RECOLLECTIONS OF THE PRIVATE LIFE OF GENERAL LAFAYETTE.
THIS is not a life, but an (doge, in which the character of the deceased patriot is painted couleur de rose, and without the ad- mission of a single shade which would indicate the smallest human failing. The author is a medecin, who appears to have been professionally connected with LAFAYETTE and his family : and the desire of making his tribute to the great man's memory perfectly acceptable to his surviving relatives, is sufficiently appa- rent throughout the volume. It is in the form of letters, ad- dressed to an American admirer of LAFAYETTE; and is written in a diffuse and rambling style, and with a total disregard of every thing like method or arrangement. It contains no narrative of the General's life, but consists of dissertations on different points of his character, sparingly intermingled with anecdotes, introduced without any chronological order ; and the volume is eked out by a description of his country residence of Lagrange, and of the fur- niture and ornaments of his house, occupying above fifty pages, and done in the precise style of GEORGE ROBINS'S catalogues. A Life of LAFAYETTE, written by himself, might have been a valuable addition to those memoires pour semir ri thistoire in which French literature is so rich. He was deeply involved in the events of the first Revolution ; and appears, from the conflicting influences in his mind—of enthusiasm for liberty, aristocratic pre- dilections, and personal regard for the Royal Family—to have be- trayed an infirmity of purpose which probably but precipitated the atrocities which he feebly endeavoured to prevent. In the second Revolution, his vanity and credulity made him an easy tool of the astute Louis PHILIP; who having first deceived him, was able to turn his reputation V political honesty to good account in de- ceis ing the nation. LAFAYETTE'S own account of his share in all these transactions would have contained curious matter. A book like the present, which merely shows that he was a good-natured, honest, and benevolent individual, can have little interest beyond the circle of his family and friends.
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