B0 010'.

WOMAN" IN 'FRANCE DITIffIre-THS' LA FM' Idxso laved:ism. hail a higher aim in this work than, to collect:. a series.. of..goBsipy, or aeanaalou.e,, stories . or .to display, other objeset than that...of gratifying prurient curiosity, the shame,- less profligacy. which riotedrin France from, the close of the hypo-, criticidreign of Lillis the Fourteenth, till' a. less immoral tyrant . in ..the.rperson. of, Napoleon Bonaparte. assumed the reins of go- vernmeat His.purnoss. is to exhibit the -public influence which women. exereisectin .France, thiring, that 'century-4 disgrace and frequent.disaster,as.mis tresses of rulers, or as heads of literary and.: ' philoaopiiie.coteries,--whieh feminine pewes is penhaps peculiar to..: France„.—or as leadersaf fashion, in whichtheyalway,shave power,. ; though. modified :by the national character. and.. Ilia. manners of : the age., This oneness of lihject inthe writer gives- some. unity to her work, because herpove ose.-is. continually before the reader ; most of the women of whom-. notice istaken being introduced as UW8- . trating Miss Kavanagh's theory... This unity, however, is some- what marred in fact, because the theory is, pushed rather further .. than it.will naturally go. In part. from the gallant 'character of . the people, and the be esprit of Freneh women, themselves, woman has always exercised in Parisagreater social, and indeed public in - fluence, than in other capitals.. During it large potion of the last.: century, this influenee was still more prominent, from the-power allowed by Louis the Fifteenth to his mistresses, and from-the fact that doctrines-might be promulgated in drawingrooms:which could . not so safely have been published through the press ; France not only having been " a despotism tempered byyongs,".butily, salsas. Stilithe feminine power had its. limits - andit admits of expla- nation, being in reality lesathan it seemel---ai form; not a substanien. : ITinierthe Regent Orleans,,women had no influence ow public mat- ters : the.Regent was never the dupe of ttny but himself, or rather. his vices.: During the early partof Louis the Fifteenth's reign, the . reputable dice ee Wines mistress was vacant, or filled by la- dies: who did not much interferewith public affaira.., Under Louis . the Sixteenth? the direct power of woman wasegreat,•enough, , exercised by orthrough the Queen ; but. daring the true Revo- • intim it was dormant save -in the form..of . mobs,. till it somewhat revived again under the corruption of :the Directory.

The social influence of women. was very powerful through the- greater part of the century; but it was. much in the way that Lady Holland was influential in this country. The- French' women were 'so celebrated by themselves, as by the flies they collected at, ; their suppers or in their drawingrooms.. They were: a portion of : a great national. movement, in which' they took such a ride as •. the national manners at the time permitted Intellectually, we . suspect, they had not much to do with it ; and although the fashionable reunions -facilitated, the • means- Of •intellectual in. dependence, it may be questioned whether the fashionables, or the philosophers either, knew altogether what they were about. Nor was this state of society or of- opinion peculiar to France. There- were more social. circles in • this country during the latter part of the • last century than now'; of which . their suocessors, Holland and- Lansdowne houses, survived to our generation. It was the- - fashion in this country as-well as in France-to rail at the -great,. even-by-4' wits among lords;'—a fashion fownded, no doubt, on the, prevailing corruption; but a fashion which. went out when the -- rem:Ilse seemed- -to be- seen in • the French Revolution. Miss Kii- vanagh has not perceived these- points with sufficient distinctness to extract the true philosophy oft he epoch, though she has seen a- , good many of • the truths -contained in.it. It is a profound obsere nation, that the necessity of makingrecendite truths plain to draw,- - mgroom apprehensions, and of cultivating the readiness, point, and,. poll& of. a conversational style' gave both its-me-zits and its faults- . to the French literature of -the tame ; its clearness,; smartness, anal' popular- effect, on the one hand—on the other, its presumption, and', its superficial character as regarded substance and views.

Miss Kavanagh's plan is a mixture of narrative and memoir; - i Dividing her work into epochs, she opens each tern -with a review of its social and historical character. This is followed by biogra, , phieal notices of the most distinguished women of the time, as these are relieved. and -varied by episodical. introductions of some.: distinguished men. The gravity- of her ..objeet has-enabled her. to' give an account of the licence of the times, withoutsdese,ending to questionable stories or anecdotes; and she does not press. with : undue severity on that to list of ladies -who. did at Paris as the Parisians did. We doubt, however, whether: she sees the.true planation, of the profligacy, of the old .regime ; which . may be . traced back to the social immorality of the middle, ages, afterwards , aggravated. by the effects. of the eivil.wars .of-the. sixteenth.. and seventeenth centuries, and finally completed by the personal exame pie of three vicious rulers, Louis the Fourteenth, the Regent Or- leans, and Louis the Fifteenth.. We suspect, too, that sheconfounde social accomplishments and feminine readiness in .actiniriug super-. ficial knowledge, or even- of seeming to know, with.real love for . intellectual pursuits. Chesterfield was -not-a man to exaggerate : the reality, especially when: his object was to guide ; and , his es- timate of the tastes, capacity, and arguments of the women of his age, is very different from that which Miss Kavanagh has formed. .

