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booksellers; and the lexicographer engaged a house in Gough-square, where, with the assistance of six amanuenses, he proceeded rapidly in the execution of his plan. This great work, so honorable to the talents of the author, appeared, May, 1755, in 2 vols. without a patron. Lord Chesterfield, who had at first favored the undertaking, but had afterwards neglected the author, endeavored, by a flattering recommendation of the work in

the World," to reconcile himself to his good opinion; but Johnson, with noble indignation, spurned at the mean artifice of his courtly patron; and his celebrated letter reflected, with independent spirit and in severe language, against his selfish and ambitious views. In 1749 the Irene had been brought forward on the stage, by the friendship of Garrick, but with no success. The Rambler was undertaken 20th of March, 1750, and till the 17th March, 1752, when it ceased, a paper had regularly appeared every Tuesday and Saturday; and it is remarkable that during the whole of that time, only five numbers were contributed by other authors. But these publications, popular as they were, still left Johnson in distressed circumstances; and in 1756, the year after the publishing of his dictionary, he was arrested for a debt of five guineas, from which the kindness of Richardson relieved him. In 1758 he began the Idler, and continued it for two years with little assistance; and on the death of his mother in 1759, that he might pay some decent respect to her funeral, and discharge her debts, he wrote his Rasselas, and obtained for it, from the booksellers, the sum of £100. Happily, however, these high services to literature were not to pass unrewarded: in 1762 he was honorably presented by the king, on the representation of Mr. Wedderburne, with a pension of £300 per annum without a stipulation af future exertions, but merely, as the grant expressed it, for the moral tendency of his writings, a character to which his Rambler was most fully entitled. In 1777, he began his Lives of the Poets, which he finished in 1781, a work of great merit, and which exhibits, in the most pleasing manner, the soundness of the critic, the information of the biographer, and the benevolent views of the man. In a few years of gigantic labors, he found his health gradually declining, from the united attacks of the dropsy and of an asthma. It is remakable, that Johnson, whose pen was ever employed in recommending piety, and all the offices of the purest morality; and whose conduct and example in life exhibit

ed the most perfect pattern of the Christian virtues; should, in the close of life, betray dreadful apprehensions of death. By degrees, indeed, the terrors which his imagination had painted to itself, disappeared. Johnson expired on the 13th Dec., 1784, full of resignation, strong in faith, and joyful in hope of a happy resurrection. His works are very numerous, and all respectable.

Opposite Johnson, sits Sir JosHUA REYNOLDS, eminent as an artist, and man of cultivated taste and literary zeal. He was born in 1723, at Plympton, where his father, a clergyman, was master of the grammar school. He had very early a strong partiality for painting; but being intended for the church, he was sent to Oxford, where he took the degree of bachelor of arts. Nothing, however, seemed so congenial to his taste as painting, and his father indulged him, and placed him in London under the care of Hudson, after which, about 1749, he travelled into Italy. His first production which attracted notice, was a portrait of his friend Keppel, and other pieces equally correct, and equally finished, continued to command the public attention, and to rank him among the greatest artists of the age. But not only as a painter the name of Reynolds must stand respectable, but also as a literary character, and as the active promoter of the literary club, which was established in 1764, and which had among its illustrious members the names of Johnson, Burke, Garrick, Douglas, Goldsmith, the Whartons, Windham, &c. In the academic lectures which he delivered, Sir Joshua displayed not only great taste and a perfect acquaintance with his profession, but strong powers of language, sound judgment, an elegant style and luminous order.

Next is EDMUND BURKE, the splendid orator, and comprehensive statesman. He was born in Ireland, in 1730. His first acknowledged work, which was of course published anonymously, was his Vindication of Natural Society; an admirable imitation of Lord Bolingbroke's style and manner of reasoning, which deceived even some of the best judges. This This was followed in 1757, by his Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful. His career as an orator, one of the most brilliant in modern history, commenced with his introduction into Parliament. His speeches were numerous and always great. He died on the 8th of July, 1797. His compositions have been collected in sixteen volumes octavo. In private life Burke was

amiable and benevolent; in public, indefati- | tained a pension. On the breaking out of gable, ardent, and abhorrent of meanness the French revolution, he returned to Corsica, and injustice. It was this latter quality and prevailed upon his countrymen to submit which made him a persevering advocate of to the English government, after which he the Irish Catholics. As an orator he ranks returned to London, and died in 1807. among the first of modern times; and as a writer, whether we consider the splendor of his diction, the richness and variety of his imagery, or the boundless stores of knowledge which he displays, it must be acknowl. edged that there are few who equal, and none who transcend him.

