120 
narchic principles The character 
of Louis 'the Eleventh is drawn witha 
masterly hand, —softened, indeed, 
considerably below the ‘truth of his- 
tory, and with a sort ef attempt to_ 
‘render him somewhat respectable; but 
‘still with all his royal propensities for 
‘low ‘company and ‘hich prerogative; 
insatiable'love of self, and perfeet in- 
difference to the sacrifice and the ‘suf- 
‘ferings of mankind; with ‘his barber 
and his hangman for privy councillors, 
-and ‘high nobility for his capbearers 
‘and trenchermen; liberal: only to’ the 
‘mercenaries who protect his person, 
‘and ‘rapacious or parsimonious to all 
beside;.as a son, almosta parricide ; 
‘as:@ hvisband, a’contemptnous brute in 
principle ; a tyrant alike to his family, 
‘his nobles, and his people; an adept 
‘in’ these profound politics of which 
“treachery and murder are’ the ready 
crown all, 
‘superstitions 
‘perjury, andthe’ violation of every : 
instruments, and: crafty. dissimulation 
is. the neverfailing ‘cloak; and, to 
“the abject slave of that 
devotion with which 
moral ‘and social obligation, are by 
“no means incompatible,.and of that 
childish credulity which can be bug- 
beared and led by the nose by the 
‘quackery of foytune-tellers and readers 
of the stars. The contrasted character 
‘of Charles the Bold, duke: of Bur- 
‘gundy, is not sustained with equal - 
‘spirit and ability; but several of the 
comparatively subordinate personages 
are touched-with a master’s hand. 
It will be concluded, however, ‘that 
this, like ‘the former productions of 
this author, besides its human per- 
*sonages, ‘is not without its superna- 
tural ;-that is: to say, without some 
» being; acting ‘an essential part im the 
drama, ‘who, though ‘professedly hu- 
‘man, is such as humanity never knew. 
“Some oné of the progeny of ‘* Lord 
‘Cranstoun’s goblin page,”- though be- 
-gétten:on mortal ‘mothers, is to be 
- phrases. 
2 
* Whiggism and Toryism are mere cant + 
The only genuine distinctions of 
political principle in this country are 
those of Saxon aliodialism and Norman 
feudalism, that is, tle system .in- whieh . 
every thing arises from the bioad basis: of 
the free population, and that in which 
every thing descends in dependant sub- 
‘serviency from the throne. In one, the 
government are the responsible servants 
of the nation; in ‘the other, the people 
are ‘the ‘vassal property ‘of © the °go- 
vernmeut, 
Fhe Scotch-Novel Family. 
[Sept. 1, 
found in every production of ‘his.pen. 
T ‘coiifess that'I:have no great objec- 
tion ‘to. these imaginative semi-super- 
natural beings. This author has the 
artof making them, occasionally, very 
entertaining; and certainly. his stories, 
in: ‘general, would) move . on rather 
awkwardly without'them. The Egyp- 
‘tian or Bohemian, Maugrabin  Hay- 
raddin, appointed by Louis to guide, 
or rather to betray, ‘the “Countess 
‘Isabelle, in her zetreat ‘or fugitation 
‘from ‘Plessis to Liege, and who <is 
amade an essential agent in bringing 
-about the bungling catastrophe of the 
‘present romanee, is-not the most outré 
or the least amusing of these preter- 
-natarals, although the atheistical phi- 
‘losophy: with which the author endows 
‘him, is sometimes expressed: in‘Jan- 
guage which makes us ‘“ wonder how 
the devil it. got there.” 1In short, I 
read the: first and second. volumes of 
“ Quentin Durward” with consider- 
able interest, and had almost made up 
-my mind to. give it:adecided.prefer- 
‘ence at least over all) the recent pro- 
ductions. of the supposed Unknown ; 
and although, during »the’ first: two 
-hundred pages of the third volume, we 
-almost entirely lose sight both of the 
hero and the ‘hercine,—and we see, 
indeed, but little of them during ‘the 
‘remainder y—~yet as the historical epi- 
-sode (hitherto well mixed up and i im- 
plicated with ‘the tale,) is amusing as 
well as important ; and the affair of “the 
rash visit of Louis to his hostile vassal 
and rival, Charles the Bold, with the 
subsequent danger to his royal person, 
is wrought with considerable skill and 
interest, [ was still disposed to extend 
my crilical indulgence to the dispro- 
-portioned length of the digressicn. 
* But when I came-to the awkward and 
comnon-place contrivance by which 
‘the catastrophe .was to be brought) 
about,—when the countess, who? had 
fled from the preposed -nuptials_at- 
tempted to be imposed upon her by 
her Suzerain liege lord of- Burgundy, 
cand now, ‘in the public presence, and 
“before the-assembled peers, as reso- 
lutely refused ithe Duke of Orleans, 
the presumptive heir of France, is, in 
a fit:of resolute and brutal rage, ‘held 
out,” to-yse her own words, “asia 
prize to the best sword-player,” or, in 
‘other words, to whoever ‘shall. bring 
the head of William: de Ja Mark, the 
- wild-boar of Ardeus,-—L confess I lost 
my patience. Charles: does, indeed, 
qualify 
Se, ee ee 
a 2 
