Chicago Daily Tribune Newspaper, January 11, 1874, Page 12

12 THE CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE: SUNDAY JANUARY 11, 1874, LA MARQUISE DE POMPADGUR. THe Career of Loais XV+'s Most Noted Farorite. Howa Si‘byl’é Prediction Was Falfilled. Jeanns Antoinette Poisson Practicaliy Queen of France for Biacteen Years. Utter Corruplion of French Society Dur- " ing the Period of Her Power. A Judgment of the Woman and Her Acts. From femple Bar. Zrophecies frequently ‘work their own falfll- ment. * Macbetl, if we'are to blieve the old chronicles, might never have been Duncan’s murderer, nor King of Scotland, had not tho +tweird sisters ™ suggested the: crime by pro- pletic ‘warninge; and Jeanne Aatoinette Pois- 1on might never bave become the mistress and soanselor of Louis XV., nor bave swayed the Jestinies of France, hiad not a Frenchsibyl fore- 301d thiet she, Jeunne, would one diy become . “TART AND PARCEL OF THE KING ;" wd s lucky prophecy it proved. at lesst for Medame Lebon (tbe sibyl), ite fuliliment ob- wining for ber an annuity of 690 Livres for the temainder of her Iif6. Poisson mere wag refined and educated—z woman of great beauty, a skeptic, and a philoso- pher, with no morals to speak of. She seized upoi the propheey wich the utmost avidity, and resolved to bring it fo pass. Jeanne Antoinctte was only 9° yoars of age when her destiny was rovesled to her, and from that time her mother never cpased infiaming the girl's imagination by glowing pictuses of her precrdsingd greatness, antil the realizat’on of these pictures became the dream of her iife. Such mothers and dangh- $ers were very cemmon in France during the eighicenth cerr ¥. - Poisson 'pere was aiteched to the victualing department of the army, and made much money, but be was arean of extremely coarse and vul- gar habits—failings which cansed Medame ls Marguise, in her great days, much annoyanéo. Ono day, when intoxicated (so say the scanda- Jous chronicles of the period). e staggered into bis daughter's apcrtment, whils the King was with ber, and, fami:aly slapping tho royal visit- or upon ihe shoulder, saluted him with “Ah, mon gendre ! : N (Al soN-IN-LAW!) For-this breach of etiquetto M. de Poisson was baished the Court, and narrowly escaped being ibe sabject of a lattre de cachet. v Jennne Antoinctte was oxtremely beautifal : golden bair, clegant. figure, diguified presance, :nd noble' features, ‘of which tho great charm Iay rather’ In their_wordrons mobility thania their regularily of form. Lven her bitterest snemies agree that no painter bas or could do justico o ber rare cbarms of expression. To \liie beruty sle united, thanke to her mother, every clegant zod jutellcctual accomplishment ; d bewitchingly upon the lute and the slavecin, dapced and sang like & profeesional Artisto; 88 an aciress she was scarcely smr- passsed by the most uccemplished ladies of the Camedio Francaise; she engraved admirably npon stono and sleel, and ker skil in the use of ko brush snd thy {.ucil- is atfested in the puintings upon some of the finest specimens of Sevres porcelain thni we possess, and which bear her nare. AT TWENTY CER 2OTHER MARTIED NER to Lencrmand d'Etisles, the nephew of Lenor- mand de Tournckem, » rich farmer-general; tho tusbood was littlo. ugly, and ill-shaped, end_ss tomptible iu mind a8 be was in body. For a ono the brilliunt Jeaune could have reither love mor respect. Her thoughts were still running upon. the' prophecy, aad #ho used paively to eay to M. d'Etioles, “I will never be unfrthfnl to yea save for the King of Fravce sod.Neverro!” To this reservalion, to which the gentleman scems to have mzde no objection, she Taitbinlly. adbered, for with all her favits, & pluralit'of lovers was not amongst them. Mademe d'Etioles made her houta the resort of sll that was Lrilliant in art snd letters; ets, actore, peinters, musicisns, and no- les sssembled “thers to do homage to her beauty and her wit. ' A private theatre was fitted . Ep. in which she first doveloped those splendid histrionic abilitics which were thereafter to de- light ‘the ' Court of Fravce. Volteire himself superintonded there the production of bLis plays, and gained the friendehip of the fair hostess,— + friendship which, in after years, stood him m sood stead, and which he lost only through thas sitter envy of -dispowtion that conld not endure fo see a rival Lonored above bimself. To him she confided her ambitious aspirations. ** I be- licve in thy destiny,” sue said 10 Lim one day. That dertiny ywas 3 < - 500N TO TE ACCOMPLISHED, ° D'Etioles had a mavsion in the neighborhood of " iko Forest of Senart;, wheie the King hunted. Madamo d'Etioles tized to follow the chase, ‘magnificently attired, in a carriogo of cbony and ivory, shaped ' like a car, ‘and ber great beanty quicaly attracted royal eves. - One day the Kingshot a stag close to her gates ; etiquctte demanded the fair ckateiaine, 2nd, kuceling avd blushing with pleased confusion, Jeanno Antoinette received the complimeatary gift from her monarch's own bavds. o ‘I'he days had long gene by when the young King, devoted_only to the chase and Marie Lieezifiska, had stood aloof from the corrupt llurements of his Court; be had lorg since ceased to ask, when s lady's churms were praised i his preserce, * Iy she ns beautiful ou the Queen? bLas becn &nid that tiat lady's somawhat {rigid nature was larzely accountabie Tor the nnhappy change, to wiich the unform- nate De Mailiy sisters had alieady fallen vietims. Ho bocame fascitated by the beautiful hour- roviec. Their nest meeting was 8t a masked bl given st tho Hotel de Ville in celebration of the Daupiain’s marmage. From that timo their meetings were frequent. Noble in festures, majestic and elegant in figure, Lonis was at that peorid the handeomest'man iu France, and that which bad beeu the effect of evil training. and tl:e ambition of au ides, was, 35 for 2s Jeann's natucally cold temperament would admit of such n passion, goftened iuto Jove. TFor two years Madame d'Etioles was favorite soltans only in private. When tho. admirable Aladame Poisson heard ber daughter spoken of us 5 - THE EING'S MISTRESS, 0 she was Ising npon asick bed. 1 havenothing moro to sish fur !” shic cried pioasly, and died of joy! Volumes'of description could not more ruify Huetrate tho utter meral corruption of the rge. t s tho noxt campsien. Vadame d'Etioles sce pompubied her royal lover to Fianders ; but, re- memberusg the fate of the Duch2s3 ce Chateau- rous, slie Goffed her woman's dress and douned ‘he disgnise of ayouzg oflicer of musketeers.® “From that period her pesition wza openly pro- Jaimed. aid fecoguized; upon her retum to Fisnce apartments were assigned to her at Very siillea, and-according to the custom iutroduced 3v Heory IV. end copied irom Lim by succeeding rovereigus—she Was formally introduced to the deen Alarie Lec- b1 the, oyal family. By il éceived. graciously nough; but ‘he Daugbiz lolied out his tonguo in token of ‘batemigt, far which the King made him after- serds spologize. In 1745 sho was % CLEATED MARQUISE DE POMPADOUR. fa e meantime, M. @'Etclos was compeusat- »d for his widcwhood by a farmer-generalship, - 1né afterwards by the place of fermier des postes. Ho freguently boasted of the King's protection. e requuired anything he gres troublesome, 4 abous bis wronge, and tureztened to claim bis wife; buta handsome douceur never failed o rextore Lim to his normal condition of amia- ble resignation. . . _Tho -new Margut hcight of bef ambil bad now _aitained the Jhopes ; all Franes was 2% hex fect, pobles fawiied upon her, and Court lzdies, who.a' littlg’ time before wonld have scorned. 