troops or generals to oppose them. Oh folly! utter folly! I shall call on you when I go out to-day. Good-bye, my dear Count. Pray do not lose a moment in forwarding this document.'

"Mirabeau had indeed reason to be indignant at conduct, which, independently of the imprudence which marked it, displayed an entire want of confidence in him; at being supplanted, too, by a man whose intentions were doubtless pure, but who was infinitely inferior to him in intellect. However, I could not pardon him for making use of so coarse an epithet when speaking of the royal family; in their unfortunate posi tion increased respect was due to them; I could not help telling him how much I was wounded at his so expressing himself, but he, as usual, attributed it to his impetuosity, and begged me to excuse it. However it happened I know not, but the letter which Bergasse had suggested never came before the Assembly; if it had, no doubt it would have preduced the most mischievous effect. Louis the Sixteenth was not in a situation to enable him to hold the language which it was proposed to him to employ; he would be compelled to retire before he had sounded the ground upon which he would have to commence operations; and what could be more degrading than a state of things which obliges a King to take such a step?

Among the rest of the papers, one will be found in which this letter is mentioned, as proposed by M. Bergasse; I shall not make any remarks of my own on the subject. I only add, that I have no other proof of its origin than the Count de Mirabeau's assertion. As far as the Ministers were concerned, they resigned one after the other, without waiting for the vote of the Assembly, and the King chose their succes sors. He only retained M. de Montmorin, who remained in office eve under the Legislative Assembly; but at length its bickerings and violence obliged him to give in his resignation. As the Assembly did not really pronounce that the Ministers had lost the confidence of the nation, which at first promised to be the case, M. Bergasse's projected letter, which wa prepared upon the supposition that a declaration of this nature would be made by the Assembly, became altogether useless. Furthermore, this how matters went on in the Assembly.

"On the 19th of October, 1790, the Baron de Menou reported partic lars of a mutiny in the squadron off Brest, and proposed a measures this head, an article of which should, in fact, contain the demand much dreaded, namely, that which referred to the resignation of tr Ministers; however, this article was rejected at the séance of the 2003 after a nominal appeal, and by a majority of sixty-two votes. Mirabes. avoided speaking, out of consideration to M. de Montmorin. The red navy still bore the white flag; Mirabeau proposed, with some want that the tricolor should be substituted for it. This proposition warmly attacked on the right hand; it was evident, however, that if t army had already adopted the tricolor flag, it was impossible-unless i was desirable that the army should make war on the navy-that latter should continue to bear the white flag. During this debate Mo beau seemed to regain all his radical impetuosity; it was upon this se sion that he said, that the white cockade, or, in other words, the Fr Revolution, would make the tour of Europe. Certainly, unless one been secretly aware of it, it would have been almost incredible that man, who spoke upon this occasion at the tribune, could be the same corresponded, at this very time, with the Court, and was occupying

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self also in reestablishing the monarchy. But this apparent contradiction is explained, if what has been previously said is borne in mind. Mirabeau desired to see the monarchy built up again by means of the Revolution, of course depriving it of its anarchical fetters; and while adopting and proclaiming the principles of this momentous change, and of following up their results, he wished to fix the King firmly on his throne. According to his opinion, if the King did not pursue this line of conduct, he would inevitably lose his throne and his life.

"I shall mention another instance of a similar nature which occurred at the same time, which gave rise to a very stormy discussion in the National Assembly, during which Mirabeau was viewed as a most decided radical by those who were situated on the right side of the chamber, and even by other deputies who did not sit on that side. It is known that after a duel between M. de Castries and M. de Lameth, both members of the Assembly, in which the latter received a slight sword-wound, that the people assailed and plundered M. de Castries' hôtel. The friends of the Revolution attributed this circumstance to the irritation of the people, for, on perceiving that the deputies on the left side, who were represented to them as their staunch defenders, were attacked by those on the right side, they imagined that the best method of putting an end to these attacks was to ransack the offender's property. It may, perhaps, be curious to learn how the Revolution contrived to bring about such disorders, from a witness of this disgusting scene. No sooner was it ascertained that M. Charles de Lameth had been wounded by M. de Castries, than three men, known as the heads of the Lameth party, followed by several other persons, made their appearance at the Palais Royal. One of the three men just mentioned, called Feydel, had been garde du corps of Monsieur, the King's brother, but he was then employed in compiling the 'Journal de Paris." The other, called Paré, was head clerk of the famous Danton, and became afterwards Minister of the Interior under the Convention. The third, called Giles Clermont, had been the Prince de Conti's chef d'office. These three men mounted upon chairs, and after having declared, in a very violent harangue, that the patriotic deputies were being assassinated, and that the Count de Lameth had just been killed by M. de Castries, they invited the crowd, which had accumulated from all parts, to follow them and execute vengeance. They were applauded, and this crowd, composed of well-dressed persons, poured forward after them towards M. de Castries' hôtel, which they ransacked from top to bottom. M. de la Fayette, who made his appearance on the spot with a battalion of the National Guard, allowed them to proceed without making the slightest attempt to hinder them. One would have said that he had not come with a view of checking the disorder, but, on the contrary, that the ravagers might uninterruptedly pursue their operations.

