full of reverence for the character it aims to portray. shrouded herself within them, as in armor of proof. She soon obtained from her generous husband that those bonds should be dissolved; and returned, within a very few months, to the protection of her own family. Her fidelity and insistance, her health, which at last gave way before the obstacles that parted her from her youthful lover, moved even the hearts of her No great events, no striking catastrophe, mark the life of this Princess, whose youth, though occurring in stirring times, was not intimately connected with them. Her virtues shed a mild light over private life, but did not illumine a court; yet the book is not devoid of interest, for it develops one of the features, and that the most charming, of the female character-truth-worldly, or rather courtly-minded parents; and fulness. In these pages is embalmed the very essence of womanhood; and in them we find realised what the youthful dreamer loves to picture to himself; but the man seldom sees a female heart that no temptation or trial could turn from its early attachment. We see that attachment not lightly or prematurely formed; for the Princess was past twenty when her heart was first touched, which had already often, but in vain, been sought. - Vain the distance that separated a daughter of the ancient, princely house of Nassau the daughter of a haughty, reigning German Duke from a youth of gentle blood, but impoverished and hopeless, whose worldly possessions, as he himself confessed it, consisted of his sword and his honor. Though a Prussian by birth, he was obliged to seek his fortune at a foreign court, when chance, or rather fate, directed his steps to Bieberich. The Princess, before knowing she had a heart to give, had suffered her hand to be pledged to the Landgrave of Hesse Homburg, urged to this step by her parents, for she had always entertained an aversion from marriage such as the laws of courts have made it-a mere matter of form that unites hands and mingles quarterings, but leaves hearts and minds asunder. Her acquaintance with Frederic of Bismark occurred at this awkward time. He was barely twenty, and it would seem from the glowing description in the pages of the memoirs, and also from the feelings he inspired, remarkable for personal advantages; a fact which the engraving of him in the book would flatly contradict, should it merit confidence, which hypothesis all romantic minds will reject with indignation. But he possessed merits of a higher order, which shone afterwards in a manner to justify the Princess's early appreciation of them. Need it be said how the young officer of fortune responded to the preference of a young, fervent, imaginative, and handsome woman, and a Princess to boot? Mutual vows were exchanged the time approached for the hated nuptials-in vain the Princess entreated for a rupture, or even a mere delay — she could obtain neither. She was led a weeping sacrifice to the altar; but her truth and love never for a moment swerved; and it would seem she prided herself upon, and young Bismark, who had quitted the court in disgust when it had lost its attractions, and sought to carve out a path to military distinction for himself, by entering the Hanoverian Legion in England, where he then resided, was recalled. At the Duke of Nassau's recommendation he obtained a suitable grade in the army of Würtemberg; but the Duke, who had at first meditated the eclat of a public marriage and a princely settlement, toned down to a private contract, and the condition of its being kept secret. The Duchess was authorised by him to arrange all preliminaries for the young people. It was at Frankfort-on-the-Maine that this auspicious, though unostentatious, ceremony took place. A writer of the eighteenth century might well have observed on the occasion, "that though pomp and state were absent, a host of little Loves fluttered round the wedded pair, and accompanied them to their silent bower among the gardens surrounding Frankfort." But these were different from roguish Cupids in general — they had no wings. The pair was much separated by circumstances; but their attachment seems rather to have been cemented than cooled by this check to their happiness. For years they could only meet by stealth for a few flitting days at each fair of Frankfort. The rest of the time was spent in the dull routine of a provincial court-life at Bieberich by the Princess, whilst Bismark sought and obtained distinction in the career he had embraced, being equally successful as a soldier and a diplomatist; and in those years when calm reflection follows upon action, he turned to the pleasant task of recording the scenes in which he had played his part. His books are much esteemed. When the death of her natural friends restored the Princess to liberty, she and her only surviving sister, the Dowager Margravine of Baden, agreed to live under the same roof at Carlsruhe, where the Count- for Bismark had been raised to that dignity-shared their retreat; amusing his leisure with his pen, and soothing the declining years of his wife with the tenderest care and solicitude, after having shed over her youth the magic light of love. It is a pretty love story, well told; and cannot fail to captivate young readers. The Princess, musing by moonlight, all attired in flowing white drapery, on one of the stone balconies of the palace of Bieberich, gazing upon the silver Rhine, or sitting, in lonely desolation, within the gray walls of the old castle of Hesse Homburg, all tears and mourning-the duel of her young hero on England's shores, when