chez Guillaume Desloge sur le Quai des Morfondus au Pistolet qui prend un Rat, 1691.
Octobre. Le Jean de Retour, with illustration. A Loo, chez Guillaume Pie de Nez, rue Perdue au Bien Revenu, 1691.
Novembre. Le Prothée, with illustration. Chez Pedre l'Endormy, 1691."

Eustache le Noble, Baron of St. George and of Tenelière, the author of this work, was born at Troyes in 1643, of a good and ancient family. His natural abilities and attainments, combined with political influence, readily obtained for him, at an early age, the post of Procureur-Général to the Parliament at Metz. But a dissolute life soon brought on its consequent evils—duties neglected and discreditable debts—and he was compelled to sell his appointment. The proceeds were insufficient, and he had recourse to forgery to satisfy his creditors. To be successful in such a case, more than ability is required. Le Noble was suspected, arrested, confined in the Châtelet, and condemned to nine years' imprisonment. Upon his appeal, he was removed to the Conciergerie, a place destined to become another scene in his life of uniform villainy. Gabrielle Perreau, known under the name of "La Belle Epicière," was confined here at the instigation of her husband, who indulged in the hope of thus reforming her disorderly conduct. But a prison is hardly a school of reformation, and La Belle Epicière and Le Noble were not characters to receive, even in monastic seclusion, any such impression. He won her affections, or the mastery over her passions: the husband, frantic with jealous rage, obtained for himself the satisfaction of immuring her in a convent of his own selection. From this she escaped, and joined Le Noble, who had similarly evaded the vigilance of his keepers. By living in the vilest and least frequented quarters of Paris, by disguises, false names, and constant changes of residence, they succeeded in baffling the pursuit of the police for three years, when Le Noble was accidentally discovered; the judgment of the Châtelet was confirmed, and he was reconducted to prison. It was then that his great resources were displayed. He retained his gaiety, and assured his friends he still enjoyed "une parfaite tranquillité d'esprit, inséparable de l'innocence!" A man of this kind, with a venal and capacious intellect, and a heart utterly unconscious of the slightest moral feeling, could not with advantage be suffered to remain unemployed. There was work to be done for James II., and the hireling was worthy of his hire. It was simply to lie and libel with ability, with caution, with the appearance of loyalty, and an ardent zeal for religion. Le Noble was equal to the task. He had written histories burnt by the hangman; Bayle had praised him for his skill in judicial astrology; he had composed treatises on money, and on Catholic doctrine; compiled historical romances, and translated the Psalms of David! In poetry he had attempted to rival La Fontaine; written the Eulogy of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and translated Persius,—substituting French customs for the Roman, and praising, or censuring, his contemporaries as though he were the Roman poet and not the Paris scribe! An ability so various was at least well paid. He received from the booksellers, and others by whom he was retained, a hundred pistoles a month; Peignot states, in all, about one hundred thousand crowns. There cannot be the least doubt this was but a portion of his earnings, or that the work I have described was not written for the Jacobite interest of James II. But no success in such characters is ever accompanied with prudence. Although the penalty of banishment from France was suspended, that his venal abilities might assist the designs of others, he was always living between luxury and the direst want. As he advanced in years, he was less useful, and was consequently driven from doors where he had formerly been welcomed. D'Argenson allowed him a louis-d'or for charity per week; but all other resources failed, until, in his sixty-eighth year, after a long period of misery, and of the uttermost mental and bodily degradation, he died on the 31st January, 1711, and was buried at the communal expense. It cannot be denied that Le Noble united many pleasing qualities as a writer. He had read much, could condense ably, and united to a strong memory a rare facility in employing its resources. He touched with light ridicule the weaker points of a case, and could wield both reason, sarcasm and polished inuenda in misstating facts, or damaging the argument of his adversaries. Such a man was well adapted to the French advisers of James. Public attention was to be engaged and won by falsehoods in the disguise of truth; bad designs were to be cloaked under moral purposes; and the revolution was to be discredited in the name of loyalty and religion. All this Le Noble did with infinite ability, and infinite obliquity. I can give but a slight sketch of his work. The Couronnement de Guillemot is a violent tirade against William. Marforio and Pasquin converse about his coronation, and the king is described as one "qui vouloit estre le bourreau du Prince de Galles." Churchill is "l'infame comblé de tant de bienfaitz par son bon maître, et qui l'a vendu, trahi et livré." In the decorations of the abbey, consisting of tapestry, &c., there is stated to be a representation of Pilate placing Jesus Christ and Barabbas before the people, and the choice of Barabbas by the latter; James occupying, in Le Noble's opinion, the place of the former. The people he describes as preferring even "ce voleur public, ce scélérat, ce séditieux de Barabbas, ce meurtrier qui a poignardé les Withs (Witts), à cet aimable maistre qui n'a jamais eu pour eux que de la douceur et de la bonté." The Sermon du grand Docteur Burnet is very clever, light, pungent, and satirical, especially against the king: the text being "Dominus regnavit, exultet terræ, lætentur insulæ." In the L'Ombre de Monmouth, William is described as wishing to be "le singe du glorieux Cromwell;" Portland, Shrewsbury, Burnet, and Dykvelt, are "ses quatre Evangélistes;" and the king is made to utter violent complaints against the Parliament, which he calls "une étrange beste," and adds: "Si je n'avois pas cassé celui que j'ai rompu pour en convoquer un autre, toutes mes affaires s'en alloient sens dessus dessous." In the Estrennes d'Esope, which was burnt by order of the States-General, there is the following description of England:

"L'Angleterre sous son Roi légitime et ne lui donnant qu'avec epargne comme elle faisoit le nécessaire pour son entretien, estoit justement comme ces sages et vertueuses femmes qui, fidèles à leurs époux, gouvernen avec un prudent économie leur ménage reglé, et cette mesme Angleterre, qui s'épuise pour satisfaire à l'avidité d'un tyran, est aujourd'hui comme une de ces infames debauchées qui, emportée de fureur pour une adultère qui l'enlève à son mari, lui fait une profusion criminelle de son bien."

In illustrations such as these, Le Noble was most happy, as with the vice he was most familiar. The length of this paper precludes my sending to you a pasquinade, in the epitaph written for Innocent XI., which, considering its purport, is of value as indicating the opinions of the Jacobites against the policy of the Pope. This I will do in another paper.

S. H.

CALAMITIES OF AUTHORS.

The miseries and disappointments of the literary life are proverbial:

To these "calamities of authors," I wish to add a new, and as yet unrecorded trial, incidental to this age of cheap postage and extravagant puffs. I am myself a small author, and have written on theology and antiquarianism; and my publisher's shelves know the