1o receive ber asa guest, were now eager io 2ssist ber in ‘the menial offices of her toilette.. Sho cattered gold and_ offices upon lier relatives;” even tho mast distant; hor oonsir, a ardmmoer, was -niade Captein of Dra-~ goone ; her brother, a-man of talent, however, y24 made Director-General of buildings, arts, preseniation of the actlers to the | | snd manufactures, and created Marquis de Van- dieres, ntitle sfferwards changed to that of Marigny. To literary men and artists sho ex- tended the most liberal patronage: she made Iarmontel ber Secretary, she brought Pigalle, the sculptor, ont of his™ obscurity, and after- wards drow for hum the design for his statua_of Louis XV. ; she patrovized Gluck. who had failed to gain any attention in the Bwotian England of the first Georges, and it wus under her auapices that hie *‘Orfeo™ was produced: to her XMon- tesquieu dedicated his greatest work ; and to her YOLTAIRE. * owed his first introduction to Court. The King always disliked Voltaire; ho once said that he Jearéd lum, anda breach of etiqnette nearly Tost the poet his nowly-gained favor. Pompadour hed o theatrs fitted up ‘st Ver- =ailles, of which the Duke de Ia Valliere was the director. und the Abbe de In Garde the prompter, and_the lady herself the princip#l actress. To celebrate _the triumph of Fontenoy, Voltaira vrote a kind of pageant, entitlod “{Le Tem- ple de la Gloire,” in which the parts wero executed by tho ladies and gentlémen of the Court, including Ls Pompadour hersel?. To favor tho suthor, she Lad placed him in the King’s box, and on the 'first 1ep- resentation Voltairo found himself stand- ing immediately bebind the King, who was desrg- netcd in the spectacle as Trajun. When that zugust personsge.sppeared upon the scene, the poct became 80 excited that, in s transport of selt-gratulation. he caught tho real monerch in Lis arme, erving, “Eb, L'rajan, you recognizo yourself,' do you not ? ¥ This dating breach of decorum causeda terriblo commotion, the offend- er was removed by the gancds, and would cer- {ainly bave been banished Lad it not been for the good offices of his patronces. ~She after- wards conferred upon bim the digaity of gentle- man iz ordinary of the chamber, and the poet of historiographier. Her friendship for Voltairo survived even the lnmpoons and abuse with which Le so plentifully bespattored her during his residence ot Potsdam, and she frequently iu- terceded with the King to allow him to retarn to France. ¥ “ One of hor moat disinterested acts of kindness was bestowed upon tho old poet Crebillon, who w2s at the timo 80 yoars of age: she settled upon him & handsome anouity, svpointed him to the ginecitro of librarisn, which included a lodging in the Louvre, and presented to liim a magmiticent improssion of his own works, of which she herself nad engraved thé tail-pieces. Under ber reign genius of a!l kinds FOUSD A WARM WELCOME in the Court of France. Not to literature and art aloue did she confine ber infiuence and her_patronage. At hor sug- cstion the great Ecole Militaire was first foundsd. the praves of e Champe Elyeces were planted, and the trees of the boulevards, as far ss he Porte St. Martin. She drew a grand plan for rebuilding Paris, of whicl -only o portion wae executed, but of that portion ate the Place do Lows Quinze, tho Place Vendomy, the Madeleine, &c. Bat the erentost of ail ber works was the establishment of the great Sevres manufactory. The idea was first suggested by the sight of some very beau- tifal specimens of porcelain, brough by Charles Adams to the King. An attompt bad been made in Lonis XIIL’s time to introduce into France the mauufactare of porcelsin, but 1t had sigually faled. Under the ardent auspices of Pompa- dour, however, who drow with her own band, und occasionally painted, some of the finest de- signs, the Sovres ware becamo tho most cele- brated in Europe. 1n all these undertakings she was ably seconded by tho Talents of her brother, the Marquis de Merigny. Tpon 2 hill that commanded a fine viow of the manufactory, of the windings of the Seino. of the City of Paris, and of the beautiful conutry around, she ceused to be erected that exquisits temple of luxury, destroyed during tho Rovolution— BELLE VUE. 5 Tpon the erection of this building, and upon its. adornment with every benuty of art that conld charm the senees, 3,000,000 livres wore expend- ed. Falconet, Coustun, Adam, Verbreck, Pigalle, wero the sculptors; Boucher, Vanloo, Oudry, Prerre, Verpet, were the painters; but all thesa worked under her orders and through her inspi- 1ation. So interested was tho King in tho new bilding that, during the progross of the works, bo frequently remained with tho workmen throughout the whole day, sometimes even taking us dinner among them! It was com- pleted in the depth of “winter, but even the barrenpess of the semson Was over- come by the mimicry of art. Tho con- sexvatories and rooms were filled with the moat gorgeous flowers, from vhich were emitted ex- quisite odors. So perfect was the imitation of nature tnat on finst seeing them the King put kis fingers to the stem of “one to pluck it, and found that those floral beanties were simply printed porcelain, into the calyces of which had beon poured a drop of the perfume associated with the towers represented. It was here that La Pompadour gaye her pelils soupers, which gnhnismd of never less than forty-cight different ishes. ‘Talking of les petits soupers suggests 3 yet more celebrated avd equally splendid paldce, which is yet stauding, LE PETIT TEIANON. It is hero that Louis chietly loved to cast aeide the rostraints of royalty, and, surrounded by ses intimes. to wander through’ thoso enchanting gardens, and to gatber and distribute smong them with Lis own hands the delicions fruits and flowers that grew there, luscious a5 thosa of Ar- mide; or, better aull, to cotertain them with gastronomical delicacies, These suppers were prepared by noble hauds alone, for in those dars gastronomy was not only o science but a fine art, and ar indispentable sccomplishment for a fine gentleman. When one of these suppers was decided upon, His Majesty left Verseilles before mid-day, accompanied by the Ducs ds Goutent, d’Aven, de Coigni, de Ia Vallicre, the Prince de Beaufrement, and the Marquis de Poligune. Upon their arnval at the Little Triznon the cuisine ves carried into the ealon, and there, assisted by tho Count do Croismare, the Chievalier do Brusse, grand equerriss; the Chevalier Saint Saveur, afd the Marquis de Mortmorency, oficers of the body-guard; to- getber with four pages whoacted s under-cooks und zoullions, the meal was prepared. THE RING HIMSELF DONNED THE COOK'S AFEON, and wes celebrated for his poulets au basilac and eggs prepared in different ways: M. Goutant was tho.hiero of the sclud. Coigni Cf the roti; each member of the party was 1amous in Eome particular brunch of the art, and all were ever tesking _their 1ugennify to invent new dishes. Buth liere and at Belle Vue tho attendance of domestica was entirely dis- pensed with; when ove course was fin- 1shed, & stamp of the foot simuled the dttend- ants eneath; the talle sauk, through a trap in the floor, dad apother ready furnished rose in its plaze. The salons in which these suppers wete caten were adorned with ol that was ex- quisite in nature and art ; the dishes were ioter- spersed with veees filled with tho rarest and moat beantiful flowara: the walls were covered with the finest paiutings; statuary was every- where; every_articlo of farnituro was a model of besuty. Licentious as these brilliant re- uniobs were, thoy still form 4 favorable con- trast to the coarse drunken gluttony that char- | acterized the English feeds of the time, which were equally sensaal and far more brutish. La Pompadour was the first who introduced those refinements 2nd elegauces of tho table which so obtain at the present day. In 1752 the Kipg Lestowed upon her the dis- tinction of falouret and the hovoe:s of a Duch- exa, whick conferred tho privilege of SITIING IN THE PRESENCE OF THE QUEES. A pengion of 4,000 livres amonth had been settled upon ber, independent of the large gifts of money which Frero constautly bestowed upon her by kier royal lover. For the purchaso of the magnificen? hotel of the Count D'Evreus, iu the' Champs Llysces, she received 800,000 livres. Among otber estates she owned the lands of Ciecy, of Moatreiout, of La Celle, of d'Auluay,” of de Sc. Liemy, and the Lotels -of Compeigne, Fontainebleas, and Versailles. In the archives at Verrailles are preserved an account of hier expeuses during her ninctecn- years' reign. The sum total is 10,000,000 livres. A note iu her own handyriting