A worse school for a young girl, or one more detrimental to all natural feelings and affec-knowing to whom he wrote when, upon her tions, cannot well be imagined, than the posi-announcement of the coming marriae, he tion of a Queen at eighteen, without experience and without a husband to guide and support her. This the Queen can state from painful experience, and she thanks God that none of her dear daughters are exposed to such danger.

quainting the King and Council with the instructions I gave our agents abroad, except in cases of great importance, and when there was a new direction to be imparted to them; but I conducted my official and private correspondence between several persons is only useful in general according to my own impressions. Deliberation and legislative questions; beyond these, in diplomacy as in administration, executive power, to be effective and dignified, requires unity and confiding independence. Every day, all the despatches from our foreign Representatives were sent from my private cabinet to the King, who returned them with his observations; but he

had no previous knowledge of my own personal communications. I am not certain that he did not occasionally feel a little impatient at this; he never gave me any visible indication; and when in some particular case or for some private reason, he wished to know what I had written, he asked me specially, without raising any general pretence to interfere with my diplomatic correspondence."

Consequently the King, to protect himself, kept up his private correspondence also, and as diplomatists believed that he really ruled, this was sometimes, we fancy, the more efficacious of the two. It is certain at least that the European Cabinets distrusted his plans, that the marriage of the infanta excited all Europe, and that the most scandalous stories were believed by everybody except M. Guizot himself, who passes them over in a silence which may be the result either of prudery, of guilt, or of conscious rectitude. his very best to force a descendant of Philip The things certain are that M. Guizot did

book, which is a condensation of M. Guizot's Memoirs, will be one of exceeding interest. It contains the history of French diplomacy in the extraordinary intrigue known as the Spanish Marriages, in the Sonderbund War, and in Italy during the first reforms of Pius IX., M. Guizot's estimate of Louis Philippe, a chapter on Parliamentary Government" from a somewhat novel point of view, and a few new facts as to the incidents which preceded the Revolution of 1848. It is written throughout with that chilly lucidity, that haughty forbearance, which are peculiar to M. Guizot's writings, and which, we confess, do not please us, and full of an egotism, perhaps unavoidable, but seldom genial, or even good-natured. M. Guizot does not hate those who oppose him, but at heart he regards them as foolish persons, who may understand facts, but do not understand principles, and he has a way of lecturing intimate correspondents which in a less eminent person would be very tiresome. In the whole book we have found but one good story, and not, we think, one trace of humour; but then it is crowded with information, with personal anecdotes, and with weighty observations on men and affairs. Upon the Spanish marriages, for example, M. Guizot is highly interesting. He does not, it is clear, tell us quite all he knew, but he reveals enough to show that the affair was an intrigue in which the Great Powers of Europe fought for influence in Spain. The Queen herself was never consulted, or her own inclination. The Austrians wanted her married to a son of Don Carlos as a V. on an unwilling Queen without reference new guaranty for legitimacy; Prince Al- to the wishes of Spain. to the interests of bert and King Leopold sought to insure her Europe, or to the inclinations of the lady choice of a Coburg, as a new throne for that herself. If she had a preference, it was for rising family; the British Government tried Prince Leopold, who had, moreover, her to resist a French policy, with a side-glance mother's somewhat uncertain support, and to the interests of the Coburg family, and who, had he been selected, might have changFrance had laid it down as a principle thated the fate of Spain, and possibly saved the the Queen must marry a Bourbon, almost dynasty now drawing, to all human appearthreatening, if they did not indeed actually ance, so near its end. threaten, a military occupation of Spain in the event of defeat. M. Guizot affirms, indeed, that the King did not care which Bourbon the Queen married, and that Louis Philippe had no idea of acquiring profit for his family in the transaction; but he himself admits that at one time he threatened the British Cabinet with the Duc de Montpensier, that Prince was married to the Infanta, and the King's secret views may not have been absolutely known to his Minister. They managed foreign business somewhat oddly.

