Memoirs of the Prince de Talleyrand. With a Preface by
the Duc de Broglie. Translated by Mrs. Angus Hall. Vol. V. (Griffith, Farran, and Co.)—This volume concludes, not much, we fancy, to the regret of the public, the Talleyrand Memoirs, certainly one of the greatest literary disappointments of the age. One remembers years ago anticipating the feast of good things that were to be enjoyed when the prescribed half-century had passed, and com- pares the hope with the fulfilment. It is not that the work has not a certain value. It will certainly be a valuable book of reference to the student of history hereafter. But it is so different from all that had been expected. The editor devotes his preface to the vindication of M. de Bacourt's good faith, and, by implication, to the authenticity of the Memoirs. This, indeed, is, it seems to us, put beyond question by internal evidence. Not to go into details, it may fairly be urged that no forger would have dreamt of forging documents so disappointing. This volume contains Parts 'cf. and xii., carrying on the narrative down to 1834, when Talleyrand left London. This was in August, shortly after France, England, and Portugal had agreed to inter- vene in Spain, which was then distracted by the civil war between the partisans of Queen Isabella and of Don Carlos. Three months later he resigned his Ambassadorship. "Thanks to you, Sire," he writes in his letter of resignation to King Louis Philippe, "I have won for the Revolution of July the right of citizenship in Europe." The volume contains a memoir of the Duc de Choiseul, with a curious account of the rise of Madame du Barry.
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