Memoirs, in which he has given a tolerably faithful portrait of himself; what he says of himself will suffice to show how thoroughly immoral he was, and how devoted to intrigue. But let us return to the queen, who was far superior to the circle in which she moved. I must go back a little, however, to the period which preceded that of which I am now speaking, in order to make my readers more completely at home with the society just mentioned. When the marriage of the Dauphin with the Archduchess Marie Antoinette was decided upon, the Empress Marie Thérèse applied to the Duc de Choiseul to look out for a priest who was capable of instructing the young Archduchess in the French language, and acquainting her with its literature. The Duc de Choiseul consulted M. de Brienne, then Archbishop of Toulouse, on the subject, and he recommended the Abbé de Vermont, librarian of the college des Quatre Nations, who immediately set out for Vienna. Imagine for a moment, a priest who had seemed destined to live in obscurity, suddenly transported to the court of Vienna, where he was treated with great consideration, with marked kindness, and with that gracefully flattering manner which Marie Thérèse knew so well how to employ when she chose."

"The Abbé de Vermont was a man of very ordinary abilities; but he possessed the essential qualities of a good man, and a grateful heart. He returned to France with the Archduchess' suite, full of favourable ideas with regard to Austria, and he ever preserved a warm attachment and an enthusiastic devotion for the Archbishop of Toulouse, as being the author of his good fortune. The Empress Marie Thérèse had particularly recommended the Abbé de Vermont to the Count de Mercy, her ambassador at the court of France, and explained to him, that he should treat him with the more consideration, because he had gained the confidence of the dauphiness. The abbé was a kind of person whom she wished to employ in serving the political interests of the court of Austria.

"My great intimacy with the Count de Mercy, with whom I often dined unceremoniously, gave me frequent opportunities of meeting the Abbé de Vermont, who came only on those days, when none but those persons connected with the embassy were present. I soon became aware how useful the abbé was to the Count de Mercy, as a mediator between himself and the dauphiness, when he thought it was undesirable to visit her himself. The ambassador always preserved this direct means of communication, which assumed an air of greater importance when she became queen. She was always in the habit of consulting the Abbé de Vermont on all occasions, for she had the most perfect confidence in him; it was he who composed the chief part of her letters, while she contented herself with copying them. One might almost say, that he was passionately attached to the queen, and though he was rather fond of gossiping (chatterboxes are generally very good sort of people, and this was the case with him), and talked unceasingly about his relations with the queen, he never by any chance committed the slightest indiscretion which might serve to compromise his sovereign."

"Marie Antoinette considered him, however, as a man of very ordinary faculties, and depended more upon his devotion to herself than upon his judgment. She only listened to him with serious attention when he brought her some message from the Count de Mercy, and then she only accepted such a portion of those messages as she deemed fitting, without ever allowing the abbé to enlarge upon them, or to return to the subject. His wishes were of a very humble nature; he was quite contented with the revenues of his abbey, and never solicited anything for himself, and

very rarely for his friends; he was not the least ambitious to become an archbishop, even in partibus infidelium. This freedom from self-seeking, contributed materially in establishing the queen's confidence in him, for she was so frequently persecuted by persons who petitioned for posts for themselves, or for others, and with little or no judgment. I remember very distinctly a few words which she once said to me on the subject, which struck me forcibly. Among the persons with whom she chose to be intimate, were several foreigners, the Counts Esterhazy, de Fersen, the Baron de Stedingk, &c., in short, she seemed to enjoy their society more than that of any other persons. One day I took the liberty of remarking to her, that the decided preference which she showed to these foreigners might be the means of injuring her in the minds of the French people. 'You are right,' said she, in a tone of sadness, 'but the truth is, that they never ask anything at my hands.'

