THE CONSPIRATORS

Is not, as the title might imply, a single fiction, but a collection of tales. The three first relate to the wars of the Empire, and the festering intrigues continually carried on against the power of NA- POLEON IV the Republicans and the Royalists. The scene of the fburth story is laid in Ireland, during the period of its political dis- turbances. The fifths is a tale of the Moors and Spaniards, when the _Moslem sway was supreme at Granada.

In all these fictions Mr. Q,CILLINAN displays considerable powers a good knowledge and conception of character, a keen eye for the beauties of nature, a vigorous and mostly a rapid style of narrative, with a more masterly knowledge of the events of life, and more skill in weaving them into a story, than we have often met with. In his two first tales, he has also opened up a new vein, which en- aisles him to turn some peculiar knowledge to account. A military man, as we infer, he describes the passing incidents of war, and the characters of people drawn into its vortex, civilians as well as soldiers, with spirit and truth, without giving them undue promi- nence. The scenery and manners of the people, Portuguese and Swiss, amongst whom he has laid his two principal stories, appear finniliztr to him; and are, like his war-pictures, described with effect, or rather they are interwoven with the texture of his stuff, forming a very part of it. These praises cannot be extended, with- out limitation, to his dialogues and descriptions of scenery ; for he occasionally pursues both somewhat too far.

But the most striking point of' this wcrk, though not of the greatest circulating-library interest, is the use made of the con- spiracies against NAPOLEON. It is known from the Histories of the War, as well as from the Wellington Despatches, that in Portugal the French army under SOULT was distempered by two internal disorders. The Marshal aimed at making himself King; and the loyal fbllowers of NAPOLEON were jealously watching him, deter- mined to seize him if' he did : another and more numerous body were Jacobinical zealots of Equality, and hated the Emperor and his Marshals alike, considering them as unpriucipled adventurers, who had cheated the French and the world out of liberty, under the hypocritical pretence of advancing it ; and their object was to overturn both Etuperor and nobles, and establish a pure republic. This society (for a society it was) ramified into other armies, per- haps throughout the grand mantle ; and the fears its suspected ex- istence inspired could not but have a paralyzing effect. Other Marshals besides Sotosr, and the mushroom brother Kings, had their own particular objects, and their private quarrels ; and the Royalist conspiracies and intrigues arc historical, though overt acts on the part of the discontented Republicans arc doubtful. It is not that these things are new, or that Mr. Quira.ixiss: confines himself strictly to history ; but he has. turned these materials to a new use in fiction ; and he indicates more distinctly than we have felt it before, the hollowness of Nsem.nos's power at the highest point of his elevation, and the Damocles-like feast at which he sat with the sword constantly hanging over his head. Haunted as RAPP in 1301IRRIENNE describes him, by the dread ofassassination—know- ing that two great parties, the Royalists and Republicans, hold him in abhorrence, and with one hatching conspiracies that only accident and vigilance detected, the other suspected of {brining plans, which, though baffled never could be traced—his prosperity ceases to be a source of envy, or his headstrong career of wonder. He could not but feel, that with such enemies in his camp and kingdom, reverses which should destroy the prestige of his fortune and the terror of his mune, would raise against him a host of foes, beneath whose plots or emboldened strength he would most probably fall. And the moral deducible from all this is, that " honesty is the best policy" ; or, if politicians cannot rise to that trite maxim, that their safety and their power can only be sueured by connecting themselves with some great principle, and struggling for purposes not altogether selfish. There is another and a nearer consideration for " the most thinking people." The elements of that Repuldican principle must be widely spread and strongly operating in France, which neither the glory of Narot.s.ces could dazzle nor his power control; despite of the misevics of the wars of' the Empire, and the experi- ence of the two Allied Occupations, sprouts up again on the first opportunity, to drive out the elder Bourbons ; tied which, in the midst of profound peace, and with all the assistance of foreign friends, has tasked the prudence and sagacity of Louis POILLIPLI to the utmost to restrain. It is the fitshion among a class of sem- lists to sneer at the effects of the French philosophers as confined to their own generation : the itilluence of minds like VOLTAIRE'S and the Encyclopaedists' is not so limited whether for good or evil,

