Monthly Review of. Literature, 



[JAN. 



assistance ; and in other commissions again 

 and again confirmed Charles assuring him, 

 should he exceed his commission, or violate 

 any law, that he would, on the word of a 

 Christian and a sovereign, support him. 

 That Charles wrote to Ormond, commend- 

 ing Glamorgan to his confidence, without 

 breathing a word of the extraordinary com- 

 mission with which he was furnished. That 

 Glamorgan pursued the objects of his com- 

 mission without consulting Ormond, and 

 granted to the Catholics all they desired. 

 That the papers containing the conditions 

 of the treaty were discovered, and Ormond 

 and Digby threw him into prison, really 

 believing him to have acted without autho- 

 rity. What was Charles's conduct? To 

 Ormond and Digby bis public letter ex- 

 presses amazement at the audacity of Gla- 

 morgan's conduct. In his private letter to 

 Ormond, he assures him, on the word of 

 a Christian, he never intended Glamorgan 

 should act without his approbation, much 

 less without his knowledge. To Glamor- 

 gan himself, in a letter which was to be 

 seen by Ormond and Digby, he says, " he 

 must tell him, he has much exceeded his 

 instructions ; had he consulted with Or- 

 mond, all might have been helped." To 

 Glamorgan, as soon as he was released, in 

 a private letter sent through his cousin, Sir 

 John \yinter referring him first to the 

 bearer for satisfaction, why he had not done 

 in every thing as Glamorgan desired, he 

 says, " want of confidence was so far from 

 being the cause, he was every day more 

 confirmed in the trust he had in him it 

 not being in the power of any to make 

 him suffer in his opinion by ill-offices." 

 This was in February 164<6 the discovery 

 of the treaty had occurred in the previous 

 December, and Glamorgan was confined 

 but a very few weeks. In April the King 

 writes again" As I doubt not but you 

 have too much courage to be dismayed at 

 the usage you have had, so I assure you 

 my estimation of you is nothing diminished 

 by it, but that it rather begets in me a de- 

 sire of revenge and reparation to us both." 

 In July a third letter was written, in which 

 the King expresses an earnest^ hope, that 

 he may once come into the bands of him 

 and the Nuncio " since all the rest, as I 

 see, despise me. And, if I do not say this 

 from my heart, may God never, &c." 



Of the April letter Hume himself speaks, 

 and remarks, that it was written after there 

 had been a new negotiation entered into 

 between Glamorgan and the Irish the 

 King's assurance therefore relates, says he, 

 to this recent transaction : thus, taking 

 no manner of notice of the February letter, 

 which is just as explicit, and indisputably 

 refers to the first transaction, and his treat- 

 ment by Ormond and Digby. Such is 

 Hume's fairness. 



" It was necessary," says Godwin, " up- 

 on this matter, to insert these letters some- 

 what at length, both as tending eminently 



to develope the character and habits of the 

 writer :" certainly, for this purpose quite 

 indispensable ; but then, he adds, " and as 

 reflecting a strong and instructive light on 

 the nature of the kingly functions and of- 

 fice" a little bit of nonsense, of which we 

 assure our readers there are very few speci- 

 mens in the volume. 



Le Barbier de Paris , par M. Charles P. 

 de Kock; 1826 This tale fell accidentally 

 into our hands the other day. It is the 

 production of a M. de Kock, evidently of 

 the school of Pigault Lebrun, and the 

 author already, we believe, of six or seven 

 novels of which, we imagine, little or 

 nothing is known in this country. We 

 ourselves have but a slight acquaintance 

 with them of " Soeur Anne " we have a 

 favourable impression but if the rest be at 

 all equal to the one before us, we may 

 wonder once more, at the strange caprice 

 with which literary celebrity gets distri- 

 buted. The story is admirably put toge- 

 ther, and told in an animated, but easy 

 style. The life and vigour pervading the 

 whole, is exceedingly attractive. The viva- 

 city springs very much from the piquancy 

 and rapidity of the dialogue, through the 

 means of which much of the story, and 

 much of the character is conveyed. Our 

 own tale- writers, who are multiplying every 

 day, may take an useful hint. They are 

 too much disposed to indulge in the nar- 

 rative ; and when they venture to dialogize, 

 it is generally for the purpose of discussing 

 points doctrines, principles and politics 

 and very apt indeed are they to prose in 

 long speeches, almost as bad as French 

 tragedies. 



The tale of Le Barbier de Paris turns 

 upon the profligate intrigues of a wealthy 

 noble, whose chief agent is the Barber 

 both of them meet with their deserts. 



The scene is laid in the reign of Louis 

 XIII,, not particularly for any historical 

 purpose, but mainly because, by throwing 

 the manoeuvres, which the writer delights 

 to describe, into the obscurity of a distant 

 age, he is better able to give them an air of 

 probability. He has the opportunity of 

 representing the state of Paris two centu- 

 ries ago, which he makes use of with 

 almost as much care and research as our 

 own great novelist, in exhibiting the con- 

 dition of London in the reign of James. 

 Contrary to the manners of his class, the 

 Barber is not at all a coxcomb, or a bab- 

 blerquite the contrary, reserved and 

 repulsive. There is a cause for this, of 

 course. The only inmates of his house 

 are an old housekeeper, full of supersti- 

 tions ; and a young girl, left upon his hands 

 by the murder apparently of her parent, 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of his 

 house. She is supported by the Barber, 

 but never permitted to leave the house. 

 He prosecutes his business assiduously, 

 and carries himself like a man well to do 



