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MEMOIRS OF THE AFFAIRS OF EUROPE.

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was very fond of, and indeed found ne- fashion to Europe. On the other side it cessary for his health.

ANECDOTES.

must be said, that their military habits made them regardless of laws, and of the wise restraints of civil society; they asked from their superior no liberty, they granted to their inferiors no justice. With little learning, and no knowledge of business, they were only anxious to shine for a moment, and disappear; constantly in

gance, they relieved themselves by acts of meanness and dishonesty; regardless of the virtue of their wives, they were ever impatient to fight duels in defence of what they termed their honour. With many of the qualities of chivalry, their aim was not to redress wrongs and protect the weak, but to commit injuries with impunity, and act unjustly by privilege. Better a thousand times to have the imagination distorted like Don Quixote, than to have the heart perverted like some of this vain and vicious nobility!

One or two incidents, however, that happened to Lewis, might have taught him the true value of the praise or approbation of the court. Early in his reign he took a fancy to make verses, and had composed one day a very indifferent madrigal.curring debts by negligence and extravaHe shewed it to the marshal de Grammont, saying at the same time, "Read, I beg of you, this little madrigal, and see if you ever read so absurd a one: because people know that I have lately taken to verses, they send me all sorts of things." The marshal, after reading it, replied, "Your majesty judges divinely of every thing; this is, indeed, the most foolish and ridiculous madrigal I ever read." The king laughed, and said, "Must not the author of it be an absurd coxcomb?" "Sire, he can be nothing else!" "Thank you," said the king, "for having spoken so fairly; I wrote it myself." The marshal begged to have it back, and declared he had read it hastily; but the king would not allow him, saying, " No, marshal, the first impressions are always the most natural."

Many years afterwards the count de Grammont gave a lesson to the king, with much more credit to himself. Lewis was playing at chess, and had a dispute with his adversary. He called up Grammont to decide it, who said at once, "Your majesty is in the wrong." "How?" said the king, You have not looked at the game. No," answered Grammont; "but is it not evident, that if there had been the least doubt upon the subject, all these gentlemen standing by, would have given it in your majesty's favour?"

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He received a rebuke of a still more honourable kind from a nobleman who had long been ambassador at Constantinople. Lewis, after making him explain one day the power of the sultans, could not conceal his wish for such despotism, and let drop some words, implying that these sovereigns must be immensely powerful, "Yes," said the ambassador, "but I must likewise say, that I have seen three or four of them strangled."

CHARACTER OF THE NOBILITY.

On the one hand, they were the most polished gentlemen in Europe, the ornaments of a brilliant and witty society, remarkable for refinement of taste in their conversation, their letters, and in their judgments upon the literature of the day; the bravest of an army, where all were distinguished for their courage, and the most brilliant at a court, which gave the

It would be unfair to quote the count de Grammont as a specimen of the race; yet his example may show what was tolerated, and even admired in the French court. Distinguished by the gifts of high birth, a handsome person, and a ready wit, he found it convenient and profitable to throw off the restraints of morality, and dispense with the knowledge of religion. He notoriously cheated at play; was a beggar for the king's alms; and yet was always feared and courted in society. When he was dying, his wife, the celebrated Miss Hamilton, a woman of piety and character, was reading the Lord's prayer to him for his edification; "Coun tess," he said, "let me hear that again, it is a beautiful prayer; who wrote it?"

THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE.

In the mean time an universal frenzy had seized the nation. Peers, judges, cardinals, bishops, ladies, ministers, shopkeepers, footmen, all turned gamblers, and speculated from morning till night on the rise and fall of stock. A clerk of the bank, seeing the avidity of the speculators to buy paper, called out to the crowd pressing at the door, "Never fear, gentlemen, all your money shall be taken." A physician going to visit a lady, exclaimed all the time he felt her pulse, "It falls, it falls; oh, good God! it falls!" The lady alarmed, started and ran to the bell; but the doctor, surprised in his turn, relieved her anxiety, by telling her he was only speaking of the stocks. Two men of letters, M. de la Mothe, and the Abbé Terrason, talking together of the madness that had infected the nation, congratulated themselves that they were superior to the common delusion; but it so happened,

that not long afterwards the two scholars met in the Rue Quincampoix, where they had both come to bargain for actions. As the shame was mutual, they rallied each other and pursued their course.