he had the misfortune to kill his captain, and an awful jury of twelve Englishmen sitting upon him, (which jury, by the way, somehow or other, borrows a tinge of the secret Vehm from the German pen,)—the tender meetings, the sad partings these touches, scattered over the book, give it its due portion of romance to please the romantic; and, here and there, a passage referring to well-known events or persons, adds zest for the more matter-of-fact. Among the latter, an oft-told tale, but which, perhaps, has never before been given with such graphic detail, which makes one feel as if the narrator had been present at the scene, referring to the awful accident of the fire at the Austrian Embassy in Paris, at the fête given for Maria Louisa's nuptials, will remind the reader, in its inauspicious close, of that given for Marie Antoinette on a similar occasion; which was looked upon at the time, and has since been recorded, as an evil omen. The superstitious might have drawn a similar conclusion from this catastrophe, with regard to Maria Louisa's union with Napoleon; the incident is thus recorded: "Prince Charles Phillip of Schwarzenberg, the Austrian Ambassador, inhabited what was formerly the hotel Montesson, rue du Mont Blanc. As, however, this building, lying betwixt court and garden, though large, was not sufficiently so for the grand festival which was under preparation, not only was the neighbouring hotel borrowed for the occasion, and a communication established between it and the dwelling of the Ambassador, but also a part of the next garden was made use of for the purpose of erecting a large scaffolding of heavy beams and strong planks which supported the immense principal saloon. Of the three entrances to this saloon, one at the back, leading into the interior of the mansion, was destined to the domestics; a second, on the left, opened upon a spacious gallery running the whole length of the hotel, and communicating by many doors, on the one side, with its apartments, and on the other with the garden; and the third and principal entrance, enhanced by a splended portal, conducted down a flight of easy steps into the garden, where, at this point, a huge space was carefully cleared, for the rushing in and out of a large concourse of people. "The inner decoration of this wooden structure, protected on the outside by oil-cloth, was at once magnificent and tasteful. Costly hangings, large mirrors, numberless candelabras covered the side walls, and glittered in the light of innumerable colored lamps, in truly magical brilliancy. Lighter ornaments were added to this splendor. Elegant wooden columns formed being draped in the richest stuffs, enwreathed a passage round the saloon - each single column with artificial flowers, and connected with the next by draperies of white gauze, garlands, and fluttering ribbons. Huge crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling by gold and silver chains entwined with flowers. The floor, a most beautifully-inlaid parquet, was carefully waxed; and gold-wrought carpets, were placed two splendid at one end, on a raised platform covered with thrones. "All that Paris then contained of fashion and rank, native as well as foreign, crowded to this fête, made brilliant by the beauty, youth, riches, and importance of the guests. Not only the kings and queens of the Bonaparte family, but also the Emperor and Empress had promised to be present. When all the guests were assembled, the imperial pair arrived in their state carriage, under a strong escort, which was announced by the presenting of arms, the beating of drums, and a division of the grenadier-guard taking up their post in the vicinity of the hotel. Received by the families of Schwarzenberg and Metternich at the steps of the principal entrance, the Emperor advanced amidst a flourish of trumpets through the hotel of the Embassy, up the already-mentioned gallery, to the principal saloon. After staying there a short time he accepted the invitation of the Ambassador to take a walk through the gardens, and, together with the Empress, followed their guide, the whole assembly crowding after them. "The arrangements in the gardens eclipsed those of the interior. Blooming bushes and trees, allegorical tableaux, and other objects, glittered in an ocean of light; whilst choirs of musicians and singers, scattered about the alleys and groves, struck up their harmonies at the approach of the Emperor. “Arrived at a large, carefully smoothed green sward, the eye fell upon a most happy representation of the castle of Laxenburg, opposite to which were placed seats for the imperial pair, and some few other high personages; and to flatter still more the home remembrances of the Empress, from the bushes that encircled the rural stage, came forth, dressed in the Austrian costume, male and female dancers, who executed with skill their national dances; which was followed by a pretty pantomime of War and Peace. "As soon as this spectacle came to an end, general attention was attracted to another quarter, by the cracking of a whip and the clattering of a horse's hoofs; and a courier, all dusty from the road, pressed forward through the brilliant and jewelled throng, and making his way straight up to the Emperor, delivered him his despatches. For a moment a joyous murmur ran through the crowd of news of great victories in Spain. It was not so, however. The Emperor, who was in the secret, announced, with a smile, they were despatches from Vienna; and handed the Em press a letter from her father, which had been expressly written for the occasion. was no