• Woman in France during the Eighteenth Century. By Julia Kaysmagii, Author of" Madeleine, a Tale of Auvergne, "8r.e. In two volumes. Published by Smith and Elder.

Chesterfield, too, is supported by most of the writers of the cen- tury, whose object was to depict manners and character. The narrative wants that dramatic vivacity and truth which arise from a thorough comprehension of the spirit both of the age and the individual, presenting persons to the reader with an animation that resembles life, and an accuracy that enables him to see their merits and defects and form his estimate of character for himself. The work, however, is various, readable, and, notwith- standing the deficiencies we have alluded to, informing. But per- haps the most interesting parts are those in which the power of women does not appear the most prominently. The second volume, relating to the reign of Louis the Sixteenth and the Revolution, is more attractive than the first ; and that part which treats of the Revolution is the best. True, the power of women had vanished; and Madame Minim whose influence Miss Kavanagh greatly ex- aggerates, was as bad as any of the aristocratic ladies of the old re- • gime ; but there are the tragic elements of terror and pity. One source of attraction in the book is the number of anecdotes. This is a sample of a lordly connoisseur.

"The aristocracy were under Fleury what they had been under the re- gency of the Duke of Orleans—reckless and corrupt. They still kept aloof from the literary circles, but began to receive and visit the financiers; whose daughters brought wealth and mesalliance into more than one ancient house. With the exception of the few nobles who fr .quented Madame do la Pope- liniere's circle, the great majority were indifferent to the arts, which they vainly affected to patronize. The Marechal d'Estrees, who possessed one of the finest collections of antiques in France, never knew the value of the treasures he spent vast sums to accumulate. Having once heard that a bust of Alexander, said to be by Praxiteles, had been bought at a sale a few years before., by an unknown Parisian amateur, he commissioned one of his agents to discover and purchase it, if possible. After long researches, the bust was found in his own gallery, where it lay forgotten and covered with dust."

This, again, is not a bad example of female wit.

" Madame de Prie was evidently incapable of directing the elflike of a kingdom. Her avidity was excessive : she not only received the large pen- sion from England which had been granted to Dubois, but squandered money with the greatest extravagance, and urged her lover to raise the taxes : she directed the Committee of Finances herself, through the agency of her crea- tures the brothers Paris, whom she had raised to high posts in order to act under their name. Madame de Pric soon felt it was necessary that she should convince her lover of her great talents, so that she might become in- dispensable to him as minister as well as mistress,—the general ambition of the French favourites of the eighteenth century. She adopted the follow- ing stratagem, well calculated to fulfil her purpose. Every financial project destined to besubmitted to the Prince was first secretly concerted between his mistress and her agents. The compliant financiers purposely. left in their written plans many errors, with which they took care to acquaint Madame de Prie. These errors passed undetected by the Duke [of Bourbon), whose talents were by no means first-rate. Madame de Prie of course discovered and rectified them at once. The brothers Paris uttered well-feigned ex- clamations of admiration, recognized the profound judgment of Madame la Marquise, and hastened to adopt her suggestions as the wisest which could possibly have been made. The Duke, amazed at the extraordinary intelli- gence of his clever mistress, congratulated himself on being able to receive her assistance."

It is remarkable that ages of atheism are generally ages of super- stition also ; perhaps because the herd are always imitative, and, taking their notions, whatever they may be, on trust, they want that knowledge of nature which philosophic atheism implies. Hence, when belief ceases, they are deprived of their reliance on the Deity, while they are still puzzled by the mysteries of na- ture. There never were more quacks and impostors collected to- gether than at Rome during the decline of the Empire, when even children had ceased to believe in the gods. It was the same in France under the latter days of the old regime.

"This easy scepticism was often united to the grossest credulity : Philip of Orleans seemed to have imparted his own mingled atheism and superstition to the whole nation. The wild fables of the Rosicrucians, with their enthu- siastic dreams of elementary spirits, still found eager dupes. Amongst other adventurers, an individual, who took the name of Saint Maurice, persuaded a large number of wealthy and titled individuals that he could enable them to hold communication with sylphs, gnomes, salamanders, and ondines. The disciples met, on stated days, in a darkened room ; where Saint Maurice, acting as high priest, addressed a cabalistic invocation to the genie Ala& When it was over, he went round the apartment, and received from each in- dividual present a sealed note, containing a request addressed to the spirit. The notes being all collected, Saint Maurice approached the altar, and seemed to cast them into a burning brazier ; but the notes he threw in had all been prepared beforehand for the purpose, and he carefully preserved the real ones, in order to frame verbal replies, which he might deliver to his adepts on their next meeting. The credulous dupes took it for granted, that as the answers they received always had some reference to their requests, there really existed an intercourse between Alael and Saint Maurice. This induced them to grant more readily the demands for large sums which the 'omnipotent genie often addressed to them through his high priest. The police put an end to the whole matter, by throwing Saint Maurice into the Nsdle."