states that out of this enormous sum sho Lad given to tho poor 150,000Tivres ! £ e, A heart dicease, constantly aggravated by a life of restless, amious excitement, impaired her personal charms at an early age, and dur- ing the latter years of her life her connection with the’ King was a purely platonic one. Louis was indolent and hated business, and up- cn this weatmess sho founded ‘a new empire. She plunged into stata affairs, and in time be- came IS CIIEP POLITICAL ADVISER Ministers were appointed and displaced at lier pleasure; foraign affairs, homo affairs, even war affairs, all camo under her influsuce. While the King amused bimeelf st o printing-press, or some otler tnifling, she would be drawing out plans of campaign. Incapsblo Ministers, inca- prble officers, peculation, jobbery, monopolies, and ruinous taxation -were the results of tais icfluerce. Loth at home and abrozd her power was om- pipotenf. Even the heuglty Marie Therese descended to smile upon ber—to address ber as | wdear cousin " Aud it was to avenge the con- tempt and the abuse that Frederick of Prassis unceasingly heaped upon her that she 30 oagerly edvocated the Austrisn alliance, which was ulti- mately concluded. , But these political labors were light compared to those of another task with which ths necessi- ties of her position burdeed her. From his profound melancholy and an almost: unconguer- sblo ennui ; to this tamperament, 1ather tha to innate vices, may be attributed thet utter moral corruption into which he ultimately fell. TO SOOTHE TRIS MELANCHOLT, to divert tlus ennui by an unceasing round of ncvel amusements ang dissipations, was the task which Pompadour —undertook, and was the means by which she held = her empire over her fickle lover until tho last day of Ber life.. Thesecret of that ompirs is contained in a sentence—she rendered lerself indispen ble lo his mode of life. Upon theso diversions were lavished millions wrung from a_starviog people. To provide entertainments, the ingo- nuity of poets and nrtists was put continually upon the rack ; each one was more curious and costly than its predecessor; but the Kivg had 1o taste for art or li:erature, and tae novelty of the thing once exhausted, it became wearigome to him. ~To divert his melancholy Belle Vue was built, a private thestre was es- toblished st Versailles, _ balls, -foasts, petit soupers were given aod still the demon within_him craved for new food. Intellectusl und artistic pleasures were s0on exhausted. and then diversion had to be found iu vice ; vice, not only ss it luxuriated in courts and in the beau monde, but as it festered in tho guuters and al- loye. In one of the suburbs of Yaris thote was a loy tavorn kept by one Ramponneau, cenvivial disposition and_ coaree wit attracied an enormous custom to his house. By and by his celebrity reached even to'tho Court. Eurekal . A TEW PLEASTRE to divort the royal splecu! Nobles, princes of the blood, even ladies of the court disguised themselves, and paid visits to the zay cabaretier, to liston to his gross ancedotes, his ribaldry, and obsceno wit, and to carry them away for the de- Jectation of their royal master. Far from desir- ing to conceal their relish for such mncourtly pleasures, they openly blazoned it to the world, sud the carbaretier, for s scason, became the fashion—the rage. Ilis songs sud - say- ings were in every noble mouth, malo and fe- male,—his nnne wag given to every new fash- ion,—clothes, furniturc, eauces, dishes,—and they aloue were looked upon with ridicule who had nothing a la Ramponneau ! And when the piquancy of Ramponneau was extiausted, sconts Were sent out at night to scour the human sew- ers of Paris, to collect their filth, to collect stories of debauch, and wile anecdotes for the King's morning smusemeat ! When Ler faded charms rendered her no long- er an object of passion, and the wretched woman was pursued, night and day, by tho tormenting fear of a rival suppianting hor, she resorted to the Lorrible expedient of secking out for her lover NEW MISTRESSES, * % carefully sclectiug them fiom au inferior rank of eociety, and such whose influence could only be transitory. Then came the establishment of tho Parc aux Cerfs, that most Lideous ucandal of » scandalous reign. The daughters of tho citi- Zzens, some scarcely more thaa children, were continnally abducted and brought to this Elncz), where the King, 48 a pretended Polish noblo (a relative of tho Queen), visited them. No young girl possessing any claims to beauty wus safe from the raids of bis pauderers, Who Were ever in gearch of new victims. (ke Think of the lifa of this woman, busying her- self in every affairof State, ever racking her brain to invent now diversions, new vices for an incurable cunui, and ever pursued by the phan- tom of a coming rival who should deprive her of the frmts of her toils. Ambition and retribution divided her sonl between them. Well might she say, ** My lifo Las been a perpetnal fight.” “fhe ennuiof Louis XV. is said to have cost the nation 100,000,000 Lrvmes! This sum is perhaps an exsggerated one; but even_au approximation to it is terrible to, think of. For Lesides these costly pleasures,’thero were tho burdens imposed by years of rwm- ous war. ‘Tho effects of this enor- mous expenditura npon the condition of the peo- plois thus terribly described in one of “the **Want Memorials * which were sent in to Pom- padour from all paris of the country after the pesce of Aix-ia-Chapelle. I cannot,” says the writer, “represent the wretchedness that reigns in this Provimce. Tho earth yields nothing. Blost of the farmers, unable to live by the pro- ducts of their lands, have abandoned them. Some have becomo beggers, and others soldiers ; many have gone away to forcign countries. A Tamjot whiths before o war sapnorted 1,500 in- babitants, cau Ecarcely furnish necossaries for 600. Cattlo hevo _ diminished in proportion with men. Tho country is in absolate need of cattle ; in most of tho vil- lages where labor is still carried on men do the work of oxen.” Another writer writes thus: * The gubjects of tho King diminish every day in this Provineo ; soon there will ke no longer auy inhabitants, 1 have desired the cures of tho different’parisuies to furnish me with lists of baptiems and bunals, and the number of the deathis exceeds the number of the living ; but of fifty of the King's wubjects thero are scarcely £w0 who pave bread to eat. Others die from want. Marriago is almost unknown, and the children thatate born are the offspring of de- bauctery.” 4 Tiots broke out in the streets of Paris, and gount, famished wrotches parsued the King's carriage with cties of. < * poEAD! DREAD!V But tha courtiers closed his ears against theso criee, and wero assiduous only_ia effacing from his nlind thoso dark ‘images. In the Gellery at Yeroniiles was a picture Tepresentinga Roman Emperor giving bread to the peorlo, and this was removed, in order that tho King might not be reminded of the wants of tho populace. And he and his companions feasted and reveled, and the sale of corn was 2 moxopoly, and people died of want in the streets. “* Aftor us the delugo!” snid Pompadoar, pro- photically. Verily the clonde had long ' been gatheriog. Scotes of years before £ho or her Foyal Jover camo into the world, the groans and tears of tho oppreseed, and theiv cries for justico, had beon rising from earth to heaven and esok- ing Divine wrath. _With Louis X1V. began thia storm-gathering—with thoso long, dexolating wars that brougbt only ruin and defeat upon the Government, and upon the masses & teniblo Leritage of suffering to he transmitted from father to son. ‘To complete the labor that Riche- lieu had commenced, and upon the ruins of tho feudal system to erect an absolute and irrespon- sthlo monarchy, was the leadingaim of the Grand Monarque's life. In the splendor of his Oricatal Court the nobility beeame mere gilded butterflies, = portion of the trappings that set off his own magnificence, but having no vitality apart from him. The nobles, by then constent attend- anco upon the King, becams alienated from the peasantry, who were ground down to, support their