longer safe, he begged the Emperor immediately to withdraw, who, without answering, offered his arm to Maria Louisa, and, accompanied by the Prince, advanced with a measured step towards the garden-portal, recommending to the yielding crowd order and presence of mind. So long as the Emperor was present, all had kept a tolerable composure; but now that the barrier was broken down, they thronged towards the several issues. "Fire-works now commenced; but real flames soon forced themselves through the artificial ones. By accident, one of the scaffoldings had taken fire; the firemen, however, who stood ready in the back ground for such an emergency, advanced, and through their exertions the flames were soon extinguished. Every one was delighted with this speedy result, extolled the arrangements, and the promptness of the people, "Among those who, in the act of saving themand no one dreamed that, so soon after, their as-selves, or already saved, were inquiring eagerly sistance would become so necessary, and prove altogether unavailing. "The fire-works being finished, the brilliant procession moved forward, and winding through variously-ornamented paths, returned to the grand saloon. The entrance of the imperial pair was again greeted with music, and after they had taken the seats prepared for them, dancing began-it was near midnight. The Queen of Naples opened the ball with the Prince Esterhazy, and the vice-King of Italy with the Princess Pauline of Schwarzenberg. "All the pleasures which so brilliant a fête, and so elegant an assembly could offer, were crowded into this evening, which was soon to end in mourning. "During an Ecossaise, which followed upon a quadrille, Napoleon and his consort rose from their seats, and proceeded to opposite sides of the saloon, to talk with different persons. The Empress soon ended her conference, and returned to her seat; but the Emperor still lingered at the other end of the room, in conversation with the Princess Pauline of Schwarzenberg, who was in the act of presenting her daughters to him. At that moment a sudden draught of air caused one of the thousand flickering lights that illumined the apartment to wave upwards, catching the gauze of one of the draperies, which immediately blazed up. The accident, at first, presented so unimportant an appearance, that Count Bentheim put out one of the flaming objects by throwing his hat at it, and Count Dumanoir, chamberlain to the Emperor, extinguished beneath his heel the burning tissue he had torn down. "Unfortunately, however, some sparks had flown up to the higher draperies, and set them on fire, which, fed by so much inflammable matter, soon spread in all directions, and, running up the columns and cornices, soon reached the ceiling. The musicians' gallery, which stood to the right, half-way up the wall, was next threatened. Fright silenced their instruments; and to save themselves, they rushed to the door leading into the open air, and the draught thus occasioned fanned the flames. In the saloon the greatest confusion prevailed; every one sought to understand what had happened, and what would yet happen. "The Emperor, who had witnessed the origin of the fire, as it spread, approached the Empress, the Austrian Ambassador, full of calm dignity, remaining by his side. Perceiving, by the rapid progress of the fire, that the saloon after their friends, was Prince Joseph of Schwarzenberg, the Ambassador's brother. He had, when the fire broke forth, being engaged in conversation not far from the Empress, pointed out a side-door to Prince Eugene's consort, who came up to him, through which she and the viceKing of Italy fortunately escaped, then looked in vain, everywhere, for his own wife. He was assured that she was already in the gardenthither accordingly he hurried. He seeks and asks, but without finding her- she is said to have been seen here and there a voice, at last, rises above the clamor, and calls out, 'there she is he darts to the place- it is a stranger who resembles her. "In the saloon the flames and smoke were already contending for mastery. The chandeliers, mirrors, and lamps fell rattling to the ground; and although the firemen did their best, there could be no hope of saving a wooden building filled with inflammable stuffs of every kind, and attacked on all sides. Prince Joseph's eldest daughter, severely wounded, is brought to him. Pressing her passionately to his breast, he thinks with but more despair of his yet missing wife. The daughter had been by her side, but, separated from her by a burning beam that fell between them, she had after that lost sight of her mother. He attempts to return to the saloon the stairs leading to the garden have broken down under the weight of the fugitivesmany persons have fallen, been trampled under foot, and sorely wounded by falling spars. He sees the wife of his brother, whose jewels have been trampled out of her hair, dragged past him his looks fall upon a moaning form, revealed by the fearful illumination, whose dress has been burnt from her frame, and whose diadem is literally melted into her brow. It is the Princess Von der Leyen. A Swedish officer, who has just carried her from the saloon, assures him he has seen in the midst of the flames a form at once strange and terrible, which he believes to be the Princess Pauline, who had lingered to seek her children. Prince Joseph arrives at the entrance prepares to climb the burning steps, when, with a loud crash, the floor of the saloon gives way, and smoke and flames rise up from the ruins. All that were still there are lost. "The Prince of Schwarzenberg did not yet give up all hope. Who does not cling to it up to the moment of unavoidable certainty? Princess Pauline might have fled with friends. Messengers were sent in all directions. The Emperor, who, after accompanying the Empress car. back to her carriages and suite that were await- | Whom had he abased?