and new soles to old upper-leathers, contrive to translate the old article into another, bright as if it came from the Fontaine de jouvence.' A great portion of the things done at the British Museum are the results of this sort of translation. There is, for example, a class of very ingenious writers who translate the oncethumbed novels of the Minerva press into new ones, retaining the sole of the story, and giving upper-leathers, or, to speak less figuratively, taking the plot and filling up what the French term the canevas with figures not in the costume of our grandfathers and grandmothers, but of the present day.

We now proceed to translators, in the more common literary sense of the word, those who interpret in another language,' and who fall into three classes. The first, are translators who, intelligent and well acquainted with the subject of the book upon which they labour, and thoroughly informed in both languages, are able, like Mrs. Austin, to cause the author to speak in a new tongue, with as much facility as if he were addressing you in his own. Such translations require as peculiar a talent as original composition, and are, perhaps, only one step lower in the hierarchy of literature.

The second class, are the translators who, with a decent know. ledge of their own language, and some acquaintance with a foreign one, have good sense and tact enough to know when they are ignorant. They help themselves by consulting a grammar, looking out the hard words in a dictionary, or perhaps taking advice with a friend; and though a well-selected work overturned by translators included in this category' may read stiffly and meagrely, yet the production is not without utility to the large class who can only hear the original author speak through a dragoman, or not at all.

6

The third class are those who, just able to write bad English, are, at the same time, unable to discover when they do not understand their original-so ignorant as to be unconscious of their own ignorance; and to this class the authoress of the present work belongs. She is, however, rather of a mixed genus, appertaining also partly to those who translate after the fashion of Saffron Hill, inasmuch as the farrago now before us does not own to being a translation, but calls itself the result of much labour and research,' being, however, in fact, the crudest compilation from some of the lowest trash of the French press. And the following specimens will show the manner in which her acquisitions are done into English, for the improvement of the ladies of England, and as an homage to her Majesty :

The circumstance is represented as follows in a scene of Odysee [thus literally]. The Gaul, Aurelian, disguised as a mendicant and

2 F 2

carrying

carrying a wallet on his back, is charged to deliver a ring which Clovis sends to Clotilde.'-vol. i. p. 6.

Pope's Homer' has evidently never found its way into Mrs. Bush's select library.

'Ultrogothe was a native of Spain, but of the circumstances relative to her introduction into France there is no record. She was married to Childberg I., afterwards King of Paris, in the year 511.

She lived in the palace of Thermes de Julien, with her husband. This palace, which was the ordinary residence of the first race of kings, was surrounded by beautiful gardens, which the Queen and her daughters Crotberge and Crodesinde were in the habit of frequenting.

'Ultrogothe was the only wife of Childberg; a very remarkable circumstance in the epoch in which she lived. Her husband died in the year 558, without leaving an heir; consequently the whole monarchy of France was reunited under his brother Clotaire, whose first act of authority was to expel Ultrogothe and her daughters from the palace of Thermes; she was however afterwards recalled by his son and successor Cherbourg.'-vol. i. pp. 13, 14.

Childberg is King Childebert; Cherbourg is not the town of that name, but the king vulgarly called Cherebert, and Monsieur Thermes de Julien, we presume, built or lived in the palace to which Mrs. Bush alludes.

'Historians assert that Radegonde was passionately fond of poetry, and bestowed great favour and attention on the poet Fortunato; a circumstance which, if true, could not fail to injure the reputation of a young queen, separated, as she was, from her husband. Fortunato was an Italian; he was amiable and intellectual, and frequently addressed Radegonde in verse, daily presenting her with fruits and flowers. She in her turn made him little presents; and though these simple gifts did honour to the frugality of the epoch, their interchange has thrown suspicion on the queen's virtue.

‘Agnes, the Lady Abbess of Sainte Croix, often participated in the literary amusements of Radegonde and Fortunato, both of whom were in the habit of composing impromptu verses at table, some of which are preserved, and are very pleasing. In the collection of these pieces there is one relative to which an anecdote is told, to the effect that it was the result of an indulgence, anything but monastical, into which the poet was inveigled by his fair companions; and the verses but too plainly proclaim the condition of the author at the moment they were penned.

Although the Celtic was the language spoken in France, Radegonde wrote and conversed fluently in the Roman tongue. Her letters to the Emperor Orient-Justin and the Empress Sophie are proofs of her talents and acquirements.'-vol. i. pp. 21-23.

The young gentleman here designated as the poet Fortunato is no other than Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers: it is true that complimentary verses were addressed by him to St. Radegonda, as well as to the Abbess Agnes, but all the accompaniments of the

story

story are a miserable travestie of the facts given by some of the wretched scribblers from whom Mrs. Forbes Bush has cribbed her trumpery. Amongst other things, the reader will admire her peculiar ingenuity in amalgamating the Emperor of the East and his empire into one grand vocable.

'Merovée, who was taken prisoner at the battle d'Etampes, and put to death by order of Brunehaut.'-vol. i. p. 49.

This curious construction is a favourite one with Mrs. Bush. In another passage she tells us that

'the reverses of the French army which were imputed to the War of Sept Ans were a subject of serious regret to Madame de Pompadour.vol. ii. p. 248.

Charlemagne was passionately fond of her (his wife), and in order to please this great prince, Luitgarde accustomed herself to the fatigues of the chase. She was a skilful equestrian, and, habited as an Amazon, intrepidly pursued the most ferocious beasts into the depths of the forest.' —vol. i. pp. 65, 66.

