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Italy, where the study of the remains of anti- | quity which those countries contain, has had so powerful an influence upon the public taste. Those who doubt the influence of the restoration of the Parthenon, in improving the efforts of original genius in this country, reason in opposition not only to the experience of past times, in all the other departments of literature and art, but to all that we know of the causes to which the improvement of architecture itself has been owing.

most independent of the adventitious advantages of light and shade, and rests most securely on the intrinsic grandeur and solidity of its construction.

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To say, that every people have an architecture of their own, and that the Gothic is irretrievably fixed down upon this island, is a position unwarranted either by reason authority. A nation is not bound to adhere to barbarous manners, because their ancestors were barbarous; nor is the character of their literature to be fixed by the productions of its earliest writers. It is by its works in the period of its meridian splendour, that the opinion of posterity is formed. The bow was once the national weapon of England, and to the skill with which it was used, our greatest victories have been owing; but that is no reason why it should be adhered to as the means of national defence after fire-arms have been introduced. If we must make something peculiar in the National Monument, let it be the peculiarity which distinguishes the period when architecture and the other fine arts have attained to their highest perfection, and not the period of their infancy. But the feudal and castellated forms arose during an age of ignorance and civil dissension. To compel us to continue that style as the national archi

It is no answer to this to say that drawings and prints of these edifices are open to all the world; and that an architect may study the proportions of the Parthenon as well in Stuart's Athens, as on the Calton Hill of Edinburgh. An acquaintance with drawings is limited to a small number, even in the most polished classes of society, and to the middling and lower orders is almost unknown; whereas, public edifices are seen by all the world, and obtrude themselves on the attention of the most inconsiderate. There are few persons who return from Greece or Italy, without a considerable taste for architectural beauty; but during the war, when travelling was impossible, the existence of Stuart's Athens and Piranesi's Rome produced no such effect. Our architects, during the war, had these admirable engravings constantly at their com-tecture, would be as absurd as to consider mand: but how wretched were their conceptions before the peace had afforded them the means of studying the originals! The extraordinary improvement which both the style of our buildings, and the taste of our people have received, since the edifices of France and Italy were laid open to so large a proportion of the country, demonstrates the superior efficacy of actual observation, to the study of prints, in improving the public taste for architectural beauty. The engravings never become an object of interest till the originals have been seen.

The recent attempts to introduce a new order of architecture in this island, demonstrate, that we have not as yet arrived at the point where the study of ancient models can be dispensed with. In the new street in front of Carlton House, every thing, which, if formed on the model of the antique, is beautiful; every thing in which novelty has been attended is a deformity. It is evident, that more than one generation must pass away, before architecture is so thoroughly understood as to admit of the former landmarks being disregarded.

The belief that a Grecian temple cannot look beautiful, but in the climate and under the sun of Athens, is a total mistake. The clear atmosphere which prevails during the frosts of winter, or in the autumnal months, in Scotland, is as favourable to the display of architectural splendour, as the warm atmosphere of Greece. The Melville monument in St. Andrew's Square appears nowise inferior to the original in the Roman capitol. The gray and time-worn temples of Pæstum are perhaps more sublime that the Grecian structures which still retain the brightness and lustre ly which they were originally characterized. Of all the edifices which the genius of man ever conceived, the Doric temple is

Chaucer as the standard of English literature, or Duns Scotus as the perfection of Scotch eloquence. We do not consider the writers in the time of the Jameses as the model of our national literature. Why then should we confer that distinction on the architecture which arose out of the circumstances of the barbarous period?

