made of that halo of glory through which they have hitherto been seen by the stranger! What must the sovereigns think of such a termination to all the illustrations of my reign!"

And what was the enacted part of the drama at Blois, where the Empress Marie Louise and the King of Rome had been since the taking of Paris? Here, according to our author's information, the scene of selfishness was more marked, the desertions more shameless, than even in the saloons of Fontainbleau.

Unrestrained by the awful presence of the Emperor, the egotism and cupidity of the courtiers there appeared in hideous nakedness, and the fumes of the Revolution expired amidst the universal baseness of its followers. No sooner was the abdication of the Emperor known, than all her Court deserted the Empress : it was a general race who should get first to Paris to share in the favours of the new dynasty. Such was the desertion, that in getting into her carriage on the 9th April, at Blois, to take the road to Orleans, no one remained to hand the Empress in but her Chamberlain. The Empress, the King of Rome were forgotten the grand object of all was to get away, and to carry with them as much as possible of the public treasure which had been brought from Paris with the Government. In a few days it had all disappeared. At Orleans, the remaining members of Napoleon's family also departed: Madame Mere and her brother the Cardinal Fesch set out for Rome; Prince Louis, the ex-King of Holland, for Switzerland; Joseph and Jerome soon after followed in the same direction. The Empress at first declared her resolution to join Napoleon; maintaining that there was her post, and that she would share his fortunes in adversity as she had done in prosperity. The wretched sycophants, however, who were still about her person, spared no pains to alienate her from the Emperor: they represented that he had espoused her only from policy; that she had never possessed his affections; that during the short period they had been married he had a dozen mistresses, and that she could now expect nothing but reproaches and bad usage from him. Overcome partly by these insinuations, and partly by her own facility of character and habits of submission, she too followed the general example: her French guards were dismissed, and replaced by Cossacks she took the road from Orleans to Rambouilhet; where she was visited successively by the Emperor her father and the Emperor Alexander; and at length she yielded to their united entreaties, and agreed to abandon Napoleon.

But there were a few staunch or honourable men who did not desert the Emperor, so long as he could make use of their services. Mr. Alison names these noble exceptions; and adds an anecdote relative to Macdonald, who, though the last of his marshals to be taken into favour, "was faithful to his duty: he did not forget his word pledged on the field of Wagram." This is the anecdote:

Napoleon was so sensible of his fidelity, that on the morning when he brought him the ratification of the treaty of Fontainbleau to sign, he publicly thanked him for his affectionate zeal, and lamented the coldness which had at one period

estranged them from each other. "At least," said the Emperor, "you will not refuse one souvenir-it is the sabre of Mourad-Bey, which I have often worn Return to Paris, and serve the Bourbons as in battle; keep it for my sake.

faithfully as you have served me !"

Mr. Alison speaks out boldly concerning the bad faith that attached to the execution of Ney, throwing the blame roundly on Louis the Eighteenth and the Allied Sovereigns. But how are the authors of the capitulation (Wellington and Blucher) to be excused for continuing to serve in a cause after their positive and clear terms of agreement had been violated and dishonoured? However, let us have the historian's stern denunciation of the treachery practised, and also his sketch of the Marshal's last moments.

Being brought in a carriage to the place selected in the gardens of the Luxemburg, near a wall, the marshal stood erect, and with his hat in his left hand, and his right on his heart, and facing the soldiers, exclaimed, “My comThe place of his execution rades, fire on me." He fell, pierced by ten balls.

is still to be seen in the garden of the Luxemburg; and few spots in Europe will excite more melancholy emotions in the mind of the traveller.