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CHARLES BURNEY, a doctor of music, and literary character, was born at Shrewsbury, in 1726, and studied music under Dr. Arne. He died in 1814, at Chelsea Hospital, of which he was organist. Besides many musical compositions, he produced several works, one of the chief of which is, a Life of Metastasio, in three volumes.

The Marquis of WHARTON was one of the members of the circle of which Burke, GarHe rick and Johnson were the chief lights. was an enthusiastic lover of literature, though not distinguished for talents or labors. He was a zealous politician, and a steadfast friend.

GOLDSMITH, the celebrated poet and miscellaneous writer, was the son of a clergyman; was born, in 1731, in Ireland; and was educated at the universities of Dublin, Edinburgh, and Leyden, with a view to his adopting the medical profession. Leyden, however, he quitted abruptly, with no money and a single shirt in his pocket, and wandered over a considerable part of Europe. Du

DAVID GARRICK, the illustrious actor, was born in 1716. He was educated at Litchfield school, but was more attached to theatrical pursuits than to learning, so that he acted with his fellow pupils the play of the Recruiting Officer," and supported himself the character of Sergeant Kite. He went afterwards to reside with his uncle, a wine merchant at Lisbon, but soon returned to Litchfield school, and after being six months the pupil and companion of Dr. Johnson, he accompanied him to London, in 1735. The powers with which nature had endowed him were fostered and improved by the conversation and company of the most popular actors, but Garrick, still diffident, flew from a London audience to Ipswich, where in 1741, he performed the part of Aboan in Oroonoko, under the assumed name of Lyddal. His efforts were received with repeated and in-ring his peregrinations he was sometimes increasing applause, and thus flushed with provincial approbation, he came to Goodman's Fields, and acted Richard III., October 19th, 1741. So superior were his abilities, and so powerful their display, that the other theatres were now left empty, and the house in Goodman's Fields was daily crowded with all the beauty, the fashion, and the taste of the town. Besides the display of his astonishing powers on the stage, Garrick merited the public approbation as a writer. The Biographia Dramatica mentions not less than 38 of his plays, some of which were original, and some translations, besides a great number of prologues, epilogues, songs, and elegies.

GEN. PAOLI was born in the Island of Corsica, in 1726. In his twenty-ninth year he was chosen generalissimo of Corsica, where he exerted himself in promoting such objects as were best calculated to secure the independence of the republic. The Genoese, however, having made a transfer of the island to France, that power sent such an overwhelming force into it as compelled Paoli to seek an asylum in England, where he ob

debted to his German flute for procuring him a meal or a lodging from the peasants. In 1759 appeared his first work, an Essay on the Present State of Polite Literature. His subsequent labors were multifarious; for he soon gained an honorable popularity, and seems never to have been unemployed, but his want of economy kept him always embarrassed. Among his friends he numbered Johnson, Burke, Garrick, and many other eminent characters. As an author he stands high. His poetry, natural, melodious, affecting, and beautifully descriptive, finds an echo in every bosom; and his prose, often enlivened with humor, and always adorned with the graces of a pure style, is among the best in our language. The Traveller abounds with elegant and animated description, and as Dr. Johnson observed, no poem of greater excellence has appeared since the days of Pope. The Deserted Village exhibits beauties peculiarly its own, and while the simple tale of indigent nature and suffering humanity can interest and captivate the heart, so long will the lines of this correct poem continue to be read and admired.

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From the English Review.

THE HISTORY OF THE HUGONOTS.

The Protestant Reformation in France; or, The History of the Hugonots, by the Author of "Father Darcy," "Emilia Wyndham," "Old Men's Tales," &c. 2 vols. Bentley. 1847.

The History of the Popes in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, by LEOPOLD RANKE. Translated from the German, by WALTER KEATING KELLY, Esq., B. A., of Trinity College, Dublin. 1 vol. Whittaker & Co.

THE sixteenth century may be considered | as the opening of modern improvement in religion, government and civilization; three hundred years ago, the great states of the world presented a very different picture from what we see at present; but the seed sown by the invention of printing, and the diffusion of knowledge, was even then beginning to show itself as a vigorous plant, from which future centuries were to reap the maturer fruits. Our object in considering the works before us, is to examine the state of religion in France at the period, and, from a short view of the prominent characters, to inquire into the reasons why France rejected those truths, which England and other nations eagerly received.

