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    document on the same subject . In the course of his researches amongst . the ' treasures of the Imperial library at Paris , M . 1 . Mesnard , lately engaged upon a -history " , of the I > uc de Bourgogne , found a most valuable MS . volume entitled , "Pn > j « ts tie Gouvernement resolus par Mgr . le Duo de Bourgogiie , Panphin , apiSa . y avoir inurement pense . " * This political ineinoiiynow foi' the first time published , deserved the greatest '' attention , fust on account of the subject treated in iI , and also from the fact that it Is ¦ satisfactorily proved to be a work of the celebrated memoir Wi-iter . the Due de Saint Simon .

    M . Mesnard ' s preface , extending to nearly 120 closely-printed octavo pages , is in itself a most curious and interesting production . The editor begins by settling the difficulty relating to the authorship , for the MS . is anonymous , and al though any one acquainted with French literature must recognise' at once- Saint Simon ' s style , yet this point requires to lie established beyond the limits of a doubt : then , coming to topics of a more general nature , he examines the viewa which Fenelon and his noble friend respectively entertained touching the political reforms so

    imperatively called for , and he shows how these reforms were likely to act , had they been curried out . Feuelon has hitherto been appreciated too exclusively as a divine , or sis a mere litterateur ; but there was also to be found in him all the foresight of an accomplished and enlightened politician ; and M . Mesnard ' s essay , or introductory disquisition , enables us to study him perfectly from that point of view . A number of quotations furnished by the " Telemaqtie" and other published writings of the Archbishop are introduced by way of illustration , and give us a complete key to the scheme he had proposed for the Dauphin ' s adoption .

    The new edition of Saint Simon ' s Memoirs has once again led critics to exarnino more closely the ohai'acter of that extraordinary man , who , like another Tacitus , has painted in the most repulsive colours the excesses of despotic government . Acertain School of writers , recently sprung into 'notoriety , has asserted the proposition , that the beau ideal of a body politic is the reduction of the whole nation to : v dead level , tinder the supreme authority , of -one'individual . These writers , pf course , pooh-pooh Saint Simon , and affect- to consider him merely as a disappointed and jealous man—a Frondeur , a one-sided , untrustworthy historian . M . Mesnard refotes admirably this opinion , iii a page-which we should like to quote entire , did time and Bpace permit ; He says : —

    " XSxxe monarchie aristocratique , telle _ que Saint Simon la voulait , e * tablie sur des principes de justice , 'd ' e droit , de patribtTsme . ' p-substituaiit a un capricieux arbitraire des garanties d'institutions nationales , fixes et respectees , ne doit pas tstte confondu ayec l ' oliginchie , et contient riaturellement les germes d ' une liberte plus large et plus generate ; que le temps lie peut manque de znurir et de fecondeiv " It is now the fashion of some people in . France to . denounce ,-as aristocratic and Oppressive , every tenet , every fact that interferes with their favourite system of'centralisation , and to invoko the

    principles of 1789 , as they term them , against the slightest manifestation of Liberalism . Such people would blot out , if possible , Saint Simon from tlie catalogue of Fi * ench writers , and certainly M . Mesnard ' s book will lrieet with no good treatment at . -their hands . It is nevertheless an important publication , and throws the greatest light upon a momentous epoch in the reign of Louis XIV . The learned ' editor has addeda copious selection of notes , which elucidate the home policy of the King and the condition of the various branches of the administrative aei'vice at the time when the projet de gouvernement was drawn up .

