from an unknown cause Saint Hyacinthe exploded against Voltaire, accused him of ignorance of French, and revived the memories of certain canings said to have been administered on the person of Voltaire by an officer of the name of Beauregard. But Voltaire could not be lampooned with impunity, as Saint Hyacinthe found out to his cost. When he left London for Paris, in the year 1734, he found himself on his arrival there without literary friends or allies; that Voltaire had made Paris too hot for him. He then retired to Genecken, near Breda, continued his literary occupations, and died there, 1746. So much for the author of "Prince Titi "- -a writer who, having measured swords with Voltaire himself, and whose first essay in literature having been attributed to Fontenelle, could not with justice or propriety be designated "a bookseller's hack." It would be altogether beside our purpose to mention in detail the various works which proceeded, during a series of years, from his fertile pen. A list of them, together with the facts of his life, as set forth above, may be found in Didot's "Biograph. Générale," under the name Saint Hyacinthe. We are now concerned only with the "Mémoires du Prince Titi." These appeared at first with this title: "Histoire du Prince Titi. A. R. a Paris chez la veuve Pissot, Quai de Conti, à Croix d'or. 1736. Avec Approbation et Privilége du Roi," pp. 274, 12mo. In 1752 there appeared a fourth edition: "Histoire du Prince Titi. A. R. quatrième edition. 3 vols. small 8vo. Paris chez la veuve Pissot, 1752." Whether they were published again in other editions we know not. Of the first edition of this book two English translations were advertised in the monthly lists for February, 1736, of the "Gentleman's" and "London Magazine." "The Memoirs and History of Prince Titi. Done from the French. By a person of Quality. Printed for A. Dodd, price is. 6d." "The History of Prince Titi: a Royal Allegory in 3 parts. With an Essay on Allegorical Writing and a Key. By the Hon. Mrs. Stanley. Adorned with cuts, price 35., sewed." This was the title of Curl's translation as advertised; when published it was the following :-" The History of Prince Titi. A Royal Allegory. Translated by a Lady. Qui capit, Me facit. London. Printed for E. Curl, 1736, price 3s." Whether the other translation advertised by A. Dodd ever appeared, we know not, and think it futile to inquire. But in order to exhibit the true character of the "Histoire du Prince Titi," we think it expedient to give a rather lengthy extract from the "Essay on Allegoric or Characteristic Writing," by Mrs. Stanley : P. x. "Little I think could any one have imagined, that this fairy tale of Prince Titi should have any existence but in Fairy land It is my confirmed opinion that the author, whom I am credibly informed is Monsieur Saint I * * * * *, meant no other than a moral entertainment, his characters are allegorized, nominally, from the crown to the cottage. And if hypochondriacs are to turn judges, it is a most undoubted truth that the blackest conspiracies, which were ever formed against all the Kings and Princes on the Terrestrial Globe, may be plainly discovered in Æsop's Fables' and 'Reynard the Fox.' "Let us now inquire into the signification of the names made use of in this history, viz: "L'enfant Titi, is the pretty infant. "L'Eveille, is a person lively and watchful. "Bibi, in Arabic signifies, my Love or my Dear. "Forteserre, is one who will gripe, hold his own. "Abor, father of Bibi, maintains the character of a faithful and affectionate parent. "Triptillon, brother of Titi, shows his dexterity in being too sharp for his play-fellows. "Ginguet, bears the interpretation of weak or spiritless wine, which cannot intoxicate any here. "Tripasse, is a good housewife or complete œconomist in all family affairs. 66 Blanche, brune: is white and brown, or Princess Brunetta. "The old lady; it appears, is a professed sorceress. "Prince Titi's history is thus explained, In which no Kingdom, Town or City's named ; "Whitehall, "Feb. 20, 1736." Enough has been given to show the character of the book, which Mr. Croker endeavoured, with great elaboration, to identify with the Memoirs, which were said to have been written, either by Prince Frederick or by his secretary Ralph. But these memoirs-what is the authority for a belief in their existence? Mr. Croker's seems to have been based on a passage in Park's annotated edition of Walpole's "Royal and Noble Authors." "He (i.e. Frederick, Prince of Wales) had written memoirs of his own time, under the name of Prince Titi. They were found among Ralph the historian's papers: his executor, the late Dr. Rose of Chiswick, with a spirit of honour and disinterestedness of which the world has seen few examples, put the manuscript without any terms into the hands of a nobleman then in great favour at Carlton House. Of this generous behaviour that nobleman never took the least notice, nor ever made the least remuneration, either pecuniary or in any other manner whatever." (Vol. i. p. 171.) So far Mr. Park in his additions to Walpole, who has not himself a single word about Ralph or these memoirs. But whence did Park derive the substance of his story? From that repertory of the curious and the useful, the "Gentleman's Magazine," vol. lxx. p. i., p. 422. In answer to the inquiries of correspondents respecting Mr. Ralph, S. A. (i.e. S. Ayscough, writing from B. M., i.e. the British Museum) supplied in the May number of the year 1800, certain notes, and among others the following: "Thursday, July 5, 1764.