M. Guizot's judgment of Louis Philippe is that of a self-restrained man, who had a liking for his master, but felt his vanity wounded by his proceedings. The King, he says, really believed in the necessity of constitutional government, though he saw its immense difficulties, and the popular notion that His Majesty dictated his own policy was an error:

ed, is not, nevertheless, one of those gratuitous "The contrary opinion, so commonly assertand inexplicable errors which circulate and long prevail in free countries, owing to the attacks of which power is the object in the tribune and in "I had placed myself on the footing of not ac- the journals. Pretexts are not wanting for the

the measure of his talent, character, and of citcumstances more or less favourable, a just proportion of influence. Historic facts are, on this point, fully in accord with moral probabilities; wherever constitutional monarchy has existed, the person of the monarch, his opinions, sentiments, and wishes, have never been inactive or indifferent, and the most independent and exacting of ministers has always held them in high consideration."

error I have pointed out, and King Louis Phi- | concurrence is necessary exercises infallibly, in lippe furnished them himself. He had on all subjects a superabundance of ideas, impressions and aspirations, which he took no pains to restrain and to sift sufficiently. This led him to expresss too much decision of opinion and inclination in small questions and trifling affairs which had no claim to his intervention. Indifference and silence are often useful and convenient royal qualifications: King Louis Philippe practised them too sparingly. He was, moreover, so profoundly convinced of the wisdom of his policy and the importance of its success, The King, he says elsewhere, cannot be rethat he winced a little when he saw the merit en- duced to the position of a key laid on a chair; tirely attributed to others; and he could not he is, at all events, a sentient being, who disreadily resolve to renounce his share. This deyields. Armed with right sire was extremely natural, and the inexhausti- cusses, opposes, or ble fertility and vivacity of his conversation of audience, perfectly devoted to his own poligave him the appearance of continual intervency, unscrupulous and patient, Louis Philippe tion and exclusive preponderance, which greatly exercised an ascendency which M. Guizot exceeded the reality of his intentions and of facts, as they did also constitutional proprieties. I am convinced that his son-in-law, King Leopold, infinitely more prudent and reserved in his attitude and language, exercised in the government of Belgium, at home and abroad, more personal influence than King Louis Philippe in that of France; but the one avoids with care

the appearance of it, while the other always showed himself possessed with the fear that justice would not be rendered to his intentions and efforts."

That is probably true, for unless the Belgians are strangely mistaken, Leopold of Belgium really governed, and so, as all Frenchmen felt assured, did Louis Philippe. Kindly and courteous in manner, well aware when it was necessary to recede, and penetrated by a secret doubt as to the justice of his own title, the King nevertheless ruled his Cabinet, it may be, as M. Guizot says, by causing it to think that it agreed with him, but still he ruled. As soon as he became undecided, which he did in 1847, the system collapsed, and the monarchy of July came to the ground. Indeed M. Guizot formally admits that the Government never was a constitutional monarchy in the English sense, the Sovereign being, as Mr. Bagehot lately pointed out he might become, the one permanent Minister in his Cabinet, with whom every politician had to reckon :

"It is vain to say, the King reigns, but does not govern; the effective consequence will never result from these words that the king who reigns is nothing in the government. However limited the attributes of royalty may be, however complete the responsibility of its ministers, they will always have to discuss and treat with the royal personage to induce him to accept their ideas and resolutions, as they will have to discuss and treat with the Chambers to obtain a majority. And in all discussion and debate, the man whose

formally denies, it is true, but incidentally admits in almost every page of his book, and which peeps through almost all the King's notes. When the cry for reform grew strong, M. Guizot had an interview with the King, which he reports almost verbatim, and which, to our minds at least, shows clearly that the King was, and felt himself to be, ultimate master. Throughout he speaks of "my policy and "my" Minister, not of that of the Government. In the final struggle, the King threw his Minister over remorselessly, an act for which M. Guizot has evidently not quite forgiven his memory. The King regarded him, and with justice, as the Minister of the Conservative section of the middle class, then strongly denounced, and M. Guizot admits that this was true in fact, though not absolutely in principle, his reasoning being, A government of the middle class can alone render liberty and authority united in France; a Conservative party can alone represent the middle class; I alone can adequately lead the Conservative party. He was not opposed in principle to very extensive reforms, any more than Napoleon is, but they could be made safely only "after the consolidation of the institutions of the country the regular Tory excuse. The King was not Tory or Liberal, but simply monarchical, convinced that the ascendency of the throne was indispensable, and prepared to make any sacrifice to secure it. M. Guizot concludes his very favorable sketch with these remarkable words:

