25 AUGUST 1849, Page 16

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DR. TAYLOR'S HISTORY OF THE HOUSE OF ORLEANS.* Tux historical prominence, not to say predominance, of particular families in modern Europe, deserves more consideration than it has re- ceived. During the mythical ages, certain families bad an hereditary im- portance sufficient to render them conspicuous in fable or poetry, "mixed with auxiliar gods." Except, perhaps, among the puppet Kings of Sparta, the historical family had little existence in Greece. The patrician houses of Republican Rome possessed great power ; but it was a tangible power proportionate to the interest and wealth of the family and the number of its clients : the historical eminence attained was personal. Caesar laid the foundation of an historical family in the sense we speak of; but the failure of heirs, the decline of society, and perhaps the influ- ence of old Roman opinions, prevented its establishment : the Em- perors were individuals, depending upon the military, the state, and their own qualities. Some approach was made to the thing in the Byzantine empire, but not much more than in Oriental countries. The Ptolemies alone in ancient times rose to a prominence and permanence analogous to the princely house of the middle and modern ages.

It requires but a glance over European history to contrast the classical with the modern state of things, and mark how important a part is played by particular families. It would be tedious to reckon petty or extinct houses ; but look over long-established and existing states, and see how conspicuous is the family : the house of Hapsburg in Austria, of Branden- burg in Prussia, of Stuart in Scotland, of Braganza in Portugal, of Orange in Holland, of Bourbon in France, Spain, and Naples, of Rollo in Nor- mandy and England ; unless it be preferred to reckon the subdivisions of the old pirate's race as the Conqueror's descendants—the Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, and Brunswicks. The biographer in recording the story of these families would of necessity relate the history of the countries at whose head they were placed. The life and character of the most feeble or vicious among them derives importance and even interest from their in- fluence over nations for good or for evil, through the position in which they were placed, by what philosophy calls the " accident of birth." If we look to the permanence, the order, the solidity, and (compared with ancient times, not with abstract principles) the peace, security, and justice that obtain in civilized Europe, the hereditary will perhaps bear a favourable contrast with what may be called the rational principle, so far as experience yet extends.

This remarkable predominance of the family did not originate in the

efforts of any particular persons, but partly arose from the sys- tem of clans or tribes established among the Celtic and Teutonic races, partly from the military necessities of the Northmeu, and the system of occupation and settlement imposed upon all the barbarian invaders. The power of a sovereign house no doubt encouraged and maintained through- out society the importance of the family ; but had not the sovereign house originated in a social system where the family was of import- ance, it would have laboured in vain to impart that feeling which throughout the middle ages, and indeed till the rise of Pitt's monied in- terest, rendered family a matter of more than fashion. We need only look to the late election of the President in France, to see what importance still attaches to the permanence associated with the idea of a ruling house, in despite of philosophy, satire, revolution, and the total change in society effected by the confiscation of public and the distribution of private pro- perty. We say permanence, for loyalty could have nothing to do with the election, and prejudice not much.

Of the secondary princely houses that originated in this European idea, that of Orleans may rank among the first, for the importance of its position, the marked character of many of its members, and its histori- cal prominence; though its antiquity, and as yet its endurance, may not be equal to that of several other families. The title of Orleans is fre- quent and ancient in connexion with the blood-royal of France ; but the present house only dates from 1640, when its first head was born. He was the second son of Louis the Thirteenth by Anne of Austria. While scandal and political animosity questioned the legitimacy of Louis the Fourteenth, from his dignified person and resolute character, friendship and satire always maintained that the first Duke was a genuine Bourbon and true child of Louis the Thirteenth, from his effeminate habits and tastes. He had the personal courage of a prince, but "he loved only gaming, formal circles, good eating, and dress; in a word, all things that ladies love," said his second wife: but, though a smart writer, she was a sad lampooner, and perhaps perfectly indifferent to truth if she only grati- fied her caprice or pointed a period. The second Duke of Orleans was the celebrated Regent, whom Pope selected as one of the examples of human inconsistency, in the line which marked at once his infidelity and his cre- dulity—" A godless Regent trembling at a star." He is more conspicuous as an efficient cause the of the French Revolution. Succeeding to finances embarrassed to bankruptcy by the expenses and wars of Louis the Fourteenth, he aggravated the evil by his extravagance, his projects, and his patronage of Mississippi Law : the only efforts he made to extricate the country were by confiscation, or defrauding the public creditor. Indifferent himself to 'Reins, he rent the veil of decorum and etiquette which is Grand Monarque had thrown over his immo- ralities, and carried profligacy to a pitch of open indecency which destroyed such moral sense as was left to Paris. He is said to have missed the opportunity of laying the foundation of a constitutional monarchy by means of the Parliaments, (of which, indeed, he had held out hopes when it became necessary to gain the Parliament of Paris to rescind Louis the Fourteenth's will and appoint the Duke sole Regent) ;