For these reasons, we are compelled to differ from the noble author, whose very interesting essay on Grecian architecture has done so much to awaken the world to a sense of its excellencies, in regard to the expediency of restoring the Parthenon in the National Monument of Scotland. From the taste which his work exhibits, and from the obvious superiority which he possesses over ourselves in estimating the beauties of Grecian architecture, we drew the strongest argument in favour of such a measure. It was from a study of the ruins of ancient Greece, that Lord Aberdeen acquired the information and taste which he possesses on this subject, and gained the superiority which he enjoys over his untravelled countrymen. If they had the same means of visiting and studying the originals which he has possessed, we should agree with him in thinking, that the genius of the age should be directed to new combinations. But when this is not the case, we must be content to proceed by slower degrees; and while nineteen-twentieths of our people do not know what the Parthenon is, and can perceive nothing remarkable in the finest models of architectural excellence, we must not think of forming new orders. It is enough if we can make them acquainted with those which already exist. The first step towards national excellence in the fine arts, is to feel the beauty of that which has already been done; the second, is to excel it. We must take the first

step, before we attempt the second. Having laid the foundation of national taste in architecture, by restoring the finest model of antiquity on the situation of all others the best adapted for making its excellencies known, we shall be prepared to form new edifices, and possibly to surpass those which antiquity has

left. But till this is done, there is every reason to apprehend, that the efforts of our artists will be as ineffectual in obtaining true beauty, as the genius of our writers was in obtaining real excellence, until the restoration of the classic authors gave talent its true direction, and public taste an unexceptionable standard.

MARSHAL NEY.*

THE memoirs connected with the French Revolution furnish an inexhaustible source of interesting discussion. We shall look in vain in any other period of history for the same splendid succession of events; for a phantasmagoria in which characters so illustrious are passed before the view; or for individuals whose passions or ambition have exercised an equally important influence on human affairs. When we enter upon the era of Napoleon, biography assumes the dignity of history; the virtues and vices of individuals become inseparably blended with public mea-persons of rank or station in society. sures; and in the memoirs of contemporary writers, we turn for the secret springs of those great events which have determined the fate of nations.

character and station in society. If they are, there is at least the safeguard against impos ture, which arises from the facility with which they may be disavowed, and the certainty that no man of character would permit a spurious composition to be palmed upon the world as his writing. The Memoirs, therefore, of Bourrienne, Madame Junot, Savary, and many others, may be relied on as at least the admitted work of the persons whose names they bear, and as ushered into the world under the sanction and on the responsibility of living

There are other memoirs, again, of such extraordinary ability as at once to bear the stamp of originality and veracity on their very face. Of this description are Napoleon's memoirs, dictated to Montholon and Gourgaud; a work which bears in every page decisive marks of the clear conceptions, lucid ideas, and tranchant sagacity of the Conqueror of Austerlitz and Rivoli. Judging from internal evidence, we are disposed to rank these invaluable Memoirs much higher than the rambling and discursive, though interesting work of Las Casas. They are not nearly so impassioned or rancorous; facts are not so obviously distorted; party spirit is not so painfully conspicuous. With regret, we must add, that even these genuine memoirs, dictated by Napoleon himself, as the groundwork for the history of his achievements, contain the marks of the weaknesses as well as the greatness of his mind; an incessant jealousy of every rival who ap proached even to his glory; an insatiable passion for magnifying his own exploits; a disregard of truth so remarkable in a person gifted with such extraordinary natural sagacity, that it can be ascribed only to the poisonous moral atmosphere which a revolution produces. The Memoirs of Thibaudeau perhaps exhibit the most valuable and correct, as well as favourable picture of the emperor's mind. In the discussions on the great public measures which were submitted to the Council of State at Paris, and, above all, in the clear and luminous speeches of Napoleon on every sub

