topic, the originality with which the work is conceived and executed, the vast variety of facts, anecdotes, and letters, which are now produced for the first time, the new and more truthful light in which the old materials are disposed, the introduction into the picture of Burke, Johnson, Garrick, and other celebrated members of the Goldsmith group, render these Memoirs as fresh and novel as though Mr. Forster had been the first biographer of the poet, instead of the last. Much, indeed, of what had been previously done consisted of a loose collection of stories about the man, but here we have depicted the man himself as he moved along his path, and at every turn of the story, which is unfolded with the vivacity and regularity of an actual drama, he stands before us in the vividness of reality, with all the changes which had been wrought in him by each previous stage of his journey. This is real Biography. | From the Biographical Magazine. GENERAL CANROBERT. THERE is often an epoch in the life of a man when every incident in his career is invested with a novel and extensive interest, when the present reflects a lustre on the past, and recollection gives confidence to hope. So is it now with the commander of the French army in the Crimea. movements of the Generals Clauvel, D'Arlanges, and Letang, in the province of Oran. The capture of Tlemcen, the expeditions to Cheliff and Mina, the revictualling of Tlemcen, the battles of Sidi, Yacoub, Tafna, and Sikkak, revealed his brilliant military qualities, and gained him the rank of captain, on the FRANCIS CANROBERT was born in 1809, in 26th of April, 1837. In the course of the the department of Lot, some leagues from year he proceeded to the province of the village where Murat first saw the light. Constantine, where the Duc de Nemours He entered the school of St. Cyr in the and General Damremont were preparmonth of November, 1826, and obtained the ing to take revenge for an insult. He rehighest honors in that establishment after pass-ceived a ball in the leg at the storming of the ing two years in laborious study. On the first of October, 1828, he was appointed to the sub-lieutenancy of the 47th regiment of the line, and was made lieutenant on the 20th of June, 1832. In 1835 he embarked for Africa, and arrived in the province of Oran, where the emir, Abd-el-Kader, had held the French troops for some time in check. Soon after his arrival he accompanied the expedition to Muscara, where he first distinguished himself. He followed with his regiment the town. He was at the moment by the side of Colonel Combes, an old soldier of the Isle of Elba, under whom he was acting as orderly officer, and who was mortally wounded while mounting the breach. Before Colonel Combes expired he recommended the young captain to Marshal Valeé as an officer of full promise. Captain Canrobert returned to France in 1839 with the decoration of the Legion of Honor, and was entrusted with the duty of organizing, for the foreign legion, a battalion | out of the foreign bands which had been driven over the frontier by Culreia into the French territory. Through the persevering activity of the organizer, these remnants of the civil war were quickly brought into a condition to be associated in the labors of the troops in Algeria. In 1840 he was on duty at the camp of St. Omer, where he composed in obedience to the commands of the Duke of Orleans, several chapters of a manuel for the use of the light troops. In the month of October, Captain Canrobert was incorporated into the 6th battalion of Chasseurs-à-Pied, and returned to Africa in 1841. In this new campaign he signalized himself in the battles which took place on the hills of Mouzaia and Gestas, as well as in the bloody struggle which the Beni-Massers maintained against the troops. Having obtained the rank of chefde-battalion in the 15th light regiment on the 22d of May, 1842, he was placed in command of the 5th battalion of chasseurs, which kept up the campaign on the banks of the Chetiff. He was present at the affair of the grottoes, at that of the Sheah, and, lastly, at several battles on the Riou. A part of the year 1842, and the whole of the year 1843, were employed in new operations in Africa; and there, in a manner worthy of himself, Commander Canrobert sustained the honor of his battalion. He accompanied Colonel Cavaignac in the expedition of Ouaren-Senis, and had a command in the column under the orders of General Bourgolly, whose division, after having attacked the Flitas, fought resolutely in the country of the Kabyles of Yargoussa. On all occasions the 3d and 5th battalions were commanded by him, and with extraordinary suc cess. ceeded Colonel Claparede in the command. Eight months of continual warfare ended in the pacification of the country, and the superior officer, to whom the result was due, obtained the rank of Colonel on the very field of his exploits. After having commanded the 2d regiment of the line, he was transferred to the 2d foreign regiment, on the 31st of March, 1848, and kept possession of Bathna. At this period General Herbillon entrusted him with the command of a strong column, with orders to attack and intimidate the mountaineers of the Aures. This commission was promptly executed. Colonel Canrobert surprised the enemy at the foot of the Djebel Chelea, defeated them, and followed them closely to Kebeck, in the Amar-Kraddou, taking the Bey Ahmed prisoner. Returning to