appointments of the servants that accompany it. However conducted to the salon, the most perfect equality of rights to please, and to be pleased, takes place when there: there, neither the old nobility reclaim any exclusive rights, nor the new expect any.

'It has been said, and truly, that architecture witnesses to the political and social state of a country more than any other contemporary evidence. The buildings of all the principal towns in Italy might be cited as furnishing proofs of this assertion. The enormous structures of ancient Rome, which still puzzle all modern conceptions of magnificence either to occupy or to people, prove a population of slaves, working at the will of despotic power for their daily subsistence. The hardly less vast remains of the papal grandeur of Rome, equally prove unwieldy and unwholesome wealth, collected among a few, and devoting to sordid poverty the many. The severe prison-like palaces of Florence, with their high and small windows, and their square tower, at once for defence, and for the power of breathing a freer air than in the dull chambers below, betray the want of security, and the turbulent manners of a republic, whose chiefs could never agree among themselves, nor ever succeed in subduing the spirit of an industrious people, blessed with a favoured soil and climate.

The more modern architecture of France will equally tell its own story. The immense and magnificent houses which existed in every quarter of Paris, date from times, when partial taxes, partial immunities, and the uncontrolled will and favour of weak sovereigns, had raised up a nobility too powerful for the crown, and no less oppressive to the people. When the strong arm of arbitrary power at last succeeded in reducing these nobles to political insignificance, their ambition was confined to court favour, and their means of distinction to a luxury and magnificence, which, being securely guarded by exclusive privileges, neither industry nor merit could ever possibly attain, or even hope to rival. Hence we see a whole quarter of the metropolis, in which the habitations of the tiers etat occupy as small a share, and are kept as much out of sight, as their rights, their convenience, and their comforts were in the government of their country-whole streets of high walls surrounding large enclosures, which defended their inhabitants from the necessity of ever coming in contact with their inferiors, and too surely gave token of the line of demarcation existing in society, between a nobility assuming rights sustained only by possession, and a people deprived of rights which no possession can forfeit.

Already, before the end of the reign of Louis the Fifteenth, many of these enormous mansions, however well suited for great fêtes and entertainments, had been found very inconvenient for the domestic purposes of their owners: selfish indulgence found its account in smaller habitations, which could only hold those who were to minister to its gratifications; hence sprung up a number of pavilions, ornamented with porticoes and pediments and columns without, but within, untenable for the occupation of a family;-sufficiently demonstrative of the careless prodigality and selfish luxury of the day.

'What it has been agreed to call Grecian taste, was then quite new in France, and every thing was to be à la Grecque. It was not till a more intimate acquaintance with Italy and with Greece, taught them that a heathen chapel large enough to contain the priest and the statue of his god, was incompatible with the lodging of a Christian family, and that in all

attempts at enlarging the size, or altering the position of such ancient buildings, that beauty is lost, which at best can ill compensate for the want of internal conveniences in habitual life.

During the disorders and confiscations of the Revolution, most of the great hotels of Paris, becoming national property, changed both inhabitants and owners. On the return to peaceable times, those which had not been converted into public offices, or appropriated to the abodes of the ministers of the crown, or irrevocably alienated by the sale of national property, were restored to their original proprietors. But to the altered habits of the time, and the altered succession of property, they have been found so ill suited, that in many instances they have been converted into two or three separate habitations; these, from their internal arrangements, being more compact, allow of their rooms being better lighted, more thoroughly warmed, and more capable of constant occupation, than could ever have been the vast salons dorés of the former edifices, of which these houses form sometimes little more than a wing, or even an apartment.'pp. 162-169.

The author devotes a chapter to the events of July, 1830, which he had the good fortune to witness. Though not necessarily connected with his subject, he introduces some details concerning the conduct of the present King, which are not without interest.