"The public, which is so often misinformed on these subjects, has frequently accused the queen of a blind attachınent to Austria, whose interests, it was said, she sought to serve before those of France. This was a most unjust accusation, for I was in a position to know the truth or falsehood of these charges, as I shall show by the following instances. At the death of the Elector of Bavaria in 1778, the Emperor Joseph dispatched some troops to Bavaria to take possession of those portions of the electorate, to which, by right, he thought he was entitled. In order to check this increase of power on the part of Austria, the King of Prussia immediately raised an army, with which he threatened to march upon Bohemia, and he published manifestos, which represented the claims of Austria as at least very doubtful. The emperor became alarmed at the aspect of affairs, and applied to the King of France to furnish him with twenty-four thousand men, according to the treaty of 1756, in which assistance was promised, in case his dominions should be attacked. He talked of the King of Prussia as the aggressor, and as threatening Bohemia, while the latter complained of his (the emperor's) conduct, with regard to Bavaria. The Count de Mercy was employed to impress on France, the absolute necessity of sending twenty-four thousand men, or else an equivalent sum. The emperor wrote to his sister Marie Antoinette, at the same time, to beg her to use her influence with the king to lend him his aid. Before the queen spoke to the king on the subject she sent for the Count de Maurepas, and explained to him the interest she felt in her brother's demand; she entreated M. de Maurepas to do all in his power to dispose the king favourably towards her brother. At this precise time the queen was likely to become a mother for the first time; M. de Maurepas availed himself of this circumstance with great tact, and, after placing reasons before the queen for opposing her wish, that France should take part in a war which would certainly do harm to her interests, and which might, perhaps, be undertaken with injustice, he observed, that, if possible, the interests of France should become doubly dear to her Majesty, who now enjoyed the hope of giving birth to an heir to the crown. The queen said that she fully appreciated M. de Maurepas' sentiments with regard to France; and that after the conversation she had just had with him, she should certainly not mix herself up any farther in the affair, and she would not now speak to the king on the subject. She kept her word.

"M. de Mercy's urgent endeavours to obtain assistance for the emperor were all in vain. I am not acquainted with the queen's answer to her brother, but this I can distinctly state, that when I was in Vienna, in

the month of January, 1779, that the Emperor Joseph said to me that 'he was not very well satisfied with his sister, and still less so with the court of France. The political conduct of the king on this occasion,' he remarked to me, is very different to that which I should have expected from an ally, and from a court who calls itself my friend. These were his precise words, which he gave me permission to repeat on my return to Versailles.

"It is well known that France and Russia took part about the succession in Bavaria by means of their ambassadors, who were assembled at Teschen, and that they contrived to induce him to renounce his claims upon Bavaria, and to sign a treaty of peace.

"At a later period still, in 1784, when the Emperor Joseph was desirous of violating the treaties which existed between Austria and Holland, and demanded that the Scheldt should be opened to him, and sought to take possession of Maestricht, he again applied to the queen to persuade her to prevent the king from opposing him. The queen refused this time as well to mix herself up in the matter, and only requested that her brother might be extricated as honourably as possible from the embarrassing situation in which he had so indiscreetly placed himself. I happened to be in Vienna when the emperor learnt that the Dutch had fired upon some Austrian vessels which had been ordered by him to force the passage of the Scheldt. He immediately assembled troops, with the determination of obtaining his rights by force of arms. He sent for me the same day, and gave me a long audience. I soon discovered that he was full of uneasiness respecting the intentions of France, and that he expected not only to be deprived of her support, but that she would oppose his plans. He told me that he had written to the queen to get her to place his conduct before the king in such a light as should make him appreciate it. As long as France was engaged in the American war,' said he, I abstained from making good my cause against Holland, though at that time it would have been very difficult for France to oppose me. Versailles ought, therefore, to take into consideration the confidence and the moderation which I displayed at that period.' He did not attempt to disguise the ill-humour which he experienced at the letters which his sister sent in answer to his eager solicitations. I endeavoured, as far as possible, to make him understand how delicately the queen was placed in this circumstance, but I did not succeed in softening his displeasure.

"The event proved that the queen had resisted all her brother's importunity. A few months later, the treaty of Fontainbleau put an end to the war which was undertaken against Holland. France merely exerted itself to obtain for the emperor a few millions of florins, which were paid by the Dutch, and the cession of several miserable, dismantled, and almost abandoned forts, which were situated on the banks of the Scheldt. Holland was only too glad to escape so easily. All that has been said about the queen procuring millions from France for the emperor is atrociously false. The strict examination of the financial state of the kingdom by the constituent assembly in later years, who undertook the task with great malignity, sufficiently prove how unjust the accusation was, and especially with regard to the affair which I have just mentioned. This is what I have to say respecting the part which the queen is said to have taken in the external politics of France. All that I have related are positive and well-ascertained facts, and which, as matters of history, can never be refuted."