Memoirs of the House of Orleans ; Including Sketches and Anecdotes of the most distinguished Characters In France during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. By W. Cooke Taylor, LL.D., Author of Romantic Biography of the Ago of Elite-

beth," $c. In time volumes. Published by Bentley.

but it may be doubted whether any substitute for an absolute monarchy could have been found save an oligarchy. Aiming at the crown of France in case of the death of Louis the Fifteenth, (feeble as a child,) Orleans broke up the policy of his uncle, abandoning the Stuarts, and uniting with England to resist the claims of his cousin of Spaitf to the French throne : a striking commentary upon the vanity of the phrase of Louis the Fourteenth when he took leave of his grandson—" the Pyrenees are removed."

The suspicion—not, it now appears, ill founded--with which the ocen- pants of the French throne regarded the design of the Orleanist branch, prevented their employment in public affairs. When the first Duke, notwithstanding his effeminacy, had gained some reputation in arms, Louis the Fourteenth recalled and would never afterwards employ him. The Regency of the second Duke was fettered by various restrictions,

only abrogated by means of Parliament. The third and fourth Dukes were doomed to obscurity by a like policy; the third, born in 1703, took

rather a pious turn ; the fourth, born in 1725, early distinguished him-

self as a soldier, and when this career was closed to him, was known for his patronage of art and science: both were comparatively respectable

men for princes of the old regime. The fifth and sixth are known to the world but too well ; the former as the celebrated Egalite, the latter as Louis Philippe late King of the French. Out of six heads of a family not monarchs by birth, yet almost prevented by birth from achieving histori- cal greatness, it is rare to find three such men as the Regent, Egaliti, and Louis Philippe; so distinguished for force or vice of character, so remarkable for vicissitude of fortune, and so well fitted "to point a moral or adorn a tale."

The females of the Orleans blood, or connected by marriage with the family, were as remarkable for variety of fortune and character as the

men. One daughter of the house was a Queen of Spain ; another died as

a simple religieuse; many, it is to be regretted, were more distinguished for profligacy than any other quality ; a widely-spread and widely- believed report attributed a Jocasta-like connexion to the Regent with one if not more of his daughters. The most celebrated Dutchesses were Henrietta of England, the first wife of the first Duke, and his second wife, whose memoirs have preserved for posterity such a picture of the Court and the times.

Dr. Taylor's Memoirs of this great house is a fair, readable, and well-executed work, but scarcely equal to the expectations that the sub-

ject would give rise to. This is in some measure owing to the plan, which mixes the separate memoirs of the members of the Orleans family too much together; and—a greater fault—the introduction of notices of con-

temporary persons, whose crimes or whose scandals were, out of the

common way. In addition, Dr. Taylor perhaps goes a little too far into the history of the time ; although when we consider how much some of the Dukes of Orleans were mixed up with public affairs, and how the house was directly concerned in the monarchy, it is difficult to draw the histo- rical line. Through these defects, the masses of the subject are but feebly presented, and its philosophy rather escapes. We think the execution, however, inferior to the plan ; perhaps its inferiority is the reason why the plan appears defective. Dr. Taylor's usual fluency and force are often missed ; nor does he well adapt his style to his subjects.

