Larochejaquelein is the only one who has made himself known to the soldiers of all the divisions. M. de Donnissan, my father-inlaw, is not of this country; they would not follow him so willingly, and he himself would not wish it. The choice that I propose will reanimate the courage of the Vendéens: I advise you, and I beg you to name M. de Larochejaquelein. As to me, if I live, you know I shall not quarrel with Henri, I shall be his aid-de-camp."

These gentlemen retired, and formed a council of war, in which M. de Larochejaquelein was elected. They wanted to name a second in command: M. de Larochejaquelein answered, that he was that second, as he should follow the advice of M. Donnissan, and look upon him as his superior officer.

M. de Larochejaquelein, far from desiring this honour, feared it very much, and was sincerely sorry for it. He had represented, that at one-and-twenty he had neither age nor experience enough to give him influence; his youth was in reality his only fault. In battle, his valour animated and subjugated the whole army, and they obeyed him blindly; but he neglected the council, and did not attach importance to his own opinion; he told it, without supporting , it, and, from too much modesty, let the army be governed by others. When he did not agree with them, he said to the officers who were his friends, "This is all nonsense; when in the battle, it will be our turn to lead, and theirs to follow." Notwithstanding all this, he was the best general they could choose. The peasants followed him with alacrity, from the natural ascendancy of his character; his courage and activity were truly inspiring, and he had the art of commanding. My father did not desire to have the difficult employment of conducting a crowd of peasants who did not know him, and who, besides, preferred being led on by young men.

M. de Larochejaquelein was then proclaimed General, with the acclamations of all the Vendéens.'

From this time forwards, the march of the Vendéen army exhibited a very distressing scene, the soldiers suffering greatly from want of provisions, and their progress being much retarded by the necessity of dragging along their sick and wounded. The Jacobins had now acquired the ascendancy at Paris, and were beginning to signalize their sway by the most revolting atrocities, laying waste the insurgent territory, and putting to death the women and children, sometimes on the scaffold, sometimes by a still more summary process.

Two objects were now in the contemplation of the Vendéen chiefs; the first to move westward, into the disaffected part of Brittany; the second, to proceed northward to Lower Normandy, in the hope of meeting support from the inhabitants, and of seizing a sea-port to communicate with England. Unluckily, the latter plan was preferred, and a most toilsome march of nearly two hundred miles was performed in the direction of Château-Gontier, Laval, Fougères, and Avranches, to Granville. They bore down all the op

position

position which they experienced in their progress to the lastmentioned place; which, from its vicinity to Jersey, was a point of great importance: but the interval had enabled the republicans to throw a considerable force into it, and the Vendéens, who were entirely out of their sphere when attacking a walled town, were obliged to retreat. The first idea of the chiefs after this failure was to march eastward into Normandy, but the peasants could not be persuaded to take any other road than that which would lead them to their homes. It therefore became necessary to make their way back along the extensive tract which they had already traversed. This march was accomplished under all the disadvantages of scanty provision, the incumbrance of sick and wounded, and reiterated attacks from the republicans; and, when at last the army (or rather the surviving part of it) arrived before Angers, where they hoped to accomplish the passage of the Loire, they had the mortification of finding that the republicans had occupied the town in force, and strongly barricadoed the different avenues to it. The fair author's account of the action which ensued is full of life and interest, and especially from her own exposure in the contest: but it is too long to allow of our quoting it.

After an attack of 30 hours, we were obliged to raise the siege: we had now lost every hope of safety; the army gave itself up to the most complete despair; they no longer saw any means of repassing the Loire. All the schemes which had been formed depended on the taking of Angers. The officers were discontented with the soldiers, who had not shewn the ardour which was expected from them. Sickness increased every day. On all sides the cries were heard of the wounded wretches whom we were forced to abandon. Famine and bad weather added to all this misery. The chiefs were harassed in mind and body; they knew not what determination to take.'

Yet the dissolution of this unfortunate army did not happen so soon as it might have been expected. The republicans were not in a condition to pursue, and the Vendéens adhered to each other with all the perseverance of despair. They retreated in a north-east direction, first to La Flèche and afterward to Mans, a distance of fifty miles: but, meeting with a fresh repulse at the latter, they marched or rather fled westward to Laval, from which they made a final attempt to reach the banks of the Loire. On the 16th of December they arrived at Ancenis, a small town on that river: but the boats had been removed by the republicans, and the patroles of the latter were so formidable that only a few of the chiefs succeeded in passing. The remainder marched in the direo

tion of Savenay, and the battle which followed put an end to the existence of this army of the Vendéens; the survivors taking refuge among the peasantry of Brittany, who in general acted a loyal and affectionate part towards them The Marchioness and her mother remained many months in concealment among the cottagers, obliged frequently to change their humble quarters, and to pass days and even nights without shelter. To complete the distress of the Marchioness, she was considerably advanced in pregnancy, and at one time (April 1794) her alarms were such as to make her look for relief only in another life; yet it is a remarkable fact that her recovery after child-birth was much quicker than in her days of affluence, owing to her having led for several months the active life of a country-woman.