- her nearest and dearing her in the Champs Elysees, had returned to esther country and her house. She was the the fire, despatched several persons of his own tribute of the vanquished, chained to the victor's train to gather information about the Princess. Whom was she required thenceforth to The whole neighbourhood, every corner of the trust, to cherish, and smile upon?— the people garden, even the yet glowing embers, were searched. Nowhere could a trace of her be who had shed her aunt's blood, and who, in her secret heart she perhaps suspected, would not, if circumstances prompted the deed, scruple to shed her own. Whom was she now to love and obey? him she had from childhood been taught to re found. and people. Too sudden and complete a revulsion of feeling and prejudice was demanded of her. What wonder if she did not fulfil expectations so overwrought. But where would Napoleon have found a Princess in Europe whose family and country he had not humiliated, and what needed he of Princesses? This was the greatest error of judgment he ever was guilty of, and Maria Louisa paid part of the penalty. "In the midst of this misery now burst forth a storm which had long been gathering. The lightning flashed in rapid succession, the thunder pealed awfully-rain fell in torrents, and extin-gard as the foe and oppressor of her country guished the last sparks of the fire. The Embassy hotel was preserved but by the utmost exertion. With the first rays of light next morning, the search was renewed. A mass of rubbish, charred beams, fragments of furniture, jewellery, bent swords, lay in confused heaps, many at the bottom of pools of dirty water. Half-covered with beams and coal, they found, after a long search, a shrunken and charred corpse. **A few rings and a necklace were found on the corpse. They were brought to the Ambassador, who was walking in the garden with a few persons, and he recognized the jewels as belonging to his sister-in-law. On the golden necklace the initials of her children were engraved, of whom she had eight-the ninth, yet unborn, shared her death. * "Above twenty persons perished in the flames - more than sixty were more or less injured. The Queen of Naples had sunk to the floor, and was saved by the Grande Duke of Wurtzburg. The Queen of Westphalia owed her safety to her husband and Count Metternich. The Russian Ambassador, Prince Kurakin, was borne, burning and insensible, from the crowd, by Doctor Koreff and some Austrian and French officers, and other officious hands extinguished his burning clothes with puddle water. On the whole, however, the ladies, whose dresses easily caught fire, were most hurt. "The solemn funeral of Princess Pauline of Schwarzenberg was followed by those of the Princesses Von der Leyen, Madame la Generale Touzard, and several other women of high sta tion, who, after fearful sufferings, died of their wounds in a very few days or weeks.” Thus crumbled, too, to ruins, the proud and glittering scaffolding of Napoleon's greatness thus faded and melted away from his grasp all the objects of his ambition. Did he think of this as he gazed on the falling throne on which he had so recently sat? Even the canopy of his domestic shrine was not to be more enduring than that which had just fluttered over his and his young bride's head. Many have been the reproaches cast at Maria Louisa; but the error lay in his choice, not in her following the natural dictates of her heart. The disparity of his years and habits had nothing to captivate a woman's fancy-his rough, soldierly manners nothing to flatter the Princess. How could she be justly expected to feel proud of his triumphs? This is a digression, but one to which the subject naturally leads. This book, whose sole interest rests on the development of strong and truthful affection, and the happiness that may spring forth from so pure a source, forces back upon the mind the many sad sacrifices which Princes are daily perpetrating on the shrine of policy, and the world in general on that of convenience; the bitter fruits of which we daily contemplate in the infringement or neglect of duty. One short passage does justice to Josephine's amiability, of which the Princess of Nassau had ample opportunities of judging during the Empress's sojourn of many months at Mayence, where her daughter Hortense, and her niece Stephanie, afterwards Duchess of Baden, attended her. Her solicitude for, and her pride in the Emperor, are forcibly depicted; but here a similarity of years, of birth, of fate, of country,-all conduced to create and enhance these feelings, as natural in her circumstances as they were little to be looked for in Maria Louisa's. No argument could speak more loudly against the unnatural system on which the alliances of sovereigns are based, than the result of natural impulse as exemplified in these pages, in the tranquil happiness the Princess enjoyed. It is quite refreshing to turn from the wedded misery which often awaits Princesses on their thrones, with uncongenial and unsympathizing spirits, to the evergreen freshness of this self-elected life. The eldest sister of the Princess, Caroline, Duchess of Anhalt Köthen, seems to have been less happy in her destiny - choice being out of all question in the case of such premature