The early period consists, or is made to consist, of little more than stories of intrigue and profligacy. Interest can only be imparted to such narra- tives by one of three modes,—the gentlemanly facetious style of the man of the world, who looks more at the folly or frailty of the thing than at its vice ; the wittily sarcastic manner of the satirist, like Voltaire, who brings out into bold relief the corruption and profligacy of the great; or the stern indignation of the moralist. Dr. Taylor is neither of these, but, on the other hand, is somewhat tame and unmoved. He censures the conduct, but rather in terms of course; while the necessity of refining the original stories, to meet the improved taste of the present day, fre- quently reminds one of Sheridan's remark on the old comic writers, that in removing the vice you destroy the 'vigour. In the life of Egalite, Dr. Taylor is of necessity subjected to a comparison with the many con- siderable authors who have treated his character and career. New facts of importance could not be found : a new view is given by a more lenient if not a more impartial judgment on Egalite's character ; bat without much success. The incidents in the life of Louis Philippe are as well known as those of his father ; but Dr. Taylor presents the history of his reign in addition, closing the narrative with the escape to England. The familiar character of the transactions lends them some interest, and the narrative is better done than in the earlier parts of the family story ; but there is no novelty or depth about it. The review does not rise above a re- spectable article in a periodical. The most interesting section of the whole is the history of the Regent. His licentiousness was such that, described as mildly as may be, it is impossible to strip his orgies and his friends of

character. His policy, though mischievous in its effects to France, was

at least distinct and tangible ; and he himself without doubt was the most gifted of his family, as well in natural ability as in acquirements. The history is less trite than that of Egalite and his kingly son : the form of memoirs enables the author to sink historical particulars, and to depict manners and modes. Take for example this more detailed picture than history permits of the meeting of the Parliament of Paris, imme- diately after the death of Louis the Fourteenth, when for almost the first and only time the Parliament acted as coequal and coiirdinate with the Crown, at least as represented by a Regent.

"Every visiter to Paris has been brought by the vexation of passports, or by a desire of visiting that beautiful specimen of architecture La Sainte Chapelle, to the Palais de Justice, the seat of the great courts of law. Ilere was situated the

great chamber where the Parliament of Paris assembled when in solemn session. From the pictures and plans now before us, it appears to have been a large and

lofty saloon, at the upper end of which was a throne in the form of a bed, covered rich crimson velvet, embroidered with crowns of gold and furnished with rich cushions: this was his Majesty's bed of justice. To the right, in a niche of carved wood-work, was a sculptural crucifixion; and on the left was &statue of the Virgin in rich robes, with a garland in her hand. The saloon was furnished with seats and benches, luxuriously covered; and in the four corners were lanterns, or boxes of curiously carved wood-work, for the reception of foreign ambassadors and princes, or the ladies of the Royal Family who might wish to hear the debates. "On the morning of the 2d of September 1715, a large crowd had assembled in front of the Palais de Justice; so early as seven o'clock the carriages of the Dukes and Peers began to arrive. The Magistrates for the most part came in sedan-chairs; but several of the older adherents to ancient customs arrived on ambling mules—quiet animals which no provocation could induce to strike into a trot. As the members arrived, they were shown into a suite of refreshment- rooms; where they partook of breakfast, and discussed the ceremonial to be used at the reception of the Duke of Orleans. All the streets leading to the Pallas de Justice were lined with the household troops; and strong detachments of the same force occupied all the courts and passages of the building itself, ready at the first signal of the Due de Guiche to stand to their arms and intimidate the Parlia- ment, if necessary by force, into conferring the Regency on the Duke of Orleans. "The season was beautiful: the bright beams of an autumnal sun streaming through the casements, imparted a marked brilliancy to the rich costumes of the Dateless, and the crimson robes of the Magistrates, as they were marshalled from the refreshment-rooms to their places in the saloon. The Duke of Orleans, as first Prince of the Blood, took his seat at the right of the bed of justice; and on the same level with him sat the Duc de Bourbon, the Prince of Conde, and the two legitimated Princes, the Duc de Maine and the Count of Toulouse. Two heralds-at-arms, bearing maces, marshalled the Duke of Orleans to his place; and when he had taken his seat, the first President, De Mesmes, arose, bowed to him, and standing uncovered, addressed him in the following terms."

A sketch of this body, on which so many seem to think a consti- tutional monarchy might have been founded, may be quoted as an ex- ample of the more historical part of Dr. Taylor's work.

" The organization of the Monarchy under Louis XIV. presented an aggrega- tion of institutions, all of which were designed to maintain the despotic power of the King. The Parliament had been wholly restricted to judicial functions; it had not even the right of remonstrance before registering edicts; it was bound to yield implicit anbrinssion to the letters patent of the King. At the death of Louis XIV. it consisted of sixty-two members, and was divided into three chambers: the first, or Grand Chamber, discussed affairs of state and political arrangements ; the second, called La Chambre des Enquetes, took cognizance of appeals from the Chatelet and other inferior jurisdictions; the third, La Chambre des Tournelles, was composed of stern and austere magistrates, who examined prisoners by the rack or other forms of torture. At the bar of each of these chambers the royal officers attended, to witness the registration of royal edicts, and to tender advice in the name of the Sovereign.