From the extraordinary interest, however, connected with this species of composition, has arisen an evil of no ordinary kind. Not France only, but Europe at large, being insatiable for works of this kind, an immense number have sprung up of spurious origin, or doubtful authority. Writing of memoirs has become a separate profession. A crowd of able young men devote themselves to this fascinating species of composition, which possesses the interest of history without its dryness, and culls from the book of Time only the most brilliant of its flowers. Booksellers engage in the wholesale manufacture, as a mercantile speculation; an attractive name, an interesting theme, is selected; the relations of the individuals whose memoirs are professed to be given to the world, are besought to furnish a few original documents or authentic anecdotes, to give an air of veracity to the composition; and at length the memoirs are ushered forth to the world as the work of one who never wrote one syllable of them himself. Of this description are the soi-disant Memoirs of Fouché, Robespierre, Une Femme de Qualite, Louis the Eighteenth, and many others, which are now admitted to be the work of the manufacturers for the Parisian booksellers, but are nevertheless interspersed with many authentic and interesting anecdotes, derived from genuine sources, and contain inject, whether of civil or military administraconsequence much valuable matter for future history.

tion, that occurred during his consulship, is to be found the clearest proof of the vast grasp In considering the credit due to any set of and great capacity of his mind; and in their memoirs, one main point, of course, is, whe-superiority to those of the other speakers, and, ther they are published by a living author of above all, of Thibaudeau himself, the best evidence of the fidelity of his reports.

Memoires du Maréchal Ney, publiés par sa Famille.

Paris, Fournier; Londres, E. Bull, 1833. Blackwood's Thibaudeau, we are inclined to place those of Next in value to those of Napoleon and

Magazine, Oct. 1833.

Bourrienne and the Duchess of Abrantes. The first of these writers, in addition to considerable natural talents, enjoyed the inestimable advantage of having been the school-fellow of Napoleon, and his private secretary during the most interesting period of his life; that which elapsed from the opening of his Italian Campaign, in 1796, to his accession to the throne in 1804. If Bourrienne could be entirely relied on, his Memoirs, with such sources of information, would be invaluable; but unfortunately, it is evident that he labours under a feeling of irritation at his former schoolfellow, which renders it necessary to take his statements with some grains of allowance. Few men can forgive the extraordinary and unlooked-for elevation of their former equals; and, in addition to this common source of prejudice, it is evident that Bourrienne labours under another and a less excusable feeling. It is plain, even from his own admission, that he had been engaged in some money transactions of a doubtful character with M. Ouvrard, which rendered his continuing in the highly confidential situation of private secretary to the emperor improper; and his dismissal from it has evidently tinged his whole narrative with a certain feeling of acrimony, which, if it has not made him actually distort facts, has at least caused them to appear in his hands through a medium coloured to a certain degree.

and papers in their possession; and the anecdotes with which they are interspersed have plainly been collected with great pains from all the early friends of that illustrious warrior. If they are not published, therefore, under the sanction of personal, they are under that of family responsibility, and may be regarded, as we would say in England, as "the Ney Papers," connected together by an interesting biography of the character to whom they refer.

In such a production, historical impartiality cannot be reasonably expected. To those of his family who still mourn the tragic end of the bravest of French heroes, his character must still be the object of veneration. Failings which would have been acknowledged, defects which would have been pointed out, if he had descended to an honoured tomb, are forgotten in his melancholy fate; and his family, with hearts ulcerated at the supposed injustice and perhaps real illegality of his condemnation, are rather disposed to magnify his character into that of a martyr, than acknowledge its alliance with any of the weaknesses or faults of mortality. In such feelings, there is not only every thing that is natural, but much that is commendable; and the impartial foreigner, in reviewing the history of his achievements, will not forget the painful sense of duty under which the British government acted at the close of his career, or the mournful feelings with which the axe of justice was permitted to descend on one of the bravest of the human race, under the feeling-whether right or not it is the province of history to inquire-of imperious state necessity.

