Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

ought not to be entirely effaced.' Accordingly, he proceeds to fpeak in very handfome terms of Cherin; recording, that he was a man of the strictest probity and integrity, of most exemplary morals, and fo entirely devoted to ftudy, that he was fuppofed to have thortened his days. His knowlege in the French history is faid to have been immenfe; and his memory was aftonishing, comprehending the moft circumstantial details.

We feel some reluctance in neglecting the tomb of Philip de la Clyte, better known by the name of Commines, intimate with Lewis XI. but confined for nearly two years in an iron cage by his fucceffor Charles VIII. The account here given of him is interefting. His memoirs, finished in the year 1498, have preferved the remembrance of him; the best edition of them is faid to be that of Lenglet du Frefnoy, in four volumes, quarto.

The monument of Pibrac, who was eminent in the reigns of Francis I. Charles IX. and Henry III. is alfo placed among the Auguftines, and deferves notice. M. MILLIN feems to deal out praife and cenfure with a fteady and equal hand. In defcribing the choir of the church belonging to this monaftery, he enters into a brief difcuffion of the form of fuch edifices in diftant times; and, perhaps, he may lay more ftrefs on the writings of the fathers, and on the fanctity of buildings, than truth and reafon can support. However that be, as we accompany him through different parts, we cannot avoid the reflection, that a Proteftant or well-informed chriftian, though he may admire the fculpture, decoration, or grandeur, fometimes difplayed, can hardly furvey the altars, the images, &c. without fome kind of difapprobation. Befide the marks of fuperftition, the ignorance, the abfurdity, and the cruelty, which they prefent, (transforming to worse than heathenifm the plain and excellent doctrine of Christianity,) they muft feem to him an infolent triumph over the understandings and confciences of men-they are stained and polluted with human blood, fo plentifully fhed by policy and prieftcraft in their fupport!

Whatever remaining attachments he may have, M. MILLIN does not fail occafionally to laugh at the follies of fuperftition. When we arrive at a reprefentation of that (fou trifle) fad fool, St. Francis, with the five wounds which he pretended to have received at the top of the Alps, and which, the author adds, he probably kept open by cauftics, M. MILLIN difplays fome jocularity; which is likewife called forth on other fimilar occations. In the conclufion of the long account of this Auguftine convent, we are told of Father Hervier, who had been librarian; at the diffolution, he applied to the ftudy of medicine, and abandoned

doned himself too much to the reveries of magnetism. This error in phyfics, adds M. MILLIN, drew on a perfecution as fevere as herefy in religion: an archbishop (ignorant enough,) procured against him a lettre de cachet, which the revolution prevented from taking effect. He has fince been distinguished by his patriotism.

Ville de Vernon is the fubject of the twenty fixth chapter. In the beginning of the revolution, this town, it is obferved, was a poft of importance, fupplying Paris with provifions; the inhabitants became anxious for their own fubfiftence; their inquietude occafioned a tumult, in which M. Planter, who had the charge of this business, would certainly have been facrificed, had not a generous youth thrown himself on his body, and thus prevented the crime of the people, and the regret which humanity would have experienced. The noble act was acknowleged by the Parifians, who prefented the young man with a civic crown, and with a fword on which was infcribed a memorial of his conduct.

Among the particulars related concerning this place, one is, that Richard de Vernon accompanied William of Normandy to England, where he obtained confiderable poffeffions; and it is added, that feveral of his defcendants ftill exift in this country. Concerning one of the ancestors of this family, M. MILLIN remarks, that he had the weakness to fuppofe, in common with others of his day, that the building of churches was the beft ufe which could be made of power and great riches. The obfervation is juft; for though to employ wealth for the real affiftance and improvement of mankind, whether in providing places for public worship, or in other ways, is certainly commendable; yet the erecting of churches, and the appointing of maffes, it is well known, were mere acts of fuperftition, and were forms of that kind of religion, if religion it might be called, which could confift with any kind of wickednefs; and thefe places, when built, were chiefly intended for the benefit of priests, whofe ignorant and trifling performances, it was imagined, might be of fome fort of fervice to departed fpirits. In the collegiate church of this town, are interred the remains of Marshal Belleifle, who died in the year 1761.

The church of the Sepulchre, (chap. 27.) connected with Jerufalem and the land of Palestine, affords our author an opportunity of expatiating, with propriety and fpirit, on religious fraternities in general, and on the crufades in particular. It is with great juftice that he expofes the irregularities and fuperftitions of thefe inftitutions, which have been productive of fo much real and extenfive cruelty, immorality, and mischief, APP. REV. VOL, IX. separate

Rr

[ocr errors]

separate from the folly and abfurdity which have been paffed off under the name of religion, both in the affociations themselves, and in other obfervances to which they have given rife; fuch as the feaft of fools, the mafs of the fpider, (araignée,) the feaft of the afs, and a number of other extravagant and ridiculous practices. St. Peter, the hermit, (cet hypocrite,) and Bernard, the monk, (fougueux et fanatique,) it may well be imagined, do not escape his lafh.

Collegiale D'Ecouis, chap. 28. This chapter is interefting and inftructive; particularly as containing the hiftory of Enguerrand de Marigny: but we have already given fome account of this unfortunate minister in the 5th volume of our New Series, P. 524.

Chap. 29, on the church of St. Benoit, contains a variety of particulars, feveral of which are informing and entertaining. We just remark one paffage relative to the name: we are told that, at that period, (the eleventh century,) God the Father, and the Trinity, were called Sire Diez, Saint Benedit, or Benedict, (bleffed,) Saint Benoift, or Benoidft, Sire Dieu, conformably to the Latin expreffions fo often employed in the office of the Trinity: whence it became cuftomary to fay, Benoifte Trinité, and by degrees, the altar of St. Benoist, the office of Saint Benoist. By fuch means, this church has received, and preferved to the present time, the name of St. Benoit.'

