92 



tinued ; and from the general agitations 

 without, domestic habits were cultivat- 

 ed, and continue now that the occasion 

 is less imperative. People no longer 

 live for the world, but more for them- 

 selves ; and those who ministered to the 

 follies of the fashionable world and hung 

 upon the gi-eat, have been driven to 

 other sources of livelihood. The con- 

 sequence is, that in all classes of society 

 appears a general improvement in lone 

 and manner — independence is the cha- 

 racteristic. The great are stript of their 

 privileges — properties are broken down, 

 and the owners are more simple and 

 natural ; while the middle ranks are no 

 longer blind slaves of the rich, but de- 

 pend for custom, employment, and pa- 

 tronage, on the superiority of their ser- 

 vices,' and less on intrigue, &c. 



Journal of a Residence in Germany, in 

 2 vols., 8yo. by Wm. Beattie, M. D. — 

 Dr. Beattie accompanied, in quality of 

 physician, the Duke and Duchess of 

 Clarence, on three visiting tours, 1822, 

 1823, and 182C, to tlie courts of their 

 respective relatives- Meningen, Hesse 

 Homberg, and Stuttgardt ; and, like 

 other voung men, just fresh from college, 

 kept a'journal, and stutted it with trite 

 quotation, bits of sing-song, and scraps 

 of sentiment. The turn of the wheel 

 brings his patron to the crown, and Dr. 

 Eeattie is too experienced a courtier not 

 to know that though the duke might be 

 nothing, the king is every thing. Ac- 

 cordingly he rubs up his forgotten jour- 

 nal, aiid'giving the old duke all the po- 

 lish and imiiortance of the new king, 

 discovers a tresh and blooming interest 

 on every word, sentiment, gi-ace, and 

 incident— all as suddenly-, and as by 

 magic, become matter of sovereign 

 worth, 



To anybody but a courtier, or a 

 would-becourtier, the book, however, 

 will prove perfectly useless, or at best 

 supertiuous, for he knows, of course, a 

 king can be nothing but— a king. It is 

 wholly occupied with the royal move- 

 ments—with the virtues and graces of 

 both their royal highnesses, and with 

 those of all their august r Natives, male 

 and female, youn" and old. The very 

 aide-de-camps and " bed-chamber wo- 

 men" are all nonpareils. Nothing can 

 exceed the fascinations of the ladies 

 but the affabilities of the gentlemen ; 

 and we know not how- it comes about, 

 but certainly the gentlemen do bear 

 away the bell — their waltzing is exqui- 

 site. The doctor must have been bom 

 a courtier — he takes to the office as 

 nalurallv as a spaniel takes to the water. 



The duke is, of course, the conspi- 

 cuous figure, though also, of course, the 

 duchess is not forgotten, nor the two 

 Mis3 Fitzclarences who accompanied 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



QJuLY, 



them. At Mayence the duke visited 

 the cathedral, and was " much pleased 

 with the descriptive detail of the Cice- 

 rone ;" and " no less so with the striking 

 scenery through which he had passed on 

 the day's route," — he was as ready to 

 compliment nature as art. Quitting the 

 cathedral, some Prussian soldiers passed 

 with a band, and so stirring was the 

 music that his royal highness walked for 

 nearly an hour to keep within hearing of 

 it — dragging poor Dr. Beattie at his 

 heels tlie whole time. For eight da3'3 

 before his aiTival at !Meiningen his ro3'al 

 highness did not dine more than twice. 

 Every morning he breakfasted at seven, 

 and " on tea and a simple slice of dry 

 toast," i. e. one slice, the dimensions of 

 which appear, unluckily, to have escaped 

 the doctor's recollection. This breakfast 

 be pronounces to be Spartan fare. But 

 though his royal highness had but two 

 dinners in eight days, " slight luncheons, 

 consisting of cold fowl, Westphalia ham, 

 veal, or ffibier — the latter a favourite 

 viand — were prepared and put in a small 

 basket in the chariot, and one or more of 

 these, with bread, formed the staple ban- 

 quet of the day, and were resorted to at 

 pleasure." This is sadly vague to be 

 sure — there is no ascertaining from these 

 data either the number ot these lun- 

 cheons,or the quantity consumed at each, 

 or whether upon the whole they might 

 not together amount to a respectable 

 dinner. At the end of his day's journey 

 his " royal highness took tea — and only 

 green tea — of which a supply was 

 brought from Ghent." No matter how 

 late the hour, or how potent the infu- 

 sion, this green tea from Ghent never 

 interfered with his royal highness's rest. 

 Such, concludes the admirmg and won- 

 dering doctor, is the power of long 

 habit— the triumph of royal habits and a 

 royal stomach over gi-een tea from 

 Ghent. His royal highness's virtues 

 are beyond all enumeration — he is an 

 excellent arithmetician. " He looks 

 over all his accounts himself;" and, for 

 fear we should not feel the force of the 

 phrase, he paraphrases it thus : — " he 

 sums up, calculates, adjusts, and com- 

 pares, nicely balancing every item." 

 Notwithstanding hi^ long practice in the 

 art, his royal highness could with diffi- 

 culty be persuaded that his journey had 

 not in reality cost more than the trea- 

 surer of the household, or whatever he 

 is called, charged him with. Not only, 

 too, was his royal highness upon all oc- 

 casions an excellent father, master, hus- 

 band, &:c. &.C. but also cSreful of his own 

 health — he wore galoches- — and, more- 

 over, a delightful patient. He had due 

 confidence in Dr. Beattie, and took all 

 his prescriptions. " I will do you the 

 justice," said his royal highness to Dr. 

 Beattie, " to say, that although a young 



