diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:44:05 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:44:05 -0700 |
| commit | b13e5bbe13caab9acce7c4602eb1ec30cbbb9957 (patch) | |
| tree | 5783708f269076021d3601124871e0d53cc6ce39 /44494-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '44494-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 44494-h/44494-h.htm | 28608 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 44494-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 52299 bytes |
2 files changed, 28608 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/44494-h/44494-h.htm b/44494-h/44494-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eba598b --- /dev/null +++ b/44494-h/44494-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,28608 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of History Of Civilization in England, Vol. II, by Henry Thomas Buckle. + </title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1 {text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + font-weight: bold; + font-size: 2em; + clear: both; + } + + h2 {text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + font-size: 1.5em; + clear: both; + } + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + + p.title {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; + line-height: 1.4em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + + p.noindent {margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: 10%; + text-align: justify; + font-size: 1em; + line-height: 1.4em; + text-indent: 0; + } + + hr.hr65 {width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; + clear: both; + } + + hr.hr95 {width: 95%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 2.5%; + margin-right: 2.5%; + clear: both; + } + + div.note {border: black 1px dashed; + padding: 0.5em; + } + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + td.chaptitle {text-align: left; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2em;} + td.page {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + .tdc {text-align: center;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; + text-align: center; +} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ + +.poem-container {text-align: center;} + + .poem {display: inline-block; + text-align: left; + } + + .stanza span, + .stanza div, + .stanza p { + display: block; + line-height: 1.2em; + margin-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; + margin-top: 0; + } + + .poem br {display: none;} + + .poem .stanza {padding: 0.5em 0;} + + .poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; + } + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44494 ***</div> + +<h1>HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.</h1> + +<p class="title">BY<br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 150%">HENRY THOMAS BUCKLE.</span><br /><br /><br /> +IN THREE VOLUMES.<br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 125%">VOL. II.</span><br /><br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 125%"><i>NEW EDITION.</i></span><br /><br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 150%">TORONTO:<br /> +ROSE-BELFORD PUBLISHING COMPANY,</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 125%">60 YORK STREET.<br /> +1878.</span></p> + +<hr class="hr95" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + +<h2>ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.</h2> + +<table summary="TOC"> + <colgroup> + <col width="90%" /> + <col width="10%" /> + </colgroup> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span style="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER I.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="blockquot">OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH INTELLECT FROM +THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO THE ACCESSION TO POWER OF LOUIS XIV.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle"> </td> + <td class="page">PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Importance of the question, as to whether the historian +should begin with studying the normal or the abnormal +condition of society</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_1">1–3</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Greater power of the church in France than in England</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Hence in France during the sixteenth century everything +was more theological than in England</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_6">6–8</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Hence, too, toleration was impossible in France</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_9">9–11</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But at the end of the sixteenth century scepticism appeared +in France, and with it toleration began, as was seen in +the Edict of Nantes</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_11">11–15</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The first sceptic was not Rabelais, but Montaigne</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_15">15–18</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Continuation of the movement by Charron</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_18">18–21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Henry IV. encouraged the Protestants</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_23">23–24</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And they were tolerated even by the queen-regent during +the minority of Louis XIII.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_23">24–26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The most remarkable steps in favour of toleration were, +however, taken by Richelieu, who effectually humbled the church</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_27">27–34</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">He supported the new secular scheme of government +against the old ecclesiastical scheme</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_34">34–42</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His liberal treatment of the Protestants</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_42">42–46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">They are deserted by their temporal leaders, and the management +of the party falls into the hands of the clergy</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_46">46–51</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Hence the French Protestants, being headed by the clergy, +become more intolerant than the French Catholics, who are headed by statesmen</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_51">51–55</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Evidence of the illiberality of the French Protestants</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_55">55–72</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">They raise a civil war, which was a struggle of classes rather than of creeds</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Richelieu put down the rebellion, but still abstained from +persecuting the Protestants</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_73">73–76</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">This liberal policy on the part of the government was only part of a much larger movement</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_76">76–77</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Illustration of this from the philosophy of Descartes</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_77">77–92</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Analogy between Descartes and Richelieu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span></td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_92">92–93</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The same anti-ecclesiastical spirit was exhibited by their contemporaries</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_93">93–95</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And by Mazarin</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_96">96–98</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">It was also seen in the wars of the Fronde</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_99">99–102</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But notwithstanding all this, there was a great difference +between France and England; and the prevalence of the +protective spirit prevented the French from becoming free</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_102">102–107</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span style="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER II.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="blockquot">HISTORY OF THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT, AND COMPARISON OF IT +IN FRANCE AND ENGLAND.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">About the eleventh century the spirit of inquiry began to weaken the church</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_108">108–110</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Coinciding with this, the feudal system and an hereditary aristocracy appeared</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_110">110–112</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The nobles displace the clergy, and celibacy is opposed +by the principle of hereditary rank</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In England the nobles were less powerful than in France</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_113">113–116</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And were glad to ally themselves with the people against the crown</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_116">116–118</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Hence a spirit of popular independence unknown in France, +where the nobles were too powerful to need the help of the people</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_118">118–119</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Effects of this difference between the two countries in the fourteenth century</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_119">119–122</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Centralization was in France the natural successor of feudality</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_122">122–126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">This state contrasted with that of England</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_126">126–127</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Power of the French nobles</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_128">128–131</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Illustration from the history of chivalry</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_131">131–135</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Another illustration from the vanity of the French and +pride of the English</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_135">135–137</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Also from the practice of duelling</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_137">137</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The pride of Englishmen encouraged the Reformation</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_138">138</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Analogy between the Reformation and the revolutions of +the seventeenth century</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_138">138–139</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Both were opposed by the clergy and nobles. Natural +alliance between these two classes</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_139">139–142</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In the reign of Elizabeth both classes were weakened</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_143">143–146</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">James I. and Charles I. vainly attempted to restore their power</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span style="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER III.</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="blockquot">THE ENERGY OF THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT IN FRANCE EXPLAINS +THE FAILURE OF THE FRONDE. COMPARISON BETWEEN +THE FRONDE AND THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH REBELLION.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Difference between the Fronde and the great English rebellion</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_148">148–150</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The English rebellion was a war of classes</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_150">150–159</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But in France the energy of the protective spirit and the +power of the nobles made a war of classes impossible</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_160">160–162</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Vanity and imbecility of the French nobles</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_162">162–170</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">As such men were the leaders of the Fronde, the rebellion +naturally failed</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_167">167–173</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But the English rebellion succeeded because it was a democratic +movement headed by popular leaders</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_174">174–175</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span style="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER IV.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="blockquot">THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT CARRIED BY LOUIS XIV. INTO LITERATURE. +EXAMINATION OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE +INTELLECTUAL CLASSES AND THE GOVERNING CLASSES.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The protective spirit in France, having produced these +political evils, was carried into literature under Louis +XIV., and caused an alliance between literature and government</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_176">176–177</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Servility in the reign of Louis XIV.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_177">177–181</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Men of letters grateful to Louis XIV.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But his system of protecting literature is injurious</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_183">183–188</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Its first effect was to stop the progress of science</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_188">188–192</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Even in mechanical arts nothing was effected</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_192">192–194</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Decline in physiology, in surgery, and in medicine</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_194">194–197</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Also in zoology and in chemistry</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Nor was anything done in botany</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_198">198–202</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Intellectual decay under Louis XIV. was seen in every +department of thought, and was the natural consequence of patronage</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_202">202–205</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Illustrations from the history of French art</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_205">205–208</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And from every branch of literature</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_208">208–210</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Universal decline of France during the latter part of the +reign of Louis XIV.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_210">210–212</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span style="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER V.</span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="blockquot">DEATH OF LOUIS XIV. REACTION AGAINST THE PROTECTIVE +SPIRIT, AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">English literature unknown in France in the reign of Louis XIV.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_213">213–214</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But began to be studied after his death, when the most eminent Frenchmen +visited England. This caused a junction of French and English intellects</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_215">215–227</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Admiration of England expressed by Frenchmen</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_228">228–229</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Hence liberal opinions in France, which the government attempted to stifle</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Consequent persecution of literary men by the French government</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_230">230–242</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Violence of the government</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_242">242–246</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In France literature was the last resource of liberty</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_246">246–247</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Reasons why literary men at first attacked the church and +not the government</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_247">247–253</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Hence they were led to assail Christianity</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_254">254–258</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But until the middle of the reign of Louis XV. the political institutions +of France might have been saved; after that period all was over</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_258">258–259</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span style="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER VI.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="blockquot">STATE OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE IN FRANCE FROM THE +END OF THE SIXTEENTH TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Historical literature in France before the end of the sixteenth century</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_261">261–265</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Improvement in the method of writing history late in the sixteenth century</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_266">266–267</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Still further progress early in the seventeenth century</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_268">268–270</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Which became more marked in Mezeray's history in 1643</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_271">271–272</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Retrograde movement under Louis XIV.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_273">273–279</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Illustration of this from the work of Audigier</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_279">279–282</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And from that of Bossuet</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_282">282–291</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Immense improvements introduced by Voltaire</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_292">292–313</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His History of Charles XII.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_292">292–295</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His Age of Louis XIV.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_296">296–297</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His Morals, Manners, and Character of Nations</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_298">297–298</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His views adopted by Mallet, Mably, Velly, Villaret, Duclos, and Hénault</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_299">299–300</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His habit of looking at epochs</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">A remark of his adopted by Constant</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_302">302</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">He advocated free trade</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_304">304</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His anticipation of Malthus</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_304">304–305</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His attack on the Middle Ages</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_305">305–306</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And on the pedantic admirers of antiquity</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_306">306–308</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">He weakened the authority of mere scholars and theologians</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_308">308–309</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Who had repeated the most childish absurdities respecting +the early history of Rome</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_309">309–310</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In attacking which Voltaire anticipated Niebuhr</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_310">310–313</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Ignorant prejudice against him in England</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">His vast labours were aided by Montesquieu</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The works of Montesquieu, and value of his method</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_314">314–319</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The discourses of Turgot, and their influence</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_320">320–321</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">All this hastened the advance of the French Revolution</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_321">321–322</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span style="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER VII.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="blockquot">PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AFTER THE +MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Recapitulation of preceding views</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Difference between certainty and precision</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_324">324–326</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The intellect of France began to attack the state about 1750</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_326">326–327</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Rise of the political economists</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_327">327–330</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Influence of Rousseau</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_330">330–331</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Just at the same time the government began to attack the church</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_332">332–334</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And to favour religious toleration</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_334">334–336</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Abolition of the Jesuits</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_336">336–346</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Calvinism is democratic; Arminianism is aristocratic</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_339">339–342</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Jansenism being allied to Calvinism, its revival in France aided the +democratic movement, and secured the overthrow of the Jesuits, whose doctrines are Arminian</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_343">343–345</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">After the fall of the Jesuits the ruin of the French clergy was inevitable</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_347">347–348</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But was averted for a time by the most eminent Frenchmen directing their +hostility against the state rather than against the church</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_349">349–351</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Connexion between this movement and the rise of atheism</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_351">351–353</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Same tendency exhibited in Helvétius</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_353">353–357</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And in Condillac</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_357">357–360</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The ablest Frenchmen concentrate their attention on the external world</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_360">360–361</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Effects of this on the sciences of heat, light, and electricity</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_361">361–363</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Also on chemistry and geology</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_364">364–373</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In England during the same period there was a dearth of great thinkers</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_374">374–375</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But in France immense impetus was given to zoology by Cuvier and Bichat</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_375">375–376</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Bichat's views respecting the tissues</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_377">377–421</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Connexion between these views and subsequent discoveries</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_383">383–386</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Relation between inventions, discoveries, and method; +and immense importance of Bichat's method</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_386">386–389</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Bichat's work on life</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_390">390–395</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Great and successful efforts made by the French in Botany</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_395">395–399</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And in mineralogy by De Lisle and Haüy</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_399">399–403</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Analogy between this and Pinel's work on insanity</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_403">403–404</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">All these vast results were part of the causes of the French Revolution</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_405">405</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Physical science is essentially democratic</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_406">406–410</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The same democratic tendency was observable in changes of dress</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_410">410–412</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And in the establishment of clubs</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_412">412–415</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Influence of the American Rebellion</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_415">415–418</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Summary of the causes of the French Revolution</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_418">418–420</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">General reflections</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_420">420–424</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span style="font-size: 125%">CHAPTER VIII.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="blockquot">OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF THE SPANISH INTELLECT +FROM THE FIFTH TO THE MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In the preceding Chapters four propositions have been established</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_425">425–426</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The truth of which may be further verified by studying the history of Spain</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_426">426</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In Spain, superstition is encouraged by physical phenomena</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_426">426–434</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">It was also encouraged by the great Arian war with France</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_434">434–439</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And, subsequently, by the war with the Mohammedans</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_439">439–444</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">These three causes influenced the policy of Ferdinand and Isabella</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_444">444–446</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Continuation of the same policy by Charles V. and by Philip II.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_446">446–453</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Philip II., notwithstanding his repulsive qualities, was loved by the nation</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_453">453–455</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Their affection for him was the result of general causes, which, during several +centuries, have made the Spaniards the most loyal people in Europe</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_455">455</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Origin of Spanish loyalty, and evidence of it</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_455">455–461</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Loyalty became united with superstition, and each strengthened the other</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_461">461–462</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In consequence of this union, great foreign conquests +were made, and a great military spirit was developed</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_461">461–465</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But this sort of progress, depending too much upon individuals, +is necessarily unstable</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_465">465–466</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The progress of England, on the other hand, depends upon the ability of the +nation, and therefore, continues, whether individual rulers are skilful, or whether they are unskilful</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_466">466–467</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In Spain, the ruling classes were supreme; the people counted for nothing; +and hence the grandeur of the country, which was raised up by the able princes of the sixteenth +century, was as quickly pulled down by the weak princes of the seventeenth</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_467">467–472</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The decay of Spain, in the seventeenth century, was connected +with the increasing influence of the clergy</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_472">472–483</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The first use which the clergy made of their power was to expel all the Moors</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_483">483–496</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Effect of this expulsion in impoverishing Spain</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_497">497–499</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">ODecline of manufactures, and of population, and increase of poverty</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_499">499–511</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In 1700, when affairs were at their worst, the Austrian +dynasty was succeeded by the Bourbon</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_513">513–514</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Spain was now ruled by foreigners</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_514">514–520</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Who endeavoured to improve the country by weakening the church</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_521">521–525</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But the authority of the church had so enfeebled the national +intellect, that the people, immersed in ignorance, remained inert</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_525">525–543</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Government attempted to remedy this ignorance by calling in foreign aid</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_534">534–545</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The influence of foreigners in Spain was displayed in the +expulsion of the Jesuits, in 1767</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_545">545–546</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And in the attacks made on the Inquisition</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_547">547–548</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">It was also displayed in the foreign policy of Spain</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_548">548–550</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">All this was promoted by the authority and high character of Charles III.</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_552">552–554</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">But it was of no avail; because politicians can do nothing, +when the spirit of the country is against them</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_534">534–555</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Still, Charles III. effected great improvements, from which, +on a superficial view, permanent benefit might have been expected</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_555">555–568</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Summary of what was accomplished for Spain, by the government, +between the years 1700 and 1788</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_568">568–570</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Inasmuch, however, as these ameliorations were opposed +to the habits of the national character, a reaction was inevitable</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_570">570–571</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In 1788, Charles III. was succeeded by Charles IV., and +the new king, being a true Spaniard, the reaction began</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_571">571–573</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In the nineteenth century, political reformers again endeavoured +to improve Spain</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_574">574</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">For the reasons already stated, their efforts were fruitless, +notwithstanding the early establishment in that country +of municipal privileges, and of popular representation</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_575">575–576</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">In this way, general causes always triumph over particular actions</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_577">577–578</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Those general causes predetermined the country to superstition, +and it was impossible for individuals to make head against them</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_578">578–583</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Nothing can weaken superstition but knowledge</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_583">583</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">Such failures are the more observable, because Spain +enjoys immense natural advantages</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_583">583–585</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">And has possessed great patriots and great legislators</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_585">585</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">The Spaniards have, moreover, long been celebrated for +honour, courage, temperance, humanity, and religious sincerity</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_585">585–588</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">So far, however, as national progress is concerned, these +noble qualities are useless, while ignorance is so gross and so general</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_588">588–592</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="chaptitle">This it is, which, isolating Spain from the rest of the civilized +world, keeps alive that spirit of superstition, that +reverence for antiquity, and that blind and servile +loyalty, which, as long as they last, will render improvement +impossible; and which must last until ignorance is removed</td> + <td class="page" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_592">592–597</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="hr95" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<p class="title"><span style="font-size: 175%;">HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot">OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE FRENCH INTELLECT FROM THE +MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO THE ACCESSION TO +POWER OF LOUIS XIV.</div> + +<p>The consideration of these great changes in the English +mind, has led me into a digression, which, so far from +being foreign to the design of this Introduction, is absolutely +necessary for a right understanding of it. In this, +as in many other respects, there is a marked analogy between +investigations concerning the structure of society +and investigations concerning the human body. Thus, +it has been found, that the best way of arriving at a +theory of disease is by beginning with the theory of +health; and that the foundation of all sound pathology +must be first sought in an observation, not of the abnormal, +but of the normal functions of life. Just in the +same way, it will, I believe, be found, that the best +method of arriving at great social truths, is by first +investigating those cases in which society has developed +itself according to its own laws, and in which the +governing powers have least opposed themselves to the +spirit of their times.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> It is on this account that, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +order to understand the position of France, I have +begun by examining the position of England. In order +to understand the way in which the diseases of the +first country were aggravated by the quackery of ignorant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +rulers, it was necessary to understand the way in +which the health of the second country was preserved +by being subjected to smaller interference, and allowed +with greater liberty to continue its natural march. +With the light, therefore, which we have acquired by +a study of the normal condition of the English mind, +we can, with the greater ease, now apply our principles +to that abnormal condition of French society, by +the operations of which, at the close of the eighteenth +century, some of the dearest interests of civilization +were imperilled.</p> + +<p>In France, a long train of events, which I shall hereafter +relate, had, from an early period, given to the +clergy a share of power larger than that which they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +possessed in England. The results of this were for a +time decidedly beneficial, inasmuch as the church restrained +the lawlessness of a barbarous age, and secured +a refuge for the weak and oppressed. But as the French +advanced in knowledge, the spiritual authority, which +had done so much to curb their passions, began to press +heavily upon their genius, and impede its movements. +That same ecclesiastical power, which to an ignorant +age is an unmixed benefit, is to a more enlightened +age a serious evil. The proof of this was soon apparent. +For when the Reformation broke out, the +church had in England been so weakened, that it fell +almost at the first assault; its revenues were seized by +the crown,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and its offices, after being greatly diminished +both in authority and in wealth, were bestowed +upon new men, who, from the uncertainty of their +tenure, and the novelty of their doctrines, lacked that +long-established prescription by which the claims of +the profession are mainly supported. This, as we have +already seen, was the beginning of an uninterrupted +progress, in which, at every successive step, the ecclesiastical +spirit lost some of its influence. In France, on +the other hand, the clergy were so powerful, that they +were able to withstand the Reformation, and thus preserve +for themselves those exclusive privileges which +their English brethren vainly attempted to retain.</p> + +<p>This was the beginning of that second marked divergence +between French and English civilization,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> which +had its origin, indeed, at a much earlier period, but +which now first produced conspicuous results. Both +countries had, in their infancy, been greatly benefited +by the church, which always showed itself ready to +protect the people against the oppressions of the crown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +and the nobles.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> But in both countries, as society advanced, +there arose a capacity for self-protection; and +early in the sixteenth, or probably even in the fifteenth +century, it became urgently necessary to diminish that +spiritual authority, which, by prejudging the opinions +of men, has impeded the march of their knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +It is on this account that Protestantism, so far from +being, as its enemies have called it, an aberration +arising from accidental causes, was essentially a normal +movement, and was the legitimate expression of the +wants of the European intellect. Indeed, the Reformation +owed its success, not to a desire of purifying the +church, but to a desire of lightening its pressure; and +it may be broadly stated, that it was adopted in every +civilized country, except in those where preceding +events had increased the influence of the ecclesiastical +order, either among the people or among their rulers. +This was, unhappily, the case with France, where the +clergy not only triumphed over the Protestants, but +appeared, for a time, to have gained fresh authority by +the defeat of such dangerous enemies.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p>The consequence of all this was, that in France,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +every thing assumed a more theological aspect than in +England. In our country, the ecclesiastical spirit had, +by the middle of the sixteenth century, become so +feeble, that even intelligent foreigners were struck by +the peculiarity.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> The same nation, which, during the +Crusades, had sacrificed innumerable lives in the hope +of planting the Christian standard in the heart of Asia,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +was now almost indifferent to the religion even of its +own sovereign. Henry VIII., by his sole will, regulated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +the national creed, and fixed the formularies of +the church, which, if the people had been in earnest, +he could not possibly have done; for he had no means +of compelling submission; he had no standing army; +and even his personal guards were so scanty, that +at any moment they could have been destroyed by a +rising of the warlike apprentices of London.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> After +his death, there came Edward, who, as a Protestant +king, undid the work of his father; and, a few years +later, there came Mary, who, as a Popish queen, undid +the work of her brother; while she, in her turn, was +succeeded by Elizabeth, under whom another great +alteration was effected in the established faith.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Such +was the indifference of the people, that these vast +changes were accompanied without any serious risk.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +In France, on the other hand, at the mere name of religion, +thousands of men were ready for the field. In +England, our civil wars have all been secular; they +have been waged, either for a change of dynasty, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +for an increase of liberty. But those far more horrible +wars, by which, in the sixteenth century, France was +desolated, were conducted in the name of Christianity, +and even the political struggles of the great families +were merged in a deadly contest between Catholics and +Protestants.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>The effect this difference produced on the intellect of +the two countries is very obvious. The English, concentrating +their abilities upon great secular matters, +had, by the close of the sixteenth century, produced a +literature which never can perish. But the French, +down to that period, had not put forth a single work, +the destruction of which would now be a loss to Europe. +What makes this contrast the more remarkable is, that +in France the civilization, such as it was, had a longer +standing; the material resources of the country had +been earlier developed; its geographical position made +it the centre of European thought;<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> and it had possessed +a literature at a time when our ancestors were +a mere tribe of wild and ignorant barbarians.</p> + +<p>The simple fact is, that this is one of those innumerable +instances which teach us that no country can rise +to eminence so long as the ecclesiastical power possesses +much authority. For, the predominance of the +spiritual classes is necessarily accompanied by a corresponding +predominance of the topics in which those +classes delight. Whenever the ecclesiastical profession +is very influential, ecclesiastical literature will be very +abundant, and what is called profane literature will be +very scanty. Hence it occurred, that the minds of the +French, being almost entirely occupied with religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +disputes, had no leisure for those great inquiries into +which we in England were beginning to enter;<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and +there was, as we shall presently see, an interval of a +whole generation between the progress of the French +and English intellects, simply because there was about +the same interval between the progress of their scepticism. +The theological literature, indeed, rapidly increased;<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +but it was not until the seventeenth century +that France produced that great secular literature, the +counterpart of which was to be found in England before +the sixteenth century had come to a close.</p> + +<p>Such was, in France, the natural consequence of the +power of the church being prolonged beyond the period +which the exigencies of society required. But while +this was the intellectual result, the moral and physical +results were still more serious. While the minds of +men were thus heated by religious strife, it would have +been idle to expect any of those maxims of charity to +which theological faction is always a stranger. While +the Protestants were murdering the Catholics,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and +the Catholics murdering the Protestants, it was hardly +likely that either sect should feel tolerance for the +opinions of its enemy.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> During the sixteenth century,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +treaties were occasionally made between the two parties; +but they were only made to be immediately broken;<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> +and, with the single exception of l'Hôpital, the bare +idea of toleration does not seem to have entered the +head of any statesman of the age. It was recommended +by him;<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> but neither his splendid abilities, nor his +unblemished integrity, could make head against the +prevailing prejudices, and he eventually retired into +private life without effecting any of his noble schemes.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></p> + +<p>Indeed, in the leading events of this period of French +history, the predominance of the theological spirit was +painfully shown. It was shown in the universal determination +to subordinate political acts to religious +opinions.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> It was shown in the conspiracy of Amboise, +and in the conference of Poissy; and still more was it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +shown in those revolting crimes so natural to superstition, +the massacres of Vassy and of St. Bartholomew, +the murder of Guise by Poltrot, and of Henry III. by +Clement. These were the legitimate results of the spirit +of religious bigotry. They were the results of that +accursed spirit, which, whenever it has had the power, +has punished even to the death those who dared to +differ from it; and which, now that the power has +passed away, still continues to dogmatize on the most +mysterious subjects, tamper with the most sacred principles +of the human heart, and darken with its miserable +superstitions those sublime questions that no one +should rudely touch, because they are for each according +to the measure of his own soul, because they lie in +that unknown tract which separates the Finite from the +Infinite, and because they are as a secret and individual +covenant between Man and his God.</p> + +<p>How long these sad days<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> would, in the ordinary +course of affairs, have been prolonged in France, is a +question which we now perhaps have no means of answering; +though there is no doubt that the progress<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +even of empirical knowledge must, according to the +process already pointed out, have eventually sufficed to +rescue so great a country from her degraded position. +Fortunately, however, there now took place what we +must be content to call an accident, but which was the +beginning of a most important change. In the year +1589, Henry IV. ascended the throne of France. This +great prince, who was far superior to any of the French +sovereigns of the sixteenth century,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> made small account +of those theological disputes which his predecessors +had thought to be of paramount importance. +Before him, the kings of France, animated by the piety +natural to the guardians of the church, had exerted all +their authority to uphold the interests of the sacred +profession. Francis I. said, that if his right hand were +a heretic, he would cut it off.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Henry II., whose zeal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +was still greater,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> ordered the judges to proceed against +the Protestants, and publicly declared that he would +‘make the extirpation of the heretics his principal +business.’<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Charles IX., on the celebrated day of St. +Bartholomew, attempted to relieve the church by destroying +them at a single blow. Henry III. promised +to ‘oppose heresy even at the risk of his life;’ for he +said, ‘he could not find a prouder grave than amidst +the ruins of heresy.’<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>These were the opinions expressed, in the sixteenth +century, by the heads of the oldest monarchy in +Europe.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> But with such feelings, the powerful intellect +of Henry IV. had not the slightest sympathy. To +suit the shifting politics of his age, he had already +changed his religion twice; and he did not hesitate to +change it a third time,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> when he found that by doing so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +he could ensure tranquillity to his country. As he had +displayed such indifference about his own creed, he +could not with decency show much bigotry about the +creed of his subjects.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> We find, accordingly, that he +was the author of the first public act of toleration which +any government promulgated in France since Christianity +had been the religion of the country. Only five +years after he had solemnly abjured Protestantism, he +published the celebrated Edict of Nantes,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> by which, +for the first time, a Catholic government granted to +heretics a fair share of civil and religious rights. This +was, unquestionably, the most important event that had +yet occurred in the history of French civilization.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> If +it is considered by itself, it is merely an evidence of the +enlightened principles of the king; but when we look +at its general success, and at the cessation of religious +war which followed it, we cannot fail to perceive that +it was part of a vast movement, in which the people +themselves participated. Those who recognize the +truth of the principles I have laboured to establish, will +expect that this great step towards religious liberty +was accompanied by that spirit of scepticism, in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +absence of which toleration has always been unknown. +And that this was actually the case, may be easily +proved by an examination of the transitionary state +which France began to enter towards the end of the +sixteenth century.</p> + +<p>The writings of Rabelais are often considered to afford +the first instance of religious scepticism in the French +language.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> But, after a tolerably intimate acquaintance +with the works of this remarkable man, I have +found nothing to justify such an opinion. He certainly +treats the clergy with great disrespect, and takes every +opportunity of covering them with ridicule.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> His attacks, +however, are always made upon their personal +vices, and not upon that narrow and intolerant spirit to +which those vices were chiefly to be ascribed. In not +a single instance does he show any thing like consistent +scepticism;<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> nor does he appear to be aware +that the disgraceful lives of the French clergy were but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +the inevitable consequence of a system, which, corrupt +as it was, still possessed every appearance of strength +and vitality. Indeed, the immense popularity which he +enjoyed is, almost of itself, a decisive consideration; +since no one, who is well informed as to the condition +of the French early in the sixteenth century, will believe +it possible that a people, so sunk in superstition, +should delight in a writer by whom superstition is constantly +attacked.</p> + +<p>But the extension of experience, and the consequent +increase of knowledge, were preparing the way for a +great change in the French intellect. The process, +which had just taken place in England, was now beginning +to take place in France; and in both countries the +order of events was precisely the same. The spirit +of doubt, hitherto confined to an occasional solitary +thinker, gradually assumed a bolder form: first it found +a vent in the national literature, and then it influenced +the conduct of practical statesmen. That there was, +in France, an intimate connexion between scepticism +and toleration, is proved, not only by those general +arguments which make us infer that such connexion +must always exist, but also by the circumstance, that +only a few years before the promulgation of the Edict +of Nantes, there appeared the first systematic sceptic +who wrote in the French language. The Essays of +Montaigne were published in 1588,<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> and form an epoch, +not only in the literature, but also in the civilization, of +France. Putting aside personal peculiarities, which have +less weight than is commonly supposed, it will be found +that the difference between Rabelais and Montaigne is +a measure of the difference between 1545<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> and 1588,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +and that it, in some degree, corresponds with the relation +I have indicated between Jewel and Hooker, and +between Hooker and Chillingworth. For, the law which +governs all these relations is the law of a progressive +scepticism. What Rabelais was to the supporters of +theology, that was Montaigne to the theology itself. +The writings of Rabelais were only directed against +the clergy; but the writings of Montaigne were +directed against the system of which the clergy were +the offspring.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Under the guise of a mere man of +the world, expressing natural thoughts in common +language, Montaigne concealed a spirit of lofty and +audacious inquiry.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Although he lacked that comprehensiveness +which is the highest form of genius, +he possessed other qualities essential to a great mind. +He was very cautious, and yet he was very bold. He +was cautious, since he would not believe strange things<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +because they had been handed down by his forefathers; +and he was bold, since he was undaunted by the reproaches +with which the ignorant, who love to dogmatize, +always cover those whose knowledge makes them +ready to doubt.<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> These peculiarities would, in any +age, have made Montaigne a useful man: in the sixteenth +century they made him an important one. At +the same time, his easy and amusing style<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> increased +the circulation of his works, and thus contributed to +popularize those opinions which he ventured to recommend +for general adoption.</p> + +<p>This, then, is the first open declaration of that scepticism, +which, towards the end of the sixteenth century, +publicly appeared in France.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> During nearly three +generations, it continued its course with a constantly +increasing activity, and developed itself in a manner +similar to that which took place in England. It will +not be necessary to follow all the steps of this great +process; but I will endeavour to trace those which, +by their prominence, seem to be the most important.</p> + +<p>A few years after the appearance of the Essays of +Montaigne, there was published in France a work, which +though now little read, possessed in the seventeenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +century a reputation of the highest order. This was +the celebrated <i>Treatise on Wisdom</i>, by Charron, in which +we find, for the first time, an attempt made in a modern +language to construct a system of morals without the +aid of theology.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> What rendered this book, in some +respects, even more formidable than Montaigne's, was +the air of gravity with which it was written. Charron +was evidently deeply impressed with the importance of +the task he had undertaken, and he is honourably distinguished +from his contemporaries, by a remarkable +purity both of language and of sentiment. His work +is almost the only one of that age in which nothing +can be found to offend the chastest ears. Although he +borrowed from Montaigne innumerable illustrations,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> +he has carefully omitted those indecencies into which +that otherwise charming writer was often betrayed. +Besides this, there is about the work of Charron a +systematic completeness which never fails to attract +attention. In originality, he was, in some respects, +inferior to Montaigne; but he had the advantage of +coming after him, and there can be no doubt that he +rose to an elevation which, to Montaigne, would have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +been inaccessible. Taking his stand, as it were, on the +summit of knowledge, he boldly attempts to enumerate +the elements of wisdom, and the conditions under which +those elements will work. In the scheme which he thus +constructs, he entirely omits theological dogmas;<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> and +he treats with undissembled scorn many of those conclusions +which the people had hitherto universally +received. He reminds his countrymen that their religion +is the accidental result of their birth and education, +and that if they had been born in a Mohammedan +country, they would have been as firm believers in Mohammedanism +as they then were in Christianity.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> From +this consideration, he insists on the absurdity of their +troubling themselves about the variety of creeds, seeing +that such variety is the result of circumstances over +which they have no control. Also it is to be observed, +that each of these different religions declares itself to +be the true one;<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> and all of them are equally based +upon supernatural pretensions, such as mysteries, miracles, +prophets, and the like.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> It is because men +forget these things, that they are the slaves of that +confidence which is the great obstacle to all real knowledge, +and which can only be removed by taking such +a large and comprehensive view, as will show us how +all nations cling with equal zeal to the tenets in which +they have been educated.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> And, says Charron, if we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +look a little deeper, we shall see that each of the great +religions is built upon that which preceded it. Thus, +the religion of the Jews is founded upon that of the +Egyptians; Christianity is the result of Judaism; and, +from these two last, there has naturally sprung Mohammedanism.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> +We, therefore, adds this great writer, +should rise above the pretensions of hostile sects, and, +without being terrified by the fear of future punishment, +or allured by the hope of future happiness, +we should be content with such practical religion as +consists in performing the duties of life; and, uncontrolled +by the dogmas of any particular creed, we should +strive to make the soul retire inward upon itself, and +by the efforts of its own contemplation, admire the +ineffable grandeur of the Being of beings, the supreme +cause of all created things.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such were the sentiments which, in the year 1601, +were for the first time laid before the French people in +their own mother-tongue.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> The sceptical and secular +spirit, of which they were the representatives, continued +to increase; and, as the seventeenth century +advanced, the decline of fanaticism, so far from being +confined to a few isolated thinkers, gradually became +common, even among ordinary politicians.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> The clergy, +sensible of the danger, wished the government to check +the progress of inquiry;<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> and the pope himself, in a +formal remonstrance with Henry, urged him to remedy +the evil, by prosecuting the heretics, from whom he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +thought all the mischief had originally proceeded.<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> But +this the king steadily refused. He saw the immense +advantages that would arise, if he could weaken the +ecclesiastical power by balancing the two sects against +each other;<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> and therefore, though he was a Catholic, +his policy rather leaned in favour of the Protestants, +as being the weaker party.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> He granted sums of +money towards the support of their ministers and the +repair of their churches;<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> he banished the Jesuits, +who were their most dangerous enemies;<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> and he +always had with him two representatives of the reformed +church, whose business it was to inform him of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +any infraction of those edicts which he had issued in +favour of their religion.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>Thus it was, that in France, as well as in England, +toleration was preceded by scepticism; and thus it +was, that out of this scepticism there arose the humane +and enlightened measures of Henry IV. The great +prince, by whom these things were effected, unhappily +fell a victim to that fanatical spirit which he had +done much to curb;<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> but the circumstances which +occurred after his death, showed how great an impetus +had been given to the age.</p> + +<p>On the murder of Henry IV., in 1610, the government +fell into the hands of the queen, who administered +it during the minority of her son, Louis XIII. And it +is a remarkable evidence of the direction which the +mind was now taking, that she, though a weak and +bigoted woman,<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> refrained from those persecutions +which, only one generation before, had been considered +a necessary proof of religious sincerity. That, indeed, +must have been a movement of no common energy, +which could force toleration, early in the seventeenth +century, upon a princess of the house of Medici, an +ignorant and superstitious Catholic, who had been educated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +in the midst of her priests, and had been accustomed +to look for their applause as the highest object +of earthly ambition.</p> + +<p>Yet this was what actually occurred. The queen +continued the ministers of Henry IV., and announced, +that in every thing she would follow his example.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Her +first public act was, a declaration, that the Edict of +Nantes should be inviolably preserved; for, she says, +‘experience has taught our predecessors, that violence, +so far from inducing men to return to the Catholic +church, prevents them from doing so.’<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> Indeed, so +anxious was she upon this point, that when Louis, in +1614, attained his nominal majority, the first act of his +government was another confirmation of the Edict of +Nantes.<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> And, in 1615, she caused the king, who still +remained under her tutelage,<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> to issue a declaration,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +by which all preceding measures in favour of the Protestants +were publicly confirmed.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> In the same spirit, +she, in 1611, wished to raise to the presidency of parliament +the celebrated De Thou; and it was only by +making a formal announcement of his heresy, that the +pope succeeded in frustrating what he considered an +impious design.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p> + +<p>The turn which things were now taking, caused no +little alarm to the friends of the hierarchy. The most +zealous churchmen loudly censured the policy of the +queen; and a great historian has observed that when, +during the reign of Louis XIII., such alarm was caused +in Europe by the active encroachments of the ecclesiastical +power, France was the first country that ventured +to oppose them.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> The nuncio openly complained to +the queen of her conduct in favouring heretics; and he +anxiously desired that those Protestant works should +be suppressed, by which the consciences of true believers +were greatly scandalized.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> But these, and +similar representations, were no longer listened to with +the respect they would formerly have received; and the +affairs of the country continued to be administered with +those purely temporal views, on which the measures of +Henry IV. had been avowedly based.<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>Such was now the policy of the government of France;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +a government which, not many years before, had considered +it the great duty of a sovereign to punish heretics +and extirpate heresy. That this continued improvement +was merely the result of the general intellectual +development, is evident, not only from its success, but +also from the character of the queen-regent and the king. +No one who has read the contemporary memoirs, can deny +that Mary de Medici and Louis XIII. were as superstitious +as any of their predecessors; and it is, therefore, +evident, that this disregard of theological prejudices was +due, not to their own personal merits, but to the advancing +knowledge of the country, and to the pressure +of an age which, in the rapidity of its progress, hurried +along those who believed themselves to be its rulers.</p> + +<p>But these considerations, weighty as they are, will +only slightly diminish the merit of that remarkable +man, who now appeared on the stage of public affairs. +During the last eighteen years of the reign of +Louis XIII., France was entirely governed by Richelieu,<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> +one of that extremely small class of statesmen +to whom it is given to impress their own character on +the destiny of their country. This great ruler has, in +his knowledge of the political art, probably never been +surpassed, except by that prodigy of genius who, in our +time, troubled the fortunes of Europe. But, in one +important view, Richelieu was superior to Napoleon. +The life of Napoleon was a constant effort to oppress +the liberties of mankind; and his unrivalled capacity +exhausted its resources in struggling against the tendencies +of a great age. Richelieu, too, was a despot; +but his despotism took a nobler turn. He displayed, +what Napoleon never possessed, a just appreciation of +the spirit of his own time. In one great point, indeed, +he failed. His attempts to destroy the power of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +French nobility were altogether futile;<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> for, owing to +a long course of events, the authority of that insolent +class was so deeply rooted in the popular mind, that the +labours of another century were required to efface its +ancient influence. But, though Richelieu could not +diminish the social and moral weight of the French +nobles, he curtailed their political privileges; and he +chastised their crimes with a severity which, for a time +at least, repressed their former license.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> So little, +however, can even the ablest statesman effect, unless he +is seconded by the general temper of the age in which +he lives, that these checks, rude as they were, produced +no permanent result. After his death, the French +nobles, as we shall presently see, quickly rallied; and, +in the wars of the Fronde, debased that great struggle +into a mere contest of rival families. Nor was it until +the close of the eighteenth century, that France was +finally relieved from the overweening influence of that +powerful class, whose selfishness had long retarded the +progress of civilization, by retaining the people in a +thraldom, from the remote effects of which they have +not yet fully recovered.</p> + +<p>Although in this respect Richelieu failed in achieving +his designs, he in other matters met with signal success. +This was owing to the fact, that his large and comprehensive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +views harmonized with that sceptical tendency, +of which I have just given some account. For this +remarkable man, though he was a bishop and a cardinal, +never for a moment allowed the claims of his profession +to make him forego the superior claims of his country. +He knew, what is too often forgotten, that the governor +of a people should measure affairs solely by a political +standard, and should pay no regard to the pretensions +of any sect, or the propagation of any opinions, except +in reference to the present and practical welfare of men. +The consequence was, that, during his administration, +there was seen the marvellous spectacle of supreme +authority wielded by a priest, who took no pains to increase +the power of the spiritual classes. Indeed, so +far from this, he often treated them with what was then +considered unexampled rigour. The royal confessors, +on account of the importance of their functions, had +always been regarded with a certain veneration; they +were supposed to be men of unspotted piety; they had +hitherto possessed immense influence, and even the +most powerful statesmen had thought it advisable to +show them the deference due to their exalted position.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> +Richelieu, however, was too familiar with the arts of +his profession, to feel much respect for these keepers of +the consciences of kings. Caussin, the confessor of +Louis XIII., had, it seems, followed the example of his +predecessors, and endeavoured to instill his own views +of policy into the mind of the royal penitent.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +Richelieu, so soon as he heard of this, dismissed him +from office, and sent him into exile; for, he contemptuously +says, ‘the little father Caussin’ should not interfere +in matters of government, since he is one of +those ‘who have always been brought up in the innocence +of a religious life.’<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> Caussin was succeeded by +the celebrated Sirmond; but Richelieu would not allow +the new confessor to begin his duties, until he had +solemnly promised never to interfere in state affairs.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a></p> + +<p>On another occasion of much more importance, +Richelieu displayed a similar spirit. The French clergy +were then possessed of enormous wealth; and, as they +enjoyed the privilege of taxing themselves, they were +careful not to make what they considered unnecessary +contributions towards defraying the expenses of the +state. They had cheerfully advanced money to carry +on war against the Protestants, because they believed it +to be their duty to assist in the extirpation of heresy.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +But they saw no reason why their revenues should be +wasted in effecting mere temporal benefits; they considered +themselves as the guardians of funds set apart +for spiritual purposes, and they thought it impious that +wealth consecrated by the piety of their ancestors +should fall into the profane hands of secular statesmen. +Richelieu, who looked on these scruples as the artifices +of interested men, had taken a very different view +of the relation which the clergy bore to the country.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> +So far from thinking that the interests of the church +were superior to those of the state, he laid it down as +a maxim of policy, that ‘the reputation of the state +was the first consideration.’<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> With such fearlessness +did he carry out this principle, that having convoked +at Nantes a great assembly of the clergy, he compelled +them to aid the government by an extraordinary supply +of 6,000,000 francs; and finding that some of the +highest dignitaries had expressed their discontent at so +unusual a step, he laid hands on them also, and to the +amazement of the church, sent into exile not only four +of the bishops, but likewise the two archbishops of +Toulouse and of Sens.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> + +<p>If these things had been done fifty years earlier, they +would most assuredly have proved fatal to the minister +who dared to attempt them. But Richelieu, in these +and similar measures, was aided by the spirit of an age +which was beginning to despise its ancient masters. +For this general tendency was now becoming apparent, +not only in literature and in politics, but even in the +proceedings of the ordinary tribunals. The nuncio indignantly +complained of the hostility displayed against +ecclesiastics by the French judges; and he said that, +among other shameful things, some clergymen had been +hung, without being first deprived of their spiritual +character.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> On other occasions, the increasing contempt +showed itself in a way well suited to the coarseness +of the prevailing manners. Sourdis, the archbishop +of Bourdeaux, was twice ignominiously beaten; once +by the Duke d'Epernon, and afterwards by the Maréchal +de Vitry.<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Nor did Richelieu, who usually treated +the nobles with such severity, seem anxious to punish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +this gross outrage. Indeed, the archbishop not only +received no sympathy, but, a few years later, was peremptorily +ordered by Richelieu to retire to his own +diocese; such, however, was his alarm at the state of +affairs, that he fled to Carpentras, and put himself under +the protection of the pope.