ALL HAS PASSED AWAY!

299

losers. She then humbled herself to the very dust: wore the hardest cloth next her fair skin; had iron bracelets; and an iron girdle, which made wounds on her body. Moreover, she punished the most unruly members of her frame: she kept her tongue in bounds; she ceased to slander; she learned to bless. The fear of death still haunted her; she lay in bed with every curtain drawn, the room lighted up with wax candles; whilst she hired watchers to sit up all night, and insisted that they should never cease talking or laughing, lest, when she woke, the fear of death might come over her affrighted spirit.

She died at last after a few hours' illness, having just time to order all her household to be summoned, and before them to make a public confession of her sins. As she lay expiring, blessing God that she died far away from the children of her adulterous connection, the Comte d'Antin, her only child by the Marquis de Montespan, arrived. Peace and trust had then come at last to the agonized woman. She spoke to him about her state of mind, and expired.

To Madame de Maintenon the event would, it was thought, be a relief: yet she wept bitterly on hearing of it. The king showed, on the contrary, the utmost indifference, on learning that one whom he had once loved so much was gone for ever.

All has passed away! The Eil de Boeuf is now important only as being pointed out to strangers; Versailles is a showplace, not a habitation. Saint-Simon, who lived until 1775, was truly said to have turned his back on the new age, and to live in the memories of a former world of wit and fashion. He survived until the era of the Encyclopédia' of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He lived, indeed, to hear that Montesquieu was no more. How the spirit of Louis XIV. spoke in his contemptuous remarks on Voltaire, whom he would only call Arouet; The son of my father's and my own notary.'

300

SAINT-SIMON'S MEMOIRS OF HIS OWN TIME.

At length, after a: who knew the weak

kind, even to a hair the court and occup seat, solely with th derful Memoirs.

No works, it has Scott, have excited own time, by the s Saint-Simon.

HORACE WALPOLE.

The Commoners of England.-Horace's Regret for the Death of his Mother.- Little Horace' in Arlington Street.-Introduced to George I.-Characteristic Anecdote of George I.-Walpole's Education.-Schoolboy Days.-Boyish Friendships.Companionship of Gray.-A Dreary Doom.-Walpole's Description of Youthful Delights.-Anecdote of Pope and Frederic of Wales.-The Pomfrets.-Sir Thomas Robinson's Ball.-An Admirable Scene.-Political Squibs.-Sir Robert's Retirement from Office.-The Splendid Mansion of Houghton.-Sir Robert's Love of Gardening. What we owe to the Grandes Tours.'-George Vertue.-Men of One Idea. The Noble Picture-gallery at Houghton.-The Market Pieces.'Sir Robert's Death.-The Granville Faction.-A very good Quarrel.-Twickenham. Strawberry Hill.-The Recluse of Strawberry.-Portraits of the Digby Family. Sacrilege.-Mrs. Damer's Models.-The Long Gallery at Strawberry. -The Chapel. A Dirty Little Thing.'-The Society around Strawberry Hill,Anne Seymour Conway.-A Man who never Doubted.-Lady Sophia Fermor's Marriage. Horace in Favour.--Anecdote of Sir William Stanhope.-A Paper House. Walpole's Habits.-Why did he not Marry?-Dowagers as plenty as Flounders.'-Catherine Hyde, Duchess of Queensberry.-Anecdote of Lady Granville.-Kitty Clive.-Death of Horatio Walpole.-George, third Earl of Orford.-A Visit to Houghton.-Family Misfortunes.-Poor Chatterton.Walpole's Concern with Chatterton.-Walpole in Paris.-Anecdote of Madame Geoffrin. Who's that Mr. Walpole ?'-The Miss Berrys.-Horace's two 'Straw Berries.'-Tapping a New Reign.-The Sign of the Gothic Castle.Growing Old with Dignity. Succession to an Earldom.-Walpole's Last Hours. -Let us not be Ungrateful.

'HAD this elegant writer,' remarks the compiler of "Walpoliana," 'composed memoirs of his own life, an example authorized by eminent names, ancient and modern, every other pen must have been dropped in despair, so true was it that "he united the good sense of Fontenelle with the Attic salt and graces of Count Anthony Hamilton."

But Horace' was a man of great literary modesty, and always undervalued his own efforts. His life was one of little incident it is his character, his mind, the society around

300

SAINT-SIMON'S MEMOIRS OF HIS OWN TIME.

At length, after attaining his eightieth year, the chronicler, who knew the weaknesses, the vices, the peculiarities of mankind, even to a hair's breadth, expired; having long given up the court and occupied himself, whilst secluded in his country seat, solely with the revising and amplification of his wonderful Memoirs.

No works, it has been remarked, since those of Sir Walter Scott, have excited so much sensation as the Memoirs of his own time, by the soldier, ambassador, and Trappist, Duc de Saint-Simon.

HORACE WALPOLE.

The Commoners of England.-Horace's Regret for the Death of his Mother.- Little Horace' in Arlington Street.-Introduced to George I.-Characteristic Anecdote of George I.-Walpole's Education.-Schoolboy Days.-Boyish Friendships.Companionship of Gray.-A Dreary Doom.-Walpole's Description of Youthful Delights. Anecdote of Pope and Frederic of Wales.-The Pomfrets.-Sir Thomas Robinson's Ball.-An Admirable Scene.-Political Squibs.-Sir Robert's Retirement from Office.-The Splendid Mansion of Houghton.-Sir Robert's Love of Gardening. What we owe to the 'Grandes Tours.'-George Vertue.-Men of One Idea. The Noble Picture-gallery at Houghton.-The Market Pieces.'Sir Robert's Death.-The Granville Faction.-A very good Quarrel.—Twickenham. Strawberry Hill.-The Recluse of Strawberry.-Portraits of the Digby Family. Sacrilege.-Mrs. Damer's Models.-The Long Gallery at Strawberry. -The Chapel. A Dirty Little Thing.'-The Society around Strawberry Hill,— Anne Seymour Conway.-A Man who never Doubted.-Lady Sophia Fermor's Marriage. Horace in Favour.--Anecdote of Sir William Stanhope.-A Paper House.-Walpole's Habits.-Why did he not Marry?-Dowagers as plenty as Flounders.'-Catherine Hyde, Duchess of Queensberry.-Anecdote of Lady Granville.-Kitty Clive.-Death of Horatio Walpole.-George, third Earl of Orford.-A Visit to Houghton.-Family Misfortunes.-Poor Chatterton.Walpole's Concern with Chatterton.-Walpole in Paris.-Anecdote of Madame Geoffrin. Who's that Mr. Walpole ?'-The Miss Berrys.-Horace's two 'Straw Berries.'-Tapping a New Reign.-The Sign of the Gothic Castle.Growing Old with Dignity. Succession to an Earldom.-Walpole's Last Hours. -Let us not be Ungrateful.

'HAD this elegant writer,' remarks the compiler of "Walpoliana," 'composed memoirs of his own life, an example authorized by eminent names, ancient and modern, every other pen must have been dropped in despair, so true was it that "he united the good sense of Fontenelle with the Attic salt and graces of Count Anthony Hamilton." "

But 'Horace' was a man of great literary modesty, and always undervalued his own efforts. His life was one of little incident it is his character, his mind, the society around