder of Canning, Mr. Hawthorne may exclaim :- Story, God bless you, Í have none to tell, sir.' We have reviews, moral, poetical, by the sea-shore, by church-yards, on calm Sabbath mornings, in the stillness of the night, full of fine feeling, in graceful language,—to many, we doubt not, as acceptable as tales; but tales they certainly are not. Such tales as the volume does contain are such as must delight, especially the young, to whom the work will form a most appropriate present; to such its pure tone of style and thought must be especially grateful."Metropolitan Magazine.

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LONDON: KENT AND RICHARDS, 51 & 52, PATERNOSTER ROW.

same legion, I saw a double line of the same Gardes Républicains marching arm-in-arm, without either muskets or sabres, like respectable citizens, uttering no factious cry, screaming no bloody warsong, worthy assistants at a Feast of Concord. The procession, consisting of strong detachments of all the legions of the National Guards, of the troops in garrison at Paris, and of the guilds, or tradecorporations, with cars, containing their chef d'auvres, marched slowly, and in good order, round the Champ de Mars, and past the legislative body, with shouts of Vive la Assemblée Nationale! Vive la République ! to which, a few isolated voices would fain have added, Démocratique! but found no echo in the general feeling of the people.

Some lancers of the Horse National Guard had ladies seated before them, that they might have a clear view of the procession as it passed,―tableaux vivans of the celebrated Group of Esmeralda, and Phœbus de Chateaupers, in Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris.

Amongst the cars belonging to the different trades, the two prettiest were those of the Luthiers, and of the Armuriers. The former was covered with an awning, under which were seated a score of young girls, dressed in white, each bearing a banner, inscribed with the name of some artist, eminent in music, in poetry, in eloquence, or in declamation. Behind them, heaped in artistic confusion, were piled musical instruments of every description; the whole surmounted by a beautiful little rosewood organ. The platform of the Armourers car was covered with crimson velvet, trimmed with gold lace. At each corner was a complete suit of armour, with a lance, and in the centre, a trophy of arms in every variety, surmounted by a sun, composed of the crimson triangle of Egalité, framed in gold, with rays formed by glittering sword-blades. In the evening we had fireworks and illuminations of the most beautiful and fanciful description. The whole face of the Ecole Militaire glittered with light to the very roof. At intervais, round the Champ de Mars, were poteaux fifty feet high, with long, streaming banners; strings of paper lanterns, red, white, and blue, trailed from one to another; and, at their base, groups of flags formed by lamps of the same colours; between every two was a tricoloured oriflamme, in lamps also, and in an inner circle, round the colossal statue of the Republic, were some four and twenty raised altars, on which were burning lights of the most dazzling brightness. The Place de la Concorde was almost as light as at noon-day. The whole of the terrace of the Tuilleries Garden was illuminated by lamps covering the railings; and on the side of the Champs Elysees, was a battlemented scaffolding, extending the whole length,-one blaze of light. Four enormous obelisks marked the entrance of the avenue, over which were hung, at short intervals, chandeliers of lamps and paper lanterns, which had a most beautiful effect. This was continued as far as the Rond Point, where the obelisks were repeated; and the rest of the avenue was illuminated with pyramids of lampions. The day, as far as I can learn, passed off most satisfactorily, without a single accident of any sort. I have no time to entertain you with politics to-day, beyond telling January, 1849.-VOL, LIV.—NO. CCXIII.

C

you that Lamartine has struck another blow at his own reputation, by giving Louis Blanc an order to have access to the prisoners at Vincennes, contrary to all established rule and precedent. Fortunately, the juges d'instruction were there before him, and prevented this interference with the course of justice from taking effect. Lord Gray is kind enough to encumber himself with your small music portfolio, which I thought you would be glad to receive.

Paris, May 26th, 1848.

Here we go tinkering on in the way of government, with an executive commission encamped, in gipsy idleness, and gipsy pilfering, at the Luxembourg, with a dozen ministers, still dazzled with the brightness of their new portfolios, and the unexpected splendours of their official hotels, doing nothing, or doing mischief; with a National Assembly of nine hundred members, who have as yet hardly learned to know one another by sight, and from whom, of course, neither fixed purpose nor united action can be expected. In short, we are in a state of organised anarchy; the anarchy being the result of legislative and executive incompetence; the organisation depending upon the zeal and intelligence of the 200,000 bayonets, which the rappel can, at any moment, bring together, when pillage and violence, emerging from the depths below, threaten to raise their heads above the surface of the troubled waters. Thus, the National Guard holds in its hand the balance of power between mis-rule and mob-rule, between peculation and plunder, between the so-called organisation du travail, and the fearful reality of the guillotine en permanence.