If this means anything, it means that the charming Luitgarde figured by the side of Charlemagne in a riding-habit (en Amazone), according to the last fashion of the Bois de Boulogne.

The Prince Charles was sent to the Abbey of Pruym in Prussia; and Judith, after having her head shaved, was confined in the Abbey Tortona in Lombardy.'-vol. i. p. 74.

The placing the Abbey of Prüm in Prussia, in the time of Charlemagne, is a capital anticipation of the geographical arrangements of the Congress of Vienna, and for which, without doubt, his Prussian Majesty will be very grateful, as establishing the antiquity of his claims. The Abbey Tortona' must speak for himself, and we can say nothing more about him.

'Constance founded the convent of the Augustins of Nôtre Dame de Paissy, and the stronghold of Puiset, in Beauce. Her superstitious devotion amounted to fanaticism: her confessor, Stephen, was accused of belonging to a sect who professed Manicheism, by which he incurred the penalty of death by burning; the queen met him when being led to execution, and, according to the custom of the time, put out one of his eyes with a small stick which she carried in her hand for the purpose, and afterwards assisted in the execution.'-vol. i. pp. 105, 106.

The authoress does not inform us whether it was a regal or a legal custom to poke out people's eyes; and though it was bad enough for the queen to be present at the execution, it is rather hard to represent her as assisting the executioner.

English chronicles relate that amongst Henry's favourites was a young lady of great beauty, to whom he was devotedly attached, named Rosamond Clifford; and to protect her from the queen's jealous enmity,

he

he placed her in a castle carefully preserved by a labyrinth which surrounded it, and which is viewed by the curious who visit Woodstock till the present time with much interest.'-vol. i. p. 128.

And this passage will surely be read with much interest by all visitors of Blenheim, who, however, we fear may somewhat lose their way in their pursuit of Rosamond's Bower.

So far from there being any kind of utility in this laborious' compilation, it is, as far as it is possible to read it, equally devoid of information as it is offensive to good taste and morality. A great proportion of the work, perhaps the greatest, is composed of the lives of those unfortunate women, by Mrs. Bush kindly styled royal favourites,' who might be more properly designated by an emphatic monosyllable. In writing history, no one portion of the task occasions more pain than the absolute necessity of detailing the vices of sovereigns. But the plan of such a work as that which Mrs. Bush has cobbled together, for we really can hardly dare to offend Saffron Hill by calling it a 'translation,'compels the writer to place them prominently before the reader; and it may be sufficient to ask whether any wife or mother can have too scanty a knowledge of the sports of the Parc aux Cerfs, or the double adulteries of La Belle Gabrielle,' or Madame de Pompadour ?

We are quite willing to believe that Mrs. Bush really and truly does not know the meaning of the originals which she has used-probably the passages we have selected will be considered as establishing the fact-and we shall therefore simply state that amongst the extracts given in French are some (e. g. vol. i. p. 189, and vol. ii. p. 209) which are so coarse and profane, that, even if the book had any historical worth, they would render it offensive to any well-regulated mind. It was fully our intention at first, in noticing the book, not to mention the name of the writer, but the publisher has taken such pains to advertise it, that such a reserve would be only an affectation. Much as we regret to make any remarks which may pain an individual, we should not discharge our duty, if we abstained from pointing out to our readers the manner in which the confidence of the public is abused at present by literary ladies, who ought to be contented with marking pinafores and labelling pots of jam. Mrs. Bush has been puffed with so much vehemence, that we were induced to buy her performance; but we doubt, after all, if she is worse than a fair average specimen of a whole clique, or clack, of living Clios.

ART.

ART. VII.-Report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, from the Poor Law Commissioners, on an Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain; with Appendices. Presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Majesty, July, 1842. 3 volumes, folio.

IN

N the winter of 1837 fever was unusually severe in Spitalfields, and alarm being thereby excited of a return of the cholera, the Poor Law Commissioners deemed it their duty to send thither Dr. Arnott, Dr. S. Smith, and Dr. Kay, to inquire as to the removable causes of disease. These accomplished physicians in their report, dated May 12, 1838, declared the chief causes to be bad drainage and bad ventilation. The Commissioners, without loss of time, represented to Lord John Russell the urgent necessity of applying to the legislature for immediate measures for the removal of those constantly acting causes of destitution and death. All delays,' said they, must be attended with extensive misery; in a large proportion of cases the labouring classes, though aware of the surrounding causes of evil, have few or no means of avoiding them, and little or no choice of their dwellings.' But although much was said and done for the Hill Coolies and the blacks, no notice whatever was taken of this appeal; until, towards the end of the session of 1839, our energetic diocesan the Bishop of London, in his place in the House of Lords, called the attention of the Government to the Report, and moved an address to Her Majesty, praying for an inquiry as to the extent to which the causes of disease-stated by the Poor Law Commissioners to prevail among the labouring classes of the metropolis-prevail also amongst the labouring classes in other parts of the kingdom. This address being carried, Lord John Russell directed the Poor Law Board to institute such an inquiry, and the Commissioners, in the month of November following, gave instructions accordingly to their Assistants. They likewise addressed letters to the several boards of guardians, as well as to their medical officers, requesting them severally to furnish answers to questions inclosed: besides which a circular letter to the dispensary-surgeons and medical practitioners, having been inclosed to the provosts of Scotch burghs, a resolution was passed by the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, recommending that all members and licentiates of that body should give every aid to this inquiry. In due time, from a number of medical men, residing in different towns and districts of Scotland, as well as of England, very valuable reports were obtained.

As soon as this mass of MS. was collected in Somerset House,