of Napoleon's meteor-star; she had reached the pinnacle of her fame while he was laying the foundation of his; and she, shattered and way worn, was beginning to look forward to her final rest, when his career was closed for ever in defeat and exile.

But it is not of the period in which she lived that we think first or most naturally when we hear the name of Madame de Stael: it is of the writer whose wondrous genius and glowing eloquence held captive our souls in "the season of susceptive youth," of the author of the Lettres sur Rousseau, who sanctioned and justified our partiality for that fascinating rhapsodist, of L'Allemagne, from whose pages we first imbibed a longing to make the riches of that mighty literature our own, of Corinne, over whose woes and sorrows so many eyes have wept delicious tears; of that dazzling admixture of deep thought, tender sentiment, and brilliant fancy, which give to her writings a charm possessed by the productions of no other woman-and in truth, of but few men.

We are not surprised at the attraction which such a subject as the Life and Times of such a woman must have had for a youthful authoress, which Miss Norris evidently is. We wish we could say that she had proved equal to the task of delineating so stirring an epoch and so rare a character. The faults and defects of the work, however, are those of youth and inexperience. There is a want of grasp; an apparent poverty of materials; an almost entire absence of all reference to the sources from which she has derived her information; an imperfect power of appreciating the political characters of whom she speaks; and a proneness-against which youthful writers should especially be on their guard-to indulge in trite and needless reflections, some of which are absolutely puerile, and one or two not only superficial but unsound. Instances to justify our criticism may be found at pp. 152, 157, 245, 276. But, on the whole, the tone of the work is agreeable, the sentiments are generally just, and the admiration for Madame de Stael which pervades every page is such as we can heartily sympathize with. We trust, therefore, that the authoress will take our criticism in good part, and consider it as intended, not to discourage, but to warn and aid.

Anne-Marie Louise Necker was born at Paris in 1766. Both her parents were remarkable persons. Her father, James Necker, a simple citizen of Geneva, began life as clerk in a banker's office in Paris, speedily became a partner, and by skill, diligence, sound judg

ment, and strict integrity, contrived in the course of twenty years to amass a large fortune and to acquire a lofty reputation. While accumulating wealth, however, he neglected neither literature nor society. He studied both philosophy and political economy; he associated with the Encyclopedists and eminent literati of the time; his house was frequented by some of the most remarkable men who at that period made the Parisian salons the most brilliant in Europe; and he found time, by various writings on financial matters, to create a high and general estimation of his talents as an administrator and economist. His management of the affairs of the French East India Company raised his fame in the highest political circles, while, as accredited agent for the Republic of Geneva at the Court of Versailles, he obtained the esteem and confidence both of the sovereign and the ministers. So high did he stand both in popular and courtly estimation that, shortly after the accession of Louis XVI., he was appointed, although a foreigner, Comptroller-General of the Finances. He held this post for five years, till 1781;--and contrived not only to effect considerable savings, by the suppression of upwards of 600 sinecures, but also in some small degree to mitigate and equalize taxation, and to introduce a system of order and regularity into the public accounts to which they had long been strangers. As proved by his celebrated Compte rendu, which, though vehemently attacked, was never successfully impugned, he found a deficit of 34 millions when he entered office, and left a surplus of 10 millions when he quitted it,--notwithstanding the heavy expenses of the American war. In the course of his administration, however, Necker had of course made many enemies, who busied themselves in undermining his position at court, and overruled the weak and vacillating attachment of the King. Necker found that his most careful and valuable plans were canvassed and spoiled by his enemies in the Council, where he was not present to defend them, and that, in fact, he had not and could not have fair play while he continued excluded from the Cabinet. He demanded, therefore, the entry of the Privy Council, and resigned when it was refused him, though earnestly requested to remain by those who knew how valuable his reputation was to a discredited and unpopular court, unwilling as they were to submit to his measures or honestly adopt his plans. Necker did not choose to be so used; and he retired to write the celebrated work

on the Administration of the Finances, which at once placed him on the pinnacle of popularity and fame. Eighty thousand copies were sold; and henceforth Necker was the man on whom all eyes were turned in every financial crisis, and to whom the nation looked as the only minister who could rescue them from the difficulties which were daily thickening around them.