Bathna, he took the command of the regiment of Zouaves at Aumale. In this new post he had an opportunity of acting vigorously against the Kabyles and the tribes of Targura, which he brought into subjection. It was in 1848, however, that Colonel Canrobert displayed energies beyond all praise. Cholera was raging in the garrison of Aumale, but the events which were passing at Zaatcha summoned them before the walls of this oasis. What courage, what coolness did it require in the commander of the Zouaves to lead his soldiers in this manner through all the perils of an adventurous march, soldiers constantly accompanied by the afflicting spectacle of misery. He, as it were, multiplied himself. He exorted the sick, devoted his attention to them, threw a reinforcement into the town of Bou Sada, the garrison of which was blockaded, deceived the enemy who opposed his passage, by announcing that he brought pestilence with. him, and that he should communicate it to his assailants, arriving at Zaatcha on the 8th of November. On the 26th he led, with wondrous intrepidity, one of the attacking columns. Out of four officers and sixteen soldiers who followed him to the breach, sixteen were killed or wounded at his side. In recompense for his conduct he was nominated Commander of the Legion of Honor on the 11th of December, 1849. He had been an officer of the Legion of Honor for two years, when Colonel St. Arnaud, who in the year 1845 succeeded Colonel Cavaignac to the government of Orleansville, made use of his services against Bou Maza. The chief of the 5th battalion played a distinguished part in the affairs of Buhl, Oued Metmour, Oued Gri, and Oued Lenzig. In the first he succeeded with two hundred and fifty bayonets in holding his Having distinguished himself at the battle own against more than three thousand men, of Narah, he was elevated to the rank of who could not make any impression on him. general of brigade on the 13th of January, Consequent upon these transactions followed 1850. He came then to Paris, and took the his appointment to a lieutenant-colonelcy, on command of a brigade of infantry, and was the 26th of October. He was soon after-attached as aid-de-camp to the Prince Preswards closely blockaded by the Kabyles, in the town of Tenez, where he had just suc ident of the Republic. On the 14th of January, 1853, he was appointed general of division, still preserving his functions as aidde-camp to the Emperor. Three months afterwards he was called to the command of a division of infantry at the camp of Helfaut, and nearly at the same time appointed to inspect the 5th arrondissement of the same arm. Lastly, being placed at the head of the first division of the army of the East, he has played one of the most active parts since the commencement of the war, both in making preparations for the difficult operation of the debarkation, and in contributing greatly to the success at Alma, where he received a wound. It is well known that Marshal St. Arnaud, who had learned his value, had absolute confidence in his talents and bravery, and it is certain that the young general had neglected nothing to make him worthy of this confidence. Before his departure he was known to be occupied at the military depot in profound studies, having for their object the knowledge of the theatre of war, as if he had a presentiment of his future destiny. From the Dublin University Magazine. CARDINAL XIMENES. "Austere and lonely, cruel to himself DURING the middle ages, and even later, education was principally confined to the monks, the students of learned or scientific professions, and a few (very few) of the higher orders. Hence, priests, bishops, and cardinals were frequently to be seen grasping the helm of State, and either chosen for, or elevating themselves to become the prime ministers of sovereigns, and their advisers or controllers in worldly affairs, as well as the keepers of their consciences in things spiritual. Amongst these princes of the church and lights of legislation, Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros is entitled to hold a prominent, if not the very foremost position. His predecessor, Cardinal Mendoza, recommended him, on his deathbed, as the most eligible man in Spain, to succeed him in the office of minister and chancellor, which, for twenty years, he had filled with such undisputed ascendancy, under Ferdinand and Isabella, that he was called by the courtiers, "the third king of Spain." The same sobriquet was afterwards applied to Richelieu in France, under similar circumstances. Mendoza had previously obtained for Ximenes the appointment of confesto the Queen, and thus by double steps assisted him to mount the ladder of preferment. But the patron and his protégé were widely opposed in personal character. Mendoza had been a libertine in his youth, after the usual practice of the Spanish clergy of his day; and more than one noble family VOL. XXXIV.-NO. I. sor to of the land trace their ancestry to the consequences of his amours. He was fond of splendor and show, maintained a retinue as costly as that of Richelieu, and as he indulged himself freely, was liberal in his concessions to others. Ximenes was an ascetic, who had subdued and rooted out his own passions by a long course of self-mortification, and had little inclination to accord tolerance or pardon to frailties, against which his own nature and habits were invulnerably fortified. Wolsey was too much given up to power, pomp, and personal aggrandisement; Richelieu was an incarnation of selfishness; Mazarin, as constitutionally cunning and deceitful as the arch-enemy himself; Alberoni, a hypocritical double-dealer; and Dubois, an atheistical, unprincipled profligate, without even the outward assumption of sanctity or decent morals.