The Duchess of Abrantes, like most of the other annalists of Napoleon, labours under prepossessions of a different kind. She was intimate with Napoleon from his childhood; her mother had the future emperor on her knee from the day of his birth; and the intimacy between the two families continued so Marshal Ney was born at Sarrelouis, on the great, that when Napoleon arrived at the age 10th January, 1769; consequently, he was of twenty-six, and felt, as he expresses it, the twenty years old when the Revolution first "besoin de se fixer," he actually proposed for broke out. His father was an old soldier, who the duchess's mother himself, who was a per- had served with distinction at the battle of son of great natural attractions, while he Rosbach; but after his discharge, he contiwished at the same time to arrange a mar-nued the profession of a cooper, to which he riage between Joseph and the duchess, and Pauline and her brother. It may readily be imagined that, though these proposals were all declined, they left no unfavourable impression on the duchess's mind; and this, coupled with her subsequent marriage to Junot, and his rapid advancement by the emperor, has filled her mind with an admiration of his character almost approaching to idolatry. She sees every thing, in consequence, in the consular and imperial government, in the most favourable colours. Napoleon is worshipped with all a woman's fervour, and the days of triumph for the Grand Army looked back to as a dream of glory, which has rendered all the remainder of life worthless and insipid.

had been early educated. At school, his son, the young Ney, evinced the turbulent vigour of his disposition, and the future general was incessantly occupied in drilling and directing his comrades. Napoleon gave tokens of the same disposition at an equally early period: there is no turn of mind which so early evinces itself as a taste for military achievements. He was at first destined for a notary's office; but in spite of the earnest entreaties of his parents, he resolved to change his profession. At the age of fifteen, our author gives the following interesting account of the circumstances which led to his embracing the profession of arms.

"So early as when he was fifteen, Ney had The Memoirs of Marshal Ney appear under a presentiment of his future destiny. His different auspices from any others which have father, incapable alike of estimating his powyet appeared regarding this eventful era. They ers, or sharing his hopes, in vain endeavoured do not profess to have been written by him- to restrain him. The mines of Assenwider at self; and, indeed, the warlike habits, and that period were in full activity; he sent his sudden and tragic death of the marshal, pre- son there, to endeavour to give a new direc clude the possibility of their being ushered tion to his thoughts. It had quite an opposite forth to the world under that character. But, effect. His imagination soon resumed its on the other hand, they are unquestionably wonted courses. He dreamed only of fields published by his family, from the documents of battle, combats and glory. The counsels

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of his father, the tears of his mother, were go on as you have begun, you will make your fortune.' 'Perfectly, marshal,' replied his old commander; 'I had the honour to command a man infinitely my superior. Such good fortune is not easily forgotten.'

alike ineffectual: they lacerated without moving his heart. Two years passed away in this manner; but his taste for arms became every day more decided. The places where he dwelt, contributed to strengthen the natural bent of his genius. Almost all the towns on the Rhine are fortified; wherever he went, he saw garrisons, uniforms, and artillery. Ney could withstand it no longer; he resigned his humble functions, and set out for Metz, where a regiment of hussars was stationed, with the intention of enlisting. The grief which he well knew that sudden determination would cause to his mother, the chagrin which it would occasion to his father, agitated his mind; he hesitated long what to do, but at length filial piety prevailed over fear, and he returned to Sarrelouis to embrace his parents, and bid them adieu.

"The interview was painful, his reception stormy; reproaches, tears, prayers, menaces, alternately tore his heart. At length he tore himself from their arms, and flying in haste, without either baggage, linen, or money, he regained the route of Metz, from which he had turned. He walked on foot; his feet were soon blistered, his shoes were stained with blood. Sad, harassed, and worn out with fatigue, he nevertheless continued his march without flinching; and in his very first debût, gave proof of that invincible determination which no subsequent obstacles were able to overcome.

"At an after period, when fortune had smiled on his path, he returned to Sarrelouis. The artillery sounded; the troops were under arms; all the citizens crowded to see their compatriot of whom they were so proud. Recognising then the road which thirteen years before he had traversed on foot, the marshal recounted with emotion his first fatigues to the officers who surrounded him."-I. 5, 6.

It has frequently been observed, that those who rise from humble beginnings are ashamed in subsequent life of their commencement, and degrade themselves by a puerile endeavour to trace their origin to a family of distinction. Ney, equally with Napoleon, was above that meanness.

