ana, Mr Weiss supplies an affecting instance of the intensity of this patriotic feeling. The governor of Louisiana, Bienville, ascending the Mississippi, met an English ship of war taking soundings. The peace of Ryswick had just been concluded, and England and France vied with each other in their efforts to explore and colonise those distant regions. Bienville went to visit the English captain, and whilst on board, a French engineer employed in the vessel handed him a document which he begged him to transmit to the court of Versailles. It was a memorial signed by four hundred families who had fled to Carolina after the Revocation. They begged permission to settle in Louisiana, stipulating only for liberty of conscience. Count Pontchartrain replied, that the king had not driven them from his European dominions that they should form a republic in his American colonies. This refusal destroyed their last hopes of preserving their nationality. Mr Weiss thinks their request, although refused, must have deeply touched the heart of Louis XIV.-an amiable surmise, in which we, who believe that during the latter part of that king's life he had little heart or sympathy for anything but self, find it difficult to coincide.

Holland, which, in the time of Queen Mary, received upwards of thirty thousand English Protestants, fugitive from her persecutions, was not slow to show hospitality to the Huguenots of France. Mr Weiss's fifth and longest book is allotted to the refugees in the Netherlands. The emigration thither commenced, to a considerable extent, when Louis XIV. promulgated his first edicts against his subjects of the reformed church. In 1668, more than eight hundred French families passed into Holland. When Louvois began his dragonnades in 1681, the stream augmented tenfold, and the emigration became an important political event. Some of the fugitives brought large sums of money, or received them subsequently from agents in France to whom they

had intrusted the sale of their property. In this manner, a Paris winemerchant, named Mariet, saved a fortune of six hundred thousand livres, and retired into Holland with a false passport, which afterwards served for fifteen of his friends! In 1687 and 1688, a great number of rich merchants emigrated. As early as 1685, the French ambassador at the Hague informed the king that twenty millions of livres had already been taken out of France. And subsequently, many wealthy Protestants left Normandy, Bretagne, and other provinces, in ships of their own, on board of which were sometimes as much as three or four millions in specie. The ambassador, Count d'Avaux, was frightened, and made representations to his sovereign, who heeded them not.

In the foremost rank of the emigrants to Holland, there figure about two hundred and fifty preachers, learned and zealous men, amongst whom were some of high distinction for talent and eloquence, and for the influence they exercised on their brethren, and on the affairs of the reformed church. Mr Weiss gives a list of the most important, from which we may content ourselves with quoting the names of Ménard, appointed preacher at the court of William III.; of Claude, already mentioned, who was deemed a worthy adversary for Bossuet; of Jurieu, ardent, fiery, and energetic; and of Jacques Saurin. This last, the most brilliant orator of the Refuge,* was of a generation subsequent to the others, and belonged to the second period of the emigration. Born at Nismes in 1677, he followed his father to Geneva, and quitted his studies, at the age of fifteen, to enter a regiment raised by the Marquis de Ruvigny, for the service of the Duke of Savoy. When that prince detached himself from the coalition against Louis XIV., Saurin returned to Geneva, completed his studies, and had scarcely taken orders when he was named minister of the French Protestant Church in London. He took Tillotson for his model, and, by so doing, perfected

the admirable talents nature had bestowed upon him. In 1705 he went to the Hague, where he preached with immense success at the church of the French nobles, to which he had been appointed. The Dutch, as well as the French, flocked to hear him. Mr Weiss quotes passages from some of his discourses-masterpieces of fervid eloquence. We will translate a short extract from one-a magnificent and exulting invective levelled at Louis XIV., then humbled and bowed down by the disasters of Blenheim and Ramillies. The style is Latin rather than French, and its vividness and power lose nothing by that.

"I see him at first," said Saurin, “equalling—what do I say?-surpassing the superbest potentates, arrived at a point of elevation which astonishes the universal world, numerous in his family, victorious in his armies, extended in his limits. I see places conquered, battles won, all the blows aimed at his throne serving but to strengthen it. I see an idolatrous court exalting him above men, above heroes, and equalling him with God himself. I see all parts of the universe overrun by his troops, our frontiers menaced, religion tottering, and the Protestant world at the term of its ruin. At sight of these storms, I await but the last blow that shall upset the church, and I exclaim-Oh, skiff beaten by the tempest! art thou about to be swallowed up by the waves?

*

"Behold the Divinity, who discovers the arm of His holiness, who comes forth from the bosom of chaos, who confounds us by the miracles of His love, after having confounded us by the darkness of His providence. Here, in the space of two campaigns, are more than one hundred thousand enemies buried in the waters, or hewn down by the swords of our soldiers, or trampled by the feet of our horses, or loaded with our chains. Here are whole provinces submitted to our obedience. Here our generous warriors covered with the most beauteous laurels that ever met our view. Here is this fatal power which had risen to the sky-behold, it totters, it falls! My brethren, let these events teach

us wisdom. Let us not estimate by our ideas the conduct of God, but learn to respect the profoundness of His providence."

