Has that beau escaped our thoughts, whose caput mortuum never harboured an idea above the cut of a coat-an ambulatory peg for plumasiers and mercers to hang their samples on-a walking pattern-book-a stigma upon the name of gentleman, can we figure to ourselves no such spark capering in the confines of a palace, until, grown giddy by royal favour, he dared even command his sovereign to execute his infantile commissions, and, meeting with that contempt at last, which ought to have annihilated him at first, was

mons, visited the Exchequer Coffee House, where his attention was fixed by a gentleman taking tea with a parcel of papers before him; afterwards he called for a decanter of brandy, which he poured into a large glass, and drank off without diluting it in the least, and then walked away. The spectator soon followed, and went into the gallery of the house, where, to his astonishment, he heard one of the longest and most brilliant speeches he ever listened to delivered by this votary of Bacchus, who was no other than Mr. Sheridan.

Sheridan died in the summer of 1816, and, as we have stated, literally in a bailiff's arms, for, on the couch of sickness, his wants were administered to in charity by the relatives of his wife, and in that bed, out of which he never more rose, he was arrested, and only escaped being dragged into confinement by the threat held out to the sheriff's officer, on the part of the medical gentleman present, that he would prosecute him for murder in the event of the patient's expiring under the removal. Memoirs of the Public and Private Life of the Right Hon. Richard B. Sheridan, by John Watkins, L. L. D., p. 384 to 387.

fairly driven from a presence which should never have been troubled with his fooleries?

Have we not witnessed the visits paid to-but we will restrain our remarks ;-it is not our intention, and far be from us the wish, to lacerate the feelings of any individuals. We have said that Napoleon, during the greater part of his existence, had no particular friends; and if, in later days, he did form any intimacies of an unsuitable description, we have shown that he was not the sole monarch to fall into this error. There are, indeed, but few men who, at some period or other, have not had occasion to regret the intercourse they may have kept up; and we know of no reason why royalty should be more exempt on this head from the common failing of our nature than those who move in a more humble sphere. Princes are but human, and men are but mortal, with whatever gilding they may be decorated†:

"Whoever thinks a faultless king to see,

Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be."

It is only when invidious distinctions are attempted to be drawn that justice forbids truth to

* This modest dandy, we have been assured, took upon himself to desire, when in the company of his present Majesty, that he would ring for him the bell of the apartment they occupied. The King felt the insolence of the demand, and

appear by halves, and honour and probity to be twisted into every possible shape, for no nobler end than to blacken the character of a fellow pilgrim, because he happened to move in the ranks of our enemies.

instantly resented it by acceding to the request, and commanding, when the servant in attendance entered the room, that Mr. ****'s carriage should be called.

+ If a further exposition of this truth be necessary, it may be seen in a little book lately published by Madame Pauline Adelaide Alexandre Panam, versus His Most Serene Highness the reigning Prince of Saxe Coburg.

CHAP. VII.

VULGARITY OF NAPOLEON.

"We noted down in perusing Mr. O'Meara's book, many specimens of Buonaparte's skill in the vulgar tongue: they were, if correctly reported, quite sufficient to make him out an accomplished blackguard."-New Times, Sept. 1822.

THIS is a double thrust, the first and principal at Napoleon,-the second, "en passant," at Mr. O'Meara; the former only we shall attempt to parry. Napoleon was educated (as we more than once shall have occasion to observe) at a military school, from the day of his quitting which to the hour of his death, a period of many years, he may truly be said to have spent his life amongst foragers and troopers of every nation. That a being so peculiarly circumstanced, should, in the course of his rambles and adventures, have adopted, unconsciously, a very inelegant phraseology, -proverbs, and conundrums, gross in themselves, and ill suited to the dignity of him who heedlessly gave them utterance,-is highly probable; indeed, it would have struck us as

strange had the case been otherwise : can, however, this almost unavoidable spot in the character of Napoleon, have conferred on the Editor the right to designate the late Emperor "an accomplished blackguard?" Johnson, we think, has somewhere remarked, that much of sterling, although unadorned sense, is often contained in the homely adages of the vulgar; and, under the sanction of the immortal lexicographer, we will venture to repeat,— "that those who throw stones should look to their own windows." We complain of the lack of decorum in Napoleon. Are, then, on this head, many of our own high and mighty princes thoroughly immaculate? We know sufficient of them to satisfy us that they are not. We have little desire to sit in judgment upon the failings of any body of people, be they nobles or peasants; but if such was either our duty or our wish, we should not be at a loss to serve up a set of British heroes-naval and military, to whom Billingsgate slang both was and is as perfectly well known-yes, and as often employed too,-as ever the language de la Halle was by Napoleon. Perhaps, in the ears of the Editor, that which was low-bred in Napoleon assumes another character when proceeding from the mouth of a British peer; but, without discussing this matter, who have we for the accuser of Napoleon? Who is the stern censor, the irreproach able Cato, to ferret out the pigmy spots upon the