'That the most enlightened among the patriots of France had begun to consider what measures were to be kept with a ministry who abjured all concessions, and a king who boasted that he would never recede, we cannot doubt; and that in their meditations on this subject, and on its possible consequences, they must often have recurred to the lucky circumstance of the existence of a prince, possessing the advantages of hereditary rights, but differing in education, in character, in endowments, in every thing that can distinguish an individual in a race of princes. This prince, deservedly esteemed by all those sufficiently independent of the court to be free from its influence, having passed honourably through the severest trials of the school of adversity, whence he had drawn a great knowledge of human nature, and an intimate acquaintance with his native country, both generally and individually, it must have been obvious that such a prince, surrounded by a numerous and well-educated family, perfectly independent of the court, and of its favours, by his large hereditary possessions, and by their well-regulated administration, gave every security the nation could require for assisting her in the revision of her charter, and for its establishment on the true principles of a contract between the governor, and the governed that the Duke of Orleans, on his part, aware of the wants and wishes of his country, partaking of its ideas of civil liberty, an observing witness of the vacillating measures and crooked policy of the restored government, that he should not have considered the part he might be called upon to act, by the incorrigible blindness of the court, it is impossible not to believe. His cautious, prudent, penetrating character, must often have presented to him the possible results of his situation in the country, and probably may have anticipated to him his present elevation : but that any combination was formed between him and the liberal members of the two chambers, before the late Revolution, either to push matters to extremity, or in any foreseen and previously arranged case, to place him.

on the throne-history, when the marvellous events of these days are submitted to her calm observation, and severe scrunity, will entirely absolve both him and his adherents. That he had been long an object of suspicion to the court that, although exact in the performance of all ceremonial duties towards it, no cordiality existed in their familiar intercourse, was well known. Louis the Eighteenth bad remonstrated against the Duke of Orleans sending his son to participate in the education given in a public college at Paris; and Charles the Tenth saw, with a jealous eye, persons of distinguished merit in every order of the state well received at Neuilly, and at the Palais Royal, and the public profiting of every occasion to mark their respect both for him and his family. Under these circumstances, we cannot wonder that, when the ordinances of the 25th of July were determined on, and conscience suggested to their authors a possibility of some resistance, that it likewise suggested the necessity of securing the person of the Duke of Orleans. This intention was communicated (for we cannot call it betrayed) by the wife of a deputy to the Duchess of Orleans. The means the Duke took to preserve his personal liberty, was by mounting his horse in the morning, and riding about the country the whole day. When a deputation from the praiseworthy citizens, who, during the week of revolution, had constituted themselves into a provisional government at the Hôtel de Ville, came to desire his presence and assistance, he was on one of these expeditions, and his family absolutely ignorant where to find him; a fact which the deputation seemed so little to believe, that his sister, with a readiness doubly graceful in so quiet and unassuming a character, offered to accompany the messengers to the Hôtel de Ville, and remain there till her brother made his appearance. Late in the evening of that day, the 30th of July, he walked, unaccompanied, from Neuilly into Paris, and slept at the Palais Royal. On the next morning he went, surrounded by multitudes, to the Hôtel de Ville, where he was received at the door with open arms by La Fayette; and, from that moment, and not before, the crown of France was assured to him. Had La Fayette received him coolly, instead of earnestly seconding his nomination to the Lieutenant-Generalcy of the kingdom,-had he himself hesitated a moment in unqualified obedience to the wishes of the people,-France would have been a republic, with La Fayette, in the first instance, at its head; and honour is due to the veteran, who, conscious of his power, sacrificed both his republican prejudices and his own elevation, in that decisive moment.'-pp. 189-193.

It may well be doubted whether the 'moment' was altogether so decisive as the author imagines. We strongly apprehend that the revolution of July has not yet approached its termination. The silly dispute that has been raised about the emblems of the order destined to reward the heroes of that period, shews how very little the real nature of a constitutional government is yet understood in France. In such a government, the king is necessarily the fountain of honour, and Louis Philip was rightly advised in considering himself as the author of the decoration, which was to be distributed on this occasion, even although it had been voted by the Chamber of Deputies. The matter was not properly within their jurisdiction; it strictly appertained to the regal office. Nothing could be more

absurd than the conduct of the "heroes," in insisting that the Chamber should be allowed to usurp the King's prerogative upon so essential a point. It demonstrates their want of constitutional instinct, if we may use the phrase. In this country, such a piece of folly would never have been committed by the people; in France, it is evidently to be imputed to the absence of just ideas, as to the distinctions to be observed between the different branches of the government, and we much fear that this obstinate ignorance will lead to further mistakes. We are not surprised to find that La Fayette is with the "heroes" upon this occasion. His vanity, increasing with his age, will not allow him to court the shade of retirement, now much more suitable to his years than the part of a Tribune of the people. Whether he laments the sacrifice of his republican prejudices,' to which the author has alluded, or is still disposed to uphold the government of the House of Orleans, a few months will probably determine.