    In one of . its last sittings , the Academie Fraugaiae has awarded the prix Gobert ( value 10 , 000 fi \ or £ 400 ) , to M . Wai Ion , professor of Modern History at the Sorbonue , for his biography of Joan of Arc . ? A great many works have already been written on this illustrious champion of French independence , but we know of not one which might make us qualify M . Wallon ' s volumes as superfluous or valueless . In the first place , the really important publications treating of that subject are almost exclusively collections of documents relating to the life , exploi ts , and condeinnation of ILa Pucelle ; Stale papers , charters and chronicles , which ave of immense value , but which cannot , of course , lay claim to the title of literary performances . They constitute , so to say , the materials from which the edifice might be raised . Historians are bound to study and discuss them ; but to the

    generality of readers , m their original form , they would be inaccessible . Then the popular accounts which exist in such plentiful numbers of Joan of Arc are simply narratives reproducing the traditional facts given by the historians of tlie last century , such an Millot , Anquetil , Vell y ; utterly devoid of critical knowledge , and composed by inefficient book wrights , who , satisfied with the information they could secure at second-hand , did not think it worth while referring to original sources . Between these two classes of works there was a middle course to follow , and we think that M . Wallou lias been particularly happy in his treatment of the biography , —Hiniirat volume-oontaiiiH-the--life-of—Lu-JPneelle down to her trial at Rouen ; Iho second being entirely occupied by an account both of the trial and of the proofs de rehabilitation which war subsequently instituted .

    In writing the volumes M . Wullon had to overdomon , difficulty which , if . we may believe M . Quioherat , was almost inaur-* Projets do Gouvernement du Duo de JJourgogne , Dauphin ; nr > 6 iroire attribue au Duo de Saint Simon , ct public pour lu premiere fois d ' aprea un mauusorit de la Bibllothequo Imp 6 rialo . Par M . T . Mesnard . 8 vo . London and Paris : Haohettu . t Jeanne d'Aro . Par 11 . Wallon , Mcmbre del'Inatitut . 2 vols . 8 vo . Paris and London j Haohetto .

    nioun table .- Two distinct series of documents compose the sources from which the work was to be done ,-and accord ing to the erudite author of the " Apereus nouveaux sur ' rH-isto . ire da Jeanne d'Arc , " these two series were of a contradictory character . '¦? ' Le proces de rehabilitation , " he says , ¦ vint ensuite donner une torunure de coininande , aux souvenirs , qu'il eut au morns le roerite de fixer . II est la source de tout ce qu ' ont ecrtt les cbrpniqueurs ' " favorables a la Pucelle , il a fourni les traits de cette image qui a trop longtemps defraye 1 'histoire . .... . " Whilst giving his preference to the fust class of pieces justifi catives , tlioso belonging to the procesde condamnation , lslL . Wai Ion expresses his opinion that they must necessarily be completed with the nssistance of the documents supplied by the proces de

    rehabilitation . This last inquest was conducted and terminated from the evidence of the individuals most interested iujsupportin < r the validity of the former , such as J . Beaupere , P . Cauchon , H . de Courcelies , &e ., &e . Our . liistorian has accordingly mad « equal use of lioth sources of infoi'in ' ation , and the result is a work carefully written , imbued with a religious , solemn spirit , and which will subsist as a masterpiece of biogr . ipliical composition , equally free from any heavy display of learning , and from that mere -rhetorical verbiage which too often disfigures resumes intended for general reading . At the end of each volume M . Wallon has affixed a few explanatory quotations , and a variety of notes-enabling the students to refer at once to the original texts . With " M . Perrons we are taken back to the fourteenth century , that is to to one of the darkest epochs in the history of

    say , ^ France .- Elieiine Marcel , the chief of the Revolution , the vicissitudes of which are described in the volume we are now noticing , has been variously appreciated by historians and political writers , some representing him as a mere revolutionist , anxious for popularity at any cost , whilst others admire in him a generous patriot , who saw all the evils of the feudal system , and who wished to ensure for tlie bourgeoisie their legitimate share- "in the government of tlie kingdom . The States-General , convened under King Jean II ,, must they be cmisulered as an attempt to bring about the results . obtained in 1789 % Was the Prevot des Marchands , a kind of mediaeval Bailly , lnisivnderstood by his contemporaries and maligiijed by posterity . 1 The revolt of the jacquerie , in shoiii , wasit an unjustinable . rising , ov wJiat Lafavettfl would have calleil le plus saint des devoirs ? - M . Perrens