The Rue Quincampoix, where this traffic was carried on, became so continually thronged, that the houses situated in it were let at an extravagant rate. Houses for which eight hundred livres' rent were usually paid, now yielded from six to sixteen thousand; and even a cobler who had a stall of planks placed against a garden, earned two hundred livres a day by letting chairs, and furnishing pens and paper. Nay, a humpbacked man was said to have made one hundred and fifty thou sand livres in a few days by letting out his back as a writing desk to the brokers.

HONOURS PAID TO LAW.

While these things were happening among the creatures of the new system, it will excite no surprise to find the inventor of the machine, the discoverer of the new mine, the god of all this wealth, courted with a deference, which amounted almost to worship. His antichamber was crowded from morning till night with ladies of the highest quality, all begging for a portion of the India stock. When the regent wished to send a duchess to Modena, to attend upon his daughter, some one in his presence said, "If you want a duchess, you had better send to madame Law's, for they are all there." Law himself was so surrounded by these ladies, that when once admitted into his room, he found it almost impossible to get rid of them. One lady who had in vain attempt ed to obtain an audience, drove to a house

where he was at dinner, and called out, "Fire! Fire!" All the company ran

from the house; but Law seeing the lady jump out of her carriage to meet him, made off in the opposite direction. Another lady told her coachman to overturn whenever he should see Law in the streets, and happening to see him first herself, she screamed out of the window, "overturn now! overturn now!" This

lady was more successful: Law ran to her assistance, and she confessed her stratagem.

The family of Law shared in the honours paid to him. His son was appointed to dance with the young king, and his daughter was asked in marriage by the greatest families in France, and even in other countries of Europe.

In the midst of all this grandeur, Law seems to have retained an affection for his native country, and to have imbibed a thorough contempt for the people by whom he was so extravagantly courted.

His countrymen, who had letters of introduction to him, were received with the greatest courtesy, and went away charmed with his affability, ease, and goodbreeding At the same period, Archibald, earl of Ilay, afterwards duke of Argyll, going one day to see him by appointment, observed the antichamber crowded with people of quality; but on reaching the minister's cabinet, he found him engaged in writing a letter to his gardener at Lauriston, with directions for planting cabbages; and when he had done, he invited the earl to play a game of picquet with him. The dukes and peers of France were at last unable to obtain admission without feeing his porter at the gate, his footmen in the antichamber, and the valets for admission to his own apartment.

known; after the collapsing of his bubbles The fate of this great projector is well he returned to England, and finally to Italy, where he died. With the account of Law we shall wind up our notice of this publication. The writer is fond of anecdotes, some of which we think had better able authenticity, they give a gossiping been omitted; besides being of questionappearance to the work, inconsistent with the dignity of the subject. What, howauthor against is a love of paradox; for we ever, we would chiefly caution the noble thing new is poorly made up by that can assure him, that the absence of somewhich is hurtful, absurd, or erroneous.

Finally, we would advise him to pursue his future historical labours with a bold and fearless spirit, and while on one hand he describes the errors, excesses, and chimeras of revolutionists, not on the other to forget the superstition, licentiousness, and indescribable miseries which gave them birth.

MR. M'CULLOCH'S LECTURES

ON

POLITICAL ECONOMY, AT THE LONDON

TAVERN.

LECTURE II.

FRODUCTION OF WEALTH.

Foundation of the Right of PropertyEssential to Civilization-Causes of the wretchedness and barbarism of Turkey, and of Europe, during the Middle Ages-Burying of Money-Disposal of property by Will-Entails, and right of Primogeniture-Riches of the Jews

MCCULLOCH'S LECTURES.

French Law of Succession-Charitable Foundations ought to be under the control of the Legislature Objections of Rousseau to the Right of Property.

THE interest felt in these lectures is evidently on the increase; the number of gentlemen assembled this morning was considerably more than on the delivery of the first lecture, and, for some time previously to Mr. M'Culloch entering the lecture-room, every vacant spot was occupied.