extravagance at Versailles ; thus tha best tics of tho feudal system, those ties whi.h in the old days rendered the interest of Jord and vagsal in somo measure identical, were broken, and _the lord soon became, in the eyes of he vassal, simply & tyrant and_an onpressor. Many of the nobility, unable to keop pece with tho splendor of the Court,—their estates sold, or hopelessly mortgaged,—sank into the condis tion of . JERE PEASANT-FARMERS, Gloomy, discontented, cver inwardly contrast- ing the past power of their family with their present dogradation, the proud blood of the old noblesse that coumsed _through their veins rovolting against their menial po- sition, beart-sick, weary, longing for auy change that would break the fetters of their vile bondage, the descendants of thess men ‘became the leadiug avd most dangerous spirits of the early doys of the Revolution. Thus, the very means by which the King bud thought to most effectually coment absolutism, proved ore of its strongest disintegrating elements. The numbers of the discontented were largely swelled by the ingratitudo of his successor. Lapped in Svbaritish luxury, Louis XV. cared litils for the brave meun who fouglt the battles of the country, who ehed their blood and ex- pended their patrimonies to uphold s monarch who at times would not even deigu to receive them. Alter tue battle of Fontanoy, the Chevalier de Modena preeented bimeelf e Versailles, and craved an _-audience with the King; but as his dress was that which ho Liad worn upon the battie-field, ; ADMISSION WAS REFUSED HIM, “This dress stil bears upon it the dust of Foutenoy, which ought Lo be & proud eight for the King,” answered the old eoldier. But such excused were no passport st Versailles; the Chevalier was ordered to don s more ceremo- nlous garb, and then be might be admitted. I Laove none but this, mor the menns to procure any otber; I sold my last rood of land to make the last campaign,” was the reply. The more reasou that he should not be admit~ ted; why should the ropose of Sardanapalus be troubled by the presence of beggared soldiers? And so the bruve old noble was not saffered to put foot within the palsce. Stung to the soul Y the thought of the unworthy treatment he had received in return for all Lis sacrifices, he vented his wrath in a stinging verse. For this ** seditions " utterance of his wrongs, orders wero given for his arrest, and it was only by a timely figbt into his own conotry of Avig- nou that be escaped what might have beea a life-long incarceratioa in the Bestile ! Bot, although brave soldiera were refused ad- mittance to Versailles on accoant of their battie- stained costume, the rigid eliquette and almost Easstern soverance of runks which h=d obtained ander the Grand Monarque all but disappeared in the Court of hissuccestor. La Pompadour was » bourgeoise, the first who had ever risen to the ‘‘homors” of the acknowledged favor- earliest youth Louis had been afilicted with » I ite in the Court of TFrance. The eti- quette and aristocratic exclusiveness of the last reign were standing protests sgaivst her posi- tion. To mullifs sach protests by bresking down the distinctions of caste was her raturalim- pulse. Tho task was one of little difficulty. for the Court, wearied of tedious caremony aad ou- tocratic seclusion, plunged into the opposite ex- trome, and, rioting in its new-fonnd liberty, mingled with bonrgeois and artiean - ju one com= mon debanchery. It waa the beginning of # LIDERTY, EQUALITY, AND PRATEBSITY;” but thereafter the people improved upon the Josson, and applied it in & way of which its firss promoters never dreamed. The glamor of rank that had bhitherto dazzled tho eyes of the commonality was dispolled, and ihe eyes gaw, instead of demi-gods and demi-god- eases, men avd women 2 commonplace and 88 vicious a4 those to whom they belonged. Thé effects of this disillugion were quickly appareat ; the sacreduesa of monarchy wera openly ques- tioned ; the privileges of rank bitterly inveished against ; the ** Esprit des Loix ” and the * Con- t1at Bocial” struck at the very roots of thoancien regime. Dut, as though the ‘very nobles them- eelves were beginning o sicken of the tainted atmosphere of decay in which they lived, or a8 though possessed by w strange infatuation that led thiem to court their own dostruction, Mon- tesquicn, Roussesu, the vory mon who wera presching a crusade against their order, were those whom they most deligi:ted to receive and Lonor. To crown this strangest anomaly of listory came the Encyclopedists, whose 6ating pens attacked every subject, eacred and profane, It was during the bitter wars between tho Jesuits, in the midst of tho dizcussions upon the buil * Unigenitus,”§ that the fist numbers of THE **ENCYcLOPRDIE " appeared. They were quic order in Council ; bat they culate secretly. It was from that time that they bogan to grow really dangerous; for it was only after this public suppression thet the more ex- treme articles wero written. A secrot socicty, of- which D'Alembert. Diderot, and Voltaire we tho heads, was founded for tho propugation of Jacobinism, & society whoso ramifications ex- tended through France and Germany. whose members recognized cuch otber by Ma- sonic signs, nnd tho objcct of whick was the destruction of monarchy and reliz- ion. :Each of theso vriters bad beea o pupil of the Jesuits, and had learncd fiom those mesters of tho art Of eophistry that subtle mode of 1ea- soning which they now employed for the de- struction of their teachers. In 1764 was published tho edict for the expul- sion of the Jesuite, and with then was swept away the last barrier to the propagation of tho new doctrine; and infidslity, no longer lurking shamefaced in boles and comners, Haunted itselt boidly and publicly, evenin the Church itself. The Princes of the Church lefc the lmty far be- hind in their . VICES AND IDEOTS DEBATCHERIES ; tho Ablcs were mere baogers-on at LLe houses of nobie courtesans—paaderers to the rich, boon companions in every dissolute escess, ministers of religion in form, skeptics and even athcista in heaxs, ecoffing in Bociety ot the vory doctrines they preached. Religion becamea byword and a jest, o subject for puns aud epigrame, aud the wit applauded loudest was that which con- tained tho largest amount of blasphemy. The whole fabric of societs, from the cottage to the Court, from the alley to the altar, was Fottivg, crambling. Thers was no cobiesion any- where ; love, faith, houor, religion, all were swallowed up in a gulf of teething corruption. King, prieat, noble, lady, anthor and artist, bour- geots, rufian—all mingled together in the denon rovel of this heltish carnival, with the thunder- clouds above their heads, the certhquake be- neath their feei, and Saian as master of the revels. i There is little more of intercst to bo told of the life of Ls Fompadour. Thoe * fight” weai on fiercely a8 ever, now with the Jesuil = vero one, nvolving &s it did cxcommurication, now with the Ministers, now with the people. The treaty of Aix-lo-Chapelle, g0 unfavorable in mauy respects to {he intcrests of France, and the hasty conclusion of which was ascribed to her influcuce, reudered her Lo ODIOUS THLOUGHOUT THE COUNTRY. Dmt_with the attempt upon the Kiug's lifo Damiens, the contriving of which was as- ed by turas to eyery party in the State, not excluding tho Dauphin bimseli—camo her sever- est trial of Atrength. She was ordered to quit the palaca; had even commeuced preparations for doing o, bat lier cmpiro was Lo ba retmquisi- ed ouly with life ; she cluug to her position, nd weathered the etorm. . Tho family compact, the Austrian alliance, and the expulsiou of the Jesuits, all of which ovents she larzely influonced, raised her for o time into popularity. Bat with tho news of tho terrible defeat of Rosbach this transient gleam of national favor died out forever. It mattered bub little now; “tho fight™ was neatly_over—tho grisly victor of all flesh had his dart ready poised, and the brilliant La Pompadour, suc- cumbing to & painful digease that had been wear- iug ber awey for years, lay upon her death-bed. But little of that brillience and beauty which