THE COSMOPOLITE IN ENGLAND.

Tin: reader who has noted the minor events of contemporary lite- rature, may remember Mr. Bauer, the author of these volumes, as a somewhat zealous Catholic gentleman, educated and nurtured abroad; who, being touched with the cereoatima5 aeribendi, gave the world the result of his Continental experience, and his opinions on many matters. The Cosnwpolite in England is a sort of pendant to his former works ; presenting time author's views of men, manners, and things as they struck him on his first arrival in his native country after an absence of many years. As an introduction, how- ever, he commences his impressions of England by a brief' sketch of his second sojourn in France, on his return from Italy; when he fixed his residence at Clermont, the capital of' Auvergne, one of those remote, old-ffishioned, national, out-of-time-world places, which) WASHINGTON IRVING would have delighted to study and paint.

Mr. Bess', however, is far from being a WASHINGTON IRVING, or even a modern traveller of time first water : on the contrary, he is only an observer of ordinary circumstances, and a literal describer of them. He has also mum affectation of humour and lite- rary art, that contrasts oddly with his deficiency in both ; and a touch of foreign vivacity, which does not very happily amal- gamate with his native English staidness. The work, more- over, refers to a period of a dozen or fourteen years ago, at which time it seems to have been written ; and although it does not draw ninny of its illustrations from public events, or from any national traits which have since changed, yet it exhibits, both in tone and general style, the characteristics of a time left behind. :Neither was Mr. BEST altogether a cosmopolite ; he was only a foreigner. The matters which he notes were mostly either hack-

nied or superficial; those which concerned his individual comforts occupying a very conspicuous place—as for example, his first Eng- lish dinner at the ordinary at Dover.

This is the worst side: there are better timings in Mr. BEST; who is a gentleman with a catholic spirit towards his kind, though he is somewhat prepossessed with his own notions ; whose experience of men and society is considerable, though his observations may not be very profound ; and who writes naturally when he gives himself

fluir play and his subject is sufficient to support itself. Amid a good deal of commonplace matter or twaddling sentiment, his volumes contain passages valuable either for their novelty or their truth ; such as his sketches of French provincial society, his re- marks on the non-religious nature of clerical influence in England, and his comparison of domestic life abroad and at home. His very literalness, too, has this advantage—it brings at once to the mind the contrast between English and foreign customs, as shown in common occurrences, and things which hourly meet the eye. Here, for instance, is an indication of the difference between the French and English aristocracy.

Most towns in France contain garrisons; but it is only those situated in a corn or forage country that are suited for cavalry. Perhaps you are not aware of the difference which, as for as society and drawing-rooms are con- cerned, exists between the French infantry and cavalry. At the beginning of the Revolution, the people—to avenge themselves on the nobility, who had given the rank of officer to none but those of their own caste—declared all undies unable to hold any command in the army. They were subsequently placed on the same footing as others, and commissions were indiscriminately given to all who had distinguished themselves as privates. The ranks were, nevertheless, the common nursery of all officers who had not been regularly educated in the military academies; and admission to these was not obtained without difficulty. "This state of things could not but be grating to time aristocratic pride of the nobles : and the rastablished government of the Bourbons was not unwilling to restore to them as many as possible of the lost privileges of their birth. The pay of a cavalry officer is scarcely sufficient to maintain, with credit, himself and his horses ; that of an officer in the regiments of foot is enough to enable bin, to meet, without difficulty, all the expenses incumbent on his situation. These reasons, and the secret influence of public opinion, have caused the com- mand of the cavalry to be abandoned inure exclusively to the nobles and to those to whom personal property compensates the deficiency of pay ; and thus- the infantry regiments are either exclusively commanded by officers raised from the ranks, or by seine few nobles whom their small fortunes prevent from entering into the other service."

In England the cavalry is also the crack service, and certain. regiments (the Household troops) are the most select of the cavalry; but in all cases the pay increases with the gentility. The following observations are shrewd, if somewhat sharpened by the author's hostile creed, and slightly exaggerated by his peculiar experience having been acquired in neighbourhoods where parsons do abound. •

"England appears to me to be the most priest-ridden country in Europe. -

"I pretend not to affirm that the influence of which I speak is exercised by , the clergy over the consciences of the people; far from a. Their power is derived from the wealth of the whole body, and from the connexim. • of' each individual; and, by these means, is extended over society in general. When I declare to my friends here, that in Catholic countries we never, mless we send for him, meet a priest out of his church—that lie never mingles in society— • and that, beyond his own sphere and what regards his own duties, he has not the least influence even with his own parishioners—I am scarcely believe& Sonic Catholic priests there doubtless are who would wish to extend the political influence of the church; but in the society of private life a priest is never seen.

" Here, on the contrary, I never go to a dinner-party without finding at least :. half of the company composed of the clergy of the neighbourhood. If I go to an evening party 1 find that three-fourths of the young ladies are daughters of clergymen ; anti the remainder of the Lair group is made up of wives, sisters, cousins, or nieces of the servants of the church. Not a family but has some living at its disposal, sonic son looking out for church preferment, or some rela- tion

living endowed with it. Not a. family but is, in some way or other, interested in the support of the wealthiest church establishment in Europe— in the assertion of a politico-religious monopoly of loyalty and faith. All this it is which gives the Anglican clergy their amazing influence in society—par- ticularly in the society o the country. They themselves may affect, or evea feel liberality ; but wo to the man who there incurs the displeasure of their wives and daughters by being indisposed towards any thing m church or state which duly may limey it to be the interest of their corporation to maintain! I think I may justly call the Anglican Church a corporatio»' and a political corporation to boot ; for how often do we not bear the clergy declare that the support of the State is essential to the prosperity of their religion? How often do we not hear them cry out, Ivhenever they fancy that the State is inclined to withdraw any portion of its exclusive support or favour, that the Church is in danger? One accustomed to see religion dependent upon itself for the influ- ence which it may exercise, is greatly astonished by this avowed necessity for the earthly patronage of a heavenly object."