The death of Ney is a subject which the English historian cannot discuss without painful feelings. His guilt was self-evident; and never, perhaps, was the penalty of the law inflicted upon one for a political offence who more richly deserved his fate; but the question of difficulty is, whether or not he was The clause in that treaty has been protected by the capitulation of Paris? already given; which expressly declares, that no person should be molested for his political opinions or conduct during the Hundred Days; and it is very difficult to see how this clause could be held as not protecting Ney, who was within the city at the time of the treaty. Wellington and Blucher conc'uded the capitulation; their sovereigns ratified it; Louis the Eighteenth took benefit from it. He entered Paris the very day after the English army, and established himself in the Tuilleries, under the protection of their guns. How, then, can it be said that he as well as the allied sovereigns, were not bound by the treaty-especially in so vital and irreparable a matter as human life, and that the life of such a man as Marshal Ney? It is very true, a great example was required; true, Ney's treason was beyond that of any other man; true, the revolutionists required to be shewn that the government could venture to punish; but all that will not justify the breach of a capitulation. The very time when justice requires to interpose is when great interests or state necessity are urgent on the one hand, and an unprotected criminal on the other. To say that Louis the Eighteenth was not bound by the capitulation; that it was made by the English general without his authority; and that no foreign officer could tie up the hands of an independent sovereign, is a quibble unworthy of a generous mind, and which it is the duty of the historian invariably to condeinn. This was what Nelson said at Naples, and what Schwartzenberg said at Dresden; and subsequent times have unanimously spoken out against the violation of these two capitulations. Banished from France, with his double treason affixed to his forehead, Ney's character was irrecoverably withered; but to the end of the world his guilt will be forgotten in the tragic interest and noble heroism of his death.

VOL. II. (1842.) No. III.

H H

We add one extract more. It gives us a change of scene and of fortune. But if Mr. Alison's information in the story be perfectly correct, it can by no means redound to the credit of the King of the Belgians; for it makes him out to be a worthless wooer, a hungry fortune-hunter, and a most lucky adventurer.

One other circumstance, of domestic interest in its origin but of vast importance in its ultimate results, deserves to be recorded of this eventful period. At Paris, during the stay of the allied monarchs, there was Lord- who had filled with acknowledged ability a high diplomatic situation at their headquarters during the latter period of the war. His lady, of high rank, had joined him to partake in the festivities of that brilliant period, and with her a young relative, equally distinguished by her beauty and talents, then appearing in all the freshness of opening youth. A frequent visitor at this period in Lord's family was a young officer, then an aide-de-camp to the Grand Duke Constantine, a younger brother of an ancient and illustrious family in Germany, but who, like many other scions of nobility, had more blood in his veins than money in his pocket. The young aide-de-camp speedily was captivated by the graces of the English lady; and when the sovereigns were about to set out for England, whither Lord- -was to accompany them, he bitterly lamented the scantiness of his finances, which prevented him from following in the train of such attraction. Lord―― good-humouredly told him he should always find a place at his table when he was not otherwise engaged; and that he would put him in the way of seeing all the world in the British metropolis, which he would probably never see to such advantage again. Such an offer,

especially when seconded by such influences, proved irresistible, and the young German gladly followed them to London. He was there speedily introduced to and ere long distinguished by the Princess Charlotte, whose projected alliance with the Prince of Orange had recently before been broken off. Though the Princess remarked him, however, it was nothing more at that time than a passing regard; for her thoughts were then more seriously occupied by another. Having received at the same time what he deemed some encouragement, the young soldier proposed to the Princess, and was refused; and consequently went to Vienna during the sitting of the Congress at that place, where his susceptible heart was speedily engrossed in another tender affair. Invincible obstacles, however, presented themselves to the realization of the Princess Charlotte's views, which had led to her first rejection of the gallant German. He received a friendly hint from London to make his attentions to the fair Austrian less remarkable: he returned to the English capital, affain proposed to the English Princess, and was accepted. It was Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg; and his subsequent destiny and that of his Family exceeds all that romance has figured of the marvellous. He married the heiress of England, after her lamented end he espoused a daughter of France, he was offered the throne of Greece, he accepted the crown of Belgium. In consequence of his elevation, one of his nephews has married the heiress of Portugal, another the queen of England; and the accidental fancy of a young German officer for a beautiful English lady has in its ultimate results given three kingdoms to his family, placed on one of his relatives the crown of the greatest empire that has existed in the world since the fall of Rome, and restored to England, in hazardous times, the inestimable blessing of a direct line of succession to the throne.

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ART. XII.-Lockhart's Illustrated Ancient Spanish Ballads. New. Edition. Murrray.

THERE is in Spanish poetry not merely a characteristic excellence, but much that brings it on a level with the highest flights of genius. Certainly, if the test be the pleasure which it administers, the capture of the fancy, or the strong hold it has upon natural affection, it stands among the foremost ranks.