and the seed they sowed seems to be still germinating. Looking back at the past and round on the present, it seems impossible to

conclude that the play is over—that we are not actors its a drama whose catastrophe is yet hidden. If' the apostles of the " Trinity of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity," as the fimaties irreverently called it, should again go forth to preach their doctrines at the

point of the sword, the prospect, whatever it may be for the "peoples" of Europe, will be any thing but pleasant for their princes ; and fearful will be the responsibility of those rhetorical politicians who have contributed to this turn of fortune in the tragedy of life.

Reverting to Mr. QuneeNex's volumes, the first story, " The Sisters of the Douro," is a love-tale of a British offiet.er and a port gu c Fe lade, whose sister is entangled in an attacinnent to a French Colonel, who had saved her honour in the plunder of Oporto. This man is a distinguished Philadelphian, or Republi- call ; and is well drawn hi his disguises, capitally in his natural character. The mixture of licence with a high sense of what is called honour—his utter want of principle, combined with a fitful generosity, a reckless good-humour, and a passionate temperament prompting to ;sudden violence or sudden tears—are all alike French. We will let him give a touch of himselt, in an extract from a letter he writes to the lady of his love on decamping.

" A. difference of opinion with Captain Stanisforth :Lent this affair, drew me into an engagement to follow him, and settle our little quarrel by the sword. Judge what it must have cost me to revisit Teixeira. I do not speak of the personal dangers to which such a course exposed me, but of the mental tortures which I was to endure on revisiting the place of your abode ! Your abode, Leonora! But my honour was in question. Regulus returned to Carthage, and Atmuste Champlemonde was to return to Teixeira. It is done. I have suffered, and still soffit., more torments than Punic revenge could ever have inflicted. But my honour is redeemed. " Farewell, lovely 'franc:: ca a :el lovely and beloved Leonora. Oh ! raptures, hero, illusions, ruing thoughts nod bounding aspirations after beauty, fare- well, ffireitell for ever I I cult this regretted-land, never to see it more ; for though complied to resign the object of my passion, I will never more draw' a sword against the countrymen of Leonora. "Let me then claim your forgiveness, charming Leonora; and let me even hope that we part in friendship, and that you will remember me with kindness. Arc you inexorable ? Are you still incredulous of my sincerity ? AL, cruel beauty ! judge better, then, of the motives of action of your : learn the truth, and appreciate with candour the frank energy of my character, and the loyalty with which I have respected you. I have a wife and family in France! Farewell, farewell !

"Receive the assurances of the most distinguished consideration of AUGUSTE VIIAMPLEMONDE."

The scene of "The Royalist," the second talc, is laid in Switzer- land: anti though the conspiracies of the Republicans are indi- cated, and the hero is plotting for the Bourbons, the prominent feature is lloree's defence of the Tyrol. As a novel, this tale is the most interesting of the three, perhaps of the whole : for in "The Sisters of the Douro" the subject is too slight, and the incidents, till we reach the close, too commonplace for fiction; be- sides which, the tale itself sometimes halts fur extrinsic matters. The :Van without a Name," which is the third tale, is less of a novel thee an historical narrative, or disquisition; though, dramatic scenes being introduced, it is difficult to separate what is authentic from what is fictitious. But in " The Royalist," the history only gives variety ; the accessories of landscape and manners are managed with considerable skill; the story is interesting, and well sustained, without being overwrought ; and the character of Sraees, the German student eho attempted the assassination of Naeorafox at Vienna, is cleverly introduced, and drawn with consummate art. The metier in which enthusiasm verges upon part nil insanity, and finally ends in it, is traced with a master-hand; the only objection to the consistency atile whole being, that in the case of the fictitious Stapps, the physician; would have traced more obvious derange- ment than they were able to do in that of the actual assassin. " The Rangers of' Connaught," and " The Meor of Andalusia," are tales of much less skill and less variety than " The Royalist," and of less matter and novelty than " The Sisters of the Douro," or " The Man without a Name • " though they will perhaps be perused by regular a novel-readers with more zest than the abler productions. " The Rangers of Connaught " displays, indeed, considerable know- ledge of Irish charecter and Irish life, with less of coarseness than their portrayel usually possesses; but the persons of the tale are too peculiar to lead to a eatisfying conclusion. As one great merit. of Mr. QUILIANAN consists in the relative fitness which the parts of his work bear to the whole, any quota- tions will scarcely tlo hlin justice, because the better passaeee can- not be appreciett unless the reader is acquainted with the ante- cedents. A few extracts may give an example of his manner, and of not much more.