* But Ximenes was thoroughly honest, and sincerely religiousa bigot, if you like, but still a conscientious bigot. Austere, even to cruelty, and deaf to appeals founded on mere compassion; but ever consistent in his own life and actions, which reflected faithfully the creed he professed; while we feel that he was harsh, we are compelled to admit that he practised as he preached. Ambition was the only worldly passion, or weakness, which bis strong mind acknowledged; but he never * Cardinal Fleury, minister of Louis XIV., appears to have been a virtuous exception. 3 "Yes," replied the insolent monk, "I am in my perfect senses, and know very well that I am speaking to Isabella, Queen of Castile; a mere handful of dust and ashes, no better than myself." suffered ambition to predominate over his | ligently pursued his studies for six years conscience, his faith, and his moral rectitude. more. The death of his father recalled him A stern confessor he undoubtedly was, and to Spain, whither he returned, with a bull one whom, in the discharge of his duty, even from the Pope preferring him to the first bea royal penitent could not awe into compro- nefice that might fall vacant in the see of mise; but we never find that he indulged in Toledo. No such promotion opened to him the tyranny of personal rudeness, or abused until 1473; he then prepared to avail himthe license permitted to his clerical function. self of his grant; but Carillo, the archbishop It was not so with the general of the Cor- of the diocese, had promised the post to one deliers, who being alarmed at the sweeping of his own followers, and resisted the claim reforms of Ximenes, came from Rome, to of Ximenes. The latter maintained it stoutly, confer with Isabella on the subject, and to whereupon the prelate, using the strong arm oppose the measures which interfered with of power, imprisoned him in the castle of his own views. In an interview with the Santorcaz, for six dreary years. The mere Queen, he conducted himself with so much privations and hardships to which he was intemperance, that she asked him, when he subjected were of no little moment to a man had finished a violent harangue, if he was in of his self-denial, who long afterwards, under his senses, and recollected whom he was ad- the purple robe of the cardinal, wore his old dressing? habit of the order of St. Francis, with a hair shirt; and, in the midst of all his ministerial splendor, contented himself with a bed of straw and one frugal meal. On his liberation, he obtained possession of his benefice, but, in 1480, exchanged it for the chaplaincy of Ximenes has found many biographers. Seiguenza. His long imprisonment had His career is inseparably mixed up with all deepened the natural austerity of his dispogeneral histories of the period; but his indi-sition, and tended to convert him into a religi vidual life has been ably treated by Alvaro Gomez de Castro, in Latin; by Quintanilla, and other Spanish writers of inferior note. Two French authors of celebrity-Flechier, Bishop of Nismes, and Marsollier-have also employed themselves on the same subject. We are not aware that any of these works have been translated into English, although quoted and referred to as authorities by all writers in our language, down to Prescott inclusive the latest and the best on the list. Flechier deals with Ximenes as if he was exclusively a saint. Marsollier describes him as a universal genius-a sort of an Admirable Crichton-and mixes up in his narrative more of fable than reality. De Castro de picts the man nearly as he was; and Quintanilla, who was employed to procure from the Vatican the canonization of his hero, inclines somewhat more to the marvellous than modern readers will be disposed to follow. Francisco Ximenes was born at Tordelaguna, in Spain, in the year 1436. He sprang from a noble, but decayed family. Quintanilla carries up his genealogical tree to remote royalty; but a pedigree is more easily alleged than provided. At fourteen he entered the college of Salamanca, and at twenty received the degree of bachelor in civil and canonical law, from that renowned and punctilious university. Three years after this he repaired to Rome where he di ous enthusiast. He became altogether wearied of secular avocations; and, in the year following, having duly performed his novitiate, became a Franciscan monk, of the most rigid section of the order. During this translation, he practised towards himself unflinching discipline-enduring vigils, fasts, and flagellations, with patience and perseverance seldom equalled, and never surpassed. He then assumed the Christian name of Francisco, in compliment to the patron saint and founder of the society, and abandoned that of Gonzalo, by which he had been baptized. His reputation for holiness crowded his confessional, until it resembled the levee of a sovereign. This disturbed his thoughts, and induced him to retire into a lonely convent, situated amidst mountains and forests, where he dwelt in a small cabin built by himself, and passed a life of ascetic infliction. which the anchorites of old-Anthony, Paul, and