MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 511 



say from the first how awkward it was to write every day in the terms of 

 princess, &c. And when she chose the name of Morley for herself, for no 

 reason that I remember but that she liked it, or the sound of it, I am not 

 sure that I did not choose the other with some regard to my own humour, 

 which it seems in some sort to express.' For many years the correspondence 

 of these high dames was in no other name or style. Mrs. Morley wrote to her 

 dear Mrs. Freeman, and Mrs. Freeman to her dear Mrs. Morley, and under 

 this travestimento they discussed great state questions, named generals, dis- 

 posed of church livings, and made or translated bishops. 



" The Marlborough correspondence, over which we have passed many 

 amused hours, lets us into several secrets not generally recorded in history. 

 We learn, for example, that the vile practice of opening private letters at our 

 post-office, was as common in one part of Queen Anne's reign, as it was in 

 France during that of Bonaparte, when, as Bourrienne tells us, the practice 

 was universal. Thus, in a letter from the duke to the duchess, written from 

 abroad on the 28th of August,1710, just after he had heard of his wife's dis- 

 grace, and the sudden fall of the Godolphin ministry, his grace says, ' I would 

 beg of you not to write any thing but what you would not care if it were seen, 

 unless you should have a safe hand of writing.' And again, in a letter, bear- 

 ing date November the 18th, 1710, from Amen-corner, Paternoster-row, and 

 written to her grace by Dr. Hare, the duke's chaplain, who had got leave of 

 absence from the army, there is this direct allusion to seal-breaking : ' But I 

 have heard so much in the little time I have been in London of letters being 

 opened, that I can't persuade myself to let any thing of that kind, which has 

 the 'honour to be addressed to your grace, run the hazard of coming into other 

 hands, especially since your return to St. James will now, I presume, in a very 

 little time, give me an opportunity of transmitting to your grace, by a safe 

 hand, my poor sentiments upon the subject. 



" The ' thing of that kind,' which the reverend chaplain so prudently with- 

 held, was a comparison bet ween the Whig ministry that had gone out, and that 

 of the Tories which had come in ; a comparison, of course, not very flattering 

 to the latter. In another letter to her grace this same political parson does not 

 speak too favourable of the political abilities of the bench of bishops. After 

 praising the honesty and good character of the archbishop of York, he adds : 

 ' I only say this of him as to his being a good man, which does not make 

 one a wise man ; and 'tis so very rare to see much political wisdom or abilities 

 of that sort in bishops, that I don't wonder that he has not more of it/ His 

 reverence, however, deplores that the Whig and Marlbourough party ' did not 

 keep their hold of a man who had so much influence in the clergy/ Dr. Hare 

 bustled among parties to some purpose, he became Bishop of Chichester, 

 which elevation, by giving him a seat on the prelatical bench in the House of 

 Lords, probably changed his opinion as to the political wisdom of bishops." 



The following traits of Louis XIV are, probably, not generally known. 



TRAITS OF LOUIS XIV. 



"Louis XIV. issued an edict concerning duels, in 1679; in which it is 

 said that ' whereas it has been reported to us, that there are men of ignoble 

 birth, and who have, nevertheless, the insolence to call out noblemen, and 

 when these noblemen refuse to give them satisfaction, on account of the ine- 

 quality of their respective conditions, the said challengers engage other noble- 

 men to fight on their behalf, which fights often terminate in murder, the 

 more detestable that it proceeds from an abject cause : we will and ordain 

 that, in such cases of challenge and duel, especially if followed by serious 

 wounds or death, the said ignoble persons or roturiers, convicted of having 

 excited and provoked similar disorders, shall, without remission, be hung and 

 strangled, and all their property, moveable and immoveable, be confiscated ; 

 and with regard to the nobleman who shall thus have taken the part of igno- 

 ble and unworthy persons, they shall be also put to death in the like manner.' 