<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> This happened in 1641 +and nine years earlier, the church had incurred a still +greater scandal. For in 1632, serious disturbances +having arisen in Languedoc, Richelieu did not fear to +meet the difficulty by depriving some of the bishops, and +seizing the temporalities of the others.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<p>The indignation of the clergy may be easily imagined. +Such repeated injuries, even if they had proceeded from +a layman, would have been hard to endure; but they +were rendered doubly bitter by being the work of one +of themselves—one who had been nurtured in the profession +against which he turned. This it was which +aggravated the offence, because it seemed to be adding +treachery to insult. It was not a war from without, +but it was a treason from within. It was a bishop +who humbled the episcopacy, and a cardinal who +affronted the church.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Such, however, was the general<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +temper of men, that the clergy did not venture to strike +an open blow; but, by means of their partisans, they +scattered the most odious libels against the great minister. +They said that he was unchaste, that he was +guilty of open debauchery, and that he held incestuous +commerce with his own niece.<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> They declared that he +had no religion; that he was only a Catholic in name; +that he was the pontiff of the Huguenots; that he was +the patriarch of atheists;<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> and what was worse than +all, they even accused him of wishing to establish a +schism in the French church.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> Happily the time was +now passing away in which the national mind could be +moved by such artifices as these. Still the charges are +worth recording, because they illustrate the tendency +of public affairs, and the bitterness with which the +spiritual classes saw the reins of power falling from +their hands. Indeed, all this was so manifest, that in +the last civil war raised against Richelieu, only two +years before his death, the insurgents stated in their +proclamation, that one of their objects was to revive the +respect with which the clergy and nobles had formerly +been treated.<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>The more we study the career of Richelieu, the more +prominent does this antagonism become. Every thing +proves that he was conscious of a great struggle going +on between the old ecclesiastical scheme of government +and the new secular scheme; and that he was determined +to put down the old plan, and uphold the new one. +For, not only in his domestic administration, but also<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +in his foreign policy, do we find the same unprecedented +disregard of theological interests. The House of Austria, +particularly its Spanish branch, had long been respected +by all pious men as the faithful ally of the church; it +was looked upon as the scourge of heresy; and its proceedings +against the heretics had won for it a great +name in ecclesiastical history.<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> When, therefore, the +French government, in the reign of Charles IX., made +a deliberate attempt to destroy the Protestants, France +naturally established an intimate connexion with Spain +as well as with Rome;<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> and these three great powers +were firmly united, not by a community of temporal interests, +but by the force of a religious compact. This +theological confederacy was afterwards broken up by +the personal character of Henry IV.,<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> and by the growing +indifference of the age; but during the minority of +Louis XIII., the queen-regent had in some degree renewed +it, and had attempted to revive the superstitious +prejudices upon which it was based.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> In all her feelings, +she was a zealous Catholic; she was warmly +attached to Spain; and she succeeded in marrying her +son, the young king, to a Spanish princess, and her +daughter to a Spanish prince.<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> + +<p>It might have been expected that when Richelieu, a +great dignitary of the Romish church, was placed at +the head of affairs, he would have reëstablished a connexion +so eagerly desired by the profession to which he +belonged.<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> But his conduct was not regulated by +such views as these. His object was, not to favour the +opinions of a sect, but to promote the interests of a +nation. His treaties, his diplomacy, and the schemes +of his foreign alliances, were all directed, not against +the enemies of the church, but against the enemies of +France. By erecting this new standard of action, +Richelieu took a great step towards secularizing the +whole system of European politics. For he thus made +the theoretical interests of men subordinate to their +practical interests. Before his time, the rulers of +France, in order to punish their Protestant subjects, +had not hesitated to demand the aid of the Catholic +troops of Spain; and in so doing, they merely acted +upon the old opinion, that it was the chief duty of a +government to suppress heresy. This pernicious doctrine +was first openly repudiated by Richelieu. As early +as 1617, and before he had established his power, he, +in an instruction to one of the foreign ministers which is +still extant, laid it down as a principle, that, in matters +of state, no Catholic ought to prefer a Spaniard to a +French Protestant.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> To us, indeed, in the progress of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +society, such preference of the claims of our country to +those of our creed, has become a matter of course; but +in those days it was a startling novelty.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> Richelieu, +however, did not fear to push the paradox even to its +remotest consequences. The Catholic church justly considered +that its interests were bound up with those of +the House of Austria;<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> but Richelieu, directly he was +called to the council, determined to humble that house +in both its branches.<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> To effect this, he openly supported +the bitterest enemies of his own religion. He +aided the Lutherans against the Emperor of Germany; he +aided the Calvinists against the king of Spain. During +the eighteen years he was supreme, he steadily pursued +the same undeviating policy.<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> When Philip attempted +to repress the Dutch Protestants, Richelieu made common +cause with them; at first, advancing them large +sums of money, and afterwards inducing the French<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +king to sign a treaty of intimate alliance with those +who, in the opinion of the church, he ought rather to +have chastized as rebellious heretics.<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> In the same +way, when that great war broke out, in which the emperor +attempted to subjugate to the true faith the consciences +of German Protestants, Richelieu stood forward +as their protector; he endeavoured from the beginning +to save their leader the Palatine;<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> and, failing in that, +he concluded in their favour an alliance with Gustavus +Adolphus,<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> the ablest military commander the Reformers +had then produced. Nor did he stop there. +After the death of Gustavus, he, seeing that the Protestants +were thus deprived of their great leader, made +still more vigorous efforts in their favour.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> He intrigued<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +for them in foreign courts; he opened negotiations +in their behalf; and eventually he organized for +their protection a public confederacy, in which all +ecclesiastical considerations were set at defiance. This +league, which formed an important precedent in the +international polity of Europe, was not only contracted +by Richelieu with the two most powerful enemies of his +own church, but it was, from its tenor, what Sismondi +emphatically calls a ‘Protestant confederation’—a Protestant +confederation, he says, between France, England, +and Holland.<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a></p> + +<p>These things alone would have made the administration +of Richelieu a great epoch in the history of +European civilization. For his government affords the +first example of an eminent Catholic statesman systematically +disregarding ecclesiastical interests, and showing +that disregard in the whole scheme of his foreign, +as well as of his domestic, policy. Some instances, +indeed, approaching to this, may be found, at an earlier +period, among the petty rulers of Italian states; but, +even there, such attempts have never been successful; +they had never been continued for any length of time, +nor had they been carried out on a scale large enough +to raise them to the dignity of international precedents. +The peculiar glory of Richelieu is, that his +foreign policy was, not occasionally, but invariably, +governed by temporal considerations; nor do I believe +that, during the long tenure of his power, there is to +be found the least proof of his regard for those theological +interests, the promotion of which had long been +looked upon as a matter of paramount importance. +By thus steadily subordinating the church to the state; +by enforcing the principle of this subordination, on a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +large scale, with great ability, and with unvarying success, +he laid the foundation of that purely secular +polity, the consolidation of which has, since his death, +been the aim of all the best European diplomatists. +The result was a most salutary change, which had +been for some time preparing, but which, under him, +was first completed. For, by the introduction of this +system, an end was put to religious wars; and the +chances of peace were increased, by thus removing one +of the causes to which the interruption of peace had +often been owing.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> At the same time, there was prepared +the way for that final separation of theology from +politics, which it will be the business of future generations +fully to achieve. How great a step had been +taken in this direction, appears from the facility with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +which the operations of Richelieu were continued by +men every way his inferiors. Less than two years after +his death, there was assembled the Congress of Westphalia;<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> +the members of which concluded that celebrated +peace, which is remarkable, as being the first +comprehensive attempt to adjust the conflicting interests +of the leading European countries.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> In this +important treaty, ecclesiastical interests were altogether +disregarded;<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> and the contracting parties, instead of, +as heretofore, depriving each other of their possessions, +took the bolder course of indemnifying themselves at +the expense of the church, and did not hesitate to seize +her revenues, and secularize several of her bishoprics.<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> +From this grievous insult, which became a precedent +in the public law of Europe, the spiritual power has +never recovered; and it is remarked by a very competent +authority that, since that period, diplomatists +have, in their official acts, neglected religious interests, +and have preferred the advocacy of matters relating +to the commerce and colonies of their respective<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +countries.<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> The truth of this observation is confirmed +by the interesting fact, that the Thirty Years' War, to +which this same treaty put an end, is the last great religious +war which has ever been waged;<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> no civilized +people, during two centuries, having thought it worth +while to peril their own safety in order to disturb the +belief of their neighbours. This, indeed, is but a part +of that vast secular movement, by which superstition +has been weakened, and the civilization of Europe secured. +Without, however, discussing that subject, I +will now endeavour to show how the policy of Richelieu, +in regard to the French Protestant church, corresponded +with his policy in regard to the French Catholic church; +so, that, in both departments, this great statesman, +aided by that progress of knowledge for which his age +was remarkable, was able to struggle with prejudices +from which men, slowly and with infinite difficulty, +were attempting to emerge.</p> + +<p>The treatment of the French Protestants by Richelieu +is, undoubtedly, one of the most honourable parts of +his system; and in it, as in other liberal measures, he +was assisted by the course of preceding events. His administration, +taken in connexion with that of Henry IV. +and the queen-regent, presents the noble spectacle of +a toleration far more complete than any which had +then been seen in Catholic Europe. While in other Christian +countries, men were being incessantly persecuted,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +simply because they held opinions different from those +professed by the established clergy, France refused to +follow the general example, and protected those heretics +whom the church was eager to punish. Indeed, not +only were they protected, but, when they possessed +abilities, they were openly rewarded. In addition to +their appointments to civil offices, many of them were +advanced to high military posts; and Europe beheld, +with astonishment, the armies of the king of France +led by heretical generals. Rohan, Lesdiguières, Chatillon, +La Force, Bernard de Weimar, were among the +most celebrated of the military leaders employed by +Louis XIII.; and all of them were Protestants, as also +were some younger, but distinguished officers, such as +Gassion, Rantzau, Schomberg, and Turenne. For now, +nothing was beyond the reach of men who, half a century +earlier, would, on account of their heresies, have +been persecuted to the death. Shortly before the accession +of Louis XIII., Lesdiguières, the ablest general +among the French Protestants, was made marshal of +France.<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> Fourteen years later, the same high dignity +was conferred upon two other Protestants, Chatillon +and La Force; the former of whom is said to have +been the most influential of the schismatics.<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> Both +these appointments were in 1622;<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> and, in 1634, still +greater scandal was caused by the elevation of Sully, +who, notwithstanding his notorious heresy, also received +the staff of marshal of France.<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> This was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +work of Richelieu, and it gave serious offence to the +friends of the church; but the great statesman paid so +little attention to their clamour, that, after the civil +war was concluded, he took another step equally obnoxious. +The Duke de Rohan was the most active of +all the enemies of the established church, and was +looked up to by the Protestants as the main support +of their party. He had taken up arms in their favour, +and, declining to abandon his religion, had, by the fate +of war, been driven from France. But Richelieu, who +was acquainted with his ability, cared little about his +opinions. He, therefore, recalled him from exile, employed +him in a negotiation with Switzerland, and sent +him on foreign service, as commander of one of the +armies of the king of France.<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the tendencies which characterized this +new state of things. It is hardly necessary to observe +how beneficial this great change must have been; since +by it men were encouraged to look to their country as +the first consideration, and, discarding their old disputes, +Catholic soldiers were taught to obey heretical +generals, and follow their standards to victory. In addition +to this, the mere social amalgamation, arising +from the professors of different creeds mixing in the +same camp, and fighting under the same banner, must +have still further aided to disarm the mind, partly by +merging theological feuds in a common, and yet a temporal, +object, and partly by showing to each sect, that +their religious opponents were not entirely bereft of +human virtue; that they still retained some of the +qualities of men; and that it was even possible to combine +the errors of heresy with all the capabilities of a +good and competent citizen.<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p> + +<p>But, while the hateful animosities by which France +had long been distracted, were, under the policy of Richelieu, +gradually subsiding, it is singular to observe that, +though the prejudices of the Catholics obviously diminished, +those of the Protestants seemed, for a time, to +retain all their activity. It is, indeed, a striking proof +of the perversity and pertinacity of such feelings, that it +was precisely in the country, and at the period, when +the Protestants were best treated, that they displayed +most turbulence. And in this, as in all such cases, the +cause principally at work was the influence of that class +to which circumstances, I will now explain, had secured +a temporary ascendency.</p> + +<p>For, the diminution of the theological spirit had effected +in the Protestants a remarkable but a very natural +result. The increasing toleration of the French government +had laid open to their leaders prizes which before +they could never have obtained. As long as all offices +were refused to the Protestant nobles, it was natural +that they should cling with the greater zeal to their own +party, by whom alone their virtues were acknowledged. +But, when the principle was once recognised, that the +state would reward men for their abilities, without regard +to their religion, there was introduced into every +sect a new element of discord. The leaders of the Reformers +could not fail to feel some gratitude, or, at all +events, some interest for the government which employed +them; and the influence of temporal considerations +being thus strengthened, the influence of religious +ties must have been weakened. It is impossible +that opposite feelings should be paramount, at the +same moment, in the same mind. The further men +extend their view, the less they care for each of the +details of which the view is composed. Patriotism is +a corrective of superstition; and the more we feel for +our country, the less we feel for our sect. Thus it is,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +that in the progress of civilization, the scope of the +intellect is widened; its horizon is enlarged; its +sympathies are multiplied; and, as the range of its +excursions is increased, the tenacity of its grasp is +slackened, until, at length, it begins to perceive that +the infinite variety of circumstances necessarily causes +an infinite variety of opinions; that a creed, which is +good and natural for one man, may be bad and unnatural +for another; and that, so far from interfering +with the march of religious convictions, we should be +content to look into ourselves, search our own hearts, +purge our own souls, soften the evil of our own passions, +and extirpate that insolent and intolerant spirit, which +is at once the cause and the effect of all theological +controversy.</p> + +<p>It was in this direction, that a prodigious step was +taken by the French in the first half of the seventeenth +century. Unfortunately, however, the advantages which +arose were accompanied by serious drawbacks. From +the introduction of temporal considerations among the +Protestant leaders, there occurred two results of considerable +importance. The first result was, that many +of the Protestants changed their religion. Before the +Edict of Nantes, they had been constantly persecuted, +and had, as constantly, increased.<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> But, under the +tolerant policy of Henry IV. and Louis XIII., they continued +to diminish.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> Indeed, this was the natural +consequence of the growth of that secular spirit which,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +in every country, has assuaged religious animosities. +For, by the action of that spirit, the influence of social +and political views began to outweigh those theological +views to which the minds of men had long been confined. +As these temporal ties increased in strength, +there was, of course, generated among the rival factions +an increased tendency to assimilate; while, as the Catholics +were not only much more numerous, but in every +respect, more influential, than their opponents, they +reaped the benefit of this movement, and gradually drew +over to their side many of their former enemies. That +this absorption of the smaller sect into the larger, is +due to the cause I have mentioned, is rendered still +more evident by the interesting fact, that the change +began among the heads of the party; and that it was +not the inferior Protestants who first abandoned their +leaders, but it was rather the leaders who deserted their +followers. This was because the leaders, being more +educated than the great body of the people, were more +susceptible to the sceptical movement, and therefore set +the example of an indifference to disputes which still +engrossed the popular mind. As soon as this indifference +had reached a certain point, the attractions offered +by the conciliating policy of Louis XIII. became irresistible; +and the Protestant nobles, in particular, being +most exposed to political temptations, began to alienate +themselves from their own party, in order to form an +alliance with a court which showed itself ready to reward +their merits.</p> + +<p>It is, of course, impossible to fix the exact period at +which this important change took place.<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> But we +may say with certainty, that very early in the reign of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +Louis XIII. many of the Protestant nobles cared nothing +for their religion, while the remainder of them ceased +to feel that interest in it which they had formerly expressed. +Indeed, some of the most eminent of them +openly abandoned their creed, and joined that very +church which they had been taught to abhor as the man +of sin, and the whore of Babylon. The Duke de Lesdiguières, +the greatest of all the Protestant generals,<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> +became a Catholic, and, as a reward for his conversion, +was made constable of France.<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> The Duke de la +Tremouille adopted the same course;<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> as also did the +Duke de la Meilleraye,<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> the Duke de Bouillon,<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> and +a few years later the Marquis de Montausier.<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> These +illustrious nobles were among the most powerful of the +members of the Reformed communion; but they quitted +it without compunction, sacrificing their old associations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +in favour of the opinions professed by the state. Among +the other men of high rank, who still remained nominally +connected with the French Protestants, we find a +similar spirit. We find them lukewarm respecting +matters, for which, if they had been born fifty years +earlier, they would have laid down their lives. The +Maréchal de Bouillon, who professed himself to be a +Protestant, was unwilling to change his religion; but +he so comported himself as to show that he considered +its interests as subordinate to political considerations.<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> +A similar remark has been made by the French +historians concerning the Duke de Sully and the +Marquis de Chatillon, both of whom, though they were +members of the Reformed church, displayed a marked +indifference to those theological interests which had +formerly been objects of supreme importance.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> The +result was, that when, in 1621, the Protestants began +their civil war against the government, it was found +that of all their great leaders, two only, Rohan and his +brother Soubise, were prepared to risk their lives in +support of their religion.<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus it was, that the first great consequence of the +tolerating policy of the French government was to deprive +the Protestants of the support of their former leaders, +and, in several instances, even to turn their sympathies +on the side of the Catholic church. But the other +consequence, to which I have alluded, was one of far +greater moment. The growing indifference of the +higher classes of Protestants threw the management +of their party into the hands of the clergy. The post, +which was deserted by the secular leaders, was naturally +seized by the spiritual leaders. And as, in every sect, +the clergy, as a body, have always been remarkable for +their intolerance of opinions different to their own, it +followed, that this change infused into the now mutilated +ranks of the Protestants an acrimony not inferior to +that of the worst times of the sixteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> +Hence it was, that by a singular, but perfectly natural +combination, the Protestants, who professed to take +their stand on the right of private judgment, became,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +early in the seventeenth century, more intolerant than +the Catholics, who based their religion on the dictates +of an infallible church.</p> + +<p>This is one of the many instances which show how +superficial is the opinion of those speculative writers, +who believe that the Protestant religion is necessarily +more liberal than the Catholic. If those who adopt +this view had taken the pains to study the history of +Europe in its original sources, they would have learned, +that the liberality of every sect depends, not at all on +its avowed tenets, but on the circumstances in which it +is placed, and on the amount of authority possessed by +its priesthood. The Protestant religion is, for the most +part, more tolerant than the Catholic, simply because +the events which have given rise to Protestantism have +at the same time increased the play of the intellect, and +therefore lessened the power of the clergy. But whoever +has read the works of the great Calvinist divines, +and above all, whoever has studied their history, must +know, that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, +the desire of persecuting their opponents burnt as hotly +among them, as it did among any of the Catholics even +in the worst days of the papal dominion. This is a mere +matter of fact, of which any one may satisfy himself, by +consulting the original documents of those times. And +even now, there is more superstition, more bigotry, and +less of the charity of real religion, among the lower +order of Scotch Protestants, than there is among the +lower order of French Catholics. Yet for one intolerant +passage in Protestant theology, it would be easy to +point out twenty in Catholic theology. The truth, however, +is, that the actions of men are governed, not by +dogmas, and text-books, and rubrics, but by the +opinions and habits of their contemporaries, by the +general spirit of their age, and by the character of those +classes who are in the ascendant. This seems to be the +origin of that difference between religious theory and +religious practice, of which theologians greatly complain +as a stumbling-block and an evil. For, religious theories +being preserved in books, in a doctrinal and dogmatic +form, remain a perpetual witness, and, therefore<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +cannot be changed without incurring the obvious charge +of inconsistency, or of heresy. But the practical part +of every religion, its moral, political, and social workings, +embrace such an immense variety of interests, and +have to do with such complicated and shifting agencies, +that it is hopeless to fix them by formularies: they, +even in the most rigid systems, are left, in a great measure, +to private discretion; and, being almost entirely +unwritten, they lack those precautions by which the +permanence of dogmas is effectually secured.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> Hence +it is, that while the religious doctrines professed by a +people in their national creed are no criterion of their +civilization, their religious practice is, on the other +hand, so pliant and so capable of adaptation to social +wants, that it forms one of the best standards by which +the spirit of any age can be measured.</p> + +<p>It is on account of these things, that we ought not +to be surprised that, during many years, the French +Protestants, who affected to appeal to the right of +private judgment, were more intolerant of the exercise +of that judgment by their adversaries than were the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +Catholics; although the Catholics, by recognising an +infallible church, ought, in consistency, to be superstitious, +and may be said to inherit intolerance as their +natural birthright.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> Thus, while the Catholics were +theoretically more bigoted than the Protestants, the +Protestants became practically more bigoted than the +Catholics. The Protestants continued to insist upon +that right of private judgment in religion, which +the Catholics continued to deny. Yet, such was the +force of circumstances, that each sect, in its practice, +contradicted its own dogma, and acted as if it had embraced +the dogma of its opponents. The cause of this +change was very simple. Among the French, the theological +spirit, as we have already seen, was decaying; +and the decline of the influence of the clergy was, as +invariably happens, accompanied by an increase of +toleration. But, among the French Protestants, this +partial diminution of the theological spirit had produced +different consequences; because it had brought +about a change of leaders, which threw the command into +the hands of the clergy, and, by increasing their power, +provoked a reaction, and revived those very feelings to +the decay of which the reaction owed its origin. This +seems to explain how it is, that a religion, which is +not protected by the government, usually displays +greater energy and greater vitality than one which is +so protected. In the progress of society, the theological +spirit first declines among the most educated +classes; and then it is that the government can step +in, as it does in England, and, controlling the clergy, +make the church a creature of the state; thus weakening +the ecclesiastical element by tempering it with +secular considerations. But, when the state refuses to +do this, the reins of power, as they fall from the hands +of the upper classes, are seized by the clergy, and there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +arises a state of things of which the French Protestants +in the seventeenth century, and the Irish Catholics in +our own time, form the best illustration. In such cases, +it will always happen, that the religion which is tolerated +by the government, though not fully recognised +by it, will the longest retain its vitality; because its +priesthood, neglected by the state, must cling closer to +the people, in whom alone is the source of their power.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> +On the other hand, in a religion which is favoured and +richly endowed by the state, the union between the +priesthood and inferior laity will be less intimate; the +clergy will look to the government as well as to the +people; and the interference of political views, of considerations +of temporal expediency, and, if it may be +added without irreverence, the hopes of promotion +will secularize the ecclesiastical spirit,<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> and, according +to the process I have already traced, will thus hasten +the march of toleration.</p> + +<p>These generalizations, which account for a great +part of the present superstition of the Irish Catholics, +will also account for the former superstition of the +French Protestants. In both cases, the government +disdaining the supervision of an heretical religion, +allowed supreme authority to fall into the hands of the +priesthood, who stimulated the bigotry of men, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +encouraged them in a hatred of their opponents. What +the results of this are in Ireland, is best known to those +of our statesmen, who, with unusual candour, have declared +Ireland to be their greatest difficulty. What +the results were in France, we will now endeavour to +ascertain.</p> + +<p>The conciliating spirit of the French government +having drawn over to its side some of the most eminent +of the French Protestants, and having disarmed +the hostility of others, the leadership of the party fell, +as we have already seen, into the hands of those inferior +men, who displayed in their new position the intolerance +characteristic of their order. Without pretending +to write a history of the odious feuds that now arose, +I will lay before the reader some evidence of their increasing +bitterness; and I will point out a few of the +steps by which the angry feelings of religious controversy +became so inflamed, that at length they kindled +a civil war, which nothing but the improved temper +of the Catholics prevented from being as sanguinary +as were the horrible struggles of the sixteenth century. +For, when the French Protestants became governed +by men whose professional habits made them consider +heresy to be the greatest of crimes, there naturally +sprung up a missionary and proselytizing spirit, which +induced them to interfere with the religion of the Catholics, +and, under the old pretence of turning them +from the error of their ways, revived those animosities +which the progress of knowledge tended to appease. +And as, under such guidance, these feelings quickly +increased, the Protestants soon learned to despise that +great Edict of Nantes, by which their liberties were +secured; and they embarked in a dangerous contest, +in which their object was, not to protect their own +religion, but to weaken the religion of that very party +to whom they owed a toleration, which had been reluctantly +conceded by the prejudices of the age.</p> + +<p>It was stipulated, in the Edict of Nantes, that the +Protestants should enjoy the full exercise of their religion; +and this right they continued to possess until the +reign of Louis XIV. To this there were added several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +other privileges, such as no Catholic Government, except +that of France, would then have granted to its +heretical subjects. But these things did not satisfy the +desires of the Protestant clergy. They were not content +to exercise their own religion, unless they could +also trouble the religion of others. Their first step was, +to call upon the government to limit the performance +of those rites which the French Catholics had long +revered as emblems of the national faith. For this purpose, +directly after the death of Henry IV. they held +a great assembly at Saumur, in which they formally +demanded that no Catholic processions should be +allowed in any town, place, or castle occupied by the +Protestants.<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> As the government did not seem inclined +to countenance this monstrous pretension, these +intolerant sectaries took the law into their own hands. +They not only attacked the Catholic processions +wherever they met them, but they subjected the priests +to personal insults, and even endeavoured to prevent +them from administering the sacrament to the sick. If +a Catholic clergyman was engaged in burying the dead, +the Protestants were sure to be present, interrupting +the funeral, turning the ceremonies into ridicule, and +attempting, by their clamour, to deaden the voice of the +minister, so that the service performed in the church +should not be heard.<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> Nor did they always confine +themselves even to such demonstrations as these. For,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +certain towns having been, perhaps imprudently, placed +under their control, they exercised their authority in +them with the most wanton insolence. At La Rochelle, +which for importance was the second city in the kingdom, +they would not permit the Catholics to have even +a single church in which to celebrate what for centuries +had been the sole religion of France, and was still the +religion of an enormous majority of Frenchmen.<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> +This, however, only formed part of a system, by which +the Protestant clergy hoped to trample on the rights of +their fellow-subjects. In 1619, they ordered in their +general assembly at Loudun, that in none of the Protestant +towns should there be a sermon preached by a +Jesuit, or indeed by any ecclesiastical person commissioned +by a bishop.<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> In another assembly, they forbade +any Protestant even to be present at a baptism, +or at a marriage, or at a funeral, if the ceremony was +performed by a Catholic priest.<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> And, as if to cut off +all hope of reconciliation, they not only vehemently +opposed those intermarriages between the two parties, +by which, in every Christian country, religious animosities +have been softened, but they publicly declared, that +they would withhold the sacrament from any parents +whose children were married into a Catholic family.<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> +Not, however, to accumulate unnecessary evidence, +there is one other circumstance worth relating, as a +proof of the spirit with which these and similar regulations +were enforced. When Louis XIII., in 1620, +visited Pau, he was not only treated with indignity, as +being an heretical prince, but he found that the Protestants +had not left him a single church, not one place, +in which the king of France, in his own territory, could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +perform those devotions which he believed necessary +for his future salvation.<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a></p> + +<p>This was the way in which the French Protestants, +influenced by their new leaders, treated the first Catholic +government which abstained from persecuting them; +the first which not only allowed them the free exercise +of their religion, but even advanced many of them to +offices of trust and of honour.<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> All this, however, was +only of a piece with the rest of their conduct. They, +who in numbers and in intellect formed a miserable +minority of the French nation, claimed a power which +the majority had abandoned, and refused to concede to +others the toleration they themselves enjoyed. Several +persons, who had joined their party, now quitted it, +and returned to the Catholic church; but for exercising +this undoubted right, they were insulted by the Protestant +clergy in the grossest manner, with every term +of opprobrium and abuse.<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> For those who resisted their +authority, no treatment was considered too severe. In +1612, Ferrier, a man of some reputation in his own day, +having disobeyed their injunctions, was ordered to appear +before one of their synods. The gist of his offence +was, that he had spoken contemptuously of ecclesiastical +assemblies; and to this there were, of course, added +those accusations against his moral conduct, with which +theologians often attempt to blacken the character of +their opponents.<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> Readers of ecclesiastical history +are too familiar with such charges to attach any importance +to them; but as, in this case, the accused was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +tried by men who were at once his prosecutors, his +enemies, and his judges, the result was easy to anticipate. +In 1613 Ferrier was excommunicated, and the excommunication +was publicly proclaimed in the church of +Nîmes. In this sentence, which is still extant, he is +declared by the clergy to be ‘a scandalous man, a person +incorrigible, impenitent and ungovernable.’ We, +therefore, they add, ‘in the name and power of our Lord +Jesus Christ, by the conduct of the Holy Ghost, and +with authority from the church, have cast, and do now +cast and throw him out of the society of the faithful, +that he may be delivered up unto Satan.’<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a></p> + +<p>That he may be delivered up unto Satan! This was +the penalty which a handful of clergymen, in a corner +of France, thought they could inflict on a man who +dared to despise their authority. In our time such an +anathema would only excite derision;<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> but, early in +the seventeenth century, the open promulgation of it +was enough to ruin any private person against whom it +might be directed. And they whose studies have enabled +them to take the measure of the ecclesiastical +spirit will easily believe that, in that age, the threat did +not remain a dead letter. The people, inflamed by their +clergy, rose against Ferrier, attacked his family, destroyed +his property, sacked and gutted his houses, and +demanded with loud cries, that the ‘traitor Judas’ +should be given up to them. The unhappy man, with +the greatest difficulty, effected his escape; but though +he saved his life by flying in the dead of the night, he +was obliged to abandon for ever his native town, as he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +dared not return to a place where he had provoked so +active and so implacable a party.<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>Into other matters, and even into those connected +with the ordinary functions of government, the Protestants +carried the same spirit. Although they formed +so small a section of the people, they attempted to control +the administration of the crown, and, by the use +of threats, turn all its acts to their own favour. They +would not allow the state to determine what ecclesiastical +councils it should recognize; they would not even +permit the king to choose his own wife. In 1615, +without the least pretence of complaint, they assembled +in large numbers at Grenoble and at Nîmes.<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> The +deputies of Grenoble insisted that government should +refuse to acknowledge the Council of Trent;<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> and +both assemblies ordered that the Protestants should +prevent the marriage of Louis XIII. with a Spanish +princess.<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> They laid similar claims to interfere with +the disposal of civil and military offices. Shortly after +the death of Henry IV., they, in an assembly at Saumur, +insisted that Sully should be restored to some +posts from which, in their opinion, he had been unjustly +removed.<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> In 1619, another of their assemblies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +at London declared, that as one of the Protestant +councillors of the Parliament of Paris had become a +Catholic, he must be dismissed; and they demanded +that, for the same reason, the government of Lectoure +should be taken from Fontrailles, he also having +adopted the not infrequent example of abandoning his +sect in order to adopt a creed sanctioned by the state.<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> + +<p>By way of aiding all this, and with the view of exasperating +still further religious animosities, the principal +Protestant clergy put forth a series of works, +which, for bitterness of feeling, have hardly ever been +equalled, and which it would certainly be impossible to +surpass. The intense hatred with which they regarded +their Catholic countrymen can only be fully estimated +by those who have looked into the pamphlets written +by the French Protestants during the first half of the +seventeenth century, or who have read the laboured +and formal treatises of such men as Chamier, Drelincourt, +Moulin, Thomson, and Vignier. Without, however, +pausing on these, it will perhaps be thought sufficient +if, for the sake of brevity, I follow the mere +outline of political events. Great numbers of the Protestants +had joined in the rebellion which, in 1615, +was raised by Condé;<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> and, although they were then +easily defeated, they seemed bent on trying the issue +of a fresh struggle. In Béarn, where they were unusually +numerous,<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> they, even during the reign of +Henry IV., had refused to tolerate the Catholic religion;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +‘their fanatical clergy,’ says the historian of +France, ‘declaring that it would be a crime to permit +the idolatry of the mass.’<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> This charitable maxim +they for many years actively enforced, seizing the +property of the Catholic clergy, and employing it in +support of their own churches;<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a> so that, while in one +part of the dominions of the king of France the Protestants +were allowed to exercise their religion, they, +in another part of his dominions, prevented the Catholics +from exercising theirs. It was hardly to be +expected that any government would suffer such an +anomaly as this; and, in 1618, it was ordered that the +Protestants should restore the plunder, and reinstate +the Catholics in their former possessions. But the reformed +clergy, alarmed at so sacrilegious a proposal, +appointed a public fast, and inspiriting the people to +resistance, forced the royal commissioner to fly from +Pau, where he had arrived in the hope of effecting a +peaceful adjustment of the claims of the rival parties.<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a></p> + +<p>The rebellion thus raised by the zeal of the Protestants, +was soon put down; but, according to the confession +of Rohan, one of the ablest of their leaders, it +was the beginning of all their misfortunes.<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> The +sword had now been drawn; and the only question to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +be decided was, whether France should be governed +according to the principles of toleration recently established, +or according to the maxims of a despotic sect, +which, while professing to advocate the right of private +judgment, was acting in a way that rendered all private +judgment impossible.</p> + +<p>Scarcely was the war in Béarn brought to an end, +when the Protestants determined on making a great +effort in the west of France.<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> The seat of this new +struggle was Rochelle, which was one of the strongest +fortresses in Europe, and was entirely in the hands of +the Protestants,<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> who had grown wealthy, partly by +their own industry and partly by following the occupation +of public pirates.<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> In this city, which they +believed to be impregnable,<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> they, in December, 1620, +held a Great Assembly, to which their spiritual chiefs +flocked from all parts of France. It was soon evident +that their party was now governed by men who were +bent on the most violent measures. Their great secular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +leaders were, as we have already seen, gradually falling +off; and, by this time, there only remained two of much +ability, Rohan and Mornay, both of whom saw the inexpediency +of their proceedings, and desired that the +assembly should peaceably separate.<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> But the authority +of the clergy was irresistible; and, by their prayers +and exhortations, they easily gained over the ordinary +citizens, who were then a gross and uneducated body.<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> +Under their influence, the Assembly adopted a course +which rendered civil war inevitable. Their first act +was an edict, by which they at once confiscated all the +property belonging to Catholic churches.<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a> They then +caused a great seal to be struck; under the authority +of which they ordered that the people should be armed, +and taxes collected from them for the purpose of +defending their religion.<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> Finally, they drew up the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +regulations, and organized the establishment of what +they called the Reformed Churches of France and of +Béarn; and, with a view to facilitate the exercise of +their spiritual jurisdiction, they parcelled out France +into eight circles, to each of which there was allotted +a separate general, who, however, was to be accompanied +by a clergyman, since the administration, in all +its parts, was held responsible to that ecclesiastical +assembly which called it into existence.<a name="FNanchor_170_170" id="FNanchor_170_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the forms and pomp of authority assumed +by the spiritual leaders of the French Protestants; men +by nature destined to obscurity, and whose abilities were +so despicable, that, notwithstanding their temporary +importance, they have left no name in history. These +insignificant priests, who, at the best, were only fit to +mount the pulpit of a country village, now arrogated to +themselves the right of ordering the affairs of France, +imposing taxes upon Frenchmen, confiscating property, +raising troops, levying war; and all this for the sake of +propagating a creed, which was scouted by the country +at large as a foul and mischievous heresy.</p> + +<p>In the face of these inordinate pretensions, it was +evident that the French government had no choice, except +to abdicate its functions, or else take arms in its +own defence.<a name="FNanchor_171_171" id="FNanchor_171_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a> Whatever may be the popular notion +respecting the necessary intolerance of the Catholics, it +is an indisputable fact, that, early in the seventeenth +century, they displayed in France a spirit of forbearance, +and a Christian charity, to which the Protestants +could make no pretence. During the twenty-two +years which elapsed between the Edict of Nantes and +the Assembly of Rochelle, the government, notwithstanding +repeated provocations, never attacked the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +Protestants;<a name="FNanchor_172_172" id="FNanchor_172_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> nor did they make any attempt to destroy +the privileges of a sect, which they were bound to +consider heretical, and the extirpation of which had +been deemed by their fathers to be one of the first +duties of a Christian statesman.</p> + +<p>The war that now broke out lasted seven years, and +was uninterrupted, except by the short peace, first of +Montpelier, and afterwards of Rochelle; neither of +which, however, was very strictly preserved. But the +difference in the views and intentions of the two parties +corresponded to the difference between the classes which +governed them. The Protestants, being influenced +mainly by the clergy, made their object religious domination. +The Catholics being led by statesmen, aimed +at temporal advantages. Thus it was, that circumstances +had in France so completely obliterated the +original tendency of these two great sects, that, by a +singular metamorphosis, the secular principle was now +represented by the Catholics, and the theological principle +by the Protestants. The authority of the clergy, +and therefore the interests of superstition, were upheld +by that very party which owed its origin to the +diminution of both; they were, on the other hand, attacked +by a party whose success had hitherto depended +on the increase of both. If the Catholics triumphed, +the ecclesiastical power would be weakened; if the +Protestants triumphed, it would be strengthened. Of +this fact, so far as the Protestants are concerned, I have +just given ample proof, collected from their proceedings, +and from the language of their own synods. And that +the opposite, or secular principle, predominated among +the Catholics, is evident, not only from their undeviating +policy in the reigns of Henry IV. and Louis XIII., +but also from another circumstance worthy of note. For, +their motives were so obvious, and gave such scandal +to the church, that the pope, as the great protector of +religion, thought himself bound to reprehend that disregard +of theological interests which they displayed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +and which he considered to be a crying and unpardonable +offence. In 1622, only one year after the struggle +between the Protestants and Catholics had begun, he +strongly remonstrated with the French government +upon the notorious indecency of which they were guilty, +in carrying on war against heretics, not for the purpose +of suppressing the heresy, but merely with a view of +procuring for the state those temporal advantages which, +in the opinion of all pious men, ought to be regarded +as of subordinate importance.<a name="FNanchor_173_173" id="FNanchor_173_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a></p> + +<p>If, at this juncture, the Protestants had carried the +day, the loss to France would have been immense, perhaps +irreparable. For no one, who is acquainted with +the temper and character of the French Calvinists, +can doubt, that if they had obtained possession of the +government, they would have revived those religious +persecutions which, so far as their power extended, they +had already attempted to enforce. Not only in their +writings, but even in the edicts of their assemblies, we +find ample proof of that meddling and intolerant spirit +which, in every age, has characterized ecclesiastical +legislation. Indeed, such a spirit is the legitimate consequence +of the fundamental assumption from which +theological lawgivers usually start. The clergy are +taught to consider that their paramount duty is to preserve +the purity of the faith, and guard it against the +invasions of heresy. Whenever, therefore, they rise to +power, it almost invariably happens, that they carry +into politics the habits they have contracted in their +profession; and having long been accustomed to consider +religious error as criminal, they now naturally +attempt to make it penal. And as all the European<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +countries have, in the period of their ignorance, been +once ruled by the clergy, just so do we find in the law-books +of every land those traces of their power which +the progress of knowledge is gradually effacing. We +find the professors of the dominant creed enacting laws +against the professors of other creeds: laws sometimes +to burn them, sometimes to exile them, sometimes to +take away their civil rights, sometimes only to take +away their political rights. These are the different gradations +through which persecution passes; and by observing +which, we may measure, in any country, the +energy of the ecclesiastical spirit. At the same time, +the theory by which such measures are supported +generally gives rise to other measures of a somewhat +different, though of an analogous character. For, by +extending the authority of law to opinions as well as +to acts, the basis of legislation becomes dangerously +enlarged; the individuality and independence of each +man are invaded; and encouragement is given to the +enactment of intrusive and vexatious regulations, which +are supposed to perform for morals the service that the +other class of laws performs for religion. Under pretence +of favouring the practice of virtue, and maintaining +the purity of society, men are troubled in their most +ordinary pursuits, in the commonest occurrences of life, +in their amusements, nay, even in the very dress they +may be inclined to wear. That this is what has actually +been done, must be known to whoever has looked into +the writings of the fathers, into the canons of Christian +councils, into the different systems of ecclesiastical law, +or into the sermons of the earlier clergy. Indeed, all +this is so natural, that regulations, conceived in the same +spirit, were drawn up for the government of Geneva by +the Calvinist clergy, and for the government of England +by Archbishop Cranmer and his coadjutors; while a +tendency, precisely identical, may be observed in the +legislation of the Puritans, and to give a still later instance, +in that of the Methodists. It is, therefore, not +surprising that, in France, the Protestant clergy, having +great power among their own party, should enforce a +similar discipline. Thus, to mention only a few examples,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +they forbade any one to go to a theatre, or even +to witness the performance of private theatricals.<a name="FNanchor_174_174" id="FNanchor_174_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> +They looked upon dancing as an ungodly amusement, +and, therefore, they not only strictly prohibited it, but +they ordered that all dancing-masters should be admonished +by the spiritual power, and desired to abandon +so unchristian a profession. If, however, the admonition +failed in effecting its purpose, the dancing-masters, +thus remaining obdurate, were to be excommunicated.<a name="FNanchor_175_175" id="FNanchor_175_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a> +With the same pious care did the clergy superintend +other matters equally important. In one of their +synods, they ordered that all persons should abstain +from wearing gay apparel, and should arrange +their hair with becoming modesty.<a name="FNanchor_176_176" id="FNanchor_176_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a> In another +synod, they forbade women to paint; and they +declared that if, after this injunction, any woman +persisted in painting, she should not be allowed to receive +the sacrament.<a name="FNanchor_177_177" id="FNanchor_177_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> To their own clergy, as the +instructors and shepherds of the flock, there was paid +an attention still more scrupulous. The ministers of +the Word were permitted to teach Hebrew, because Hebrew +is a sacred dialect, uncontaminated by profane +writers. But the Greek language, which contains all +the philosophy and nearly all the wisdom of antiquity, +was to be discouraged, its study laid aside, its +professorship suppressed.<a name="FNanchor_178_178" id="FNanchor_178_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> And, in order that the +mind might not be distracted from spiritual things, the +study of chemistry was likewise forbidden; such a mere +earthly pursuit being incompatible with the habits of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +the sacred profession.<a name="FNanchor_179_179" id="FNanchor_179_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> Lest, however, in spite of +these precautions, knowledge should still creep in among +the Protestants, other measures were taken to prevent +even its earliest approach. The clergy, entirely forgetting +that right of private judgment upon which their +sect was founded, became so anxious to protect the unwary +from error, that they forbade any person to print +or publish a work without the sanction of the church; +in other words, without the sanction of the clergy themselves.<a name="FNanchor_180_180" id="FNanchor_180_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> +When, by these means, they had destroyed +the possibility of free inquiry, and, so far as they were +able, had put a stop to the acquisition of all real knowledge, +they proceeded to guard against another circumstance +to which their measures had given rise. For, +several of the Protestants, seeing that under such a +system, it was impossible to educate their families with +advantage, sent their children to some of those celebrated +Catholic colleges, where alone a sound education +could then be obtained. But the clergy, so soon as they +heard of this practice, put an end to it, by excommunicating +the offending parents;<a name="FNanchor_181_181" id="FNanchor_181_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a> and to this there was +added an order forbidding them to admit into their own +private houses any tutor who professed the Catholic +religion.<a name="FNanchor_182_182" id="FNanchor_182_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a> Such was the way in which the French +Protestants were watched over and protected by their +spiritual masters. Even the minutest matters were not +beneath the notice of these great legislators. They +ordered that no person should go to a ball or masquerade;<a name="FNanchor_183_183" id="FNanchor_183_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a> +nor ought any Christian to look at the tricks +of conjurors, or at the famous game of goblets, or at +the puppet-show; neither was he to be present at morris-dances; +for all such amusements should be suppressed +by the magistrates, because they excite curiosity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +cause expense, waste time.<a name="FNanchor_184_184" id="FNanchor_184_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a> Another thing to be attended +to, is the names that are bestowed in baptism. +A child may have two christian names, though one is +preferable.<a name="FNanchor_185_185" id="FNanchor_185_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> Great care, however, is to be observed +in their selection. They ought to be taken from the +Bible, but they ought not to be Baptist or Angel; +neither should any infant receive a name which has +been formerly used by the Pagans.<a name="FNanchor_186_186" id="FNanchor_186_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> When the children +are grown up, there are other regulations to which +they must be subject. The clergy declared that the +faithful must by no means let their hair grow long, lest +by so doing they indulge in the luxury of ‘lascivious +curls.’<a name="FNanchor_187_187" id="FNanchor_187_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> They are to make their garments in such a +manner as to avoid ‘the new-fangled fashions of the +world:’ they are to have no tassels to their dress: their +gloves must be without silk and ribbons: they are to +abstain from fardingales: they are to beware of wide +sleeves.<a name="FNanchor_188_188" id="FNanchor_188_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a></p> + +<p>Those readers who have not studied the history of +ecclesiastical legislation, will perhaps be surprised to +find, that men of gravity, men who had reached +the years of discretion, and were assembled together +in solemn council, should evince such a prying and +puerile spirit; that they should display such miserable +and childish imbecility. But, whoever will take +a wider survey of human affairs, will be inclined to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +blame, not so much the legislators, as the system of +which the legislators formed a part. For as to the +men themselves, they merely acted after their kind. +They only followed the traditions in which they were +bred. By virtue of their profession, they had been +accustomed to hold certain views, and, when they rose +to power, it was natural that they should carry those +views into effect; thus transplanting into the law-book +the maxims they had already preached in the pulpit. +Whenever, therefore, we read of meddling, inquisitive, +and vexatious regulations imposed by ecclesiastical authority, +we should remember, that they are but the +legitimate result of the ecclesiastical spirit; and that +the way to remedy such grievances, or to prevent their +occurrence, is not by vainly labouring to change the +tendencies of that class from whence they proceed, +but rather by confining the class within its proper +limits, by jealously guarding against its earliest encroachments, +by taking every opportunity of lessening +its influence, and finally, when the progress of society +will justify so great a step, by depriving it of that political +and legislative power which, though gradually +falling from its hands, it is, even in the most civilized +countries, still allowed in some degree to retain.</p> + +<p>But, setting aside these general considerations, it +will, at all events, be admitted, that I have collected +sufficient evidence to indicate what would have happened +to France, if the Protestants had obtained the +upper hand. After the facts which I have brought +forward, no one can possibly doubt, that if such a +misfortune had occurred, the liberal, and, considering +the age, the enlightened policy of Henry IV. and +Louis XIII. would have been destroyed, in order to +make way for that gloomy and austere system, which, +in every age and in every country, has been found +to be the natural fruit of ecclesiastical power. To +put, therefore, the question in its proper form, instead +of saying that there was a war between hostile +creeds, we should rather say that there was a war +between rival classes. It was a contest, not so much +between the Catholic religion and the Protestant religion, +as between Catholic laymen and Protestant<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +clergy. It was a struggle between temporal interests +and theological interests,—between the spirit of the +present and the spirit of the past. And the point now +at issue was, whether France should be governed by +the civil power or by the spiritual power,—whether +she should be ruled according to the large views of +secular statesmen, or according to the narrow notions +of a factious and intolerant priesthood.</p> + +<p>The Protestants having the great advantage of being +the aggressive party, and being, moreover, inflamed by +a religious zeal unknown to their opponents, might, +under ordinary circumstances, have succeeded in their +hazardous attempt; or, at all events, they might have +protracted the struggle for an indefinite period. But, fortunately +for France, in 1624, only three years after the +war began, Richelieu assumed the direction of the government. +He had for some years been the secret adviser +of the queen-mother, into whose mind he had always +inculcated the necessity of complete toleration.<a name="FNanchor_189_189" id="FNanchor_189_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> When +placed at the head of affairs, he pursued the same +policy, and attempted in every way to conciliate the +Protestants. The clergy of his own party were constantly +urging him to exterminate the heretics, whose +presence they thought polluted France.<a name="FNanchor_190_190" id="FNanchor_190_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a> But Richelieu, +having only secular objects, refused to embitter +the contest by turning it into a religious war. He was +determined to chastise the rebellion, but he would not +punish the heresy. Even while the war was raging, +he would not revoke those edicts of toleration by +which the full liberty of religious worship was granted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +to the Protestants. And when they, in 1626, showed +signs of compunction, or at all events of fear, he publicly +confirmed the Edict of Nantes,<a name="FNanchor_191_191" id="FNanchor_191_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> and he granted +them peace; although, as he says, he knew that by +doing so he should fall under the suspicion of those ‘who +so greatly affected the name of zealous Catholics.’<a name="FNanchor_192_192" id="FNanchor_192_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a> +A few months afterwards, war again broke out; and +then it was that Richelieu determined on that celebrated +siege of Rochelle, which, if brought to a successful +issue, was sure to be a decisive blow against +the French Protestants. That he was moved to this +hazardous undertaking solely by secular considerations +is evident, not only from the general spirit of his preceding +policy, but also from his subsequent conduct. +With the details of this famous siege history is not +concerned, as such matters have no value except to military +readers. It is enough to say that, in 1628, Rochelle +was taken; and the Protestants, who had been induced +by their clergy<a name="FNanchor_193_193" id="FNanchor_193_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a> to continue to resist long after relief +was hopeless, and who, in consequence, had suffered the +most dreadful hardships, were obliged to surrender at +discretion.<a name="FNanchor_194_194" id="FNanchor_194_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> The privileges of the town were revoked, +and its magistrates removed; but the great minister +by whom these things were effected, still abstained from +that religious persecution to which he was urged.<a name="FNanchor_195_195" id="FNanchor_195_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +He granted to the Protestants the toleration which he +had offered at an earlier period, and he formally conceded +the free exercise of their public worship.<a name="FNanchor_196_196" id="FNanchor_196_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a> But, +such was their infatuation, that because he likewise +restored the exercise of the Catholic religion, and thus +gave to the conquerors the same liberty that he had +granted to the conquered, the Protestants murmured +at the indulgence; they could not bear the idea that +their eyes should be offended by the performance of +Popish rites.<a name="FNanchor_197_197" id="FNanchor_197_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> And their indignation waxed so high, +that in the next year they, in another part of France, +again rose in arms. As, however, they were now +stripped of their principal resources, they were easily +defeated; and, their existence as a political faction +being destroyed, they were, in reference to their religion, +treated by Richelieu in the same manner as +before.<a name="FNanchor_198_198" id="FNanchor_198_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> To the Protestants generally, he confirmed +the privilege of preaching and of performing the other +ceremonies of their creed.<a name="FNanchor_199_199" id="FNanchor_199_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> To their leader, Rohan, +he granted an amnesty, and, a few years afterwards, +employed him in important public services. After this, +the hopes of the party were destroyed; they never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +again rose in arms, nor do we find any mention of them +until a much later period, when they were barbarously +persecuted by Louis XIV.<a name="FNanchor_200_200" id="FNanchor_200_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> But from all such intolerance +Richelieu sedulously abstained; and having +now cleared the land from rebellion, he embarked in +that vast scheme of foreign policy, of which I have +already given some account, and in which he clearly +showed that his proceedings against the Protestants +had not been caused by hatred of their religious tenets. +For, the same party which he attacked at home, he +supported abroad. He put down the French Protestants, +because they were a turbulent faction that troubled +the state, and wished to suppress the exercise of all +opinions unfavourable to themselves. But so far from +carrying on a crusade against their religion, he, as I +have already observed, encouraged it in other countries; +and, though a bishop of the Catholic church, he did +not hesitate, by treaties, by money, and by force of +arms, to support the Protestants against the House +of Austria, maintain the Lutherans against the Emperor +of Germany, and uphold the Calvinists against the +King of Spain.</p> + +<p>I have thus endeavoured to draw a slight, though, I +trust, a clear outline, of the events which took place in +France during the reign of Louis XIII., and particularly +during that part of it which included the administration +of Richelieu. But such occurrences, important as they +are, only formed a single phase of that larger development +which was now displaying itself in nearly every +branch of the national intellect. They were the mere +political expression of that bold and sceptical spirit +which cried havoc to the prejudices and superstitions of +men. For, the government of Richelieu was successful, +as well as progressive; and no government can unite +these two qualities, unless its measures harmonize with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +the feelings and temper of the age. Such an administration, +though it facilitates progress, is not the cause +of it, but is rather its measure and symptom. The cause +of the progress lies far deeper, and is governed by the +general tendency of the time. And as the different +tendencies observable in successive generations depend +on the difference in their knowledge, it is evident, that +we can only understand the working of the tendencies, +by taking a wide view of the amount and character of +the knowledge. To comprehend, therefore, the real +nature of the great advance made during the reign of +Louis XIII., it becomes necessary that I should lay before +the reader some evidence respecting those higher +and more important facts, which historians are apt to +neglect, but without which the study of the past is an +idle and trivial pursuit, and history itself a barren field, +which, bearing no fruit, is unworthy of the labour that +is wasted on the cultivation of so ungrateful a soil.</p> + +<p>It is, indeed, a very observable fact, that while Richelieu, +with such extraordinary boldness, was secularizing +the whole system of French politics, and by his disregard +of ancient interests, was setting at naught the most +ancient traditions, a course precisely similar was being +pursued, in a still higher department, by a man greater +than he; by one, who, if I may express my own opinion, +is the most profound among the many eminent thinkers +France has produced. I speak of Réné Descartes, of +whom the least that can be said is, that he effected a +revolution more decisive than has ever been brought +about by any other single mind. With his mere physical +discoveries we are not now concerned, because in +this Introduction I do not pretend to trace the progress +of science, except in those epochs which indicate a new +turn in the habits of national thought. But I may +remind the reader, that he was the first who successfully +applied algebra to geometry;<a name="FNanchor_201_201" id="FNanchor_201_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> that he pointed out the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +important law of the sines;<a name="FNanchor_202_202" id="FNanchor_202_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> that in an age in which +optical instruments were extremely imperfect, he discovered +the changes to which light is subjected in the +eye by the crystalline lens;<a name="FNanchor_203_203" id="FNanchor_203_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a> that he directed attention +to the consequences resulting from the weight of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +atmosphere;<a name="FNanchor_204_204" id="FNanchor_204_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> and that he, moreover, detected the +causes of the rainbow,<a name="FNanchor_205_205" id="FNanchor_205_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a> that singular phenomenon, with +which, in the eyes of the vulgar, some theological superstitions +are still connected.<a name="FNanchor_206_206" id="FNanchor_206_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> At the same time, and +as if to combine the most varied forms of excellence, +he is not only allowed to be the first geometrician of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +age,<a name="FNanchor_207_207" id="FNanchor_207_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> but by the clearness and admirable precision of +his style, he became one of the founders of French +prose.<a name="FNanchor_208_208" id="FNanchor_208_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> And although he was constantly engaged in +those lofty inquiries into the nature of the human mind, +which can never be studied without wonder, I had +almost said can never be read without awe, he combined +with them a long course of laborious experiment upon +the animal frame, which raised him to the highest rank +among the anatomists of his time.<a name="FNanchor_209_209" id="FNanchor_209_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a> The great discovery +made by Harvey of the circulation of the blood, +was neglected by most of his contemporaries;<a name="FNanchor_210_210" id="FNanchor_210_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a> but it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +was at once recognized by Descartes, who made it the +basis of the physiological part of his work on Man.<a name="FNanchor_211_211" id="FNanchor_211_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> +He likewise adopted the discovery of the lacteals by +Aselli,<a name="FNanchor_212_212" id="FNanchor_212_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> which, like every great truth yet laid before +the world, was, at its first appearance, not only disbelieved, +but covered with ridicule.<a name="FNanchor_213_213" id="FNanchor_213_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a></p> + +<p>These things might have been sufficient to rescue +even the physical labours of Descartes from the attacks +constantly made on them by men who either have not +studied his works, or else, having studied them, are +unable to understand their merit. But the glory of +Descartes, and the influence he exercised over his age, +do not depend even on such claims as these. Putting +them aside, he is the author of what is emphatically +called Modern Philosophy.