ART. V.-Gebir, Count Julian, and other Poems. By Walter Savage Landor, Esq. 8vo. pp. 388. London: Moxon. 1831.

It is impossible to treat with entire contempt any thing that comes from the pen of Mr. Landor. We recognize an original genius and a powerful mind in almost every page of his writings. His Imaginary Conversations," published some years ago, left an impression behind them, which is not yet effaced from our recollection: a decided proof of the pre-eminence of that work over the thousand novelties by which it has been since succeeded. We are not quite satisfied, however, that it will long preserve its present place in the literature of the country. Distinguished by a certain sparkle of thought, and still more remarkable for the eccentric observations on mankind, in which it abounds, it was calculated to attract attention for a season, rather from its odd peculiarities, than from any sterling intrinsic worth which could be discovered in it. His poems exhibit, in every respect, a similar character. It would seem from them as if he had been cloistered all his life amid the poets, the historians, and orators of antiquity. His whole ambition is to think and to write, as he most probably would have thought and written, had he lived in ancient Rome or Athens. As a proof of this singular turn of mind, and of the length of time which it has haunted him, we learn that Gebir, the first poem in this collection, consisting of nearly two thousand lines in blank verse, was written by the author, chiefly in Latin, when he was no more than twenty years of age, which we suppose to have been some thirty years ago. It is full of imitations of Virgil, and reminds us, not unpleasantly, of the translations which, in college days, we were wont to make from Lucretius, and Ovid, and Claudian, and

Juvenal, wherein we often exulted over thoughts and expressions which we deemed to be our own, although they were too often, no more than bad imitations of the original.

We admire the nervous, concise, and finely polished style of the classic writers, perhaps, as fondly as Mr. Landor; but we do not agree with him in thinking that it is possible to ingraft it upon the English language. The inversions of which, for the sake of euphony or strength of expression, it so frequently makes use, are perfectly consonant with the genius of the Latin; whereas in our tongue, they would only create obscurity, and even increase its natural roughness. Neither is that comprehensive brevity of diction, of which the ancients were such unrivalled masters, capable of being adopted, to any considerable extent, in our mixed and diffusive dialect. He, who neglecting the idiomatic forms of speech, which have been sanctioned by the best usage and the highest authority amongst us--who, abandoning the "wells of English undefiled," attempts to draw from foreign sources, and to make up what he supposes to be a more perfect compound of his own, will be sure to terminate his labours in disappointment. A composition written after this fashion, is a mere exotic, which may, perhaps, be praised by a few, who are aware of the difficulties of the undertaking; but even these will soon neglect it, while the many will pass it altogether by, as a novelty which they cannot understand.

Besides this affectation of the classic style, Mr. Landor has also taken it upon himself to alter, in many respects, the established orthography of our language. He generally leaves out, without the slightest explanation or apology, every letter which appears to him a superfluity, and substitutes others which bring the word to a more speedy conclusion. As for instance, distinguished, he writes distinguisht; crouched, croucht; wherefore, wherefor; therefore, therefor; proceed, procede; and so on. We are rather surprised that from two of these words he did not lop off the second e, and write them wherfor, therfor, as such a change would be perfectly conformable to his system. Again, in order to mark the possessive case, he does not use the inverted comma, but the letter i; as for example, the beech's leaves, he writes the beechis leaves.' His other peculiarities of spelling are endless, Theatre he puts down theater; withheld, witheld; explained, explaned; swearest, swarest; foreign, forein. These are but silly means of gaining notoriety. They cause us to stare for a moment, at the person who has the hardihood to adopt them. Upon reflection, we can only think lightly of the judgment of the writer who has the vanity to believe that he can, by his solitary example, subvert the system of orthography, which has long since been settled by the acknowledged legislators of our literature.

Gebir is an Egyptian tale, and is involved in much mystery.