"Never in subsequent life did the marshal forget the point from which he had started. After he had arrived at the highest point of his fortune, he took a pleasure in recurring to his humble origin. When some persons were declaiming in his presence on their connection with the noblesse, and what they had obtained from their rich families:-You were more fortunate than I,' said he, interrupting them; I received nothing from my family, and deemed myself rich when, at Metz, I had two pieces of bread on the board.'

"After he was named a marshal of the empire, he held a splendid levee: every one offered his congratulations, and hastened to present his compliments. He interrupted the adulatory strain by addressing himself to an old officer who kept at a distance. Do you recollect, captain, the time when you said to me, on occasion of my presenting my report, Well done, Ney; I am well pleased with you;

"The satisfaction which he experienced at recurring to his origin, arose not merely from the noble pride of having been the sole architect of his fortune, but also from the warm affection which he ever felt for his family. He loved nothing so much as to recount the tenderness which he had experienced from his mother, and the good counsels which he had received from his father. Thus, when he was abandoning himself to all the dangers arising from an impetuous courage, he carefully concealed his perils from his parents and relations, to save them from useless anxiety. On one occasion, he commanded the advanced guard of General Colaud, and was engaged in a serious action. Overwhelmed with fatigue, he returned and recounted to his comrades the events of the day. One of his friends blamed him for his imprudence. It is very true,' replied Ney, 'I have had singular good fortune to-day; four different times I found myself alone in the midst of the Austrians. Nothing but the most extraordinary good fortune extricated me out of their hands.' 'You have been more fortunate than your brother.' What,' replied Ney, impetuously, and fixing his eyes anxiously on his friend, is my brother dead? Ah! my poor mother!' At length he learned the mournful news, that in a serious affair in Italy, Pierre Ney, his elder brother, had been killed. He burst into tears, and exclaimed, 'What would have become of my mother and sister, if I too had fallen! Write to them, I pray you; but conceal the dangers to which I am exposed, that they may not fear also for my life.' The father of the marshal died a few years ago, at the age of nearly a hundred years. He loved his son with tenderness mingled with respect, and although of a singularly robust habit of body, his family feared the effect of the shock which the sad events of 1815 might produce upon him. He was never informed of them: the mourning of his daughter, with whom he lived, and of his grandchildren, only made him aware that some dreadful calamity had befallen the family. He ventured to ask no questions, and ever since, sad and melancholy, pronouncing but rarely the name of his son, he lingered on till 1826, when he died without having learned his tragic fate."-I. 9, 10.

The great characteristic of Marshal Ney was his impetuous courage, which gained for him, even among the giants of the era of Napoleon, the surname of the Bravest of the Brave. This remarkable characteristic is thus described in these Memoirs :

"It is well known with what power and energy he could rouse the masses of the soldiers, and precipitate them upon the enemy. Vehement and impetuous when heading a charge, he was gifted with the most imperturbable sang froid when it became necessary to sustain its movements. Dazzled by the lustre of that brilliant valour, many persons have imagined that it was the only illustrious

quality which the marshal possessed; but those who were nearer his person, and better acquainted with his character, will concede to him greater qualities than the enthusiasm which captivates and subjugates the soldier. Calm in the midst of a storm of grape-shotimperturbable amid a shower of balls and shells, Ney seemed to be ignorant of danger; to have nothing to fear from death. This rashness, which twenty years of perils have not diminished, gave to his mind the liberty, the promptitude of judgment and execution, so necessary in the midst of the complicated movements of war. This quality astonished those who surrounded him, more even than the courage in action which is more or less felt by all who are habituated to the dangers of war. One of his officers, whose courage had repeatedly been put to the proof, asked him one day if he had never felt fear. Regaining instantly that profound indifference for danger, that forgetfulness of death, that elasticity of mind, which distinguished him on the field of battle, 'I have never had time,' replied the marshal with simplicity.