"Neither perseverance nor hope were extinguished in the soul of King Louis Philippe : either by nature, or from his experience of the vicissitudes and the reactions which follow each other in revolutions, he was one of those persons who think that to regain good luck and success, it was sufficient to know how to survive and to wait. In 1848 his lassitude was extreme; he

bowed beneath his burden, and, in order to carry it still further, he required to take breath; but I am convinced that, in the midst of his disappointments and of his discouragements, he was far from despairing of his own future, and that, while accepting the laws of the constitutional form of government, he resolved upon resuming the influence which he believed to be necessary to make the policy legally prevail, which he considered indispensable to the welfare of his country and for the safety of his crown. Men did not leave him time for this; God did not bestow this favour upon him."

above heading. Of course, in the ordinary husband-chase there are many blinks which must be anticipated from the very nature of the pursuit, but the dangler is an impertinent and an unreasonable obstruction, for whose existence no sound reason can be assigned, and whose mission, if he has any, would seem to be simply to thwart the best laid schemes of match-making women.

The dangler generally gets into a house as mysteriously as a black beetle. Like other domestic nuisances, he comes with some one else, and it is to a friend of the family that most owe the admission of this disturbing creature into their dining-rooms and confidence. The dangler is a young man not eligible, but who appears eligible, and who pretends to a desperate sensibility of so contagious a character that the best trained daughter in the world will some times share the complaint with him. He has, however, no serious intentions, and no visible or attainable prospects. When he has been discussed and inquired into, and the verdict passed upon him as matrimonially undesirable, there is as much difficulty in shaking him off as there is in getting rid of a bad habit. He will try to keep his place on the dance-list,

he will endeavour

In other words, the King resolved to be absolute monarch under constitutional forms. We have quoted only a few broad statements, but the book is full of details, secret letters from Envoys, judgments on individuals, gossippy details about great events. M. Guizot is too deficient in humor to be a good anecdotist; but he sees the point of a situation, and describes it clearly, though with painful affectation of impartiality. The Queen of Spain, for example, asserted positively, giving circumstantial details, that her Minister Olozaga had forced from her a decree for the dissolution of the Cortes by actual physical violence, while M. Olozaga maintained as strongly that nothing of the kind had taken place. M. Guizot gives both stories at considerable length, without to find his old place at the supper-table, and his perseverance may not only discomfit, an opinion as to which of them is true, but deter men of the required capital and though he must have formed a strong one, and though it would have been worth much standing who are only waiting an opportumore than his details. Still he is clear, and, nity of bidding for a partner in the business of going through life. If the dangler though over-reticent, accurate, and has in a remarkable degree the faculty of making us was once allowed to dangle in the Row, he comprehend the characters of those of whom will continue to do so a considerable time after that permission has been withdrawn. he speaks. As we have said, he tells but one And he does this without a notion of comgood story throughout his volume: "'Do not be so anxious,' said General Narvaez to ing to the point, even if he were challenged to do so. Nothing frightens him more than M. Bresson one day; there is a special being formally accepted. He regards a reProvidence for Spain, and we shall extricate ourselves.' — ' I am not surprised,' replied M. jection as a simple "not at home," but as no more. He has made up the little he Bresson, that you have a Providence to possesses of mind to a determination that yourselves; you give it enough to do to ochanging around the skirts of girls, trifling all its time.' with their duties, and distracting them from their main pursuits, is the most delightful He will run occupation under the sun. He anywhere to dangle after a woman. will even sooner attach himself to old ladies than to none. And yet he is not of that useful and angelic tribe of messenger beaus - carrier pigeons — fetching dogs, who at a word will bring or take or run according to directions. The dangler is seldom put in for an office of this kind, and he never volunteers his help on any occasion except it fits with his own proper convenience, comfort, and favourite amusement. Then he is a perpetual source of irritating curi

cupy

66 6

From the London Review.
DANGLERS.