<a name="FNanchor_214_214" id="FNanchor_214_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> He is the originator of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +that great system and method of metaphysics, which, +notwithstanding its errors, has the undoubted merit of +having given a wonderful impulse to the European +mind, and communicated to it an activity which has +been made available for other purposes of a different +character. Besides this, and superior to it, there is +another obligation which we are under to the memory +of Descartes. He deserves the gratitude of posterity, +not so much on account of what he built up, as on +account of what he pulled down. His life was one great +and successful warfare against the prejudices and traditions +of men. He was great as a creator, but he was +far greater as a destroyer. In this respect he was the +true successor of Luther, to whose labours his own were +the fitting supplement. He completed what the great +German reformer had left undone.<a name="FNanchor_215_215" id="FNanchor_215_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> He bore to the old +systems of philosophy precisely the same relation that +Luther bore to the old systems of religion. He was +the great reformer and liberator of the European intellect. +To prefer, therefore, even the most successful +discoverers of physical laws to this great innovator and +disturber of tradition, is just as if we should prefer +knowledge to freedom, and believe that science is better +than liberty. We must, indeed, always be grateful to +those eminent thinkers, to whose labours we are indebted +for that vast body of physical truths which we +now possess. But, let us reserve the full measure of +our homage for those far greater men, who have not +hesitated to attack and destroy the most inveterate +prejudices: men who, by removing the pressure of tradition,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +have purified the very source and fountain of +our knowledge, and secured its future progress, by +casting off obstacles in the presence of which progress +was impossible.<a name="FNanchor_216_216" id="FNanchor_216_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a></p> + +<p>It will not be expected, perhaps it will hardly be +desired, that I should enter into a complete detail of the +philosophy of Descartes: a philosophy which, in England +at least, is rarely studied, and therefore, is often +attacked. But it will be necessary to give such an +account of it as will show its analogy with the anti-theological +policy of Richelieu, and will thus enable us to +see the full extent of that vast movement which took +place in France before the accession of Louis XIV. By +this means, we shall be able to understand how the +daring innovations of the great minister were so successful, +since they were accompanied and reinforced by +corresponding innovations in the national intellect; +thus affording an additional instance of the way in +which the political history of every country is to be +explained by the history of its intellectual progress.</p> + +<p>In 1637, when Richelieu was at the height of his +power, Descartes published that great work which he +had long been meditating, and which was the first open +announcement of the new tendencies of the French +mind. To this work he gave the name of a ‘Method;’ +and, assuredly, the method is the most alien to what is +commonly called theology that can possibly be conceived. +Indeed, so far from being theological, it is essentially +and exclusively psychological. The theological method +rests on ancient records, on tradition, on the voice of +antiquity. The method of Descartes rests solely on the +consciousness each man has of the operations of his own +mind, and lest anyone should mistake the meaning of +this, he, in subsequent works, developed it at great +length, and with unrivalled clearness. For his main +object was to popularize the views which he put forward. +Therefore, says Descartes, ‘I write in French rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +than in Latin, because I trust that they who only employ +their simple and native reason will estimate my opinions +more fairly than they who only believe in ancient +books.’<a name="FNanchor_217_217" id="FNanchor_217_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a> So strongly does he insist upon this, that, +almost at the beginning of his first work, he cautions +his readers against the common error of looking to +antiquity for knowledge; and he reminds them that +‘when men are too curious to know the practices of past +ages, they generally remain very ignorant of their +own.’<a name="FNanchor_218_218" id="FNanchor_218_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a></p> + +<p>Indeed, so far from following the old plan of searching +for truths in the records of the past, the great +essential of this new philosophy is to wean ourselves +from all such associations, and, beginning the acquisition +of knowledge by the work of destruction, first pull +down, in order that afterwards we may build up.<a name="FNanchor_219_219" id="FNanchor_219_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> +When I, says Descartes, set forth in the pursuit of truth, +I found that the best way was to reject every thing I had +hitherto received, and pluck out all my old opinions, in +order that I might lay the foundation of them afresh: +believing that, by this means, I should more easily +accomplish the great scheme of life, than by building on +an old basis, and supporting myself by principles which +I had learned in my youth, without examining if they +were really true.<a name="FNanchor_220_220" id="FNanchor_220_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> ‘I, therefore, will occupy myself +freely and earnestly in effecting a general destruction of +all my old opinions.’<a name="FNanchor_221_221" id="FNanchor_221_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> For, if we would know all the +truths that can be known, we must, in the first place,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +free ourselves from our prejudices, and make a point +of rejecting those things which we have received, until +we have subjected them to a new examination.<a name="FNanchor_222_222" id="FNanchor_222_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a> We, +therefore, must derive our opinions, not from tradition, +but from ourselves. We must not pass judgment upon +any subject which we do not clearly and distinctly +understand; for, even if such a judgment is correct, it +can only be so by accident, not having solid ground on +which to support itself.<a name="FNanchor_223_223" id="FNanchor_223_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> But, so far are we from this +state of indifference, that our memory is full of prejudices:<a name="FNanchor_224_224" id="FNanchor_224_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a> +we pay attention to words rather than to +things;<a name="FNanchor_225_225" id="FNanchor_225_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> and being thus slaves to form, there are too +many of us ‘who believe themselves religious, when, in +fact, they are bigoted and superstitious; who think +themselves perfect because they go much to church, +because they often repeat prayers, because they wear +short hair, because they fast, because they give alms. +These are the men who imagine themselves such friends +of God, that nothing they do displeases Him; men who, +under pretence of zeal, gratify their passions by committing +the greatest crimes, such as betraying towns, +killing princes, exterminating nations: and all this they +do to those who will not change their opinions.’<a name="FNanchor_226_226" id="FNanchor_226_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + +<p>These were the words of wisdom which this great +teacher addressed to his countrymen only a few years +after they had brought to a close the last religious war +that has ever been waged in France. The similarity of +those views to those which, about the same time, were +put forth by Chillingworth, must strike every reader, +but ought not to excite surprise; for they were but the +natural products of a state of society in which the right +of private judgment, and the independence of the +human reason, were first solidly established. If we +examine this matter a little closer, we shall find still +further proof of the analogy between France and England. +So identical are the steps of the progress, that +the relation which Montaigne bears to Descartes is just +the same as that which Hooker bears to Chillingworth; +the same in reference to the difference of time, and +also in reference to the difference of opinions. The +mind of Hooker was essentially sceptical; but his +genius was so restrained by the prejudices of his age, +that, unable to discern the supreme authority of private +judgment, he hampered it by appeals to councils and +to the general voice of ecclesiastical antiquity: impediments +which Chillingworth, thirty years later, effectually +removed. In precisely the same way, Montaigne, like +Hooker, was sceptical; but, like him, he lived at a +period when the spirit of doubt was yet young, and +when the mind still trembled before the authority of +the Church. It is, therefore, no wonder that even Montaigne, +who did so much for his age, should have hesitated +respecting the capacity of men to work out for +themselves great truths; and that, pausing in the +course that lay before him, his scepticism should often +have assumed the form of a distrust of the human +faculties.<a name="FNanchor_227_227" id="FNanchor_227_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> Such shortcomings, and such imperfections, +are merely an evidence of the slow growth of +society, and of the impossibility for even the greatest +thinkers to outstrip their contemporaries beyond a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +certain point. But, with the advance of knowledge, +this deficiency was at length supplied; and, as the +generation after Hooker brought forth Chillingworth, +just so did the generation after Montaigne bring forth +Descartes. Both Chillingworth and Descartes were +eminently sceptical; but their scepticism was directed, +not against the human intellect, but against those +appeals to authority and tradition without which it had +hitherto been supposed that the intellect could not +safely proceed. That this was the case with Chillingworth, +we have already seen. That it was likewise the +case with Descartes, is, if possible, still more apparent; +for that profound thinker believed, not only that the +mind, by its own efforts, could root out its most ancient +opinions, but that it could, without fresh aid, build up +a new and solid system in place of the one which it had +thrown down.<a name="FNanchor_228_228" id="FNanchor_228_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a></p> + +<p>It is this extraordinary confidence in the power of +the human intellect, which eminently characterizes +Descartes, and has given to his philosophy that peculiar +sublimity which distinguishes it from all other systems. +So far from thinking that a knowledge of the external +world is essential to the discovery of truth, he laid it +down as a fundamental principle, that we must begin +by ignoring such knowledge;<a name="FNanchor_229_229" id="FNanchor_229_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a> that the first step is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +separate ourselves from the delusions of nature, and +reject the evidence presented to our senses.<a name="FNanchor_230_230" id="FNanchor_230_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> For, +says Descartes, nothing is certain but thought; nor are +there any truths except those which necessarily follow +from the operation of our own consciousness. We +have no knowledge of our soul except as a thinking +substance:<a name="FNanchor_231_231" id="FNanchor_231_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> and it were easier for us to believe that +the soul should cease to exist, than that it should cease +to think.<a name="FNanchor_232_232" id="FNanchor_232_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> And, as to man himself, what is he but +the incarnation of thought? For that which constitutes +the man, is not his bones, nor his flesh, nor his +blood. These are the accidents, the incumbrances, the +impediments of his nature. But the man himself is the +thought. The invisible me, the ultimate fact of existence, +the mystery of life, is this: ‘I am a thing that +thinks.’ This, therefore, is the beginning and the +basis of our knowledge. The thought of each man is +the last element to which analysis can carry us; it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +the supreme judge of every doubt; it is the starting-point +for all wisdom.<a name="FNanchor_233_233" id="FNanchor_233_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a></p> + +<p>Taking our stand on this ground, we rise, says Descartes, +to the perception of the existence of the Deity. +For, our belief in His existence is an irrefragable proof +that He exists. Otherwise, whence does the belief arise? +Since nothing can come out of nothing, and since no effect +can be without a cause, it follows that the idea we have +of God must have an origin; and this origin, whatever +name we give it, is no other than God.<a name="FNanchor_234_234" id="FNanchor_234_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> Thus, the +ultimate proof of His existence is our idea of it. Instead, +therefore, of saying that we know ourselves +because we believe in God, we should rather say that +we believe in God because we know ourselves.<a name="FNanchor_235_235" id="FNanchor_235_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a> This +is the order and precedence of things. The thought of +each man is sufficient to prove His existence, and it is +the only proof we can ever possess. Such, therefore, +is the dignity and supremacy of the human intellect, +that even this, the highest of all matters, flows from it, +as from its sole source.<a name="FNanchor_236_236" id="FNanchor_236_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> Hence, our religion should +not be acquired by the teaching of others, but should +be worked out by ourselves: it is not to be borrowed +from antiquity, but it is to be discovered by each man's +mind; it is not traditional, but personal. It is because +this great truth has been neglected, that impiety has +arisen. If each man were to content himself with that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +idea of God which is suggested by his own mind, he +would attain to a true knowledge of the Divine Nature. +But when, instead of confining himself to this, he +mixes up with it the notions of others, his ideas become +perplexed; they contradict themselves; and the composition +being thus confused, he often ends by denying +the existence, not, indeed, of God, but of such a God +as that in whom he has been taught to believe.<a name="FNanchor_237_237" id="FNanchor_237_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a></p> + +<p>The mischief which these principles must have done +to the old theology is very obvious.<a name="FNanchor_238_238" id="FNanchor_238_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> Not only were +they fatal, in the minds of those who received them, to +many of the common dogmas—such, for instance, as +that of transubstantiation,<a name="FNanchor_239_239" id="FNanchor_239_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a>—but they were likewise +directly opposed to other opinions, equally indefensible, +and far more dangerous. For Descartes, by founding +a philosophy which rejected all authority except that of +the human reason,<a name="FNanchor_240_240" id="FNanchor_240_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> was, of course, led to abandon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +study of final causes,<a name="FNanchor_241_241" id="FNanchor_241_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a>—an old and natural superstition, +by which, as we shall hereafter see, the German +philosophers were long impeded, and which still hangs, +though somewhat loosely, about the minds of men.<a name="FNanchor_242_242" id="FNanchor_242_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> +At the same time, by superseding the geometry of the +ancients, he aided in weakening that inordinate respect +with which antiquity was then regarded. In another +matter, still more important, he displayed the same +spirit, and met with the same success. With such +energy did he attack the influence, or rather the +tyranny of Aristotle, that although the opinions of that +philosopher were intimately interwoven with the Christian +theology,<a name="FNanchor_243_243" id="FNanchor_243_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> his authority was entirely overthrown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +by Descartes; and with it there perished those scholastic +prejudices, for which Aristotle, indeed, was not +responsible, but which, under the shelter of his mighty +name, had, during several centuries, perplexed the understandings +of men, and retarded the progress of their +knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_244_244" id="FNanchor_244_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a></p> + +<p>These were the principal services rendered to civilization +by one of the greatest men Europe has ever produced. +The analogy between him and Richelieu is very +striking, and is as complete as their relative positions +would allow. The same disregard of ancient notions, +the same contempt for theological interests, the same +indifference to tradition, the same determination to +prefer the present to the past: in a word, the same +essentially modern spirit, is seen alike in the writings +of Descartes, and in the actions of Richelieu. What +the first was to philosophy, that was the other to +politics. But, while acknowledging the merits of these +eminent men, it behoves us to remember that their +success was the result, not only of their own abilities, +but likewise of the general temper of their time. The +nature of their labours depended on themselves; the +way in which their labours were received, depended on +their contemporaries. Had they lived in a more superstitious +age, their views would have been disregarded,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +or, if noticed, would have been execrated as impious +novelties. In the fifteenth, or early in the sixteenth +century, the genius of Descartes and of Richelieu would +have lacked the materials necessary to their work; their +comprehensive minds would, in that state of society, +have found no play; they would have awakened no +sympathies; their bread would have been cast upon +those waters which return it not again. And it would +have been well for them if, in such a case, indifference +were the only penalty with which they would be visited. +It would have been well if they had not paid the forfeit +incurred by many of those illustrious thinkers who +have vainly attempted to stem the torrent of human +credulity. It would have been well if the church had +not risen in her wrath—if Richelieu had not been +executed as a traitor, and Descartes burned as a heretic.</p> + +<p>Indeed, the mere fact that two such men, occupying so +conspicuous a place before the public eye, and enforcing +views so obnoxious to the interests of superstition, +should have lived without serious danger, and then +have died peaceably in their beds—the mere fact that +this should have happened, is a decisive proof of the +progress which, during fifty years, had been made by +the French nation. With such rapidity were the prejudices +of that great people dying away, that opinions +utterly subversive of theological traditions, and fatal to +the whole scheme of ecclesiastical power, were with impunity +advocated by Descartes, and put in practice by +Richelieu. It was now clearly seen, that the two foremost +men of their time could, with little or no risk, +openly propagate ideas which, half a century before, +it would have been accounted dangerous even for the +most obscure man to whisper in the privacy of his own +chamber.</p> + +<p>Nor are the causes of this impunity difficult to understand. +They are to be found in the diffusion of that +sceptical spirit, by which, in France as well as in England, +toleration was preceded. For, without entering +into details which would be too long for the limits of +this Introduction, it is enough to say, that French +literature generally was, at this period, distinguished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +by a freedom and a boldness of inquiry, of which, England +alone excepted, no example had then been seen +in Europe. The generation which had listened to the +teachings of Montaigne and of Charron, was now succeeded +by another generation, the disciples, indeed, of +those eminent men, but disciples who far outstripped +their masters. The result was, that, during the thirty +or forty years which preceded the power of Louis +XIV.,<a name="FNanchor_245_245" id="FNanchor_245_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> there was not to be found a single Frenchman +of note who did not share in the general feeling—not +one who did not attack some ancient dogma, or sap +the foundation of some old opinion. This fearless +temper was the characteristic of the ablest writers of +that time;<a name="FNanchor_246_246" id="FNanchor_246_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a> but what is still more observable is, that +the movement spread with such rapidity as to include +in its action even those parts of society which are invariably +the last to be affected by it. That spirit of +doubt, which is the necessary precursor of all inquiry, +and therefore of all solid improvement, owes its origin +to the most thinking and intellectual parts of +society, and is naturally opposed by the other parts: +opposed by the nobles, because it is dangerous to their +interests; opposed by the uneducated, because it +attacks their prejudices. This is one of the reasons +why neither the highest nor the lowest ranks are +fit to conduct the government of a civilized country; +since both of them, notwithstanding individual +exceptions, are, in the aggregate, averse to those +reforms which the exigencies of an advancing nation +constantly require. But, in France, before the middle +of the seventeenth century, even these classes began<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +to participate in the great progress; so that, not +only among thoughtful men, but likewise among the +ignorant and the frivolous, there was seen that inquisitive +and incredulous disposition, which, whatever +may be said against it, has at least this peculiarity, +that, in its absence, there is no instance to be found of +the establishment of those principles of toleration and +of liberty, which have only been recognized with infinite +difficulty, and after many a hard-fought battle +against prejudices whose inveterate tenacity might +almost cause them to be deemed a part of the original +constitution of the human mind.<a name="FNanchor_247_247" id="FNanchor_247_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a></p> + +<p>It is no wonder if, under these circumstances, the +speculations of Descartes and the actions of Richelieu +should have met with great success. The system of +Descartes exercised immense influence, and soon pervaded +nearly every branch of knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_248_248" id="FNanchor_248_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a> The policy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +of Richelieu was so firmly established, that it was continued +without the slightest difficulty by his immediate +successor: nor was any attempt made to reverse it +until that forcible and artificial reaction which, under +Louis XIV., was fatal, for a time, to every sort of civil +and religious liberty. The history of that reaction, +and the way in which, by a counter-reaction, the French +Revolution was prepared, will be related in the subsequent +chapters of this volume; at present we will +resume the thread of those events which took place in +France before Louis XIV. assumed the government.</p> + +<p>A few months after the death of Richelieu, Louis +XIII. also died, and the crown was inherited by Louis +XIV., who was then a child, and who for many years +had no influence in public affairs. During his minority, +the government was administered, avowedly by his +mother, but in reality by Mazarin: a man who, though +in every point inferior to Richelieu, had imbibed something +of his spirit, and who, so far as he was able, +adopted the policy of that great statesman, to whom he +owed his promotion.<a name="FNanchor_249_249" id="FNanchor_249_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a> He, influenced partly by the +example of his predecessor, partly by his own character, +and partly by the spirit of his age, showed no +desire to persecute the Protestants, or to disturb them +in any of the rights they then exercised.<a name="FNanchor_250_250" id="FNanchor_250_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> His first +act was to confirm the Edict of Nantes;<a name="FNanchor_251_251" id="FNanchor_251_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> and, towards +the close of his life, he even allowed the Protestants +again to hold those synods which their own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +violence had been the means of interrupting.<a name="FNanchor_252_252" id="FNanchor_252_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a> Between +the death of Richelieu and the accession to +power of Louis XIV., there elapsed a period of nearly +twenty years, during which Mazarin, with the exception +of a few intervals, was at the head of the state; +and in the whole of that time, I have found no instance +of any Frenchman being punished for his religion. +Indeed, the new government, so far from protecting the +church by repressing heresy, displayed that indifference +to ecclesiastical interests which was now becoming +a settled maxim of French policy. Richelieu, +as we have already seen, had taken the bold step of +placing Protestants at the head of the royal armies; +and this he had done upon the simple principle, that +one of the first duties of a statesman is to employ for +the benefit of the country the ablest men he can find, +without regard to their theological opinions, with which, +as he well knew, no government has any concern. But +Louis XIII., whose personal feelings were always opposed +to the enlightened measures of his great minister, +was offended by this magnanimous disregard of ancient +prejudices; his piety was shocked at the idea of Catholic +soldiers being commanded by heretics; and, as +we are assured by a well-informed contemporary, he +determined to put an end to this scandal to the church, +and, for the future, allow no Protestant to receive +the staff of marshal of France.<a name="FNanchor_253_253" id="FNanchor_253_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a> Whether the king, if +he had lived, would have carried his point, is doubtful;<a name="FNanchor_254_254" id="FNanchor_254_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> +but what is certain is, that, only four months after his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +death, this appointment of marshal was bestowed upon +Turenne, the most able of all the Protestant generals.<a name="FNanchor_255_255" id="FNanchor_255_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a> +And in the very next year, Gassion, another Protestant, +was raised to the same dignity; thus affording the +strange spectacle of the highest military power in a +great Catholic country wielded by two men against +whose religion the church was never weary of directing +her anathemas.<a name="FNanchor_256_256" id="FNanchor_256_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> In a similar spirit, Mazarin, on +mere grounds of political expediency, concluded an +intimate alliance with Cromwell; an usurper who, in +the opinion of the theologians, was doomed to perdition, +since he was soiled by the triple crime of rebellion, +of heresy, and of regicide.<a name="FNanchor_257_257" id="FNanchor_257_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> Finally, one of the +last acts of this pupil of Richelieu's<a name="FNanchor_258_258" id="FNanchor_258_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a> was to sign the +celebrated treaty of the Pyrenees, by which ecclesiastical +interests were seriously weakened, and great injury +inflicted on him who was still considered to be the +head of the church.<a name="FNanchor_259_259" id="FNanchor_259_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p> + +<p>But, the circumstance for which the administration +of Mazarin is most remarkable, is the breaking out of +that great civil war called the Fronde, in which the +people attempted to carry into politics the insubordinate +spirit which had already displayed itself in +literature and in religion. Here we cannot fail to note +the similarity between this struggle and that which, at +the same time, was taking place in England. It would, +indeed, be far from accurate to say that the two events +were the counterpart of each other; but there can be +no doubt that the analogy between them is very striking. +In both countries, the civil war was the first +popular expression of what had hitherto been rather +a speculative, and, so to say, a literary scepticism. In +both countries, incredulity was followed by rebellion, +and the abasement of the clergy preceded the humiliation +of the crown; for Richelieu was to the French +church what Elizabeth had been to the English church. +In both countries there now first arose that great product +of civilization, a free press, which showed its +liberty by pouring forth those fearless and innumerable +works which mark the activity of the age.<a name="FNanchor_260_260" id="FNanchor_260_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> In both<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +countries, the struggle was between retrogression and +progress; between those who clung to tradition, and +those who longed for innovation; while, in both, the +contest assumed the external form of a war between +king and parliament, the king being the organ of the +past, the parliament the representative of the present. +And, not to mention inferior similarities, there was one +other point of vast importance in which these two +great events coincide. This is, that both of them were +eminently secular, and arose from the desire, not of +propagating religious opinions, but of securing civil +liberty. The temporal character of the English rebellion +I have already noticed, and, indeed, it must be +obvious to whoever has studied the evidence in its +original sources. In France, not only do we find the +same result, but we can even mark the stages of the +progress. In the middle of the sixteenth century, and +immediately after the death of Henry III., the French +civil wars were caused by religious disputes, and were +carried on with the fervour of a crusade. Early in +the seventeenth century, hostilities again broke out; +but though the efforts of the government were directed +against the Protestants, this was not because +they were heretics, but because they were rebels: the +object being, not to punish an opinion, but to control a +faction. This was the first great stage in the history +of toleration; and it was accomplished, as we have +already seen, during the reign of Louis XIII. That +generation passing away, there arose, in the next age, +the wars of the Fronde; and in this, which may be +called the second stage of the French intellect, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +alteration was still more remarkable. For, in the mean +time, the principles of the great sceptical thinkers, +from Montaigne to Descartes, had produced their natural +fruit, and, becoming diffused among the educated +classes, had influenced, as they always will do, not only +those by whom they were received, but also those by +whom they were rejected. Indeed, a mere knowledge +of the fact, that the most eminent men have thrown +doubt on the popular opinions of an age, can never +fail, in some degree, to disturb the convictions even of +those by whom the doubts are ridiculed.<a name="FNanchor_261_261" id="FNanchor_261_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> In such +cases, none are entirely safe: the firmest belief is apt +to become slightly unsettled; those who outwardly preserve +the appearance of orthodoxy, often unconsciously +waver; they cannot entirely resist the influence of superior +minds, nor can they always avoid an unwelcome +suspicion, that when ability is on one side, and ignorance +on the other, it is barely possible that the ability +may be right, and the ignorance may be wrong.</p> + +<p>Thus it fell out in France. In that country, as in +every other, when theological convictions diminished, +theological animosities subsided. Formerly religion had +been the cause of war, and had also been the pretext +under which it was conducted. Then there came a +time when it ceased to be the cause: but so slow is the +progress of society, that it was still found necessary to +set it up as the pretext.<a name="FNanchor_262_262" id="FNanchor_262_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> Finally, there came the +great days of the Fronde, in which it was neither cause<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +nor pretext,<a name="FNanchor_263_263" id="FNanchor_263_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> and in which there was seen, for the +first time in France, an arduous struggle by human +beings avowedly for human purposes: a war waged +by men who sought, not to enforce their opinions, but +to increase their liberty. And, as if to make this +change still more striking, the most eminent leader of +the insurgents was the Cardinal de Retz; a man of +vast ability, but whose contempt for his profession was +notorious,<a name="FNanchor_264_264" id="FNanchor_264_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a> and of whom a great historian has said, +‘he is the first bishop in France who carried on a civil +war without making religion the pretence.’<a name="FNanchor_265_265" id="FNanchor_265_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a></p> + +<p>We have thus seen that, during the seventy years +which succeeded the accession of Henry IV., the +French intellect developed itself in a manner remarkably +similar to that which took place in England. We +have seen that, in both countries, the mind, according<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +to the natural conditions of its growth, first doubted +what it had long believed, and then tolerated what it +had long hated. That this was by no means an accidental +or capricious combination, is evident, not only +from general arguments, and from the analogy of the +two countries, but also from another circumstance of +great interest. This is, that the order of events, and as +it were their relative proportions, were the same, not +only in reference to the increase of toleration, but also +in reference to the increase of literature and science. +In both countries, the progress of knowledge bore +the same ratio to the decline of ecclesiastical influence, +although they manifested that ratio at different periods. +We had begun to throw off our superstitions somewhat +earlier than the French were able to do; and thus, +being the first in the field, we anticipated that great +people in producing a secular literature. Whoever will +take the pains to compare the growth of the French +and English minds, will see that, in all the most important +departments, we were the first, I do not say in +merit, but in the order of time. In prose, in poetry, +and in every branch of intellectual excellence, it will +be found, on comparison, that we were before the +French nearly a whole generation; and that, chronologically, +the same proportion was preserved as that +between Bacon and Descartes, Hooker and Pascal,<a name="FNanchor_266_266" id="FNanchor_266_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> +Shakespeare and Corneille, Massinger and Racine, Ben +Jonson and Molière, Harvey and Pecquet. These eminent +men were all justly celebrated in their respective +countries; and it would perhaps be invidious to institute +a comparison between them. But what we have +here to observe is, that among those who cultivated the +same department, the greatest Englishman, in every +instance, preceded the greatest Frenchman by many +years. The difference, running as it does, through all +the leading topics, is far too regular to be considered +accidental. And as few Englishmen of the present day<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +will be so presumptuous as to suppose that we possess +any native and inherent superiority over the French, +it is evident that there must be some marked peculiarity +in which the two countries differed, and which +has produced this difference, not in their knowledge, +but in the time at which their knowledge appeared. +Nor does the discovery of this peculiarity require +much penetration. For, notwithstanding that the +French were more tardy than the English, still, when +the development had fairly begun, the antecedents +of its success were among both people precisely the +same. It is, therefore, clear, according to the commonest +principles of inductive reasoning, that the lateness +of the development must be owing to the lateness +of the antecedent. It is clear that the French +knew less because they believed more.<a name="FNanchor_267_267" id="FNanchor_267_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> It is clear +that their progress was checked by the prevalence of +those feelings which are fatal to all knowledge, because, +looking on antiquity as the sole receptacle of wisdom, +they degrade the present in order that they may exaggerate +the past: feelings which destroy the prospects +of man, stifle his hopes, damp his curiosity, chill his +energies, impair his judgment, and, under pretence of +humbling the pride of his reason, seek to throw him +back into that more than midnight darkness from which +his reason alone has enabled him to emerge.</p> + +<p>The analogy thus existing between France and England, +is, indeed, very striking, and, so far as we have +yet considered it, seems complete in all its parts. To +sum up the similarities in a few words, it may be +said, that both countries followed the same order of +development in their scepticism, in their knowledge, +in their literature, and in their toleration. In both +countries, there broke out a civil war at the same +time, for the same object, and, in many respects, under +the same circumstances. In both, the insurgents, at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +first triumphant, were afterwards defeated; and the +rebellion being put down, the governments of the two +nations were fully restored almost at the same moment: +in 1660 by Charles II.; in 1661, by Louis XIV.<a name="FNanchor_268_268" id="FNanchor_268_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> But +there the similarity stopped. At this point there began +a marked divergence between the two countries;<a name="FNanchor_269_269" id="FNanchor_269_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> +which continued to increase for more than a century, +until it ended in England by the consolidation of the +national prosperity, in France by a revolution more +sanguinary, more complete, and more destructive, than +any the world has ever seen. This difference between +the fortunes of such great and civilized nations is so +remarkable, that a knowledge of its causes becomes +essential to a right understanding of European history, +and will be found to throw considerable light on other +events not immediately connected with it. Besides +this, such an inquiry, independently of its scientific +interest, will have a high practical value. It will show, +what men seem only recently to have begun to understand, +that, in politics, no certain principles having +yet been discovered, the first conditions of success are +compromise, barter, expediency, and concession. It +will show the utter helplessness even of the ablest +rulers, when they try to meet new emergencies by old +maxims. It will show the intimate connexion between +knowledge and liberty; between an increasing civilization +and an advancing democracy. It will show +that, for a progressive nation, there is required a progressive +polity; that within certain limits, innovation +is the sole ground of security; that no institution can +withstand the flux and movements of society, unless it +not only repairs its structure, but also widens its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +entrance; and that, even in a material point of view, +no country can long remain either prosperous or safe, +in which the people are not gradually extending their +power, enlarging their privileges, and, so to say, incorporating +themselves with the functions of the state.</p> + +<p>The tranquillity of England, and her freedom from +civil war, are to be ascribed to the recognition of these +great truths;<a name="FNanchor_270_270" id="FNanchor_270_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a> while the neglect of them has entailed +upon other countries the most woful calamities. On +this account, therefore, if on no other, it becomes interesting +to ascertain how it was that the two nations +we have been comparing should, in regard to these +truths, have adopted views diametrically opposite, although, +in other matters, their opinions, as we have +already seen, were very similar. Or, to state the question +in other words, we have to inquire how it was that +the French, after pursuing precisely the same course +as the English, in their knowledge, in their scepticism, +and in their toleration, should have stopped short in +their politics; how it was that their minds, which had +effected such great things, should, nevertheless, have +been so unprepared for liberty, that, in spite of the +heroic efforts of the Fronde, they not only fell under +the despotism of Louis XIV., but never cared to resist +it; and, at length, becoming slaves in their souls as +well as in their bodies, they grew proud of a condition +which the meanest Englishman would have spurned as +an intolerable bondage.</p> + +<p>The cause of this difference is to be sought in the +existence of that spirit of protection which is so dangerous +and yet so plausible, that it forms the most serious +obstacle with which advancing civilization has to contend. +This, which may truly be called an evil spirit, +has always been far stronger in France than in England. +Indeed, among the French, it continues, even +to the present day, to produce the most mischievous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +results. It is, as I shall hereafter point out, intimately +connected with that love of centralization which +appears in the machinery of their government, and in +the spirit of their literature. It is this which induces +them to retain restrictions by which their trade has +long been troubled, and to preserve monopolies which, +in our country, a freer system has effectually destroyed. +It is this which causes them to interfere with the +natural relation between producers and consumers; to +force into existence manufactures which otherwise +would never arise, and which, for that very reason, are +not required; to disturb the ordinary march of industry, +and, under pretence of protecting their native +labourers, diminish the produce of labour by diverting +it from those profitable channels into which its own +instincts always compel it to flow.</p> + +<p>When the protective principle is carried into trade, +these are its inevitable results. When it is carried into +politics, there is formed what is called a paternal government, +in which supreme power is vested in the +sovereign, or in a few privileged classes. When it is +carried into theology, it produces a powerful church, +and a numerous clergy, who are supposed to be the necessary +guardians of religion, and every opposition to +whom is resented as an insult to the public morals. +These are the marks by which protection may be recognized; +and from a very early period they have displayed +themselves in France much more clearly than in England. +Without pretending to discover their precise origin, I +will, in the next chapter, endeavour to trace them back +to a time sufficiently remote to explain some of the discrepancies +which, in this respect existed between the +two countries.</p> + +<hr class="hr65" /> + +<p><i>Note to p</i>. <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<span style="font-size: 0.9em;">Descartes died in Sweden on a visit to Christina; +so that, strictly speaking, there is an error in the text. But this +does not affect the argument; because the works of Descartes, being +eagerly read in France, and not being prohibited, we must suppose +that his person would have been safe, had he remained in his own +country. To burn a heretic is a more decisive step than to suppress +a book; and as the French clergy were not strong enough to effect +the latter, it is hardly likely that they could have accomplished the +former.</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The question as to whether the study of normal phenomena +should or should not precede the study of abnormal ones, is of the +greatest importance; and a neglect of it has introduced confusion into +every work I have seen on general or comparative history. For this +preliminary being unsettled, there has been no recognized principle of +arrangement; and historians, instead of following a scientific method +suited to the actual exigencies of our knowledge, have adopted an +empirical method suited to their own exigencies; and have given priority +to different countries, sometimes according to their size, sometimes +according to their antiquity, sometimes according to their geographical +position, sometimes according to their wealth, sometimes according to +their religion, sometimes according to the brilliancy of their +literature, and sometimes according to the facilities which the +historian himself possessed for collecting materials. All these are +factitious considerations; and, in a philosophic view, it is evident +that precedence should be given to countries by the historian solely in +reference to the ease with which their history can be generalized; +following in this respect the scientific plan of proceeding from the +simple to the complex. This leads us to the conclusion that, in the +study of Man, as in the study of Nature, the question of priority +resolves itself into a question of aberration; and that the more +aberrant any people have been, that is to say, the more they have been +interfered with, the lower they must be placed in an arrangement of the +history of various countries. Coleridge (<i>Lit. Remains</i>, vol. i. p. 326, +and elsewhere in his works) seems to suppose that the order should be +the reverse of what I have stated, and that the laws both of mind and +body can be generalized from pathological data. Without wishing to +express myself too positively in opposition to so profound a thinker as +Coleridge, I cannot help saying that this is contradicted by an immense +amount of evidence, and, so far as I am aware, is supported by none. It +is contradicted by the fact, that those branches of inquiry which deal +with phenomena little affected by foreign causes, have been raised to +sciences sooner than those which deal with phenomena greatly affected by +foreign causes. The organic world, for example, is more perturbed by the +inorganic world, than the inorganic world is perturbed by it. Hence we +find that the inorganic sciences have always been cultivated before the +organic ones, and at the present moment are far more advanced than they. +In the same way, human physiology is older than human pathology; and +while the physiology of the vegetable kingdom has been successfully +prosecuted since the latter half of the seventeenth century, the +pathology of the vegetable kingdom can scarcely be said to exist, since +none of its laws have been generalized, and no systematic researches, on +a large scale, have yet been made into the morbid anatomy of plants. It +appears, therefore, that different ages and different sciences bear +unconscious testimony to the uselessness of paying much attention to the +abnormal, until considerable progress has been made in the study of the +normal; and this conclusion might be confirmed by innumerable +authorities, who, differing from Coleridge, hold that physiology is the +basis of pathology, and that the laws of disease are to be raised, not +from the phenomena presented in disease, but from those presented in +health; in other words, that pathology should be investigated +deductively rather than inductively, and that morbid anatomy and +clinical observations may verify the conclusions of science, but can +never supply the means of creating the science itself. On this extremely +interesting question, compare <i>Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire</i>, <i>Hist. des +Anomalies de l'Organisation</i>, vol. ii. pp. 9, 10, 127; <i>Bowman's +Surgery</i>, in <i>Encyclop. of the Medical Sciences</i>, p. 824; <i>Bichat</i>, +<i>Anatomie Générale</i>, vol. i. p. 20; <i>Cullen's Works</i>, vol. i. p. 424; +<i>Comte</i>, <i>Philos. Positive</i>, vol. iii. pp. 334, 335; <i>Robin et Verdeil</i>, +<i>Chimie Anatomique</i>, vol. i. p. 68; <i>Esquirol</i>, <i>Maladies Mentales</i>, +vol. i. p. 111; <i>Georget</i>, <i>de la Folie</i>, pp. 2, 391, 392; <i>Brodie's +Pathology and Surgery</i>, p. 3; <i>Blainville</i>, <i>Physiologie comparée</i>, vol. +i. p. 20; <i>Feuchtersleben's Medical Psychology</i>, p. 200; <i>Lawrence's +Lectures on Man</i>, 1844, p. 45; <i>Simon's Pathology</i>, p. 5.</p> + +<p>Another confirmation of the accuracy of this view is, that pathological +investigations of the nervous system, numerous as they have been, have +effected scarcely anything; the reason evidently being, that the +preliminary knowledge of the normal state is not sufficiently advanced. +See <i>Noble on the Brain</i>, pp. 76–92, 337, 338; <i>Henry on the Nervous +System</i>, in <i>Third Report of Brit. Assoc.</i> p. 78; <i>Holland's Medical +Notes</i>, p. 608; <i>Jones and Sieveking's Patholog. Anat.</i> p. 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> A circumstance which Harris relates with evident delight, +and goes out of his way to mention it. <i>Lives of the Stuarts</i>, vol. iii. +p. 300. On the amount of loss the church thus sustained, see <i>Sinclair's +Hist. of the Revenue</i>, vol. i. pp. 181–184, and <i>Eccleston's English +Antiquities</i>, p. 228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The first divergence arose from the influence of the +protective spirit, as I shall endeavour to explain in the next chapter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> On the obligations Europe is under to the Catholic clergy, +see some liberal and very just remarks in <i>Kemble's Saxons in England</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 374, 375; and in <i>Guizot's Civilisation en France</i>. See +also <i>Neander's Hist. of the Church</i>, vol. iii. pp. 199–206, 255–257, +vol. v. p. 138, vol. vi. pp. 406, 407; <i>Palgrave's Anglo-Saxon +Commonwealth</i>, vol. i. p. 655; <i>Lingard's Hist. of England</i>, vol. ii. p. +44; <i>Klimrath</i>, <i>Travaux sur l'Hist. du droit</i>, vol. i. p. 394; +<i>Carwithen's Hist. of the Church of England</i>, vol. i. p. 157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The way in which this acted is concisely stated by +Tennemann: ‘Wenn sich nun auch ein freierer Geist der Forschung regte, +so fand er sich gleich durch zwei Grundsätze, welche aus jenem Supremat +der Theologie flossen, beengt und gehemmt. Der erste war: die +menschliche Vernunft kann nicht über die Offenbarung hinausgehen…. Der +zweite: die Vernunft kann nichts als wahr erkennen, was dem Inhalte der +Offenbarung widerspricht, und nichts für falsch erkennen, was derselben +angemessen ist,—folgte aus dem ersten.’ <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. viii. +part i. p. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> As to the influence of the Reformation generally, in +increasing the power of the Catholic clergy, see M. Ranke's important +work on the <i>History of the Popes</i>; and as to the result in France, see +<i>Monteil</i>, <i>Hist. des divers Etats</i>, vol. v. pp. 233–235. Corero, who +was ambassador in France in 1569, writes, ‘Il papa può dire a mio +giudizio, d'aver in questi romori piuttosto guadagnato che perduto, +perciochè tanta era la licenza del vivere, secondo che ho inteso, prima +che quel regno si dividesse in due parti, era tanta poca la devozione +che avevano in Roma e in quei che vi abitavano, che il papa era più +considerato come principe grande in Italia, che come capo della chiesa e +pastore universale. Ma scoperti che si furono gli ugonotti, cominciarono +i cattolici a riverire il suo nome, e riconoscerlo per vero vicario di +Cristo, confirmandosi tanto più in opinione di doverlo tener per tale, +quanto più lo sentivano sprezzare e negare da essi ugonotti.’ <i>Relations +des Ambassadeurs Vénitiens</i>, vol. ii. p. 162. This interesting passage +is one of many proofs that the immediate advantages derived from the +Reformation have been overrated; though the remote advantages were +undoubtedly immense.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The indifference of the English to theological disputes, +and the facility with which they changed their religion, caused many +foreigners to censure their fickleness. See, for instance, <i>Essais de +Montaigne</i>, livre ii. chap. xii. p. 365. Perlin, who travelled in +England in the middle of the sixteenth century, says, ‘The people are +reprobates, and thorough enemies to good manners and letters; for they +don't know whether they belong to God or the devil, which St. Paul has +reprehended in many people, saying, Be not transported with divers sorts +of winds, but be constant and steady to your belief.’ <i>Antiquarian +Repertory</i>, vol. iv. p. 511, 4to, 1809. See also the remarks of Michele +in 1557, and of Crespet in 1590; <i>Ellis's Original Letters</i>, 2nd series, +vol. ii. p. 239; <i>Hallam's Constitutional History</i>, vol. i. p. 102; +<i>Southey's Commonplace Book</i>, 3rd series, p. 408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> An historian of the thirteenth century strikingly expresses +the theological feelings of the English crusaders, and the complete +subordination of the political ones: ‘Indignum quippe judicabant +animarum suarum salutem omittere, et obsequium cœlestis Regis, +clientelæ regis alicujus terreni postponere; constituerunt igitur +terminum, videlicet festum nativitatis beati Johannis Baptistæ.’ +<i>Matthæi Paris Historia Major</i>, p. 671. It is said, that the first tax +ever imposed in England on personal property was in 1166, and was for +the purpose of crusading. <i>Sinclair's Hist. of the Revenue</i>, vol. i. p. +88: ‘It would not probably have been easily submitted to, had it not +been appropriated for so popular a purpose.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Henry VIII. had, at one time, fifty horse-guards, but they +being expensive, were soon given up; and his only protection consisted +of ‘the yeomen of the guard, fifty in number, and the common servants of +the king's household.’ <i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 46. These +‘yeomen of the guard were raised by Henry VII. in 1485.’ <i>Grose's +Military Antiquities</i>, vol. i. p. 167. Compare <i>Turner's Hist. of +England</i>, vol. vii. p. 54; and <i>Lingard's Hist. of England</i>, vol. iii. +p. 298.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Locke, in his first Letter on Toleration, has made some +pungent, and, I should suppose, very offensive, observations on these +rapid changes. <i>Locke's Works</i>, vol. v. p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> But, although Mary easily effected a change of religion, +the anti-ecclesiastical spirit was far too strong to allow her to +restore to the church its property. ‘In Mary's reign, accordingly, her +parliament, so obsequious in all matters of religion, adhered with a +firm grasp to the possession of church-lands.’ <i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> +vol. i. p. 77. See also <i>Short's Hist. of the Church of England</i>, p. +213; <i>Lingard's Hist. of England</i>, vol. iv. pp. 339, 340; <i>Butler's Mem. +of the Catholics</i>, vol. i. p. 253; and <i>Carwithen's Hist. of the Church +of England</i>, vol. i. p. 346.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> ‘Quand éclata la guerre des opinions religieuses, les +antiques rivalités des barons se transformèrent en haîne du prêche ou de +la messe.’ <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme et de la Ligue</i>, vol. iv. +p. 32. Compare <i>Duplessis Mornay</i>, <i>Mém. et Correspond.</i>, vol. ii. pp. +422, 563; and <i>Boullier</i>, <i>Maison Militaire des Rois de France</i>, p. 25, +‘des querelles d'autant plus vives, qu'elles avoient la religion pour +base.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> The intellectual advantages of France, arising from its +position between Italy, Germany, and England, are very fairly stated by +M. Lerminier (<i>Philosophie du Droit</i>, vol. i. p. 9).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Just in the same way, the religious disputes in Alexandria +injured the interests of knowledge. See the instructive remarks of M. +Matter (<i>Hist. de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie</i>, vol. ii. p. 131).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Hist. des divers Etats</i>, vol. vi. p. 136. +Indeed, the theological spirit seized the theatre, and the different +sectarians ridiculed each other's principles on the stage. See a curious +passage at p. 182 of the same learned work.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> The crimes of the French Protestants, though hardly +noticed in <i>Felice's History of the Protestants of France</i>, pp. 138–143, +were as revolting as those of the Catholics, and quite as numerous +relatively to the numbers and power of the two parties. Compare +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xviii. pp. 516, 517, with +<i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. ii. p. 173, vol. vi. p. 54; and +<i>Smedley</i>, <i>Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France</i>, vol. i. pp. 199, +200, 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> In 1569 Corero writes: ‘Ritrovai quel regno, certo, posto +in grandissima confusione; perchè, stante quella divisione di religione +(convertita quasi in due fazioni e inimicizie particolari), era causa +ch' ognuno, senza che amicizia o parentela potesse aver luoco, stava con +l'orecchie attente; e pieno disospetto ascoltava da che parte nasceva +qualche romore,’ <i>Relat. des Ambassad. Vénitiens</i>, vol. ii. p. 106. He +emphatically adds, ‘Temevano gl' ugonotti, temevano li cattolici, +tenieva il prencipe, temevano li sudditi.’ See also, on this horrible +state of opinions, <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xviii. pp. 21, +22, 118–120, 296, 430. On both sides, the grossest calumnies were +propagated and believed; and one of the charges brought against +Catherine de Medici was, that she caused the Cesarean operation to be +performed on the wives of Protestants, in order that no new heretics +might be born. <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. vii. p. 294.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations sur l'Hist. de France</i>, vol. iii. +p. 149. In the reign of Charles IX. alone, there were no less than five +of these religious wars, each of which was concluded by a treaty. See +<i>Flassan</i>, <i>Hist. de la Diplomatie Française</i>, vol. ii. p. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> For which l'Hôpital was accused of atheism: ‘Homo doctus, +sed verus atheus.’ <i>Dict. Philos.</i> article <i>Athéisme</i>, in <i>Œuvres de +Voltaire</i>, vol. xxxvii. pp. 181, 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> I have not been able to meet with any good life of this +great man: that by Charles Butler is very superficial, and so is that by +Bernardi, in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxiv. pp. 412–424. My own information +respecting l'Hôpital is from <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. +xviii. pp. 431–436; <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. ii. pp. +135–137, 168–170; <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. iii. pp. 519–523, vol. +iv. pp. 2–8, 152–159, vol. v. pp. 180–182, 520, 521, 535, vol. vi. pp. +703, 704; <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. i. p. 234. Duvernet +(<i>Hist. de la Sorbonne</i>, vol. i. pp. 215–218) is unsatisfactory, though +fully recognizing his merit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> ‘Ce fut alors que la nation ne prit conseil que de son +fanatisme. Les esprits, de jour en jour plus échauffés, ne virent plus +d'autre objet que celui de la religion, et par piété se firent les +injures les plus atroces.’ <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations sur l'Hist. de +France</i>, vol. iii. p. 145.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The 19th and 20th volumes of <i>Sismondi's Histoire des +Français</i> contain painful evidence of the internal condition of France +before the accession of Henry IV. Indeed, as Sismondi says (vol. xx. pp. +11–16), it seemed at one time as if the only prospect was a relapse into +feudalism. See also <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Hist. des divers Etats</i>, vol. v. pp. +242–249: ‘plus de trois cent mille maisons détruites.’ De Thou, in the +memoirs of his own life, says, ‘Les loix furent méprisées, et l'honneur +de la France fut presque anéanti … et sous le voile de la religion, on +ne respiroit que la haîne, la vengeance, le massacre et l'incendie,’ +<i>Mém. de la Vie</i>, in <i>Histoire Univ.</i> vol. i. p. 120; and the same +writer, in his great history, gives almost innumerable instances of the +crimes and persecutions constantly occurring. See, for some of the most +striking cases, vol. ii. p. 383, vol. iv. pp. 378, 380, 387, 495, 496, +539, vol. v. pp. 189, 518, 561, 647, vol. vi. pp. 421, 422, 424, 426, +427, 430, 469. Compare <i>Duplessis</i>, <i>Mém. et Correspond.</i> vol. ii. pp. +41, 42, 322, 335, 611, 612, vol. iii. pp. 344, 445, vol. iv. pp. +112–114; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. i. pp. 307, 308; +<i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Hist. de la Sorbonne</i>, vol. i. p. 217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> This, indeed, is not saying much; and far higher praise +might be justly bestowed. As to his domestic policy, there can be only +one opinion; and M. Flassan speaks in the most favourable terms of his +management of foreign affairs. <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Hist. de la Diplomatie +Franç.</i> vol. ii. pp. 191, 192, 294–297, vol. iii. p. 243. And see, to +the same effect, the testimony of M. Capefigue, an unfriendly judge. +<i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. vii. p. xiv. vol. viii. p. 156. Fontenay +Mareuil, who was a contemporary of Henry IV., though he wrote many years +after the king was murdered, says, ‘Ce grand roy, qui estoit en plus de +considération dans le monde que pas un de ses prédécesseurs n'avoit esté +depuis Charlesmagne.’ <i>Mém. de Fontenay</i>, vol. i. p. 46. Duplessis +Mornay calls him ‘le plus grand roy que la chrestienté ait porté depuis +cinq cens ans;’ and Sully pronounces him to be ‘le plus grand de nos +rois.’ <i>Duplessis Mornay</i>, <i>Mém. et Correspond.</i> vol. xi. pp. 30, 77, 131; +<i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. vii. p. 15. Compare vol. vi. pp. +397, 398, vol. ix. pp. 35, 242, with some sensible remarks in <i>Mém. de +Genlis</i>, Paris, 1825, vol. ix. p. 299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> So it is generally related: but there is a slightly +different version of this orthodox declaration in <i>Smedley's Hist. of +the Reformation in France</i>, vol. i. p. 30. Compare <i>Maclaine's note</i> in +<i>Mosheim's Eccles. Hist.</i> vol. ii. p. 24, with <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des +Français</i>, vol. xvi. pp. 453, 454, and <i>Relat. des Ambassad. +Vénitiens</i>, vol. i. p. 50, vol. ii. p. 48. It was also Francis I. who +advised Charles V. to expel all the Mohammedans from Spain, <i>Llorente</i>, +<i>Hist. de l'Inquisition</i>, vol. i. p. 429.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The historian of the French Protestants says, in 1548, ‘le +nouveau roi Henry II. fut encore plus rigoureux que son père.’ +<i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. i. p. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> M. Ranke (<i>Civil Wars in France</i>, vol. i. pp. 240, 241) +says, that he issued a circular ‘addressed to the parliaments and to the +judicial tribunals, in which they were urged to proceed against the +Lutherans with the greatest severity, and the judges informed that they +would be held responsible, should they neglect these orders; and in +which he declared plainly, that as soon as the peace with Spain was +concluded, he was determined to make the extirpation of the heretics his +principal business.’ See also, on Henry II., in connexion with the +Protestants, <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observ. sur l'Hist. de France</i>, vol. iii. pp. +133, 134; <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. i. pp. 334, 335, 387, vol. ii. +p. 640, vol. iii. pp. 365, 366; <i>Felice's Hist. of the French +Protestants</i>, p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> He said this to the Estates of Blois in 1588. <i>Ranke's +Civil Wars in France</i>, vol. ii. p. 202. Compare his edict, in 1585, in +<i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. iv. pp. 244, 245, and his +speech in vol. v. p. 122; and see <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de +Nantes</i>, vol. i. p. 328; <i>Duplessis Mornay</i>, <i>Mém. et Corresp.</i> vol. i. +p. 110; <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. i. p. 250, vol. viii. p. 651, vol. +x, pp. 294, 589, 674, 675.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> With what zeal these opinions were enforced, appears, +besides many other authorities, from Marino Cavalli, who writes in 1546, +‘Li maestri di Sorbona hanno autorità estrema di castigare li eretici, +il che fanno con il fuoco, brustolandoli vivi a poco a poco.’ <i>Relat. +des Ambassad. Vénitiens</i>, vol. i. 262; and see vol. ii. p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Indeed, Clement VIII. was afterwards apprehensive of a +fourth apostasy: ‘Er meinte noch immer, Heinrich IV. werde zuletzt +vielleicht wieder zum Protestantismus zurückkehren, wie er es schon +einmal gethan.’ <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. ii. p. 246. M. Ranke, from +his great knowledge of Italian manuscripts, has thrown more light on +these transactions than the French historians have been able to do.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> On his conversion, the character of which was as obvious +then as it is now, compare <i>Duplessis Mornay</i>, <i>Mém. et Correspond.</i> +vol. i. p. 257, with <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. ii. p. 126. +See also <i>Howell's Letters</i>, book i. p. 42; and a letter from Sir H. +Wotton in 1593, printed in <i>Reliquiæ Wottonianæ</i>, p. 711. See also +<i>Ranke</i>, <i>Civil Wars in France</i>, vol. ii. pp. 257, 355; <i>Capefigue</i>, +<i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. vi. pp. 305, 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> The edict of Nantes was in 1598; the abjuration in 1593. +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxi. pp. 202, 486. But in 1590 it +was intimated to the pope as probable, if not certain, that Henry would +‘in den Schooss der katholischen Kirche zurückkehren.’ <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die +Päpste</i>, vol. ii. p. 210.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Of this edict, Sismondi says, ‘Aucune époque dans +l'histoire de France ne marque mieux peut-être la fin d'un monde ancien, +le commencement d'un monde nouveau.’ <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxi. p. +489</p></div>. + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> On Rabelais, as the supposed founder of French scepticism, +compare <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. ii. p. 306; <i>Stephen's +Lectures on the History of France</i>, vol. ii. p. 242; <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. +des Français</i>, vol. xvi. p. 376.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Particularly the monks. See, among numerous other +instances, vol. i. pp. 278, 282, vol. ii. pp. 284, 285, of <i>Œuvres de +Rabelais</i>, edit. Amsterdam, 1725. However, the high dignitaries of the +church are not spared; for he says that Gargantua ‘se morvoit en +archidiacre,’ vol. i. p. 132; and on two occasions (vol. iii. p. 65, +vol. iv. pp. 199, 200) he makes a very indecent allusion to the pope. In +vol. i. pp. 260, 261, he satirically notices the way in which the +services of the church were performed: ‘Dont luy dist le moyne: Je ne +dors jamais à mon aise, sinon quand je suis au sermon, ou quand je prie +Dieu.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> His joke on the strength of Samson (<i>Œuvres de +Rabelais</i>, vol. ii. pp. 29, 30), and his ridicule of one of the Mosaic +laws (vol. iii. p. 34), are so unconnected with other parts of his work, +as to have no appearance of belonging to a general scheme. The +commentators, who find a hidden meaning in every author they annotate, +have represented Rabelais as aiming at the highest objects, and seeking +to effect the most extensive social and religious reforms. This I +greatly doubt, at all events I have seen no proof of it; and I cannot +help thinking that Rabelais owes a large share of his reputation to the +obscurity of his language. On the other side of the question, and in +favour of his comprehensiveness, see a bold passage in <i>Coleridge's Lit. +Remains</i>, vol. i. pp. 138, 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> The two first books in 1580; the third in 1588, with +additions to the first two. See <i>Niceron</i>, <i>Mém. pour servir à l'Hist. +des Hommes illustres</i>, vol. xvi. p. 210, Paris, 1731.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> The first impression of the Pantagruel of Rabelais has no +date on the title-page; but it is known that the third book was printed +in 1545, and the fourth book in 1546. See <i>Brunet</i>, <i>Manuel du +Libraire</i>, vol. iv. pp. 4–6, Paris, 1843. The statement in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> +vol. xxxvi. pp. 482, 483, is rather confused.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Mr. Hallam (<i>Lit. of Europe</i>, vol. ii. p. 29) says, that +his scepticism ‘is not displayed in religion.’ But if we use the word +‘religion’ in its ordinary sense, as connected with dogma, it is +evident, from Montaigne's language, that he was a sceptic, and an +unflinching one too. Indeed, he goes so far as to say that all religious +opinions are the result of custom: ‘Comme de vray nous n'avons aultre +mire de la vérité et de la raison, que l'exemple et idée des opinions et +usances du païs où nous sommes: <i>là est tousiours la parfaicte +religion</i>, la parfaicte police, parfaict et accomply usage de toutes +choses.’ <i>Essais de Montaigne</i>, p. 121, livre i. chap. xxx. As a natural +consequence, he lays down that religious error is not criminal, p. 53; +compare p. 28. See also how he notices the usurpations of the +theological spirit, pp. 116, 508, 528. The fact seems to be, that +Montaigne, while recognizing abstractedly the existence of religious +truths, doubted our capacity for knowing them; that is to say, he +doubted if, out of the immense number of religious opinions, there were +any means of ascertaining which were accurate. His observations on +miracles (pp. 541, 653, 654, 675) illustrate the character of his mind; +and what he says on prophetic visions is quoted and confirmed by Pinel, +in his profound work <i>Aliénation Mentale</i>, p. 256. Compare <i>Maury</i>, +<i>Légendes Pieuses</i>, p. 268 note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> His friend, the celebrated De Thou, calls him ‘homme +franc, ennemi de toute contrainte.’ <i>Mémoires</i>, in <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. +Univ.</i> vol. i. p. 59: see also vol. xi. p. 590. And M. Lamartine classes +him with Montesquieu, as ‘ces deux grands républicains de la pensée +française.’ <i>Hist. des Girondins</i>, vol. i. p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> He says (<i>Essais</i>, p. 97), ‘Ce n'est pas à l'adventure +sans raison que nous attribuons à simplesse et ignorance la facilité de +croire et de se laisser persuader.’ Compare two striking passages, pp. +199 and 685. Nothing of this sort had ever appeared before in the French +language.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Dugald Stewart, whose turn of mind was very different from +that of Montaigne, calls him ‘this most amusing author.’ <i>Stewart's +Philos. of the Mind</i>, vol. i. p. 468. But Rousseau, in every respect a +more competent judge, enthusiastically praises ‘la naïveté, la grâce et +l'énergie de son style inimitable.’ <i>Musset Pathay</i>, <i>Vie de Rousseau</i>, +vol. i. p. 185. Compare <i>Lettres de Sévigné</i>, vol. iii. p. 491, edit. +Paris, 1843, and <i>Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, vol. i. p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> ‘Mais celui qui a répandu et popularisé en France le +scepticisme, c'est Montaigne.’ <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philos.</i>, II. +série, vol. ii. pp. 288, 289. ‘Die erste Regung des skeptischen Geistes +finden wir in den Versuchen des Michael von Montaigne.’ <i>Tennemann</i>, +<i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. ix. p. 443. On the immense influence of +Montaigne, compare <i>Tennemann</i>, vol. ix. p. 458; <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Divers +Etats</i>, vol. v. pp. 263–265; <i>Sorel</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Françoise</i>, pp. +80–91; <i>Le Long</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Historique</i>, vol. iv. p. 527.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Compare the remarks on Charron in <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Geschichte +der Philosophie</i>, vol. ix. p. 527, with two insidious passages in +<i>Charron</i>, <i>De la Sagesse</i>, vol. i. pp. 4, 366.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The obligations of Charron to Montaigne were very +considerable, but are stated too strongly by many writers. <i>Sorel</i>, +<i>Bibliothèque Françoise</i>, p. 93; and <i>Hallam's Literature of Europe</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 362, 509. On the most important subjects, Charron was a +bolder and deeper thinker than Montaigne; though he is now so little +read, that the only tolerably complete account I have seen of his system +is in <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der Philosophie</i>, vol. ix. pp. 458–487. Buhle +(<i>Geschichte der neuern Philosophie</i>, vol. ii. pp. 918–925) and Cousin +(<i>Hist. de la Philos.</i> II. série, vol. ii. p. 289) are short and +unsatisfactory. Even Dr. Parr, who was extensively read in this sort of +literature, appears only to have known Charron through Bayle (see notes +on the Spital Sermon, in <i>Parr's Works</i>, vol. ii. pp. 520, 521); while +Dugald Stewart, with suspicious tautology, quotes, in three different +places, the same passage from Charron. <i>Stewart's Philosophy of the +Mind</i>, vol. ii. p. 233, vol. iii. pp. 365, 393. Singularly enough, +Talleyrand was a great admirer of <i>De la Sagesse</i>, and presented his +favourite copy of it to Madame de Genlis! See her own account, in <i>Mém. +de Genlis</i>, vol. iv. pp. 352, 353.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> See his definition, or rather description, of wisdom, in +Charron, <i>De la Sagesse</i>, vol. i. p. 295, vol. ii. pp. 113, 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>De la Sagesse</i>, vol. i. pp. 63, 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> ‘Chacune se préfère aux autres, et se confie d'être la +meilleure et plus vraie que les autres, et s'entre-reprochent aussi les +unes aux autres quelque chose, et par-là s'entre-condamnent et +rejettent.’ <i>De la Sagesse</i>, vol. i. p. 348; see also vol. i. pp. 144, +304, 305, 306, vol. ii. p. 116. Expressions almost identical are used by +M. Charles Compte, <i>Traité de Législation</i>, vol. i. p. 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> ‘Toutes trouvent et fournissent miracles, prodiges, +oracles, mystères sacrés, saints prophètes, fêtes, certains articles de +foy et créance nécessaires au salut.’ <i>De la Sagesse</i>, vol. i. p. 346.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Hence he opposes proselytism, and takes up the philosophic +ground, that religious opinions, being governed by undeviating laws, owe +their variations to variations in their antecedents, and are always, if +left to themselves, suited to the existing state of things: ‘Et de ces +conclusions, nous apprendrons à n'épouser rien, ne jurer à rien, +n'admirer rien, ne se troubler de rien, mais quoi qu'il advienne, que +l'on crie, tempête, se resoudre à ce point, que c'est le cours du monde, +<i>c'est nature qui fait des siennes</i>.’ <i>Dela Sagesse</i>, vol. i. p. 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> ‘Mais comme elles naissent l'une après l'autre, la plus +jeune bâtit toujours sur son aînée et prochaine précédente, laquelle +elle n'improuve, ni ne condamne de fond en comble, autrement elle ne +seroit pas ouïe, et ne pourroit prendre pied; mais seulement l'accuse ou +d'imperfection, ou de son terme fini, et qu'à cette occasion elle vient +pour lui succéder et la parfaire, et ainsi la ruine peu-à-peu, et +s'enrichit de ses dépouilles, comme la Judaïque a fait à la Gentille et +Egyptienne, la Chrétienne à la Judaïque, la Mahometane à la Judaïque et +Chrétienne ensemble: mais les vieilles condamnent bien tout-à-fait et +entièrement les jeunes, et les tiennent pour ennemies capables.’ <i>De la +Sagesse</i>, vol. i. p. 349. This, I believe, is the first instance in any +modern language of the doctrine of religious development; a doctrine +which, since Charron, has been steadily advancing, particularly among +men whose knowledge is extensive enough to enable them to compare the +different religions which have prevailed at different times. In this, as +in other subjects, they who are unable to compare, suppose that +everything is isolated, simply because to them the continuity is +invisible. As to the Alexandrian doctrine of development, found +particularly in Clement and Origen, see <i>Neander's Hist. of the Church</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 234–257; and in particular pp. 241, 246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>De la Sagesse</i>, vol. i. pp. 356, 365; two magnificent +passages. But the whole chapter ought to be read, livre ii. chap. v. In +it there is an occasional ambiguity. Tennemann, however, in the most +important point, understands Charron as I do in regard to the doctrine +of future punishments. <i>Geschichte der Philosophie</i>, vol. ix. p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> The first edition of <i>La Sagesse</i> was published at +Bourdeaux in 1601. <i>Niceron</i>, <i>Hommes illustres</i>, vol. xvi. p. 224; +<i>Hallam's Lit. of Europe</i>, vol. ii. p. 509; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. viii. p. +250. Two editions were susequently published in Paris, in 1604 and 1607. +<i>Brunet</i>, <i>Manuel du Libraire</i>, vol. i. p. 639.