"One cannot read," remarks Mr Weiss, "without a feeling of bitter sadness, this eloquent invective of a Frenchman alienated from his native land, and rejoicing in its reverses." The sadness, doubtless, for the hard lot of the persecuted Protestants; the bitterness and indignation for the tyranny that had extinguished in their breasts the last spark of patriotism.

We draw to a close. In the short concluding chapter already referred to and quoted from, Mr Weiss takes a general view of the influence exercised by the refugees in foreign countries, and of the consequences to France of the edict of revocation-amongst which he especially dwells upon the weakening of the kingdom and the progress of scepticism. Bayle, addressing himself, in 1685, to the persecuting party, told them that their triumphs were those of deism rather than of the true faith, and that the cruelties and violence committed during six or seven hundred years, in the name of the Catholic church, had led men to infidelity. "As Bayle had predicted, sceptics and scoffers gathered all the fruits of the apparent victory of Catholicism. The eighteenth century beheld the growth of a generation which rejected Christianity because it hated intolerance, and recognised no authority but that of reason. Protestants, whom dragoons had dragged to the altar, revenged themselves thus, perhaps, for their compelled submission. Strange to say, the two brothers Condillac and Mably, who so powerfully contributed to shake a despotic church and monarchy, were grandsons of a gentleman of Dauphiny, converted by the soldiers of St Ruth. Reviving philosophical and social theories which the seventeenth century had left in the shade, and placing, the first, intelligence in matter, the second, all sovereignty in the people, they sapped the bases of religion and royalty. These principles, popularised by Diderot and Rousseau, triumphed

upon the day appointed by divine wrath. The throne was upset, the altar broken, and society disappeared in a frightful tempest. Who shall say that the Revolution of 1789 might not have taken another course, and have remained pure of the greater part of the crimes and excesses that sullied it, had France possessed the numerous descendants of that race-somewhat rigid, but religious, moral, intelligent, full of energy and loyalty-which one of her kings had so imprudently expelled from her bosom? Is it not infinitely probable that those men, devoted to civil law, as they were devoted to that of the gospel, would resolutely have supported the middle classes against the abettors of anarchy, and have formed with them an invincible rampart against the passions of a mob misled by hatred, blinded by ignorance, greedy of a chimerical equality, in love with a liberty so soon sacrificed to a transitory glory? Perhaps, thanks to their assistance, France would then have founded the definitive form of her government and political institutions, distant alike from an exaggerated democracy and an unbridled despotism."

These are earnest and eloquent words, difficult of refutation, and from which few reflecting minds are likely

to dissent. None dissented from them at that sitting of the Academy of Moral and Political Science, at which this chapter was read by its accomplished author. They were received, on the contrary, with marks of general acquiescence and approbation.

The work of which we have endeavoured to sketch the outline and indicate the aim, is not of an ephemeral class. It is a valuable addition to the political and religious history of an important period, and as such it will be prized by future historians. Originally undertaken at the instigation of the most distinguished of living French Protestants, François Guizot, and followed, in its progress through many years of labour, with unceasing interest, by the brilliant historian Mignet, its author had also the benefit of the counsels and encouragement of other eminent members of the French Academy. The book addresses itself not only to the historical student, but to all persons of cultivated mind who take an interest in the progress and development of the human intellect and of true Christianity-and to Protestants it is particularly attractive. We cannot doubt that it will be eagerly read and discussed, not only in France, but in Germany, and in this country.

WE should like to see a classification of superstitions, ascribing to them their true characteristics. The one word superstition, applied, as it is, to many things so opposite in themselves, misleads the judgment, or suspends it, and too often begets an uncharitableness which, if it be not a superstition, is something worse. Truth, it has been said, is one and single; but the mirror-that is, the mind-in which it is reflected has not so even a surface that the image is never distorted nor is it distortion always single; for if the mirror be in any degree starred, there is a multiplication of distortions. Nevertheless, in each there will be as a principle the real image; it will be a reality indestructible, though disfigured. Nor will these variations in the original figure be all alike. As the mirror is more or less perfect in parts, so will be the misrepresented truth an evil or harmless, nay, it may be possible, a salutary superstition. We are not sure of the virtue in the pride, or of the policy of its exercise, which turns too scornful a look on these aberrations, and arrogates to itself a wisdom in waging war upon them. Do what we will, there is a propensity to seek to be lieve in and to establish the marvellous. Nor is Reason, with its boasted philosophy, able to escape it. It breaks with one absurdity, and in the fancied freedom of its range adopts another; wherever it finds a difficulty it cannot solve, it experiments with a wild faith, and seeks a gratification in discarding all but its new dogma. Speculation is credulous and incredulous according to its object. Because "Socrates doubted some things, Carneades doubted all." Astrology and magic and incantations have had their day; and when the cold fit is off, Reason will probably take them up again. We see symptoms enough of this kind of reaction in our own day. Mesmerism itself is thrown into the shade by a new wonder, which, as a wonder of wonders, finds most favour with those who will not believe what most of mankind do believe. We doubt not this propensity is implanted in