"Nevertheless, this extraordinary coolness in danger did not prevent his perceiving those slight shades of weakness, from which it is so rarely that a soldier is to be found entirely exempted. On one occasion, an officer was giving an account of a mission on which he had been sent: while he spoke, a bullet passed so near him that he involuntarily lowered his head, but nevertheless continued his narrative without exhibiting emotion-You have done extremely well,' said the marshal, but next time do not bow quite so low.'

"The marshal loved courage, and took the greatest pleasure in producing it in others. If he had witnessed it in a great degree in any one on the field of battle; if he had discovered vigour, capacity, or military genius, he never rested till he had obtained their promotion; and the army resounded for long with the efforts which he made for this purpose."-I. 21. But it was not mere valour or capacity on the field of battle, which distinguished Ney; he was attentive also to the minutest wants of his soldiers, and indefatigable in his endeavours to procure for them those accommodations, of which, from having risen from the humblest rank himself, he so well knew how to appreciate the value. Of his efforts in this respect we have the following interesting ac

count:

"Quick in repressing excesses, the marshal omitted nothing to prevent them. A private soldier in early life, he had himself felt the sufferings endured by the private soldier, and when elevated to a higher station he did his utmost to assuage them in others. He knew that the soldier, naturally just and grateful to those who watched over his interests, was difficult to manage when his complaints were neglected, and it was evident that his superiors had no sympathy for his fatigues or his privations. Ney was sincerely attached to those great masses, which, though composed of men of such different characters, were equally ready every day to meet dangers and death in the discharge of duty. At that period our

troops, worn out with the fatigues of war, accustomed to make light of dangers, were much ruder in their manners, and haughty in their ideas, than those of these times, who lead a pacific life in great cities and garrisons. The marshal was incessant in his endeavours to discover and correct the abuses which affected them. He ever endeavoured to prevent their wishes, and to convince the officers who commanded them, that by elevating the soldier in his own eyes, and treating him with the respect which he deserves, but without any diminution of the necessary firmness, it was alone possible to obtain that forgetfulness of himself, that abandonment of military discipline, which constitutes so large a portion of military force. "Avoiding, therefore, in the most careful way, the imposition of unnecessary burdens upon the soldiers, he was equally careful to abstain from that vain ostentation of authority, that useless prodigality of escort, which generals of inferior calibre are so fond of displaying. His constant object was to spare the troops engaged in that fatiguing service, and not to diminish, but from absolute necessity, by such detachments, the numerical strength of the regiments under his orders. That solicitude did not escape the soldiers; and among their many subjects of gratitude, they ranked in the foremost place the continual care and perseverance with which their general secured for them the means of subsistence. The prodigies he effected in that particular will be found fully detailed in the campaign of Portugal, where he succeeded, in a country repeatedly devastated, in providing, by incredible exertions, not only provisions for his own corps, but the whole army, during the six months that it remained in Portugal. Constantly in motion on the Mondego, incessantly pushing columns in every direction, he contrived to procure bread, clothes, provisions, in fine, every thing which was required. The recollection of these things remained engraven on the minds of his soldiers, and when his division with Massena caused him to resign the command of his corps, the grief of the soldiers, the murmurs, the first symptoms of an insurrection ready to break forth, and which a single word from their chief would have blown into a flame, were sufficient to prove that his cares had not been thrown away on ungrateful hearts, and that his multiplied attentions had won all their affections.

"But his careful attention to his soldiers did not prevent him from maintaining the most rigorous discipline, and punishing severely any considerable excess on the part of the troops under his command. An instance of this occurred in the country of Darmstadt. The Austrians had been defeated, and retired near to Swigemberg, where they were broken anew. The action was warmly contested, and our soldiers, irritated by so much resistance, broke open several houses and plundered them. The circumstances in which it occurred might excuse the transgression, but Ney resolved to make a signal example of reparation. While he proceeded with the utmost severity against the offenders, he published a proclamation, in which he directed that the damage should be

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