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Sismondi (<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 86) and +Lavallée (<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 84) have noticed the +diminution of religious zeal early in the seventeenth century; and some +curious evidence will also be found in the correspondence of Duplessis +Mornay. See, for instance, a letter he wrote to Diodati, in 1609: ‘A +beaucoup aujourd'hui il fault commencer par là, qu'il y a une religion, +premier que de leur dire quelle.’ <i>Duplessis</i>, <i>Mém. et Corresp.</i> vol. +x. p. 415. This middle, or secular party, received the name of +‘Politiques,’ and began to be powerful in 1592 or 1593. Benoist (<i>Hist. +de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. i. p. 113), under the year 1593, +contemptuously says: ‘Il s'éleva une foule de conciliateurs de +religion;’ see also pp. 201, 273. In 1590, and in 1594, the ‘Politiques’ +are noticed by De Thou (<i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. xi. p. 171, vol. xii. p. +134); and on the increase, in 1593, of ‘le tiers parti politique et +négociateur,’ see <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. vi. p. 235. +See also, respecting ‘les politiques,’ a letter from the Spanish +ambassador to his own court, in 1615, in <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. +i. p. 93; and for the rise in Paris, in 1592, of a ‘politisch und +kirchlich gemässigte Gesinnung,’ see <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. ii. p. +243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> The Sorbonne went so far as to condemn Charron's great +work, but could not succeed in having it prohibited. Compare <i>Duvernet</i>, +<i>Hist. de la Sorbonne</i>, vol. ii. p. 139, with <i>Bayle</i>, article Charron, +note F.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> In the appendix to Ranke (<i>Die Römischen Päpste</i>, vol. +iii. pp. 141, 142), there will be found the instructions which were +given to the nuncio, in 1603, when he was sent to the French court; and +which should be compared with a letter, written in 1604, in <i>Sully</i>, +<i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. v. p. 122, edit. 1820.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> ‘Sein Sinn war im Allgemeinen, ohne Zweifel, das +Gleichgewicht zwischen ihnen zu erhalten.’ <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 430, 431. ‘Henri IV, +l'expression de l'indifférentisme religieux, se posa comme une +transaction entre ces deux systèmes.’ <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Réforme</i>, vol. vi. p. 358. ‘Henry IV. endeavoured to adjust the balance +evenly,’ <i>Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France</i>, vol. iii. +p. 19. See also <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. i. p. 136. +Hence, of course, neither party was quite satisfied. <i>Mably's +Observations</i>, vol. iii. p. 220; <i>Mezeray</i>, <i>Histoire de France</i>, vol. +iii. p. 959.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Compare <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. viii. p. +61, with <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. pp. 32, 33. See also, +on his inclination towards the Protestants, <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, +vol. i. p. 91. Fontenay, p. 94, mentions, as a singular instance, that +‘il se vist de son temps des huguenots avoir des abbayes.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. iv. p. 134, vol. vi. +p. 233; <i>Duplessis Mornay</i>, <i>Mém. et Corresp.</i> vol. xi. p. 242; +<i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. pp. 68, 205. These +grants were annual, and were apportioned by the Protestants themselves. +See their own account, in <i>Quick's Synodicon in Gallia</i>, vol. i. pp. +198, 222, 246, 247, 249, 275–277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Henry IV. banished the Jesuits in 1594; but they were +allowed, later in his reign, to make fresh settlements in France. +<i>Flassan</i>, <i>Hist. de la Diplomatie</i>, vol. vi. p. 485; <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de +Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. p. 106; <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Divers Etats</i>, vol. v. p. 192 +note; <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. xiv. p. 298. Compare the notices of +them in <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies</i>, vol. ii. p. 234, vol. iv. pp. 200, 235, +245. But there can be little doubt that they owed their recall to the +dread entertained of their intrigues (<i>Grégoire</i>, <i>Hist. des Confesseurs</i>, +p. 316); and Henry evidently disliked as well as feared them. See two +letters from him in <i>Duplessis</i>, <i>Mém. et Corresp.</i> vol. vi. pp. 129, 151. +It would appear, from the <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. v. p. 350, Paris, +1823, that the king never restored to them their former authority in +regard to education.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. pp. 142, 143; <i>Le +Vassor</i>, vol. i. p. 156; <i>Sismondi</i>, vol. xxii. p. 116; <i>Duplessis +Mornay</i>, vol. i. p. 389; <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies</i>, vol. vii. pp. 105, 432, +442.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> When Ravaillac was examined, he said, ‘qu'il y avait été +excité par l'intérêt de la religion, et par une impulsion irrésistible.’ +<i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. p. 38. This work contains the +fullest account I have met with of Ravaillac; of whom there is, +moreover, a description in <i>Les Historiettes de Tallemant des Réaux</i>, +vol. i. p. 85, Paris, 1840, a very curious book.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Le Vassor (<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. p. 279) calls +her ‘superstitieuse au dernier point;’ and, in vol. v. p. 481, ‘femme +crédule et superstitieuse.’ See also vol. iii. p. 250, vol. vi. p. 628; +and <i>Grégoire</i>, <i>Hist. des Confesseurs</i>, p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> ‘Elle annonça qu'elle vouloit suivre en tout l'exemple du +feu roi…. Le ministère de Henri IV, que la reine continuoit.’ +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. pp. 206, 210; and see two +letters from her, in <i>Duplessis Mornay</i>, <i>Mém. et Corresp.</i> vol. xi. p. +282, vol. xii. p. 428. Sully had feared that the death of Henry IV. would +cause a change of policy: ‘que l'on s'alloit jeter dans des desseins +tous contraires aux règles, ordres et maximes du feu roy.’ <i>Œconomies +Royales</i>, vol. viii. p. 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> See the declaration in Bazin, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. +i. pp. 74, 75; and notices of it in <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 58; +<i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 27; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de +Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 7; <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. p. 58. +But none of these writers, nor Sismondi (vol. xxii. p. 221), appear to +be aware that the issuing of this declaration was determined on, in +council, as early as the 17th of May; that is, only three days after the +death of Henry IV. This is mentioned by Pontchartrain, who was then one +of the ministers. See <i>Mém. de Pontchartrain</i>, edit. Petitot, 1822, vol. +i. p. 409; a book little known, but well worthy of being read.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. p. 262; <i>Benoist</i>, +<i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 140; <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, +vol. i. p. 257; <i>Le Vassor</i>, vol. i. p. 604.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> ‘Laissant néanmoins l'administration du royaume à la reine +sa mère.’ <i>Mém. de Bassompierre</i>, vol. ii. p. 52. Compare <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies</i>, vol. ix. p. 177. +She possessed complete authority over the king till 1617. See <i>Mémoires +de Montglat</i>, vol. i. p. 24: ‘avoit été tenu fort bas par la reine sa +mère.’ See also <i>Le Vassor, Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. pp. 640, 677, +716, 764.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. pp. 381, 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> In 1611, ‘le pape le rejeta formellement comme hérétique.’ +<i>Bazin</i>, vol. i. p. 174. This is glossed over by Pontchartrain +(<i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. p. 450); but the statement of M. Bazin is confirmed +in the preface to <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Histoire Universelle</i>, vol. i. p. xvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> ‘Der erste Einhalt den die kirchliche Restauration erfuhr, +geschah in Frankreich,’ <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Römischen Päpste</i>, vol. iii. p. +160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> This desire was expressed several times, but in vain: +‘Gern hätten die Nuntien Werke wie von Thou und Richer verboten, aber es +war ihnen nicht möglich,’ <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. iii. p. 181, +Anhang. Compare <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. p. 68; <i>Mém. de +Pontchartrain</i>, vol. i. p. 428.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> This decline of the ecclesiastical power is noticed by +many writers of the time; but it is sufficient to refer to the very +curious remonstrance of the French clergy, in 1605, in <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. +Univ.</i> vol. xiv. pp. 446, 447.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> As M. Monteil says (<i>Hist. des Français des divers Etats</i>, +vol. vii. p. 114), ‘Richelieu tint le sceptre; Louis XIII. porta la +couronne.’ And Campion (<i>Mémoires</i>, p. 37) calls him ‘plutôt le maître +que le ministre;’ and adds, pp. 218, 219, that he ‘avoit gouverné +dix-huit ans la France avec un pouvoir absolu et une gloire sans +pareille.’ Compare <i>Mém. du Cardinal de Retz</i>, vol. i p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> The common opinion, put forth in <i>Alison's Hist. of +Europe</i>, vol. i. pp. 101–104, and in many other books, is that Richelieu +did destroy their influence; but this error arises from confusing +political influence with social influence. What is termed the political +power of a class, is merely the symptom and manifestation of its real +power; and it is no use to attack the first, unless you can also weaken +the second. The real power of the nobles was social, and that neither +Richelieu nor Louis XIV. could impair; and it remained intact until the +middle of the eighteenth century, when the intellect of France rebelled +against it, overthrew it, and finally effected the French Revolution.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Richelieu appears to have formed the design of humbling +the nobles, at least as early as 1624. See a characteristic passage in +his <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. ii. p. 340. In <i>Swinburne's Courts of Europe</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 63–65, there is a curious traditional anecdote, which, though +probably false, shows, at all events, the fear and hatred with which the +French nobles regarded the memory of Richelieu more than a century after +his death.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> On their influence, see <i>Grégoire</i>, <i>Histoire des +Confesseurs</i>; and compare the remarks of Mr. Grote, a great writer, +whose mind is always ready with historical analogies. <i>Grote's Hist. of +Greece</i>, vol. vi. p. 393, 2nd edit. 1851. Many of the French kings had a +strong natural affection for monks; but the most singular instance I +have found of this sort of love is mentioned by no less a man than De +Thou, respecting Henry III. De Thou (<i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. x. pp. 666, 667) +says of that prince: ‘Soit tempérament, soit éducation, la présence d'un +moine faisait toujours plaisir à Henri; et je lui ai moi-même souvent +entendu dire, que leur vue produisoit le même effet sur son âme, que le +chatouillement le plus délicat sur le corps.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> One of his suggestions was, ‘sur les dangers que couroit +le catholicisme en Allemagne, par ses liaisons avec les puissances +protestantes.’ <i>Grégoire</i>, <i>Histoire des Confesseurs</i>, p. 342. The fullest +account of Caussin is in <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ix. pp. +287–299; to which, however, Grégoire never refers. As I shall have +frequent occasion to quote Le Vassor, I may observe, that he is far more +accurate than is generally supposed, and that he has been very unfairly +treated by the majority of French writers, among whom he is unpopular, +on account of his constant attacks on Louis XIV. Sismondi (<i>Hist. des +Français</i>, vol. xxii. pp. 188, 189) speaks highly of his <i>Hist. of Louis +XIII</i>; and so far as my own reading extends, I can confirm his +favourable opinion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> ‘Le petit père Caussin.’ <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. x. p. +206; and at p. 217, he is classed among the ‘personnes qui avoient +toujours été nourries dans l'innocence d'une vie religieuse;’ see also +p. 215, on his ‘simplicité et ignorance.’ Respecting Richelieu's +treatment of Caussin, see <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, vol. i. pp. 173–175; +<i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. i. p. 49; <i>Des Réaux, Historiettes</i>, vol. ii. +p. 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>Sismondi, Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 332; +<i>Tallemant des Réaux, Historiettes</i>, vol. iii. p. 78 note. Le Vassor +(<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. x. part ii. p. 761) says, that Sirmond ‘se +soutint à la cour sous le ministère de Richelieu, parce qu'il ne se +mêloit point des affaires d'état.’ According to the same writer (vol. +viii. p. 156), Richelieu thought at one time of depriving the Jesuits of +their post of confessor to the king.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 87; <i>Le +Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. iv. p. 208; <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis +XIII</i>, vol. ii. p. 144; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 337, 338. Benoist says: ‘Le clergé de France, ignorant et corrompu, +croyoit tout son devoir compris dans l'extirpation des hérétiques; et +même il offroit de grandes sommes, à condition qu'on les employât à +cette guerre.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> In which he is fully borne out by the high authority of +Vattel, whose words I shall quote, for the sake of those politicians who +still cleave to the superannuated theory of the sacredness of +church-property: ‘Loin que l'exemption appartienne aux biens d'église +parce qu'ils sont consacrés à Dieu, c'est au contraire par cette raison +même, qu'ils doivent être pris les premiers pour le salut de l'état; car +il n'y a rien de plus agréable au Père commun des hommes, que de +garantir une nation de sa ruine. Dieu n'ayant besoin de rien, lui +consacrer des biens, c'est les destiner à des usages qui lui soient +agréables. De plus, les biens de l'église, de l'aveu du clergé lui-même, +sont en grande partie destinés aux pauvres. Quand l'état est dans le +besoin, il est sans doute le premier pauvre, et le plus digne de +secours.’ <i>Vattel</i>, <i>le Droit des Gens</i>, vol. i. pp. 176, 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> ‘Que la réputation de l'état est préférable à toutes +choses.’ <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. p. 482. This was in 1625, and by +way of refuting the legate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. pp. 477, +478; <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. iv. pp. 325, 326. The Cardinal +de Retz, who knew Richelieu personally, says: ‘M. le cardinal de +Richelieu avoit donné une atteinte cruelle à la dignité et à la liberté +du clergé dans l'assemblée de Mante, et il avoit exilé, avec des +circonstances atroces, six de ses prélats les plus considérables.’ <i>Mém. +de Retz</i>, vol. i. p. 50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> ‘Die Nuntien finden kein Ende der Beschwerden die sie +machen zu müssen glauben, vorzüglich über die Beschränkungen welche die +geistliche Jurisdiction erfahre…. Zuweilen werde ein Geistlicher +hingerichtet ohne erst degradirt zu seyn.’ <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. +iii. p. 157: a summary, in 1641, of the complaints of the then nuncio, +and of those of his predecessors. Le Vassor (<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. +v. pp. 51 seq.) has given some curious details respecting the animosity +between the clergy and the secular tribunals of France in 1624.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 301; +<i>Mém. de Bassompierre</i>, vol. iii. pp. 302, 353. Bazin, who notices this +disgraceful affair, simply says (<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. iii. p. +453): ‘Le maréchal de Vitry, suivant l'exemple qui lui en avoit donné le +duc d'Epernon, s'emporta jusqu'à le frapper de son bâton.’ In regard to +Epernon, the best account is in <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, where it is stated +(vol. viii. p. 194) that the duke, just before flogging the archbishop, +‘disoit au peuple, “Rangez-vous, vous verrez comme j'étrillerai votre archevêque.”’ This was +stated by a witness, who heard the duke utter the words. Compare, for +further information, <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. x. part +ii. p. 97, with <i>Tallemant des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. iii. p. 116. +Des Réaux, who, in his own way, was somewhat of a philosopher, +contentedly says: ‘Cet archevêque se pouvoit vanter d'être le prélat du +monde qui avoit été le plus battu.’ His brother was Cardinal Sourdis; a +man of some little reputation in his own time, and concerning whom a +curious anecdote is related in <i>Mém. de Conrart</i>, pp. 231–234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 470. Le +Vassor (<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. x. part ii. p. 149) says: ‘Il +s'enfuit donc honteusement à Carpentras sous la protection du pape.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> ‘Les évêques furent punis par la saisie de leur temporel; +Alby, Nimes, Uzés, furent privées de leurs prélats.’ <i>Capefigue's +Richelieu</i>, Paris, 1844, vol. ii. p. 24. The Protestants were greatly +delighted at the punishment of the bishops of Alby and Nimes, which ‘les +ministres regardoient comme une vengeance divine.’ <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de +l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. pp. 528, 529.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> In a short account of Richelieu, which was published +immediately after his death, the writer indignantly says, that ‘being a +cardinal, he afflicted the church.’ <i>Somers Tracts</i>. vol. v. p. 540. +Compare <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. iv. p. 322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> This scandalous charge in regard to his niece was a +favourite one with the clergy; and among many other instances, the +accusation was brought by the Cardinal de Valençay in the grossest +manner. See <i>Tallemant des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. iii. p. 201.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> ‘De là ces petits écrits qui le dénonçaient comme le +“pontife des huguenots” ou “le patriarche des athées.”’ <i>Capefigue's +Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 312.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Compare <i>Des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. ii. p. 233, with +<i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. viii. part ii. pp. 177, 178, +vol. ix. p. 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> See the manifesto in <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, +vol. xxiii. pp. 452, 453.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Late in the sixteenth century, ‘fils aîné de l'Eglise’ was +the recognized and well-merited title of the kings of Spain. <i>De Thou</i>, +<i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. xi. p. 280. Compare <i>Duplessis Mornay</i>, <i>Mém. et +Correspond.</i> vol. xi. p. 21. And on the opinions which the Catholics, +early in the seventeenth century, generally held respecting Spain, see +<i>Mém. de Fontenay</i>, <i>Mareuil</i>, vol. i. p. 189; <i>Mém. de Bassompierre</i>, +vol. i. p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> As to the connexion between this foreign policy and the +massacre of Saint Bartholomew, see <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, +vol. iii. pp. 253, 268, 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> On the policy, and still more on the feelings, of Henry +IV. towards the House of Austria, see <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, +vol. ii. p. 291, vol. iii. pp. 162, 166, vol. iv. pp. 289, 290, 321, +343, 344, 364, vol. v. p. 123, vol. vi. p. 293, vol. vii. p. 303, vol. +viii. pp. 195, 202, 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. pp. 26, 369; <i>Mém. de +Montglat</i>, vol. i. pp. 16, 17; <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol +i. p. 268, vol. vi. p. 349; <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. +p. 227. Her husband, Henry IV., said that she had ‘the soul of a +Spaniard.’ <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. viii. p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> This was, in her opinion, a master-stroke of policy: +‘Entêtée du double mariage avec l'Espagne qu'elle +avoit ménagé avec tant d'application, et qu'elle regardoit comme le plus +ferme appui de son autorité.’ <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. +i. pp. 453, 454.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> So late as 1656, the French clergy wished ‘to hasten a +peace with Spain, and to curb the heretics in France,’ <i>Letter from Pell +to Thurloe</i>, written in 1656, and printed in <i>Vaughan's Protectorate of +Cromwell</i>, vol. i. p. 436, 8vo, 1839. During the minority of Louis XIII. +we hear of ‘les zéléz catholiques, et ceux qui désiroient, à quelque +prix que ce fut, l'union des deux roys, et des deux couronnes de France +et d'Espagne, comme le seul moyen propre, selon leur advis, pour +l'extirpation des hérésies dans la chrestienté.’ <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œcon. +Royales</i>, vol. ix. p. 181: compare vol. vii. p. 248, on ‘les zéléz +catholiques espagnolisez de France.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> See <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. pp. 387–389, +where the importance of this document is noticed, and it is said that +Richelieu had drawn it up ‘avec beaucoup de soin.’ The language of it is +very peremptory: ‘Que nul catholique n'est si aveugle d'estimer en +matière d'état un Espagnol meilleur qu'un Français huguenot.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Even in the reign of Henry IV. the French Protestants were +not considered to be Frenchmen: ‘The intolerant dogmas of Roman +Catholicism did not recognize them as Frenchmen. They were looked upon +as foreigners, or rather as enemies; and were treated as such.’ <i>Felice's +Hist. of the Protestants of France</i>, p. 216.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Sismondi says, under the year 1610, ‘Toute l'église +catholique croyoit son sort lié à celui de la maison d'Autriche,’ <i>Hist. +des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> ‘Sa vue dominante fut l'abaissement de la maison +d'Autriche.’ <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Hist. de la Diplomatie Française</i>, vol. iii. p. 81. +And, on the early formation of this scheme, see <i>Mém. de la +Rochefoucauld</i>, vol. i. p. 350. De Retz says, that before Richelieu, no +one had even thought of such a step: ‘Celui d'attaquer la formidable +maison d'Autriche n'avoit été imaginé de personne.’ <i>Mém. de Retz</i>, vol. +i. p. 45. This is rather too strongly expressed; but the whole paragraph +is curious, as written by a man who possessed great ability, which De +Retz undoubtedly did, and who, though hating Richelieu, could not +refrain from bearing testimony to his immense services.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> ‘Obwohl Cardinal der römischen Kirche, trug Richelieu +kein Bedenken, mit den Protestanten selbst unverhohlen in Bund zu +treten,’ <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. ii. p. 510. Compare, in <i>Mém. de +Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. ii. pp. 28, 29, the reproach which the nuncio +Spada addressed to Richelieu for treating with the Protestants, ‘de la +paix qui se traitoit avec les huguenots.’ See also <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. +de Louis XIII</i>, vol. v. pp. 236, 354–356, 567; and a good passage in +<i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 90,—an able little work, +and perhaps the best small history ever published of a great country.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> De Retz mentions a curious illustration of the feelings +of the ecclesiastical party respecting this treaty. He says, that the +Bishop of Beauvais, who, the year after the death of Richelieu, was for +a moment at the head of affairs, began his administration by giving to +the Dutch their choice, either to abandon their religion, or else +forfeit their alliance with France: ‘Et il demanda dès le premier jour +aux Hollandois qu'ils se convertissent à la religion catholique, s'ils +vouloient demeurer dans l'alliance de France.’ <i>Mém. du Cardinal de +Retz</i>, vol. i. p. 39. This, I suppose, is the original authority for the +statement in the <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xiv. p. 440; though, as is too often +the case in that otherwise valuable work, the writer has omitted to +indicate the source of his information.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> In 1626, he attempted to form a league ‘en faveur du +Palatin,’ <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 576. Sismondi +seems not quite certain as to the sincerity of his proposal; but as to +this there can, I think, be little doubt; for it appears from his own +memoirs, that even in 1624 he had in view the recovery of the +Palatinate. <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. p. 405; and again in 1625, p. +468.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> <i>Sismondi</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 173; <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, +vol. i. p. 415; <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. vi. pp. 12, +600; and at p. 489: ‘Le roi de Suède qui comptoit uniquement sur le +cardinal.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Compare <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, vol. i. pp. 74, 75, vol. ii. +pp. 92, 93, with <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. ii. p. 198; and +<i>Howell's Letters</i>, p. 247. The different views which occurred to his +fertile mind in consequence of the death of Gustavus, are strikingly +summed up in <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. vii. pp. 272–277. On his +subsequent pecuniary advances, see vol. ix. p. 395.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> In 1633, ‘les ambassadeurs de France, d'Angleterre et de +Hollande mirent à profit le repos de l'hiver pour resserrer la +confédération protestante,’ <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. +xxiii. p. 221. Compare, in <i>Whitelocke's Swedish Embassy</i>, vol. i. p. +275, the remark made twenty years later by Christina, daughter of +Gustavus, on the union with ‘papists.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> This change may be illustrated by comparing the work of +Grotius with that of Vattel. These two eminent men are still respected +as the most authoritative expounders of international law; but there is +this important difference between them, that Vattel wrote more than a +century after Grotius, and when the secular principles enforced by +Richelieu had penetrated the minds even of common politicians. +Therefore, Vattel says (<i>Le Droit des Gens</i>, vol. i. pp. 379, 380): ‘On +demande s'il est permis de faire alliance avec une nation qui ne +professe pas la même religion? Si les traités faits avec les ennemis de +la foi sont valides? Grotius a traité la question assez au long. Cette +discussion pouvait être nécessaire dans un temps où la fureur des partis +obscurcissait encore des principes qu'elle avait long-temps fait +oublier, osons croire qu'elle serait superflue dans notre siècle. La loi +naturelle seule régit les traités des nations; la différence de religion +y est absolument étrangère.’ See also p. 318, and vol. ii. p. 151. On +the other hand, Grotius opposes alliances between nations of different +religion, and says, that nothing can justify them except ‘une extrême +nécessité…. Car il faut chercher premièrement le règne céleste, c'est +à dire penser avant toutes choses à la propagation de l'évangile.’ And +he further recommends that princes should follow the advice given on +this subject by Foulques, Archbishop of Rheims! <i>Grotius</i>, <i>le Droit de +la Guerre et de la Paix</i>, livre ii. chap xv. sec. xi. vol. i. pp. 485, +486, edit. Barbeyrac, Amsterdam, 1724, 4to; a passage the more +instructive, because Grotius was a man of great genius and great +humanity. On religious wars, as naturally recognized in barbarous times, +see the curious and important work, <i>Institutes of Timour</i>, pp. 141, +333, 335.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> ‘Le Congrès de Westphalie s'ouvrit le 10 avril 1643.’ +<i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 156. Its two great +divisions at Munster and Osnabruck were formed in March 1644. <i>Flassan</i>, +<i>Hist. de la Diplomatie</i>, vol. iii. p. 110. Richelieu died in December, +1642. <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxviii. p. 28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> ‘Les règnes de Charles-Quint et de Henri IV font +époque pour certaines parties du droit international; mais le +point de départ le plus saillant, c'est la paix de Westphalie.’ +<i>Eschbach</i>, <i>Introduc. à l'Etude du Droit</i>, Paris, 1846, p. 92. +Compare the remarks on Mably, in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxvi. p. 7, and +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiv. p. 179: ‘base au droit +public de l'Europe.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Compare the indignation of the pope at this treaty +(<i>Vattel</i>, <i>le Droit des Gens</i>, vol. ii. p. 28), with <i>Ranke's Päpste</i>, +vol. ii. p. 576: ‘Das religiöse Element ist zurückgetreten; die +politischen Rücksichten beherrschen die Welt:’ a summary of the general +state of affairs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> ‘La France obtint par ce traité, en indemnité, la +souveraineté des trois évêchés, Metz, Toul et Verdun, ainsi que celle +d'Alsace. La satisfaction ou indemnité des autres parties intéressées +fut convenue, en grande partie, aux dépens de l'église, et moyennant la +sécularisation de plusieurs évêchés et bénéfices ecclésiastiques.’ +<i>Koch</i>, <i>Tableau des Révolutions</i>, vol. i. p. 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> Dr. Vaughan (<i>Protectorate of Cromwell</i>, vol. i. p. civ.) +says: ‘It is a leading fact, also, in the history of modern Europe, +that, from the peace of Westphalia, in 1648, religion, as the great +object of negotiation, began everywhere to give place to questions +relating to colonies and commerce.’ Charles Butler observed, that this +treaty ‘considerably lessened the influence of religion on politics.’ +<i>Butler's Reminiscences</i>, vol. i. p. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> The fact of the Thirty Years' War being a religious +contest, formed the basis of one of the charges which the church party +brought against Richelieu: and an author, who wrote in 1634, ‘montroit +bien au long que l'alliance du roy de France avec les protestantes étoit +contraire aux intérêts de la religion catholique; parce que la guerre +des Provinces Unies, et celle d'Allemagne étoient des guerres de +religion.’ <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 536.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> According to a contemporary, he received this appointment +without having asked for it: ‘sans être à la cour ni l'avoir demandé.’ +<i>Mém. de Fontenay</i>, <i>Mareuil</i>, vol. i. p. 70. In 1622, even the +lieutenants of Lesdiguières were Protestants: ‘ses lieutenants, qui +estant tous huguenots.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 538. These memoirs are very +valuable in regard to political and military matters; their author +having played a conspicuous part in the transactions which he +describes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> ‘Il n'y avoit personne dans le parti huguenot si +considérable que lui.’ <i>Tallemant des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. v. p. +204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xv. p. 247; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de +l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 400.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Additions to <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. viii. +p. 496; <i>Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France</i>, vol. iii. +p. 204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. p. 57; <i>Mém. de Rohan</i>, +vol. i. pp. 66, 69; <i>Mém. de Bassompierre</i>, vol. iii. pp. 324, 348; +<i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, vol. i. p. 86; <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, +vol. vii. p. 157, vol. viii. p. 284. This great rise in the fortunes of +Rohan took place at different times between 1632 and 1635.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Late in the sixteenth century, Duplessis Mornay had to +state what was then considered by the majority of men an incredible +paradox, ‘que ce n'estoit pas chose incompatible d'estre bon huguenot et +bon Françoys tout ensemble.’ <i>Duplessis</i>, <i>Mém. et Correspond.</i> vol. i. +p. 146. Compare p. 213, vol. ii. pp. 45, 46, 77, 677, vol. vii. p. 294, +vol. xi. pp. 31, 68; interesting passages for the history of opinions in +France.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> See <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. i. pp. +10, 14, 18; <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. iii. pp. 181, 242, 357, 358, +543, 558, vol. iv. p. 155; <i>Relat. des Ambassadeurs Vénitiens</i>, vol. i. +pp. 412, 536, vol. ii. pp. 66, 74; <i>Ranke's Civil Wars in France</i>, vol. +i. pp. 279, 280, vol. ii. p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> Compare <i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 173, with +<i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Römischen Päpste</i>, vol. ii. pp. 477–479. In spite of the +increase of population, the Protestants diminished absolutely, as well +as relatively, to the Catholics. In 1598 they had 760 churches; in 1619 +only 700. <i>Smedley's Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France</i>, vol. +iii. pp. 46, 145. De Thou, in the preface to his History (vol. i. p. +320), observes, that the Protestants had increased during the wars +carried on against them, but ‘diminuoient en nombre et en crédit pendant +la paix.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> M. Ranke has noticed how the French Protestant nobles +fell off from their party; but he does not seem aware of the remote +causes of what he deems a sudden apostasy: ‘In dem nämlichen Momente +trat nun auch die grosse Wendung der Dinge in Frankreich ein. Fragen +wir, woher im Jahr 1621 die Verluste des Protestantismus hauptsächlich +kamen, so war es die Entzweiung derselben, der Abfall des Adels.’ +<i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. ii. p. 476. Compare a curious passage in +<i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 33, from which it +appears that in 1611 the French Protestants were breaking into three +parties, one of which consisted of ‘les seigneurs d'éminente qualité.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> ‘Le plus illustre guerrier du parti protestant.’ +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 505. In the contemporary +despatches of the Spanish ambassador, he is called ‘l'un des huguenots +les plus marquans, homme d'un grand poids, et d'un grand crédit.’ +<i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 60. His principal influence was in +Dauphiné. <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. i. p. 236.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxiv. p. 293; and a dry remark on his +‘conversion’ in <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. p. 215, which may be +compared with <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xviii. p. 132, and <i>Bazin</i>, +<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. pp. 195–197. Rohan (<i>Mém.</i> vol. i. p. +228) plainly says, ‘le duc de Lesdiguières, ayant hardé sa religion pour +la charge de connétable de France.’ See also p. 91, and <i>Mém. de +Montglat</i>, vol. i. p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 67; <i>Le +Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. v. pp. 809, 810, 865.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> <i>Tallemant des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. iii. p. 43. +La Meilleraye was also a duke; and what is far more in his favour, he +was a friend of Descartes. <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxviii. pp. 152, 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Sismondi (<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 27) says, +‘il abjura en 1637;’ but according to Benoist (<i>Hist. de l'Edit de +Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 550) it was in 1635.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> <i>Tallemant des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. iii. p. 245. +Des Réaux, who saw these changes constantly happening, simply observes, +‘notre marquis, voyant que sa religion étoit un obstacle à son dessein, +en change.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> ‘Mettoit la politique avant la religion.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, +<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 264. This was Henry Bouillon, whom +some writers have confused with Frederick Bouillon. Both of them were +dukes; but Henry, who was the father, and who did not actually change +his religion, was the marshal. The following notices of him will more +than confirm the remark made by Sismondi; <i>Mém. de Bassompierre</i>, vol. +i. p. 455; <i>Smedley's Reformed Religion in France</i>, vol. iii. p. 99; +<i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 107; <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis +XIII</i>, vol. ii. pp. 420, 467, 664, vol. iv. p. 519; <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, +vol. i. p. 104, vol. ii. p. 259; <i>Mém. de Duplessis Mornay</i>, vol. xi. p. +450, vol. xii. pp. 79, 182, 263, 287, 345, 361, 412, 505.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. i. pp. 121, +298, vol. ii. pp. 5, 180, 267, 341; <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. +267; <i>Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of France</i>, p. 206. Sully +advised Henry IV., on mere political considerations, to become a +Catholic; and there were strong, but I believe unfounded rumours, that +he himself intended taking the same course. See <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies +Royales</i>, vol. ii. p. 81, vol. vii. pp. 362, 363.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> ‘There were, among all the leaders, but the Duke de Rohan +and his brother the Duke de Soubise, who showed themselves disposed to +throw their whole fortunes into the new wars of religion.’ <i>Felice's +Hist. of the Protestants of France</i>, p. 241. For this, M. Felice, as +usual, quotes no authority; but Rohan himself says: ‘C'est ce qui s'est +passé en cette seconde guerre (1626), où Rohan et Soubise ont eu pour +contraires tous les grands de la religion de France.’ <i>Mém. de Rohan</i>, +vol. i. p. 278. Rohan claims great merit for his religious sincerity; +though, from a passage in <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. i. p. 418, +and another in <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 173, +one may be allowed to doubt if he were so single-minded as is commonly +supposed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Sismondi notices this remarkable change; though he places +it a few years earlier than the contemporary writers do: ‘Depuis que les +grands seigneurs s'étoient éloignés deg églises, c'étoient les ministres +qui étoient devenus les chefs, les représentans et les démagogues des +huguenots; et ils apportoient dans leurs délibérations cette âpreté et +cette inflexibilité théologiques qui semblent caractériser les prêtres +de toutes les religions, et qui donnent à leurs haines une amertume plus +offensante.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 87. Compare +p. 478. In 1621, ‘Rohan lui–même voyait continuellement ses opérations +contrariées par le conseil–général des églises.’ <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des +Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 88. In the same year, M. Capefigue (<i>Richelieu</i>, +vol. i. p. 271) says, ‘Le parti modéré cessa d'avoir action sur le +prêche; la direction des forces huguenotes, était passée dans les mains +des ardents, conduits par les ministres.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> The church of Rome has always seen this, and on that +account has been, and still is, very pliant in regard to morals, and +very inflexible in regard to dogmas; a striking proof of the great +sagacity with which her affairs are administered. In <i>Blanco White's +Evidence against Catholicism</i>, p. 48, and in <i>Parr's Works</i>, vol. vii. +pp. 454, 455, there is an unfavourable and, indeed, an unjust notice of +this peculiarity, which, though strongly marked in the Romish church, is +by no means confined to it, but is found in every religious sect which +is regularly organized. Locke, in his <i>Letters on Toleration</i>, observes, +that the clergy are naturally more eager against error than against vice +(<i>Works</i>, vol. v. pp. 6, 7, 241); and their preference of dogmas to +moral truths is also mentioned by M. C. Comte, <i>Traité de Législat.</i> +vol. i. p. 245; and is alluded to by Kant in his comparison of ‘ein +moralischer Katechismus’ with a ‘Religionskatechismus.’ <i>Die Metaphysik +der Sitten</i> (<i>Ethische Methodenlehre</i>), in <i>Kant's Werke</i>, vol. v. p. +321. Compare <i>Temple's Observations upon the United Provinces</i>, in +<i>Works of Sir W. Temple</i>, vol. i. p. 154, with the strict adhesion to +formularies noticed in <i>Ward's Ideal Church</i>, p. 358; and analogous +cases in <i>Mill's Hist. of India</i>, vol. i. pp. 399, 400, and in +<i>Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians</i>, vol. iii. p. 87; also <i>Combe's Notes on +the United States</i>, vol. iii. pp. 256, 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Blanco White (<i>Evidence against Catholicism</i>, p. vi.) +harshly says, ‘<i>sincere</i> Roman Catholics cannot conscientiously be +tolerant.’ But he is certainly +mistaken; for the question is one, not of sincerity, but of consistency. +A sincere Roman Catholic may be, and often is, conscientiously tolerant; +a consistent Roman Catholic, never.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> We also see this very clearly in England, where the +dissenting clergy have much more influence among their hearers than the +clergy of the Establishment have among theirs. This has often been +noticed by impartial observers, and we are now possessed of statistical +proof that ‘the great body of Protestant dissenters are more assiduous’ +in attending religious worship than churchmen are. See a valuable essay +by Mr. Mann <i>On the Statistical Position of Religious Bodies in England +and Wales</i>, in <i>Journal of Statist. Soc.</i> vol. xviii. p. 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> Respecting the working of this in England, there are some +shrewd remarks made by Le Blanc in his <i>Lettres d'un François</i>, vol. i. +pp. 267, 268; which may be compared with <i>Lord Holland's Mem. of the +Whig Party</i>, vol. ii. p. 253, where it is suggested, that in the case of +complete emancipation of the Catholics, ‘eligibility to worldly honours +and profits would somewhat abate the fever of religious zeal.’ On this, +there are observations worth attending to in <i>Lord Cloncurry's +Recollections</i>, Dublin, 1849, pp. 342, 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> ‘Les processions catholiques seraient interdites dans +toutes les places, villes et châteaux occupés par ceux de la religion.’ +<i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 39.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Of these facts we have the most unequivocal proof; for +they were not only stated by the Catholics in 1623, but they are +recorded, without being denied, by the Protestant historian Benoist: ‘On +y accusoit les Réformez d'injurier les prêtres, quand ils les voyoient +passer; d'empêcher les processions des Catholiques; l'administration des +sacremens aux malades; l'enterrement des morts avec les cérémonies +accoutumées; … que les Réformez s'étoient emparez des cloches en +quelques lieux, et en d'autres se serroient de celles des Catholiques +pour avertir de l'heure du prêche; qu'ils affectoient de faire du bruit +autour des églises pendant le service; qu'ils tournoient en dérision les +cérémonies de l'église romaine.’ <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 433, 434; see also pp. 149, 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> ‘On pouvait dire que La Rochelle était la capitale, le +saint temple du calvinisme; car on ne voyait là aucune église, aucune +cérémonie papiste.’ <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 342.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. p. 100. For other and +similar evidence, see <i>Duplessis Mornay</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. xi. p. 244; +<i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. vii. p. 164; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de +l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. pp. 70, 233, 279.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> <i>Quick's Synodicon in Gallia</i>, vol. ii. p. 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> For a striking instance of the actual enforcement of this +intolerant regulation, see <i>Quick's Synodicon in Gallia</i>, vol. ii. p. +344.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. p. 124; <i>Mém. de +Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. pp. 109, 110; <i>Felice's Hist. of the Protestants of +France</i>, p. 238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> In 1625, Howell writes that the Protestants had put up an +inscription on the gates of Montauban, ‘Roy sans foy, ville sans peur.’ +<i>Howell's Letters</i>, p. 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> Sometimes they were called dogs returning to the vomit of +popery; sometimes they were swine wallowing in the mire of idolatry. +<i>Quick's Synodicon in Gallia</i>, vol. i. pp. 385, 398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> It is observable, that on the first occasion (<i>Quick's +Synodicon</i>, vol. i. p. 362) nothing is said of Ferrier's immorality; and +on the next occasion (p. 449) the synod complains, among other things, +that ‘he hath most licentiously inveighed against, and satirically +lampooned, the ecclesiastical assemblies.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> See this frightful and impious document, in <i>Quick's +Synodicon</i>, vol. i. pp. 448, 450.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> The notion of theologians respecting excommunication may +be seen in Mr. Palmer's entertaining book, <i>Treatise on the Church</i>, +vol. i. pp. 64, 67, vol. ii. pp. 299, 300; but the opinions of this +engaging writer should be contrasted with the indignant language of +Vattel, <i>Le Droit des Gens</i>, vol. i. pp. 177, 178. In England, the +terrors of excommunication fell into contempt towards the end of the +seventeenth century. See <i>Life of Archbishop Sharpe</i>, edited by Newcome, +vol. i. p. 216: compare p. 363; and see the mournful remarks of Dr. +Mosheim, in his <i>Eccles. Hist.</i> vol. ii. p. 79; and <i>Sir Philip +Warwick's Memoirs</i>, pp. 175, 176.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> On the treatment of Ferrier, which excited great +attention as indicating the extreme lengths to which the Protestants +were prepared to go, see <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 177; <i>Mém. de +Pontchartrain</i>, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6, 12, 29, 32; <i>Mém. de Duplessis +Mornay</i>, vol. xii. pp. 317, 333, 341, 350, 389, 399, 430; <i>Felice's +Hist. of the Protestants of France</i>, p. 235; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xiv. p. +440; <i>Tallemant des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. v. pp. 48-54. Mr. +Smedley, who refers to none of these authorities, except two passages in +Duplessis, has given a garbled account of this riot. See his <i>History of +the Reformed Religion in France</i>, vol. iii. pp. 119, 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> <i>Capefigue</i>, vol. i. p. 123; <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis +XIII</i>, vol. i. p. 364; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. +p. 183; <i>Mém. de Rohan</i>, vol. i. p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 124; <i>Mém. de +Pontchartrain</i>, vol. ii. p. 100; <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 333, 334. The consequence was, that the king was obliged to +send a powerful escort to protect his bride against his Protestant +subjects. <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 38; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. +de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. pp. 28, 29, 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. i. p. 450; <i>Mém. de +Bassompierre</i>, vol. ii. p. 161. See a similar instance, in the case of +Berger, in <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 136, whom +the Protestants sought to deprive because ‘il avoit quitté leur +religion.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. i. p. 381. Sismondi +(<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 349) says that they had no good +reason for this; and it is certain that their privileges, so far from +being diminished since the Edict of Nantes, had been confirmed and +extended.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> M. Felice (<i>Hist. of the Protestants of France</i>, p. 237) +says of Lower Navarre and Béarn, in 1617: ‘Three-fourths of the +population, some say nine-tenths, belonged to the reformed communion.’ +This is perhaps overestimated; but we know, from De Thou, that they +formed a majority in Béarn in 1566: ‘Les Protestans y fussent en plus +grand nombre que les Catholiques.’ <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. v. p. +187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> ‘Les ministres fanatiques déclaroient qu'ils ne pouvaient +sans crime souffrir dans ce pays régénéré l'idolâtrie de la messe.’ +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> <i>Notice sur les Mémoires de Rohan</i>, vol. i. p. 26. +Compare the account given by Pontchartrain, who was one of the ministers +of Louis XIII. <i>Mém. de Pontchartrain</i>, vol. ii. pp. 248, 264; and see +<i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 443.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de France sous Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. pp. +62–64. The pith of the question was, that ‘l'édit de Nantes ayant donné +pouvoir, tant aux catholiques qu'aux huguenots, de rentrer partout dans +leurs biens, les ecclésiastiques de Béarn démanderent aussytôt les +leurs.’ <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. i. p. 392.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> ‘L'affaire de Béarn, source de tous nos maux.’ <i>Mém. de +Rohan</i>, vol. i. p. 156; see also p. 183. And the Protestant Le Vassor +says (<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. iii. p. 634): ‘L'affaire du Béarn et +l'assemblée qui se convoqua ensuite à la Rochelle, sont la source +véritable des malheurs des églises réformées de France sous le règne +dont j'écris l'histoire.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> On the connexion between the proceedings of Béarn and +those of Rochelle, compare <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, vol. i. p. 33, +with <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. p. 113, and <i>Mém. de Rohan</i>, vol. i. +p. 446.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Their first church was established in 1556 (<i>Ranke's +Civil Wars in France</i>, vol. i. p. 360); but, by the reign of Charles IX. +the majority of the inhabitants were Protestants. See <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. +Univ.</i> vol. iv. p. 263, vol. v. p. 379, ad. ann. 1562 and 1567.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Or, as M. Capefigue courteously puts it, ‘les Rochelois +ne respectaient pas toujours les pavillons amis.’ <i>Capefigue's +Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 332. A delicate circumlocution, unknown to +Mezeray who says (<i>Hist. de France</i>, vol. iii. p. 426) in 1587: ‘et les +Rochelois, qui par le moyen du commerce et de la <i>piraterie</i>,’ &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> ‘Ceste place, que les huguenots tenoient quasy pour +imprenable.’ <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. i. p. 512. ‘Cette +orgueilleuse cité, qui se croyoit imprenable.’ <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, +vol. i. p. 45. Howell, who visited Rochelle in 1620 and 1622, was +greatly struck by its strength. <i>Howell's Letters</i>, pp. 46, 47, 108. At +p. 204, he calls it, in his barbarous style, ‘the chiefest propugnacle +of the Protestants there.’ For a description of the defences of +Rochelle, see <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. vi. pp. 615–617; and some +details worth consulting in <i>Mezeray</i>, <i>Hist. de France</i>, vol. ii. pp. +977–980.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. p. 139; +<i>Sismondi, Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. pp. 480, 481. Rohan himself +says (<i>Mém.</i> vol. i. p. 446): ‘je m'efforçai de la séparer.’ In a +remarkable letter, which Mornay wrote ten years before this, he shows +his apprehensions of the evil that would result from the increasing +violence of his party; and he advises, ‘que nostre zèle soit tempéré de +prudence.’ <i>Mém. et Correspond.</i> vol. xi. p. 122; and as to the +divisions this caused among the Protestants, see pp. 154, 510, vol. xii. +pp. 82, 255; and <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. ix. pp. 350, +435.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> ‘Les seigneurs du parti, et surtout le sage Duplessis +Mornay, firent ce qu'ils purent pour engager les réformés à ne pas +provoquer l'autorité royale pour des causes qui ne pouvoient justifier +une guerre civile; mais le pouvoir dans le parti avoit passé presque +absolument aux bourgeois des villes et aux ministres qui se livroient +aveuglement à leur fanatisme, et à leur orgueil, et qui étoient d'autant +plus applaudis qu'ils montroient plus de violence.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. +des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 478.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> ‘On confisqua les biens des églises catholiques.’ +<i>Lavallée des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 85: and see +<i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> ‘Ils donnent des commissions d'armer et de faire des +impositions sur le peuple, et ce sous leur grand sceau, qui étoit une +Religion appuyée sur une croix, ayant en la main un livre de l'évangile, +foulant aux pieds un vieux squelette, qu'ils disoient être l'église +romaine.’ <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. p. 120. M. Capefigue +(<i>Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 259) says that this seal still exists; but it +is not even alluded to by a late writer (<i>Felice</i>, <i>Hist. of the +Protestants of France</i>, p. 240), who systematically suppresses every +fact unfavourable to his own party.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_170_170" id="Footnote_170_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. iv. p. 157; +<i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. p. 145; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de +l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. pp. 353–355; <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. +i. p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_171_171" id="Footnote_171_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> Even Mosheim, who, as a Protestant, was naturally +prejudiced in favour of the Huguenots, says, that they had established +‘imperium in imperio;’ and he ascribes to the violence of their rulers +the war of 1621. <i>Mosheim's Eccles. Hist.</i> vol. ii. pp. 237, 238.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_172_172" id="Footnote_172_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> Compare <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. ii. p. 88, with +<i>Flassan</i>, <i>Hist. de la Diplomatie Française</i>, vol. ii. p. 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_173_173" id="Footnote_173_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> See the paper of instructions from Pope Gregory XV. in +the appendix to <i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Röm. Päpste</i>, vol. iii. pp. 173, 174: ‘Die +Hauptsache aber ist was er dem Könige von Frankreich vorstellen soll: 1, +dass er ja nicht den Verdacht auf sich laden werde als verfolge er die +Protestanten bloss aus Staatsinteresse.’ Bazin (<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, +vol. ii. p. 320) says, that Richelieu attacked the Huguenots ‘sans +aucune idée de persécution religieuse.’ See, to the same effect, +<i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 274; and the candid admissions of +the Protestant Le Vassor, in his <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. v. p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_174_174" id="Footnote_174_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> <i>Quick's Synodicon in Gallia</i>, vol. i. p. 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_175_175" id="Footnote_175_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. pp. lvii. 17, 131, vol. ii. p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_176_176" id="Footnote_176_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> ‘And both sexes are required to keep modesty in their +hair,’ &c. <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_177_177" id="Footnote_177_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> <i>Quick's Synodicon</i>, vol. i. p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_178_178" id="Footnote_178_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> The synod of Alez, in 1620, says, ‘A minister may at the +same time be professor in divinity and of the Hebrew tongue. But it is +not seemly for him to profess the Greek also, because the most of his +employment will be taken up in the exposition of Pagan and profane +authors, unless he be discharged from the ministry.’ <i>Quick's +Synodicon</i>, vol. ii. p. 57. Three years later, the synod of Charenton +suppressed altogether the Greek professorships, ‘as being superfluous +and of small profit.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_179_179" id="Footnote_179_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> The synod of St. Maixant, in 1609, orders that +‘colloquies and synods shall have a watchful eye over those ministers +who study chemistry, and grievously reprove and censure them.’ <i>Ibid.</i> +vol. i. p. 314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_180_180" id="Footnote_180_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. pp. 140, 194, vol. ii. p. 110.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_181_181" id="Footnote_181_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> <i>Quick's Synodicon</i>, vol. i. pp. lv. 235, 419, vol. ii. +pp. 201, 509, 515. Compare <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. +ii. p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_182_182" id="Footnote_182_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> <i>Quick's Synodicon</i>, vol. ii. p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_183_183" id="Footnote_183_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_184_184" id="Footnote_184_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> ‘All Christian magistrates are advised not in the least +to suffer them, because it feeds foolish curiosity, puts upon +unnecessary expenses, and wastes time,’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_185_185" id="Footnote_185_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> This was a very knotty question for the theologians; but +it was at length decided in the affirmative by the synod of Saumur: ‘On +the 13th article of the same chapter, the deputies of Poicton demanded, +whether two names might be given a child at baptism? To which it was +replied: The thing was indifferent; however, parents were advised to +observe herein Christian simplicity.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_186_186" id="Footnote_186_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. pp. xlvi. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_187_187" id="Footnote_187_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> I quote the language of the synod of Castres, in 1626. +<i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_188_188" id="Footnote_188_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> <i>Quick's Synodicon</i>, vol. i. p. 165, vol. ii. pp. 7, 174, +574, 583. In the same way, the Spanish clergy, early in the present +century, attempted to regulate the dress of women. See <i>Doblado's +Letters from Spain</i>, pp. 202–205: a good illustration of the identity of +the ecclesiastical spirit, whether it be Catholic or Protestant.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_189_189" id="Footnote_189_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> On his influence over her in and after 1616, see <i>Le +Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. p. 508; <i>Mém. de +Pontchartrain</i>, vol. ii. p. 240; <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, vol. i. p. 23; and +compare, in <i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. ii. pp. 198–200, the curious +arguments which he put in her mouth respecting the impolicy of making +war on the Protestants.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_190_190" id="Footnote_190_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> In 1625, the Archbishop of Lyons wrote to Richelieu, +urging him ‘assiéger la Rochelle, et châtier ou, pour mieux dire, +exterminer les huguenots, toute autre affaire cessante.’ <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. +de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. p. 276. See also, on the anxiety of the clergy +in the reign of Louis XIII. to destroy the Protestants, <i>Benoist</i>, +<i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. pp. 155, 166, 232, 245, 338, 378, +379, 427; <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 485.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_191_191" id="Footnote_191_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> He confirmed it in March 1626; <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Diplomatie Française</i>, vol. ii. p. 399; and also in the preceding +January. See <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. appendix, +pp. 77, 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_192_192" id="Footnote_192_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> ‘Ceux qui affectent autant le nom de zélés catholiques.’ +<i>Mém. de Richelieu</i>, vol. iii. p. 16; and at p. 2, he, in the same year +(1626), says, that he was opposed by those who had ‘un trop ardent et +précipité désir de ruiner les huguenots.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_193_193" id="Footnote_193_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_194_194" id="Footnote_194_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> On the sufferings of the inhabitants, see extract from +the Dupuis Mss., in <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 351. Fontenay +Mareuil, who was an eye-witness, says, that the besieged, in some +instances, ate their own children; and that the burial-grounds were +guarded, to prevent the corpses from being dug up and turned into food. +<i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. ii. p. 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_195_195" id="Footnote_195_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> And in which he would most assuredly have been supported +by Louis XIII.; of whom an intelligent writer says ‘Il étoit plein de +piété et de zèle pour le service de Dieu et pour la grandeur de +l'église; et sa plus sensible joie, en prenant La Rochelle et les autres +places qu'il prit, fut de penser qu'il chasseroit de son royaume les +hérétiques, et qu'il le purgeroit par cette voie des différentes +religions qui gâtent et infectent l'église de Dieu.’ <i>Mém. de +Motteville</i>, vol. i. p. 425, edit. Petitot, 1824.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_196_196" id="Footnote_196_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. p. 423; +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 77; <i>Capefigue's +Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 357; <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. ii. p. +122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_197_197" id="Footnote_197_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> ‘Les huguenots murmuraient de voir le rétablissement de +l'église romaine au sein de leur ville.’ <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. +i. p. 359.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_198_198" id="Footnote_198_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> ‘Dès qu'il ne s'agit plus d'un parti politique, il +concéda, comme à la Rochelle, la liberté de conscience et la faculté de +prêche.’ <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 381. Compare <i>Smedley's +Hist. of the Reformed Religion in France</i>, vol. iii. p. 201, with +<i>Mémoires de Richelieu</i>, vol. iv. p. 484.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_199_199" id="Footnote_199_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> The Edict of Nismes, in 1629, an important document, +will be found in <i>Quick's Synodicon</i>, vol. i. pp. xcvi.–ciii., and in +<i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. appendix, pp. 92–98; +and a commentary on it in <i>Bazin</i>, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. iii. pp. +36–38. M. Bazin, unfortunately for the reputation of this otherwise +valuable work, never quotes his authorities.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_200_200" id="Footnote_200_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> In 1633, their own historian says: ‘les Réformez ne +faisoient plus de party.’ <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. +ii. p. 532. Compare Sir Thomas Hanmer's account of France in 1648, in +<i>Bunbury's Correspond. of Hanmer</i>, p. 309, Lond. 1838.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_201_201" id="Footnote_201_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Thomas (<i>Eloge</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. p. +32) says, ‘cet instrument, c'est Descartes qui l'a créé; c'est +l'application de l'algèbre à la géométrie.’ And this, in the highest +sense, is strictly true; for although Vieta and two or three others in +the sixteenth century had anticipated this step, we owe entirely to +Descartes the magnificent discovery of the possibility of applying +algebra to the geometry of curves, he being undoubtedly the first who +expressed them by algebraic equations. See <i>Montucla</i>, <i>Hist. des +Mathémat.</i> vol. i. pp. 704, 705, vol. ii. p. 120, vol. iii. p. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_202_202" id="Footnote_202_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> The statements of Huygens and of Isaac Vossius to the +effect that Descartes had seen the papers of Snell before publishing his +discovery, are unsupported by any direct evidence; at least none of the +historians of science, so far as I am aware, have brought forward any. +So strong, however, is the disposition of mankind at large to depreciate +great men, and so general is the desire to convict them of plagiarism, +that this charge, improbable in itself, and only resting on the +testimony of two envious rivals, has been not only revived by modern +writers, but has been, even in our own time, spoken of as a +well-established and notorious fact! The flimsy basis of this accusation +is clearly exposed by M. Bordas Demoulin, in his valuable work <i>Le +Cartesianisme</i>, Paris, 1843, vol. ii. pp. 9–12; while, on the other side +of the question, I refer with regret to <i>Sir D. Brewster on the Progress +of Optics, Second Report of British Association</i>, pp. 309, 310; and to +<i>Whewell's Hist. of the Inductive Sciences</i>, vol. ii. pp. 379, 502, +503.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_203_203" id="Footnote_203_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> See the interesting remarks of Sprengel (<i>Hist. de la +Médecine</i>, vol. iv. pp. 271, 272), and <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. +iv. pp. 371 seq. What makes this the more observable is this: that the +study of the crystalline lens was neglected long after the death of +Descartes, and no attempt made for more than a hundred years to complete +his views by ascertaining its intimate structure. Indeed, it is said +(<i>Thomson's Animal Chemistry</i>, p. 512) that the crystalline lens and the +two humours were first analyzed in 1802. Compare <i>Simon's Animal +Chemistry</i>, vol. ii. pp. 419–421; <i>Henle</i>, <i>Traité d'Anatomie</i>, vol. +i. p. 357; <i>Lepelletier</i>, <i>Physiologie Médicale</i>, vol. iii. p. 160; +<i>Mayo's Human Physiol.</i>, p. 279; <i>Blainville</i>, <i>Physiol. comparée</i>, vol. +iii. pp. 325–328; none of whom refer to any analysis earlier than the +nineteenth century. I notice this partly as a contribution to the +history of our knowledge, and partly as proving how slow men have been +in following Descartes, and in completing his views; for, as M. +Blanville justly observes, the chemical laws of the lens must be +understood, before we can exhaustively generalize the optical laws of +its refraction; so that, in fact, the researches of Berzelius on the eye +are complemental to those of Descartes. The theory of the limitation of +the crystalline lens according to the descending scale of the animal +kingdom, and the connexion between its development and a general +increase of sensuous perception, seem to have been little studied; but +Dr. Grant (<i>Comparative Anatomy</i>, p. 252) thinks that the lens exists in +some of the rotifera; while in regard to its origin, I find a curious +statement in <i>Müller's Physiology</i>, vol. i. p. 450, that after its +removal in mammals, it has been reproduced by its matrix, the capsule. +(If this can be relied on, it will tell against the suggestion of +Schwann, who supposes, in his <i>Microscopical Researches</i>, 1847, pp. 87, +88, that its mode of life is vegetable, and that it is not ‘a secretion +of its capsule’). As to its probable existence in the hydrozoa, see +<i>Rymer Jones's Animal Kingdom</i>, 1855, p. 96, ‘regarded either as a +crystalline lens, or an otolithe;’ and as to its embryonic development, +see <i>Burdach</i>, <i>Traité de Physiologie</i>, vol. iii. pp. 435–438.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_204_204" id="Footnote_204_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Torricelli first weighed the air in 1643. <i>Brande's +Chemistry</i>, vol. i. p. 360; <i>Leslie's Natural Philosophy</i>, p. 419: but +there is a letter from Descartes, written as early as 1631, ‘où il +explique le phénomène de la suspension du mercure dans un tuyau fermé +par en haut, en l'attribuant au poids de la colonne d'air élevée +jusqu'au delà des nues.’ <i>Bordas Demoulin</i>, <i>le Cartésianisme</i>, vol. i. +p. 311. And Montucla (<i>Hist. des Mathémat.</i> vol. ii. p. 205) says of +Descartes, ‘nous avons des preuves que ce philosophe reconnut avant +Torricelli la pesanteur de l'air.’ Descartes himself says, that he +suggested the subsequent experiment of Pascal. <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, +vol. x. pp. 344, 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_205_205" id="Footnote_205_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> Dr. Whewell, who has treated Descartes with marked +injustice, does nevertheless allow that he is ‘the genuine author of the +explanation of the rainbow.’ <i>Hist. of the Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 380, 384. See also <i>Boyle's Works</i>, vol. iii. p. 189; <i>Thomson's +Hist. of the Royal Society</i>, p. 364; <i>Hallam's Lit. of Europe</i>, vol. +iii. p. 205; <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. pp. 47, 48, vol. v. pp. +265–284. On the theory of the rainbow as known in the present century, +see <i>Kaemtz</i>, <i>Course of Meteorology</i>, pp. 440–445; and <i>Forbes on +Meteorology</i>, pp. 125–130, in <i>Report of British Association</i> for 1840. +Compare <i>Leslie's Natural Philosophy</i>, p. 531; <i>Pouillet</i>, <i>Elémens de +Physique</i>, vol. ii. p. 788.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_206_206" id="Footnote_206_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> The Hebrew notion of the rainbow is well known; and for +the ideas of other nations on this subject, see <i>Prichard's Physical +History of Mankind</i>, vol. v. pp. 154, 176; <i>Kame's Sketches of the +History of Man</i>, vol. iv. p. 252, Edinb. 1788; and <i>Burdache's +Physiologie</i>, vol. v. pp. 546, 547, Paris, 1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_207_207" id="Footnote_207_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> Thomas calls him ‘le plus grand géomètre de son siècle.’ +<i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. p. 89. Sir W. Hamilton (<i>Discussions +on Philosophy</i>, p. 271) says, ‘the greatest +mathematician of the age;’ and Montucla can find no +one but Plato to compare with him: ‘On ne sauroit donner une idée plus +juste de ce qu'a été l'époque de Descartes dans la géométrie +ancienne…. De même enfin que Platon prépara par sa découverte celles +des Archimède, des Apollonius, &c., on peut dire que Descartes a jetté +les fondemens de celles qui illustrent aujourd'hui les Newton, les +Leibnitz, &c.’ <i>Montucla</i>, <i>Hist. des Mathémat.</i> vol. ii. p. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_208_208" id="Footnote_208_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> ‘Descartes joint encore à ses autres titres, celui +d'avoir été un des créateurs de notre langue.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xi. p. +154. Sir James Mackintosh (<i>Dissert. on Ethical Philos.</i> p. 186) has +also noticed the influence of Descartes in forming the style of French +writers; and I think that M. Cousin has somewhere made a similar +remark.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_209_209" id="Footnote_209_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> Thomas says, ‘Descartes eut aussi la gloire d'être un des +premiers anatomistes de son siècle.’ <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. +p. 55; see also p. 101. In 1639, Descartes writes to Mersenne +(<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. viii. p. 100) that he had been engaged ‘depuis onze +ans’ in studying comparative anatomy by dissection. Compare p. 174, and +vol. i. pp. 175–184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_210_210" id="Footnote_210_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> Dr. Whewell (<i>Hist. of the Inductive Sciences</i>, vol. iii. +p. 440) says: ‘It was for the most part readily accepted by his +countrymen; but that abroad it had to encounter considerable +opposition.’ For this no authority is quoted; and yet one would be glad +to know who told Dr. Whewell that the discovery was readily accepted. So +far from meeting in England with ready acceptance, it was during many +years most universally denied. Aubrey was assured by Harvey that, in +consequence of his book on the Circulation of the Blood, he lost much of +his practice, was believed to be crackbrained, and was opposed by ‘all +the physicians.’ <i>Aubrey's Letters and Lives</i>, vol. ii. p. 383. Dr. +Willis (<i>Life of Harvey</i>, p. xli., in <i>Harvey's Works</i>, edit. Sydenham +Society, 1847) says ‘Harvey's views were at first rejected almost +universally.’ Dr. Elliotson (<i>Human Physiology</i>, p. 194) says, ‘His +immediate reward was general ridicule and abuse, and a great diminution +of his practice.’ Broussais (<i>Examen des Doctrines Médicales</i>, vol. i. +p. vii.) says, ‘Harvey passa pour fou quand il annonça la découverte de +la circulation.’ Finally, Sir William Temple, who belongs to the +generation subsequent to Harvey, and who, indeed, was not born until +some years after the discovery was made, mentions it in his works in +such a manner as to show that even then it was not universally received +by educated men. See two curious passages, which have escaped the notice +of the historians of physiology, in <i>Works of Sir W. Temple</i>, vol. iii. +pp. 293, 469, 8vo., 1814.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_211_211" id="Footnote_211_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> ‘Taken by Descartes as the basis of his physiology, in +his work on Man.’ <i>Whewell's Hist. of the Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. iii. p. +441. ‘Réné Descartes se déclara un des premiers en faveur de la doctrine +de la circulation.’ <i>Renourd</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. ii. p. 163. +See also <i>Bordas Demoulin</i>, <i>le Cartésianisme</i>, vol. ii. p. 324; and +<i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. pp. 68, 179, vol. iv. pp. 42, 449, +vol. ix. pp. 159, 332. Compare <i>Willis's Life of Harvey</i>, p. xlv., in +<i>Harvey's Works</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_212_212" id="Footnote_212_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> ‘Les veines blanches, dites lactées, qu'Asellius a +découvertes depuis peu dans le mésentère.’ <i>De la Formation du +Fœtus</i>, sec. 49, in <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. iv. p. 483.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_213_213" id="Footnote_213_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> Even Harvey denied it to the last. <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de +la Méd.</i> vol. iv. pp. 203, 204. Compare <i>Harvey's Works</i>, edit. Sydenham +Soc. pp. 605, 614.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_214_214" id="Footnote_214_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> M. Cousin (<i>Hist. de la Philos.</i> II. série, vol. i. p. +39) says of Descartes, ‘Son premier ouvrage écrit en français est de +1637. C'est donc de 1637 que date la philosophie moderne.’ See the same +work, I. série, vol. iii. p. 77; and compare <i>Stewart's Philos. of the +Mind</i>, vol. i. pp. 14, 529, with <i>Eloge de Parent</i>, in <i>Œuvres de +Fontenelle</i>, Paris, 1766, vol. v. p. 444, and vol. vi. p. 318: +‘Cartésien, ou, si l'on veut, philosophe moderne.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_215_215" id="Footnote_215_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> ‘Descartes avait établi dans le domaine de la pensée +l'indépendance absolue de la raison; il avait déclaré à la scholastique +et à la théologie que l'esprit de l'homme ne pouvait plus relever que de +l'évidence qu'il aurait obtenue par lui-même. Ce que Luther avait +commencé dans la religion, le génie français si actif et si prompt +l'importait dans la philosophie, et l'on peut dire à la double gloire de +l'Allemagne et de la France que Descartes est le fils aîné de Luther.’ +<i>Lerminier</i>, <i>Philos. du Droit</i>, vol. ii. p. 141. See also, on the +philosophy of Descartes as a product of the Reformation. <i>Ward's Ideal +of a Christian Church</i>, p. 498.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_216_216" id="Footnote_216_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> For, as Turgot finely says, ‘ce n'est pas l'erreur qui +s'oppose aux progrès de la vérité. Ce sont la mollesse, l'entêtement, +l'esprit de routine, tout ce qui porte à +l'inaction,’ <i>Pensées</i> in <i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. ii. p. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_217_217" id="Footnote_217_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> ‘Et si j'écris en français, qui est la langue de mon +pays, plutôt qu'en latin, qui est celle de mes précepteurs, c'est à +cause que j'espère que ceux qui ne se servent que de leur raison +naturelle toute pure, jugeront mieux de mes opinions que ceux qui ne +croient qu'aux livres anciens.’ <i>Discours de la Méthode</i>, in <i>Œuvres +de Descartes</i>, vol. i. pp. 210, 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_218_218" id="Footnote_218_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_219_219" id="Footnote_219_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> ‘Er fing also vom Zweifel an, und ging durch denselben +zur Gewissheit über.’ <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. x. p. 218. +Compare <i>Second Discours en Sorbonne</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. +ii. p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_220_220" id="Footnote_220_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> <i>Disc. de la Méthode</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. +i. p. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_221_221" id="Footnote_221_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> ‘Je m'appliquerai sérieusement et avec liberté à détruire +généralement toutes mes anciennes opinions.’ <i>Méditations</i> in <i>Œuvres +de Descartes</i>, vol. i. p. 236.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_222_222" id="Footnote_222_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> <i>Principes de la Philosophie</i>, part i. sec. 75, in +<i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. iii. pp. 117, 118; and compare vol. ii. +p. 417, where he gives a striking illustration of this view.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_223_223" id="Footnote_223_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> <i>Méditations</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. pp. +303, 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_224_224" id="Footnote_224_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> ‘Nous avons rempli notre mémoire de beaucoup de +préjugés.’ <i>Principes de la Philos.</i> part i. sec. 47, in <i>Œuvres</i>, +vol. iii. p. 91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_225_225" id="Footnote_225_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. iii. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_226_226" id="Footnote_226_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> ‘Ce qu'on peut particulièrement remarquer en ceux qui, +croyant être dévots, sont seulement bigots et superstitieux, c'est à +dire qui, sous ombre qu'ils vont souvent à l'église, qu'ils récitent +force prières, qu'ils portent les cheveux courts, qu'ils jeûnent, qu'ils +donnent l'aumône, pensent être entièrement parfaits, et s'imaginent +qu'ils sont si grands amis de Dieu, qu'ils ne sauroient rien faire qui +lui déplaise, et que tout ce que leur dicte leur passion est un bon +zèle, bien qu'elle leur dicte quelquefois les plus grands crimes qui +puissent être commis par des hommes, comme de trahir des villes, de tuer +des princes, d'exterminer des peuples entiers, pour cela seul qu'ils ne +suivent pas leurs opinions.’ <i>Les Passions de l'Ame</i>, in <i>Œuvres de +Descartes</i>, vol. iv. pp. 194, 195.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_227_227" id="Footnote_227_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> As is particularly evident in his long chapter, headed +‘Apologie de Raimond Sebond.’ <i>Essais de Montaigne</i>, livre ii. chap. +xii. Paris, 1843, pp. 270–382, and see <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> +vol. ix. p. 455.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_228_228" id="Footnote_228_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> He very clearly separates himself from men like +Montaigne: ‘Non que j'imitasse pour cela les sceptiques, qui ne doutent +que pour douter, et affectent d'être toujours irrésolus; car, au +contraire, tout mon dessein ne tendoit qu'à m'assurer, et à rejeter la +terre mouvante et le sable pour trouver le roc ou l'argile.’ <i>Discours +de la Méthode</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. pp. 153, 154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_229_229" id="Footnote_229_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> According to the view of Descartes, it was to be ignored, +not denied. There is no instance to be found in his works of a denial of +the existence of the external world; nor does the passage quoted from +him by Mr. Jobert (<i>New System of Philos.</i> vol. ii. pp. 161, 162, Lond. +1849) at all justify the interpretation of that ingenious writer, who +confuses certainty in the ordinary sense of the word with certainty in +the Cartesian sense. A similar error is made by those who suppose that +his ‘Je pense, donc je suis,’ is an enthymeme; and having taken this for +granted, they turn on the great philosopher, and accuse him of begging +the question! Such critics overlook the difference between a logical +process and a psychological one; and therefore they do not see that this +famous sentence was the description of a mental fact, and not the +statement of a mutilated syllogism. The student of the philosophy of +Descartes must always distinguish between these two processes, and +remember that each process has an order of proof peculiar to itself; or +at all events he must remember that such was the opinion of Descartes. +Compare, on the Cartesian enthymeme, <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philos.</i> I. +série, vol. iv. pp. 512, 513, with a note +in <i>Kritik der reinen Vernunft, Kant's Werke</i>, vol. ii. pp. 323, 324.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_230_230" id="Footnote_230_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> <i>Méditations</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. pp. +220, 226; and again in the <i>Objections et Réponses</i>, <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 245, 246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_231_231" id="Footnote_231_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> ‘Au lieu que, lorsque nous tâchons à connoître plus +distinctement notre nature, nous pouvons voir que notre âme, en tant +qu'elle est une substance distincte du corps, ne nous est connue que par +cela seul qu'elle pense.’ <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. iv. p. 432. +Compare vol. iii. p. 96, <i>Principes de la Philosophie</i>, +part i. sec. 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_232_232" id="Footnote_232_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> ‘En sorte qu'il me seroit bien plus aisé de croire que +l'âme cesseroit d'être quand on dit qu'elle cesse de penser, que non pas +de concevoir qu'elle soit sans pensée.’ <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. +viii. p. 574. That ‘the soul always thinks,’ is a conclusion also +arrived at by Berkeley by a different process. See his subtle argument, +<i>Principles of Human Knowledge</i>, part i. sec. 98, in <i>Berkeley's Works</i>, +vol. i. p. 123; and for a curious application of this +to the theory of dreaming, see <i>Burdach</i>, <i>Physiologie comme Science +d'Observation</i>, vol. v. pp. 205, 230.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_233_233" id="Footnote_233_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. pp. 251, 252, 279, 293, +vol. ii. pp. 252, 283.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_234_234" id="Footnote_234_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 419; and at p. 420: ‘Or de tout cela +on conclut très-manifestement que Dieu existe.’ See also pp. 159–162, +280, 290, 291. But the simplest statement is in a letter to Mersenne +(vol. viii. p. 529): ‘J'ai tiré la preuve de l'existence de Dieu de +l'idée que je trouve en moi d'un être souverainement parfait.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_235_235" id="Footnote_235_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> ‘Ainsi, quoique, de ce que je suis, je conclue avec +certitude que Dieu est, je ne puis réciproquement affirmer, de ce que +Dieu est, que j'existe.’ <i>Règles pour la Direction de l'Esprit</i>, in +<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xi. p. 274. See also <i>Principes de la Philosophie</i>, +part i. sec. 7, vol. iii. p. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_236_236" id="Footnote_236_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> On this famous argument, which it is said was also +broached by Anselm, see <i>King's Life of Locke</i>, vol. ii. p. 133; the +Benedictine <i>Hist. Lit. de la France</i>, vol. ix. pp. 417, 418; <i>Mosheim's +Eccles. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 239; and <i>Cudworth's Intellect. Syst.</i> vol. +iii. p. 383.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_237_237" id="Footnote_237_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> ‘Et certes jamais les hommes ne pourroient s'éloigner de +la vraie connoissance de cette nature divine, s'ils vouloient seulement +porter leur attention sur l'idée qu'ils ont de l'être souverainement +parfait. Mais ceux qui mêlent quelques autres idées avec celle-là +composent par ce moyen un dieu chimérique, en la nature duquel il y a +des choses qui se contrarient; et, après l'avoir ainsi composé, ce n'est +pas merveille s'ils nient qu'un tel dieu, qui leur est représenté par +une fausse idée, existe.’ <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. pp. 423, +424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_238_238" id="Footnote_238_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> This is delicately but clearly indicated in an able +letter from Arnaud, printed in <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 1–36: see in particular pp. 31, 34. And Duclos bluntly says: ‘Si, +depuis la révolution que Descartes a commencée, les théologiens se sont +éloignés des philosophes, c'est que ceux-ci ont paru ne pas respecter +infiniment les théologiens. Une philosophie qui prenoit pour base le +doute et l'examen devoit les effaroucher.’ <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. +p. 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_239_239" id="Footnote_239_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> On the relation of the Cartesian philosophy to the +doctrine of transubstantiation, compare <i>Palmer's Treatise on the +Church</i>, vol. ii. pp. 169, 170, with <i>Hallam's Lit. of Europe</i>, vol. ii. +p. 453; and the remark ascribed to Hobbes, in <i>Aubrey's Letters and +Lives</i>, vol. ii. p. 626. But Hobbes, if he really made this observation, +had no right to expect Descartes to become a martyr.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_240_240" id="Footnote_240_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> ‘Le caractère de la philosophie du moyen âge est la +soumission à une autorité autre que la raison. La philosophie moderne ne +reconnaît que l'autorité de la raison. C'est le cartésianisme qui a +opéré cette révolution décisive.’ <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philos.</i> II. +série, vol. i. pp. 258, 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_241_241" id="Footnote_241_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> ‘Nous rejetterons entièrement de notre philosophie la +recherche des causes finales.’ <i>Principes de la Philos.</i>, part i. sec. +28, in <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. iii. p. 81. See also part iii. +sec. 3, p. 182; and his reply to Gassendi, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 280, 281. Compare <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philosophie</i>, II. série, +vol. ii. p. 71, with <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. v. p. +203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_242_242" id="Footnote_242_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> Dr. Whewell, for instance, says, that we must reject +final causes in the inorganic sciences, but must recognize them in the +organic ones; which, in other words, simply means, that we know less of +the organic world than of the inorganic, and that because we know less, +we are to believe more; for here, as everywhere else, the smaller the +science the greater the superstition. <i>Whewell's Philos. of the +Inductive Sciences</i>, 8vo., 1847, vol. i. pp. 620, 627, 628; and his <i>Hist. +of the Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. iii. pp. 430, 431. If the question were to +be decided by authority, it would be enough to appeal to Bacon and +Descartes, the two greatest writers on the philosophy of method in the +seventeenth century; and to Auguste Comte, who is admitted by the few +persons who have mastered his <i>Philosophie Positive</i>, to be the greatest +in our own time. These profound and comprehensive thinkers have all +rejected the study of final causes, which, as they have clearly seen, is +a theological invasion of scientific rights. On the injury which this +study has wrought, and on the check it has given to the advance of our +knowledge, see <i>Robin et Verdeil</i>, <i>Chimie Anat.</i> Paris, 1853, vol. i. +pp. 489, 493, 494, vol. ii. p. 555; <i>Renouard</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, +vol. i. pp. 232, 237; <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. ii. +p. 220; <i>Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire</i>, <i>Hist. des Anomalies de +l'Organisation</i>, vol. iii. pp. 435, 436; <i>Herder</i>, <i>Ideen zur Gesch. der +Menschheit</i>, vol. iii. p. 270; <i>Lawrence's Lectures on Man</i>, p. 36; and +<i>Burdach</i>, <i>Traité de Physiologie</i>, vol. i. p. 190.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_243_243" id="Footnote_243_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> ‘Auf das innigste verbunden mit der Theologie, nicht +allein in den katholischen, sondern selbst auch in den protestantischen +Ländern.’ <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. ix. p. 516. Descartes, +in a letter to Mersenne (<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. vi. p. 73), writes, in 1629, +‘La théologie, laquelle on a tellement assujettie à Aristote, qu'il est +impossible d'expliquer une autre philosophie qu'il ne semble d'abord +qu'elle soit contre la foi.’ Compare vol. vii. p. 344, vol. viii. pp. +281, 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_244_244" id="Footnote_244_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> Dr. Brown (<i>Philosophy of the Mind</i>, Edinburgh, 1838, p. +172) calls Descartes ‘that illustrious rebel, who, in overthrowing the +authority of Aristotle,’ &c. See also <i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Sorbonne</i>, vol. ii. p. 192; <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part ii. p. +532; and <i>Locke's Works</i>, vol. iii. p. 48. This, I need hardly say, +refers to the habit of appealing to Aristotle, as if he were infallible, +and is very different from that respect which is naturally felt for a +man who was probably the greatest of all the ancient thinkers. The +difference between the Aristotelian and Cartesian systems is touched on +rather hastily in <i>Cudworth's Intellect. Syst.</i> vol. i. pp. 170, 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_245_245" id="Footnote_245_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> That is in 1661, when Louis XIV. first assumed the +government.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_246_246" id="Footnote_246_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> M. Barante (<i>Tableau de la Littérature Française</i>, pp. +26, 27) notices ‘cette indépendance dans les idées, ce jugement +audacieux de toutes choses, qu'on remarque dans Corneille, dans Mézéray, +dans Balzac, dans Saint-Réal, dans Lamothe-Levayer.’ To these may be +added Naudé, Patin, and probably Gassendi. Compare <i>Hallam's Literat. of +Europe</i>, vol. ii. pp. 364, 365, with <i>Mackintosh's Ethical Philos.</i> p. +116, and <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. i. p. 297, vol. ii. pp. 33, 186, 191, +242, 342, 498, 508, vol. iii. p. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_247_247" id="Footnote_247_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> The increase of incredulity was so remarkable, as to give +rise to a ridiculous assertion, ‘qu'il y avoit plus de 50,000 athées +dans Paris vers l'an 1623.’ <i>Baillet</i>, <i>Jugemens des Savans</i>, Paris, +1722, 4to. vol. i. p. 185. Baillet has no difficulty in rejecting this +preposterous statement (which is also noticed in <i>Coleridge's Literary +Remains</i>, vol. i. p. 305; where, however, there is apparently a +confusion between two different periods); but the spread of scepticism +among the upper ranks and courtiers, during the reign of Louis XIII. and +the minority of Louis XIV., is attested by a great variety of evidence. +See <i>Mém. de Madame de Motteville</i>, vol. iii. p. 52; <i>Mém. de Retz</i>, +vol. i. p. 266; <i>Conrart</i>, <i>Mém.</i> p. 235 note; <i>Des Réaux</i>, +<i>Historiettes</i>, vol. vii. p. 143; <i>Mém. de Brienne</i>, vol. ii. p. 107 +note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_248_248" id="Footnote_248_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> Volumes might be written on the influence of Descartes, +which was seen, not only in subjects immediately connected with his +philosophy, but even in those apparently remote from it. Compare +<i>Broussais</i>, <i>Examen des Doctrines Médicales</i>, vol. ii. pp. 55 seq.; +<i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. iii. p. 153; <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Médecine</i>, vol. iv. p. 238; <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part ii. pp. +327, 332, 352, 363; <i>Stäudlin</i>, <i>Geschichte der theologischen +Wissenschaften</i>, vol. i. p. 263; <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. +x. pp. 285 seq.; <i>Huetius de Rebus ad eum pertinentibus</i>, pp. 35, 295, +296, 385–389; <i>Mosheim's Eccles. Hist.</i> vol. ii. p. 258; <i>Dacier</i>, +<i>Rapport Historique</i>, p. 334; <i>Leslie's Nat. Philos.</i> p. 121; <i>Eloges</i>, +in <i>Œuvres de Fontenelle</i>, Paris, 1766, vol. v. pp. 94, 106, 137, +197, 234, 392, vol. vi. pp. 157, 318, 449; <i>Thomson's Hist. of +Chemistry</i>, vol. i. p. 195; <i>Quérard</i>, <i>France Lit.</i> vol. iii. p. 273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_249_249" id="Footnote_249_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> On the connexion between Richelieu and Mazarin, see +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiii. pp. 400, 530; and a +curious, though perhaps apocryphal anecdote in <i>Tallemant des Réaux</i>, +<i>Historiettes</i>, vol. ii. pp. 231, 232. In 1636 there was noticed +‘l'étroite union’ between Richelieu and Mazarin. <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de +Louis XIII</i>, vol. viii. part ii. p. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_250_250" id="Footnote_250_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> ‘Mazarin n'avoit ni fanatisme ni esprit persécuteur,’ +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiv. p. 531. That he did not +persecute the Protestants is grudgingly confessed in <i>Felice's Hist. of +the Protestants of France</i>, p. 292. See also <i>Smedley's Reformed +Religion in France</i>, vol. iii. p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_251_251" id="Footnote_251_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> He confirmed it in July, 1643. See <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de +l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. iii. appendix, p. 3; and <i>Quick's Synodicon in +Gallia</i>, vol. i. p. ciii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_252_252" id="Footnote_252_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> In 1659, there was assembled the Synod of Loudon, the +moderator of which said, ‘It is now fifteen years since we had a +national synod.’ <i>Quick's Synodicon in Gallia</i>, vol. ii. p. 517.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_253_253" id="Footnote_253_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> Brienne records the determination of the king, ‘que cette +dignité ne seroit plus accordée à des Protestans.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Histoire +des Français</i>, vol. xxiv. p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_254_254" id="Footnote_254_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> He was so uneasy about the sin he had committed, that +before his death he intreated the Protestant marshals to change their +creed: ‘Il ne voulut pas mourir sans avoir exhorté de sa propre bouche +les maréchaux de la Force et de Chatillon à se faire Catholiques.’ +<i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. ii. p. 612. The same +circumstance is mentioned by Le Vassor, <i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. x. +part ii. p. 785.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_255_255" id="Footnote_255_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Louis XIII. died in May 1643; and Turenne was made +marshal in the September following. <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, +vol. iii. pp. 148, 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_256_256" id="Footnote_256_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Sismondi (<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxiv. p. 65) makes +the appointment of Gassion in 1644; according to Montglat (<i>Mémoires</i>, +vol. i. p. 437) it was at the end of 1643. There are some singular +anecdotes of Gassion in <i>Les Historiettes de Tallemant des Réaux</i>, vol. +v. pp. 167–180; and an account of his death in <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, +vol. ii. p. 290, from which it appears that he remained a Protestant to +the last.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_257_257" id="Footnote_257_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> The Pope especially was offended by this alliance +(<i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. iii. p. 158, compared with <i>Vaughan's +Cromwell</i>, vol. i. p. 343, vol. ii. p. 124); and, judging from the +language of Clarendon, the orthodox party in England was irritated by +it. <i>Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion</i>, pp. 699, 700. Contemporary +notices of this union between the cardinal and the regicide, will be +found in <i>Mém. de Retz</i>, vol. i. p. 349; <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, vol. ii. p. +478, vol. iii. p. 23; <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. ii. pp. 183, 302, 426; +<i>Marchand</i>, <i>Dict. Historique</i>, vol. ii. p. 56; <i>Mem. of Sir Philip +Warwick</i>, p. 377; <i>Harris's Lives of the Stuarts</i>, vol. iii. p. 393.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_258_258" id="Footnote_258_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> De Retz (<i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. p. 59), who knew Richelieu, +calls Mazarin ‘son disciple.’ And at p. 65 he adds, ‘comme il marchoit +sur les pas du cardinal de Richelieu, qui avoit achevé de détruire +toutes les anciennes maximes de l'état.’ Compare <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, +vol. ii. p. 18; and <i>Mém. de la Rochefoucauld</i>, vol. i. p. 444.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_259_259" id="Footnote_259_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> On the open affront to the Pope by this treaty, see +<i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. iii. p. 159: ‘An dem pyrenäischen Frieden +nahm er auch nicht einmal mehr einen scheinbaren Antheil: man vermied es +seine Abgeordneten zuzulassen: kaum wurde seiner noch darin gedacht.’ +The consequences and the meaning of all this are well noticed by M. +Ranke.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_260_260" id="Footnote_260_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> ‘La presse jouissait d'une entière liberté pendant les +troubles de la Fronde, et le public prenait un tel intérêt aux débats +politiques, que les pamphlets se débitaient quelquefois au nombre de +huit et dix mille exemplaires.’ <i>Sainte–Aulaire</i>, <i>Hist. de la Fronde</i>, +vol. i. p. 299. Tallemant des Réaux, who wrote immediately after the +Fronde, says (<i>Historiettes</i>, vol. iv. p. 74), ‘Durant la Fronde, qu'on +imprimoit tout.’ And Omer Talon, with the indignation natural to a +magistrate, mentions, that in 1649, ‘toutes sortes de libelles et de +diffamations se publioient hautement par la ville sans permission du +magistrat.’ <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. ii. p. 466. For further evidence +of the great importance of the press in France in the middle of the +seventeenth century, see <i>Mém. de Lenet</i>, vol. i. p. 162; <i>Mém. de +Motteville</i>, vol. iii. pp. 288, 289; <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. i. p. 432, +vol. ii. p. 517; <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Hist. des divers Etats</i>, vol. vii. p. 175.</p> + +<p>In England, the Long Parliament succeeded to the licensing authority of +the Star-chamber (<i>Blackstone's Commentaries</i>, vol. iv. p. 152); but it +is evident from the literature of that time, that for a considerable +period the power was in reality in abeyance. Both parties attacked each +other freely through the press; and it is said that between the breaking +out of the civil war and the restoration, there were published from +30,000 to 50,000 pamphlets. <i>Morgan's Phœnix Britannicus</i>, 1731, 4to. +pp. iii. 557; <i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, vol. i. p. 4; <i>Southey's Commonplace +Book</i>, third series, p. 449. See also on this great movement of the +press, <i>Bates's Account of the Late Troubles</i>, part i. p. 78; +<i>Bulstrode's Memoirs</i>, p. 4; <i>Howell's Letters</i>, p. 354; <i>Hunt's Hist. +of Newspapers</i>, vol. i. p. 45; <i>Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion</i>, p. +81; <i>Nichols's Lit. Anec.</i> vol. iv. pp. 86, 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_261_261" id="Footnote_261_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> Dugald Stewart (<i>Philos. of the Mind</i>, vol. i. p. 357) +says, ‘Nothing can be more just than the observation of Fontenelle, that +“the number of those who believe in a system already established in the +world, does not, in the least, add to its credibility; but that the +number of those who doubt of it, has a tendency to diminish it.”’ +Compare with this <i>Newman on Development</i>, Lond. 1845, p. 31; and the +remark of Hylas in <i>Berkeley's Works</i>, edit. 1843, vol. i. pp. 151, 152, +first dialogue.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_262_262" id="Footnote_262_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> Compare <i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 293, with a +remarkable passage in <i>Mém. de Rohan</i>, vol. i. p. 317; where Rohan +contrasts the religious wars he was engaged in during the administration +of Richelieu, with those very different wars which had been waged in +France a little earlier.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_263_263" id="Footnote_263_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> ‘L'esprit religieux ne s'était mêlé en aucune manière aux +querelles de la Fronde.’ <i>Capefigue</i>, vol. ii. p. 434. Lenet, who had +great influence with what was called the party of the princes, says that +he always avoided any attempt ‘à faire aboutir notre parti à une guerre +de religion.’ <i>Mém. de Lenet</i>, vol. i. p. 619. Even the people said that +it was unimportant whether or not a man died a Protestant; but that if +he were a partizan of Mazarin he was sure to be damned: ‘Ils disoient +qu'étant mazarin, il falloit qu'il fût damné.’ <i>Lenet</i>, vol. i. p. 434.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_264_264" id="Footnote_264_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> Indeed he does not conceal this even in his memoirs. He +says (<i>Mém.</i> vol. i. p. 3), he had ‘l'âme peut-être la moins +ecclésiastique qui fût dans l'univers.’ At p. 13, ‘le chagrin que ma +profession ne laissoit pas de nourrir toujours dans le fonds de mon +âme.’ At p. 21, ‘je haïssois ma profession plus que jamais.’ At p. 48, +‘le clergé, qui donne toujours l'exemple de la servitude, la prêchoit +aux autres sous le titre d'obéissance.’ See also the remark of his great +friend Joly (<i>Mém. de Joly</i>, p. 209, edit. Petitot, 1825); and the +account given by Tallemant des Réaux, who knew De Retz well, and had +travelled with him, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. vii. pp. 18-30. The same +tendency is illustrated, though in a much smaller degree, by a +conversation which Charles II., when in exile, held with De Retz, and +which is preserved in <i>Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion</i>, p. 806, and +is worth consulting merely as an instance of the purely secular view +that De Retz always took of political affairs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_265_265" id="Footnote_265_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> ‘Cet homme singulier est le premier évêque en France qui +ait fait une guerre civile sans avoir la religion pour prétexte.’ +<i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xix. p. 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_266_266" id="Footnote_266_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> Hooker and Pascal may properly be classed together, as +the two most sublime theological writers either country has produced; +for Bossuet is as inferior to Pascal as Jeremy Taylor is inferior to +Hooker.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_267_267" id="Footnote_267_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> One of the most remarkable men they have ever possessed +notices this connexion, which he expresses conversely, but with equal +truth: ‘moins on sait, moins on doute; moins on a découvert, moins on +voit ce qui reste à découvrir…. Quand les hommes sont ignorans, il +est aisé de tout savoir.’ <i>Discours en Sorbonne</i>, in <i>Œuvres de +Turgot</i>, vol. ii. pp. 65, 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_268_268" id="Footnote_268_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Mazarin, until his death in 1661, exercised complete +authority over Louis. See <i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, in <i>Œuvres de +Voltaire</i>, vol. xix. pp. 318, 319; and <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, +vol. iii. p. 195; so that, as Montglat says (<i>Mém.</i> vol. iii. p. 111), +‘On doit appeler ce temps-là le commencement du règne de Louis XIV.’ The +pompous manner in which, directly after the death of Mazarin, the king +assumed the government, is related by Brienne, who was present. <i>Mém. de +Brienne</i>, vol. ii. pp. 154–158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_269_269" id="Footnote_269_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> By this I mean, that the divergence now first became +clear to every observer; but the origin of the divergence dates from a +much earlier period, as we shall see in the next chapter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_270_270" id="Footnote_270_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> That is to say, their practical recognition; +theoretically, they are still denied by innumerable politicians, who, +nevertheless, assist in carrying them into effect, fondly hoping that +each innovation will be the last, and enticing men into reform under the +pretext that by each change they are returning to the spirit of the +ancient British constitution.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot">HISTORY OF THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT, AND COMPARISON OF IT IN +FRANCE AND ENGLAND.</div> + +<p>When, towards the end of the fifth century, the Roman +empire was broken up, there followed, as is well known, +a long period of ignorance and of crime, in which even +the ablest minds were immersed in the grossest superstitions. +During these, which are rightly called the +Dark Ages, the clergy were supreme: they ruled the +consciences of the most despotic sovereigns, and they +were respected as men of vast learning, because they +alone were able to read and write; because they were +the sole depositaries of those idle conceits of which +European science then consisted; and because they +preserved the legends of the saints and the lives of the +fathers, from which, as it was believed, the teachings of +divine wisdom might easily be gathered.</p> + +<p>Such was the degradation of the European intellect +for about five hundred years, during which the credulity +of men reached a height unparalleled in the annals of +ignorance. But at length the human reason, that divine +spark which even the most corrupt society is unable to +extinguish, began to display its power, and disperse the +mists by which it was surrounded. Various circumstances, +which it would be tedious here to discuss, +caused this dispersion to take place at different times in +different countries. However, speaking generally, we +may say that it occurred in the tenth and eleventh centuries, +and that by the twelfth century there was no +nation now called civilized, upon whom the light had +not begun to dawn.</p> + +<p>It is from this point that the first great divergence +between the European nations took its rise. Before this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +time their superstition was so great and universal, that +it would avail little to measure the degree of their relative +darkness. Indeed, so low had they fallen, that, +during the earlier period, the authority of the clergy +was in many respects an advantage, as forming a barrier +between the people and their rulers, and as supplying +the sole instance of a class that even made an approach +to intellectual pursuits. But when the great +movement took place, when the human reason began to +rebel, the position of the clergy was suddenly changed. +They had been friendly to reasoning as long as the reasoning +was on their side.<a name="FNanchor_271_271" id="FNanchor_271_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> While they were the only +guardians of knowledge, they were eager to promote its +interests. Now, however, it was falling from their +hands: it was becoming possessed by laymen: it was +growing dangerous: it must be reduced to its proper +dimensions. Then it was that there first became general +the inquisitions, the imprisonments, the torturings, the +burnings, and all the other contrivances by which the +church vainly endeavoured to stem the tide that had +turned against her.<a name="FNanchor_272_272" id="FNanchor_272_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> From that moment there has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +an unceasing struggle between these two great parties,—the +advocates of inquiry, and the advocates of belief: +a struggle which, however it may be disguised, and +under whatever forms it may appear, is at bottom +always the same, and represents the opposite interests +of reason and faith, of scepticism and credulity, of progress +and reaction, of those who hope for the future, +and of those who cling to the past.</p> + +<p>This, then, is the great starting point of modern civilization. +From the moment that reason began, however +faintly, to assert its supremacy, the improvement +of every people has depended upon their obedience to +its dictates, and upon the success with which they have +reduced to its standard the whole of their actions. To +understand, therefore, the original divergence of France +and England, we must seek it in the circumstances +that took place when this, which may be called the +great rebellion of the intellect, was first clearly seen.</p> + +<p>If now, with a view to such inquiry, we examine the +history of Europe, we shall find that just at this period +there sprung up the feudal system: a vast scheme of +polity, which, clumsy and imperfect as it was, supplied +many of the wants of the rude people among whom it +arose.<a name="FNanchor_273_273" id="FNanchor_273_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a> The connexion between it and the decline of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +the ecclesiastical spirit is very obvious. For the feudal +system was the first great secular plan that had been +seen in Europe since the formation of the civil law: it +was the first comprehensive attempt which had been +made, during more than four hundred years, to organize +society according to temporal, not according to spiritual +circumstances, the basis of the whole arrangement being +merely the possession of land, and the performance of +certain military and pecuniary services.<a name="FNanchor_274_274" id="FNanchor_274_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a></p> + +<p>This was, no doubt, a great step in European civilization, +because it set the first example of a large public +polity in which the spiritual classes as such had no recognized +place;<a name="FNanchor_275_275" id="FNanchor_275_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a> and hence there followed that struggle +between feudality and the church, which has been observed +by several writers, but the origin of which has +been strangely overlooked. What, however, we have +now to notice is, that by the establishment of the feudal +system, the spirit of protection, far from being destroyed, +was probably not even weakened, but only assumed a +new form. Instead of being spiritual, it became temporal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +Instead of men looking up to the church, they +looked up to the nobles. For, as a necessary consequence +of this vast movement, or rather as a part of it, +the great possessors of land were now being organized +into an hereditary aristocracy.<a name="FNanchor_276_276" id="FNanchor_276_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> In the tenth century, +we find the first surnames:<a name="FNanchor_277_277" id="FNanchor_277_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> by the eleventh century +most of the great offices had become hereditary in the +leading families:<a name="FNanchor_278_278" id="FNanchor_278_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a> and in the twelfth century armorial +bearings were invented, as well as other heraldic devices, +which long nourished the conceit of the nobles, and +were valued by their descendants as marks of that superiority +of birth to which, during many ages, all other +superiority was considered subordinate.<a name="FNanchor_279_279" id="FNanchor_279_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a></p> + +<p>Such was the beginning of the European aristocracy, +in the sense in which that word is commonly used. +With the consolidation of its power, feudality was made, +in reference to the organization of society, the successor +of the church;<a name="FNanchor_280_280" id="FNanchor_280_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a> and the nobles, becoming hereditary,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +gradually displaced in government, and in the general +functions of authority, the clergy, among whom the +opposite principle of celibacy was now firmly established.<a name="FNanchor_281_281" id="FNanchor_281_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a> +It is, therefore, evident, that an inquiry into +the origin of the modern protective spirit does, in a +great measure, resolve itself into an inquiry into the +origin of the aristocratic power; since that power was +the exponent, and, as it were, the cover under which the +spirit displayed itself. This, as we shall hereafter see, +is likewise connected with the great religious rebellion +of the sixteenth century; the success of which mainly +depended on the weakness of the protective principle +that opposed it. But, reserving this for future consideration, +I will now endeavour to trace a few of the +circumstances which gave the aristocracy more power +in France than in England, and thus accustomed the +French to a closer and more constant obedience, and +infused into them a more reverential spirit than that +which was usual in our country.</p> + +<p>Soon after the middle of the eleventh century, and +therefore while the aristocracy was in the process of formation, +England was conquered by the Duke of Normandy, +who naturally introduced the polity existing in his own +country.<a name="FNanchor_282_282" id="FNanchor_282_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> But, in his hands, it underwent a modification<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +suitable to the new circumstances in which he was +placed. He, being in a foreign country, the general of +a successful army composed partly of mercenaries,<a name="FNanchor_283_283" id="FNanchor_283_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> was +able to dispense with some of those feudal usages which +were customary in France. The great Norman lords, +thrown as strangers into the midst of a hostile population, +were glad to accept estates from the crown on +almost any terms that would guarantee their own security. +Of this, William naturally availed himself. For, +by granting baronies on conditions favourable to the +crown, he prevented the barons<a name="FNanchor_284_284" id="FNanchor_284_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> from possessing that +power which they exercised in France, and which, but +for this, they would have exercised in England. The +result was, that the most powerful of our nobles became +amenable to the law, or, at all events, to the authority +of the king.<a name="FNanchor_285_285" id="FNanchor_285_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> Indeed, to such an extent was this carried, +that William, shortly before his death, obliged all +the landowners to render their fealty to him; thus entirely +neglecting that peculiarity of feudalism, according +to which each vassal was separately dependent on his +own lord.<a name="FNanchor_286_286" id="FNanchor_286_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a></p> + +<p>But in France, the course of affairs was very different. +In that country the great nobles held their lands, not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +so much by grant, as by prescription.<a name="FNanchor_287_287" id="FNanchor_287_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> A character of +antiquity was thus thrown over their rights; which, +when added to the weakness of the crown, enabled +them to exercise on their own estates, all the functions +of independent sovereigns.<a name="FNanchor_288_288" id="FNanchor_288_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a> Even when they received +their first great check, under Philip Augustus,<a name="FNanchor_289_289" id="FNanchor_289_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> they, +in his reign, and indeed long after, wielded a power +quite unknown in England. Thus, to give only two +instances: the right of coining money, which has always +been regarded as an attribute of sovereignty, was never +allowed in England, even to the greatest nobles.<a name="FNanchor_290_290" id="FNanchor_290_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> But +in France it was exercised by many persons independently +of the crown, and was not abrogated until the +sixteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_291_291" id="FNanchor_291_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> A similar remark holds good of +what was called the right of private war; by virtue of +which the nobles were allowed to attack each other, and +disturb the peace of the country with the prosecution +of their private feuds. In England the aristocracy were +never strong enough to have this admitted as a right,<a name="FNanchor_292_292" id="FNanchor_292_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a> +though they too often exercised it as a practice. But in +France it became a part of the established law; it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +incorporated into the text-books of feudalism, and it is +distinctly recognized by Louis IX. and Philip the Fair,—two +kings of considerable energy, who did every thing +in their power to curtail the enormous authority of the +nobles.<a name="FNanchor_293_293" id="FNanchor_293_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a></p> + +<p>Out of this difference between the aristocratic power +of France and England, there followed many consequences +of great importance. In our country the nobles, +being too feeble to contend with the crown, were compelled, +in self-defence, to ally themselves with the people.<a name="FNanchor_294_294" id="FNanchor_294_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> +About a hundred years after the Conquest, the +Normans and Saxons amalgamated; and both parties +united against the king in order to uphold their common +rights.<a name="FNanchor_295_295" id="FNanchor_295_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> The Magna Charta, which John was forced to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +yield contained concessions to the aristocracy; but its +most important stipulations were those in favour of ‘all +classes of freemen.’<a name="FNanchor_296_296" id="FNanchor_296_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> Within half a century, fresh contests +broke out; the barons were again associated with +the people, and again there followed the same results,—the +extension of popular privileges being each time +the condition and the consequence of this singular +alliance. In the same way, when the Earl of Leicester +raised a rebellion against Henry III., he found his own +party too weak to make head against the crown. He, +therefore, applied to the people:<a name="FNanchor_297_297" id="FNanchor_297_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> and it is to him that +our House of Commons owes its origin; since he, in +1264, set the first example of issuing writs to cities and +boroughs; thus calling upon citizens and burgesses to +take their place in what had hitherto been a parliament +composed entirely of priests and nobles.<a name="FNanchor_298_298" id="FNanchor_298_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<p>The English aristocracy being thus forced, by their +own weakness, to rely on the people,<a name="FNanchor_299_299" id="FNanchor_299_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> it naturally followed, +that the people imbibed that tone of independence, +and that lofty bearing, of which our civil and +political institutions are the consequence, rather than +the cause. It is to this, and not to any fanciful peculiarity +of race, that we owe the sturdy and enterprising +spirit for which the inhabitants of this island have long +been remarkable. It is this which has enabled us to +baffle all the arts of oppression, and to maintain for +centuries liberties which no other nation has ever +possessed. And it is this which has fostered and upheld +those great municipal privileges, which, whatever +be their faults, have, at least, the invaluable merit of +accustoming free men to the exercise of power, giving +to citizens the management of their own city, and perpetuating +the idea of independence, by preserving it +in a living type, and by enlisting in its support the interests +and affections of individual men.</p> + +<p>But the habits of self-government which, under these +circumstances, were cultivated in England, were, under +opposite circumstances, neglected in France. The great +French lords being too powerful to need the people, +were unwilling to seek their alliance.<a name="FNanchor_300_300" id="FNanchor_300_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a> The result +was, that, amid a great variety of forms and names, +society was, in reality, only divided into two classes—the +upper and the lower, the protectors and the protected. +And, looking at the ferocity of the prevailing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +manners, it is not too much to say, that in France, +under the feudal system, every man was either a tyrant +or a slave. Indeed, in most instances, the two characters +were combined in the same person. For, the +practice of subinfeudation, which in our country was +actively checked, became in France almost universal.<a name="FNanchor_301_301" id="FNanchor_301_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a> +By this, the great lords having granted lands on condition +of fealty and other services to certain persons, +these last subgranted them; that is, made them over +on similar conditions to other persons, who had likewise +the power of bestowing them on a fourth party, +and so on in an endless series;<a name="FNanchor_302_302" id="FNanchor_302_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> thus forming a long +chain of dependence, and, as it were, organizing submission +into a system.<a name="FNanchor_303_303" id="FNanchor_303_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> In England, on the other +hand, such arrangements were so unsuited to the +general state of affairs, that it is doubtful if they were +ever carried on to any extent; and, at all events, it +is certain that, in the reign of Edward I., they were +finally stopped by the statute known to lawyers as +<i>Quia emptores</i>.<a name="FNanchor_304_304" id="FNanchor_304_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a></p> + +<p>Thus early was there a great social divergence between +France and England. The consequences of this +were still more obvious when, in the fourteenth century, +the feudal system rapidly decayed in both countries. +For in England, the principle of protection +being feeble, men were in some degree accustomed to +self-government; and they were able to hold fast by +those great institutions which would have been ill +adapted to the more obedient habits of the French +people. Our municipal privileges, the rights of our +yeomanry, and the security of our copyholders, were, +from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +three most important guarantees for the liberties of +England.<a name="FNanchor_305_305" id="FNanchor_305_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a> In France such guarantees were impossible. +The real division being between those who were noble, +and those who were not noble, no room was left for +the establishment of intervening classes; but all were +compelled to fall into one of these two great ranks.<a name="FNanchor_306_306" id="FNanchor_306_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> +The French have never had any thing answering to our +yeomanry; nor were copyholders recognized by their +laws. And, although they attempted to introduce into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +their country municipal institutions, all such efforts +were futile; for, while they copied the forms of liberty, +they lacked that bold and sturdy spirit by which alone +liberty can be secured. They had, indeed, its image +and superscription; but they wanted the sacred fire +that warms the image into life. Every thing else they +possessed. The show and appliances of freedom were +there. Charters were granted to their towns, and privileges +conceded to their magistrates. All, however, +was useless. For it is not by the wax and parchment +of lawyers that the independence of men can be preserved. +Such things are the mere externals; they set +off liberty to advantage; they are as its dress and paraphernalia, +its holiday-suit in times of peace and quiet. +But, when the evil days set in, when the invasions of +despotism have begun, liberty will be retained, not by +those who can show the oldest deeds and the largest +charters, but by those who have been most inured to +habits of independence, most accustomed to think and +act for themselves, and most regardless of that insidious +protection which the upper classes have always been so +ready to bestow, that, in many countries, they have now +left nothing worth the trouble to protect.</p> + +<p>And so it was in France. The towns, with few exceptions, +fell at the first shock; and the citizens lost +those municipal privileges which, not being grafted +on the national character, it was found impossible to +preserve. In the same way, in our country, power naturally, +and by the mere force of the democratic movement, +fell into the hands of the House of Commons; +whose authority has ever since, notwithstanding occasional +checks, continued to increase at the expense +of the more aristocratic parts of the legislature. The +only institution answering to this in France was the +States-General; which, however, had so little influence, +that, in the opinion of native historians, it +was hardly to be called an institution at all.<a name="FNanchor_307_307" id="FNanchor_307_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> Indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +the French were, by this time, so accustomed to the +idea of protection, and to the subordination which that +idea involves, that they were little inclined to uphold +an establishment which, in their constitution, was the +sole representative of the popular element. The result +was, that, by the fourteenth century, the liberties of +Englishmen were secured;<a name="FNanchor_308_308" id="FNanchor_308_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> and, since then, their only +concern has been to increase what they have already +obtained. But in that same century, in France, the +protective spirit assumed a new form; the power of the +aristocracy was, in a great measure, succeeded by the +power of the crown; and there began that tendency to +centralization which, having been pushed still further, +first under Louis XIV., and afterwards under Napoleon, +has become the bane of the French people.<a name="FNanchor_309_309" id="FNanchor_309_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a> For by it +the feudal ideas of superiority and submission have long +survived that barbarous age to which alone they were +suited. Indeed, by their transmigration, they seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +to have gained fresh strength. In France, every thing +is referred to one common centre, in which all civil +functions are absorbed. All improvements of any importance, +all schemes for bettering even the material condition +of the people must receive the sanction of government; +the local authorities not being considered equal +to such arduous tasks. In order that inferior magistrates +may not abuse their power, no power is conferred upon +them. The exercise of independent jurisdiction is +almost unknown. Every thing that is done must be +done at head quarters.<a name="FNanchor_310_310" id="FNanchor_310_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a> The government is believed +to see every thing, know every thing, and provide for +every thing. To enforce this monstrous monopoly there +has been contrived a machinery well worthy of the +design. The entire country is covered by an immense +array of officials;<a name="FNanchor_311_311" id="FNanchor_311_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> who, in the regularity of their hierarchy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +and in the order of their descending series, form +an admirable emblem of that feudal principle, which +ceasing to be territorial, has now become personal. In +fact, the whole business of the state is conducted on +the supposition that no man either knows his own interest, +or is fit to take care of himself. So paternal are +the feelings of government, so eager for the welfare of +its subjects, that it has drawn within its jurisdiction the +most rare, as well as the most ordinary, actions of life. +In order that the French may not make imprudent +wills, it has limited the right of bequest; and, for fear +that they should bequeath their property wrongly, it +prevents them from bequeathing the greater part of it +at all. In order that society may be protected by its +police, it has directed that no one shall travel without +a passport. And when men are actually travelling, they +are met at every turn by the same interfering spirit, +which, under pretence of protecting their persons, +shackles their liberty. Into another matter, far more +serious, the French have carried the same principle. +Such is their anxiety to protect society against criminals, +that, when an offender is placed at the bar of one of +their courts, there is exhibited a spectacle which is no +idle boast to say we, in England, could not tolerate for +a single hour. There is seen a great public magistrate, +by whom the prisoner is about to be tried, examining +him in order to ascertain his supposed guilt, re-examining +him, cross-examining him, performing the duties, +not of a judge, but of a prosecutor, and bringing to bear +against the unhappy man all the authority of his judicial +position, all his professional subtlety, all his experience, +all the dexterity of his practised understanding. This +is, perhaps, the most alarming of the many instances +in which the tendencies of the French intellect are +shown; because it supplies a machinery ready for the +purposes of absolute power; because it brings the administration +of justice into disrepute, by associating with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +it an idea of unfairness; and because it injures that +calm and equable temper, which it is impossible fully to +maintain under a system that makes a magistrate an +advocate, and turns the judge into a partizan. But this, +mischievous as it is, only forms part of a far larger +scheme. For, to the method by which criminals are +discovered, there is added an analogous method, by +which crime is prevented. With this view, the people, +even in their ordinary amusements, are watched and +carefully superintended. Lest they should harm each +other by some sudden indiscretion, precautions are +taken similar to those with which a father might surround +his children. In their fairs, at their theatres, +their concerts, and their other places of public resort, +there are always present soldiers, who are sent to see +that no mischief is done, that there is no unnecessary +crowding, that no one uses harsh language, that no one +quarrels with his neighbour. Nor does the vigilance +of the government stop there. Even the education of +children is brought under the control of the state, instead +of being regulated by the judgment of masters +or parents.<a name="FNanchor_312_312" id="FNanchor_312_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a> And the whole plan is executed with such +energy, that, as the French while men are never let +alone, just so while children they are never left alone.<a name="FNanchor_313_313" id="FNanchor_313_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> +At the same time, it being reasonably supposed that the +adults thus kept in pupilage cannot be proper judges of +their own food, the government has provided for this +also. Its prying eye follows the butcher to the shambles, +and the baker to the oven. By its paternal hand, meat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +is examined lest it should be bad, and bread is weighed +lest it should be light. In short, without multiplying +instances, with which most readers must be familiar, +it is enough to say that in France, as in every country +where the protective principle is active, the government +has established a monopoly of the worst kind; a +monopoly which comes home to the business and +bosoms of men, follows them in their daily avocations, +troubles them with its petty, meddling spirit, and, what +is worse than all, diminishes their responsibility to +themselves; thus depriving them of what is the only +real education that most minds receive,—the constant +necessity of providing for future contingencies, and the +habit of grappling with the difficulties of life.</p> + +<p>The consequence of all this has been, that the French, +though a great and splendid people,—a people full of +mettle, high-spirited, abounding in knowledge, and +perhaps less oppressed by superstition than any other +in Europe,—have always been found unfit to exercise +political power. Even when they have possessed it, +they have never been able to combine permanence with +liberty. One of these two elements has always been +wanting. They have had free governments, which have +not been stable. They have had stable governments, +which have not been free. Owing to their fearless +temper, they have rebelled, and no doubt will continue +to rebel, against so evil a condition.<a name="FNanchor_314_314" id="FNanchor_314_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a> But it does not +need the tongue of a prophet to tell that, for at least +some generations, all such efforts must be unsuccessful. +For men can never be free, unless they are +educated to freedom. And this is not the education +which is to be found in schools, or gained from books; +but it is that which consists in self-discipline, in self-reliance, +and in self-government. These, in England, +are matters of hereditary descent—traditional +habits, which we imbibe in our youth, and which regulate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +us in the conduct of life. The old associations +of the French all point in another direction. At +the slightest difficulty, they call on the government for +support. What with us is competition, with them is +monopoly. That which we effect by private companies, +they effect by public boards. They cannot cut +a canal, or lay down a railroad, without appealing to +the government for aid. With them, the people look +to the rulers; with us, the rulers look to the people. +With them, the executive is the centre from which +society radiates;<a name="FNanchor_315_315" id="FNanchor_315_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a> with us, society is the instigator, +and the executive the organ. The difference in the +result has corresponded with the difference in the process. +We have been made fit for political power, by +the long exercise of civil rights; they, neglecting the +exercise, think they can at once begin with the power. +We have always shown a determination to uphold our +liberties, and, when the times are fitting, to increase +them; and this we have done with a decency and a +gravity natural to men to whom such subjects have +long been familiar. But the French, always treated +as children, are, in political matters, children still. +And as they have handled the most weighty concerns +in that gay and volatile spirit which adorns +their lighter literature, it is no wonder that they have +failed in matters where the first condition of success +is, that men should have been long accustomed to rely +upon their own energies, and that before they try their +skill in a political struggle, their resources should have +been sharpened by that preliminary discipline, which +a contest with the difficulties of civil life can never fail +to impart.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p> + +<p>These are among the considerations by which we +must be guided, in estimating the probable destinies of +the great countries of Europe. But what we are now +rather concerned with is, to notice how the opposite +tendencies of France and England long continued to be +displayed in the condition and treatment of their aristocracy; +and how from this there naturally followed +some striking differences between the war conducted +by the Fronde, and that waged by the Long Parliament.</p> + +<p>When, in the fourteenth century, the authority of +the French kings began rapidly to increase, the political +influence of the nobility was, of course, correspondingly +diminished. What, however, proves the +extent to which their power had taken root, is the undoubted +fact, that, notwithstanding this to them unfavourable +circumstance, the people were never able to +emancipate themselves from their control.<a name="FNanchor_316_316" id="FNanchor_316_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> The relation +the nobles bore to the throne became entirely +changed; that which they bore to the people remained +almost the same. In England, slavery, or villenage, +as it is mildly termed, quickly diminished, and was +extinct by the end of the sixteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_317_317" id="FNanchor_317_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a> In<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +France, it lingered on two hundred years later, and +was only destroyed in that great Revolution by which +the possessors of ill-gotten power were called to so +sharp an account.<a name="FNanchor_318_318" id="FNanchor_318_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a> Thus, too, until the last seventy +years, the nobles were in France exempt from those +onerous taxes which oppressed the people. The taille +and corvée were heavy and grievous exactions, but +they fell solely on men of ignoble birth;<a name="FNanchor_319_319" id="FNanchor_319_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> for the +French aristocracy, being a high and chivalrous race, +would have deemed it an insult to their illustrious +descent, if they had been taxed to the same amount as +those whom they despised as their inferiors.<a name="FNanchor_320_320" id="FNanchor_320_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a> Indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +every thing tended to nurture this general contempt. +Every thing was contrived to humble one class, and +exalt the other. For the nobles there were reserved +the best appointments in the church, and also the most +important military posts.<a name="FNanchor_321_321" id="FNanchor_321_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> The privilege of entering the +army as officers was confined to them;<a name="FNanchor_322_322" id="FNanchor_322_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a> and they alone +possessed a prescriptive right to belong to the cavalry.<a name="FNanchor_323_323" id="FNanchor_323_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a> +At the same time, and to avoid the least chance of confusion, +an equal vigilance was displayed in the most +trifling matters, and care was taken to prevent any +similarity, even in the amusements of the two classes. +To such a pitch was this brought, that, in many parts +of France, the right of having an aviary or a dovecote +depended entirely on a man's rank; and no Frenchman, +whatever his wealth might be, could keep pigeons, +unless he were a noble; it being considered that these +recreations were too elevated for persons of plebeian +origin.<a name="FNanchor_324_324" id="FNanchor_324_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> + +<p>Circumstances like these are valuable, as evidence +of the state of society to which they belong; and +their importance will become peculiarly obvious, when +we compare them with the opposite condition of England.</p> + +<p>For in England, neither these nor any similar distinctions +have ever been known. The spirit of which +our yeomanry, copyholders, and free burgesses were +the representatives, proved far too strong for those protective +and monopolizing principles of which the aristocracy +are the guardians in politics, and the clergy in +religion. And it is to the successful opposition made +by these feelings of individual independence that we owe +our two greatest national acts—our Reformation in the +sixteenth, and our Rebellion in the seventeenth century. +Before, however, tracing the steps taken in these matters, +there is one other point of view to which I wish to call +attention, as a further illustration of the early and radical +difference between France and England.</p> + +<p>In the eleventh century there arose the celebrated +institution of chivalry,<a name="FNanchor_325_325" id="FNanchor_325_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> which was to manners what +feudalism was to politics. This connexion is clear, not +only from the testimony of contemporaries, but also +from two general considerations. In the first place, +chivalry was so highly aristocratic, that no one could +even receive knighthood unless he were of noble birth;<a name="FNanchor_326_326" id="FNanchor_326_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a> +and the preliminary education which was held to be +necessary was carried on either in schools appointed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +the nobles, or else in their own baronial castles.<a name="FNanchor_327_327" id="FNanchor_327_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> In +the second place, it was essentially a protective, and +not at all a reforming institution. It was contrived +with a view to remedy certain oppressions as they successively +arose; opposed in this respect to the reforming +spirit, which, being remedial rather than palliative, +strikes at the root of an evil by humbling the class from +which the evil proceeds, passing over individual cases +in order to direct its attention to general causes. But +chivalry, so far from doing this, was in fact a fusion of +the aristocratic and the ecclesiastical forms of the protective +spirit.<a name="FNanchor_328_328" id="FNanchor_328_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a> For, by introducing among the nobles +the principle of knighthood, which, being personal, could +never be bequeathed, it presented a point at which the +ecclesiastical doctrine of celibacy could coalesce with the +aristocratic doctrine of hereditary descent.<a name="FNanchor_329_329" id="FNanchor_329_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> Out of this +coalition sprung results of great moment. It is to this +that Europe owes those orders, half aristocratic half religious,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_330_330" id="FNanchor_330_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> +the Knights Templars, the Knights of St. James, +the Knights of St. John, the Knights of St. Michael: +establishments which inflicted the greatest evils on society; +and whose members, combining analogous vices, +enlivened the superstition of monks with the debauchery +of soldiers. As a natural consequence, an immense +number of noble knights were solemnly pledged to +‘defend the church;’ an ominous expression, the meaning +of which is too well known to the readers of ecclesiastical +history.<a name="FNanchor_331_331" id="FNanchor_331_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> Thus it was that chivalry, uniting +the hostile principles of celibacy and noble birth, became +the incarnation of the spirit of the two classes to which +those principles belonged. Whatever benefit, therefore, +this institution may have conferred upon manners,<a name="FNanchor_332_332" id="FNanchor_332_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> +there can be no doubt that it actively contributed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +keep men in a state of pupilage, and stopped the march +of society by prolonging the term of its infancy.<a name="FNanchor_333_333" id="FNanchor_333_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a></p> + +<p>On this account, it is evident that, whether we look +at the immediate or at the remote tendency of chivalry, +its strength and duration become a measure of the predominance +of the protective spirit. If, with this view, +we compare France and England, we shall find fresh +proof of the early divergence of those countries. Tournaments, +the first open expression of chivalry, are of +French origin.<a name="FNanchor_334_334" id="FNanchor_334_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> The greatest and, indeed, the only +two great describers of chivalry are Joinville and Froissart, +both of whom were Frenchmen. Bayard, that +famous chevalier, who is always considered as the last +representative of chivalry, was a Frenchman, and was +killed when fighting for Francis I. Nor was it until +nearly forty years after his death that tournaments were +finally abolished in France, the last one having been +held in 1560.<a name="FNanchor_335_335" id="FNanchor_335_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a></p> + +<p>But in England, the protective spirit being much less +active than in France, we should expect to find that +chivalry, as its offspring, had less influence. And such +was really the case. The honours that were paid to +knights, and the social distinctions by which they were +separated from the other classes, were never so great in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +our country as in France.<a name="FNanchor_336_336" id="FNanchor_336_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> As men became more free, +the little respect they had for such matters still further +diminished. In the thirteenth century, and indeed in +the very reign in which burgesses were first returned +to parliament, the leading symbol of chivalry fell into +such disrepute, that a law was passed obliging certain +persons to accept that rank of knighthood which in +other nations was one of the highest objects of ambition.<a name="FNanchor_337_337" id="FNanchor_337_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> +In the fourteenth century, this was followed by +another blow, which deprived knighthood of its exclusively +military character; the custom having grown up +in the reign of Edward III. of conferring it on the +judges in the courts of law, thus turning a warlike title +into a civil honour.<a name="FNanchor_338_338" id="FNanchor_338_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_338_338" class="fnanchor">[338]</a> Finally, before the end of the +fifteenth century, the spirit of chivalry, in France still +at its height, was in our country extinct, and this mischievous +institution had become a subject for ridicule +even among the people themselves.<a name="FNanchor_339_339" id="FNanchor_339_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_339_339" class="fnanchor">[339]</a> To these circumstances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +we may add two others, which seem worthy of +observation. The first is, that the French, notwithstanding +their many admirable qualities, have always +been more remarkable for personal vanity than the +English;<a name="FNanchor_340_340" id="FNanchor_340_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_340_340" class="fnanchor">[340]</a> a peculiarity partly referable to those chivalric +traditions which even their occasional republics +have been unable to destroy, and which makes them +attach undue importance to external distinctions, by +which I mean, not only dress and manners, but also +medals, ribbons, stars, crosses, and the like, which we, +a prouder people, have never held in such high estimation. +The other circumstance is, that duelling has +from the beginning been more popular in France than in +England; and as this is a custom which we owe to chivalry, +the difference in this respect between the two countries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +supplies another link in that long chain of evidence +by which we must estimate their national tendencies.<a name="FNanchor_341_341" id="FNanchor_341_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_341" class="fnanchor">[341]</a></p> + +<p>The old associations, of which these facts are but the +external expression, now continued to act with increasing +vigour. In France, the protective spirit, carried +into religion, was strong enough to resist the Reformation, +and preserve to the clergy the forms, at least, of +their ancient supremacy. In England, the pride of men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +and their habits of self-reliance, enabled them to mature +into a system what is called the right of private judgment, +by which some of the most cherished traditions +were eradicated; and this, as we have already seen, being +quickly succeeded, first by scepticism, and then by +toleration, prepared the way for that subordination of +the church to the state, for which we are pre-eminent, +and without a rival, among the nations of Europe. +The very same tendency, acting in politics, displayed +analogous results. Our ancestors found no difficulty +in humbling the nobles, and reducing them to comparative +insignificance. The wars of the Roses, by breaking +up the leading families into two hostile factions, +aided this movement;<a name="FNanchor_342_342" id="FNanchor_342_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_342_342" class="fnanchor">[342]</a> and, after the reign of Edward +IV., there is no instance of any Englishman, even of +the highest rank, venturing to carry on those private +wars, by which, in other countries, the great lords still +disturbed the peace of society.