AN 101511 LANDScArr.

Tyreragli is a tract e' (emery on the North-western coast of Ireland. .k strau,,,er. first visitie:f it in the winter-season, might imagine that Le hid pene- trated to the very region el desolation. It is thinly sprinkled with dwellings, and those are not of the nose foaling appearance• Fete tree, r green fences are to Le11411111 its mountain-boundaries; low loose walls of gray stone drearily hi:riser t the firma : but the soil is good ; its corn-fields are as pro- ductive as sitit'olhee pastures are as green as the valley of F rseren. The dark 'eights with which it is diversified have an air of gloomy greatness, that overshadows the stranger's mind with inelaneholy. II ere mid there, however, their severity is softened by the yellow I.loom ot the times, or the warm tints or ,ilioo, 1,;.,11,3 which give shelter to many packs of grouse. There ;iro steep, broken acdivilics, :and stony caverns, the abodes of Idols of prey in the:, keights; and the,:llentsmall is not only often annoyed by the bleating of the heathereock—the signal-warning to his mate and brood of the presence of an enemy or the approach of a storm—but he is occasionally as- sailed by the screams of the vulture ur the eagle, that denounces hint as the invader Of its rights. Tnorut.es or 01.1) AND Torso.

We often hear the old mid the middle-aged speak with contempt of the rows of yoni " The young." they suy, " can have few real griefs. It is for us, experienced in human difficulties, and burdened with many char,res. to Complain of the cares of life." There is more of overweening sell.- love thou of true philosophy in this proposition. Experience in the world is too apt to chill and to contract the heart, deadening its generous sympathies, and narrowing its affections. As we increase in age we ripen in selfishness; and hence it is that the old think so little of the calamities of the young and so much of their own.

With the various evils and reverses of fortune to which mankind are liable, the out are of course more familiar than the young ; but they are not therefore more entitled to the gloomy privilege of acquaintance with care. Adversity takes many shapes ; and those ideal ones in which it often appears to the fan- ciful and sensitive minds of youth, arc not the least terrible of' its forms, nor the less baneful in their effects on happiness because the cold eye of age can dis- enchant them of their horrors.

There is no kind of misfortune which is thought it ft ivolous by the old as a young person's first disappointment in her :auctions: but there is neither cha- rity nor justice in this idea. A young and guileless woman, for instance, won, by atniahls qualities, pos:silily real, probiffily imaginary, yields up her heart to its first passion, imperceptibly to herself; perhaps, :oat secretly from all but the favoured object, who is never wholly deceived. Iler tenderness, modest, yet most earnest, is for ever folding or creating in him some new quality in which. to glory. Ile is her daily thought and nightly dream; fir more, lie it conceded, than any earthly t l object should ever be. Her native delicacy at times- reproaches her that he.o. heart should be thus absorbed in a sentiment which her tongue would rat dare to confess. Pic sit uggles to subdue it, and it conquers her : and more than ;ever she cherishes it in lief inmost soul—in a soul still hallowed by good and spotless thoughts, and into which the earthly idol was not admitted till treed by her fancy from the dross of Lumen frailty and endowed with more Il.an mortal attributes. her life is hound up in Lim; and the hope of youth, that sweet false prophet, whispers it a life of almost cloudless serenity. At that confiding moment, probably, the storm is nearest. It breaks, and overwhelms her. The interdiction, well or ill-judged, of parents- -the falsehood or misforttme of the lover—blights the young promise of her mind, and blights it perhaps fur ever. This is no uncommon case ; but the poor victim of disappointment, thus crushed where her sensibility was keenest, Las no claim to the pity of the wise and aged, because "she has sustained no real loss, incurred none of the real cares of life!" A wider charity affords it juster view.

