1831.] [ (377 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 



TouK IN England, Ireland, and France, in the Years 1828 and 1829, 

 &c., BY A German Prince. 2 Vols. 



These volumes come forth professedly as the work of a German Prince, under 

 the auspices of a laudatory critique by the veteran Goethe. Puckler Muskaw, 

 a Prussian prince, made a similar tour, it seems, about the same time, and to 

 him is assigned the credit of the production, and a very lively and clever pro- 

 duction it is — the work, be it whose it may, of an intelligent person, with a free 

 and excursive mind, and a strong sense of the ludicrous ; but coupled with an 

 affectation of philosophy, and a certain fastidiousness, which is thought to be 

 characteristic of the aristocrat, but which has very much here the air of one 

 who assumes to be what he is not. Were it not indeed for the attestation of 

 Goethe — and, by the way, we have no means at hand of ascertaining the critique 

 which prefaces the book to be his — we should, in spite of all the phrases of all 

 sorts of languages sprinkled over the pages, be disposed to regard the work as 

 one of home manufacture. Tlie familiarity it betrays with English ideas and 

 associations is quite extraordinanj for a foreigner — there is, especially, a sort of 

 uniformity and consistency about the whole, rarely, or rather never, to be gathered 

 by a foreigner, whom long residence has not naturalized, and such, in short, as 

 could hardly come from any one but an Englishman with a strong party bias. 

 The allusions to public affairs, and the sentiments relative to political indivi- 

 duals, are those invariably of the liberal papers — especially every thing relative 

 to Ireland, the best portion of the Tour ; and as to the high-bred, fashionable 

 scandal — the familiar acquaintance and intercourse with lords and ladies, why, 

 the " Court Journal" takes the very same tone. But the easy and frequent allu- 

 sion to English literature is occasionally startling — Pope, Byron, &c. are at his 

 fingers' ends. 



Visiting Trinity College, Dublin, he speaks of the portraits of Swift and Burke in 

 terms which bespeak anything but the foreigner. " Both physiognomies express 

 the known qualities of the men. The one has an expression as acute and sar- 

 castic as it is native and original ; the other, full of intellect and power, some- 

 what blunt, but yet benevolent and honest, announces the thundering orator, 

 who contended sincerely, and without reserve, for his opinion, but never glossed 

 over his own interest with affected enthusiasm for others." The portraits tell 

 no such thing, but the sentiments are discriminative, and shew the writer to be 

 familiar with the works of both, or at least with the sentiments now generally 

 entertained of them, but the spirit of which it is not so easy for a foreigner to 

 seize. 



Is this explanation of the word " gentleman" — acute and tnic as it is — likely 

 to have proceeded from a man, whose acquaintance with English society ex- 

 tended to a few months, and almost exclusively to the higher circles ? — 



" ' A gentleman' is neither a man of noble birth, nor a man of noble sentiments 

 (feeder ein Edelmaiin noch ein edler Mann — neither a nobleman nor a noble man) ; 

 but, in strictness, a man of independent means, and perfect knowledge of the usages 

 of good society. He who serves or works for the public in any way (the higher 

 functionaries of the state, and here and there a jioet or artist of the first category 

 only excepted), is no ' gentleman,' or at best only a half a one. I was greatly 

 astonishea at hearing a certain well-known ])ersonage, with whom all lovers of 

 horses, native and foreign, arc well acquainted ; who is rich, who is on a footing of 

 intimacy with many Dukes and Lords, and enjoys great consideration, but who 

 presides at a weekly auction of horses (thereby doing useful service to the public) — • 



say of himself, ' I can't imagine how the Duke of 15 tould commission nie to 



carrv a challenge to Count JVI ; he ought to have employed a gentleman — those 



things are not in my way.' 



" A really poor man, who is not in a situation to contract debts, can on no terms 

 be a 'gentleman.' On the contrary, a rich scamp, who has had what is called a 