Befide other tombs and monuments enumerated in the defcription of this church, we are told of a number of printers, bookfellers, and engravers, who, with others, are interred in the cloisters, and fome of whom were very eminent ;-several particulars are related concerning them. Among the confiderable perfons configned to duft in the fame fpot, we obferve the name of Michel Baron, a celebrated comedian, honoured by the name of Rofcius François; he died in 1655. His death was occafioned by a flight wound in his foot, which he received from his own fword, while he was earneftly acting his part: he preferred death to the lofs of a limb, exclaiming, the king of the theatre will be biffed when he appears with a wooden leg!"

La graffe horloge, the great clock, of Rouen, leads our author into an ingenious differtation on clock-making; of which we can take no farther notice, than just to mention a circumftance or two relative to the English people, which may be amufing to fome readers. M. MILLIN, having said, that the first repeating watches were conftructed in London about the year 1676, adds, that Charles II. prefented two to Lewis XIV.; and these were the first which had been seen in France. The opening

opening of thefe watches was contrived with an ingenuity which baffled the French artists; and it was apprehended that, in order to develope the fecret, they must be returned to England: at length. a young man, (Sebaftian Truchet, then about nineteen years of age,) made the difcovery: he was at the time ignorant that the watches belonged to the king: but, we are told, M. Colbert recompenfed him by a penfion.-However, this writer, zealous for the honour of his country, adds afterward, that, though the English for a long time had the pre-eminence in horology, yet, in a courfe of years, the celebrated Julien le Roy rendered the French fuperior; fo that Voltaire faid to one of Julien's fons, Marshal Saxe and your father have beaten the English!

de

Among the monuments in the church of Saint Côme, we obferve one which prefents the eulogium of Claude d'Efpence, who died in the year 1571.-His memory, fays our author, ferves to be honoured; he was as rational as a theologian could be, and he was one of the fmall number of his profession who were not advocates for perfecution:-but, he adds, although Efpence had a better fpirit than the greater part of theologians, his works have always the fcent of the fchools.

The la article in this third volume brings us again to Joan D'Arc: it is called Tour et Fontaine de la Pucelle à Rouen. The monument at Orleans, fays this writer, commemorated her fuccefs, this at Rouen relates to her misfortunes. This is one among numberless inftances of the crimes and miferies which defpotifm, bigotry, and fuperftition, are capable of effecting. The poor fanatical, deluded, young woman, after the had been captured by the English, feems to have been abandoned by all at least, remarks M. MILLIN, the priests, the preachers, and the univerfities, at Paris and elsewhere, excited the people against her; and, by their Te Deum, and other measures, expreffed their malicious joy. The horrid difgrace. and distress to which he was delivered, as a fchifmatic and a heretic, foftened the hearts of the common people, but not, it is added, thofe of the theologians. Nicholas Midi pronounced a hypocritical difcourfe, in which he furrendered her to the fecular arm but the magistrate, more humanized than the divine, was unable to pronounce the fentence. Many years afterward, this fentence was reverfed by the Pope, and Joan was declared innocent. A crofs was placed on the fpot where the had been burned; and, afterward, a building, called the tower and the fountain, was erected, which, according to the defcription and the engraving, was more elegant than that by which it is at prefent replaced.

Rr 2

We

We can only add, that M. MILLIN muft poffefs confiderable reading, if not great learning, to enable him to have collected the obfervations with which his work abounds; and he is careful to produce his authorities.

When this publication has made farther progrefs, we shall again pay fome attention to it.

Hi...s.

ART. XXI. Modèle des Jeunes Gens. i. e. A Model for Youth. Crown 8vo. pp. 312. Vinterthour, Steiner and Co. Imported by De Boffe, London. Price 3s. 6d. fewed.

TH

'HE author, in his preface, informs us, that this work is written for the use of scholars in the French clafs; students, as we fuppofe, of the univerfity of Bafil, in Switzerland, where the work is printed; and that it is in part a tranflation from another work, entitled, Le Petit Grandifon; of which we have given fome account*: but we have been fo much amused by the prefent work, that we have again perufed the adventures,which are calculated to teach virtue, as far as the author underftood the fubject: in which refpect he is certainly on a par with the generality of his neighbours. The chief defect is in the plan. A boy, twelve years old, writes to his mother; and his letters contain the hiftory of his friend, another boy of thirteen: this friend performs feveral very extraordinary actions, all of which prove the excellence and maturity of his underftanding. We are not among thofe who imagine that man's nature is wicked; and that he is incapable of great and good actions, at any age: but we have never yet feen a boy who could write, or another who could act, with fuch uniform confiftency. The man may be apparent at fome moments, but, as far as we have observed, the boy always has his turn. Thus, while reading this book, we were continually reminded that, inftead of twelve, the author was probably forty, years old; and that the incidents, though fuch as might have happened among boys, had been imagined and arranged by men. As this is a fault common to most works of the kind, it is our duty, as reviewers, to warn the authors of fuch works, of an error into which they fo commonly fall. The following fhort flory will afford the reader a fpecimen of the moral views with which the book is written:

Emily was yesterday with Edward in the parlour, where they amuled themfelves by playing in turns on the harpsichord. There is a cupboard in the parlour, filled with the finest China,

7'

See Rev. New Series, vol. vi. p. 99.

which

« PředchozíPokračovat »