us for our good, and is meant to be a check and a preservative, where as yet the influences of true religion do not exist. The savage who believes in a being superior to himself is on the first step of human advancement. The attributes which he ascribes to that being will take their shape and colour from the conditions of his own life. His God will be magnified in his own passions. A life of perplexity and of misery will make religion itself gloomy-the Creator appear a being to be appeased, as loving vengeance, by cruelties-the great attribute of mercy will be lost sight of by those whose habit is to show none. For what a man is, he is too apt to believe his Maker to be. The line is justified, "Tantane religio potuit suadere malorum." So a life of unrestricted liberty and ease forms to itself a loose creed, abhorrent of punishment, and ascribes to the Creator an indifferentism like its own. But few, indeed, for any length of time, can remain in this state; - the course of life is never quite so smooth; doubts and conjectures are ever offering themselves; and if not a real religious conviction, some superstition or other will take possession of the perplexed mind. If all the superstitions the world has ever known were to be collected and classified, they would come under but few heads. Their characteristics might be taken from their effects, as shown in the social and moral systems. They will vary in incident and in name, but will be found to belong to a few distinct orders. They are not all equally mischievous, nor always to be safely eradicated; for when removed, they leave a space that will not remain vacant: we may liken them to those bad nations whom the Lord would not suffer to be hastily destroyed-to be put out by little and little-and for an analogous reason, "lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee!" might brutalities increase over a social system. They who are so ready to eradicate all superstitions should not leave the ground neglected, nor without the good seed thrown in; and

So

even then we must expect some tares to spring up with the wheat. In most countries, and especially in remote districts, numerous are the superstitions regarding the commission of crime, particularly murder, which happily, in popular belief, "will out," and surely these are safeguards. It is better to believe in dreams and omens, than to emancipate crime of its fears. The ignorance which still believes in charms, is often more wholesome than the knowledge which believes in nothing. We remember a conversation with a good and judicious clergyman, which bears upon this point. A poor bedridden woman, upon his first entering on his parochial duties, asked him to give her a silver ring, to be made out of the sacramental offerings. It was to be a charm, and she had great faith in it. What did he do? There be many who will condemn, some excuse, and some admire what he did. He felt that he could not eradicate the faith in this charm, without danger to that which had grown with its growth. Let there be blame or not, however; he caused the ring to be made, and it was worn, and believed in. And he assured us that it required great caution and long time to instruct her mind sufficiently upon the subject.

The fact is, the character of a people is strongly marked in their superstitions. Does fear or hope predominate in them? do they arise from a pure or a corrupted instinct? In the troublesome times of our own country, when there was mistrust and treachery, a great deterioration seized the superstitions of the people; they lost much of their moral wholesomeness-merged into a cruel bigotry, and, assuming the grossest absurdities, persecuted to the death the harmless ones which they had abandoned.

The Iconoclasts have left their "mark of the beast" everywhere upon the noblest edifices that united genius and piety ever erected. Nor is the insanity of this the vilest of superstitions yet extinct. We say insanity, for it is ever irrational, and so to name it is the most charitable excuse for its persecuting spirit. The Church of Rome is essentially persecuting, because it holds it as its mission to subdue all people, and bring

we

them under absolute submission. It never can change this its character, which will be the more manifest as power is given to it. But this opinion of the Church of Rome does not blind us to the persecuting superstitions which have been, and are, antagonistic to it. There is a heterogeneous army made up of all varieties of incongruous bigotries, to oppose Rome, of every dissent, and even infidelity, that, were not Rome the object of their hatred, would turn their animosities against their own ill-assorted ranks. We would not be misunderstood: an aggression has been made upon our country, political and religious would have the assumed power of Rome put down with a high hand, if there be need; but we do protest against the uncharitableness, the unchristian persecution, which has been so largely exercised. We fear religion itself is suffering from itinerant animosities. There is a legitimate opposition-a fair area of combat. There is the press and the pulpit, and there is a bad and dangerous opposition, tending to separate, to break up the membership of society-to sow enmities, and to beget and encourage a religious warfare, the worst of all warfares, and as cruel as the cruelest. And where is religion in this feverheat? How little real charity, how little real love of our neighbour, how little of the doing as we would be done by, is exhibited, on hired platforms, by paid and unpaid itinerants! We object to them on another account; we verily believe that they are failures as to the object. Excitement has its reactions. The minds of the masses are set upon doubts and upon inquiries that are not always to be satisfied from a platform; and the well-disciplined foe is ever at hand to solve difficulties, and to promise rest to the disquieted. We have often deplored the weakness of our own combatants, for a few overheated illogical heads will counteract the good which the best tutored and most able might effect. It is surely a great evil, and a great infringement of that civil and religious liberty of which we inconsistently and ostentatiously make so great a boast, if that over-curious and inquisitive habit is induced upon the population, to take religion out of its