Then followed the reckless administration of Calonne, whose sole principle was that of "making things pleasant," and who, in an incredibly short time, added 1646 millions to the capital of the debt, and left an annual deficit of 140 millions, instead of an annual excess of 10. Brienne attacked him, and succeeded him; but things went on from bad to worse, till, when matters were wholly past a remedy, in August, 1788, Necker was recalled and reinstated. What he might have done, on the occasion of this second ministry, had he been a man of commanding genius and unbending will, it is useless and perhaps impossible to conjecture. Surrounded with numberless perplexities; beset at once by the machinations of unscrupulous enemies who counter-worked him in secret, and by the embarrassments which every predecessor had accumulated in his path; borne into power on a tide of popular expectations which no popularity could enable him to satisfy; set down to labor at the solution of a perhaps insoluble problem; face to face with a crisis which might well stagger the most dauntless courage and confuse the clearest head; famine around him, bankruptcy before him; and all other voices gradually lost in one "which every moment waxed louder and more terrible the fierce and tumultuous roar of a great people, conscious of irresistible strength, maddened by intolerable wrongs, and sick of deferred hopes;" perhaps no human strength or wisdom could have sufficed for the requirements of that fearful time. Perhaps no human power could then have averted the catastrophe. What Necker might have done had he acted differently and been differently made, we cannot say. What he did was to struggle with manly, but not hopeful courage, for a terrible twelve months; using his great credit to procure loans, spending his vast private fortune to feed the famishing populace of Paris; commencing the final act of the long inchoate Revolution, by calling the States General; insuring its fearful triumph by the decisive measure of doubling the numbers of the tiers-état, and permitting the states to deliberate in common; devising schemes of finance and taxation which were

too wise to be palatable and too late to save; composing speeches for the monarch to deliver, which the Queen and the courtiers ruined and emasculated before they were made public; and bearing the blame of faults and failures not his own. At length his subterranean enemies prevailed: he received his secret congé from the King in July, 1789, and reached Basle, rejoicing at heart in his relief from a burden of which, even to one so passionately fond of popularity as he was, the weight was beginning to be greater than the charms.

The people were furious at the dismissal of their favorite: the Assembly affected to be so. Riots ensued; the Bastille was stormed; blood was shed; the Court was frightened; and Necker was once more recalled. The royal messenger overtook him just as he was entering Switzerland, with the command to return to Paris, and resume his post. He obeyed the mandate with a sad presentiment that he was returning to be a useless sacrifice in a hopeless cause, but with the conviction that duty left him no alternative. His journey to Paris was one long ovation; the authorities every where came out to greet him; the inhabitants thronged around his path; the populace unharnessed his horses and drew his carriage a great part of the way; the minister drank deeply of the intoxicating cup of national gratitude and popular applause; and if he relished it too keenly and regretted it too much, at least he used it nobly and had earned it well. It would have been far better for his own fame and happiness if he had not returned to power: it could scarcely have been worse for his adopted country. His third and last administration was a series of melancholy and perhaps inevitable failures. The torrent of popular violence had become far too strong to stem. monarchy had fallen to a position in which it was impossible to save it. Necker's head, too, seems to have been somewhat turned by his triumph. He disappointed the people and bored the Assembly. The stream of events had swept past him, and left him standing bewildered and breathless on the margin. "Les temps étaient bien changés pour lui, et il n'était plus ce ministre à la conservation duquel le peuple attachait son bonheur un an auparavant. Privé de la confiance du roi, brouillé avec ses collégues, excepté Montmorin, il était négligé par l'Assemblée, et n'en obtenait pas tous les égards qu'il eût pu en attendre. L'erreur de Necker consistait à croire que la raison suffisait à tout, et que, manifestée avec un mélange de sentiment et

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