The spring and summer of 1794 were disgraced by all the horrors of Jacobin tyranny; the insurgents being murdered at their homes, executed on the scaffold, or drowned by the infamous Carrier in the Loire. The Marchioness continued in concealment, but heard from time to time of the melancholy fate of her relations and friends; her father had fallen soon after the defeat at Savenay; d'Elbée had been taken and shot; and the brave Henri de Larochejaquelein, after having gained fresh successes, fell in action March 4. 1794, at the early age of twenty-one. Charrette survived some time longer, and receives from her an ample tribute of commendation on the ground of boldness, fertility in resources, and constancy under misfortune. The present work, however, does not treat of his operations, which were conducted on the western frontier of La Vendée, in the direction of the coast. The only Vendéen chief whose character is doubtful, and accompanied with unpleasant impressions, is Stoffiet. Naturally harsh, he allowed himself to be guided by bad advisers; and he was considered as the author of the sentence and consequent execution of M. de Marigny, a brave, though somewhat untractable associate in the cause.

After the death of Robespierre in July 1794, the benevolent part of the republicans succeeded in prevailing on the government to adopt a conciliating course towards the Vendéens in a few months, a decree of amnesty was passed; and the Marchioness with her mother ventured to quit their retreat. They now found that the current appellation of the Vendéens among the republicans was changed from brigands to the gentler name of frères égarés, and they had the satisfaction of finding several distinguished characters still alive whom they had long given up for lost.

The

The supplementary part of the volume relates briefly the domestic events in the life of the Marchioness, subsequently to the termination of the Vendéen war. After having been eight years a widow, she married Louis de Larochejaquelein, the brother of the gallant Henri, and passed her time in retirement, her husband declining every offer of military promotion under Bonaparte. Each successive contest undertaken by Napoleon flattered them with the hope of the occurrence of circumstances which might bring back the hereditary sovereign; and the disasters in Russia had the effect of rendering her husband extremely desirous of bearing a part in the expected restoration. It was still, however, necessary to delay any open attempt; for Bonaparte's government knew too well the temper of the Vendéens to extend to them the dreadful conscriptions of the last year of his reign: but, on the 12th of March 1814, the Marquis de Larochejaquelein took a conspicuous share in the insurrectionary movement at Bourdeaux, and was on the eve of putting himself at the head of a general levy in La Vendée, when the counter-revolution at Paris rendered the measure unnecessary. Here ends the supplement to the memoirs: but it remains for us to make the painful addition that the leader of the name of Larochejaquelein, who was killed in action in La Vendée in June 1815, was the husband of the Marchioness. The person of the same name who has since received flattering distinctions at the hand of Louis XVIII., and has succeeded to the family-influence among the Vendéens, is his brother.

We have thus laid before our readers the leading outlines of these memoirs: but we have found it necessary to pass over many interesting scenes, since every chapter, or rather every page, contains something that deserves to be recorded. The narrative bears frequently the marks of a female pen, containing occasionally details of a minute and domestic cast, without a sufficiently methodical arrangement respecting events of higher importance; and it does not therefore form, nor is it announced as forming, a complete account of the Vendéen war: but, as a collection of materials, and as an authentic and impartial summary of the principal events, it is a'work of great value. The writer is always direct and candid; desirous of observing perfect accuracy, and almost uniformly succeeding in this attempt, except in the comparatively few cases in which she speaks from the report of others. Our chief regret is that her composition was not more carefully revised before it was committed to the press; not that we desire elaborate preambles, or attempts at general reasoning, but a correction of unintentional mistakes; an insertion of dates wherever they

could be ascertained from collateral documents; and, finally, that correctness which would have stamped the whole with a character of authenticity. Unluckily, the English translation does not in the slightest degree make up for these defects; being executed in a very careless, and, we might almost say, in a very ignorant manner, as well as being marked by Scoticisms. What are we to think of an English writer who says of one person (p. 154.) that he was very considerable by his zeal and virtue;' of another (p. 185.) that fear made him lose his head,' (Fr. perdre la tête); and of a third (p. 264.) that a ball from the enemy laid him lifeless,' when in fact the succeeding pages are filled with his subsequent exhortations and addresses to the soldiers? Typographical errors are likewise too frequent. We have, for instance, in p. 10. 1793 for 1792; in p. 498. 1815 for 1812. The fair author, now a widow for the second time, is probably not in a state of mind to prepare a new edition of her book: but she may at some period find a melancholy pleasure in giving it to the world in a finished shape; and then, we trust, a translator of real knowlege and accuracy will render it ample justice in an English

version.

6

ART. II. Spurinna, or the Comforts of Old Age. With Notes and Biographical Illustrations. By Sir Thomas Bernard, Baronet. 8vo. pp. 248. 98. Boards. Longman and Co. 1816.

is recorded in one of Pliny's letters that his friend Spurinna was accustomed to pass his days with an undeviating regularity which is well adapted to old age. The first part of his morning was devoted to study; at eight o'clock, he dressed, and walked three miles for contemplation and exercise: a light meal, a short rest, some conversation, and some reading, occupied his time until noon: he then took the air in a chariot with his lady, or a friend, and again used walking exercise: between two and three he went to the bath, played awhile at tennis, and then reposed while some favourite author was read to him: at six o'clock, he sat down to an elegant repast, which society and mirth, and the recital of a dramatic entertainment, extended to a late hour. Pliny also announces, as a sort of corollary, that Spurinna in his seventyseventh year had the full use of his ears, eyes, and legs. Probably, this Italian old gentleman was naturally vigorous and cheerful, and Pliny has ascribed to his habits the consequences which resulted rather from his temper and constitution. We see nothing particularly meritorious or skilful in this diurnal distribution of employments; nor can we

perceive