had enslaved all hearts was leit in those blood- lese lips, thoso worn, cadaverous features. Rougo aud rose-colored sill-garments but made them look the more gbaslly. Sinco some time the Church bad received her back into its bosom ; she was sister of a relizious body, and regnlarly erformed all tho rites of & good Catholic. Ay 1ex confeseor, after adminictering extrome unc- tion, was leaving the chamber, sbe cried to him, “Stay & moment, and I will g with you.” Those were her last wods. SHE CXPIRED WITII MER HAND IN THE EING'S. Her decth took place in 17¢4. Sho was 42 vears old. She was carried to the grave by the Capuchin brothers; her faneral litils better than & pauper's. It was a wet day, and as Louis saw iho melancholy cortege pass along, Le cyn- ically remarked, * Madame la Marqu.se will have bad weather for Lexr journey to-day!" Not one tear did be shed for t!.e woman who had Leon Liis constant compenion during g0 many years of Ler life. Tt has been said that Pompadonr possessed but little talont; no genuino jove of ars and lirera~ ture, and left but little or no trace upon her age. Bat so harsh s judgment is unten- alle afler a dispassionate review of her life. To estitato the woral chzracier, and to esiimate the offects produced by colebrated individuals upon their age and nation, should be separate tasks. Bat Ly too frequently coslesco in an nuthor's mind to the destruction of impartinlity. That she was immoral, that she was unscrupulously smbitious, aud that by her extravagance und bad counsels she worked incalculabie - evils upon Trance is indispuzable. But in our judgment of this womea aud of her acts we must cast acide our nineteenti-century code of morality, and try her by that of her owa age—that I8 to ay, in true British sfashion, by her peers. Whet that ago was 1 laye endcavored to show; and, did 1 dare to illustrate its corruption by storics ont of the lives of its men sud women, Joanne Antoinette d'Euoles would suow quite advaatageously besido hundreds of her coniem- poraries. Moial corruption she mbibed at Ler wother's brenst. i * ¢'EST UX MORCEAD POUR UN Ror!” " was the exclamation constantly in Madame Pois- won's mouth when speaking Of her dsughter. She wus educaced, #ho was tccomplisbed, tho was trained in every elegance of fife sud man- ner to fit her for the reigniag Sultanslup of tho roya) harem. Hed the girl been born a saint sho couid not lu resisted “the infection of such a ng. Neither was the position of King’s mistress regarded by far bet- ter mothers thuy Madame Polsson as & degrada- tion, buc ratber a8 an bouor tor which the high- est ladics in the land contested. And there is- reason to helieve Medume d'Ltoiler wag faithful to her one dereliction from moraiisy—a praine that could scarcely be extended to one of Ler contemporaries ; 1t is, at all events, quite cer- tain that ber conduct was Dot marked by that indiscriminate licentionsnges which was the general attribute of the court ladies of her ago. “Whe darkest morel taint upon her memory is the Parc aux 'Cerfs, the revolting and unnatural vices of which have justly excited the shud- dering abhorrence of posterity. 3 SMBITION WAS HER RULING PASSION ; to relain her power there;was no depth of degra~ dution into which she wonld not bave pluuged, perhaps no crime she womid have left urcom- nutted, Bat sbe had no innete love of vice, and to crime she only resorted in o last extreinity. Tew, if any, deliberato and gratuftous acts of evil mark ber life ; the various charges that zre brought against her are enormously exaggerated, Deing utterly at variance with the general tous of her charactor and known facts tnat indicate 0 opposite disposition. Had ber temper - been of that vindictiveness with whicl it is accredited ghe wouid scarcely have interceded with the King to permit the return of Voltaire, at whose hands she had received such ingratitude and bitter con- tempt. Neitbor was she deficient iu gencrosity ; the exiled House of Stuwrt found in her a warm and sympathizing fricad to the last; upon the. occasion of the birth of Louis (afterwsrds the Sixtcenth of thet name) she urged apon the King, in place of fetes and fiteworks, to distribute food among the poor of Pans for one month, and to endox GU0 DoOF giris with 600 livres cach ; and in 1795 she sent Lier own plate and some of her trezsute to ihe mint for public use. To literary men and artists she was™ A MOST MUNIFICENT PATRONESS many an one whose works have become the de- Tight of posterity might have iangniched and died in obscurity and ueglect bad it not been for the fostering care of Pompadour ; and under a King utterly indiferent to intollsctual pursuita men of lotters and art rosc to a mero independ: ent position than they could claim under- the ostentations petronage of Louis tho Fourteénth. - Tt has been said that ber patrousge of art and letiers, far from being the restlt of an innate love of them, was but tbe deaire to rawe 3 no- bility of fifnim to counterbalance the nobility of Lirth, behind which former she sheliered her own plebeian origin. Such.» echeme migt have been mingled in “her mind with more disinter- ested and spontaneons motives; but to deay all geuuine love of intellectual pureaits to one who proved herself to bo 80 esqusite an adeptin several, woald be to yield to an unjust preju- dico. To enter into all the intricacies of diplo- macy, and to oven allempt to_guide the state affairs of 8o grest a nation as France during 80 critical a Leriod of Ler history, argued a power of mind that but fow women have possessed. But did it argne no gopius to sustain during nineteen years her empirs orer the cold-hearted, fickle Louis, to amuse Lis morbid melancholy by an over-chaoging variety of beilliant amuse- ments ? Surely great iuventive faculties wera required for such a task. i Liven bostile historiaus admit that daring her {agime it was less the age of Louis the Fifteenth an - THAT OF POMPADOUR— - o that the taste which reignod in design, in fash- ions, in manuers, in poesy, Inevery art of ber timo, carries her seal, and yet in tlio very same page they will assert that she left little or uo trace upon her ago! Toher tasta and talent France owes the first impetus which has since made her pre-eminent in art manufactures, In the,streets of Paris aro yat to bs traced Ler de- sigus, and in the magnificent establishment at Sovren, still unsurpossed, if not unnvaled, she bas left one of tho most splendid monuments thac ber country, can boast, 1 inve no desiro to glaze over the favits of this wowman, or to elsvate her intv a heroine much wronged by posterity ; neither am I pre- pared 10 receive as veracious all the sbominabla tales told agaiust her by the scandalous chron- icles prlmhml during and after the Revolation, of which the sole purpose was to blacken and degrade monarchy and all its belongings with the most unblushing mendacities. My only ob- ject is to present her as slio was—one who, after after malung all allowance for her vicious life aud for all the Litter ovils she brought upon France, wasuot au utterly redeemicas demon of iuiquity, but o_guilty, erring woman—one who, howevor morally destituto sbe might be, siill possessed Urilliant talents, which were fro- quently employed for the good of aut, literature, aud ber country. *The Duchess de Clrateauroux had attended Louls in his first catopalgn, but when the King was seized wita that dangerous fllness at Motz the clergy ban- {+hed ber from Lia presence, and the mob drove her from the tow, with howls 5ud esecrations. Her sud- den and tragical desth followed soun_ afterwar +The orlgin of all this abuse w33 envy and diean- pointed ambition—cnvy of the patrouage bestowed upon poor oid Crebilion, and disappuiniment at uot Dbeing raised to certain dignitior, Which Lo, coveted. Wiatever wero Ler faclta, ehe did nob deservo (be wbuso of the man who owed bis own elevation to the patronage with which they had gifted ner, Her sube -casion with the 18 scarcely fndica- on against all who ‘bich certain writera have songht to blacke: a nare too deeply dyed alreads overtivle misdeeds, \mong tho items are 1,200,000 livres for her do- motics ; for her