What did our author think of England on his first arrival ? lie was almost disgusted at the cookery and the general economy of the table ; lie had a sense of compression from time smallness of the houses ; a sense of femur from the compactness of the coaches, when he rode outside ; an idea of time landscapes, notwithstanding their finished beauty, being on a small scale ; and an impression of dul- ness from the gloom of the atmosphere, and the dinginess of time

streets, except Regent Street. But. like all strangers, he was struck with the appointments, rapidity, and punctuality of our stages, as well as with time neatness and finish which met his eye— the close-fitting of doors and windows, time freshness of the paint, and time polish of every external appendage : it struck him as a pity that such new green doors and such bright brass knockers should be exposed to such a climate! Eight months passed over, and he had different opinions.

ENGLISH AND CONTINENTAL SCENERY COMPARED.

I have said that I retract all former opinions on the alleged tameness of English scenery. In thet, having now journeyed over a great part of the island, I often ask myself what Continental country of equal extent may com- pete with it for the admiration of the traveller ? We have not, I admit, the varied and ever-glowing tints of a Southern sun—the only object for which I would again wish to travel; but we have green fields and woodland scenery, which the South of Europe never offers; we have, moreover, bold mountainous passes, and even districts,_recurrin,g more frequently than they are to be met with on the Continent. France, the ugliest country m the world in the eyes of every foreigner, will, I am aware, proclaim itself super-eminently beautiful. But, in the mud of a Frenchman, a beautiful country and a rich country arc synonymous terms : he has no conception of the beauty of any landscape that does not flow with milk and honey. Hence his admiration for his drearily- expanding districts of arable land. With few exceptions, the picturesque scenery Of France is restricted to the South of the Garonne and of the Isere, including also Auvergne.

Germany offers even less to the admiration of a Dr. Syntax ; for, except- ing the land included between the Tyrolian Alps and the Danube, we recollect little that might not vie with the most monotonous, dreary, and uninteresting corn regions of France ; while the immense plain of Bavaria, corresponding with that of Lombardy on the opposite side of the Alps, has not even the rice swamps and the straggling vines of the latter country to arouse the sleepy traveller.

Having crossed the Alps, we need not return to prove the superiority of En,g- lish scenery over that of the Netherlands, Holland, Prussia, or even Poland ; but may ask what are the natural beauties of the, f fur/0nm rex Eridunus? as those to whom the rivers of a more gigantic world were unknown, proudly termed their mountain torrent. The Posweeps, it is true, through a rich, fertile country, for an immense distance from its Alpine source; hat this country is flat, and would be most tame were it not for the distant framework of the out- standing Alps and Appenniues. Than the Lombard-Venetian territory, no- thing can bemore dreary ; there, the bed of the river is some twenty feeelligher than the surrounding country ; while towering banks restrain it on the top of the ridge of sand or gravel which it has brought down with it, and which form its constantly rising bed. The country on each side is subdivided by immense banks of stone which have been gathered from the surface of the land, and thrown together in lines which serve to separate each field ; but so wide are these stone fences, that they frequently cover more ground. than is contained in the enclosures which they surround.

FRANCE AFTER AN ABSENCE IN ENGLAND.

At Dover, I had entered what is known in every English inn as the " tra- veller's room," or the coffeeroom : I was' now in the French sulle-d-nmunger of the Calais hotel; and, comparing it with the room at Dover, I, for the first time, understood the external meaning of the English word comfort, apart from its moral sense. The one room was carpetted and fitted up like a private sit- ting-room; while it was evident that chairs and tables were thought to consti- tute the only furniture that could be requisite in the other. Such had once been my own opinion; but England had spoilt me, though I had not then

prized the advantages which I now regretted. * * * *

On the morning after I landed, the ground was covered three inches deep with snow. Never before had I seen so heavy a fall. In fact, though I had remained in England till the beginning of January, I had experienced no cold weather. . The season, it is trite, was said to be particularly mild ; but had I been told some mouths before that I should pass half of the winter in England without seeing snow or ice, I should, like other foreigners, have refused to be- lieve my informer. The English climate is far better than is generally sup- posed : the cold is by no means severe ; though the fogs are well entitled to

their reputation. .*

The snow continued to fall as I entered the coach-yard and seated. myself in the coupe of the diligenve. Had I entertained the leastdoubt of the fact, I should now have been thoroughly convinced that I was no longer in England; and I watched the scene around as anxiously and attentively as though it had never before been offered to my observation. The whole process, if I may so call it, was amusing; and I could now understand the feelings of those of my countrymen who witness it for, the first time. When the passengers were safely stowed and the horses put to, the postillion placed one foot in the stirrup, and cried "Eih1" the near front-wheel gave forth a rusty groan. "Uhl" he

again exclaimed, and the wheel behind it was into at the sound. "Ells, Eih l" he cried, more energetically, as he vaulted. nto the saddle: at the well-known voice the two other wheels of the coach echoed. the lamentable sound that had, in succession, proceeded from their unwilling partners. All the four now creaked and groaned in woful harmony, and every part of the vehicle advanced along the snow-covered road.