<a name="FNanchor_343_343" id="FNanchor_343_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_343_343" class="fnanchor">[343]</a> When the civil contests +subsided, the same spirit displayed itself in the +policy of Henry VII. and Henry VIII. For, those +princes, despots as they were, mainly oppressed the +highest classes; and even Henry VIII., notwithstanding +his barbarous cruelties, was loved by the people, to +whom his reign was, on the whole, decidedly beneficial. +Then there came the Reformation; which, being an uprising +of the human mind, was essentially a rebellious +movement, and thus increasing the insubordination of +men, sowed, in the sixteenth century, the seeds of those +great political revolutions which, in the seventeenth century, +broke out in nearly every part of Europe. The connexion +between these two revolutionary epochs is a subject +full of interest; but, for the purpose of the present +chapter, it will be sufficient to notice such events,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +during the latter half of the sixteenth century, as explain +the sympathy between the ecclesiastical and aristocratic +classes, and prove how the same circumstances +that were fatal to the one, also prepared the way for +the downfall of the other.</p> + +<p>When Elizabeth ascended the throne of England, a +large majority of the nobility were opposed to the Protestant +religion. This we know from the most decisive +evidence; and, even if we had no such evidence, a general +acquaintance with human nature would induce us +to suspect that such was the case. For, the aristocracy, +by the very conditions of their existence, must, as +a body, always be averse to innovation. And this, not +only because by a change they have much to lose and +little to gain, but because some of their most pleasurable +emotions are connected with the past rather than +with the present. In the collision of actual life, their +vanity is sometimes offended by the assumptions of inferior +men; it is frequently wounded by the successful +competition of able men. These are mortifications to +which, in the progress of society, their liability is constantly +increasing. But the moment they turn to the +past, they see in those good old times which are now +gone by, many sources of consolation. There they find +a period in which their glory is without a rival. When +they look at their pedigrees, their quarterings, their +escutcheons; when they think of the purity of their +blood, and the antiquity of their ancestors—they experience +a comfort which ought amply to atone for any +present inconvenience. The tendency of this is very +obvious, and has shown itself in the history of every +aristocracy the world has yet seen. Men who have +worked themselves to so extravagant a pitch as to believe +that it is an honour to have had one ancestor who +came over with the Normans, and another ancestor who +was present at the first invasion of Ireland—men who +have reached this ecstacy of the fancy are not disposed +to stop there, but, by a process with which most minds +are familiar, they generalize their view; and, even on +matters not immediately connected with their fame, +they acquire a habit of associating grandeur with antiquity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +and of measuring value by age; thus transferring +to the past an admiration which otherwise they might +reserve for the present.</p> + +<p>The connexion between these feelings and those which +animate the clergy is very evident. What the nobles +are to politics, that are the priests to religion. Both +classes, constantly appealing to the voice of antiquity, +rely much on tradition, and make great account of upholding +established customs. Both take for granted +that what is old is better than what is new; and that +in former times there were means of discovering truths +respecting government and theology which we, in these +degenerate ages, no longer possess. And it may be +added, that the similarity of their functions follows from +the similarity of their principles. Both are eminently +protective, stationary, or, as they are sometimes called, +conservative. It is believed that the aristocracy guard +the state against revolution, and that the clergy keep +the church from error. The first are the enemies of +reformers; the others are the scourge of heretics.</p> + +<p>It does not enter into the province of this Introduction +to examine how far these principles are reasonable, +or to inquire into the propriety of notions which suppose +that, on certain subjects of immense importance, men +are to remain stationary, while on all other subjects they +are constantly advancing. But what I now rather wish +to point out, is the manner in which, in the reign of +Elizabeth, the two great conservative and protective +classes were weakened by that vast movement, the Reformation, +which, though completed in the sixteenth +century, had been prepared by a long chain of intellectual +antecedents.</p> + +<p>Whatever the prejudices of some may suggest, it will +be admitted, by all unbiassed judges, that the Protestant +Reformation was neither more nor less than an +open rebellion. Indeed, the mere mention of private +judgment, on which it was avowedly based, is enough +to substantiate this fact. To establish the right of private +judgment, was to appeal from the church to individuals; +it was to increase the play of each man's intellect; +it was to test the opinions of the priesthood by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +the opinions of laymen; it was, in fact, a rising of the +scholars against their teachers, of the ruled against +their rulers. And although the reformed clergy, as +soon as they had organised themselves into a hierarchy, +did undoubtedly abandon the great principle with which +they started, and attempt to impose articles and canons +of their own contrivance, still, this ought not to blind +us to the merits of the Reformation itself. The tyranny +of the Church of England, during the reign of Elizabeth, +and still more during the reigns of her two successors, +was but the natural consequence of that corruption +which power always begets in those who wield it, and +does not lessen the importance of the movement by +which the power was originally obtained. For men +could not forget that, tried by the old theological theory, +the church of England was a schismatic establishment, +and could only defend itself from the charge of heresy +by appealing to that private judgment, to the exercise +of which it owed its existence, but of the rights of which +its own proceedings were a constant infraction. It was +evident that if, in religious matters, private judgment +were supreme, it became a high spiritual crime to issue +any articles, or to take any measure, by which that +judgment could be tied up; while, on the other hand, +if the right of private judgment were not supreme, the +church of England was guilty of apostacy, inasmuch as +its founders did, by virtue of the interpretation which +their own private judgment made of the Bible, abandon +tenets which they had hitherto held, stigmatize those +tenets as idolatrous, and openly renounce their allegiance +to what had for centuries been venerated as the +catholic and apostolic church.</p> + +<p>This was a simple alternative; which might, indeed, +be kept out of sight, but could not be refined away, and +most assuredly has never been forgotten. The memory +of the great truth it conveys was preserved by the +writings and teachings of the Puritans, and by those +habits of thought natural to an inquisitive age. And +when the fulness of time had come, it did not fail to +bear its fruit. It continued slowly to fructify; and +before the middle of the seventeenth century, its seed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +had quickened into a life, the energy of which nothing +could withstand. That same right of private judgment +which the early Reformers had loudly proclaimed, was +now pushed to an extent fatal to those who opposed it. +This it was which, carried into politics, overturned the +government, and, carried into religion, upset the +church.<a name="FNanchor_344_344" id="FNanchor_344_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_344_344" class="fnanchor">[344]</a> For, rebellion and heresy are but different +forms of the same disregard of tradition, the same bold +and independent spirit. Both are of the nature of a +protest made by modern ideas against old associations. +They are as a struggle between the feelings of the present +and the memory of the past. Without the exercise +of private judgment, such a contest could never +take place; the mere conception of it could not enter +the minds of men, nor would they even dream of controlling, +by their individual energy, those abuses to +which all great societies are liable. It is, therefore, in +the highest degree natural that the exercise of this +judgment should be opposed by those two powerful +classes who, from their position, their interests, and the +habits of their mind, are more prone than any other to +cherish antiquity, cleave to superannuated customs, and +uphold institutions which, to use their favourite language, +have been consecrated by the wisdom of their +fathers.</p> + +<p>From this point of view we are able to see with great +clearness the intimate connexion which, at the accession +of Elizabeth, existed between the English nobles +and the Catholic clergy. Notwithstanding many exceptions, +an immense majority of both classes opposed +the Reformation, because it was based on that right of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +private judgment of which they, as the protectors of old +opinions, were the natural antagonists. All this can +excite no surprise; it was in the order of things, and +strictly accordant with the spirit of those two great +sections of society. Fortunately, however, for our +country, the throne was now occupied by a sovereign +who was equal to the emergency, and who, instead of +yielding to the two classes, availed herself of the temper +of the age to humble them. The manner in which this +was effected by Elizabeth, in respect, first to the Catholic +clergy, and afterwards to the Protestant clergy,<a name="FNanchor_345_345" id="FNanchor_345_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_345_345" class="fnanchor">[345]</a> +forms one of the most interesting parts of our history; +and in an account of the reign of the great queen, I +hope to examine it at considerable length. At present, +it will be sufficient to glance at her policy towards the +nobles—that other class with which the priesthood, by +their interests, opinions, and associations, have always +much in common.</p> + +<p>Elizabeth, at her accession to the throne, finding that +the ancient families adhered to the ancient religion, naturally +called to her councils advisers who were more +likely to uphold the novelties on which the age was +bent. She selected men who, being little burdened by +past associations, were more inclined to favour present +interests. The two Bacons, the two Cecils, Knollys, +Sadler, Smith, Throgmorton, Walsingham, were the +most eminent statesmen and diplomatists in her reign; +but all of them were commoners; only one did she raise +to the peerage; and they were certainly nowise remarkable, +either for the rank of their immediate connexions, +or for the celebrity of their remote ancestors. +They, however, were recommended to Elizabeth by +their great abilities, and by their determination to uphold +a religion which the ancient aristocracy naturally +opposed. And it is observable that, among the accusations +which the Catholics brought against the queen,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +they taunted her, not only with forsaking the old religion, +but also with neglecting the old nobility.<a name="FNanchor_346_346" id="FNanchor_346_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_346" class="fnanchor">[346]</a></p> + +<p>Nor does it require much acquaintance with the history +of the time to see the justice of this charge. Whatever +explanation we may choose to give of the fact, it +cannot be denied that, during the reign of Elizabeth, +there was an open and constant opposition between the +nobles and the executive government. The rebellion +of 1569 was essentially an aristocratic movement; +it was a rising of the great families of the north +against what they considered the upstart and plebeian +administration of the queen.<a name="FNanchor_347_347" id="FNanchor_347_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_347_347" class="fnanchor">[347]</a> The bitterest enemy of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +Elizabeth was certainly Mary of Scotland; and the interests +of Mary were publicly defended by the Duke of +Norfolk, the Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of Westmoreland, +and the Earl of Arundel; while there is +reason to believe that her cause was secretly favoured +by the Marquis of Northampton, the Earl of Pembroke, +the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Cumberland, the Earl of +Shrewsbury, and the Earl of Sussex.<a name="FNanchor_348_348" id="FNanchor_348_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_348_348" class="fnanchor">[348]</a></p> + +<p>The existence of this antagonism of interests could +not escape the sagacity of the English government. +Cecil, who was the most powerful of the ministers of +Elizabeth, and who was at the head of affairs for forty +years, made it part of his business to study the genealogies +and material resources of the great families; and +this he did, not out of idle curiosity, but in order to increase +his control over them, or, as a great historian +says, to let them know ‘that his eye was upon them.’<a name="FNanchor_349_349" id="FNanchor_349_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_349_349" class="fnanchor">[349]</a> +The queen herself, though too fond of power, was by no +means of a cruel disposition; but she seemed to delight +in humbling the nobles. On them her hand fell heavily; +and there is hardly to be found a single instance of her +pardoning their offences, while she punished several of +them for acts which would now be considered no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +offences at all. She was always unwilling to admit +them to authority; and it is unquestionably true that, +taking them as a class, they were, during her long and +prosperous reign, treated with unusual disrespect. +Indeed, so clearly marked was her policy, that when +the ducal order became extinct, she refused to renew +it; and a whole generation passed away to whom the +name of duke was a mere matter of history, a point +to be mooted by antiquaries, but with which the business +of practical life had no concern.<a name="FNanchor_350_350" id="FNanchor_350_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_350_350" class="fnanchor">[350]</a> Whatever +may be her other faults, she was on this subject always +consistent. Although she evinced the greatest anxiety +to surround the throne with men of ability, she cared +little for those conventional distinctions by which the +minds of ordinary sovereigns are greatly moved. She +made no account of dignity of rank; she did not even +care for purity of blood. She valued men neither for the +splendour of their ancestry, nor for the length of their +pedigrees, nor for the grandeur of their titles. Such +questions she left for her degenerate successors, to the +size of whose understandings they were admirably fitted. +Our great queen regulated her conduct by another standard. +Her large and powerful intellect, cultivated to +its highest point by reflection and study, taught her the +true measure of affairs, and enabled her to see, that to +make a government flourish, its councillors must be men +of ability and of virtue; but that if these two conditions +are fulfilled, the nobles may be left to repose in the enjoyment +of their leisure, unoppressed by those cares of +the state for which, with a few brilliant exceptions, they +are naturally disqualified by the number of their prejudices +and by the frivolity of their pursuits.</p> + +<p>After the death of Elizabeth, an attempt was made,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +first by James, and then by Charles, to revive the power +of the two great protective classes, the nobles and the +clergy. But so admirably had the policy of Elizabeth +been supported by the general temper of the age, that +it was found impossible for the Stuarts to execute their +mischievous plans. The exercise of private judgment, +both in religion and in politics, had become so habitual, +that these princes were unable to subjugate it to their +will. And as Charles I., with inconceivable blindness, +and with an obstinacy even greater than that of his +father, persisted in adopting in their worst forms the +superannuated theories of protection, and attempted +to enforce a scheme of government which men from +their increasing independence were determined to reject, +there inevitably arose that memorable collision +which is well termed The Great Rebellion of England.<a name="FNanchor_351_351" id="FNanchor_351_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_351" class="fnanchor">[351]</a> +The analogy between this and the Protestant Reformation, +I have already noticed; but what we have now +to consider, and what, in the next chapter, I will endeavour +to trace, is the nature of the difference between +our Rebellion, and those contemporary wars of the +Fronde, to which it was in some respects very similar.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_271_271" id="Footnote_271_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> ‘Toute influence qu'on accordait à la science ne pouvait, +dans les premiers temps, qu'être favorable au clergé.’ <i>Meyer</i>, +<i>Institut. Judic.</i> vol. i. p. 498.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_272_272" id="Footnote_272_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> Early in the eleventh century the clergy first began +systematically to repress independent inquiries by punishing men who +attempted to think for themselves. Compare <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des +Français</i>, vol. iv. pp. 145, 146; <i>Neander's Hist. of the Church</i>, vol. +vi. pp. 365, 366; <i>Prescott's Hist. of Ferdinand and Isabella</i>, vol. i. +p. 261 note. Before this, such a policy, as Sismondi justly observes, +was not required: ‘Pendant plusieurs siècles, l'église n'avoit été +troublée par aucune hérésie; l'ignorance étoit trop complète la +soumission trop servile, la foi trop aveugle, pour que les questions qui +avoient si long-temps exercé la subtilité des Grecs fussent seulement +comprises par les Latins.’ As knowledge advanced, the opposition between +inquiry and belief became more marked: the church redoubled her efforts, +and at the end of the twelfth century the popes first formally called on +the secular power to punish heretics; and the earliest constitution +addressed ‘inquisitoribus hæreticæ pravitatis’ is one by Alexander IV. +<i>Meyer</i>, <i>Inst. Jud.</i> vol. ii. pp. 554, 556. See also on this movement, +<i>Llorente</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Inquisition</i>, vol. i. p. 125, vol. iv. p. 284. +In 1222 a synod assembled at Oxford caused an apostate to be burned; and +this, says Lingard (<i>Hist. of England</i>, vol. ii. p. 148), ‘is, I +believe, the first instance of capital punishment in England on the +ground of religion.’ Compare <i>Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit.</i> vol. ii. p. +444.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_273_273" id="Footnote_273_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> Sir F. Palgrave (<i>English Commonwealth</i>, vol. ii. p. ccvi.) +says, ‘it is generally admitted, by the best authorities, that from +about the eleventh century benefices acquired the name of fiefs or +feuds;’ and Robertson (<i>State of Europe</i>, note viii. in <i>Works</i>, p. 393) +supposes that the word <i>feudum</i> does not occur before 1008. But +according to M. Guizot (<i>Civilisation en France</i>, vol. iii. p. 238), ‘il +apparaît, pour la première fois, dans une charte de Charles le Gros en +884.’ This is a question more curious than important; since whatever the +origin of the word may be, it is certain that the thing did not, and +could not, exist before the tenth century at the earliest: inasmuch as +the extreme disorganisation of society rendered so coercive an +institution impossible. M. Guizot, in another work (<i>Essais sur l'Hist. +de France</i>, p. 239), rightly says, ‘Au X<sup>e</sup> siècle seulement, les +rapports et les pouvoirs sociaux acquirent quelque fixité.’ See also his +<i>Civilisation en Europe</i>, p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_274_274" id="Footnote_274_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> ‘La terre est tout dans ce système…. Le système féodal +est comme une religion de la terre.’ <i>Origines du Droit</i>, in <i>Œuvres +de Michelet</i>, vol. ii. p. 302. ‘Le caractère de la féodalité, c'était la +prédominance de la <i>réalité</i> sur la <i>personnalité</i>, de la terre sur +l'homme.’ <i>Eschbach</i>, <i>Etude du Droit</i>, p. 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_275_275" id="Footnote_275_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> According to the social and political arrangements from the +fourth to the tenth century, the clergy were so eminently a class apart, +that they were freed from ‘burdens of the state,’ and were not obliged +to engage in military services unless they thought proper to do so. See +<i>Neander's Hist. of the Church</i>, vol. iii. p. 195, vol. v. pp. 133, 140; +and <i>Petrie's Ecclesiast. Archit.</i> p. 382. But under the feudal system +this immunity was lost; and in regard to performing services no +separation of classes was admitted. ‘After the feudal polity became +established, we do not find that there was any dispensation for +ecclesiastical fiefs.’ <i>Hallam's Supplemental Notes</i>, p. 120; and for +further proof of the loss of the old privileges, compare <i>Grose's +Military Antiquities</i>, vol. i. pp. 5, 64; <i>Meyer</i>, +<i>Instit. Judic.</i> vol. i. p. 257; <i>Turner's Hist. of England</i>, vol. iv. +p. 462; and <i>Mably's Observations</i>, vol. i. pp. 434, 435: so that, as +this writer says, p. 215, ‘Chaque seigneur laïc avait gagné +personnellement à la révolution qui forma le gouvernement féodal; mais +les évêques et les abbés, en devenant souverains dans leurs terres, +perdirent au contraire beaucoup de leur pouvoir et de leur dignité.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_276_276" id="Footnote_276_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> The great change of turning life-possessions of land into +hereditary possessions, began late in the ninth century, being initiated +in France by a capitulary of Charles the Bald, in 877. See <i>Allen on the +Prerogative</i>, p. 210; <i>Spence's Origin of the Laws of Europe</i>, pp. 282, +301; <i>Meyer</i>, <i>Instit. Judiciaires</i>, vol. i. p. 206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_277_277" id="Footnote_277_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> That surnames first arose in the tenth century is stated by +the most competent authorities. See <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. de Français</i>, +vol. iii. pp. 452-455; <i>Hallam's Middle Ages</i>, vol. i. p. 138; +<i>Monteil</i>, <i>Hist. des divers Etats</i>, vol. iii. p. 268; <i>Petrie's +Ecclesiast. Archit.</i> pp. 277, 342. Koch (<i>Tableau des Révolutions</i>, vol. +i. p. 138) erroneously says, ‘c'est pareillement aux croisades que +l'Europe doit l'usage des surnoms de famille;’ a double mistake, both as +to the date and the cause, since the introduction of surnames being part +of a large social movement, can under no circumstances be ascribed to a +single event.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_278_278" id="Footnote_278_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> On this process from the end of the ninth to the twelfth +century, compare <i>Hallam's Supplemental Notes</i>, pp. 97, 98; <i>Dalrymple's +Hist. of Feudal Property</i>, p. 21; <i>Klimrath</i>, <i>Hist. du Droit</i>, vol. i. +p. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_279_279" id="Footnote_279_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> As to the origin of armorial bearings, which cannot be +traced higher than the twelfth century, see <i>Hallam's Middle Ages</i>, vol. +i. pp. 138, 139; <i>Ledwich</i>, <i>Antiquities of Ireland</i>, pp. 231, 232; +<i>Origines du Droit</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Michelet</i>, vol. ii. p. 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_280_280" id="Footnote_280_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> For, as Lerminia says (<i>Philos. du Droit</i>, vol. i. p. 17), +‘la loi féodale n'est autre chose que la terre élevée à la +souveraineté.’ On the decline of the church in consequence of the +increased feudal and secular spirit, see <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des +Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 440, vol. iv. p. 88. In our own country, one +fact may be mentioned illustrative of the earliest encroachments of +laymen: namely, that, before the twelfth century, we find no instance in +England of the great seal being entrusted ‘to the keeping of a layman.’ +<i>Campbell's Chancellors</i>, vol. i. p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_281_281" id="Footnote_281_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> Celibacy, on account of its supposed ascetic tendency, was +advocated and in some countries was enforced, at an early period; but +the first general and decisive movement in its favour was in the middle +of the eleventh century, before which time it was a speculative +doctrine, constantly disobeyed. See <i>Neander's Hist. of the Church</i>, +vol. vi. pp. 52, 61, 62, 72, 93, 94 note, vol. vii. pp. 127–131; +<i>Mosheim's Eccles. Hist.</i> vol. i. pp. 248, 249; <i>Eccleston's English +Antiq.</i> p. 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_282_282" id="Footnote_282_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> Where it was particularly flourishing: ‘la féodalité fut +organisée en Normandie plus fortement et plus systématiquement que +partout ailleurs en France.’ <i>Klimrath</i>, <i>Travaux sur l'Hist. du Droit</i>, +vol. i. p. 130. The ‘coutume de Normandie’ was, at a much later period, +only to be found in the old ‘grand coutumier.’ <i>Klimrath</i>, vol. ii. p. +160. On the peculiar tenacity with which the Normans clung to it, see +<i>Lettres d'Aguesseau</i>, vol. ii. pp. 225, 226: ‘accoutumés à respecter +leur coutume comme l'évangile.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_283_283" id="Footnote_283_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> <i>Mills' Hist. of Chivalry</i>, vol. i. p. 387; <i>Turner's +Hist. of England</i>, vol. ii. p. 390, vol. iv. p. 76. Mercenary troops +were also employed by his immediate successors. <i>Grose's Military +Antiq.</i> vol. i. p. 55.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_284_284" id="Footnote_284_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> On the different meanings attached to the word ‘baron,’ +compare <i>Klimrath</i>, <i>Hist. du Droit</i>, vol. ii. p. 40, with <i>Meyer</i>, +<i>Instit. Judiciaires</i>, vol. i. p. 105. But M. Guizot says, what seems +most likely, ‘il est probable que ce nom fut commun +originairement à tous les vassaux immédiats de la couronne, liés au roi +<i>per servitium militare</i>, par le service de chevalier.’ <i>Essais</i>, p. +265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_285_285" id="Footnote_285_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> <i>Meyer</i>, <i>Instit. Judic.</i> vol. i. p. 242; <i>Turner's Hist. +of England</i>, vol. iii. p. 220. The same policy of reducing the nobles +was followed up by Henry II., who destroyed the baronial castles. +<i>Turner</i>, vol. iv. p. 223. Compare <i>Lingard</i>, vol. i. pp. 315, 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_286_286" id="Footnote_286_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> ‘Deinde cœpit homagia hominum totius Angliæ, et +juramentum fidelitatis cujuscumque essent feodi vel tenementi.’ <i>Matthæi +Westmonast. Flores Historiarum</i>, vol. ii. p. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_287_287" id="Footnote_287_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> See some good remarks on this difference between the +French and English nobles, in <i>Hallam's Middle Ages</i>, vol. ii. pp. 99, +100. Mably (<i>Observations</i>, vol. i. p. 60) says: ‘en effet, on négligea, +sur la fin de la première race, de conserver les titres primordiaux de +ses possessions.’ As to the old customary French law of prescription, +see <i>Giraud</i>, <i>Précis de l'Ancien Droit</i>, pp. 79, 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_288_288" id="Footnote_288_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations sur l'Hist. de France</i>, vol. i. pp. +70, 162, 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_289_289" id="Footnote_289_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> On the policy of Philip Augustus in regard to the nobles, +see <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations</i>, vol. i. p. 246; <i>Lerminier</i>, <i>Philos. du +Droit</i>, vol. i. p. 265; <i>Boulainvilliers</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Ancien +Gouvernement</i>, vol. iii. pp. 147–150; <i>Guizot</i>, <i>Civilisation en +France</i>, vol. iv. pp. 134, 135; <i>Courson</i>, <i>Hist. des Peuples Brétons</i>, +Paris, 1846, vol. ii. p. 350.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_290_290" id="Footnote_290_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> ‘No subjects ever enjoyed the right of coining silver in +England without the royal stamp and superintendence; a remarkable proof +of the restraint in which the feudal aristocracy was always held in this +country.’ <i>Hallam's Middle Ages</i>, vol. i. p. 154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_291_291" id="Footnote_291_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> <i>Brougham's Polit. Philos.</i> 1849, vol. i. p. 446. In +addition to the evidence there given on the right of coinage, see +<i>Mably's Observations</i>, vol. i. p. 424, vol. ii. pp. 296, 297; and +<i>Turner's Normandy</i>, vol. ii. p. 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_292_292" id="Footnote_292_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> <i>Hallam's Supplemental Notes</i>, pp. 304, 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_293_293" id="Footnote_293_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> ‘Saint-Louis consacra le droit de guerre…. Philippe le +Bel, qui voulut l'abolir, finit par le rétablir.’ <i>Montlosier</i>, +<i>Monarchie Française</i>, vol. i. pp. 127, 202: see also pp. 434, 435, and +vol. ii. pp. 435, 436. Mably (<i>Observations</i>, vol. ii. p. 338) mentions +‘lettres-patentes de Philippe-de-Valois du 8 février 1330, pour +permettre dans le duché d'Aquitaine les guerres privées,’ &c.; and he +adds, ‘le 9 avril 1353 le roi Jean renouvelle l'ordonnance de S. Louis, +nommée la quarantaine du roi, touchant les guerres privées.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_294_294" id="Footnote_294_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> Sir Francis Palgrave (in his <i>Rise and Progress of the +English Commonwealth</i>, vol. i. pp. 51–55) has attempted to estimate the +results produced by the Norman Conquest; but he omits to notice this, +which was the most important consequence of all.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_295_295" id="Footnote_295_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> On this political union between Norman barons and Saxon +citizens, of which the first clear indication is at the end of the +twelfth century, compare <i>Campbell's Chancellors</i>, vol. i. p. 113, with +<i>Brougham's Polit. Philos.</i> vol. i. p. 339, vol. iii. p. 222.</p> + +<p>In regard to the general question of the amalgamation of races, we have +three distinct kinds of evidence:</p> + +<p>1st. Towards the end of the twelfth century, a new language began to be +formed by blending Norman with Saxon; and English literature, properly +so called, dates from the commencement of the thirteenth century. +Compare <i>Madden's Preface to Layamon</i>, 1847, vol. i. pp. xx. xxi., with +<i>Turner's Hist. of England</i>, vol. viii. pp. 214, 217, 436, 437.</p> + +<p>2nd. We have the specific statement of a writer in the reign of Henry +II., that ‘sic permixtæ sunt nationes ut vix discerni possit hodie, de +liberis loquor, quis Anglicus, quis Normannus sit genere.’ <i>Note in +Hallam's Middle Ages</i>, vol. ii. p. 106.</p> + +<p>3rd. Before the thirteenth century had passed away, the difference of +dress, which in that state of society would survive many other +differences, was no longer observed, and the distinctive peculiarities +of Norman and Saxon attire had disappeared. See <i>Strutt's View of the +Dress and Habits of the People of England</i>, vol. ii. p. 67, edit. +Planché, 1842, 4to.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_296_296" id="Footnote_296_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> ‘An equal distribution of civil rights to all classes of +freemen forms the peculiar beauty of the charter.’ <i>Hallam's Middle +Ages</i>, vol. ii. p. 108. This is very finely noticed in one of Lord +Chatham's great speeches. <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. xvi. p. 662.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_297_297" id="Footnote_297_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> Compare <i>Meyer</i>, <i>Instit. Judic.</i> +vol. ii. p. 39, with <i>Lingard's England</i>, vol. ii. p. 127, and <i>Somers +Tracts</i>, vol. vi. p. 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_298_298" id="Footnote_298_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> ‘He is to be honoured as the founder of a representative +system of government in this country.’ <i>Campbell's Chief-Justices</i>, vol. +i. p. 61. Some writers (see, for instance, <i>Dalrymple's Hist. of Feudal +Property</i>, p. 332) suppose that burgesses were summoned before the reign +of Henry III.: but this assertion is not only unsupported by evidence, +but is in itself improbable; because at an early period the citizens, +though rapidly increasing in power, were hardly important enough to +warrant such a step being taken. The best authorities are now agreed to +refer the origin of the House of Commons to the period mentioned in the +text. See <i>Hallam's Supplement</i>, <i>Notes</i>, pp. 335–339; <i>Spence's Origin +of the Laws of Europe</i>, p. 512; <i>Campbell's Chancellors</i>, vol. i. p. +155; <i>Lingard's England</i>, vol. ii. p. 138; <i>Guizot's Essais</i>, p. 319. +The notion of tracing this to the wittenagemot is as absurd as finding +the origin of juries in the system of compurgators; both of which were +favourite errors in the seventeenth, and even in the eighteenth century. +In regard to the wittenagemot, this idea still lingers among +antiquaries: but, in regard to compurgators, even they have abandoned +their old ground, and it is now well understood that trial by jury did +not exist till long after the Conquest. Compare <i>Palgrave's English +Commonwealth</i>, part i. pp. 243 seq., with <i>Meyer</i>, <i>Instit. Judic.</i> vol. +ii. pp. 152–173. There are few things in our history so irrational as +the admiration expressed by a certain class of writers for the +institutions of our barbarous Anglo-Saxon ancestors.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_299_299" id="Footnote_299_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> Montlosier, with the fine spirit of a French noble, taunts +the English aristocracy with this: ‘En France la noblesse, attaquée sans +cesse, s'est défendue sans cesse. Elle a subi l'oppression; elle ne l'a +point acceptée. En Angleterre, elle a couru dès la première commotion, +se réfugier dans les rangs des bourgeois, et sous leur protection. Elle +a abdiqué ainsi son existence.’ <i>Montlosier</i>, <i>Monarchie Française</i>, +vol. iii. p. 162. Compare an instructive passage in <i>De Staël</i>, <i>Consid. +sur la Révolution</i>, vol. i. p. 421.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_300_300" id="Footnote_300_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> See some good remarks in <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations sur +l'Hist. de France</i>, vol. iii. pp. 114, 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_301_301" id="Footnote_301_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> <i>Hallam's Middle Ages</i>, vol. i. p. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_302_302" id="Footnote_302_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> ‘Originally there was no limit to subinfeudation.’ +<i>Brougham's Polit. Philos.</i> vol. i. p. 279.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_303_303" id="Footnote_303_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> A living French historian boasts that, in his own country, +‘toute la société féodale formait ainsi une échelle de clientelle et de +patronage.’ <i>Cassagnac</i>, <i>Révolution Française</i>, vol. i. p. 459.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_304_304" id="Footnote_304_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> This is 18 Edw. I. c. 1; respecting which, see +<i>Blackstone's Comment.</i> vol. ii. p. 91, vol. iv. p. 425; <i>Reeve's Hist. +of English Law</i>, vol. ii. p. 223; <i>Dalrymple's Hist. of Feudal +Property</i>, pp. 102, 243, 340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_305_305" id="Footnote_305_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> The history of the decay of that once most important +class, the English yeomanry, is an interesting subject, and one for +which I have collected considerable materials; at present, I will only +say, that its decline was first distinctly perceptible in the latter +half of the seventeenth century, and was consummated by the +rapidly-increasing power of the commercial and manufacturing classes +early in the eighteenth century. After losing their influence, their +numbers naturally diminished, and they made way for other bodies of men, +whose habits of mind were less prejudiced, and therefore better suited +to that new state which society assumed in the last age. I mention this, +because some writers regret the almost total destruction of the yeoman +freeholders; overlooking the fact, that they are disappearing, not in +consequence of any violent revolution or stretch of arbitrary power, but +simply by the general march of affairs; society doing away with what it +no longer requires. Compare <i>Kay's Social Condition of the People</i>, vol. +i. pp. 43, 602, with a letter from Wordsworth in <i>Bunbury's Correspond. +of Hanmer</i>, p. 440; a note in <i>Mill's Polit. Econ.</i> vol. i. pp. 311, +312; another in <i>Nichols's Lit. Anec.</i> vol. v. p. 323; and <i>Sinclair's +Correspond.</i> vol. i. p. 229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_306_306" id="Footnote_306_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> This is stated as an admitted fact by French writers +living in different periods and holding different opinions; but all +agreed as to there being only two divisions: ‘comme en France on est +toujours ou noble, ou roturier, et qu'il n'y a pas de milieu.’ <i>Mém. de +Rivarol</i>, p. 7. ‘La grande distinction des nobles et des roturiers.’ +<i>Giraud</i>, <i>Précis de l'Ancien Droit</i>, p. 10. Indeed, according to the +Coutumes, the nobles and roturiers attained their majority at different +ages. <i>Klimrath</i>, <i>Hist. du Droit</i>, vol. ii. p. 249 (erroneously stated +in <i>Story's Conflict of Laws</i>, pp. 56, 79, 114). See further respecting +this capital distinction, <i>Mém. de Duplessis Mornay</i>, vol. ii. p. 230 +(‘agréable à la noblesse et au peuple’); <i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. +viii. pp. 222, 232, 237; <i>Bunbury's Correspond. of Hanmer</i>, p. 256; +<i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations</i>, vol. iii. p. 263; and <i>Mercier sur Rousseau</i>, +vol. i. p. 38: ‘On étoit roturier, vilain, homme de néant, canaille, dès +qu'on ne s'appelloit plus marquis, baron, +comte, chevalier, etc.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_307_307" id="Footnote_307_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> ‘Les états-généraux sont portés dans la liste de nos +institutions. Je ne sais cependant s'il est permis de donner ce nom à +des rassemblemens aussi irréguliers.’ <i>Montlosier</i>, <i>Monarchie +Française</i>, vol. i. p. 266. ‘En France, les états-généraux, au moment +même de leur plus grand éclat, c'est à dire dans le cours du xiv<sup>e</sup> +siècle, n'ont guère été que des accidents, un pouvoir national et +souvent invoqué, mais non un établissement constitutionnel.’ <i>Guizot</i>, +<i>Essais</i>, p. 253. See also <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations</i>, vol. iii. p. 147; +and <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xiv. p. 642.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_308_308" id="Footnote_308_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> This is frankly admitted by one of the most candid and +enlightened of all the foreign writers on our history, <i>Guizot</i>, +<i>Essais</i>, p. 297: ‘En 1307, les droits qui devaient enfanter en +Angleterre un gouvernement libre étaient définitivement reconnus.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_309_309" id="Footnote_309_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> See an account of the policy of Philip the Fair, in +<i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations</i>, vol. ii. pp. 25–44; in <i>Boulainvilliers</i>, +<i>Ancien Gouvernement</i>, vol. i. pp. 292, 314, vol. ii. pp. 37, 38; and in +<i>Guizot</i>, <i>Civilisation en France</i>, vol. iv. pp. 170–192. M. Guizot +says, perhaps too strongly, that his reign was ‘la métamorphose de la +royauté en despotisme,’ On the connexion of this with the centralizing +movement, see <i>Tocqueville's Démocratie</i>, vol. i. p. 307: ‘Le goût de la +centralisation et la manie réglementaire remontent, en France, à +l'époque où les légistes sont entrés dans le gouvernement; ce qui nous +reporte au temps de Philippe le Bel.’ Tennemann also notices, that in +his reign the ‘Rechtstheorie’ began to exercise influence; +but this learned writer takes a purely metaphysical view, and has +therefore misunderstood the more general social tendency. <i>Gesch. der +Philos.</i> vol. viii. p. 823.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_310_310" id="Footnote_310_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> As several writers on law notice this system with a +lenient eye <i>Origines du Droit Français</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Michelet</i>, +vol. ii. p. 321; and <i>Eschbach</i>, <i>Etude du Droit</i>, p. 129: ‘le système +énergique de la centralisation’, it may be well to state how it +actually works.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bulwer, writing twenty years ago, says: ‘Not only cannot a commune +determine its own expenses without the consent of the minister or one of +his deputed functionaries, it cannot even erect a building, the cost of +which shall have been sanctioned, without the plan being adopted by a +board of public works attached to the central authority, and having the +supervision and direction of every public building throughout the +Kingdom.’ <i>Bulwer's Monarchy of the Middle Classes</i>, 1836, vol. ii. p. 262.</p> + +<p>M. Tocqueville, writing in the present year (1856), says, ‘Sous l'ancien +régime, <i>comme de nos jours</i>, il n'y avait ville, bourg, village, ni si +petit hameau en France, hôpital, fabrique, couvent ni +collège, qui pût avoir une volonté indépendante dans ses +affaires particulières, ni administrer à sa volonté ses propres biens. +Alors, <i>comme aujourd'hui</i>, l'administration tenait donc tous les +Français en tutelle, et si l'insolence du mot ne s'était pas encore +produite, on avait du moins déjà la chose.’ <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>l'Ancien +Régime</i>, 1856, pp. 79, 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_311_311" id="Footnote_311_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> The number of civil functionaries in France, who are paid +by the government to trouble the people, passes all belief, being +estimated, at different periods during the present century, at from +138,000 to upwards of 800,000. <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>de la Démocratie</i>, vol. +i. p. 220; <i>Alison's Europe</i>, vol. xiv. pp. 127, 140; <i>Kay's Condition of +the People</i>, vol. i. p. 272; <i>Laing's Notes</i>, 2d series, p. 185. Mr. +Laing, writing in 1850, says: ‘In France, at the expulsion of Louis +Philippe, the civil functionaries were stated to amount to 807,030 +individuals.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_312_312" id="Footnote_312_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> ‘The government in France possesses control over all the +education of the country, with the exception of the colleges for the +education of the clergy, which are termed seminaries, and their +subordinate institutions.’ <i>Report on the State of Superior Education in +France in</i> 1843, in <i>Journal of Statist. +Soc.</i> vol. vi. p. 304. On the steps taken during the power of Napoleon, +see <i>Alison's Europe</i>, vol. viii. p. 203: ‘Nearly the whole education of +the empire was brought effectually under the direction and appointment +of government.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_313_313" id="Footnote_313_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> Much attention is paid to the <i>surveillance</i> of pupils; it +being a fundamental principle of French education, that children should +never be left alone. <i>Report on General Education in France in</i> 1842, in +<i>Journal of Statist. Soc.</i> vol. v. p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_314_314" id="Footnote_314_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> A distinguished French author says: ‘La France souffre du +mal du siècle; elle en est plus malade qu'aucun autre pays; ce mal c'est +la haine de l'autorité.’ <i>Custine</i>, <i>Russie</i>, vol. ii. p. 136. Compare, +<i>Rey</i>, <i>Science Sociale</i>, vol. ii. p. 86 note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_315_315" id="Footnote_315_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> It is to the activity of this protective and centralizing +spirit that we must ascribe, what a very great authority noticed thirty +years ago, as ‘le défaut de spontanéité, qui caractérise les +institutions de la France moderne.’ <i>Meyer</i>, <i>Instit. Judic.</i> vol. iv. +p. 536. It is also this which, in literature and in science, makes them +favour the establishment of academies; and it is probably to the same +principle that their jurists owe their love of codification. All these +are manifestations of an unwillingness to rely on the general march of +affairs, and show an undue contempt for the unaided conclusions of +private men.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_316_316" id="Footnote_316_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> Mably (<i>Observations</i>, vol. iii. pp. 154, 155, 352–362) +has collected some striking evidence of the tyranny of the French nobles +in the sixteenth century; and as to the wanton cruelty with which they +exercised their power in the seventeenth century, see <i>Des Réaux</i>, +<i>Historiettes</i>, vol. vii. p. 155, vol. viii. p. 79, vol. ix. pp. 40, 61, +62, vol. x. pp. 255–257. In the eighteenth century, matters were +somewhat better; but still the subordination was excessive, and the +people were poor, ill-treated, and miserable. Compare <i>Œuvres de +Turgot</i>, vol. iv. p. 139; <i>Letter from the Earl of Cork</i>, dated Lyons, +1754, in <i>Burton's Diary</i>, vol. iv. p. 80; the statement of Fox, in +<i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. xxxi. p. 406; <i>Jefferson's Correspond.</i> vol. ii. p. +45; and <i>Smith's Tour on the Continent</i>, edit. 1793, vol. iii. pp. 201, +202.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_317_317" id="Footnote_317_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> Mr. Eccleston (<i>English Antiq.</i> p. 138) says, that in 1450 +‘villenage had almost passed away;’ and according to Mr. Thornton +(<i>Over-Population</i>, p. 182), ‘Sir Thomas Smith, who wrote about the year +1550, declares that he had never met with any personal or domestic +slaves; and that the villains, or predial slaves, still to be found, +were so few, as to be scarcely worth mentioning.’ Mr. Hallam can find no +‘unequivocal testimony to the existence of villenage’ later than 1574. +<i>Middle Ages</i>, vol. ii. p. 312; see, to the same effect, <i>Barrington on +the Statutes</i>, pp. 308, 309. If, however, my memory does not deceive me, +I have met with evidence of it in the reign of James I., but I cannot +recall the passage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_318_318" id="Footnote_318_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> M. Cassagnac (<i>Causes de la Révolution</i>, vol. iii. p. 11) +says: ‘Chose surprenante, il y avait encore, au 4 août 1789, <i>un million +cinq cent mille serfs de corps</i>;’ and M. Giraud (<i>Précis de l'Ancien +Droit</i>, Paris, 1852, p. 3), ‘jusqu'à la révolution une division +fondamentale partageait les personnes en personnes libres et personnes +sujettes à condition servile.’ A few years before the Revolution, this +shameful distinction was abolished by Louis XVI. in his own domains. +Compare <i>Eschbach</i>, <i>Etude du Droit</i>, pp. 271, 272, with <i>Du Mesnil</i>, +<i>Mém. sur le Prince le Brun</i>, p. 94. I notice this particularly, because +M. Monteil, a learned and generally accurate writer, supposes that the +abolition took place earlier than it really did. <i>Hist. des divers +Etats</i>, vol. vi. p. 101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_319_319" id="Footnote_319_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> <i>Cassagnac</i>, <i>de la Révolution</i>, vol. i. pp. 122, 173; +<i>Giraud</i>, <i>Ancien Droit</i>, p. 11; <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Mém. de Louis XVI</i>, vol. +vi. p. 156; <i>Mém. au Roi sur les Municipalités</i>, in <i>Œuvres de +Turgot</i>, vol. vii. p. 423; <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. i. p. 200.</p> + +<p>Further information respecting the amount and nature of these vexatious +impositions will be found in <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. xiii. p. 24, +vol. xiv. p. 118; <i>Saint-Aulaire</i>, <i>Hist. de la Fronde</i>, vol. +i. p. 125; <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Ancien Régime</i>, pp. 135, 191, 420, 440; +<i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. ii. p. 412, vol. iii. p. 226, vol. +iv. p. 199, vol. v. pp. 339, 410, vol. vi. p. 94; <i>Relat. des Ambassad. +Vénit.</i> vol. i. p. 96; <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observations</i>, vol. iii. pp. 355, 356; +<i>Boulainvilliers</i>, <i>Ancien Gouvernement</i>, vol. iii. p. 109; <i>Le Vassor</i>, +<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. ii. p. 29; <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. ii. pp. +103, 369; <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, vol. i. p. 82; <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de +Louis XV</i>, vol. i. pp. 87, 332; <i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. i. p. 372, +vol. iv. pp. 58, 59, 74, 75, 242, 278, vol. v. pp. 226, 242, vol. vi. p. +144, vol. viii. pp. 152, 280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_320_320" id="Footnote_320_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> So deeply rooted were these feelings, that, even in 1789, +the very year the Revolution broke out, it was deemed a great concession +that the nobles ‘will consent, indeed, to equal taxation.’ See a letter +from Jefferson to Jay, dated Paris, May 9th, 1789, in <i>Jefferson's +Corresp.</i> vol. ii. pp. 462, 463. Compare <i>Mercier sur Rousseau</i>, vol. i. +p. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_321_321" id="Footnote_321_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> ‘Les nobles, qui avaient le privilége exclusif des grandes +dignités et des gros bénéfices.’ <i>Mém. de Rivarol</i>, p. 97: see also +<i>Mém. de Bouillé</i>, vol. i. p. 56; <i>Lemontey</i>, <i>Etablissement +Monarchique</i>, p. 337; <i>Daniel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Milice Françoise</i>, vol. ii. +p. 556; <i>Campan</i>, <i>Mém. sur Marie-Antoinette</i>, vol. i. pp. 238, 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_322_322" id="Footnote_322_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> ‘L'ancien régime n'avait admis que des nobles pour +officiers.’ <i>Mém. de Roland</i>, vol. i. p. 398. Ségur mentions that, early +in the reign of Louis XVI., ‘les nobles seuls avaient le droit d'entrer +au service comme sous-lieutenans.’ <i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. i. p. 65. +Compare pp. 117, 265–271, with <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. iii. p. 74, and +<i>De Staël</i>, <i>Consid. sur la Rév.</i> vol. i. p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_323_323" id="Footnote_323_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> Thus, De Thou says of Henry III., ‘il remet sous l'ancien +pied la cavalerie ordinaire, qui n'étoit composée que de la noblesse.’ +<i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. ix. pp. 202, 203; and see vol. x. pp. 504, 505, vol. +xiii. p. 22; and an imperfect statement of the same fact in <i>Boullier</i>, +<i>Hist. des divers Corps de la Maison Militaire des Rois de France</i>, +Paris, 1818, p. 58, a superficial work on an uninteresting subject.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_324_324" id="Footnote_324_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> M. Tocqueville (<i>L'Ancien Régime</i>, p. 448) mentions, among +other regulations still in force late in the eighteenth century, that +‘en Dauphiné, en Bretagne, en Normandie, il est prohibé à tout roturier +d'avoir des colombiers, fuies et volière; il n'y a que les nobles qui +puissent avoir des pigeons.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_325_325" id="Footnote_325_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> ‘Dès la fin du onzième siècle, à l'époque même où +commencèrent les croisades, on trouve la chevalerie établie.’ <i>Koch</i>, +<i>Tab. des Révolutions</i>, vol. i. p. 143; see also <i>Sainte-Palaye</i>, <i>Mém. +sur la Chevalerie</i>, vol. i. pp. 42, 68. M. Guizot (<i>Civilis. en France</i>, +vol. iii. pp. 349–354) has attempted to trace it back to an earlier +period; but he appears to have failed, though of course its germs may be +easily found. According to some writers it originated in northern +Europe; according to others in Arabia! <i>Mallet's Northern Antiquities</i>, +p. 202; <i>Journal of Asiat. Soc.</i> vol. ii. p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_326_326" id="Footnote_326_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> ‘L'ordre de chevalerie n'étoit accordé qu'aux hommes d'un +sang noble.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iv. p. 204. Compare +<i>Daniel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Milice</i>, vol. i. p. 97, and <i>Mills' Hist. of +Chivalry</i>, vol. i. p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_327_327" id="Footnote_327_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> ‘In some places there were schools appointed by the nobles +of the country, but most frequently their own castles served.’ <i>Mills' +Hist. of Chivalry</i>, vol. i. p. 31; and see <i>Sainte-Palaye</i>, <i>Mém. sur +l'Anc. Chevalerie</i>, vol. i. pp. 30, 56, 57, on this education.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_328_328" id="Footnote_328_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> This combination of knighthood and religious rites is +often ascribed to the crusades; but there is good evidence that it took +place a little earlier, and must be referred to the latter half of the +eleventh century. Compare <i>Mills' Hist. of Chivalry</i>, vol. i. pp. 10, +11; <i>Daniel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Milice</i>, vol. i. pp. 101, 102, 108; +<i>Boulainvilliers</i>, <i>Ancien Gouv.</i> vol. i. p. 326. Sainte-Palaye (<i>Mém. +sur la Chevalerie</i>, vol. i. pp. 119–123), who has collected some +illustrations of the relation between chivalry and the church, says, p. +119, ‘enfin la chevalerie étoit regardée comme une ordination, un +sacerdoce.’ The superior clergy possessed the right of conferring +knighthood, and William Rufus was actually knighted by Archbishop +Lanfranc: ‘Archiepiscopus Lanfrancus, eo quòd eum +nutrierat, et militem fecerat.’ <i>Will. Malmes.</i> lib. iv., in <i>Scriptores +post Bedam</i>, p. 67. Compare <i>Fosbroke's British Monachism</i>, 1843, p. +101, on knighting by abbots.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_329_329" id="Footnote_329_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> The influence of this on the nobles is rather exaggerated +by Mr. Mills; who, on the other hand, has not noticed how the +unhereditary element was favourable to the ecclesiastical spirit. +<i>Mills' Hist. of Chivalry</i>, vol. i. pp. 15, 389, vol. ii. p. 169; a work +interesting as an assemblage of facts, but almost useless as a +philosophic estimate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_330_330" id="Footnote_330_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> ‘In their origin all the military orders, and most of the +religious ones, were entirely aristocratic.’ <i>Mills' Hist. of Chivalry</i>, +vol. i. p. 336.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_331_331" id="Footnote_331_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> <i>Mills' Hist. of Chivalry</i>, vol. i. pp. 148, 338. About +the year 1127, St. Bernard wrote a discourse in favour of the Knights +Templars, in which ‘he extols this order as a combination of monasticism +and knighthood…. He describes the design of it as being to give the +military order and knighthood a serious Christian direction, and to +convert war into something that God might approve.’ <i>Neander's Hist. of +the Church</i>, vol. vii. p. 358. To this may be added, that, early in the +thirteenth century, a chivalric association was formed, and afterwards +merged in the Dominican order, called the Militia of Christ: ‘un nouvel +ordre de chevalerie destiné à poursuivre les hérétiques, sur le modèle +de celui des Templiers, et sous le nom de Milice de Christ.’ <i>Llorente</i>, +<i>Hist. de l'Inquisition</i>, vol. i. pp. 52, 133, 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_332_332" id="Footnote_332_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> Several writers ascribe to chivalry the merit of softening +manners, and of increasing the influence of women. <i>Sainte-Palaye</i>, +<i>Mém. sur la Chevalerie</i>, vol. i. pp. 220–223, 282, 284, vol. iii. pp. +vi. vii. 159–161; <i>Helvétius de l'Esprit</i>, vol. ii. pp. 50, 51; +<i>Schlegel's Lectures</i>, vol. i. p. 209. That there was such a tendency +is, I think, indisputable; but it has been greatly exaggerated; and an +author of considerable reading on these subjects says, ‘The rigid +treatment shown to prisoners of war in ancient times strongly marks the +ferocity and uncultivated manners of our ancestors, and that even to +ladies of high rank; notwithstanding the homage said to have been paid +to the fair sex in those days of chivalry.’ <i>Grose's Military +Antiquities</i>, vol. ii. p. 114. Compare <i>Manning on the Law of Nations</i>, +1839, pp. 145, 146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_333_333" id="Footnote_333_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> Mr. Hallam (<i>Middle Ages</i>, vol. ii. p. 464) says, ‘A third +reproach may be made to the character of knighthood, that it widened the +separation between the different classes of society, and confirmed that +aristocratical spirit of high birth, by which the large mass of mankind +were kept in unjust degradation.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_334_334" id="Footnote_334_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iv. pp. 370, 371, +377; <i>Turner's Hist. of England</i>, vol. iv. p. 478; <i>Foncemagne</i>, <i>De +l'Origine des Armoiries</i>, in <i>Mém. de l'Académie des Inscriptions</i>, vol. +xx. p. 580. Koch also says (<i>Tableau des Révolutions</i>, vol. i. p. 139), +‘c'est de la France que l'usage des tournois se répandit chez les autres +nations de l'Europe.’ They were first introduced into England in the +reign of Stephen. <i>Lingard's England</i>, vol. ii. p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_335_335" id="Footnote_335_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> Mr. Hallam (<i>Middle Ages</i>, vol. ii. p. 470) says they were +‘entirely discontinued in France’ in consequence of the death of Henry +II.; but according to <i>Mills' Hist. of Chivalry</i>, vol. ii. p. 226, they +lasted the next year; when another fatal accident occurred, and +‘tournaments ceased for ever.’ Compare <i>Sainte-Palaye sur la +Chevalerie</i>, vol. ii. pp. 39, 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_336_336" id="Footnote_336_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> Mr. Hallam (<i>Middle Ages</i>, vol. ii. p. 467) observes, that +the knight, as compared with other classes, ‘was addressed by titles of +more respect. <i>There was not, however, so much distinction in England as +in France.</i>’ The great honour paid to knights in France is noticed by +Daniel (<i>Milice Française</i>, vol. i. pp. 128, 129) and Herder (Ideen zur +Geschichte, vol. iv. pp. 226, 267) says, that in France chivalry +flourished more than in any other country. The same remark is made by +Sismondi (<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iv. p. 198).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_337_337" id="Footnote_337_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> The <i>Statutum de Militibus</i>, in 1307, was perhaps the +first recognition of this. Compare <i>Blackstone's Comment.</i> vol. ii. p. +69; <i>Barrington on the Statutes</i>, pp. 192, 193. But we have positive +evidence that compulsory knighthood existed in the reign of Henry III.; +or at least that those who refused it were obliged to pay a fine. See +<i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 421, and <i>Lyttleton's Hist. of Henry +II.</i> vol. ii. pp. 238, 239, 2nd edit. 4to. 1767. Lord Lyttleton, +evidently puzzled, says, ‘Indeed it seems a deviation from the original +principle of this institution. For one cannot but think it a very great +inconsistency, that a dignity, which was deemed an accession of honour +to kings themselves, should be forced upon any.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_338_338" id="Footnote_338_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338_338"><span class="label">[338]</span></a> In <i>Mills' Hist. of Chivalry</i>, vol. ii. p. 154, it is +said, that ‘the judges of the courts of law’ were first knighted in the +reign of Edward III.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_339_339" id="Footnote_339_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339_339"><span class="label">[339]</span></a> Mr. Mills (<i>Hist. of Chivalry</i>, vol. ii. pp. 99, 100) has +printed a curious extract from a lamentation over the destruction of +chivalry, written in the reign of Edward IV.; but he has overlooked a +still more singular instance. This is a popular ballad, written in the +middle of the fifteenth century, and called the Turnament of Tottenham, +in which the follies of chivalry are admirably ridiculed. See <i>Warton's +Hist. of English Poetry</i>, edit. 1840, vol. iii. pp. 98–101; and <i>Percy's +Reliques of Ancient Poetry</i>, edit. 1845, pp. 92–95. According to Turner +(<i>Hist. of England</i>, vol. vi. p. 363), ‘the ancient books of chivalry +were laid aside’ about the reign of Henry VI.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_340_340" id="Footnote_340_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340_340"><span class="label">[340]</span></a> This is not a mere popular opinion, but rests upon a large +amount of evidence, supplied by competent and impartial observers. +Addison, who was a lenient as well as an able judge, and who had lived +much among the French, calls them ‘the vainest nation in the world.’ +<i>Letter to Bishop Hough</i>, in <i>Aikin's Life of Addison</i>, vol. i. p. 90. +Napoleon says, ‘vanity is the ruling principle of the French.’ <i>Alison's +Hist. of Europe</i>, vol. vi. p. 25. Dumont (<i>Souvenirs sur Mirabeau</i>, p. +111) declares, that ‘le trait le plus dominant dans le caractère +français, c'est l'amour propre;’ and Ségur (<i>Souvenirs</i>, vol. i. pp. 73, +74), ‘car en France l'amour propre, ou, si on le veut, la vanité, est de +toutes les passions la plus irritable.’ It is moreover stated, that +phrenological observations prove that the French are vainer than the +English. <i>Combe's Elements of Phrenology</i>, 6th edit. Edinb. 1845, p. 90; +and a partial recognition of the same fact in <i>Broussais</i>, <i>Cours de +Phrénologie</i>, p. 297. For other instances of writers who have noticed +the vanity of the French, see <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>l'Ancien Régime</i>, p. 148; +<i>Barante</i>, <i>Lit. Franç. au XVIII<sup>e</sup>. Siècle</i>, p. 80; <i>Mém. de Brissot</i>, +vol. i. p. 272; <i>Mézéray</i>, <i>Hist. de France</i>, vol. ii. p. 933; +<i>Lemontey</i>, <i>Etablissement Monarchique</i>, p. 418; <i>Voltaire</i>, <i>Lettres +inédites</i>, vol. ii. p. 282; <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XV</i>, vol. ii. +p. 358; <i>De Staël sur la Révolution</i>, vol. i. p. 260, vol. ii. p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_341_341" id="Footnote_341_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341_341"><span class="label">[341]</span></a> The relation between chivalry and duelling has been +noticed by several writers; and in France, where the chivalric spirit +was not completely destroyed until the Revolution, we find occasional +traces of this connexion even in the reign of Louis XVI. See, for +instance, in <i>Mém. de Lafayette</i>, vol. i. p. 86, a curious letter in +regard to chivalry and duelling in 1778. In England there is, I believe, +no evidence of even a single private duel being fought earlier than the +sixteenth century, and there were not many till the latter half of +Elizabeth's reign; but in France the custom arose early in the fifteenth +century, and in the sixteenth it became usual for the seconds to fight +as well as the principals. Compare <i>Montlosier</i>, <i>Monarc. Franç.</i> vol. +ii. p. 436, with <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Hist. des divers Etats</i>, vol. vi. p. 48. +From that time the love of the French for duelling became quite a +passion until the end of the eighteenth century, when the Revolution, or +rather the circumstances which led to the Revolution, caused its +comparative cessation. Some idea may be formed of the enormous extent of +this practice formerly in France, by comparing the following passages, +which I have the more pleasure in bringing together, as no one has +written even a tolerable history of duelling, notwithstanding the great +part it once played in European society. <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. +ix. pp. 592, 593, vol. xv. p. 57; <i>Daniel</i>, <i>Milice Française</i>, vol. ii. +p. 582; <i>Sully, Œconomies</i>, vol. i. p. 301, vol. iii. p. 406, vol. vi. +p. 122, vol. viii. p. 41, vol. ix. p. 408; <i>Carew's State of France +under Henry IV.</i>, in <i>Birch's Historical Negotiations</i>, p. 467; <i>Ben +Jonson's Works</i>, edit. Gifford, vol. vi. p. 69; <i>Dulaure</i>, <i>Hist. de +Paris</i> (1825 3rd edit.), vol. iv. p. 567, vol. v. pp. 300, 301; <i>Le +Clerc</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Univ.</i> vol. xx. p. 242; <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. +iii. p. 536; <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la Réforme</i>, vol. viii. p. 98; +<i>Capefigue's Richelieu</i>, vol. i. p. 63; <i>Des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, +vol. x. p. 13; <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. ii. p. 191, vol. vii. p. 215, vol. +ix. p. 351; <i>Mem. of the Baroness d'Oberkirch</i>, vol. i. p. 71, edit. +Lond. 1852; <i>Lettres inédites d'Aguesseau</i>, vol. i. p. 211; <i>Lettres de +Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, vol. iii. p. 249, vol. iv. pp. 27, 28, 152; +<i>Boullier</i>, <i>Maison Militaire des Rois de France</i>, pp. 87, 88; <i>Biog. +Univ.</i> vol. v. pp. 402, 403, vol. xxiii. p. 411, vol. xliv. pp. 127, +401, vol. xlviii. p. 522, vol. xlix. p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_342_342" id="Footnote_342_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342_342"><span class="label">[342]</span></a> On the effect of the wars of the Roses upon the nobles, +compare <i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 10; <i>Lingard's Hist. of +England</i>, vol. iii. p. 340; <i>Eccleston's English Antiq.</i> pp. 224, +320: and on their immense pecuniary, or rather +territorial, losses, <i>Sinclair's Hist. of the Revenue</i>, vol. i. p. 155.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_343_343" id="Footnote_343_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343_343"><span class="label">[343]</span></a> ‘The last instance of a pitched battle between two +powerful noblemen in England occurs in the reign of Edward IV.’ <i>Allen +on the Prerogative</i>, p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_344_344" id="Footnote_344_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344_344"><span class="label">[344]</span></a> Clarendon (<i>Hist. of the Rebellion</i>, p. 80), in +a very angry spirit, but with perfect truth, notices (under the year +1640) the connexion between ‘a proud and venomous dislike against the +discipline of the church of England, and so by degrees (as the progress +is very natural) an equal irreverence to the government of the state +too.’ The Spanish government, perhaps more than any other in Europe, has +understood this relation; and even so late as 1789, an edict of Charles +IV. declared, ‘qu'il y a crime d'hérésie dans tout ce qui tend, ou +contribue, à propager les idées révolutionnaires.’ <i>Llorente</i>, <i>Hist. de +l'Inquisition</i>, vol. ii. p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_345_345" id="Footnote_345_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345_345"><span class="label">[345]</span></a> The general character of her policy towards the Protestant +English bishops is summed up very fairly by Collier; though he, as a +professional writer, is naturally displeased with her disregard for the +heads of the church. <i>Collier's Eccles. Hist. of Great Britain</i>, +vol. vii. pp. 257, 258, edit. Barham, 1840.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_346_346" id="Footnote_346_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346_346"><span class="label">[346]</span></a> One of the charges which, in 1588, Sixtus V. publicly +brought against Elizabeth, was, that ‘she hath rejected and excluded the +ancient nobility, and promoted to honour obscure people.’ <i>Butler's Mem. +of the Catholics</i>, vol. ii. p. 4. Persons also reproaches her with her +low-born ministers, and says that she was influenced ‘by five persons in +particular—all of them sprung from the earth—Bacon, Cecil, Dudley, +Hatton, and Walsingham.’ <i>Butler</i>, vol. ii. p. 31. Cardinal Allen +taunted her with ‘disgracing the ancient nobility, erecting base and +unworthy persons to all the civil and ecclesiastical dignities.’ <i>Dodd's +Church History</i>, edit. Tierney, 1840, vol. iii. appendix no. xii. p. +xlvi. The same influential writer, in his <i>Admonition</i>, said that she +had injured England, ‘by great contempt and abasing of the ancient +nobility, repelling them from due government, offices, and places of +honour.’ <i>Allen's Admonition to the Nobility and People of England and +Ireland</i>, 1588 (reprinted London, 1842), p. xv. Compare the account +of the Bull of 1588, in <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. x. p. 175: ‘On +accusoit Elisabeth d'avoir au préjudice de la noblesse angloise élevé +aux dignités, tant civiles qu'ecclésiastiques, des hommes nouveaux, sans +naissance, et indignes de les posséder.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_347_347" id="Footnote_347_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347_347"><span class="label">[347]</span></a> To the philosophic historian this rebellion, though not +sufficiently appreciated by ordinary writers, is a very important study, +because it is the last attempt ever made by the great English families +to establish their authority by force of arms. Mr. Wright says, that +probably all those who took a leading part in it ‘were allied by blood +or intermarriage with the two families of the Percies and Neviles.’ +<i>Wright's Elizabeth</i>, 1838, vol. i. p. xxxiv.; a valuable work. See +also, in <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 730, a list of some of those who, in +1571, were attainted on account of this rebellion, and who are said to +be ‘all of the best families in the north of England.’</p> + +<p>But the most complete evidence we have respecting this struggle, +consists of the collection of original documents published in 1840 by +Sir C. Sharpe, under the title of <i>Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569</i>. +They show very clearly the real nature of the outbreak. On 17th November +1569, Sir George Bowes writes, that the complaint of the insurgents was +that ‘there was certaine counsellors cropen’ (<i>i.e.</i> crept) ‘in aboute +the prince, which had excluded the nobility from the prince,’ &c., +<i>Memorials</i>, p. 42; and the editor's note says that this is one of the +charges made in all the proclamations by the earls. Perhaps the most +curious proof of how notorious the policy of Elizabeth had become, is +contained in a friendly letter from Sussex to Cecil, dated 5th January +1569 (<i>Memorials</i>, p. 137), one paragraph of which begins, ‘Of late +years few young noblemen have been employed in service.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_348_348" id="Footnote_348_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348_348"><span class="label">[348]</span></a> <i>Hallam</i>, i. p. 130; <i>Lingard</i>, v. pp. 97, 102; <i>Turner</i>, +xii. pp. 245, 247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_349_349" id="Footnote_349_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349_349"><span class="label">[349]</span></a> <i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 241; an interesting +passage. Turner (<i>Hist. of England</i>, vol. xii. p. 237) says, that Cecil +‘knew the tendency of the great lords to combine against the crown, that +they might reinstate the peerage in the power from which the house of +Tudor had depressed it.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_350_350" id="Footnote_350_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350_350"><span class="label">[350]</span></a> In 1572 the order of dukes became extinct; and was not +revived till fifty years afterwards, when James I. made the miserable +Villiers, duke of Buckingham. <i>Blackstone's Commentaries</i>, vol. i. p. +397. This evidently attracted attention; for Ben Jonson, in one of his +comedies in 1616, mentions ‘the received heresy that England bears no +dukes.’ <i>Jonson's Works</i>, edit. Gifford, 1816, vol. v. p. 47, where +Gifford, not being aware of the extinction in 1572, has made an +unsatisfactory note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_351_351" id="Footnote_351_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351_351"><span class="label">[351]</span></a> Clarendon (<i>Hist. of the Rebellion</i>, p. 216) truly calls +it ‘the most prodigious and the boldest rebellion, that any age or +country ever brought forth.’ See also some striking remarks in +<i>Warwick's Memoirs</i>, p. 207.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p></div> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot">THE ENERGY OF THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT IN FRANCE EXPLAINS THE +FAILURE OF THE FRONDE. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FRONDE +AND THE CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH REBELLION.</div> + +<p>The object of the last chapter was to enquire into the +origin of the protective spirit. From the evidence there +collected, it appears that this spirit was first organized +into a distinct secular form at the close of the dark ages; +but that, owing to circumstances which then arose, it +was, from the beginning, much less powerful in England +than in France. It has likewise appeared that, in our +country, it continued to lose ground; while in France, +it early in the fourteenth century assumed a new shape, +and gave rise to a centralizing movement, manifested +not only in the civil and political institutions, but also +in the social and literary habits of the French nation. +Thus far we seem to have cleared the way for a proper +understanding of the history of the two countries; and +I now purpose to follow this up a little further, and +point out how this difference explains the discrepancy +between the civil wars of England, and those which at +the same time broke out in France.</p> + +<p>Among the obvious circumstances connected with +the Great English Rebellion, the most remarkable is, +that it was a war of classes as well as of factions. +From the beginning of the contest, the yeomanry and +traders adhered to the parliament;<a name="FNanchor_352_352" id="FNanchor_352_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_352" class="fnanchor">[352]</a> the nobles and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +clergy rallied round the throne.<a name="FNanchor_353_353" id="FNanchor_353_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_353" class="fnanchor">[353]</a> And the name given +to the two parties, of Roundheads<a name="FNanchor_354_354" id="FNanchor_354_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_354" class="fnanchor">[354]</a> and Cavaliers,<a name="FNanchor_355_355" id="FNanchor_355_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_355_355" class="fnanchor">[355]</a> +proves that the true nature of this opposition was +generally known. It proves that men were aware that +a question was at issue, upon which England was +divided, not so much by the particular interests of individuals, +as by the general interests of the classes to +which those individuals belonged.</p> + +<p>But in the history of the French rebellion, there is +no trace of so large a division. The objects of the war +were in both countries precisely the same: the machinery +by which those objects were attained was very +different. The Fronde was like our Rebellion, insomuch +that it was a struggle of the parliament against the +crown; an attempt to secure liberty, and raise up a +barrier against the despotism of government.