tabl, 600 ; for her comedica audfetes, 4,000,000; for her cosches and horses, 3,000,000, After ber desth her wardrohe was vi d at 350,009 livres ; hier china (madels for Sevras), 19} Hef librusy, vers rich iu- MSS,, sold for 5 Jivres. £40,000. § By which extreme unction was refused to any per- 201 who could not produce 3 confessional note, eigned by a priests such uotes Leing refused 1o 2ll who viero not Jesuitiealiy ortiodoz. MISTAKES. A tiny mald once found a nesy 0f new-born mice ; And filed with childish horror lest, By grim device, The hous¢-cat shauld the place nvesh She soughit advico ; Her ten-yeared brother. if he mus. - Would take their care. ~—That night he told the boys with gr. e did fare; Tow oft some little hore ov 7im trugtiay Lared To thoze wiao, had we silens mwere, # Would no'ex have esre - Save that, ma iy uap, walicious < worse hizve fured. i Jous McGovERN. Hueling in France. Tnder date of Dac. 8, the Paris correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph writes to that journal: * The recent fatal ducl has revived the memory of many similar sad_occurrences, and the chuef Eubjec: of conversalion in general so- ciety is the pravailing epidemic: for there isa fastiion in dnels os there is & fasltio in suicides. At the very Lime that Ghika was dyi~g from s wound, another duel was taking place on the Belgan frontier between a Countand u Baron, whouo names are well known. T.o latrer was bit in the right lung. The desth of Ghikn has reminded evarybedy of the duel between 3. de Girardin sad Armand Carrel, who, like Giiks, was _ mortally wounded in the stomach. Girardim wos editor of the Pr and Carrel of the . The former had invented a new press, whicl was ridi- culed by the latter. Girardin retorted sharply; a duel was arraneed, and Carrel chose pistols. The combatants fought ia the Bois do Vinceunes at the disiance of forty paces, esch advanerng | ten, Carrel storped forward rapidly to the limic marked ont, fired, and struck his aiversaty in the thigh. = Girardin had only advanced three paces, but, althongh wounded. ho fired from where he stood, und hiz Carrel in the groin. Both combstants fuffered excruciating agony, but they forgave each other on the ground; Girar- din's Iife was for a long time despaired of, and Cairel succambed, Two years before this, Geo. Bugeaud, irritated by su observation made by bis colleaguo in the Chamber of Depusies (Dn- T0ag), abont the imprizonment of the Dnchesse de Berri, challenged bim. and sbot him dead. 1n 1842, Gen. Levasseur xilled at a distance of- only ten paces Al Arrighi, who had resigned his_commission as commandant for tho purpcse of fighting Lis superior oflicer. ‘tha kiliing of Dillon, the journalist, by the Duke de Grammont- .Caderousse is still well remembered : and the fatal_dael belweon the Duke de Montpensier aud Don Earique Bourbon, bro:lierof the Queen of Spain’s husband, excited the Farisian world, although the enconuters:f tcok place near Madrid in tho sprivg of the yearwhich witnesred tho breaking out of the war with Prassia. The List of falal duels is unb2ppiy capablo of in- definite extension ; but thereis almost us much material in the more agreeable enumeration of disputes that have bad a comic termia: Oue of the fuunicst was thak in which Sainte- Bouve was engaged. It began to ain slightly afier Lo Lad taken up his position, whereapon lie coolly Leld his umbretla over lus bead withche lert hand while holding the pistol in Lis right. “Iho expostulations of bis witnesses had o elf upon im. *It is all very well to bo kil tlic famous estayist. * but I object to caiching a co!d in my head.” “There isa droll story about Porpiguan, 2 literary Bobemiau, havicg an en- counter with Charics Maazico at five paces. The former having fired, aud having contrived to miss, tho other, taking a deliberate aim, said to Dis anzagonist, * Well, now, betoro I send you into the other world, tell mo what you are thiuk- ing of.” ‘I'm thiuling that 1f I were in your plaze I would cot fire,’ said Perpigaan : aud he owed his life to his presencc ot mind. Then thero sre soveral stories counected with M, ‘Thiers’ duels, from all of which the future Pres- igent of the Repablic came out scathcless. There is a n:uch-quoted anecdoted of an cncoun- ter between a dramatic author and bis eritic, the latter of whom was a firat-rate slot. After the author bad fired end miseed, the journalist nimed_sccurately at bis sdversary’s hat, and plerced 1t with tho utmost precision, wliero- upon the dramatist ‘flew intoa violent passion, protested that it wes unfair, and exclaiued, *Irf you kad told me what you were going to do I ‘would bave put on ap old hat.” Fwo other Lit- erary men, who shall be nameless, were such in= alids that thoy both Lad to fizht sitting in arm- chirs, and they were such good shots—thas they both miseed. Pistols are supposed to be more dangerous than swords, and, they havo the dis- advantage of being sometimes more fatal to the bystandars than to the combatants, An actor, who carefelly missed bis antagonist, contrived to.Lill an inoffensivo notary—inofMenaive for the ‘moment. at least—who was laking a quiet walk in tho Bois de Boulogno; and another duelist shot stone-dend one of his adversury'smec- onds, who wns stooping to pick up his cane. 1f the melicr of temoin wero mot ouly dangerous, but peual. we should Leur less of the silly and immoral custom. As it is, the punish- ment of ducling is merely nominal ; in fatal cases it is seldom more than & month's impris- oament in o specislly favored place of detention, sghich may be taket at cny time within a_given period thatmsx happen to suit ths culprit’s con- nienco. In nine cazes out of ten the con- domoed dachist may, on pleading 1llnces, have Dicnself consigned {0 some maison de sante, sit- uated in the midst of a large garden, in & Dealiby eituation, where ho_may eat and drink what he likes, see his fricnids, and live altogeth- er jcat as be chooses, except that Le navnot step beyond the ouser wails of his special aad pleasact sotzeat I BEING ‘A BOY. Fuvenile Advantages and Disndwane The Differcnce Between John znd Solomaoit. Charles Dud(:y Warner in St. Nicholas, If Lwas cbliged to be & boy, and a boy in the country,—the best kind of a boy to be, in tae sumwmer,—I would be about 10 years of age. As soon as I got any older I would quit iz. The trouble with a boy is,, just as he bogina to enjoy himself be is too old, and has to bo set to doing sometbing eise. If a country boy wers wise he would stop just at that ago when he conld enjoy himself most, and have tho least expected of him In the way.of work. Of courso the perfoctly good boy will profer to work and do ““chores” for his father, and errands for his mothor and sisters, rather than enjoy hirmsell in his own way. I neversaw but oucsuch boy. He lived in the town of Goshen— oot the pluce where the butter is made, but o much bLetter Goshen than that. And 1 never saw him, but T hesrd of him; and being abont the same ago, as I supposed, I was taken once from Zonb, where 1 lived, to Goshen to see bLim. But he was dead. Ie had been dead almoat a year, 50 that it was impossivle to sce him. Hediedof tho most singular disezse; it was from not eatlng green appies in the season of them. The boy, whose name was Solomon, before hie died, would 1ather split up kindling- wood for his wother than go afishing,—the con- 82quenco was that he was kept at sphithing kin- dling-wood and such work most of the time, and grew a better and moro useful boy day by day. Solomon would uot disoboy his paronts and eat green apples,—not even when they were ripe enoagh to kuock off with a stick,—but ho had such a lopging for them that he bad pined and passed anay. If Lo had eaten the groen apples he would have died of them. probably; so that Lis example s a difiicalt one to follow. In fact, | 8 boy is a hard subject to get a moral from, any way. Al bis Jittle playmates who ate groen ap- ples came to Solomon's faueral, and were _ very sorry for what he had done. - Jolin wasa very diferant boy from Solomon, not half 80 zood, nar half po desd. Ho wasa farm- or’s boy, a4 Solomon was, but ho did not take 8o much interest in the farm. If Johm conld have had Lis way ho would have discovered & cave fall of diamonds, and lots of nail kegs full of gold pioces and Spavish doliars, with & rotty little girl living in the cave, ard two beauiifully-caparisoned horses, upon which, tak- ing the jewels and money, they wonld bave ridden off, he did not know where. Jolm had got thas ' far in his studies, which were appa- rently acithmetic and geography, but were in roalify the ** Arabisn Nights,” end other books of iugh and mighty adventure. 