inscription recalls the name of France. But the day shall
come when God will bid her (France) recommence the work of universal
liberation--the work begun by Bonaparte and interrupted by Napoleon;
then, when that work is done, we will turn the lion of Nassau with
its head towards Europe, _et tout sera dit_."

As this rather high-flown passage might not be generally intelligible to
our readers, we will put it into plain English. It will then run thus:--

"When France shall again become a republic, or when she shall find a
king mad or wicked enough to give in to her worst propensities, she
will pour her legions across every frontier, sweep all opposition
before her, revolutionize and emancipate Europe, and hoist the
triumphant and blood-stained tricolor over the ashes of
sovereignties, and the ruins of every old and time-honoured
institution."

It is strange to see a man of undoubted talent, and who ought to be
amongst the enlightened ones of his country and his age, indulging in
such absurd visions and insane prophecies. Rhapsodies of this kind would
be merely laughable, were it not for the weight which they
unquestionably have with the younger and less reflecting classes of
Frenchmen, especially when proceeding from a writer of M. Dumas's
abilities and reputation. It is by this style of writing, which abounds
in French periodical literature, and in the works of some, fortunately a
minority, of the clever _litterateurs_ of the day, that the attacks of
war fever, to which France is subject, are aggravated, if not frequently
brought on.

We do not intend following M. Dumas step by step through Belgium, to
which country he devotes a volume. We prefer passing at once to the
Rhine, which he ascends from Cologne to Strasburg, making continual
pauses, and enlivening the description of what he sees by agreeable and
spirited versions of what he has read and heard. Much of what he tells
us has been already printed in the numerous tours and guide-books,
which, in conjunction with steam-boats and railways, have familiarized
most Englishmen with the Rhine and its legends. It acquires a fresh
charm, however, from the present narrator's agreeable and pointed style,
and from his calling in the aid of his imagination to supply any little
deficiencies; rounding and filling up stories that would otherwise be
angular and incomplete. He also gives some agreeable caricatures, if
caricatures they