-Mr. William Martin, Deputy Master of the Office of Pleas, in the Court of Exchequer, told me that he had been assured by a worthy dissenting minister, that at a public meeting and dinner of his brethren, at which himself was present, Mr. R(ose), of C(hiswick), related to them the following story. That Mr. James Ralph, when he was so ill as to apprehend death, observed to Mr. R(ose), whom he left his executor, that there was in a certain box papers that would prove a sufficient provision for his family. Upon Mr. Ralph's death, on the 23rd of January, 1762, the box was examined by Mr. R(ose), who found in it a bundle of papers with an inscription on the cover, purporting that they were given by the Prince of Wales's own hand. The title of them was, 'The History of Prince Titus' (sic), and the piece appeared to be the history of the Prince of Wales himself, which had been drawn up by his Royal Highness, in conjunction with the Earl of B(ute), and transcribed from their several papers, which were in the bundle, by the Prince himself. The chief subject of the history was to represent how much he had been wronged by his father and his father's ministers, against whom he expressed the deepest resentment, and a resolution to revenge himself upon them when he should come to the Crown. When Mr. R(ose) had read the piece, he thought proper to acquaint Lord B(ute) with what he had in his possession: who declared great satisfaction in knowing where the papers were, and intimated that His Majesty, the present King, would be equally pleased, and ready to consider Mr. Ralph's daughter on that account. Accordingly, a pension of £150 was settled on her, which she enjoyed but a short time, dying about a month after her father. Mr. R(ose) has since been more reserved with regard to this story, which has occasioned those, who heard him tell it, and know how unwilling he is to recollect it, to suspect that he has a sufficient consideration to induce him to silence, especially as he appears to be more affluent in his circumstances than he was formerly, before the time of his mentioning the story." A strenuous but vain effort has been made to discover the writer of this paragraph, which Ayscough produced in answer to the inquiries regarding Mr. Ralph. The labour indeed was superfluous, as the character of Mr. William Martin's narrative is transparent; but it may be worth while to add that, such as it is, all the particular statements of it are peremptorily denied by Mr. Faulkner in his history of Brentford, Ealing, and Chiswick (1845, p. 354-5), from information communicated by the family of Dr. Rose. This, then, which is not above the level of a coq-a-l'âne story, is, we believe, the fons et origo of Park's supplementary remarks. It is the sole support of Mr. Croker's persistent attempt to identify Monsieur Hyacinthe de Themiseul's allegory of Prince Titi, with Memoirs which Prince Frederick is said to have written of his own times. Anything more unlike memoirs can hardly be conceived, than this Allegorie Royale. So that, in short, even if Mr. Croker were right, what the executors of Ralph found and delivered up, whether to the Government or the Princess of Wales, was the manuscript of a feeble allegory which had run through four editions in French, from 1736 to 1752, and which had also appeared in two English translations published, or advertised, in 1736,-" Histoire du Prince Titi," and the translations thereof. Macaulay, therefore, was undoubtedly right when he asserted that no Memoirs, in the formal and distinctive sense of the word, of Prince Frederick had ever been published, though he may have been ignorant of the existence of the "Histoire du Prince Titi," a very venial piece of ignorance, it appears to us. Readers may now understand the ground of Johnson's aversion : he turned away in contempt from a collection of books among which he saw the puerile Prince Titi side by side with fairy tales, as vapid as are contained in the "Bibliothèque des Fées." V. JOHNSON'S LETTER OF CONDOLENCE TO MRS. THRALE. ["After dinner Dr. Johnson wrote a letter to Mrs. Thrale on the death of her son." (See ante, p. 283.) This letter, which Boswell did not publish, is here reproduced from the Letters to and from Dr. Johnson, vol. i., pp. 307-9.] DEAR MADAM, Lichfield, March 25, 1776. This letter will not, I hope, reach you many days before me; in a distress which can be so little relieved, nothing remains for a friend but to come and partake it. Poor dear sweet little boy! When I read the letter this day to Mrs. Aston, she said, "Such a death is the next to translation." Yet however I may convince myself of this, the tears are in my eyes, and yet I could not love him as you loved him, nor reckon upon him for a future comfort as you and his father reckoned upon him. He is gone and we are going. We could not have enjoyed him long, and shall not be long separated from him. He has probably escaped many such pangs as you are now feeling. Nothing remains, but that with humble confidence we resign ourselves to Almighty Goodness, and fall down, without irreverent murmurs before the Sovereign Distributer of good and evil, with hope that though sorrow endureth for a night yet joy may come in the morning. I have known you, Madam, too long to think that you want any arguments for submission to the Supreme Will; nor can my consolation have any effect but that of showing that I wish to comfort you. What can be done you must do for yourself. Remember first, that your child is happy; and then, that he is safe, not only from the ills of this world, but from those more formidable dangers which extend their mischief to eternity. You have brought into the world a rational being; have seen him happy during the little life that has been |