Unfortunately, the prerogative of this force is limited to a veto upon the proceedings of the forçats, and coquins, who, like noxious weeds, in consequence of filthy farming, have overrun the whole Departement de la Seine, since the Revolution of February. It cannot, for the moment, assume the 'initiative' in any direction; from its heterogeneous composition, embracing all parties, from the legitimist to the ultra-demagogue, such a thing would be impossible. All it has to do is to remain at its post, to demand and enforce l'arrestation des voleurs et des terroristes. Were it to attempt more, it would split up into parties and factions, mutually hostile, and mutually destructive; and the last barrier, behind which the rights of family and the rights of property are entrenched, would be swept

away.

We sadly want a head. Egalité is a captivating principle to every kind of vulgarity, and every shade of mediocrity; but, even were it possible, it implies a low level, with a rapid decline and fall of arts and sciences, of prosperity and civilization. We want a head, and, what is worse, I fear we want the capacity and self-knowledge to recognise and to reverence it, even though Providence should furnish us with one at the approaching elections.

May 27th.

The chief feature in the order of the day, at the Assemblée Nationale

yesterday, was the project of a decree for the perpetual banishment of Louis Philippe and his descendants. When M. Vézin, the reporter of the committee to which the question had been referred, ascended the tribune, there was not a member of the executive council, nor a single minister present. It was not until M. Vézin had gone through a considerable portion of his report, that M. Flocon swaggered into the hall, and took his seat on the ministers' bench. One hardly knows whether to laugh or to weep at the insolent airs of these vulgar fellows, and at the resignation with which the representatives of the nation are forced, by policy, to submit to them for a time. The debate was short, and but slightly enlivened by a personal altercation between a M. Vignerte, and Napoléon Buonaparte, who shewed a spirit fit to cope with a more respectable adversary. On the division, the decree was voted by 632 ayes, against 63 nos. This result was universally expected. The extreme left, who are frightened out of their wits at the idea of reaction to come, which casts its shadow before, would of course vote as one man. The extreme right, again, were delighted at a law which lays the branche cadette under the same ban with the branche aînée des Bourbons. And the centres, aware that the vessel of the Republic, although labouring heavily, and opening at every seam, is not yet completely water-logged, will not take to their boats, and desert the ship, until the weather moderates, and the tide turns; and so they continue working at the pumps, and biding their time. Thus has the Chamber laid the Orleans family under an interdict, à perpétuité, and the only appeal from their decision is to the will of the nation. The decree will only be reversed in case the lower class of shopkeepers and the better class of workmen rally themselves to the haute bourgeoisie. The smaller shopkeepers have suffered considerably under the Republic, from the invasion of their trade by unlicensed hawkers, and stall-keepers, and the superior artisans are almost to a man without wages or work. I have just been reading a pamphlet by Achille Fould, (who evidently looks to being Finance Minister, at no distant date) in which he states that fivesixths of the products of Parisian manufacture consist of articles of luxury, vanity, or superfluity. As, in consequence of the pecuniary embarrassments of what was the wealthy class, aggravated by the new system of taxation proposed, luxury, vanity, and superfluity are no longer the order of the day, it follows that the present stock in trade will be fully equal to the demand for a long time to come, and that the producers of what are called articles de Paris must either starve, or seek employment in the ateliers nationaux. One can readily imagine the regret with which carriage-trimmers, carvers, and gilders, perfumers, feather-dressers, artificial flower-makers, and the like, will look back to the good old times of the monarchy, as they strain their unaccustomed backs over pick and shovel, at the rate of thirty sous a-day. If we are to have a restoration these are the men who must raise the standard, and I firmly believe that nineteen-twentieths of the whole nation would rally round it joyfully. In the meanwhile, we rub on, living on the au jour le jour principle, without a head or anything worthy of the name of government; the National Guard

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