During the middle and end of the sixteenth century, the two greatest countries of the world were governed by women,-England by Queen Elizabeth, and France by Catherine de Medicis; their reigns commenced about the same period, if we date Catherine's accession from the death of her husband Henry II. in 1559, and consider her as the real ruler of the kingdom during the lives of her unfortunate sons, Francis II., Charles IX., and Henry III. The history before us includes only the reigns of the two former of these princes, from 1559 to 1574, a period when events were crowded into a space almost incredibly small; a violent persecution, three civil wars, several sieges, murders of the chiefs on both sides, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew, succeeded each other with frightful rapidity. France became the arena on which the world's great contending parties tried their strength; liberty of conscience struggled for existence against papal tyranny and the superstition of ages, and the Hugo

nots, after severe trials and several victories, were at last driven from the field.

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In examining the characters presented to our view, the first which deserves our attention is Catherine herself: with as much ambition as Elizabeth, and with the same desire of personal authority, she fell far short of her great contemporary in the art of acquiring and retaining power. Elizabeth had a certain object; she was determined to advance the Reformation, and to improve England, and by both these means to increase her own power; she chose her instruments judiciously, and as long as her ministers served her purpose, she never betrayed them or consulted their opponents. Catherine, however, was exactly the reverse; she had no fixed principle, and no definite object; "divide and govern" was her motto; she was like the man in the Gospel, out of whom the evil spirit was departed, 'empty, swept, and garnished," and so ever ready for the occupancy of any power of evil, who should seize upon the first possession. Her love of pleasure was unbounded; she invented side-saddles, to enable her to accompany her husband in hunting; she delighted in tournaments, processions, masquerades, and all the gaieties of a dissipated court. Her young ladies, about two hundred in number, called "the queen's daughters, added much to the splendor of her train, and were a special object of her care: she attended to their education, chastised them if they displeased her, and was extremely strict in repressing scandalous conversation or writings. She considered herself a warrior as well as a queen; she attended several sieges, and loved to see a battle: when the English reinforcements were allowed to enter Rouen, she got into a violent passion, and swore at

the French officers, saying, that had she been in command it should not have happened; and that she had the courage, if not the strength of a man. Though a good French woman (says Brantóme) she discouraged duelling. (Brantóme has written largely on duels, and is one of the best authorities on the subject). "For," he adds, "when one of my cousins challenged an officer, she sent him to the Bastile; and suspecting that I was engaged as his second, she sent for me and reprimanded me severely, saying, that whatever excuse might be made for the folly of a young man, there was none for me, as being older I ought to have been wiser." But with all her physical courage, she was evidently deficient in moral courage; and for her cruelty she had not even the pretext of religious enthusiasm: after the battle of Dreux, when the Hugonots were supposed to have gained a victory, her only remark was, "Then for the future we must say our prayers in French."

The predominant party was of course Roman Catholic; these, represented by the Constable de Montmorenci, the Duke of Guise, and the Maréchal de St. André, who are known as the triumvirate, held possession of Paris and the king's person. As Catherine disliked all authority except her own, she feared and hated these nobles; to check their power she encouraged the Hugonots, at the head of whom were Anthony, king of Navarre, the father of Henry IV., his brother the Prince of Condé, and the Admiral Coligny. These generally seemed Catherine's favor ites, except when they were in arms against the king, yet this was the party afterwards massacred by her orders. In order therefore to gain a true view of the times, we must consider Catherine as vacillating in her intentions, the creature of those around her, always wishing to advance her own power, but never hesitating to take the advice of the most depraved religionist who should promise her her object, even by the most unworthy means. Let us recollect that the Roman Catholic Church had not been idle in its opposition to Luther; a vast and irresponsible power had now been created, ready to espouse the cause of Rome, and bound to advance the spiritual empire of the Church by every art, whether lawful or unlawful. Ignatius Loyola had received the sanction of the Pope for the incorporation of the Jesuits in 1543. Now the secret influence of their crafty policy, in which the end sanctifies the means, and all things expedient are considered lawful, had already begun to exert its influence upon the

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councils of nations. The Cardinal of Lorraine, brother to the Duke of Guise, had returned from the Council of Trent with a full determination to uphold Catholicism; the duke was the first warrior of his day, and though so ignorant that he swore a New Testament could be worth nothing because it was only a year printed, and our Lord died 1500 years ago, yet, as he said himself, he understood the trade of chopping off heads, and that was enough to give him the greatest inflence in a barbarous sage.