1le was & vimple country boy, aud did not know mueh about the world is, bt ho had one of hiy own imagination, in which be lived a good deal. I daresay ho found out soon enouzh what the world is, and ho had a leston or iwo when he was quito young, in two incidents, which L may 29 well relate. ke If you lad scen John ot this time you nvight have thought he wne only . shabbily-drewed couatry-lad. and vou nover would have guersed what beaatiful thoughts Le sometimes had, as he went stubbing nis toes along the dusty road, nor what s chivzlrous little fellow he was, Fou wonld have ecen s short Loy, barefooted, with trowsens at once too big and too short, held up perbaps by ono suspeuder only, & checked cot- ton shirt, and a bat of braided pala-leaf, frased at tho cdzes, 2nd bulzed up in the crown. It is impossibie to keep o hat neat if you use it to catch bumble-bees and whusk 'em s to bl tho water from a_leaky Loat ; to catch minnows in ; to put over honey-becs' nests, and to traveport pobbles, strawbernes, and hens' eggs. Joha usnally carried a sling in his hand, ora bow, or a limber stick, sharpat one end, from whichl ho conld eling” apples o great distance. If ha waiked in the road, ho walkied 1 the middle of it, scaiiling up the dust ; or, if he went elsewhere, Lo was likely to be rutniug on the top af the fence or the stone-wall. and chasing chip- munke. John knew the best place to dig swoet-flag in all the farm ; it was in 3 meadow near the river, where the bobolink sang 80 garly. He never | likea to Lear the Lobolink ting, however, for ho said it always reminied him of the whotting of a scythe, nad that remiuded him of spreading hay ; | and if there was anything ho hated it wasspread- | ing bLay slter the mowers. “I guess vou wovldn't hiie it yvourself,” eaid John, “with the stubbs getting into your fect, and the Lot wsur, and the men getting ahead of you, all you could do.” Toward evening once, Jobhn was coming along home with somo stocks of sweet-flag in bis band. There is a euccalent pith in the end of the stalk which s vory good to eat, tender, and not so kizong as the taot e-d Jobn liked to pull it, znd carry home ws o > Jid not eat on the way. As be was walzs 3visag he met a carriage, which atopped uppuond to bim; he also stopped and bowed, 43 country boys used to do in Jobn's davs. A lady leaned from the carringe and aghed: *+ What have vou got, little boy?"” She scemed to be the most beaatiful woman Joha had ever seen; wich light huir, dark, ten- der eves, and the sweetest smiles. There was that in ber gracious mein end dress that remind- ed John of the beautiful ecastlo lsdies, with whom he was well acquainted in books. He felt that ba knew ber a: ouce, and Lo also seemed to bo a sort of young prince himwolf. 1 fancy be did not look Tanch Iikke one. Bat of his own ap- pearance Lo thought rot at all, as he replied to it Jady’s question without the least embarrass- mont. *{s swrect fiag-stalk ; would youglike some?"” deed, T should lifte to tzsto of 1t,” said the lady, with 2 most Winning smile, I used to be ever so fond of it when I was o little girl” Joln was delighted that the lady shonld like eweet-flag, and that she was pleased to accopt it from him. He thought himself that it was the best thing to eat Le koew. He handed up Jarzo buach of it. Ths lady took two or turce stalss, sud was about to rerurn the rest, when Joun said : +Pleaso keep it all, ma'am; I can getlota more. 1 kunow whero it's ever so thick.” “ Thack you, thank you,” eaid the lady ; and as the carriage started ske reached out her hand to Jobn. o did not unaerstand the motion un- tif e saw a cent drop in the road a: his feet. Toetzotly all bis illosion and his pleasure van- ished. Somefhing hio tears were in his eyes as be shouted: ‘I dou't want yonr cent. I don't gell flag.” Jobn was iutensely mortified. I suppose,” Le said, ** sho thought I was a sori of bogsar boy. To thuk of selling fag.” At any rate, ho walked away and loft the cent in the road, o humiliated boy. Thae next day be told Jim Gates apout it. Jim eeid he was green not to take the money ; he'd go and look for it now, if he would tell’ him where it dropped. And Jim did spend au hour poking apont in the girt, bat be did uot find the cent. Jim, however, had an ides; he raid ho was going to diz sweet fll:xg. and eee if another carriage wouldn'é como along. Jolm’s next rebuff and kmowledge of tha world was of another sors. Ho was again waik- ing the road at twilight, when he was overtaken by a wagon with one £eat, upon which were two preéty girls, and s youag geatleman sat between them, drivibg. Ii was & merry party, and Jobn conld hear them Jaughing and siuging as they appraached him. The wagon stopped when it overtook bim, and one of tho sweet-faced girls leancd from the sent ana eaid, quite seriously and plseeanily : ** Little boy, how's your mar 2" John was eurprised and puzzed for & mo- ment. He had never teoa the young hdy, but ho thought that she peihaps knew lus mother; ai any rate his instinct of politencss made him EQ) She's pretty well, thank you.” #Does she know yon ore out»” And therenpon ell three in the wagon burst into a roar of laughter, and dashed on, Ti flached upou John in 3 moment that he hind been imposed on, and it Lurt bim dreadfully. His self-respect was injured somehow, and ho felt as if_lus lovely, gentle mother had been in- sulted. He would like to have thrown a stone at the wagon, and in a rage he cried : *“You're & nice "—Lut he conldn't think of any hard, bitter words quick enough. Probably the young lady. who might bave been almost aoy yonng Iady, never know what & cruel thing she had dou : e S A Cluaimant Backed by a Joint Stock Company. Frony the London liasiy Tetegraph. A joint stock company (limited) for the prose- cntion of tie claims of the lady who calls her- gelf the Countess of Derwontwater, haa been formed. According to the articles of associa~ tion, registored in due form on the 25th ult., the compseny proposes to carry out the terms of en rgreement of 5th September, 1873, batween Ame- ris, Conntess of Derweutwater, liege lady of ‘Tynedale, Barcness of Langley, bheiress of the; body of Francis, Earl of Derwentwater, of tue first part, and_Thomas William Stears, of Ki ston-upon-Hull. gas engioeer and contractor, trading under the style of T. W. Stears & Co., of the second part, whereby the wholeof the coal and fire-clay royalttes upon the entailed Der- wentwater estates aro demised ror thirty years, ead power given to tranefer the zoyaltiea to the ©ompany : Ao t0 carry on the business of | miners, cokio burnem, 01 fenbrick aud to' sell coals, ok, gad froetar gon, There'is a business ar abont tho torms of thi agresment wnich 8 positively exskilurating, Quito apurt from thy drsmatic interest pew taining to the famis history of tho nttains \ed. Earls of Derwentwater. mo horsehald. er can contemolate witiout kindly emotion the prospect of au undertiking which promisas tg add to the supply, and s) probably diminish the rices current of coals, coko, and lire-clay goods, Tne capital of the new compaay is noL morg than £500,000, and the skares are bronght withiy the reach of Dearly evary capitalist by being fised at thorate of £3 103 cach. As many sy 50 shares, takon iu the names of ten gentlomay resident i Durham and the peighborkood. o cluding, emovg otler presumably practical persons, s grocer, a watorman, and a “ plumbas and brass-foundor,” have alreads becn gab _— A TALK WITH EMERSON, His Views on Prominent Literar Characiers. - 2 A writer in Frank Lestie's Ilusirated News paper had = cogversation with Raiph’ Waldg Emoreon, at the latter's home in