Frivolity in amusements is, in the mass, (who never pursue any- thing with a view to the principle it may contain,) a sign both of infancy and of decrepitude. A nation of savages and a nation effete are alike silly in their pastimes.

" Notwithstanding the efforts of philosophers, the great majority of the society to whom they sought to inculcate their doctrines remained essentially frivolous. During a whole season nothing was so fashionable for both men and women as to cut up costly engravings, and stick the mutilated figures on fans and fire-screens; to make up riband-knots came next in vogue ; the childish game of cup-and-ball was also one of the favourite amusements of this indolent aristocracy. Some noblemen sought to distinguish themselves by the singularity of their conduct. The Duke of Gesvres kept open house during a fit of illness. Forty persons daily sat down at his table ; only about twenty of his privileged courtiers, whom he had presented with splendid green suits, were admitted into his presence. They found him in a magni- ficent apartment, richly dressed in green, reclining on a couch, and making

rip riband-knots. Another nobleman, the Duke of Epernon, placed his de- light in surgical operations ; and by mingled threats and promises compelled his unhappy vassals to let him exercise his skill upon them.

" Women rendered themselves conspicuous for the eagerness with which they entered into all these frivolous amusements. The celebrated singers, Mademoiselle le Pelissier and Mademoiselle le Maure divided the court la-

dies into two rival parties." • • • "Leading a life of indolence and sensuality, Louis XV. could not always find in hunting, or in a puerile devotion; a sufficient source of pleasure ; he accordingly indulged iu the most effeminate amusements. At one time the whole court was thrown into great commotion by,a sudden fancy which the King took for worsted-work. A courier was instantly despatched to Paris for wool, needles, and canvass ; he only took two hours Mg a half to go and come back ; and the same day all the courtiers in Versailles were seen, with the Duke of Gesvres at their head, embroidering, like the Sovereign. But even tapisserie was ineffectual to allay those periodical attacks of despondency to which Louis was subject from his youth, and during. which his only pleasure was to entertain those around him with long and dismal accounts of graveyards, sudden deaths, and all the melancholy pdgeantry of stately funeral processions."

Although Miss Kavanagh cannot, perhaps, reach a deep and com- plex truth, she can detect truth well enough when it is less en- veloped. These remarks on the popular notion of the 'power of the French philosophers are sound and just.

" The philosophy of the eighteenth century took a bolder and more cer- tain aim. Instead of making creed the means of attack, it attacked creed it- self as the very basis of authority. Philosophy,. which had previously been linked with religion, now became its irreconcileable foe. Ideas replaced creeds and doctrines. The privileged classes themselves hastened the crisis. Nobles, authors, men of science, and women of the world, all united in the

common task of destruction; the whole nation seemed to 'have up its strength in order to bring down the old and tottering Social The Revolution was the close of that eventful drama which had 'been

through three centuries, always in spite of the persevering oppo O of the reigning sovereigns. Moral death and fearful rum seemed the only result of this wide devastation ; but from these ruins of feudalism and abselute power sprang forth a nation. Before examining the influence which woman pos- sessed over this movement, we must speak of the philosophy which was one of its most important signs. " We shall do so as briefly as possible. To the spiritualism of Descartes and Leibnitz succeeded the doctrines of Locke, which were introduced into France towards the beginning of the eighteenth century. The soul ceased to occupy the attention of metaphysicians : they concluded it to lie beyond their province, and asserted that all our ideas and impressions are derived from the senses. Condillac, by his admirable clearness, popularized these doctrines. The ease with which they were understood, and thenr correspoink once to the feelings of the age, rendered them still more universal. Seneest tion was the test to which men submitted faith and morality. The. existesak of God, of the soul, and of a future state, was no longer confessed.- &mei: indeed, still clung to these great principles4, but their number , was ex- tremely limited. The laxity of morals favoured, and perhaps created, this gross materialism. This is more probable than the assertion that, these, doc- trines led to the general profligacy. Creeds are oftener fashioned according to our actions than our actions are derived from creeds. It was natural that those who only lived for voluptuous enjoyments should seek in a sensual philosophy the Justification of their conduct. Literature and philosophy are not always the guides of the age in which they flourish. They,.express the feelings of men; but do not sway them exclusively. Like constitutional mo- narchs, they reign but do not govern. Too much of unmixed condemnation has therefore been thrown on the French philosophers : they only followed the general current, and interpreted the opinions of their age • but, because they acted as the organs of public feeling, they were assuled to be its leaders."