" As a political agency, the Parliament was divided into three very distinct sections. We must first notice the Clerical Councillors, selected from the ecclesi- astical body. In the middle ages—those days of chivalry and barbarism, of prowess and ignorance, when the Barons could not read a charter or write their own names—the noble warriors bad been compelled to invite the clergy, the only educated persons of the time, to aid them in deciding causes and registering edicts. Their superior learning enabled the clergy by degrees to engross the chief power of the state; but the civil wars of the League had been fatal to their ascendancy; and from the time that Henry IV. had been secure on the throne, the influence of the hierarchy in the Parliament had continued to decline. Next to the clergy were the lawyers or Civil Councillors, almost all of whom had sprung from the middle class, being sons of barristers or notaries. The history of such jurists as Aguesseau, Joly de Fleury, Lamoiguon, Pasquier, Mole, and the President De Mesmes, shows them to have been the sons of inferior members of the legal pro- fession. Few were descended from illustrious houses; for who was the young noble that did not prefer the plumed helmet and brilliant mail of the warrior to the mortar-cap and red robe of the Parliament? AU these Presidents and Civil Councillors were men of intelligence and erudition, proud of their profession, band- ed together by mutual interests, and anxious to perpetuate their professional dig- nity in their families. It was a prerogative of race to have had a seat in Parlia- ment; and those seats were as regularly purchased as estates. " Independently of the clerical members and judicial functionaries, there was a Parliament of nobles who sat as Dukes and Peers ; the dutchy-peerages were no- minated by the King, and gave the right of sitting in Parliament to certain fiefs hereditary in great families. But they only used this privilege on occasions of great solemnity, because otherwise there would have been eternal disputes about precedents and prerogatives. It was an exhaustless subject of controversy to de- cide whether coronets should hold the first rank, or whether they were to be placed side by side with the mortar-caps. Then it was also a moot point whether Dukes and Peers should wear their swords during the Parliamentary session, and whether their chief should wear his hat as the Civil President did his mortar-cap. It must have been a brilliant spectacle to see the old French Parliament assem- bled; the Councillors in their scarlet robes; the Dukes and Peers in gorgeous mantles, laced gauntlets, and plumed hats, from which escaped the lappets of enormous periwige, similar to that worn by the Speaker of the English House of Commons.

" The union of Clerical and Lay Councillors with the Dukes and Peers caused lawyers to assert that the Parliament represented the three orders of the States- General, and that it ought to have all their legislative prerogatives. Countless volumes were written on the subject: privilege of Parliament' was a watchword and rallying-cry in France, which all the authority of Louis XIV. was unable to stifle. The example of England was contagions: men involuntarily compared the Parliament at Westminster with the mockery that held its sittings in the Palais de Justice; and the impulse given to such ideas by the great Revolution of 1688 was one of the chief causes of the intense hatred with which Louis XIV. regarded that event and all its consequences. If the French did not openly demand a free discussion of all political affairs, they insisted on their right to remonstrate, and to refuse the registration of edicts; an ancient privilege claimed by all the Par- liaments of France."

In all this the reader will observe, that two great elements of the British Parliament were wanting,—a landed gentry, and a town middle class. Their germs doubtless existed in France ; but with embarrassed finances, the low state of morals, the power and prejudices of the territorial nobility and the noblesse de robe, it is not easy to see how it Could have been developed.

The house of Orleans has been unlucky in its deaths : the family would almost seem to have been doomed. The first Dutchess was poisoned; the eldest daughter of the house, Maria Louisa Queen of Spain, was poisoned Ms; the last Duke was, in our day, killed by accident ; the first Duke was struck down by apoplexy in the midst of courtesans, and died in the Presence of cooks and scallions; the fifth Duke perished on the scaffold,— brought thither, no doubt, by his own conduct. The Regent, in like manner, was death-stricken in the very vigour of maturity, for he was un- der *. ".The effects of dissipation soon appeared: the Duke lost his rest and his ap- petite; hie face became of a dark purple hue, with blotches of red, with excited among his friends and physicians. It was observed by the Secretaries of State that he was utterly unfit for business in the morning, being so atupified as

, 'earesly to recognize their weans, much less attend to their communications. Chirac, his physician, warned him of the danger be courted, and recommended greater temperance and moderation, declaring that otherwise apoplexy was inevita- ble. The Duke was aware of the danger, but continued his extravagant indul- gences, and reasoned with cool scepticism on the causes of life and death, and on the void of the tomb.