Concord, re. cently, obtaining from him ths following opig- ions upon the leading lights in literature: Ho said this is the age of sci pedias, but much of our lateir-acquired knowk edge will bo dropped in the future. Litorary supremacy msy be transforrod tke samo as po- litical supromacy. England has held it long- est, but it has now left her, and becomo ths propeity of Germany. Yet who knows buc it may belong to the United States Lefors long, He said ono cannot read too much of Goethe's writings ; bat, respectiog ** Facst,” he thonght it was unfortunste that this masterpiece, the representative literary product of the ninetconth century, should be merely negative m it intont. He drew a contrast between * Fauss™ and Shakspaaro's plays, in this _respeck, to the advantage of tho latter; whild be ron marked that Arthur Hugh Cougl’s peems were faulty for the xame reason 83 “ Faust.” He thought Margaret Fuller was a great conversa- tionalist and a fine letter-writer, but her pube lished works aro not remarsable. Wordsworta is the great English poet, in spite of Poter Boll (Baine?). His Ode on Tmmortality tonches the high-water mark of modern literature. In this connection b said that in ordec to really appro- ciato natute one should bo poor and hva ia tha country, as did Woidsworth ¢ 18—the most svs- ceptible age—and havo no other means of ea. joyment excn‘rt communication with the physical world around. ~ Walter Savage Landar will always bo read by tho select” few. Matthen Amold is growing too diffusive. His * awests ness and Light " bas become heavy es lead with too mnch repetition. e liked Arnoli's critical essay very much. but was not partial to his poetry. Bainte-Bouve is the Greas Frooch vriter. He said, “I don't meddla_with Augast Comto,” in Terly to the question whether ho was interested in the Positive Philosophy. Tlo condemned Swinpurna severcly 28 3 perfect leper and o mere Sodomite, which criliclsm re- calls Cariyle's scathing description of that poot —a man standing up tv his neck in a cesspool and adding to its contents. Jlorris, the author of “The Earthly Paradise,” is juat the opposita of Swinburue, aud will help to neatralize his bed influence on the public. Perhaps Morris may ba rauked second to Cheucer for limpidicy and awceiness of verse. “Bat then,” e added, “it isbad tobo only second in auything." Aleott heaptly described as a man who reads Plata without surpriso. When I mentioned huving written to the Orphic Sage withonz tho letter Teaching him, Mr. Emerson smiled and said: “The Poat-Office enthorities don't know oy thing sbont such;men as Le.” ‘Thoreen was a truo gonus, and 50_great way his mastery of the phenomena of Nature, that it would need another Linnzus, as well a3 o properly to edit his writiugs. Matchow Arnold's appreciation of hzcaulsy ho thonght was just, while bo praised Eancroft highly, rating him foremost among American histonans. He was an excollent scliolar and an exact writer. Tho- rean, who was decply read in Canadian_history, told him that in that department of American history Banerc(t waa berond criticism, and bl not made a misstatement. Of Buckle ho spoice with admirstion, compar- ing his erndition with Gibbou's fullaess of £ leamiufz, and cited his chapters on France in ar pariicular as a splendid contribution of history. Of Herbvert Bsd;aem:er he apparently did not hava a very exaltod opinion, styling him *a stork writor, who treats all snbjocts equally well” Carlyle being montioaed, Emerton defended him from Margaret Fuller's criticism in ber letters, and said that Cariyle purposely mads exasgor- ated statements, merolr to astonish his listezers. Hig attitndo toward America. during the war wes unfortunate, bat no more than could bo expect~ od. Emereon mentioned meoting Joln Stustt 2ll, but L® thought the lutter cold and formal, winch is strango, asit is eaid that, in converea: tio, ill always spoke with admiration of Em- creon’s writings. I asked Mr. Emcrson’ waich was the best of the por:raits or busts which bava been mado of him. He anawered, with n_smite, that Le felt ss Lincoln romarsed of bimaalf, that they eachs took away all the natural beanty of the original. Speaking of foreign autliors, he said that the acean acts a9 a sievo for us, aud it sifts well Mo inquired with much interest who were tha promising young literary in New York who will, in time, sacceed the present leading autbors and listened with attention to all I had to tell about them. —_— SIGHING FOR THEE. Lonely and weary T ait, love, to-night; Tair looks the earth in her mantle of white Brightly the moon besms o'er river rnd leay But I am sighing, love, sighing for thoe ! ‘Stars sparkle brightls in Heaven's desp blue,— Beam like thinc eyes, that are steadfast and trua; Lonely and drear a1l the earch scems to me, For 1 am sighing, love, sighing for thee. urage? for soon il the dagligat draw near; ight will come and dispel every fear; it atill call forth this s3d sopg from ma? Shall T to-morror, love, etill sigh for thee? Cmeaco. After-Dinner Specches. From Yr. Leecher's New Enaland Uinner. Speech. 1 have attended many New England dinners, I have eaten very few. [Laughtor] I thiok 1 hove never attended one in which thers haa been s0 much good speaking as to-nigat, sad 20 much of 1t. [Laugater.] And if I 'boar in memory & sentonco from tus book with which T am supposed to be familiar, that * s fall soul Joatheth food.” I do uot proposs to stulf you at this Iate period with a long specch, for I have Deen myself the sufferer in liss circamstances, [Laughter.] And it does scem 3 pity—aad would to yon if yon had ever besn epeech- ‘maker—to get ont an_elaborate and admirabla speech, with weelis of toil, in osder that it may bo oxtemporized admirably [langhter], and then find ourself called upon go late in the ovoning. th:at everyb)dy is tired of speaking. Whatmust & man ucder such circumstances do? Ho can: not makea vew ono, and if hs goesonand makes an old speech it falls stillborn and heavy. Ido mnot propose, therefore, to eive you tho benefit of all that eloguonce that I had stored up for you to-night. Icza oolysay that, if you hud heard the speech I was going to deliver, you would pity me for the speech Lam now deliver- ing. [Laughter.] One of the most precions clements of religions liberty, I thiok, is the 1ight of @ religious maa not to speak, or sven to make & poor epecch. To go back to the New England days, aud ¢ our fathers who heve been—well, I have no doabt theyare in tLo communion_of the eaints, sod_ bave ro doubt that the bleased spirits who have gone to nther Janda are interested in all the compliments that they receive: and though I beliove that heaven is o very busy place, and that the Pijgim Fathers ao wall cccupicd, yet I think that on the 22d of December they hava the hardest day of the wholo ycar with the fragmenta of these specches on theit heads for estempor- ized crowns. [Laughter.] Far be it from me, whc I belicve have some ancestors ;l:‘ue. fnalr hbor] ditional burdens upon New Epgland divines were pood fellows in ibeir day,—jovial men,—not on public occasions —mmen given to the cap and the pipa in Dg; measuro ; and to good stories a3 well as g t condact, but always with discrotion, &lways bome after the door was shut, becsusc the ex- amplo to the flock must be digaified aud rever ent. Butreally as I recollect at times o mt ‘: parlor of my father's house. whore Ius Do sent for tho tobacco and the ram, and where the parlor was blus with smoke and unrou.‘:nu! with lunghter sd stories, 1 bave zeter beon in any 2esembly auywhere 1 thought .Peru ples somuch good fellowship, nur anywhere, cept here, £o mach of wit, und much of thity here to-night. 1 altuibnte it to the proxianty & the soldiers and statesmen, lawyers zud divin who are present. [Laughter.] them. The o —The fzct is that Visehington is just mow ¢ city of quondam beggars, whom the late wal ¥, end its consequen ave placed on horseback: and who, witi\annt at their head, aro all N:S headlong to the dovil. Let them nda; but w¢ ‘must take care that they do not drag the country with them.—Fayelts Coungy (lowa) Uniom .. and_therefors 1~ it from me_ to imposc “;EI-