AMONGST the many trials and troubles which the mother of daughters is obliged to undergo before she can dispose of her charges, there is no greater grievance than that which arises from the species of male which may be fittingly described under the

represent the merest trifles, which other men discard with the foppishness of threeand-twenty. The dangler, however, never grows old in sense. He can only become an old boy, and from that stage advance to second childhood.

osity to those whom he inveigles into being | are contained in the smallest compass, and concerned about him. They never quite determine how to deal with him. If he is cut direct the difficulty is solved at once; but that is a clumsy and not always a safe method. If he can be induced to dangle elsewhere, the very association of his name, which remains after his flitting, interferes Unlike the genuine old boy, he is not thorwith the market value of what he has oughly vicious, he is a mawkish and insensate touched. The dangler is a masculine flirt fool even at his pleasures, for he can only bring of a puny kind. He is as unnatural as a himself to sip them. Want of decision is the male dancer, and as worthless. He is with- basis of the dangler's disposition. It causes out courage or principles; but then he nev- him to dread marriage, and to flutter forever claims either. Society has made him, er over the sweets he dare not pitch upon. and society is responsible for him. There Amongst men he is a nonentity. He has no is this, however, which the dangler forgets. part in affairs which demand skill, energy, or He was originally kept in hands for his own perseverance. He shrinks from contact sake, then tolerated, or used as a foil; and with real work, like a sick school-girl. His it is a gross perversion of the privileges he opinions are vacant, and only escape from enjoyed to assume a distinct role of his own, not being thought idiotic by the number of and to set up as it were on his personal ac- idiotic opinions which sane persons are alcount. The dangler is not only a terror lowed to hold without question. The danand a torment to mothers, but he is often gler is a fool, in short, of the worst quality. an abomination to married men with young If he only went in for religion, for capwives. It is from the stuff of which he is turing beggars, for dancing at theatres, for composed that the cavalier servente of the reform, or for music, one might see at least Continent is made. Although the latter an energy thrown away; but in the dangler peculiar institution is not publicly popular there is a hopeless and a colourless impoin this country, it is impossible to deny that tence for which there is no compensative ecit is altogether unknown or uncultivated centricity. Even with women he is not sucamongst those who seek the consolations of cessful. Silly women like him at first, but Sir J. Wilde. In nine cases out of ten, the discover him after a time; clever women, perplexities which engage the judge of the when they find he has no money, despise Divorce Court arise out of the manners and him for his stupidity, although they would customs of danglers. The dangler is more easily forgive his stupidity if his banker redangerous to gay wives than to lively spin- spected him. Fortunately, danglers are not sters. The former use him freely, and find over frequent. There are many young men, a certain pleasure in keeping him by them; and young old men, who approach from one but the latter are either bewildered and side or another the peculiarities of the type, puzzled, or half angry and half pleased, at but happily only a few comparatively reprehis attentions. That sin which we never sent it completely. The dangler is both a forgive when it is discovered, is not, it noodle and a duffer, and he never knows it. should in fairness be said, an object or aim A joke falls off his hide as a spent musketof the dangler. He does not follow a mar- ball would off the hide of a rhinoceros. ried woman with the determination of ask- is the laughing-stock of his friends, and he ing her to run away with him, but purely has no enemies. He is despised too much as a pastime, and a graceful, pleasant occu- to be hated; and yet so entrenched is he in pation. He dislikes the violence and tu- the stronghold of his own conceit, that he is mult of a genuine guilty passion, almost as far from being miserable or dejected. He much as he dislikes the sympathetic dis- walks about in utter unconsciousness of what turbances of an honest sentiment. To be is thought or said of him. He would not becalm and unruffled, to disown earnestness lieve for an instant that he was either barren in everything, is the creed of the dangler. or good for nothing. Society is too well. He is not in the least engrossed when he bred nowadays ever to give such information apparently pursues a lady. It is his art, to a man to his face, and the dangler therehowever, to seem as if he were. He has fore never suffers the chance of hearing the generally a small income, which enables truth. When the dangler dies, no one rehim to get on well enough as a club bache-grets him. He is of a class that disgust and lor. His tailor trusts him conveniently. turn aside even the affection of a mother, He has not a particle of real ambition or which he is incapable of comprehending or desire to figure in the world. His ideas reciprocating. It is cruel and pitiable to re

He