Hilarion-could scarcely have emulated. The great powers of his mind were wasted in these mistaken mortifications, which rendered him visionary and ecstatic, and reduced him to what would now be considered a state of dreaming insanity. From this useless condition of vegetative existence, superior command transferred him to the convent of Salzeda, of which community he was soon appointed guardian, where active duties recalled him from his sublimated reveries. In 1492, he was selected for the Queen's confessor, but the advancement produced no change in his manners or mode of life. His coarse friar's dress, emaciated form, and haggard countenance, contrasted strangely with the glittering throng of courtiers and lovely ladies, with whom, in spite of himself, he was sometimes compelled to mingle. But all sense of enjoyment was dead within him -temptation was powerless; and if ambition whispered to his heart, the voice was so low that he heeded it not. In 1494, Queen Isabella obtained a bull from Pope Alexander VI. (of infamous memory), to reform the conventual abuses, which existed to such an extent throughout Spain, that the whole nation rang with their notoriety. Ximenes, being appointed provincial of his order, was empowered to carry out the edict; and never did reformer labor with more untiring zeal, or enforce precept by more unswerving example. In 1495, Cardinal Mendoza died, and vacated the dignities of Archbishop of Toledo and Grand Chancellor of Castile. The revenues of the see alone amounted to 80,000 ducats, or something like £175,000 sterling of our present money. The sum is nearly incredible, yet does not appear to have been exaggerated by historians. The political and religious importance of the joint office placed the possessor on a level with princes, and second only to the Pope himself. In preference to many candidates, and in spite of strong interest in other quarters, the Queen conferred the post on Ximenes; who, taken thoroughly by surprise at the announcement, positively refused to accept the proffered dignities. He was at that time verging on his sixtieth year; and if ever he had encouraged ambitious thoughts, now came the opportunity to indulge them, which was not likely to occur again. Still he persisted resolutely in his denial, saying he was too old for public life, for which he had neither capacity nor inclination. That he was sincere appears certain; and he only yielded when a second bull from the Pope positively commanded his obedience to the sovereign authority of the Church. Ximenes then acquiesced, and became minister of Spain, most unquestionably against his will. He cannot be justly accused of hypocrisy, and it may be said with truth that he was called back from the grave to the world. But though not desirous of power, and inexperienced in its exercise, having once accepted, he used it promptly, and soon proved that he possessed the innate faculty of command with the energy of enforcing obedience. Soon after his elevation, the troops revolted for want of pay. As Ximenes was addressing them, in the hope of producing a better disposition of mind, one of the soldiers cried out, " Give us our arrears, and no more speeches !" Ximenes, without the least emotion, turning to the ranks from whence the voice proceeded, found out the speaker, had him hung upon the spot, and then went on with his harangue. The high grandees, as a matter of course, looked upon him as an obscure upstart, thrust into a position which they considered as exclusively belonging to their own order. He cared not for their impatience or opposition, acted fearlessly, and spoke without reserve. His enemies were more disgusted by his speeches than by his actions. "By God's help," he was wont to say, "and with my girdle of St. Francis, I will bring every great man to his duty, and with my sandals I will stamp upon the insolence of the nobility." The latter exclaimed loudly against his authority, and a party of them entered his palace one day without ceremony, and abruptly demanded to know by what right he governed the kingdom. "By virtue," answered he, "of the power that was given to me by my late sovereign, Ferdinand, and which has since been confirmed by his successor, Charles V." "But Ferdinand," retorted the malcontents, "being only the administrator of the kingdom, had not the power of appointing a regent; the Queen alone could lawfully do that.' "Well, then," said Ximenes, retreating with them into a balcony, from whence a battery of cannon was discovered, which was at that moment thundering forth a furious discharge, "behold the power with which I have governed, and with which I intend still to govern!" They departed in silence, and complaints ceased on the instant. Ximenes, while he jealously watched the interference of the nobility and curbed the license of their tongues, allowed the lower classes to canvass the acts of his government and express their opinions freely. He used occasionally to say, "When a man is in power, and has nothing to reproach himself with, the wisest course he can adopt is to permit the people to enjoy the wretched consolation of avenging their wrongs by their speeches." He was in the right. Open grumbling is less nearly allied to rebellion than moody, brooding silence. Frederick the Great acted on this maxim of the Spanish cardinal, and to a much greater extent. Being asked one day why he permitted so many libels to be printed against him, he |