    takes the favourable vieyv ofthe case , aud--l » , is book , written , as the anth 6 r says , by the advice ami almost under tire inspiration of the fnte'Angustin ^ iircrry , is _ an avowed apology of the part which the Commons played . during the civil wars of the iourteenth century . The nobles , we believe , ^ yere most to blame ¦ : ¦— . " Preiiant examplF de ses ^ maetr ^ -, elle ( tfie ^ nobility ) gou ^ vernait , e ' est a dire opprimait ses vassaux comme ie rot ses sujets . L ' art du gouvernant consistait pour elle u faire rendre le plus possible aux miserables , au risque d ' epuiser . la source et de son opulence , de tuer la poule aux oeufs d ' or . "

    Much fault , we believe , can justly be found with the feudal barons for their cruelty and rapacity ; but M . Perrens has darkened the pictvu-e in an unnecessary manner , and he lias adopted ( though without premeditation , we grant ) utatements which care not substantiated by facts . Former I"B « - <> r" »» 8 . j " ? accustomed us to consider King Jean and tlie Due de JNorniandie , who afterwards ascended the throne under the name of Charles " V ., as wise princes , anxiously wishing for the good ot their subjects , though sometimes led to adopt meaaurefr which they were tlie first to regret . ISTow , the case is quite different ; and the conclusions endorsed by the panegyrists of Mieiin . o Marcel are so entirely opposed to those of his predecessor . ^ tbiit we might almost believe we ave introduced to altogether dittererits personages . Thus , of the former of the two monarchs , M .

    Perrens says : — " Tout porte ucroire que nous disons Jean le bon , parce qu ' un Froissart a dit une fois le bon roi Jean , comme Virgile a ditle pieux E » 6 e , ou plutot pour faire entendre qu'il etait Jdger , confiant , etonrdi , prodigue , et mdme , peutfitre , bon liomme i sea heures , co qui ne l ' empechait pua de tuer quelquefbis ses aujets et de les ruiner toujours . " Charles le Mauvais , King of Navarre , is , of course , pourtrayed , on . the contrary , as a prince whose character has been designedly aspersed by prejudiced annalists : — " S'ils njoutent qu'il caohait un naturel pervers sous ces dehora aimables et son nir d ' eujouement , et qu'il ddtournu plusieurs personnen considi'srables de I ' obdissunce et de la fidelite * qu ' clles devuient au roi , lla sc font l'dcho des accusations dont on poursuivit ce jeuno prince . " Indeed , if we would believe M . Perrens , it often happens that a Hort of combination is made by chroniclers and other writers to

    suppiess the truth or to disfigure it . Perverse men enter upon an entente cordiale , the object of which is to make posterity believe that black once upon a time was white , and towards ao desirable an end all things work with admirable harmony—State papers , official records , chronicles , pamphlets , punquilH , squlBST "" Now ; TtfitSriSa , ' tne-6 I-y'WUt ( Sh ~ wrcffitmi ) tbrh )^ 0 UTaBrye « 1 >»> credit , even liuokod as it is by tlie authority of the aoooiupn ^ hod historian we are now considering . . . In conclusion , M- Perrww seems to us . to have oywr ^ liot tno mark whilut composing his narrative of tho dunigiiH of Mmmiiio-Marcol and of . the Paris bourgooiwie duriiitf tlie < iuiirlojntu century : attlio same time he has with all liiirnowi H-proiliioml tliq nruumonta of his opponents , and his history in written with a simplicity and a dignity which cannot ba too much pnused .

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    Jiily 28 , I 860 . ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader , 687

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    * J 2 tienne Marcel ot lo Gouvornemcnt de In Bour « coi « io « u qiwtoraiemo Siicle . Par F . T . Perron * . 8 vo . P « n » and London , iluuhtte .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 28, 1860, page 687, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2358/page/7/