"This insurrection was truly an insurrection of the bourgeoisie; the populace, one of the essential elements in all revolts, undoubtedly took part in it, but not the principal part; those most concerned in ransacking the property of an aristocrat, were prosperous merchants, lawyers, and men of private fortune; while the populace attentively looked on and thought perhaps, that soon perhaps, their houses and shops might meet with similar treatment. Several members of the Assembly, even some among the most moderate on the left side, said that a judicial inquiry should be made concerning the authors of the pillage of the Hôtel de Castries. Mirabeau opposed this inquiry, without attempting to justify

the action; he pretended to think it quite natural. Being upbraided by the right side, he made some sarcastic replies which met with unbounded applause on the left side, and he succeeded in preventing the inquiry; the Court felt indignant at his conduct in this instance, and severely reproached him for it. He answered them in a document which will be found among the other materials. In this document he has suppressed one particular circumstance for which he could give no account, of which he never spoke even to me, and I only learned it a long time after his death. His colleague, Malouet, relates, in the printed recollections of his speeches, that he had requested to be allowed to speak on the subject of the punishment which should be awarded to the plunderers of the Hôtel de Castries before Mirabeau had asked permission to do so. They met on the step of the Tribune, and Mirabeau whispered to Malouet. Permit me to speak first on this occasion, I shall arrive at the same conclusions as yourself, and shall be more favourably heard.' Malouet moved away, and Mirabeau, in order that he should not compromise his popularity, began by declaiming against the aristocrats and against the anti-revolutionists, and maintained that from their overbearing nature they were the authors of all the disorders which occurred, still he was on the point of concluding in a different strain, but his exordium so irritated the deputies on the right side, that they addressed him in the most vehement and angry language. Then Mirabeau was no longer master of himself, his impetuosity carried him away, and he summed up in a very different manner from his first idea. Malouet reproached him very much for this conduct. What would you have wished me to do?' replied he, I could not agree to vote with men who would have desired to assassinate me.' I think that Mirabeau's behaviour on this occasion may also be attributed to the vexation which he felt in consequence of the discovery which he had made concerning M. Bergasse. However that may be, Mirabeau's advice could be of little avail, if the measures which were to support it were not strictly executed; he thought that one of the primary objects to be effected, was to give a wholesome direction to public opinion, now in the then excited state of men's minds this was no easy matter.

"One of the preparatory means which he proposed for carrying out this end, was to draw the nation's attention to the inconsistency of their new institutions, and to the principles of anarchy which marked their nature, and which would quite prevent them from being brought into play. All men of reflection perceived the evils of these new institutions; even those who were the authors of them could not disguise from themselves that the working of these institutions gave a death-wound to their presumptuous theories. According to Mirabeau, it was essential to use some address in inducing men to sacrifice a little of their amour propre, to retrace their steps, to modify some of the constitutional measures, to disengage the new system of administration from all the useless wheel-work which encumbers its motion, to give the royal power, in short, its independence of action. If the Assembly would not during a lengthened session effect these changes, the electors must be persuaded to confer on the next legislators the constituent power, or, at least, the rectifying power; but in order to render the new Assembly more prudent than the former, it would be necessary to calm the electors' minds, and direct them in such a manner that their choice would fall upon men devoted to monarchy."

MISS SINCLAIR'S "BEATRICE."

OUR authoress enjoys such a wide and well-desired reputation for her literary ability, that nothing can leave her pen but must command as early an attention as can possibly be bestowed upon it. We have pursued the stories of Miss Sinclair, when she has led us "from grave to gay, from lively to" (severe, we will not say,-for she is too gentleminded a woman to tend a crop which is so easily cultivated, namely, the ill-natured and the sarcastic) but we have never read anything from her hand with more serious feelings than "Beatrice."