With these men, the near relations of Francis II. and his beautiful bride, (the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots,) nothing was more easy than to obtain the ascendant over a weak-minded and delicate boy of thirteen. Francis had attained his legal majority at that age when some children are almost too young for a public school. The duke's habits of business were such, that he seldom commanded his officers to do what could be done by himself; he was in the habit of examining the enemy's fortifications with his own eyes, attending to the most minute details, and then sitting up during the whole night to write his own despatches: one of his officers inquiring for him at the siege of Thronville, was told that he was writing; he replied by cursing his writings, and added, "What a pity he was not brought up to be a clerk!" "Well, Montluc," said the duke, overhearing him, "do you think I am the right stuff to make a clerk?" and then, coming out of his tent, he gave his orders with his customary decision and authority. He was killed by Poltrot, an assassin, at the siege of Orleans, in 1563. While the Duke of Guise was the pope's temporal agent, his brother the cardinal was no less useful in spiritual matters; like his brother, he had great talent for business, and was besides an excellent courtier and fluent speaker. He spared no expense to have the earliest intelligence from all parts of Christendom; and thus, by his paid agents, he enacted the part which Eugene Sue attributes to the superior of the Jesuits; he organized a sort of spiritual police, who could inform him of the secret intentions, as well as the actions of men; and of course, as a cardinal, he was bound to wield this power in the service of the pope. Though learned, eloquent and polite, the cardinal was essentially vicious; he was a persecuting bigot without the excuse of religious zeal. A Roman Catholic writer tells us, that he used his religion chiefly as a means to build up his greatness; he often spoke highly of the confession of Augsburg, and at times al

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The cardinal, though outwardly a strict member of the Church of Rome, was equally anxious for the independence of the French Church. At the Council of Trent (says Ranke*) he demanded the cup for the laity, the administration of the Sacraments in the vulgar tongue, the accompaniment of the mass with instruction and preaching, and permission to sing psalms in French in full congregation; besides, in conjunction with the other French bishops, he maintained the authority of a council as above the pope. In these matters, however, he was overruled; the Spaniards did not concur in his demands, and the Italian bishops gave the pope an overwhelming preponderance. Lorraine seems to have considered himself bound by the decision of the council, and was all his life a most unrelenting persecutor. Two years before, he had revived a confession of faith which had been used in the reign of Francis I.; he induced the king to issue an order that any person who should refuse to sign it should be deprived of all offices, and burnt alive without further trial. He also added a declaration, that all persons who should sign the confession should solemnly engage to pursue all recusants as public criminals, without regard to their nearest relations. The chancellor was bound to require the signature of the officers of state; the bishops were to present it to the inferior clergy; the cures were obliged to carry it from house to house; and the Queens were enjoined to require the signatures of their respective households. This scheme the cardinal called his rat-trap. Supported by his rank, his connections, his brother's authority, and his own secret intelligence, we can easily imagine how dangerous an opponent the cardinal must have been to the Hugonots, and how powerful a rivalry he must have presented to the views and ambition of Catherine de Medicis.

The colleagues of the Duke of Guise in the triumvirate were Montmorenci, generally known as the Constable, and the Maréchal St. André. The former, like the duke, was

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a warrior, with little idea of religion. He was scrupulously exact in saying his prayers; but, like those of William of Deloraine, they seem to have partaken of the nature of a border foray. His soldiers used to say, “The Lord deliver us from the pater-nosters of Monsieur le Connétable!" He would turn about between his beads, and say, "Hang such a one for disobedience!" Burn three villages on yonder hill!" "Let another be run through with pikes!" He was inferior to the Duke of Guise in talent; but by a gravity of manner, and a certain degree of reserve, he could often, like Solomon's fool, pass for a wise man by holding his tongue. He was killed at the age of seventy-nine, at the battle of St. Denys, where he commanded the king's army; after several successful charges, his squadron of cavalry was routed by the Prince de Condé, and having received several wounds, he was retiring from the field, when a Scottish adventurer, Robert Stewart, levelled his piece, and Montmorenci exclaimed, "I am the constable!" Therefore," said Stewart, "I present you with this." Though severely wounded, the courageous old man dashed the broken hilt of his sword into the face of his adversary with so much force that he broke several of his teeth, and felled him to the ground. The constable's wound proved mortal; a priest was sent for, but the old man told him not to molest him, as it would be a vile and unworthy thing if he had lived for nearly eighty years without learning to die for half an hour. This anecdote proves that zeal for a cause, loyalty to a king, and the desire of military glory, were his ruling principles, rather than any preference of his own religion above Protestantism, or any mistaken zeal in thinking that he was doing God service by the extirpation of heresy.

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The constable and the Duke of Guise had long been jealous of each other; each thought himself entitled to be prime minister, and each looked upon the other as a dangerous rival. After the death of Francis II., the Maréchal de St. André undertook to reconcile these differences, and seems to have been admitted to the triumvirate as a sort of mediator between the two contending parties. At Easter, 1561, the constable and the duke, by St. Andre's advice, partook together of the sacrament, and dined at the same table. St. André did not long survive his union with these great men, as he was killed the next year at the battle of Dreux: he seems to have had a presentiment of his approaching end; on the morning of the battle, he came to the tent of the Duke of Guise much de

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