<a name="FNanchor_356_356" id="FNanchor_356_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_356_356" class="fnanchor">[356]</a> So far,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +and so long, as we merely take a view of political objects, +the parallel is complete. But the social and intellectual +antecedents of the French being very different from +those of the English, it necessarily followed that the +shape which the rebellion took should likewise be different, +even though the motives were the same. If we +examine this divergence a little nearer, we shall find +that it is connected with the circumstance I have +already noticed—namely, that in England a war for +liberty was accompanied by a war of classes, while in +France there was no war of classes at all. From this +it resulted, that in France the rebellion, being merely +political, and not, as with us, also social, took less hold +of the public mind: it was unaccompanied by those +feelings of insubordination, in the absence of which +freedom has always been impossible; and, striking no +root into the national character, it could not save the +country from that servile state into which, a few years +later, it, under the government of Louis XIV. rapidly +fell.</p> + +<p>That our Great Rebellion was, in its external form, a +war of classes, is one of those palpable facts which lie +on the surface of history. At first, the parliament<a name="FNanchor_357_357" id="FNanchor_357_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_357_357" class="fnanchor">[357]</a> did +indeed attempt to draw over to their side some of the +nobles; and in this they for a time succeeded. But as +the struggle advanced, the futility of this policy became +evident. In the natural order of the great movement, +the nobles grew more loyal;<a name="FNanchor_358_358" id="FNanchor_358_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_358" class="fnanchor">[358]</a> the parliament grew more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +democratic.<a name="FNanchor_359_359" id="FNanchor_359_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_359_359" class="fnanchor">[359]</a> And when it was clearly seen that both +parties were determined either to conquer or to die, this +antagonism of classes was too clearly marked to be misunderstood; +the perception which each had of its own +interests being sharpened by the magnitude of the stake +for which they contended.</p> + +<p>For, without burdening this Introduction with what +may be read in our common histories, it will be sufficient +to remind the reader of a few of the conspicuous events +of that time. Just before the war began, the Earl of +Essex was appointed general of the parliamentary forces, +with the Earl of Bedford as his lieutenant. A commission +to raise troops was likewise given to the Earl of +Manchester,<a name="FNanchor_360_360" id="FNanchor_360_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_360_360" class="fnanchor">[360]</a> the only man of high rank against whom +Charles had displayed open enmity.<a name="FNanchor_361_361" id="FNanchor_361_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_361" class="fnanchor">[361]</a> Notwithstanding +these marks of confidence, the nobles, in whom parliament +was at first disposed to trust, could not avoid<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +showing the old leaven of their order.<a name="FNanchor_362_362" id="FNanchor_362_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_362" class="fnanchor">[362]</a> The Earl of +Essex so conducted himself, as to inspire the popular +party with the greatest apprehensions of his treachery;<a name="FNanchor_363_363" id="FNanchor_363_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_363_363" class="fnanchor">[363]</a> +and when the defence of London was intrusted to Waller, +he so obstinately refused to enter the name of that able +officer in the commission, that the Commons were +obliged to insert it by virtue of their own authority, and +in spite of their own general.<a name="FNanchor_364_364" id="FNanchor_364_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_364_364" class="fnanchor">[364]</a> The Earl of Bedford, +though he had received a military command, did not +hesitate to abandon those who conferred it. This apostate +noble fled from Westminster to Oxford: but finding +that the king, who never forgave his enemies, did not +receive him with the favour he expected, he returned +to London; where, though he was allowed to remain +in safety, it could not be supposed that he should again +experience the confidence of parliament.<a name="FNanchor_365_365" id="FNanchor_365_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_365_365" class="fnanchor">[365]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such examples as these were not likely to lessen the +distrust which both parties felt for each other. It soon +became evident that a war of classes was unavoidable, +and that the rebellion of the parliament against the +king must be reinforced by a rebellion of the people +against the nobles.<a name="FNanchor_366_366" id="FNanchor_366_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_366_366" class="fnanchor">[366]</a> To this the popular party, whatever +may have been their first intention, now willingly +agreed. In 1645 they enacted a law, by which not +only the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Manchester lost +their command, but all members of either house were +made incapable of military service.<a name="FNanchor_367_367" id="FNanchor_367_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_367_367" class="fnanchor">[367]</a> And, only a week +after the execution of the king, they formally took away +the legislative power of the peers; putting at the same +time on record their memorable opinion, that the House +of Lords is ‘useless, dangerous, and ought to be +abolished.’<a name="FNanchor_368_368" id="FNanchor_368_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_368_368" class="fnanchor">[368]</a></p> + +<p>But we may find proofs still more convincing of the +true character of the English rebellion, if we consider +who those were by whom it was accomplished. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +will show us the democratic nature of a movement which +lawyers and antiquaries have vainly attempted to shelter +under the form of constitutional precedent. Our great +rebellion was the work, not of men who looked behind, +but of men who looked before. To attempt to trace it +to personal and temporary causes; to ascribe this unparalleled +outbreak to a dispute respecting ship-money, +or to a quarrel about the privileges of parliament, can +only suit the habits of those historians who see no +further than the preamble of a statute, or the decision +of a judge. Such writers forget that the trial of Hampden, +and the impeachment of the five members, could +have produced no effect on the country, unless the +people had already been prepared, and unless the spirit +of inquiry and insubordination had so increased the +discontents of men, as to put them in a state, where, +the train being laid, the slightest spark sufficed to kindle +a conflagration.</p> + +<p>The truth is, that the rebellion was an outbreak of +the democratic spirit. It was the political form of a +movement, of which the Reformation was the religious +form. As the Reformation was aided, not by men in +high ecclesiastical offices, not by great cardinals or +wealthy bishops, but by men filling the lowest and most +subordinate posts, just so was the English rebellion a +movement from below, an uprising from the foundations, +or as some will have it, the dregs of society. The +few persons of high rank who adhered to the popular +cause were quickly discarded, and the ease and rapidity +with which they fell off was a clear indication of the +turn that things were taking. Directly the army was +freed from its noble leaders, and supplied with officers +drawn from the lower classes, the fortune of war +changed, the royalists were every where defeated, and +the king made prisoner by his own subjects. Between +his capture and execution, the two most important political +events were his abduction by Joyce, and the forcible +expulsion from the House of Commons of those members +who were thought likely to interfere in his favour. +Both these decisive steps were taken, and indeed only +could have been taken, by men of great personal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +influence, and of a bold and resolute spirit. Joyce, who +carried off the king, and who was highly respected in +the army, had, however, been recently a common +working tailor;<a name="FNanchor_369_369" id="FNanchor_369_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_369_369" class="fnanchor">[369]</a> while Colonel Pride, whose name is +preserved in history as having purged the House of +Commons of the malignants, was about on a level with +Joyce, since his original occupation was that of a drayman.<a name="FNanchor_370_370" id="FNanchor_370_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_370_370" class="fnanchor">[370]</a> +The tailor and the drayman were, in that age, +strong enough to direct the course of public affairs, and +to win for themselves a conspicuous position in the +state. After the execution of Charles, the same tendency +was displayed, the old monarchy being destroyed, +that small but active party known as the fifth-monarchy +men increased in importance, and for a time exercised +considerable influence. Their three principal and most +distinguished members were Venner, Tuffnel, and Okey. +Venner, who was the leader, was a wine-cooper;<a name="FNanchor_371_371" id="FNanchor_371_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_371" class="fnanchor">[371]</a> +Tuffnel, who was second in command, was a carpenter;<a name="FNanchor_372_372" id="FNanchor_372_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_372_372" class="fnanchor">[372]</a> +and Okey, though he became a colonel, had filled the +menial office of stoker in an Islington brewery.<a name="FNanchor_373_373" id="FNanchor_373_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_373_373" class="fnanchor">[373]</a></p> + +<p>Nor are these to be regarded as exceptional cases. In +that period, promotion depended solely on merit; and +if a man had ability he was sure to rise, no matter what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +his birth or former avocations might have been. Cromwell +himself was a brewer;<a name="FNanchor_374_374" id="FNanchor_374_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_374_374" class="fnanchor">[374]</a> and Colonel Jones, his +brother-in-law, had been servant to a private gentleman.<a name="FNanchor_375_375" id="FNanchor_375_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_375" class="fnanchor">[375]</a> +Deane was the servant of a tradesman; but he +became an admiral, and was made one of the commissioners +of the navy.<a name="FNanchor_376_376" id="FNanchor_376_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_376" class="fnanchor">[376]</a> Colonel Goffe had been apprentice +to a drysalter;<a name="FNanchor_377_377" id="FNanchor_377_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_377_377" class="fnanchor">[377]</a> Major-general Whalley had been +apprentice to a draper.<a name="FNanchor_378_378" id="FNanchor_378_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_378_378" class="fnanchor">[378]</a> Skippon, a common soldier +who had received no education,<a name="FNanchor_379_379" id="FNanchor_379_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_379_379" class="fnanchor">[379]</a> was appointed commander +of the London militia; he was raised to the +office of sergeant-major-general of the army; he was +declared commander-in-chief in Ireland; and he became +one of the fourteen members of Cromwell's council.<a name="FNanchor_380_380" id="FNanchor_380_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_380_380" class="fnanchor">[380]</a> +Two of the lieutenants of the Tower were Berkstead<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +and Tichborne. Berkstead was a pedlar, or at all events +a hawker of small wares;<a name="FNanchor_381_381" id="FNanchor_381_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_381_381" class="fnanchor">[381]</a> and Tichborne, who was a +linendraper, not only received the lieutenancy of the +Tower, but became a colonel, and a member of the +committee of state in 1655, and of the council of state +in 1659.<a name="FNanchor_382_382" id="FNanchor_382_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_382_382" class="fnanchor">[382]</a> Other trades were equally successful; the +highest prizes being open to all men, provided they +displayed the requisite capacity. Colonel Harvey was +a silk-mercer;<a name="FNanchor_383_383" id="FNanchor_383_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_383_383" class="fnanchor">[383]</a> so was Colonel Rowe;<a name="FNanchor_384_384" id="FNanchor_384_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_384" class="fnanchor">[384]</a> so also was +Colonel Venn.<a name="FNanchor_385_385" id="FNanchor_385_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_385_385" class="fnanchor">[385]</a> Salway had been apprentice to a +grocer, but, being an able man, he rose to the rank of +major in the army; he received the king's remembrancer's +office; and in 1659 he was appointed by +parliament a member of the council of state.<a name="FNanchor_386_386" id="FNanchor_386_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_386_386" class="fnanchor">[386]</a> Around +that council-board were also gathered Bond the draper,<a name="FNanchor_387_387" id="FNanchor_387_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_387_387" class="fnanchor">[387]</a> +and Cawley the brewer;<a name="FNanchor_388_388" id="FNanchor_388_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_388" class="fnanchor">[388]</a> while by their side we find +John Berners, who is said to have been a private servant,<a name="FNanchor_389_389" id="FNanchor_389_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_389_389" class="fnanchor">[389]</a> +and Cornelius Holland, who is known to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +been a servant, and who was, indeed, formerly a link-boy.<a name="FNanchor_390_390" id="FNanchor_390_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_390" class="fnanchor">[390]</a> +Among others who were now favoured and +promoted to offices of trust, were Packe the woollen-draper,<a name="FNanchor_391_391" id="FNanchor_391_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_391_391" class="fnanchor">[391]</a> +Pury the weaver,<a name="FNanchor_392_392" id="FNanchor_392_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_392_392" class="fnanchor">[392]</a> and Pemble the tailor.<a name="FNanchor_393_393" id="FNanchor_393_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_393" class="fnanchor">[393]</a> +The parliament which was summoned in 1653 is still +remembered as Barebone's parliament, being so called +after one of its most active members, whose name was +Barebone, and who was a leather-seller in Fleet Street.<a name="FNanchor_394_394" id="FNanchor_394_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_394" class="fnanchor">[394]</a> +Thus too, Downing, though a poor charity-boy,<a name="FNanchor_395_395" id="FNanchor_395_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_395" class="fnanchor">[395]</a> became +teller of the exchequer, and representative of +England at the Hague.<a name="FNanchor_396_396" id="FNanchor_396_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_396_396" class="fnanchor">[396]</a> To these we may add, that +Colonel Horton had been a gentleman's servant;<a name="FNanchor_397_397" id="FNanchor_397_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_397_397" class="fnanchor">[397]</a> +Colonel Berry had been a woodmonger;<a name="FNanchor_398_398" id="FNanchor_398_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_398" class="fnanchor">[398]</a> Colonel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +Cooper a haberdasher;<a name="FNanchor_399_399" id="FNanchor_399_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_399_399" class="fnanchor">[399]</a> Major Rolfe a shoemaker;<a name="FNanchor_400_400" id="FNanchor_400_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_400" class="fnanchor">[400]</a> +Colonel Fox a tinker;<a name="FNanchor_401_401" id="FNanchor_401_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_401_401" class="fnanchor">[401]</a> and Colonel Hewson a cobbler.<a name="FNanchor_402_402" id="FNanchor_402_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_402_402" class="fnanchor">[402]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the leaders of the English rebellion, or to +speak more properly, such were the instruments by +which the rebellion was consummated.<a name="FNanchor_403_403" id="FNanchor_403_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_403_403" class="fnanchor">[403]</a> If we now +turn to France, we shall clearly see the difference +between the feelings and temper of the two nations. In +that country, the old protective spirit still retained its +activity; and the people, being kept in a state of pupilage, +had not acquired those habits of self-command and +self-reliance, by which alone great things can be effected. +They had been so long accustomed to look with timid +reverence to the upper classes, that, even when they +rose in arms, they could not throw off the ideas of submission +which were quickly discarded by our ancestors. +The influence of the higher ranks was, in England,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +constantly diminishing; in France, it was scarcely +impaired. Hence it happened that, although the +English and French rebellions were contemporary, and, +in their origin, aimed at precisely the same objects, +they were distinguished by one most important difference. +This was, that the English rebels were headed +by popular leaders; the French rebels by noble leaders. +The bold and sturdy habits which had long been cultivated +in England, enabled the middle and lower classes +to supply their own chiefs out of their own ranks. In +France such chiefs were not to be found; simply because, +owing to the protective spirit, such habits had +not been cultivated. While, therefore, in our island, +the functions of civil government, and of war, were +conducted with conspicuous ability, and complete success, +by butchers, by bakers, by brewers, by cobblers, +and by tinkers, the struggle which, at the same moment, +was going on in France, presented an appearance +totally different. In that country, the rebellion was +headed by men of a far higher standing; men, indeed, +of the longest and most illustrious lineage. There, to +be sure, was a display of unexampled splendour; a +galaxy of rank, a noble assemblage of aristocratic insurgents +and titled demagogues. There was the Prince +de Condé, the Prince de Conti, the Prince de Marsillac, +the Duke de Bouillon, the Duke de Beaufort, the Duke +de Longueville, the Duke de Chevreuse, the Duke de +Nemours, the Duke de Luynes, the Duke de Brissac, +the Duke d'Elbœuf, the Duke de Candale, the Duke de +la Tremouille, the Marquis de la Boulaye, the Marquis +de Laigues, the Marquis de Noirmoutier, the Marquis +de Vitry, the Marquis de Fosseuse, the Marquis de +Sillery, the Marquis d'Estissac, the Marquis d'Hocquincourt, +the Count de Rantzau, the Count de Montresor.</p> + +<p>These were the leaders of the Fronde;<a name="FNanchor_404_404" id="FNanchor_404_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_404_404" class="fnanchor">[404]</a> and the +mere announcement of their names indicate the difference<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +between the French and English rebellions. And, +in consequence of this difference, there followed some +results, which are well worth the attention of those +writers who, in their ignorance of the progress of human +affairs, seek to uphold that aristocratic power, which, +fortunately for the interests of mankind, has long been +waning; and which, during the last seventy years has, +in the most civilized countries, received such severe and +repeated shocks, that its ultimate fate is hardly a matter +respecting which much doubt can now be entertained.</p> + +<p>The English rebellion was headed by men, whose +tastes, habits, and associations, being altogether popular, +formed a bond of sympathy between them and the +people, and preserved the union of the whole party. In +France the sympathy was very weak, and therefore, the +union was very precarious. What sort of sympathy +could there be between the mechanic and the peasant, +toiling for their daily bread, and the rich and dissolute +noble, whose life was passed in those idle and frivolous +pursuits which debased his mind, and made his order a +byword and a reproach among the nations? To talk +of sympathy existing between the two classes is a manifest +absurdity, and most assuredly would have been +deemed an insult by those high-born men, who treated +their inferiors with habitual and insolent contempt. It +is true, that, from causes which have been already +stated, the people did, unhappily for themselves, look +up to those above them with the greatest veneration;<a name="FNanchor_405_405" id="FNanchor_405_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_405_405" class="fnanchor">[405]</a> +but every page of French history proves how unworthily +this feeling was reciprocated, and in how complete a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +thraldom the lower classes were kept. While, therefore, +the French, from their long-established habits of +dependence, were become incapable of conducting their +own rebellion, and, on that account, were obliged to +place themselves under the command of their nobles, +this very necessity confirmed the servility which caused +it; and thus stunting the growth of freedom, prevented +the nation from effecting, by their civil wars, those +great things which we, in England, were able to bring +about by ours.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it is only necessary to read the French literature +of the seventeenth century, to see the incompatibility +of the two classes, and the utter hopelessness of +fusing into one party the popular and aristocratic spirit. +While the object of the people was to free themselves +from the yoke, the object of the nobles was merely to +find new sources of excitement,<a name="FNanchor_406_406" id="FNanchor_406_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_406_406" class="fnanchor">[406]</a> and minister to that +personal vanity for which, as a body, they have always +been notorious. As this is a department of history that +has been little studied, it will be interesting to collect a +few instances, which will illustrate the temper of the +French aristocracy, and will show what sort of honours, +and what manner of distinctions, those were which this +powerful class was most anxious to obtain.</p> + +<p>That the objects chiefly coveted were of a very trifling +description, will be anticipated by whoever has studied +the effect which, in an immense majority of minds, +hereditary distinctions produce upon personal character. +How pernicious such distinctions are, may be clearly +seen in the history of all the European aristocracies; +and in the notorious fact, that none of them have preserved +even a mediocrity of talent, except in countries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +where they are frequently invigorated by the infusion +of plebeian blood, and their order strengthened by the +accession of those masculine energies which are natural +to men who make their own position, but cannot be +looked for in men whose position is made for them. +For, when the notion is once firmly implanted in the +mind, that the source of honour is from without, rather +than from within, it must invariably happen that the +possession of external distinction will be preferred to +the sense of internal power. In such cases, the majesty +of the human intellect, and the dignity of human knowledge, +are considered subordinate to those mock and +spurious gradations by which weak men measure the +degrees of their own littleness. Hence it is, that the +real precedence of things becomes altogether reversed; +that which is trifling is valued more than that which is +great; and the mind is enervated by conforming to a +false standard of merit, which its own prejudices have +raised. On this account, they are evidently in the wrong +who reproach the nobles with their pride, as if it were +a characteristic of their order. The truth is, that if +pride were once established among them, their extinction +would rapidly follow. To talk of the pride of +hereditary rank, is a contradiction in terms. Pride +depends on the consciousness of self-applause; vanity +is fed by the applause of others. Pride is a reserved +and lofty passion, which disdains those external distinctions +that vanity eagerly grasps. The proud man +sees in his own mind, the source of his own dignity; +which, as he well knows, can be neither increased or +diminished by any acts except those which proceed +solely from himself. The vain man, restless, insatiable, +and always craving after the admiration of his contemporaries, +must naturally make great account of those +external marks, those visible tokens, which, whether +they be decorations or titles, strike directly on the +senses, and thus captivate the vulgar, to whose understandings +they are immediately obvious. This, therefore, +being the great distinction, that pride looks within, +while vanity looks without, it is clear that when a man +values himself for a rank which he inherited by chance,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +without exertion, and without merit, it is a proof, not +of pride, but of vanity, and of vanity of the most despicable +kind. It is a proof that such a man has no +sense of real dignity, no idea of what that is in which +alone all greatness consists. What marvel if, to minds +of this sort, the most insignificant trifles should swell into +matters of the highest importance? What marvel if such +empty understandings should be busied with ribbons, +and stars, and crosses; if this noble should yearn after +the Garter, and that noble pine for the Golden Fleece; +if one man should long to carry a wand in the precincts +of the court, and another man to fill an office in the +royal household; while the ambition of a third is to +make his daughter a maid-of-honour, or to raise his +wife to be mistress of the robes?</p> + +<p>We, seeing these things, ought not to be surprised +that the French nobles, in the seventeenth century, +displayed, in their intrigues and disputes, a frivolity, +which, though redeemed by occasional exceptions, is the +natural characteristic of every hereditary aristocracy. +A few examples of this will suffice to give the reader +some idea of the tastes and temper of that powerful +class which, during several centuries, retarded the progress +of French civilization.</p> + +<p>Of all the questions on which the French nobles were +divided, the most important was that touching the right +of sitting in the royal presence. This was considered to +be a matter of such gravity, that, in comparison with it, +a mere struggle for liberty faded into insignificance. +And what made it still more exciting to the minds of the +nobles was, the extreme difficulty with which this great +social problem was beset. According to the ancient +etiquette of the French court, if a man were a duke, his +wife might sit in the presence of the queen; but if his +rank were inferior, even if he were a marquis, no such +liberty could be allowed.<a name="FNanchor_407_407" id="FNanchor_407_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_407_407" class="fnanchor">[407]</a> So far, the rule was very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +simple, and, to the duchesses themselves, highly agreeable. +But the marquises, the counts, and the other +illustrious nobles, were uneasy at this invidious distinction, +and exerted all their energies to procure for +their own wives the same honour. This the dukes +strenuously resisted; but, owing to circumstances which +unfortunately are not fully understood, an innovation +was made in the reign of Louis XIII., and the privilege +of sitting in the same room with the queen was conceded +to the female members of the Bouillon family.<a name="FNanchor_408_408" id="FNanchor_408_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_408_408" class="fnanchor">[408]</a> In consequence +of this evil precedent, the question became +seriously complicated, since other members of the aristocracy +considered that the purity of their descent gave +them claims nowise inferior to those of the house of +Bouillon, whose antiquity, they said, had been grossly +exaggerated. The contest which ensued, had the effect +of breaking up the nobles into two hostile parties, one of +which sought to preserve that exclusive privilege in +which the other wished to participate. To reconcile +these rival pretensions, various expedients were suggested; +but all were in vain, and the court, during the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +administration of Mazarin, being pressed by the fear of +a rebellion, showed symptoms of giving way, and of +yielding to the inferior nobles the point they so ardently +desired. In 1648 and 1649, the queen-regent, acting +under the advice of her council, formally conceded the +right of sitting in the royal presence to the three most +distinguished members of the lower aristocracy, namely, +the Countess de Fleix, Madame de Pons, and the Princess +de Marsillac.<a name="FNanchor_409_409" id="FNanchor_409_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_409_409" class="fnanchor">[409]</a> Scarcely had this decision been +promulgated, when the princes of the blood and the +peers of the realm were thrown into the greatest agitation.<a name="FNanchor_410_410" id="FNanchor_410_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_410_410" class="fnanchor">[410]</a> +They immediately summoned to the capital those +members of their own order who were interested in repelling +this daring aggression, and, forming themselves +into an assembly, they at once adopted measures to +vindicate their ancient rights.<a name="FNanchor_411_411" id="FNanchor_411_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_411_411" class="fnanchor">[411]</a> On the other hand, the +inferior nobles, flushed by their recent success, insisted +that the concession just made should be raised into a +precedent; and that, as the honour of being seated in +the presence of majesty had been conceded to the house +of Foix, in the person of the Countess de Fleix, it should +likewise be granted to all those who could prove that +their ancestry was equally illustrious.<a name="FNanchor_412_412" id="FNanchor_412_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_412_412" class="fnanchor">[412]</a> The greatest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +confusion now arose; and both sides urgently insisting +on their own claims, there was, for many months, imminent +danger lest the question should be decided by an +appeal to the sword.<a name="FNanchor_413_413" id="FNanchor_413_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_413_413" class="fnanchor">[413]</a> But as the higher nobles, though +less numerous than their opponents, were more powerful, +the dispute was finally settled in their favour. The +queen sent to their assembly a formal message, which +was conveyed by four of the marshals of France, and in +which she promised to revoke those privileges, the concession +of which had given such offence to the most +illustrious members of the French aristocracy. At the +same time, the marshals not only pledged themselves as +responsible for the promise of the queen, but undertook +to sign an agreement that they would personally superintend +its execution.<a name="FNanchor_414_414" id="FNanchor_414_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_414_414" class="fnanchor">[414]</a> The nobles, however, who felt +that they had been aggrieved in their most tender point, +were not yet satisfied, and, to appease them, it was +necessary that the atonement should be as public as the +injury. It was found necessary, before they would +peaceably disperse, that government should issue a document, +signed by the queen-regent, and by the four +secretaries of state,<a name="FNanchor_415_415" id="FNanchor_415_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_415_415" class="fnanchor">[415]</a> in which the favours granted to +the unprivileged nobility were withdrawn, and the +much-cherished honour of sitting in the royal presence +was taken away from the Princess de Marsillac, from +Madame de Pons, and from the Countess de Fleix.<a name="FNanchor_416_416" id="FNanchor_416_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_416_416" class="fnanchor">[416]</a></p> + +<p>These were the subjects which occupied the minds +and wasted the energies, of the French nobles, while +their country was distracted by civil war, and while +questions were at issue of the greatest importance—questions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +concerning the liberty of the nation, and the +reconstruction of the government.<a name="FNanchor_417_417" id="FNanchor_417_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_417_417" class="fnanchor">[417]</a> It is hardly necessary +to point out how unfit such men must have been +to head the people in their arduous struggle, and how +immense was the difference between them and the +leaders of the great English Rebellion. The causes of +the failure of the Fronde are, indeed, obvious, when we +consider that its chiefs were drawn from that very +class respecting whose tastes and feelings some evidence +has just been given.<a name="FNanchor_418_418" id="FNanchor_418_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_418_418" class="fnanchor">[418]</a> How that evidence might be +almost indefinitely extended, is well known to readers +of the French memoirs of the seventeenth century—a +class of works which, being mostly written either +by the nobles or their adherents, supplies the best +materials from which an opinion may be formed. In +looking into these authorities, where such matters are +related with a becoming sense of their importance, we +find the greatest difficulties and disputes arising as to +who was to have an arm-chair at court;<a name="FNanchor_419_419" id="FNanchor_419_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_419_419" class="fnanchor">[419]</a> who was to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +be invited to the royal dinners, and who was to be +excluded from them;<a name="FNanchor_420_420" id="FNanchor_420_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_420_420" class="fnanchor">[420]</a> who was to be kissed by the +queen, and who was not to be kissed by her;<a name="FNanchor_421_421" id="FNanchor_421_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_421_421" class="fnanchor">[421]</a> who +should have the first seat in church;<a name="FNanchor_422_422" id="FNanchor_422_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_422_422" class="fnanchor">[422]</a> what the proper +proportion was between the rank of different persons, +and the length of the cloth on which they were allowed +to stand;<a name="FNanchor_423_423" id="FNanchor_423_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_423_423" class="fnanchor">[423]</a> what was the dignity a noble must have +attained, in order to justify his entering the Louvre in +a coach;<a name="FNanchor_424_424" id="FNanchor_424_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_424_424" class="fnanchor">[424]</a> who was to have precedence at coronations;<a name="FNanchor_425_425" id="FNanchor_425_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_425_425" class="fnanchor">[425]</a> +whether all dukes were equal, or whether, as +some thought, the Duke de Bouillon, having once possessed +the sovereignty of Sedan, was superior to the +Duke de la Rochefoucauld, who had never possessed +any sovereignty at all;<a name="FNanchor_426_426" id="FNanchor_426_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_426_426" class="fnanchor">[426]</a> whether the Duke de Beaufort<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +ought or ought not to enter the council-chamber +before the Duke de Nemours, and whether, being there, +he ought to sit above him.<a name="FNanchor_427_427" id="FNanchor_427_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_427_427" class="fnanchor">[427]</a> These were the great +questions of the day: while, as if to exhaust every form +of absurdity, the most serious misunderstandings arose +as to who should have the honour of giving the king +his napkin as he ate his meals<a name="FNanchor_428_428" id="FNanchor_428_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_428_428" class="fnanchor">[428]</a> and who was to enjoy +the inestimable privilege of helping on the queen with +her shift.<a name="FNanchor_429_429" id="FNanchor_429_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_429_429" class="fnanchor">[429]</a></p> + +<p>It may, perhaps, be thought that I owe some apology +to the reader for obtruding upon his notice these miserable +disputes respecting matters which, however despicable +they now appear, were once valued by men not +wholly devoid of understanding. But, it should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +remembered that their occurrence, and above all, the +importance formerly attached to them, is part of the +history of the French mind; and they are therefore to +be estimated, not according to their intrinsic dignity, +but according to the information they supply respecting +a state of things which has now passed away. Events +of this sort, though neglected by ordinary historians, +are among the staff and staple of history. Not only do +they assist in bringing before our minds the age to +which they refer, but in a philosophic point of view they +are highly important. They are part of the materials +from which we may generalize the laws of that great +protective spirit, which in different periods assumes +different shapes; but which, whatever its form may be, +always owes its power to the feeling of veneration as +opposed to the feeling of independence. How natural +this power is, in certain stages of society, becomes +evident if we examine the basis on which veneration is +itself supported. The origin of veneration is wonder +and fear. These two passions, either alone or combined, +are the ordinary source of veneration; and the +way in which they arise is obvious. We wonder because +we are ignorant, and we fear because we are +weak. It is therefore natural, that in former times, +when men were more ignorant and more weak than +they now are, they should likewise have been more +given to veneration, more inclined to those habits of +reverence, which if carried into religion, cause superstition, +and if carried into politics, cause despotism. +In the ordinary march of society, those evils are remedied +by that progress of knowledge, which at once +lessens our ignorance and increases our resources: in +other words, which diminishes our proneness to wonder +and to fear, and thus weakening our feelings of veneration, +strengthens, in the same proportion, our feelings +of independence. But in France, this natural tendency +was, as we have already seen, counteracted by an opposite +tendency; so that while, on the one hand, the +protective spirit was enfeebled by the advance of knowledge, +it was, on the other hand, invigorated by those +social and political circumstances which I have attempted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +to trace; and by virtue of which, each class +exercising great power over the one below it, the +subordination and subserviency of the whole were +completely maintained. Hence the mind became accustomed +to look upwards, and to rely, not on its own +resources, but on the resources of others. Hence that +pliant and submissive disposition, for which the French, +until the eighteenth century, were always remarkable. +Hence, too, that inordinate respect for the opinions of +others, on which vanity, as one of their national characteristics, +is founded.<a name="FNanchor_430_430" id="FNanchor_430_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_430_430" class="fnanchor">[430]</a> For, the feelings of vanity and of +veneration have evidently this in common, that they +induce each man to measure his actions by a standard +external to himself; while the opposite feelings of +pride and of independence would make him prefer that +internal standard which his own mind alone can supply. +The result of all this was, that when, in the middle of +the seventeenth century, the intellectual movement +stimulated the French to rebellion, its effect was neutralized +by that social tendency which, even in the +midst of the struggle, kept alive the habits of their old +subservience. Thus it was that, while the war went on, +there still remained a constant inclination on the part +of the people to look up to the nobles, on the part of +the nobles to look up to the crown. Both classes +relied upon what they saw immediately above them. +The people believed that without the nobles there was +no safety; the nobles believed that without the crown +there was no honour. In the case of the nobles, this +opinion can hardly be blamed; for as their distinctions +proceed from the crown, they have a direct interest in +upholding the ancient notion that the sovereign is the +fountain of honour. They have a direct interest in +that preposterous doctrine, according to which, the true +source of honour being overlooked, our attention is +directed to an imaginary source, by whose operation it +is believed, that in a moment, and at the mere will of a +prince, the highest honours may be conferred upon the +meanest men. This, indeed, is but part of the old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +scheme to create distinctions for which nature has +given no warrant; to substitute a superiority which is +conventional for that which is real; and thus try to +raise little minds above the level of great ones. The +utter failure, and, as society advances, the eventual +cessation of all such attempts, is certain; but it is +evident, that as long as the attempts are made, they +who profit by them must be inclined to value those +from whom they proceed. Unless counteracting circumstances +interpose, there must be between the two +parties that sympathy which is caused by the memory +of past favours, and the hope of future ones. In France, +this natural feeling being strengthened by that protective +spirit which induced men to cling to those +above them, it is not strange that the nobles, even in +the midst of their turbulence, should seek the slightest +favours of the crown with an eagerness of which some +examples have just been given. They had been so +long accustomed to look up to the sovereign as the +source of their own dignity, that they believed there +was some hidden dignity even in his commonest +actions; so that, to their minds, it was a matter of the +greatest importance which of them should hand him +his napkin, which of them should hold his basin, and +which of them should put on his shirt.<a name="FNanchor_431_431" id="FNanchor_431_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_431_431" class="fnanchor">[431]</a> It is not, +however, for the sake of casting ridicule upon these +idle and frivolous men, that I have collected evidence +respecting the disputes with which they were engrossed. +So far from this, they are rather to be pitied than +blamed: they acted according to their instincts; they +even exerted such slender abilities as nature had given +to them. But we may well feel for that great country +whose interests depended on their care. And it is +solely in reference to the fate of the French people +that the historian need trouble himself with the history<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +of the French nobles. At the same time, evidence of +this sort, by disclosing the tendencies of the old nobility, +displays in one of its most active forms that protective +and aristocratic spirit, of which they know little who +only know it in its present reduced and waning condition. +Such facts are to be regarded as the symptoms +of a cruel disease, by which Europe is indeed still +afflicted, but which we now see only in a very mitigated +form, and of whose native virulence no one can have an +idea, unless he has studied it in those early stages, +when, raging uncontrolled, it obtained such a mastery +as to check the growth of liberty, stop the progress +of nations, and dwarf the energies of the human +mind.</p> + +<p>It is hardly necessary to trace at greater length the +way in which France and England diverged from each +other, or to point out what I hope will henceforth be +considered the obvious difference between the civil +wars in the two countries. It is evident that the low-born +and plebeian leaders of our rebellion could have no +sympathy with those matters which perplexed the +understanding of the great French nobles. Men like +Cromwell and his co-adjutors were not much versed in +the mysteries of genealogy, or in the subtleties of heraldic +lore. They had paid small attention to the etiquette of +courts; they had not even studied the rules of precedence. +All this was foreign to their design. On the +other hand, what they did was done thoroughly. They +knew that they had a great work to perform; and they +performed it well.<a name="FNanchor_432_432" id="FNanchor_432_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_432_432" class="fnanchor">[432]</a> They had risen in arms against a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +corrupt and despotic government, and they would not +stay their hands until they had pulled down those who +were in high places; until they had not only removed +the evil, but had likewise chastised those bad men by +whom the evil was committed. And although in this, +their glorious undertaking, they did undoubtedly display +some of the infirmities to which even the highest +minds are subject; we, at least, ought never to speak +of them but with that unfeigned respect which is due +to those who taught the first great lesson to the kings +of Europe, and who, in language not to be mistaken, +proclaimed to them that the impunity which they had +long enjoyed was now come to an end, and that against +their transgressions the people possessed a remedy, +sharper, and more decisive, than any they had hitherto +ventured to use.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_352_352" id="Footnote_352_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352_352"><span class="label">[352]</span></a> ‘From the beginning it may be said that the yeomanry and +trading classes of towns were generally hostile to the king's side, even +in those counties which were in his military occupation; except in a +few, such as Cornwall, Worcester, Salop, and most of Wales, where the +prevailing sentiment was chiefly royalist.’ <i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. +i. p. 578. See also <i>Lingard's Hist. of England</i>, vol. vi. p. 304; and +<i>Alison's Hist. of Europe</i>, vol. i. p. 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_353_353" id="Footnote_353_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353_353"><span class="label">[353]</span></a> On this division of classes, which, notwithstanding a few +exceptions, is undoubtedly true as a general fact, compare <i>Memoirs of +Sir P. Warwick</i>, p. 217; <i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, vol. iii. p. 347; +<i>Clarendon's Hist. of the Rebellion</i>, pp. 294, 297, 345, 346, 401, +476; <i>May's Hist. of the Long Parliament</i>, book i. pp. +22, 64, book ii. p. 63, book iii. p. 78; <i>Hutchinson's Memoirs</i>, p. 100; +<i>Ludlow's Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 104, vol. iii. p. 258; <i>Bulstrode's +Memoirs</i>, p. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_354_354" id="Footnote_354_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354_354"><span class="label">[354]</span></a> Lord Clarendon says, in his grand style, ‘the rabble +contemned and despised under the name of roundheads.’ <i>Hist. of the +Rebellion</i>, p. 136. This was in 1641, when the title appears to have +been first bestowed. See <i>Fairfax Corresp.</i> vol. ii. pp. 185, 320.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_355_355" id="Footnote_355_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355_355"><span class="label">[355]</span></a> Just before the battle of Edgehill, in 1642, Charles said +to his troops, ‘You are called cavaliers in a reproachful +signification.’ See the king's speech, in <i>Somers Tracts</i>, vol. iv. p. +478. Directly after the battle, he accused his opponents of ‘rendering +all persons of honour odious to the common people, under the style of +cavaliers.’ <i>May's Hist. of the Long Parliament</i>, book iii. p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_356_356" id="Footnote_356_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356_356"><span class="label">[356]</span></a> M. Saint-Aulaire (<i>Hist. de la Fronde</i>, vol. i. p. v.) +says, that the object of the Frondeurs was, ‘limiter l'autorité royale, +consacrer les principes de la liberté civile et en confier la garde aux +compagnies souveraines;’ and at p. vi. he calls the declaration of 1648, +‘une véritable charte constitutionnelle.’ See also, at vol. i. p. 128, +the concluding paragraph of the speech of Omer Talon. Joly, who was much +displeased at this tendency, complains that in 1648, ‘le peuple tomboit +imperceptiblement dans le sentiment dangereux, qu'il est naturel et +permis de se défendre et de s'armer contre la violence des supérieurs.’ +<i>Mém. de Joly</i>, p. 15. Of the immediate objects proposed by the Fronde, +one was to diminish the taille, and another was to obtain a law that no +one should be kept in prison more than twenty-four hours, ‘sans être +remis entre les mains du parlement pour lui faire son procès s'il se +trouvoit criminel ou l'élargir s'il étoit innocent.’ <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, +vol. ii. p. 135; <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. ii. p. 398; <i>Mém. de +Retz</i>, vol. i. p. 265; <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. ii. pp. 224, 225, 240, +328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_357_357" id="Footnote_357_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357_357"><span class="label">[357]</span></a> I use the word ‘parliament’ in the sense given to it by +writers of that time, and not in the legal sense.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_358_358" id="Footnote_358_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358_358"><span class="label">[358]</span></a> In May 1642, there remained at Westminster forty-two peers, +<i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 559; but they gradually abandoned the +popular cause; and, according to <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. iii. p. 1282, so +dwindled, that eventually ‘seldom more than five or six’ were present.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_359_359" id="Footnote_359_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359_359"><span class="label">[359]</span></a> These increasing democratic tendencies are most clearly +indicated in Walker's curious work, <i>The History of Independency</i>. See +among other passages, book i. p. 59. And Clarendon, under the year 1644, +says (<i>Hist. of the Rebellion</i>, p. 514): ‘That violent party, which had +at first cozened the rest into the war, and afterwards obstructed all +the approaches towards peace, found now that they had finished as much +of their work as the tools which they had wrought with could be applied +to, and what remained to be done must be despatched by new workmen.’ +What these new workmen were, he afterwards explains, p. 641, to be ‘the +most inferior people preferred to all places of trust and profit.’ Book +xi. under the year 1648. Compare some good remarks by Mr. Bell, in +<i>Fairfax Correspond.</i> vol. iii. pp. 115, 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_360_360" id="Footnote_360_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360_360"><span class="label">[360]</span></a> This was after the appointments of Essex and Bedford, and +was in 1643. <i>Ludlow's Mem.</i> vol. i. p. 58; <i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, vol. +i. p. 189.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_361_361" id="Footnote_361_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361_361"><span class="label">[361]</span></a> ‘When the king attempted to arrest the five members, +Manchester, at that time Lord Kymbolton, was the only peer whom he +impeached. This circumstance endeared Kymbolton to the party; his own +safety bound him more closely to its interests.’ <i>Lingard's England</i>, +vol. vi. p. 337. Compare <i>Clarendon</i>, p. 375; <i>Ludlow</i>, vol. i. p. 20. +It is also said that Lord Essex joined the popular party from personal +pique against the king. <i>Fairfax Corresp.</i> vol. iii. p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_362_362" id="Footnote_362_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362_362"><span class="label">[362]</span></a> Mr. Carlyle has made some very characteristic, but very +just, observations on the ‘high Essexes and Manchesters of limited +notions and large estates.’ <i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, vol. i. p. 215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_363_363" id="Footnote_363_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363_363"><span class="label">[363]</span></a> <i>Ludlow's Memoirs</i>, vol. iii. p. 110; <i>Hutchinson's +Memoirs</i>, pp. 230, 231; <i>Harris's Lives of the Stuarts</i>, vol. iii. p. +106; <i>Bulstrode's Memoirs</i>, pp. 112, 113, 119; <i>Clarendon's Rebellion</i>, +pp. 486, 514; or, as Lord North puts it, ‘for General Essex began now to +appear to the private cabalists somewhat wresty.’ <i>North's Narrative of +Passages relating to the Long Parliament</i>, published in 1670, in <i>Somers +Tracts</i>, vol. vi. p. 578. At p. 584, the same elegant writer says of +Essex, ‘being the first person and last of the nobility employed by the +parliament in military affairs, which soon brought him to the period of +his life. And may he be an example to all future ages, to deter all +persons of like dignity from being instrumental in setting up a +democratical power, whose interest it is to keep down all persons of his +condition.’ The ‘Letter of Admonition’ addressed to him by parliament in +1644, is printed in <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. iii. p. 274.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_364_364" id="Footnote_364_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364_364"><span class="label">[364]</span></a> <i>Lingard's Hist. of England</i>, vol. vi. p. 318. See also, +on the hostility between Essex and Waller, <i>Walker's Hist. of +Independency</i>, part i. pp. 28, 29; and <i>Parl. Hist.</i> +vol. iii. p. 177. Sir Philip Warwick (<i>Memoirs</i>, p. 254) contemptuously +calls Waller ‘favourite-general of the city of London.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_365_365" id="Footnote_365_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365_365"><span class="label">[365]</span></a> Compare <i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. pp. 569, 570, with +<i>Bulstrode's Memoirs</i>, p. 96, and Lord Bedford's letter, in <i>Parl. +Hist.</i> vol. iii. pp. 189, 190. This shuffling letter confirms the +unfavourable account of the writer, which is given in <i>Clarendon's +Rebellion</i>, p. 422.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_366_366" id="Footnote_366_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366_366"><span class="label">[366]</span></a> Dr. Bates, who had been physician to Cromwell, intimates +that this was foreseen from the beginning. He says, that the popular +party offered command to some of the nobles, ‘not that they had any +respect for the lords, whom shortly they intended to turn out and to +level with the commoners, but that they might poison them with their own +venom, and rise to greater authority by drawing more over to their +side.’ <i>Bates's Account of the late Troubles in England</i>, part i. p. 76. +Lord North too supposes, that almost immediately after the war began, it +was determined to dissolve the House of Lords. See <i>Somers Tracts</i>, vol. +vi. p. 582. Beyond this, I am not aware of any direct early evidence; +except that, in 1644, Cromwell is alleged to have stated that ‘there +would never be a good time in England till we had done with lords.’ +<i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, vol. i. p. 217; and, what is evidently the same +circumstance, in <i>Holles's Memoirs</i>, p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_367_367" id="Footnote_367_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367_367"><span class="label">[367]</span></a> This was the ‘Self-denying Ordinance,’ which was +introduced in December, 1644; but, owing to the resistance of the peers, +was not carried until the subsequent April. <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. iii. pp. +326–337, 340–343, 354, 355. See also <i>Mem. of Lord Holles</i>, p. 30; <i>Mem. +of Sir P. Warwick</i>, p. 283.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_368_368" id="Footnote_368_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368_368"><span class="label">[368]</span></a> On this great Epoch in the history of England, see <i>Parl. +Hist.</i> vol. iii. p. 1284; <i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 643; +<i>Campbell's Chief-Justices</i>, vol. i. p. 424; <i>Ludlow's Mem.</i> vol. i. p. +246; <i>Warwick's Mem.</i> pp. 182, 336, 352.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_369_369" id="Footnote_369_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369_369"><span class="label">[369]</span></a> ‘Cornet Joyce, who was one of the agitators in the army, a +tailor, a fellow who had two or three years before served in a very +inferior employment in Mr. Hollis's house.’ <i>Clarendon's Rebellion</i>, p. +612. ‘A shrewd tailor-man.’ <i>D'Israeli's Commentaries on the Reign of +Charles I.</i>, 1851, vol. ii. p. 466.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_370_370" id="Footnote_370_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370_370"><span class="label">[370]</span></a> Ludlow (<i>Memoirs</i>, vol. ii. p. 139); Noble (<i>Memoirs of +the House of Cromwell</i>, vol. ii. p. 470); and Winstanley (<i>Loyal +Martyrology</i>, edit. 1665, p. 108), mention that Pride had been a +drayman. It is said that Cromwell, in ridicule of the old distinctions, +conferred knighthood on him ‘with a faggot.’ <i>Orme's Life of Owen</i>, p. +164; <i>Harris's Lives of the Stuarts</i>, vol. iii. p. 478.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_371_371" id="Footnote_371_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371_371"><span class="label">[371]</span></a> ‘The fifth-monarchy, headed mainly by one Venner, a +wine-cooper.’ <i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, vol. iii. p. 282. ‘Venner, a +wine-cooper.’ <i>Lister's Life and Corresp. of Clarendon</i>, vol. ii. p. +62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_372_372" id="Footnote_372_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372_372"><span class="label">[372]</span></a> ‘The second to Venner was one Tuffnel a carpenter living +in Gray's Inn Lane.’ <i>Winstanley's Martyrology</i>, p. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_373_373" id="Footnote_373_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373_373"><span class="label">[373]</span></a> ‘He was stoaker in a brewhouse at Islington, and next a +most poor chandler near Lion-Key, in Thames Street.’ <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. +iii. p. 1605. See also <i>Winstanley's Martyrology</i>, p. 122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_374_374" id="Footnote_374_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374_374"><span class="label">[374]</span></a> Some of the clumsy eulogists of Cromwell wish to suppress +the fact of his being a brewer; but that he really practised that useful +trade is attested by a variety of evidence, and is distinctly stated by +his own physician, Dr. Bates. <i>Bates's Troubles in England</i>, vol. ii. p. +238. See also <i>Walker's History of Independency</i>, part i. p. 32, part +ii. p. 25, part iii. p. 37; <i>Noble's House of Cromwell</i>, vol. i. pp. +328–331. Other passages, which I cannot now call to mind, will occur to +those who have studied the literature of the time.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_375_375" id="Footnote_375_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375_375"><span class="label">[375]</span></a> ‘John Jones, at first a serving-man, then a colonel of the +Long Parliament, … married the Protector's sister.’ <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. +iii. p. 1600. ‘A serving-man; … in process of time married one of +Cromwell's sisters.’ <i>Winstanley's Martyrology</i>, p. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_376_376" id="Footnote_376_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376_376"><span class="label">[376]</span></a> ‘Richard Deane, Esq., is said to have been a servant to +one Button, a toyman in Ipswich, and to have himself been the son of a +person in the same employment; … was appointed one of the +commissioners of the navy with Popham and Blake, and in April (1649) he +became an admiral and general at sea.’ <i>Noble's Lives of the Regicides</i>, +vol. i. pp. 172, 173. Winstanley (<i>Martyrol.</i> p. 121) also says that +Deane was ‘servant in Ipswich.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_377_377" id="Footnote_377_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377_377"><span class="label">[377]</span></a> ‘Apprentice to one Vaughan a dry-salter.’ <i>Noble's House +of Cromwell</i>, vol. ii. p. 507: and see his <i>Regicides</i>, vol. i. p. 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_378_378" id="Footnote_378_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378_378"><span class="label">[378]</span></a> ‘Bound apprentice to a woollen-draper.’ <i>Winstanley's +Martyr.</i> p. 108. He afterwards set up in the same trade for himself; but +with little success, for Dr. Bates (<i>Troubles in England</i>, vol. ii. p. +222) calls him ‘a broken clothier.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_379_379" id="Footnote_379_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379_379"><span class="label">[379]</span></a> ‘Altogether illiterate.’ <i>Clarendon's Rebellion</i>, p. 152. +Two extraordinary speeches by him are preserved in <i>Burton's Diary</i>, +vol. i. pp. 24, 25, 48–50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_380_380" id="Footnote_380_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380_380"><span class="label">[380]</span></a> <i>Holles's Mem.</i> p. 82; <i>Ludlow's Mem.</i> vol. ii. p. 39; and +a letter from Fairfax in <i>Cary's Memorials of the Civil War</i>, 1842, vol. +i. p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_381_381" id="Footnote_381_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381_381"><span class="label">[381]</span></a> ‘Berkstead, who heretofore sold needles, bodkins, and +thimbles, and would have run on an errand any where for a little money; +but who now by Cromwell was preferred to the honourable charge of +lieutenant of the Tower of London.’ <i>Bates's Account of the Troubles</i>, +part ii. p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_382_382" id="Footnote_382_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382_382"><span class="label">[382]</span></a> <i>Noble's Regicides</i>, vol. ii. pp. 272, 273. Lord Holles +(<i>Memoirs</i>, p. 174) also mentions that he was ‘a linen-draper.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_383_383" id="Footnote_383_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383_383"><span class="label">[383]</span></a> ‘Edward Harvy, late a poor silk-man, now colonel, and hath +got the Bishop of London's house and manor of Fulham.’ <i>Walker's +Independency</i>, part i. p. 170. ‘One Harvey, a decayed silk-man,’ +<i>Clarendon's Rebellion</i>, p. 418.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_384_384" id="Footnote_384_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384_384"><span class="label">[384]</span></a> Owen Rowe, ‘put to the trade of a silk-mercer, … went +into the parliament army, and became a colonel.’ <i>Noble's Regicides</i>, +vol. ii. p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_385_385" id="Footnote_385_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385_385"><span class="label">[385]</span></a> ‘A silkman in London; … went into the army, and rose to +the rank of colonel.’ <i>Noble's Regicides</i>, vol. ii. p. 283. ‘A broken +silk-man in Cheapside.’ <i>Winstanley's Martyrol.</i> p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_386_386" id="Footnote_386_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386_386"><span class="label">[386]</span></a> <i>Walker's Independency</i>, part i. p. 143; <i>Parl. Hist.</i> +vol. iii. p. 1608; <i>Ludlow's Mem.</i> vol. ii. pp. 241, 259; <i>Noble's +Regicides</i>, vol. ii. pp. 158, 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_387_387" id="Footnote_387_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387_387"><span class="label">[387]</span></a> He was ‘a woollen-draper at Dorchester,’ and was ‘one of +the council of state in 1649 and 1651.’ <i>Noble's Regicides</i>, vol. i. p. +99: see also <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. iii. p. 1594.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_388_388" id="Footnote_388_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388_388"><span class="label">[388]</span></a> ‘A brewer in Chichester; … in 1650–1 he was appointed +one of the council of state.’ <i>Noble's Regicides</i>, vol. i. p. 136. +‘William Cawley, a brewer of Chichester.’ <i>Winstanley's Martyrol.</i> p. +138.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_389_389" id="Footnote_389_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389_389"><span class="label">[389]</span></a> John Berners, ‘supposed to have been originally a +serving-man,’ was ‘one of the council of state in 1659,’ <i>Noble's +Regicides</i>, vol. i. p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_390_390" id="Footnote_390_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390_390"><span class="label">[390]</span></a> ‘Holland the link-boy,’ <i>Walker's Independency</i>, part +iii. p. 37. ‘He was originally nothing more than a servant to Sir Henry +Vane; … upon the establishment of the Commonwealth, he was made one of +the council of state in 1649, and again in 1650.’ <i>Noble's Regicides</i>, +vol. i. pp. 357, 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_391_391" id="Footnote_391_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391_391"><span class="label">[391]</span></a> <i>Noble's Mem. of Cromwell</i>, vol. ii. p. 502.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_392_392" id="Footnote_392_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392_392"><span class="label">[392]</span></a> <i>Walker's Hist. of Independency</i>, part +i. p. 167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_393_393" id="Footnote_393_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393_393"><span class="label">[393]</span></a> <i>Ellis's Original Letters illustrative of English +History</i>, third series, vol. iv. p. 219, Lond. 1846.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_394_394" id="Footnote_394_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394_394"><span class="label">[394]</span></a> <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. iii. p. 1407; <i>Rose's Biog. Dict.</i> vol. +iii. p. 172; <i>Clarendon's Rebellion</i>, p. 794.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_395_395" id="Footnote_395_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395_395"><span class="label">[395]</span></a> ‘A poor child bred upon charity.’ <i>Harris's Stuarts</i>, vol. +v. p. 281. ‘A man of an obscure birth, and more obscure education.’ +<i>Clarendon's Life of Himself</i>, p. 1116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_396_396" id="Footnote_396_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396_396"><span class="label">[396]</span></a> See <i>Vaughan's Cromwell</i>, vol. i. pp. 227, 228, vol. ii. +pp. 299, 302, 433; <i>Lister's Life and Corresp. of Clarendon</i>, vol. ii. +p. 231, vol. iii. p. 134. The common opinion is, that he was the son of +a clergyman at Hackney; but if so, he was probably illegitimate, +considering the way he was brought up. However, his Hackney origin is +very doubtful, and no one appears to know who his father was. See <i>Notes +and Queries</i>, vol. iii. pp. 69, 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_397_397" id="Footnote_397_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397_397"><span class="label">[397]</span></a> <i>Noble's Regicides</i>, vol. i. p. 362. Cromwell had a great +regard for this remarkable man, who not only distinguished himself as a +soldier, but, judging from a letter of his recently published, appears +to have repaired the deficiencies of his early education. See <i>Fairfax +Correspond.</i> vol. iv. pp. 22–25, 108. There never has been a period in +the history of England in which so many men of natural ability were +employed in the public service as during the Commonwealth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_398_398" id="Footnote_398_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398_398"><span class="label">[398]</span></a> <i>Noble's House of Cromwell</i>, vol. ii. p. 507.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_399_399" id="Footnote_399_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399_399"><span class="label">[399]</span></a> <i>Noble's Cromwell</i>, vol. ii. p. 518; <i>Bates's Troubles</i>, +vol. ii. p. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_400_400" id="Footnote_400_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400_400"><span class="label">[400]</span></a> <i>Bates's Late Troubles</i>, vol. i. p. 87; <i>Ludlow's Mem.</i> +vol. i. p. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_401_401" id="Footnote_401_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401_401"><span class="label">[401]</span></a> <i>Walker's Hist. of Independency</i>, part ii. p. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_402_402" id="Footnote_402_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402_402"><span class="label">[402]</span></a> Ludlow who was well acquainted with Colonel Hewson, says +that he ‘had been a shoemaker.’ <i>Ludlow's Memoirs</i>, vol. ii. p. 139. +But this is the amiable partiality of a friend; and there is no doubt +that the gallant colonel was neither more nor less than a cobbler. See +<i>Walker's Independency</i>, part ii. p. 39; <i>Winstanley's Martyrol.</i> p. +123; <i>Bates's Late Troubles</i>, vol. ii. p. 222; <i>Noble's Cromwell</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 251, 345, 470.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_403_403" id="Footnote_403_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403_403"><span class="label">[403]</span></a> Walker, who relates what he himself witnessed, says, that, +about 1649, the army was commanded by ‘colonels and superior officers, +who lord it in their gilt coaches, rich apparel, costly feastings; +though some of them led dray-horses, wore leather-pelts, and were never +able to name their own fathers or mothers.’ <i>Hist. of Independ.</i> part +ii. p. 244. The <i>Mercurius Rusticus</i>, 1647, says, ‘Chelmsford was +governed by a tinker, two cobblers, two tailors, two pedlars.’ +<i>Southey's Commonplace Book</i>, third series, 1850, p. 430. And, at p. +434, another work, in 1647, makes a similar statement in regard to +Cambridge; while Lord Holles assures us, that ‘most of the colonels and +officers (were) mean tradesmen, brewers, taylors, goldsmiths, +shoe-makers, and the like.’ <i>Holles's Memoirs</i>, p. 149. When Whitelocke +was in Sweden in 1653, the prætor of one of the towns abused the +parliament, saying, ‘that they killed their king, and were a company of +taylors and cobblers.’ <i>Whitelocke's Swedish Embassy</i>, vol. i. p. 205. +See also note in <i>Carwithen's Hist. of the Church of England</i>, vol. ii. +p. 156.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_404_404" id="Footnote_404_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404_404"><span class="label">[404]</span></a> Even De Retz, who vainly attempted to organise a popular +party, found that it was impossible to take any step without the nobles; +and, notwithstanding his democratic tendencies, he, in 1648, thought it +advisable ‘tâcher d'engager dans les intérêts publics les personnes de +qualité.’ <i>Mém. de Joly</i>, p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_405_405" id="Footnote_405_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405_405"><span class="label">[405]</span></a> Mably (<i>Observations sur l'Hist. de France</i>, vol. i. p. +357) frankly says, ‘L'exemple d'un grand a toujours été plus contagieux +chez les Français que partout ailleurs.’ See also vol. ii. p. 267: +‘Jamais l'exemple des grands n'a été aussi contagieux ailleurs qu'en +France; on dirait qu'ils ont le malheureux privilège de tout justifier.’ +Rivarol, though his opinions on other points were entirely opposed to +those of Mably, says, that, in France, ‘la noblesse est aux yeux du +peuple une espèce de religion, dont les gentilshommes sont les prêtres.’ +<i>Mém. de Rivarol</i>, p. 94. Happily, the French Revolution, or rather the +circumstances which caused the French Revolution, have utterly destroyed +this ignominious homage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_406_406" id="Footnote_406_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406_406"><span class="label">[406]</span></a> The Duke de la Rochefoucauld candidly admits that, in +1649, the nobles raised a civil war, ‘avec d'autant plus de haleur que +c'était une nouveauté.’ <i>Mém. de Rochefoucauld</i>, vol. i. p. 406. Thus +too Lemontey (<i>Etablissement de Louis XIV</i>, p. 368): ‘La vieille noblesse, qui ne +savait que combattre, faisait la guerre par goût, par besoin, par +vanité, par ennui.’ Compare, in <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. ii. pp. 467, +468, a summary of the reasons which, in 1649, induced the nobles to go +to war; and on the way in which their frivolity debased the Fronde, see +<i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. pp. 169, 170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_407_407" id="Footnote_407_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407_407"><span class="label">[407]</span></a> Hence the duchesses were called ‘femmes assises;’ those of +lower rank ‘non assises.’ <i>Mém. de Fontenay Mareuil</i>, vol. i. p. 111. +The Count de Ségur tells us that ‘les duchesses jouissaient de la +prérogative d'être assises sur un tabouret chez la reine.’ <i>Mém. de +Ségur</i>, vol. i. p. 79. The importance attached to this is amusingly +illustrated in <i>Mém. de Saint-Simon</i>, vol. iii. pp. 215–218, Paris, 1842; +which should be compared with <i>De Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XV</i>, +vol. ii. p. 116, and <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. x. p. 383.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_408_408" id="Footnote_408_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408_408"><span class="label">[408]</span></a> ‘Survint incontinent une autre difficulté à la cour sur le +sujet des tabourets, que doivent avoir les dames dans la chambre de la +reine; car encore que cela ne s'accorde régulièrement qu'aux duchesses, +néanmoins le feu roi Louis XIII l'avoit accordé aux filles de la maison +de Bouillon,’ &c. <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. iii. p. 5. See also, on this +encroachment on the rights of the duchesses under Louis XIII., the case +of Séguier, in <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mémoires Secrets</i>, vol. i. pp. 360, 361. The +consequences of the innovation were very serious; and Tallemant des +Réaux (<i>Historiettes</i>, vol. iii. pp. 223, 224) mentions a distinguished +lady, of whom he says, ‘Pour satisfaire son ambition, il lui falloit un +tabouret: elle cabale pour épouser le vieux Bouillon La Marck veuf pour +la seconde fois.’ In this she failed; but, determined not to be baffled, +‘elle ne se rebute point, et voulant à toute force avoir un tabouret, +elle épouse le fils aîné du duc de Villars: c'est un ridicule de corps +et d'esprit, car il est bossu et quasi imbécile, et gueux par-dessus +cela.’ This melancholy event happened in 1649.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_409_409" id="Footnote_409_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409_409"><span class="label">[409]</span></a> As to the Countess de Fleix and Madame de Pons, see <i>Mém. +de Motteville</i>, vol. iii. pp. 116, 369. According to the same high +authority (vol. iii. p. 367), the inferiority of the Princess de +Marsillac consisted in the painful fact, that her husband was merely the +son of a duke, and the duke himself was still alive ‘il n'étoit que +gentilhomme, et son père le duc de la Rochefoucauld n'étoit pas mort.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_410_410" id="Footnote_410_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410_410"><span class="label">[410]</span></a> The long account of these proceedings in <i>Mém. de +Motteville</i>, vol. iii. pp. 367–393, shows the importance attached to +them by contemporary opinion.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_411_411" id="Footnote_411_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411_411"><span class="label">[411]</span></a> In October 1649, ‘la noblesse s'assembla à Paris sur le +fait des tabourets,’ <i>Mém. de Lenet</i>, vol. i. p. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_412_412" id="Footnote_412_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412_412"><span class="label">[412]</span></a> ‘Tous ceux donc qui par leurs aïeux avoient dans leurs +maisons de la grandeur, par des alliances des femmes descendues de ceux +qui étoient autrefois maîtres et souverains des provinces de France, +demandèrent la même prérogative que celle qui venoit d'être accordée au +sang de Foix.’ <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. iii. p. 117. Another +contemporary says: ‘Cette prétention émut toutes les maisons de la cour +sur cette différence et inégalité.’ <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. iii. p. +6; and vol. ii. p. 437: ‘le marquis de Noirmoutier et celui de Vitry +demandoient le tabouret pour leurs femmes.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_413_413" id="Footnote_413_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413_413"><span class="label">[413]</span></a> Indeed, at one moment, it was determined that a +counter-demonstration should be made on the part of the inferior nobles; +a proceeding which, if adopted, must have caused civil war: ‘Nous +résolûmes une contre-assemblée de noblesse pour soutenir le tabouret de +la maison de Rohan.’ <i>De Retz</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. p. 284.