Mr. M'Culloch commenced by remarking, that the most inattentive observer of the progress of mankind, from poverty to affluence, must have perceived, that there are three circumstances, without whose conjoint existence and cooperation they could never have emerged from barbarism. The first, and most indispensable, is the security of property; the second is the introduction of exchange or barter, and the consequent appropriation of particular individuals to particular occupations; and the third is the accumulation and employment of the produce of previous labour; or, as it is commonly termed, of capital or stock. Without the security of property we could have neither riches nor civilization; for no one would ever engage in any laborious or difficult undertaking, without a thorough conviction that he was labour ing for his own advantage, and not for that of others, and that he was permitted to enjoy the fruits of his labour without molestation. He who "sows ought to reap," is a self-evident proposition which need not be enforced.

Hence the security of property had always been the first object of legislation. Dr. PALEY had said, the law was the only foundation of property. But the institution of property is, in fact, the only foundation on which all other institutions depend. Without the security of property there was no security for the principle of accumulation. The right of property might be violated various ways: first, were a landlord not permitted to cultivate his ground in the most productive manner; secondly, were capital restrained from flowing into those channels in which it could be most profitably employed; and lastly, were the labourer or artizan not allowed to exercise his business or calling, in any place where it can be most advantageously followed. All monopolies, which interfered with the employment of capital -all municipal regulations, which interfered with mechanical industry-were clearly infringements on the rights of property.

The evils resulting from the insecurity of property may be illustrated by the pre

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sent state of Turkey, and of Europe, during the middle ages. In the former, the principle of hereditary descent is unknown: no one looks beyond the present hour; their houses are less stable, and only built for the present occupant. The natives are indolent, avoiding labour, because they cannot enjoy the fruits of it. Despotism thus lays the axe to the root of industry, and, by a miserable policy, blasts the advantages it might derive from a fine climate and fertile soil. -Security is the first element in every system of finance. Capital is idle and unproductive in despotic countries: men dare not appear wealthy. Hence treasure trove formed a principal part of the royal revenue, during the barbarism and tyranny of the middle ages. Mr. Wakefield says, "it is still the custom of the Irish to bury their money." It is the practice in Russia, Germany, and Italy: but chiefly in Asia, where wealth is estimated by the amount concealed.

Mr. M'Culloch here alluded to the state of the Jews, whose condition in society had usually been precarious, and whom, it might be thought, formed an exception. Unfounded prejudices had, in most countries, deprived them of the full benefit of social institutions. Interdicted from other pursuits, they were compelled to take to commerce. Their wealth, however, had been exaggerated; many were as poor, or poorer than their neighbours. Indeed, there can be no question, that the magnificent fabric of individual and national opulence, can only have the security of property for its basis.

The lecturer next adverted to the different modes of securing property; the right of disposing of property by will was a principal. Civilized man builds and plants for posterity; when assured he is not labouring for strangers, he finds existence extended-it connects the future with the present. The power of devising property was not recognised in the early stages of society. Plutarch informs us, no person had the power of willing property in Athens. For several centuries, by the common law of England, no person could transmit property by testament. The law of entail is founded on the civil law. Allowing this regulation operates favourably on parents, it is not so on their successors. Entail causes property to depend, not on industry, but on a deed made some centuries before: it precludes economy and prudence, and establishes a sort of fatalism. Utility is the test to which we should refer every institution; and the evil of perpetual entail is certainly less than to take away the right of devise altogether. Bacon observes, "that entail gave a li

cense to the present possessor, and renders children disobedient."

The law of entail was first invaded in the reign of Edward IV.; again in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII.; by whom it was placed on the footing it continues to this day. In Mr. M's opinion, the English law is as perfect as can be desired. By the law of England, as now settled, property may be rendered unalienable during a life or lives in being, and for the further period of twenty-one years and a few months more. Thus property cannot be entailed in perpetuity. In France they have adopted the opposite extreme. By the French law, now in force, the gratuitous dispositions which the father may make of his property, whether they be made by gift or will, or whether they may be made in favour of a child or a stranger, are limited to half of it, if he die, leaving one child; to a third, if he leave two; and to a fourth, if he leave three or more: if he leave more than one child, the two-thirds or three-fourths, which are thus reserved, as the legitimate portions, descend to his children in equal shares. If the father dies intestate, the whole property is divided equally among his children. Such division, without a reserve in favour of the elder born, tends to a minute sub-division of property, and in consequence to an excess of agricultural population.