TOADS' SICSIC.

Stanisforth stood awl:Ile enjoying, time lovely prospect, and listening to the chirping, gralos, whnsr nnriad VuiCCS, blended into Wit, were far from julienne- nious, while the whistling cry of the toad not unnielodiolkay aided their concert. "The melody of the toad's voice I " exclaims the reader: " surely the writer of such extravagance roust be a madman I " Gentle reader, you are ungentle be is not mad ; and he has withal a mo- derately just sense of liarmany. It is much Inure true of this ugly reptile that he has a sweet voice, at certain seasons and in certain moods unknown, titan that lie has " a precious jewel in his head." The sound alluded to is like the fall of heavy drops of rain from trees after the shower into a smooth water; and not unlike to, though much softer than the pipe of the startled snipe, wheu he mounts up the wind and whistles defiance to the cooler. This is one of the sinall ia;tsteries of nature, which those who roam in lonely places, and who have ears, may hear if they will use them.

MILITARY SET DINNERS.

Stanisforth was struck by the formality of the party ; for, with one or two exceptions, there were no careless pleasant talkers : oven the General was now starch and stately ; there was a repression of the notional vivacity which would have been chilling to Stanisfarth, but for the attentive courtesy to himself, by which the dulness was relieved. A hand of military musicians in the ante- room ;,Is , o..•rtalit service in passing the dinner off. But such arc seldom vac when a stranger is present. Witness oar own, 5, mac the General is lisoady as pompously step1,1 as possible ; where the aide-ramps invite you to take wine 113 it' they were propounding some affair of strategy ; where profound nothings are asked with solemnity, and as deep no- meanings oracularly responded: dinners of stsif-smiles mot still' neckcloths. But though the French repast was long, the sitting after it title sport: coffee was introduced, and 33011 afterwards the party broke up.

:NA ent.LoN is no favourite of our author, and perhaps his assertion . the following ollowing passage may be doubted ; leer it' General BuSAI'ARTE had no romance in his character, sonec of his aspirations were very romantic ; and he had to the last a rhetoric which smacked of any thing rather than soberness of mind. However, hear Mr Qum-. LIN AN- " lit the character of Napoleon Bonaparte there was not an atom of what is

termed his ge111113 :11111 ambition, though equally vast, were the dis-

ciplined a yids of a thoughtful und resolute se:, iove. ltis s cry heroism was more of a mathematical principle than a frrvent impulse; and when lie most startled the world into eerful admiration, he was but working out an answer

to -,roe stmliously-considered prof lees of seif-aggyandizement. Men, with

tlr.ir :Owe, physical and moral. their energies ;ma their passions, preju- &see. aelmians, enthusiasm, were to him but 113 file) In Seidl the Laze on that

;Alta:. of aut";,ition of NI hich he was Itimseif at once the priest and deity. As fel:ow-creatures he seareily regarded them ; for. front the hot "thlysday of

I,-!i. if not sooner, till the autumnal night of Moscow, it' nor fat r, when he

left the flaming Kremlin, he seemed to Imo.■:.,..,ous that he was himself a created and responsible being,

" let not silly are the prominent team.- rotmee is. but flare is at least one (ire ainsiance in deep shadow 1..1.: rto little noticed or unerstood, of so marvellous a kin: be treated as a mere (re:Ilion of fancy, it it were not sullied delphian Co:-piracy', which haunted i • that or his flat.

" lt s origin is attributable to the v, llonapai te's mind ; for, from the t: . :at ed—tiiis is, the Phila. CI, hour of his elevation ta f human stinpathies in