TO A WHITE NIGHT-CAP,

Presented to the Author of the following Ode by a Lady who had knitted it with her own hands.

WELCOME! fair stranger! welcome thou!
With aspect pale and knitted brow,

Come share my place of rest,
Whatever be my nightly lot-
A hammock, feather-bed, or cot,
Be thou my favoured guest.
Whether amid December's snow,
Or sultry August's ripening glow,
I'll hold thee ever dear.
Midsummer's dream and Christmas frost,
No care to thee or me shall cost,
While each to each is near.

Let sultans shine in jewell'd gown,
And crested chiefs their arms' renown
In plumed helm express;

Fame's temples from afar may shine,
But thou shalt constant cleave to mine,
And all my crown possess.

May many a year eventful glide,
Ere we at dawn or vesper-tide

In wonted greetings fail;

These friendly hands shall grasp thee tight-
By fair Aurora's orient light,

Or Cynthia's radiance pale.

I would not that the curious eye,
Of gazing youth or maid should pry,
When thus, in concord sweet,

We bid this noisy world adieu,
Or, hidden from the vulgar view,
In soothing silence meet.

The common cry of thoughtless men,
Would jeer and mock me if their ken
These features could discern,
Encompass'd in Morphean bow'r
By thine encircling bands, whose pow'r
At dewy eve I learn:

Yet which of all the wearied race
That toil on earth's expanded face
Till clouds the world enclose,
Would not rejoice to lay their heads
Where woman's hand with cunning threads
Hath drawn them to repose;

E'en thus, exulting in the prize
So timely won, I bend mine eyes
On thee, my nightly treasure;
And while for her who gave the gift,
My hat aloft with thanks I'll lift,
I'll don my cap with pleasure.

G. M. M.

RECOLLECTIONS OF WALES.*

FEW countries contain so many interesting remains of national melodies as the Principality of Wales. Their originality has seldom been questioned, while the airs of Scotland and Ireland have often afforded occasion for dispute.-Welsh Music has always been distinct in character from all other national music, as it was composed for the harp. The difference of the scale in this instrument from that of the bagpipe, in which the fourth and seventh of the key are omitted, would alone tend to give rise to a peculiarity of melody.

It is singular that, whilst the airs of Scotland and Ireland are so familiar to us all, those of Wales are comparatively unknown. The true solution of this is, the uninviting manner in which Welsh melodies have been presented to the public; for hitherto we have been made acquainted with them in a manner fitted rather for the library of the antiquarian than the music-desk of the pianoforte performer. We are glad, therefore, to find that, at last, a judicious effort has been made to give them to the public arranged in such a form as will render them popular in every musical circle. Under the appropriate title of "Recollections of Wales" Mr. Brinley Richards has succeeded in producing a series of interesting pieces for the pianoforte, written in a way to make them very useful for the purposes of tuition, and highly acceptable as solos for the pianist. The airs are arranged with care, and are not disfigured by the introduction of pedantic crudities. The variations present a succession of brilliant and ingeniously constructed passages, and some of them are capable of great effect, if interpreted by a skilful performer. The arrangements of "Poor Mary Anne," "The March of the Men of Harlech," and "The Rising of the Lark," are interesting specimens of the composer's well-known skill as an arranger; the gay brilliancy of the latter (in which the melody is preserved with unerring fidelity) forming an admirable contrast to the wild energy of the fine old theme "Of noble race was Shenkin." Mr. Cocks has been fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Brinley Richards in a publication of this kind; for independently of the qualifications requisite to render such compositions popular, this gentleman must be considered (from his connection with the Principality) an authority in matters appertaining to its music. We shall be glad to welcome the forthcoming numbers of these "Recollections of Wales," of the success of which the present productions augur well.

We observe that some early works of Mr. Brinley Richards, entitled "The Beauties of Cambria," have been lately advertised as new music. Some confusion might hence arise to those who are ignorant that the last-named publication was issued many years ago, and by no means displays the talent and power of the author of "Recollections of Wales."

By Brinley Richards. London, Cocks & Co., 1851.