Let us, in the first place, speak of this work as a romance. But, for a moment, before we do so, let us take Miss Sinclair to task that she has chosen for the motto on her title-page, three lines from Anstey's (undeservedly) forgotten "Bath Guide," which, however well they may indicate the incidents she has to describe, might go far, with those who do not know the conscientiousness of our authoress, to throw cold water on the purpose she has had in view. She copies from Anstey :

"If authors must write, they had better compose

Their stories too marvellous almost for prose:

Add some incidents, too, which are strange above measure."

Now, the incidents in this novel are marvellous, and the incidents are indeed strange, although not "above measure;" but, as we take it-the main intent and value of the book are to be found in its realities. In this novel we find an admirably constructed plot, with characters almost out of number, drawn with masterly skill. What can be better than the characters of Sir Evan M'Alpine and Lady Edith, of Beatrice, of Donald Carre, of Bessie M'Ronald, and even of Mr. Clinton ? And Lord Eaglescairn, Father Eustace, and "the Jesuitess," Mrs. Lorraine, are not a little impressive. Anybody might read this story of "Beatrice" (without taking heed of the serious moral intended to be conveyed) with the most absorbing interest. It is by far the best work, considered as a fiction, that Miss Sinclair has yet produced.

But what will-and most deservedly-draw attention to "Beatrice," our Protestant blood being aroused, and our Protestant brains being enlightened as to the designs of the Romish Church, is the solemn purpose which these three volumes are designed, and, we believe, destined to serve. We have no acquaintance with Miss Sinclair, but we have enjoyed a long and most pleasing intimacy with her writings, and we know that what she tells us of her own knowledge is not to be disbelieved. We shall say a word or two, presently, as to one or two short-comings of Miss Sinclair, who says:

"The object of this narrative is to portray, for the consideration of young girls, now first emerging into society, the enlightened happiness derived from the religion of England, founded on the Bible, contrasted with the misery arising from the superstition of Italy, founded on the Breviary; and, in exemplifying both from the best authorities, it has been done by the most careful and most laborious reference to the standard authors of the English church and of the Popish persua

sion."

Nothing can be better or more timely than the pursuance of this object, and nothing could more effectually have hit its aim (and the

target has been pretty severely touched) if Miss Sinclair had winged her arrow with a feather drawn from our own Protestant wing.

We know and feel her sincerity when she says :-" If an India-rubber quill could be inscribed to rub out every word that should not be written, the author would be particularly happy to obtain the advantage of it on this occasion, as she never felt more deeply responsible for the use she makes of her own pen, though, during many long years, it has been her daily fervent prayer that, whatever she writes amiss, however good the intention, may be at once and for ever forgotten."

Miss Sinclair seldom writes amiss; but in this instance she has not pursued her subject far enough. She needs not to be told, although it may be well to remind her-in order that she may give us a sequel to her (perhaps) too captivating " Beatrice," that sects, emulous of power, or come recently into possession of it, are eagerly ambitious of spiritual dominion over the laity. This is not particular to Roman Catholics, or to that portion of them who are called Jesuits, although they are making strenuous efforts to compass their own ends. The Puritan, immortalized by Ben Jonson, under the name of “Zeal-of-the-Land Busy," was but a type of these; and when Milton wrote,

“New Presbyter is but old priest writ large,"

and showed in description, what Jonson had shown in the drama, how these wretches wormed themselves into families, and ruled everything spiritual and temporal in the household, it was seen that, however despicable these creatures were, the Church of England had been sadly at fault.

And this is the case now. It is of no use to conceal it. It is all very well to talk of peace, when there is no peace—or of Protestantism when we know not what it means. It may be well, at least for those who do not wish us to know. The scandalous divisions of our Church, which some of our own bishops have widened, while none of the rest will take a Curtius leap to close one of them, forbid us to hope anything-for the present at least-but a constantly increasing number of perverts to the Church of Rome, and a flock of Dissenters, encouraged to believe what they like, from the Protestant establishment.

Let Miss Sinclair apply herself to this view of the vital question, and she may do still more good than her present work can effect. Prevention is better than cure!”

MRS. TROLLOPE'S "UNCLE WALTER."

ON several occasions it has been our grateful office to bestow high and deserved praise on new novels as they successively proceeded from the vigorous hand of Mrs. Trollope. Into these performances our distinguished authoress had apparently put her whole heart, contributing at the same time all the powers of her clear and caustic intellect. But of late we have seen, with no small regret-not that her abilities are departing from her, not that her invention is on the wane-but that she will not give herself the time, or undergo the requisite labour to present her readers with what she is still so competent to produce, an excellent work.

Dr. Harrington, a dignitary of the Established Church, and Lady