"Saint Simon having visited the Duke one morning, was much alarmed at the lethargic state in which he found him. He knew that advice and remonstrances would be useless, and he went home in despair. He communicated his fears to the Bishop of Frejus, and pointed out the necessity of determining who should succeed Philip of Orleans as Prime Minister. The finances still remained in a state of great confusion; and if we are to believe Voltaire, the Duke of Orleans had resolved to invite Law to return and renew once more the experiment of paper money. The Duc de Bourbon was believed to have the same design; and it was to prevent his being appointed Prime Minister, in case of a vacancy, that Saint Simon held secret consultations with the Bishop of Frejus.

"The last mistress of the Duke of Orleans was the young and beautiful Dutch- ass of Phalaria or Phalaria, descended from the noble family of the Harancourts, in Dauphiue. Her husband was the son of a farmer-general, named Gorge, who had been ennobled by Pope Clement XL for his successful negotiation of some important loans. She was only nineteen, and the Duke of Orleans was forty- nine; but notwithstanding this disparity of age, she consented to abandon her husband and family, and to become his avowed mistress. None of his previous favourites bad loved him so sincerely. She preferred his conversation to all the pleasures of the Court: she spent entire days in his cabinet when he was engaged with his ministerial ditties, and accompanied him in the evening when he retired to his sybarite seclusion at St. Cloud.

" The winter of 1723 was one of great severity. The health of the Duke of Orleans had grown very feeble during the autumn; and according to some au-

thorities' ' had an apoplectic fit in September. Chirac visited him frequently during November; and on the 29th of that month, was so much alarmed by the symptoms he observed, as to require him to submit to immediate bleeding. The Duke replied, Not yet, not yet, my dear Chirac; I have not time to put myself into your hands today: but on Monday, my dear doctor—on Monday, my dear doctor—on Monday, I shall be at your service. "Oa Oa Monday, the 2d of December, Chirac again presented himself; but the epi- curean prince insisted on further delay. Wait until tomorrow, my good doctor; I wish to enjoy my dinner today, and I have to attend the King on important public affairs in the evening.' Chirac remonstrated in his usual harsh and unconethating manner: but this only served to confirm Philip of Orleans in his resolution. He dismissed Chirac, declaring that he had more confidence in his cook than in his physician; and, as if to give force to this bravado, indulged on that day more freely in thepleasures of the table than ho had done for mouths before. "After dinner, he retired into a saloon which he had recently furnished most sumptuously for the Dutchess of Phalaris, to have some conversation with his beautiful mistress before waiting on the King. A private staircase led from this saloon to the door of the King's closet ; and the Duke sent his secretary round by the public gallery to meet him at this door when the hour of audience arrived. On entering the apartment, he found the Datcheas preparing for a ball, her curl- ing locks hanging loose on her shoulders, and her dressing-gown not laid aside. He sat down upon a sofa; and she, taking a low stool, placed herself at his feet! her head reposing upon his knees. After a short pause, he said to her, My fair friend, I am quite worn out with fatigue this evening, and have a stupifyiog head- ache: tell me one of those lively stories which you relate so welL' The young lady, looking up into his face with childish coquetry, and assuming a m smile, began with, There was once upon a time a king and a peep.' She had scarcely uttered the words when the Duke's head sank suddenly on his breast, and he fell sideways on her shoulder. As he was sometimes accustomed to take a brief nap in this position, the lady for a second or two felt no alarm; but when she saw his limbs grow stiff, after quivering with convulsion, she sprang to the bell, and rang it violently. No one replied. She rushed into the outer apartments: they were deserted; and it was not until she reached the court-yard that her cries attracted the attention of a few domestics. Chance had so arranged that the ac- cident occurred at a time when everybody was either occupied or out visiting. It was more than half an hour before any medical man made his appearance, and by that time the Duke was quite dead. The body was laid on the carpet, and some attempts were made at bleeding; but they proved ineffectual."