The Spanish language itself, being a union of the Latin with the vernacular Iberian, and which after the process of their fusions, continued still to receive enrichments from the Visigoths and Arabs, now gaining something in sweetness, now stateliness and strength, has like the Italian, an inherent charm which has been happily termed the poetry of speech. When we cast an eye upon its written character, we find that the accession of oriental words which it acquired from the sources last mentioned, gives it a physiognomy little less poetical. The distinctive genius of many of its poets, who dealt alike in strains of touching simplicity and periods of ambitious decoration, offers also great claims to our consideration, and undoubtedly imparts a character to their poetry as captivating as it is peculiar.

From a very ancient period, the natives of Spain, under the languor inspired by their delicious climate, seem to have been devoted to the melodies of song. Roman writers bear a testimony to this effect; indeed, after the invasion of these conquerors, Spain became naturally the parent of poets, if not always the country of their residence; as may be traced through a number of well-known names down to the close of the fourth century, and to the era when they give us notices of the Christian church.

The fifth century was marked by the eruption of the Goths in Spain. Barbarous as were these visitors, we are not to impute to them alone the ignorance which then became so prevalent, or the entire destruction of that taste which the Romans had introduced. Superstition concurred with Vandalism to destroy the influence of letters and increase the intellectual darkness. The means of study and instruction became more difficult of attaiment to the Christian poets; oppression extinguished their enthusiasm; and all the genius they possessed was expended upon hymns, which, from the jealous orthodoxy of their frigid catechumens, are remarkable only for undeviating dulness. Yet in this, as in the following century, there occur many names that might be cited as links in the chain of her poetical history. Under Theodosius the Second, Dracontius composed a poem on the Creation of the Word, and Orensius in the seventh century wrote the "Commonitorium," which has attracted the attention and engaged the pen of two commentators. But to forage in the archives of these

dark ages, and to analyze the heavy works they have produced, would require as much courage as labour, without yielding a suitable recompense. A more brilliant epoch commences with the invasion of Spain by the Saracens in the eighth century, an event which effected a wonderful change in the government of the country and the spirit of the people. With their sciences and arts, the Arabs introduced an elegant genius glowing with the pomp of new imagery. Subjected by force of arms, the southern provinces of Spain received with the Saracenic yoke, their usages and laws. By long possession of the country, the conquerors introduced in it, though not throughout, their language, their literature, and even their religion. The poetic style of the Orientals captivated all fancies; the lavish genius of their compositions obtained an universal influence, and accelerated the fall of Roman poetry in Spain. Alvaro of Cordoba complains of his compatriots, that, in adopting the Arabic language, they had so far forgotten Latin, that amongst a thousand Spaniards it would be difficult to find one who could write a letter in that tongue. Such indeed became their attachment to oriental literature, that the native poets soon wrote Arabic with remarkable purity, and composed Arabic verses with great facility. During their domination in Spain, a period of nearly eight hundred years, its different provinces, divided into several kingdoms, cultivated the eastern style of verse with equal success. The Jews, protected by the Moorish kings, contributed also to the diffusion of taste, by circulating the knowledge which they had received in the colleges of the East, where their fancy was nourished with the same images and scenes. But if they possessed over the Arabs some superiority in science, they were immeasurably behind them in enthusiasm, which naturally develops itself in minds possessed with the double passion of glory and of love. Whilst the warriors of Castile were immortalizing themselves by a constancy faithful unto death, and were pouring forth their blood with a reckless generosity, to preserve in sacred independence some portion of the soil, the Arab muse was celebrating the exploits of Mirza, Malek-Alabez, and Tarif, was coneecrating to remembrance the beauty of Fatima, the misfortunes of the Abencerrages, and inspiring a long series of poets, whose names are transmitted to us in the pages of D'Herbolt, and the collection of the Escurial manuscripts, published by Casiri. The power and the practice of song were not, however, monopolized by men; the damsel also claimed a share in the adjudication of poetical renown: several ladies, Andalusians as well as others, were smiled on by the Muses; and the most celebrated of all, Maria Alfaïsuli, the Sappho of Seville, was compelled to divide her fame with her rivals-Saphia of the same city, and Aischa of Cordoba.

Up to this period there had been in Spain four distinct people, the Romans and Goths, the Jews and Arabs, whose residence must have