Mr. M. then referred to charitable foundations, They ought to be open to legislative interference, to make such modifications as the testators themselves I would have made had they now been alive. To keep wills inviolate, was legislating for posterity. It could never have been the wish of the pious founder, that their regulations should be observed without reference to the altered manners of the times. They could never intend, that from the professor's chair, the philosophy of Aristotle should be taught, when that of Newton was only believed. Society is never stationary.. Uniformity is the characteristic of the brute creation. Reason gives man all his superiority; and it would be unwise in the extreme, to allow the shortsightedness of a barbarous age, to deny the rising generation the full benefit of institutions solely intended for their improvement and advantage.

Mr. M'Culloch concluded a very interesting discourse, by referring to the objections of ROUSSEAU to the institution of property. It was said, property condemned the many to misery for sake of the few. Nothing can be more fallacious. All classes are benefited; the labourer, by the free and secure exercise of his industry, as well as the rich, by the enjoy

ment and use of their capital. The right of property is the mother of wealth, not poverty; and it is an error to suppose the rich are benefited by the indigence of any class of the community. The institution of property cannot make all men rich-because, it cannot make all men frugal, provident, and industrious. Nevertheless, it forms the great stimulus to labour-to the love of our country-and, in short, to every social virtue and enjoyment.

SPITALFIELDS' MECHANICS.

We have much satisfaction in informing our readers, that the marquis of LANSDOWN, who is one of the patrons of the Spitalfields Mechanics' Institution, has presented the committee with a cheque for ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS. This liberal donation was forwarded to the treasurer on Monday last.

NEW THEORY OF VISION.-For the last century, at least, the retina, or membrane which lines the bottom of the eye, has been uniformly assumed as the seat of vision. M. Lehot, an officer of a Royal Engineer corps, in a volume which he has recently published in Paris, has started a new opinion, and contends that the vitreous humour is the seat of the impression of luminous rays. He argues that the retina is pierced by numerous vessels; that in many animals this membrane is folded, and consequently that its surface is irregular, and incapable of conveying clear and distinct impressions to the mind. Those who suppose the retina to be the immediate seat of vision, he adds, have never been able to explain the power we possess of adapting the eye to different distances; and he announces that his hypothesis has led to the discovery of a mathematical law for the estimation of distances, and the real and apparent magnitude of bodies.

smallest pieces of money at Venice was called a gazetta: and as the newspapers, which were published at Venice in single sheets, so early as the sixteenth century, were sold for a gazetta each, all kinds of newspapers from thence called gazettes.

ORIGIN OF THE GAZETTE.-One of the

were

A physician of the name of Buller, residing at Hamburgh, has lately invented a new surgical instrument, by means of which he can amputate a leg in one second, and which has the effect of benumbing the pain of the patient, by a simultaneous pressure which accompanies the operation.

APRIL.

The Months.

TIMELY, though late, the pomp of Spring draws on:
Their flowery carpets are the meads preparing :

The woods as yet some wintry tatters wearing,
Now haste their liveries of green to don,
The banks blush violets, while the primrose wan
Thrusts her meek head from forth the trodden leaves
Of forest paths: with them the cowslip weaves
Her golden pendents. Thickly now upon
The dressing hedge-rows snowy blossoms stand
Of sloe and cherry; for the speckled boughs
Have burst at once, as by enchanter's wand,

Into rich network: green, where late the plough's
Fresh trace appeared, the fields and every thing.
Hark! from his airy tower the lark proclaims the Spring.-

J. CONDER.

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APRIL.

APRIL, the fourth month of the year, according to our computation, but the second, according to the Roman, derives its name from Aprilis, of aperio-"I open;" because the earth in this month begins to open her bosom for the production of vegetables. Proud-pied April" is at once the most juvenile of all the months, and the most feminine-never knowing her own mind for a day together. Fickle as a fond maiden with her first lover-coying it with the young sun till he withdraws his beams from her-and

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