nuptials. The following passage suffices to give an insight into the attractions of that court, and the agrément which a young Princess was likely to find there: "The Princess of Anhalt Köthen, although married for more than a year and a half, was not yet seventeen, and the Prince, her husband, only three-and-twenty. They were, in all respects, very dissimilar. The Princess was almost childishly timid, of a delicate, slender form, with agreeable features, shaded by a profusion of dark hair of extraordinary beauty. The Prince was a handsome man too, but rough in manner, a passionate lover of the chase, and soon neglected his wife altogether. The The court of Köthen was at that time strangely organized, and must have offered to a Princess so young as Augusta of Nassau much that was quaint and amusing. At the very entrance of the somewhat dark-looking castle, one met with an eccentricity. Two live chained eagles majestically guarded the entrance. manner of life in the castle was a curious mixture of etiquette and laisser aller. At dinner, for instance, daily, as anecdotes about the chase formed the favorite topics of the Prince's conversation, the forest officers were invited, and placed at table without any distinction of rank. To effect this, the court-marshal preceded the guests with a bag in his hand, containing double numbers, gravely stood on the threshold of the dining apartment, and here drew the names and numbers, calling them aloud as he did so, and the society paired off to table just as chance directed. In this manner, it often happened that the Prince gave his arm to a lady of the court, whilst the Princess fell to a forester's lot. "A ball given in Princess Augusta's honor offered also many singularities; for instance, the presence of the large hunting hounds that accompanied the Prince everywhere, and were never absent from his balls. Very unceremoniously did these animals run into the legs of the dancers, among whom, to the infinite amusement of the Duke, they caused several upsets. Similar originalities were repeated in various excursions to the neighbouring Tagdschlosses, where the Nassau visiters were entertained. The Köthen court was, as most were at that time, numerous, and enlivened by having a young princely couple at its head. "The Prince's noisy hilarity on these occasions disturbed the dignity of the court, and diminished the agreeable impression which the pleasures of this sejour might otherwise have left." This unhappy marriage was dissolved by mutual consent, after the struggle of a few wretched years, which seem to have crushed the Princess' spirit forever. Augusta of Nassau further exemplified what a contented heart will do for longevity, by surviving her four sisters and her whole line extinct in the males in the person of her own father. She spent the latter years of her life in a palace at Carlsruhe, left by the dowager Margra- | vine of Baden, her sister. This seems from description to have been a very sweet retreat, where the solace of friendship, and the commu nion of thought, were never wanting. She died at the age of sixty-five, in the arms of him who was her first and her only love. One more little passage, referring to the awful catastrophe of Ninety-three, deserves, however, to be quoted. "When the Princess fled with her family to Vienna, during the French invasion, amongst her most lively reminiscences of that period is the brilliant ball at Princess Colloredo Mans field's, at which the Emperor Leopold, and all the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family, were present. In a moment of general enjoyment when the Emperor and the other august personages were figuring in the dance, came the news of the catastrophe of the 21st of January, 1793-the execution of Louis the Sixteenth. The Imperial court, deeply moved, left the ball immediately. Sorrow, horror, and indignation, were general, and the joyous fête closed in deep consternation. "A few days later, hawkers were crying about the streets of Vienna the trial and execution of Louis Sixteenth. The voice of these people, proclaiming the sad contents of their papers, was heard even in the vicinity of the palace, which caused an old lady well known in the higher circles for her wit, (the Countess of Sternberg,) to say-Princes have no relations, an opinion which appears justified, if not in regard to sentiment, at least to the policy of states." With this extract, we must close this slight sketch. Madame de Dalberg's book evidently suffers from that restraint which respect for one's self and others must impose on any writer who touches on contemporary events and persons. But even these imperfect glimpses time will invest with historical interest: for time is to memoirs what it is to wine-it heightens their value. Tait's Magazine. VALUE OF NOTORIETY. After all, a little literary reputation is of use here. I suppose Solomon, when he compared a good name to a pot of ointment, meant that it oiled the hinges of the hall doors into which the possessors of that inestimable treasure wished to penetrate. What a good name was in Jerusalem, a known name seems to be in London. If you are celebrated for writing verses, or for slicing cucumbers, for being two feet taller or two feet less than any other biped, for acting plays when you should be whipped at school, or for attending schools and institutions when you should be preparing for your grave—your notoriety becomes a talis66 an open Sesame," before which every man — thing gives way till you are voted a bore, and discarded for a new plaything. - Letter of Sir Walter Scott from London. |