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_414_414" id="Footnote_414_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414_414"><span class="label">[414]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. iii. p. 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_415_415" id="Footnote_415_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415_415"><span class="label">[415]</span></a> ‘Signé d'elle et des quatre secrétaires d'état.’ <i>Ibid.</i> +vol. iii. p. 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_416_416" id="Footnote_416_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416_416"><span class="label">[416]</span></a> The best accounts of this great struggle will be found in +the <i>Memoirs of Madame de Motteville</i>, and in those of Omer Talon; two +writers of very different minds, but both of them deeply impressed with +the magnitude of the contest.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_417_417" id="Footnote_417_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_417_417"><span class="label">[417]</span></a> Saint-Aulaire (<i>Hist. de la Fronde</i>, vol. i. p. 317) says, +that in this same year (1649), ‘l'esprit de discussion fermentait dans +toutes les têtes, et chacun à cette époque soumettait les actes de +l'autorité à un examen raisonné.’ Thus, too, in <i>Mém. de Montglat</i>, +under 1649, ‘on ne parlait publiquement dans Paris que de république et +de liberté,‘**RSQU</p></div> vol. ii. p. 186. In 1648, ‘effusa est contemptio super +principes.’ <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. ii. p. 271.] + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_418_418" id="Footnote_418_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_418_418"><span class="label">[418]</span></a> That the failure of the Fronde is not to be ascribed to +the inconstancy of the people, is admitted by De Retz, by far the ablest +observer of his time: ‘Vous vous étonnerez peut-être de ce que je dis +plus sûr, à cause de l'instabilité du peuple: mais il faut avouer que +celui de Paris se fixe plus aisément qu'aucun autre; et M. de Villeroi, +qui a été le plus habile homme de son siècle, et qui en a parfaitement +connu le naturel dans tout le cours de la ligue, où il le gouverna sous +M. du Maine, a été de ce sentiment. Ce que j'en éprouvois moi-même me le +persuadoit.’ <i>Mém. de Retz</i>, vol. i. p. 348; a remarkable passage, and +forming a striking contrast to the declamation of those ignorant writers +who are always reproaching the people with their fickleness.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_419_419" id="Footnote_419_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_419_419"><span class="label">[419]</span></a> This knotty point was decided in favour of the Duke of +York, to whom, in 1649, ‘la reine fit de grands honneurs, et lui donna +une chaise à bras.’ <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. iii. p. 275. In the +chamber of the king, the matter seems to have been differently arranged; +for Omer Talon (<i>Mém.</i> vol. ii. p. 332) tells us that ‘le duc d'Orléans +n'avoit point de fauteuil, mais un simple siège pliant, à cause que nous +étions dans la chambre du roi.’ In the subsequent year, the scene not +being in the king's room, the same writer describes ‘M. le duc d'Orléans +assis dans un fauteuil.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. iii. p. 95. Compare <i>Le Vassor</i>, +<i>Hist. de Louis XIII</i>, vol. viii. p. 310. Voltaire (<i>Dict. Philos.</i> +art. <i>Cérémonies</i>) says: ‘Le fauteuil à +bras, la chaise à dos, le tabouret, la main droite et la main gauche, +ont été pendant plusieurs siècles d'importants objets de politique, et +d'illustres sujets de querelles.’ <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxxvii. +p. 486. The etiquette of the ‘fauteuil’ and ‘chaise’ is explained in +<i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. x. p. 287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_420_420" id="Footnote_420_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_420_420"><span class="label">[420]</span></a> See <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. iii. pp. 309, 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_421_421" id="Footnote_421_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_421_421"><span class="label">[421]</span></a> See a list of those it was proper for the queen to kiss, +in <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. iii. p. 318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_422_422" id="Footnote_422_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_422_422"><span class="label">[422]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Omer Talon</i>, vol. i. pp. 217–219. The +Prince de Condé hotly asserted, that at a <i>Te Deum</i> ‘il ne pouvait être +assis en autre place que dans la première chaire.’ This was in 1642.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_423_423" id="Footnote_423_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_423_423"><span class="label">[423]</span></a> For a quarrel respecting the ‘drap de pied,’ see <i>Mém. de +Motteville</i>, vol. ii. p. 249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_424_424" id="Footnote_424_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_424_424"><span class="label">[424]</span></a> A very serious dispute was caused by the claim of the +Prince de Marsillac, for ‘permission d'entrer dans le Louvre en +carrosse.’ <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. iii. pp. 367–389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_425_425" id="Footnote_425_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_425_425"><span class="label">[425]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Pontchartrain</i>, vol. i. pp. 422, 423, at the +coronation of Louis XIII. Other instances of difficulties caused by +questions of precedence, will be found in <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. iii. +pp. 23, 24, 437; and even in the grave work of Sully, <i>Œconomies +Royales</i>, vol. vii. p. 126, vol. viii. p. 395; which should be compared +with <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. ix. pp. 86, 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_426_426" id="Footnote_426_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_426_426"><span class="label">[426]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Lenet</i>, vol. i. pp. 378, 379. Lenet, who was a +great admirer of the nobles, relates all this without the faintest +perception of its absurdity. I ought not to omit a terrible dispute, in +1652, respecting the recognition of the claims of the Duke de Rohan +(<i>Mém. de Conrart</i>, pp. 151, 152); nor another dispute, in the reign of +Henry IV., as to whether a duke ought to sign his name before a marshal, +or whether a marshal should sign first. <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. +xi. p. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_427_427" id="Footnote_427_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_427_427"><span class="label">[427]</span></a> This difficulty, in 1652, caused a violent quarrel between +the two dukes, and ended in a duel in which the Duke de Nemours was +killed, as is mentioned by most of the contemporary writers. See <i>Mém. +de Montglat</i>, vol. ii. p. 357; <i>Mém. de la Rochefoucauld</i>, vol. ii. +p. 172; <i>Mém. de Conrart</i>, pp. 172–175; <i>Mém. de Retz</i>, vol. ii. p. 203; +<i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. iii. p. 437.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_428_428" id="Footnote_428_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_428_428"><span class="label">[428]</span></a> Pontchartrain, one of the ministers of state, writes, +under the year 1620: ‘En ce même temps s'étoit mû un très-grand +différend entre M. le prince de Condé et M. le comte de Soissons, sur le +sujet de la serviette que chacun d'eux prétendoit devoir présenter au +roi quand ils se rencontreroient tous deux près sa majesté.’ <i>Mém. de +Pontchartrain</i>, vol. ii. p. 295. Le Vassor, who gives a fuller account +(<i>Règne de Louis XIII</i>, vol. iii. pp. 536, 537), says, ‘Chacun des deux +princes du sang, fort échauffez à qui feroit une fonction de maître +d'hôtel, tiroit la serviette de son côté, et la contestation augmentoit +d'une manière dont les suites pouvoient devenir fâcheuses.’ But the king +interposing, ‘ils furent donc obligez de céder: mais ce ne fut pas sans +se dire l'un à l'autre des paroles hautes et menaçantes.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_429_429" id="Footnote_429_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_429_429"><span class="label">[429]</span></a> According to some authorities, a man ought to be a duke +before his wife could be allowed to meddle with the queen's shift; +according to other authorities, the lady-in-waiting, whoever she might +be, had the right, unless a princess happened to be present. On these +alternatives, and on the difficulties caused by them, compare <i>Mém. de +Saint-Simon</i>, 1842, vol. vii. p. 125, with <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 28, 276, 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_430_430" id="Footnote_430_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_430_430"><span class="label">[430]</span></a> Also connected with the institution of chivalry, both +being cognate symptoms of the same spirit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_431_431" id="Footnote_431_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_431_431"><span class="label">[431]</span></a> Even just before the French Revolution, these feelings +still existed. See, for instance the extraordinary details in <i>Campan</i>, +<i>Mém. sur Marie-Antoinette</i>, vol. i. pp. 98, 99; which should be +compared with an extract from <i>Prudhomme's Mirror de Paris</i>, in +<i>Southey's Commonplace Book</i>, third series, 1850, p. 251, no. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_432_432" id="Footnote_432_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_432_432"><span class="label">[432]</span></a> Ludlow thus expresses the sentiments which induced him to +make war upon the crown: ‘The question in dispute between the king's +party and us being, as I apprehend, whether the king should govern as a +god by his will, and the nation be governed by force like beasts? or +whether the people should be governed by laws made by themselves, and +live under a government derived from their own consent? being fully +persuaded, that an accommodation with the king was unsafe to the people +of England, and unjust and wicked in the nature of it.’ <i>Ludlow's +Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 230. Compare Whitelocke's spirited speech to +Christina, in <i>Journal of the Swedish Embassy</i>, vol. i. p. 238; and see +pp. 390, 391.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot">THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT CARRIED BY LOUIS XIV. INTO LITERATURE. +EXAMINATION OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS ALLIANCE BETWEEN +THE INTELLECTUAL CLASSES AND THE GOVERNING CLASSES.</div> + +<p>The reader will now be able to understand how it was +that the protective system, and the notions of subordination +connected with it, gained in France a strength +unknown in England, and caused an essential divergence +between the two countries. To complete the comparison, +it seems necessary to examine how this same +spirit influenced the purely intellectual history of +France as well as its social and political history. For the +ideas of dependence upon which the protective scheme is +based, encouraged a belief that the subordination which +existed in politics and in society ought also to exist in +literature; and that the paternal, inquisitive, and centralizing +system which regulated the material interests +of the country, should likewise regulate the interests +of its knowledge. When, therefore, the Fronde +was finally overthrown, everything was prepared for +that singular intellectual polity which, during fifty +years characterised the reign of Louis XIV., and which +was to French literature what feudalism was to +French politics. In both cases, homage was paid by one +party, and protection and favour accorded by the +other. Every man of letters became a vassal of the +French crown. Every book was written with a view +to the royal favour; and to obtain the patronage of the +king was considered the most decisive proof of intellectual +eminence. The effects produced by this system<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +will be examined in the present chapter. The apparent +cause of the system was the personal character of Louis +XIV.; but the real and overruling causes were those +circumstances which I have already pointed out, and +which established in the French mind associations that +remained undisturbed until the eighteenth century. To +invigorate those associations, and to carry them into +every department of life, was the great aim of Louis +XIV.; and in that he was completely successful. It is +on this account that the history of his reign becomes +highly instructive, because we see in it the most remarkable +instance of despotism which has ever occurred; +a despotism of the largest and most comprehensive +kind; a despotism of fifty years over one of the most +civilized people in Europe, who not only bore the yoke +without repining, but submitted with cheerfulness, and +even with gratitude, to him by whom it was imposed.<a name="FNanchor_433_433" id="FNanchor_433_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_433_433" class="fnanchor">[433]</a></p> + +<p>What makes this the more strange is, that the reign +of Louis XIV. must be utterly condemned if it is +tried even by the lowest standard of morals, of honour, +or of interest. A coarse and unbridled profligacy, +followed by the meanest and most grovelling superstition,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +characterized his private life, while in his +public career he displayed an arrogance and a systematic +perfidy which eventually roused the anger of +all Europe, and brought upon France sharp and signal +retribution. As to his domestic policy, he formed a +strict alliance with the church; and although he resisted +the authority of the Pope, he willingly left his +subjects to be oppressed by the tyranny of the clergy.<a name="FNanchor_434_434" id="FNanchor_434_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_434_434" class="fnanchor">[434]</a> +To them he abandoned everything except the exercise +of his own prerogative.<a name="FNanchor_435_435" id="FNanchor_435_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_435_435" class="fnanchor">[435]</a> Led on by them, he, from +the moment he assumed the Government, began to +encroach upon those religious liberties of which Henry +IV. had laid the foundation, and which down to this +period had been preserved intact.<a name="FNanchor_436_436" id="FNanchor_436_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_436_436" class="fnanchor">[436]</a> It was at the instigation +of the clergy that he revoked the Edict of Nantes, +by which the principle of toleration had for nearly a +century been incorporated with the law of the land.<a name="FNanchor_437_437" id="FNanchor_437_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_437_437" class="fnanchor">[437]</a> +It was at their instigation that, just before this outrage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +upon the most sacred rights of his subjects, he, in +order to terrify the Protestants into conversion, suddenly +let loose upon them whole troops of dissolute +soldiers, who were allowed to practise the most revolting +cruelties. The frightful barbarities which followed +are related by authentic writers;<a name="FNanchor_438_438" id="FNanchor_438_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_438_438" class="fnanchor">[438]</a> and of the effect produced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +on the material interests of the nation, some idea +may be formed from the fact, that these religious persecutions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +cost France half a million of her most industrious +inhabitants, who fled to different parts, taking +with them those habits of labour, and that knowledge +and experience in their respective trades, which had +hitherto been employed in enriching their own country.<a name="FNanchor_439_439" id="FNanchor_439_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_439_439" class="fnanchor">[439]</a> +These things are notorious, they are incontestable, and +they lie on the surface of history. Yet, in the face of +them there are still found men who hold up for admiration +the age of Louis XIV. Although it is well known +that in his reign every vestige of liberty was destroyed; +that the people were weighed down by an insufferable +taxation; that their children were torn from them by +tens of thousands to swell the royal armies; that the +resources of the country were squandered to an unprecedented +extent; that a despotism of the worst kind +was firmly established;—although all this is universally +admitted, yet there are writers, even in our own day, +who are so infatuated with the glories of literature, as +to balance them against the most enormous crimes, and +who will forgive every injury inflicted by a prince +during whose life there were produced the Letters of +Pascal, the orations of Bossuet, the Comedies of +Molière, and the Tragedies of Racine.</p> + +<p>This method of estimating the merits of a sovereign +is, indeed, so rapidly dying away, that I shall not spend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +any words in refuting it. But it is connected with a +more widely diffused error respecting the influence of +royal patronage upon national literature. This is a delusion +which men of letters have themselves been the +first to propagate. From the language too many of +them are in the habit of employing, we might be led to +believe that there is some magical power in the smiles +of a king which stimulates the intellect of the fortunate +individual whose heart they are permitted to gladden. +Nor must this be despised as one of those harmless prejudices +that still linger round the person of the sovereign. +It is not only founded on a misconception of the +nature of things, but it is in its practical consequences +very injurious. It is injurious to the independent spirit +which literature should always possess; and it is injurious +to princes themselves, because it strengthens that +vanity of which they generally have too large a share. +Indeed, if we consider the position they now occupy in +the most civilized countries, we shall at once see the +absurdity of an opinion which, in the present state of +knowledge, is unfit to be held by educated men.</p> + +<p>From the moment that there was finally abandoned +the theological fiction of the divine right of kings, it +necessarily followed that the respect felt for them +should suffer a corresponding diminution.<a name="FNanchor_440_440" id="FNanchor_440_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_440_440" class="fnanchor">[440]</a> The superstitious +reverence with which they were formerly regarded +is extinct, and at the present day we are no +longer awed by that divinity with which their persons +were once supposed to be hedged.<a name="FNanchor_441_441" id="FNanchor_441_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_441_441" class="fnanchor">[441]</a> The standard, +therefore, by which we should measure them is obvious.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +We should applaud their conduct in proportion as they +contribute towards the happiness of the nation over +which they are intrusted with power; but we ought to +remember that, from the manner in which they are +educated, and from the childish homage always paid to +them, their information must be very inaccurate, and +their prejudices very numerous.<a name="FNanchor_442_442" id="FNanchor_442_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_442_442" class="fnanchor">[442]</a> On this account, so +far from expecting that they should be judicious patrons +of literature, or should in any way head their age, we +ought to be satisfied if they do not obstinately oppose +the spirit of their time, and if they do not attempt to +stop the march of society. For, unless the sovereign, +in spite of the intellectual disadvantages of his position, +is a man of very enlarged mind, it must usually happen +that he will reward, not those who are most able, but +those who are most compliant; and that while he +refuses his patronage to a profound and independent +thinker, he will grant it to an author who cherishes +ancient prejudices and defends ancient abuses. In this +way, the practice of conferring on men of letters either +honorary or pecuniary rewards, is agreeable, no doubt, +to those who receive them; but has a manifest tendency +to weaken the boldness and energy of their sentiments, +and therefore to impair the value of their works. +This might be made evident by publishing a list of +those literary pensions which have been granted by +European princes. If this were done, the mischief produced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +by these and similar rewards would be clearly +seen. After a careful study of the history of literature, +I think myself authorised to say, that for one instance +in which a sovereign has recompensed a man who is +before his age, there are at least twenty instances of +his recompensing one who is behind his age. The +result is, that in every country where royal patronage +has been long and generally bestowed, the spirit of +literature, instead of being progressive, has become +reactionary. An alliance has been struck up between +those who give and those who receive. By a system of +bounties, there has been artificially engendered a +greedy and necessitous class; who, eager for pensions, +and offices, and titles, have made the pursuit of truth +subordinate to the desire of gain, and have infused +into their writings the prejudices of the court to which +they cling. Hence it is, that the marks of favour have +become the badge of servitude. Hence it is, that the +acquisition of knowledge, by far the noblest of all occupations, +an occupation which of all others raises the +dignity of man, has been debased to the level of a common +profession, where the chances of success are +measured by the number of rewards, and where the +highest honours are in the gift of whoever happens to +be the minister or sovereign of the day.</p> + +<p>This tendency forms of itself a decisive objection to +the views of those who wish to entrust the executive +government with the means of rewarding literary men. +But there is also another objection, in some respects +still more serious. Every nation which is allowed to +pursue its course uncontrolled, will easily satisfy the +wants of its own intellect, and will produce such a +literature as is best suited to its actual condition. And +it is evidently for the interest of all classes that the +production shall not be greater than the want; that the +supply shall not exceed the demand. It is, moreover, +necessary to the well-being of society that a healthy +proportion should be kept up between the intellectual +classes and the practical classes. It is necessary that +there should be a certain ratio between those who are +most inclined to think, and those who are most inclined<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +to act. If we were all authors, our material interests +would suffer; if we were all men of business, our mental +pleasures would be abridged. In the first case, +we should be famished philosophers; in the other case, +we should be wealthy fools. Now, it is obvious that, +according to the commonest principles of human action +the relative numbers of these two classes will be +adjusted, without effort, by the natural, or, as we call +it, the spontaneous movement of society. But if a +government takes upon itself to pension literary men, +it disturbs this movement; it troubles the harmony of +things. This is the unavoidable result of that spirit of +interference, or, as it is termed, protection, by which +every country has been greatly injured. If, for instance, +a fund were set apart by the state for rewarding +butchers and tailors, it is certain that the number of +those useful men would be needlessly augmented. If +another fund is appropriated for the literary classes, it is +as certain that men of letters will increase more rapidly +than the exigencies of the country require. In both +cases, an artificial stimulus will produce an unhealthy +action. Surely, food and clothes are as necessary for +the body as literature is for the mind. Why, then, +should we call upon government to encourage those who +write our books, any more than to encourage those +who kill our mutton and mend our garments? The +truth is, that the intellectual march of society is, in +this respect, exactly analogous to its physical march. +In some instances a forced supply may, indeed, create +an unnatural want. But this is an artificial state of +things, which indicates a diseased action. In a healthy +condition, it is not the supply which causes the want, +but it is the want which gives rise to the supply. To +suppose, therefore, that an increase of authors would +necessarily be followed by a diffusion of knowledge, is as +if we were to suppose that an increase of butchers must +be followed by a diffusion of food. This is not the way +in which things are ordered. Men must have appetite +before they will eat; they must have money before +they can buy; they must be inquisitive before they +will read. The two great principles which move the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +world are, the love of wealth and the love of knowledge. +These two principles respectively represent and govern +the two most important classes into which every civilized +country is divided. What a government gives to +one of these classes, it must take from the other. What +it gives to literature, it must take from wealth. This +can never be done to any great extent, without entailing +the most ruinous consequences. For, the natural +proportions of society being destroyed, society itself will +be thrown into confusion. While men of letters are +protected, men of industry will be depressed. The +lower classes can count for little in the eyes of those to +whom literature is the first consideration. The idea of +the liberty of the people will be discouraged; their +persons will be oppressed; their labour will be taxed. +The arts necessary to life will be despised, in order that +those which embellish life may be favoured. The many +will be ruined, that the few may be pleased. While +every thing is splendid above, all will be rotten below. +Fine pictures, noble palaces, touching dramas—these +may for a time be produced in profusion, but it will be +at the cost of the heart and strength of the nation. +Even the class for whom the sacrifice has been made, +will soon decay. Poets may continue to sing the +praises of the prince who has bought them with his +gold. It is, however, certain that men who begin by +losing their independence, will end by losing their +energy. Their intellect must be robust indeed, if it +does not wither in the sickly atmosphere of a court. +Their attention being concentrated on their master, +they insensibly contract those habits of servility which +are suited to their position; and, as the range of their +sympathies is diminished, the use and action of their +genius become impaired. To them submission is a +custom, and servitude a pleasure. In their hands, +literature soon loses its boldness, tradition is appealed +to as the ground of truth, and the spirit of inquiry is +extinguished. Then it is, that there comes one of +those sad moments in which, no outlet being left for +public opinion, the minds of men are unable to find a +vent; their discontents, having no voice, slowly rankle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +into a deadly hatred; their passions accumulate in +silence, until at length, losing all patience, they are +goaded into one of those terrible revolutions, by which +they humble the pride of their rulers, and carry retribution +even into the heart of the palace.</p> + +<p>The truth of this picture is well known to those who +have studied the history of Louis XIV., and the connection +between it and the French Revolution. That +prince adopted, during his long reign, the mischievous +practice of rewarding literary men with large sums of +money, and of conferring on them numerous marks of +personal favour. As this was done for more than half +a century; and as the wealth which he thus unscrupulously +employed was of course taken from his other +subjects, we can find no better illustration of the results +which such patronage is likely to produce. He, +indeed, has the merit of organizing into a system that +protection of literature which some are so anxious to +restore. What the effect of this was upon the general +interests of knowledge, we shall presently see. But its +effect upon authors themselves should be particularly +attended to by those men of letters who, with little +regard to their own dignity, are constantly reproaching +the English government for neglecting the profession +of which they themselves are members. In no age +have literary men been awarded with such profuseness +as in the reign of Louis XIV.; and in no age have they +been so mean-spirited, so servile, so utterly unfit to +fulfil their great vocation as the apostles of knowledge +and the missionaries of truth. The history of the most +celebrated authors of that time proves that, notwithstanding +their acquirements, and the power of their +minds, they were unable to resist the surrounding corruption. +To gain the favour of the king, they sacrificed +that independent spirit which should have been dearer to +them than life. They gave away the inheritance of +genius; they sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. +What happened then, would under the same circumstances +happen now. A few eminent thinkers may be +able for a certain time to resist the pressure of their +age. But, looking at mankind generally, society can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +have no hold on any class except through the medium +of their interests. It behoves, therefore, every people +to take heed, that the interests of literary men are on +their side rather than on the side of their rulers. +For, literature is the representative of intellect, which +is progressive; government is the representative of +order, which is stationary. As long as these two great +powers are separate, they will correct and react upon +each other, and the people may hold the balance. If, +however, these powers coalesce, if the government can +corrupt the intellect, and if the intellect will yield +to the government, the inevitable result must be, +despotism in politics, and servility in literature. This +was the history of France under Louis XIV.: and this, +we may rest assured, will be the history of every +country that shall be tempted to follow so attractive +but so fatal an example.</p> + +<p>The reputation of Louis XIV. originated in the +gratitude of men of letters; but it is now supported by +a popular notion that the celebrated literature of his +age is mainly to be ascribed to his fostering care. If, +however, we examine this opinion, we shall find that, +like many of the traditions of which history is full, it is +entirely devoid of truth. We shall find two leading +circumstances, which will prove that the literary +splendour of his reign was not the result of his efforts, +but was the work of that great generation which preceded +him; and that the intellect of France, so far from +being benefited by his munificence, was hampered by +his protection.</p> + +<p>I. The first circumstance is, that the immense impulse +which, during the administrations of Richelieu +and of Mazarin, had been given to the highest branches +of knowledge, was suddenly stopped. In 1661 Louis +XIV. assumed the government;<a name="FNanchor_443_443" id="FNanchor_443_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_443_443" class="fnanchor">[443]</a> and from that +moment until his death, in 1715, the history of France, +so far as great discoveries are concerned, is a blank in +the annals of Europe. If, putting aside all preconceived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +notions respecting the supposed glory of that +age, we examine the matter fairly, it will be seen that +in every department there was a manifest dearth of +original thinkers. There was much that was elegant, +much that was attractive. The senses of men were +soothed and flattered by the creations of art, by paintings, +by palaces, by poems; but scarcely any thing of +moment was added to the sum of human knowledge. +If we take the mathematics, and those mixed sciences +to which they are applicable, it will be universally +admitted that their most successful cultivators in +France during the seventeenth century were Descartes, +Pascal, Fermat, Gassendi, and Mersenne. But, so far +from Louis XIV. having any share in the honour due +to them, these eminent men were engaged in their investigations +while the king was still in his cradle, and +completed them before he assumed the government, +and therefore before his system of protection came into +play. Descartes died in 1650,<a name="FNanchor_444_444" id="FNanchor_444_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_444_444" class="fnanchor">[444]</a> when the king was +twelve years old. Pascal, whose name, like that of +Descartes, is commonly associated with the age of +Louis XIV., had gained an European reputation while +Louis, occupied in the nursery with his toys, was not +aware that any such man existed. His treatise on +conic sections was written in 1639;<a name="FNanchor_445_445" id="FNanchor_445_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_445_445" class="fnanchor">[445]</a> his decisive experiments +on the weight of air were made in 1648;<a name="FNanchor_446_446" id="FNanchor_446_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_446_446" class="fnanchor">[446]</a> +and his researches on the cycloid, the last great +inquiry he ever undertook, were in 1658,<a name="FNanchor_447_447" id="FNanchor_447_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_447_447" class="fnanchor">[447]</a> when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +Louis, still under the tutelage of Mazarin, had no sort +of authority. Fermat was one of the most profound +thinkers of the seventeenth century, particularly as a +geometrician, in which respect he was second only to +Descartes.<a name="FNanchor_448_448" id="FNanchor_448_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_448_448" class="fnanchor">[448]</a> The most important steps he took are +those concerning the geometry of infinites, applied to +the ordinates and tangents of curves; which, however, +he completed in or before 1636.<a name="FNanchor_449_449" id="FNanchor_449_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_449_449" class="fnanchor">[449]</a> As to Gassendi and +Mersenne, it is enough to say that Gassendi died in +1655,<a name="FNanchor_450_450" id="FNanchor_450_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_450_450" class="fnanchor">[450]</a> six years before Louis was at the head of +affairs; while Mersenne died in 1648,<a name="FNanchor_451_451" id="FNanchor_451_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_451_451" class="fnanchor">[451]</a> when the great +king was ten years old.</p> + +<p>These were the men who flourished in France just +before the system of Louis XIV. came into operation. +Shortly after their death the patronage of the king +began to tell upon the national intellect; and during +the next fifty years no addition of importance was +made to either branch of the mathematics, or, with the +single exception of acoustics,<a name="FNanchor_452_452" id="FNanchor_452_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_452_452" class="fnanchor">[452]</a> to any of the sciences to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +which the mathematics are applied.<a name="FNanchor_453_453" id="FNanchor_453_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_453_453" class="fnanchor">[453]</a> The further the +seventeenth century advanced, the more evident did +the decline become, and the more clearly can we trace +the connexion between the waning powers of the +French, and that protective spirit which enfeebled the +energies it wished to strengthen. Louis had heard +that astronomy is a noble study; he was therefore +anxious, by encouraging its cultivation in France, +to add to the glories of his own name.<a name="FNanchor_454_454" id="FNanchor_454_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_454_454" class="fnanchor">[454]</a> With +this view, he rewarded its professors with unexampled +profusion; he built the splendid Observatory of Paris; +he invited to his court the most eminent foreign astronomers, +Cassini from Italy, Römer from Denmark, +Huygens from Holland. But, as to native ability, +France did not produce a single man who made even +one of those various discoveries which mark the epochs +of astronomical science. In other countries vast progress +was made; and Newton in particular, by his +immense generalizations, reformed nearly every branch +of physics, and remodelled astronomy by carrying the +laws of gravitation to the extremity of the solar system. +On the other hand, France had fallen into such a torpor, +that these wonderful discoveries, which changed +the face of knowledge, were entirely neglected, there +being no instance of any French astronomer adopting +them until 1732, that is, forty-five years after they +had been published by their immortal author.<a name="FNanchor_455_455" id="FNanchor_455_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_455_455" class="fnanchor">[455]</a> Even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +in matters of detail, the most valuable improvement +made by French astronomers during the power of +Louis XIV. was not original. They laid claim to the +invention of the micrometer; an admirable resource, +which, as they supposed, was first contrived by Picard +and Auzout.<a name="FNanchor_456_456" id="FNanchor_456_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_456_456" class="fnanchor">[456]</a> The truth, however, is, that here again +they were anticipated by the activity of a freer and +less protected people; since the micrometer was invented +by Gascoigne in or just before 1639, when the +English monarch, so far from having leisure to patronize +science, was about to embark in that struggle which, +ten years later, cost him his crown and his life.<a name="FNanchor_457_457" id="FNanchor_457_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_457_457" class="fnanchor">[457]</a></p> + +<p>The absence in France, during this period, not only +of great discoveries, but also of mere practical ingenuity, +is certainly very striking. In investigations +requiring minute accuracy, the necessary tools, if at all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +complicated, were made by foreigners, the native workmen +being too unskilled to construct them; and Dr. +Lister, who was a very competent judge,<a name="FNanchor_458_458" id="FNanchor_458_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_458_458" class="fnanchor">[458]</a> and who was +in Paris at the end of the seventeenth century, supplies +evidence that the best mathematical instruments sold +in that city were made, not by a Frenchman, but by +Butterfield, an Englishman residing there.<a name="FNanchor_459_459" id="FNanchor_459_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_459_459" class="fnanchor">[459]</a> Nor did +they succeed better in matters of immediate and obvious +utility. The improvements effected in manufactures +were few and insignificant, and were calculated, not +for the comfort of the people, but for the luxury of the +idle classes.<a name="FNanchor_460_460" id="FNanchor_460_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_460_460" class="fnanchor">[460]</a> What was really valuable was neglected; +no great invention was made; and by the end of the +reign of Louis XIV. scarcely anything had been done +in machinery, or in those other contrivances which,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +by economising national labour, increase national +wealth.<a name="FNanchor_461_461" id="FNanchor_461_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_461_461" class="fnanchor">[461]</a></p> + +<p>While such was the state, not only of mathematical +and astronomical science, but also of mechanical and +inventive arts, corresponding symptoms of declining +power were seen in other departments. In physiology, +in anatomy and in medicine, we look in vain for any +men equal to those by whom France had once been +honoured. The greatest discovery of this kind ever +made by a Frenchman, was that of the receptacle of +the chyle; a discovery which, in the opinion of a high +authority, is not inferior to that of the circulation of +the blood by Harvey.<a name="FNanchor_462_462" id="FNanchor_462_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_462_462" class="fnanchor">[462]</a> This important step in our +knowledge is constantly assigned to the age of Louis +XIV., as if it were one of the results of his gracious +bounty; but it would be difficult to tell what Louis +had to do with it, since the discovery was made by +Pecquet in 1647,<a name="FNanchor_463_463" id="FNanchor_463_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_463_463" class="fnanchor">[463]</a> when the great king was nine years +old. After Pecquet, the most eminent of the French +anatomists in the seventeenth century was Riolan; and +his name we also find among the illustrious men who +adorned the reign of Louis XIV. But the principal +works of Riolan were written before Louis XIV. was +born; his last work was published in 1652; and he +himself died in 1657.<a name="FNanchor_464_464" id="FNanchor_464_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_464_464" class="fnanchor">[464]</a> Then there came a pause, and, +during three generations, the French did nothing for +these great subjects: they wrote no work upon them +which is now read, they made no discoveries, and they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +seemed to have lost all heart, until that revival of +knowledge, which, as we shall presently see, took place +in France about the middle of the eighteenth century. +In the practical parts of medicine, in its speculative +parts, and in the arts connected with surgery, the same +law prevails. The French, in these, as in other matters, +had formerly produced men of great eminence, who +had won for themselves an European reputation, and +whose works are still remembered. Thus, only to +mention two or three instances, they had a long line of +illustrious physicians, among whom Fernel and Joubert +were the earliest;<a name="FNanchor_465_465" id="FNanchor_465_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_465_465" class="fnanchor">[465]</a> they had, in surgery, Ambroise +Paré, who not only introduced important practical improvements,<a name="FNanchor_466_466" id="FNanchor_466_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_466_466" class="fnanchor">[466]</a> +but who has the still rarer merit of being +one of the founders of comparative osteology;<a name="FNanchor_467_467" id="FNanchor_467_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_467_467" class="fnanchor">[467]</a> and +they had Baillou, who late in the sixteenth and early in +the seventeenth century, advanced pathology, by connecting +it with the study of morbid anatomy.<a name="FNanchor_468_468" id="FNanchor_468_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_468_468" class="fnanchor">[468]</a> Under +Louis XIV. all this was changed. Under him, surgery +was neglected, though in other countries its progress<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +was rapid.<a name="FNanchor_469_469" id="FNanchor_469_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_469_469" class="fnanchor">[469]</a> The English, by the middle of the seventeenth +century, had taken considerable steps in medicine: +its therapeutical branch being reformed chiefly +by Sydenham, its physiological branch by Glisson.<a name="FNanchor_470_470" id="FNanchor_470_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_470_470" class="fnanchor">[470]</a> +But the age of Louis XIV. cannot boast of a single +medical writer who can be compared to these; not even +one whose name is now known as having made any +specific addition to our knowledge. In Paris, the +practice of medicine was notoriously inferior to that in +the capitals of Germany, Italy, and England; while in +the French provinces, the ignorance, even of the best +physicians, was scandalous.<a name="FNanchor_471_471" id="FNanchor_471_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_471_471" class="fnanchor">[471]</a> Indeed, it is no exaggeration +to say that, during the whole of this long +period, the French in these matters effected comparatively +nothing; they made no contributions to clinical +literature,<a name="FNanchor_472_472" id="FNanchor_472_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_472_472" class="fnanchor">[472]</a> and scarcely any to therapeutics, to pathology, +to physiology, or to anatomy.<a name="FNanchor_473_473" id="FNanchor_473_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_473_473" class="fnanchor">[473]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> + +<p>In what are called the natural sciences, we also find +the French now brought to a stand. In zoology, they +had formerly possessed remarkable men, among whom +Belon and Rondelet were the most conspicuous:<a name="FNanchor_474_474" id="FNanchor_474_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_474_474" class="fnanchor">[474]</a> but, +under Louis XIV., they did not produce one original +observer in this great field of inquiry.<a name="FNanchor_475_475" id="FNanchor_475_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_475_475" class="fnanchor">[475]</a> In chemistry, +again, Rey had, in the reign of Louis XIII., struck out +views of such vast importance, that he anticipated some +of those generalizations which formed the glory of the +French intellect in the eighteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_476_476" id="FNanchor_476_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_476_476" class="fnanchor">[476]</a> During +the corrupt and frivolous age of Louis XIV., all this +was forgotten; the labours of Rey were neglected; and so +complete was the indifference, that even the celebrated +experiments of Boyle remained unknown in France for +more than forty years after they were published.<a name="FNanchor_477_477" id="FNanchor_477_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_477_477" class="fnanchor">[477]</a></p> + +<p>Connected with zoology, and, to a philosophic mind, +inseparable from it, is botany: which, occupying a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +middle place between the animal and mineral world, +indicates their relation to each other, and at different +points touches the confines of both. It also throws +great light on the functions of nutrition,<a name="FNanchor_478_478" id="FNanchor_478_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_478_478" class="fnanchor">[478]</a> and on the +laws of development; while, from the marked analogy +between animals and vegetables, we have every reason +to hope that its further progress, assisted by that of +electricity, will prepare the way for a comprehensive +theory of life, to which the resources of our knowledge +are still unequal, but towards which the movements of +modern science are manifestly tending. On these +grounds, far more than for the sake of practical advantages, +botany will always attract the attention of +thinking men; who, neglecting views of immediate +utility, look to large and ultimate results, and only +value particular facts in so far as they facilitate the +discovery of general truths. The first step in this +noble study was taken towards the middle of the sixteenth +century, when authors, instead of copying what +previous writers had said, began to observe nature for +themselves.<a name="FNanchor_479_479" id="FNanchor_479_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_479_479" class="fnanchor">[479]</a> The next step was, to add experiment to +observation: but it required another hundred years +before this could be done with accuracy; because the +microscope, which is essential to such inquiries, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +only invented about 1620, and the labour of a whole +generation was needed to make it available for minute +investigations.<a name="FNanchor_480_480" id="FNanchor_480_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_480_480" class="fnanchor">[480]</a> So soon, however, as this resource +was sufficiently matured to be applied to plants, the +march of botany became rapid, at least as far as details +are concerned; for it was not until the eighteenth +century that the facts were actually generalized. But, +in the preliminary work of accumulating the facts, +great energy was shown; and, for reasons stated in an +earlier part of the Introduction, this, like other studies +relating to the external world, advanced with peculiar +speed during the reign of Charles II. The tracheæ of +plants were discovered by Henshaw in 1661;<a name="FNanchor_481_481" id="FNanchor_481_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_481_481" class="fnanchor">[481]</a> and +their cellular tissue by Hooke in 1667.<a name="FNanchor_482_482" id="FNanchor_482_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_482_482" class="fnanchor">[482]</a> These were +considerable approaches towards establishing the +analogy between plants and animals; and, within a few +years, Grew effected still more of the same kind. He +made such minute and extensive dissections, as to raise +the anatomy of vegetables to a separate study, and +prove that their organization is scarcely less complicated +than that possessed by animals.<a name="FNanchor_483_483" id="FNanchor_483_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_483_483" class="fnanchor">[483]</a> His first work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +was written in 1670;<a name="FNanchor_484_484" id="FNanchor_484_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_484_484" class="fnanchor">[484]</a> and, in 1676, another Englishman, +Millington, ascertained the existence of a distinction +of sexes;<a name="FNanchor_485_485" id="FNanchor_485_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_485_485" class="fnanchor">[485]</a> thus supplying further evidence of +the harmony between the animal and vegetable kingdoms, +and of the unity of idea which regulates their +composition.</p> + +<p>This is what was effected in England during the +reign of Charles II.; and we now ask what was done +in France, during the same period, under the munificent +patronage of Louis XIV. The answer is, nothing; no +discovery, no idea, which forms an epoch in this important +department of natural science. The son of the +celebrated Sir Thomas Brown visited Paris in the hope +of making some additions to his knowledge of botany, +which he thought he could not fail to do in a country +where science was held in such honour, its professors so +caressed by the court, and its researches so bountifully +encouraged. To his surprise, he, in 1665, found in that +great city no one capable of teaching his favourite pursuit, +and even the public lectures on it miserably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +meagre and unsatisfactory.<a name="FNanchor_486_486" id="FNanchor_486_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_486_486" class="fnanchor">[486]</a> Neither then, nor at a +much later period, did the French possess a good popular +treatise on botany: still less did they make any +improvement in it. Indeed, so completely was the philosophy +of the subject misunderstood, that Tournefort, +the only French botanist of repute in the reign of Louis, +actually rejected that discovery of the sexes of plants, +which had been made before he began to write, and +which afterwards became the corner-stone of the Linnæan +system.<a name="FNanchor_487_487" id="FNanchor_487_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_487_487" class="fnanchor">[487]</a> This showed his incapacity for those +large views respecting the unity of the organic world, +which alone give to botany a scientific value; and we +find, accordingly, that he did nothing for the physiology +of plants, and that his only merit was as a collector and +classifier of them.<a name="FNanchor_488_488" id="FNanchor_488_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_488_488" class="fnanchor">[488]</a> And even in his classification he +was guided, not by a comprehensive comparison of their +various parts, but by considerations drawn from the +mere appearance of the flower:<a name="FNanchor_489_489" id="FNanchor_489_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_489_489" class="fnanchor">[489]</a> thus depriving botany +of its real grandeur, degrading it into an arrangement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +of beautiful objects, and supplying another instance of +the way in which the Frenchmen of that generation +impoverished what they sought to enrich, and dwarfed +every topic, until they suited the intellect and pleased +the eye of that ignorant and luxurious court, to whose +favour they looked for reward, and whose applause it +was the business of their life to gain.</p> + +<p>The truth is, that in these, as in all matters of real +importance, in questions requiring independent thought, +and in questions of practical utility, the age of +Louis XIV. was an age of decay: it was an age of +misery, of intolerance, and oppression; it was an age of +bondage, of ignominy, of incompetence. This would +long since have been universally admitted, if those who +have written the history of that period had taken the +trouble to study subjects without which no history can +be understood; or, I should rather say, without which +no history can exist. If this had been done, the reputation +of Louis XIV. would at once have shrunk to its +natural size. Even at the risk of exposing myself to +the charge of unduly estimating my own labours, I +cannot avoid saying, that the facts which I have just +pointed out have never before been collected, but have +remained isolated in the text-books and repertories of +the sciences to which they belong. Yet without them +it is impossible to study the age of Louis XIV. It is +impossible to estimate the character of any period +except by tracing its development; in other words, by +measuring the extent of its knowledge. Therefore it +is, that to write the history of a country without regard +to its intellectual progress, is as if an astronomer +should compose a planetary system without regard to +the sun, by whose light alone the planets can be seen, +and by whose attraction they are held in their course, +and compelled to run in the path of their appointed +orbits. For the great luminary, even as it shines in the +heaven, is not a more noble or a more powerful object +than is the intellect of man in this nether world. It is +to the human intellect, and to that alone, that every +country owes its knowledge. And what is it but the +progress and diffusion of knowledge which has given us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +our arts, our sciences, our manufactures, our laws, our +opinions, our manners, our comforts, our luxuries, our +civilization; in short, everything that raises us above +the savages, who by their ignorance are degraded to +the level of the brutes with which they herd? Surely, +then, the time has now arrived when they who undertake +to write the history of a great nation should +occupy themselves with those matters by which alone +the destiny of men is regulated, and should abandon +the petty and insignificant details by which we have +too long been wearied; details respecting the lives of +kings, the intrigues of ministers, the vices and the +gossip of courts.</p> + +<p>It is precisely these higher considerations which furnish +the key to the history of the reign of Louis XIV. +In that time, as in all others, the misery of the people +and the degradation of the country followed the decline +of the national intellect; while this last was, in its +turn, the result of the protective spirit—that mischievous +spirit which weakens whatever it touches. If +in the long course and compass of history there is one +thing more clear than another, it is, that whenever a +government undertakes to protect intellectual pursuits, +it will almost always protect them in the wrong place, +and reward the wrong men. Nor is it surprising that +this should be the case. What can kings and ministers +know about those immense branches of knowledge, to +cultivate which with success is often the business of an +entire life? How can they, constantly occupied with +their lofty pursuits, have leisure for such inferior +matters? Is it to be supposed that such acquirements +will be found among statesmen, who are always engaged +in the most weighty concerns; sometimes writing despatches, +sometimes making speeches, sometimes organising +a party in the parliament, sometimes baffling an +intrigue in the privy-chamber? Or if the sovereign +should graciously bestow his patronage according to +his own judgment, are we to expect that mere philosophy +and science should be familiar to high and +mighty princes, who have their own peculiar and +arduous studies, and who have to learn the mysteries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +of heraldry, the nature and dignities of rank, the comparative +value of the different orders, decorations, and +titles, the laws of precedence, the prerogatives of noble +birth, the names and powers of ribbons, stars, and +garters, the various modes of conferring an honour or +installing into an office, the adjustment of ceremonies, +the subtleties of etiquette, and all those other courtly +accomplishments necessary to the exalted functions +which they perform?</p> + +<p>The mere statement of such questions proves the +absurdity of the principle which they involve. For, +unless we believe that kings are omniscient as well as +immaculate, it is evident that in the bestowal of rewards +they must be guided either by personal caprice or by +the testimony of competent judges. And since no one +is a competent judge of scientific excellence unless he +is himself scientific, we are driven to this monstrous +alternative, that the rewards of intellectual labour +must be conferred injudiciously, or else that they must +be given according to the verdict of that very class by +whom they are received. In the first case, the reward +will be ridiculous; in the latter case, it will be disgraceful. +In the former case, weak men will be benefited +by wealth which is taken from industry to be +lavished on idleness. But in the latter case, those men +of real genius, those great and illustrious thinkers, who +are the masters and teachers of the human race, are to +be tricked out with trumpery titles; and after scrambling +in miserable rivalry for the sordid favours of a +court, they are then to be turned into beggars of the +state, who not only clamour for their share of the spoil, +but even regulate the proportions into which the shares +are to be divided.</p> + +<p>Under such a system, the natural results are, first, +the impoverishment and servility of genius: then the +decay of knowledge; then the decline of the country. +Three times in the history of the world has this experiment +been tried. In the ages of Augustus, of Leo X., +and of Louis XIV., the same method was adopted, and +the same result ensued. In each of these ages, there was +much apparent splendour, immediately succeeded by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +sudden ruin. In each instance, the brilliancy survived +the independence; and in each instance, the national +spirit sank under that pernicious alliance between +government and literature, by virtue of which the political +classes become very powerful, and the intellectual +classes very weak, simply because they who dispense +the patronage will, of course, receive the homage; and +if, on the one hand, government is always ready to +reward literature, so on the other hand, will literature +be always ready to succumb to government.</p> + +<p>Of these three ages, that of Louis XIV. was incomparably +the worst; and nothing but the amazing +energy of the French people could have enabled them +to rally, as they afterwards did, from the effects of so +enfeebling a system. But though they rallied, the +effort cost them dear. The struggle, as we shall presently +see, lasted two generations, and was only ended +by that frightful Revolution which formed its natural +climax. What the real history of that struggle was, I +shall endeavour to ascertain towards the conclusion of +this volume. Without, however, anticipating the course +of affairs, we will now proceed to what I have already +mentioned as the second great characteristic of the +reign of Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>II. The second intellectual characteristic of the reign +of Louis XIV. is, in importance, hardly inferior to the +first. We have already seen that the national intellect, +stunted by the protection of the court, was so diverted +from the noblest branches of knowledge, that in none of +them did it produce anything worthy of being recorded. +As a natural consequence, the minds of men, driven +from the higher departments, took refuge in the lower, +and concentrated themselves upon those inferior subjects, +where the discovery of truth is not the main +object, but where beauty of form and expression are the +things chiefly pursued. Thus, the first consequence of +the patronage of Louis XIV. was, to diminish the field for +genius, and to sacrifice science to art. The second consequence +was, that, even in art itself, there was soon +seen a marked decay. For a short time, the stimulus +produced its effect; but was followed by that collapse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +which is its natural result. So essentially vicious is the +whole system of patronage and reward, that after the +death of those writers and artists, whose works form +the only redeeming point in the reign of Louis, there +was found no one capable of even imitating their excellences. +The poets, dramatists, painters, musicians, +sculptors, architects, were, with hardly an exception, +not only born, but educated under that freer policy, +which existed before his time. When they began their +labours, they benefited by a munificence which encouraged +the activity of their genius. But in a few years, +that generation having died off, the hollowness of the +whole system was clearly exposed. More than a quarter +of a century before the death of Louis XIV., most +of these eminent men had ceased to live; and then it +was seen to how miserable a plight the country was reduced +under the boasted patronage of the great king. +At the moment when Louis XIV. died, there was +scarcely a writer or an artist in France who enjoyed an +European reputation. This is a circumstance well worth +our notice. If we compare the different classes of literature, +we shall find that sacred oratory, being the least +influenced by the king, was able the longest to bear up +against his system. Massillon belongs partly to the +subsequent reign; but even of the other great divines, +Bossuet and Bourdaloue both lived to 1704,<a name="FNanchor_490_490" id="FNanchor_490_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_490_490" class="fnanchor">[490]</a> Mascaron +to 1703,<a name="FNanchor_491_491" id="FNanchor_491_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_491_491" class="fnanchor">[491]</a> and Flechier to 1710.<a name="FNanchor_492_492" id="FNanchor_492_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_492_492" class="fnanchor">[492]</a> As, however, the +king, particularly in his latter years, was very fearful +of meddling with the church, it is in profane matters +that we can best trace the workings of his policy, because +it is there that his interference was most active. +With a view to this, the simplest plan will be, to look, +in the first place, into the history of the fine arts; and +after ascertaining who the greatest artists were, observe +the year in which they died, remembering that the government +of Louis XIV. began in 1661, and ended in +1715.</p> + +<p>If, now, we examine this period of fifty-four years, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +shall be struck by the remarkable fact, that everything +which is celebrated was effected in the first half of it; +while more than twenty years before its close, the most +eminent masters all died without leaving any successors. +The six greatest painters in the reign of Louis XIV. +were Poussin, Lesueur, Claude Lorraine, Le Brun, and +the two Mignards. Of these, Le Brun died in 1690;<a name="FNanchor_493_493" id="FNanchor_493_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_493_493" class="fnanchor">[493]</a> +the elder Mignard in 1668;<a name="FNanchor_494_494" id="FNanchor_494_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_494_494" class="fnanchor">[494]</a> the younger in 1695;<a name="FNanchor_495_495" id="FNanchor_495_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_495_495" class="fnanchor">[495]</a> +Claude Lorraine in 1682;<a name="FNanchor_496_496" id="FNanchor_496_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_496_496" class="fnanchor">[496]</a> Lesueur in 1655;<a name="FNanchor_497_497" id="FNanchor_497_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_497_497" class="fnanchor">[497]</a> and +Poussin, perhaps the most distinguished of all the +French school, died in 1665.<a name="FNanchor_498_498" id="FNanchor_498_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_498_498" class="fnanchor">[498]</a> The two greatest architects +were, Claude Perrault and Francis Mansart; but +Perrault died in 1688;<a name="FNanchor_499_499" id="FNanchor_499_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_499_499" class="fnanchor">[499]</a> Mansart in 1666;<a name="FNanchor_500_500" id="FNanchor_500_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_500_500" class="fnanchor">[500]</a> and Blondel, +the next in fame, died in 1686.<a name="FNanchor_501_501" id="FNanchor_501_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_501_501" class="fnanchor">[501]</a> The greatest of all +the sculptors was Puget, who died in 1694.<a name="FNanchor_502_502" id="FNanchor_502_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_502_502" class="fnanchor">[502]</a> Lulli, the +founder of French music, died in 1687.<a name="FNanchor_503_503" id="FNanchor_503_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_503_503" class="fnanchor">[503]</a> Quinault, the +greatest poet of French music, died in 1688.<a name="FNanchor_504_504" id="FNanchor_504_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_504_504" class="fnanchor">[504]</a> Under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +these eminent men, the fine arts, in the reign of Louis +XIV., reached their zenith; and during the last thirty +years of his life, their decline was portentously rapid. +This was the case, not only in architecture and music, +but even in painting, which, being more subservient +than they are to personal vanity, is more likely to +flourish under a rich and despotic government. The +genius, however, of painters fell so low, that long before +the death of Louis XIV., France ceased to possess one +of any merit; and when his successor came to the +throne, this beautiful art was, in that great country, +almost extinct.<a name="FNanchor_505_505" id="FNanchor_505_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_505_505" class="fnanchor">[505]</a></p> + +<p>These are startling facts; not matters of opinion, +which may be disputed, but stubborn dates, supported +by irrefragable testimony. And if we examine in the +same manner the literature of the age of Louis XIV., +we shall arrive at similar conclusions. If we ascertain +the dates of those masterpieces which adorn his reign, +we shall find that during the last five-and-twenty years +of his life, when his patronage had been the longest in +operation, it was entirely barren of results; in other +words, that when the French had been most habituated +to his protection, they were least able to effect great +things. Louis XIV. died in 1715. Racine produced +<i>Phedre</i> in 1677; <i>Andromaque</i> in 1667; <i>Athelie</i> in 1691.<a name="FNanchor_506_506" id="FNanchor_506_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_506_506" class="fnanchor">[506]</a> +Molière published the <i>Misanthrope</i> in 1666; <i>Tartuffe</i><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +in 1667; the <i>Avare</i> in 1668.<a name="FNanchor_507_507" id="FNanchor_507_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_507_507" class="fnanchor">[507]</a> The <i>Lutrin</i> of Boileau +was written in 1674; his best Satires in 1666.<a name="FNanchor_508_508" id="FNanchor_508_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_508_508" class="fnanchor">[508]</a> The +last Fables of La Fontaine appeared in 1678, and his +last Tales in 1671.<a name="FNanchor_509_509" id="FNanchor_509_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_509_509" class="fnanchor">[509]</a> The <i>Inquiry respecting Truth</i>, by +Malebranche, was published in 1674;<a name="FNanchor_510_510" id="FNanchor_510_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_510_510" class="fnanchor">[510]</a> the <i>Caractères</i> +of La Bruyère in 1687;<a name="FNanchor_511_511" id="FNanchor_511_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_511_511" class="fnanchor">[511]</a> the Maximes of Rochefoucauld +in 1665.<a name="FNanchor_512_512" id="FNanchor_512_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_512_512" class="fnanchor">[512]</a> The <i>Provincial Letters</i> of Pascal were +written 1656, and he himself died in 1662.<a name="FNanchor_513_513" id="FNanchor_513_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_513_513" class="fnanchor">[513]</a> As to +Corneille, his great Tragedies were composed, some +while Louis was still a boy, and the others before the +king was born.<a name="FNanchor_514_514" id="FNanchor_514_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_514_514" class="fnanchor">[514]</a> Such were the dates of the masterpieces +of the age of Louis XIV. The authors of these +immortal works all ceased to write, and nearly all ceased +to live, before the close of the seventeenth century; and +we may fairly ask the admirers of Louis XIV. who +those men were that succeeded them. Where have +their names been registered? Where are their works to +be found? Who is there that now reads the books of +those obscure hirelings, who for so many years thronged +the court of the great king? Who has heard anything +of Campistron, La Chapelle, Genest, Ducerceau, +Dancourt, Danchet, Vergier, Catrou, Chaulieu, Legendre, +Valincour, Lamotte, and the other ignoble compilers, +who long remained the brightest ornaments of +France? Was this, then, the consequence of the royal +bounty? Was this the fruit of the royal patronage? +If the system of reward and protection is really advantageous +to literature and to art, how is it that it should +have produced the meanest results when it had been the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +longest in operation? If the favour of kings is, as their +flatterers tell us, of such importance, how comes it that +the more the favour was displayed, the more the effects +were contemptible?</p> + +<p>Nor was this almost inconceivable penury compensated +by superiority in any other department. The simple +fact is that Louis XIV. survived the entire intellect of +the French nation, except that small part of it which +grew up in opposition to his principles, and afterwards +shook the throne of his successor.<a name="FNanchor_515_515" id="FNanchor_515_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_515_515" class="fnanchor">[515]</a> Several years before +his death, and when his protective system had been +in full force for nearly half a century, there was not to +be found in the whole of France a statesman who could +develop the resources of the country, or a general who +could defend it against its enemies. Both in the civil +service and in the military service, every thing had fallen +into disorder. At home there was nothing but confusion; +abroad there was nothing but disaster. The +spirit of France succumbed, and was laid prostrate. +The men of letters, pensioned and decorated by the +court, had degenerated into a fawning and hypocritical +race, who, to meet the wishes of their masters, opposed +all improvement, and exerted themselves in support of +every old abuse. The end of all this was, a corruption, +a servility, and a loss of power more complete than has +ever been witnessed in any of the great countries of +Europe. There was no popular liberty; there were no +great men; there was no science; there was no literature; +there were no arts. Within, there was a discontented +people, a rapacious government, and a beggared exchequer. +Without, there were foreign armies, which +pressed upon all the frontiers, and which nothing but +their mutual jealousies, and a change in the English +cabinet, prevented from dismembering the monarchy of +France.<a name="FNanchor_516_516" id="FNanchor_516_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_516_516" class="fnanchor">[516]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such was the forlorn position of that noble country +towards the close of the reign of Louis XIV.<a name="FNanchor_517_517" id="FNanchor_517_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_517_517" class="fnanchor">[517]</a> The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +misfortunes which embittered the declining years of the +king were, indeed, so serious, that they could not fail +to excite our sympathy, if we did not know that they +were the result of his own turbulent ambition, of his +insufferable arrogance, but, above all, of a grasping and +restless vanity, which, making him eager to concentrate +on his single person all the glory of France, gave rise +to that insidious policy, which, with gifts, with honours, +and with honied words, began by gaining the admiration +of the intellectual classes, then made them courtly and +time-serving, and ended by destroying all their boldness, +stifling every effort of original thought, and thus postponing +for an indefinite period the progress of national +civilization.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_433_433" id="Footnote_433_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_433_433"><span class="label">[433]</span></a> On the disgraceful subserviency of the most eminent men of +letters, see <i>Capefigue's Louis XIV.</i>, vol. i. pp. 41, 42, 116; and on +the feeling of the people, Le Vassor, who wrote late in the reign of +Louis XIV., bitterly says, ‘mais les Français, accoutumés à l'esclavage, +ne sentent plus la pesanteur de leurs chaînes.’ <i>Le Vassor</i>, <i>Hist. de +Louis XIII</i>, vol. vi. p. 670. Foreigners were equally amazed at the +general, and still more, at the willing servility. Lord Shaftesbury, in +a letter dated February 1704–5, passes a glowing eulogy upon liberty; +but he adds, that in France ‘you will hardly find this argument +understood; for whatever flashes may now and then appear, I never yet +knew one single Frenchman a free man.’ <i>Forster's Original Letters of +Locke, Sidney, and Shaftesbury</i>, 1830, p. 205. In the same year, De Foe +makes a similar remark in regard to the French nobles, <i>Wilson's Life of +De Foe</i>, vol. ii. p. 209; and, in 1699, Addison writes from Blois a +letter which strikingly illustrates the degradation of the French. +<i>Aikin's Life of Addison</i>, vol. i. p. 80. Compare <i>Burnet's Own Time</i>, +vol. iv. p. 365, on ‘the gross excess of flattery to which the French +have run, beyond the examples of former ages, in honour of their king.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_434_434" id="Footnote_434_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_434_434"><span class="label">[434]</span></a> The terms of this compact between the crown and the church +are fairly stated by M. Ranke: ‘Wir sehen, die beiden Gewalten +unterstützten einander. Der König ward von den Einwirkungen der +weltlichen, der Clerus von der unbedingten Autorität der geistlichen +Gewalt des Papstthums freigesprochen.’ <i>Die Päpste</i>, vol. iii. p. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_435_435" id="Footnote_435_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_435_435"><span class="label">[435]</span></a> This part of his character is skilfully drawn by Sismondi, +<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxv. p. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_436_436" id="Footnote_436_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_436_436"><span class="label">[436]</span></a> Flasson supposes that the first persecuting laws were in +1679: ‘Des l'année 1679 les concessions faites aux protestans avaient +été graduellement restreintes.’ <i>Diplomatie +Française</i>, vol. iv. p. 92. But the fact is, that these laws began in +1662, the year after the death of Mazarin. See <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des +Français</i>, vol. xxv. p. 167; <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Edit. de Nantes</i>, vol. iii. pp. +460–462, 481. In 1667, a letter from Thynne to Lord Clarendon (<i>Lister's +Life of Clarendon</i>, vol. iii. p. 446) mentions ‘the horrid persecutions +the reformed religion undergoes in France;’ and Locke, who travelled in +France in 1675 and 1676, states in his Journal (<i>King's Life of Locke</i>, +vol. i. p. 110) that the Protestants were losing ‘every day some +privilege or other.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_437_437" id="Footnote_437_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_437_437"><span class="label">[437]</span></a> An account of the revocation will be found in all the +French historians; but I do not remember that any of them have noticed +that there was a rumour of it in Paris twenty years before it occurred. +In March 1665 Patin writes, ‘On dit que, pour miner les huguenots, le +roi veut supprimer les chambres de l'édit, et abolir l'édit de Nantes.’ +<i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. iii. p. 516.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_438_438" id="Footnote_438_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_438_438"><span class="label">[438]</span></a> Compare <i>Burnet's Own Time</i>, vol. iii. pp. 73–76, with +<i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xx. pp. +377, 378. Voltaire says that the Protestants who persisted in their +religion ‘étaient livrés aux soldats, qui eurent toute licence, excepté +celle de tuer. Il y eut pourtant plusieurs personnes si cruellement +maltraitées qu'elles en moururent.’ And Burnet, who was in France in +1685, says, ‘all men set their thoughts on work to invent new methods of +cruelty.’ What some of those methods were, I shall now relate; because +the evidence, however painful it may be, is necessary to enable us to +understand the reign of Louis XIV. It is necessary that the veil should +be rent; and that the squeamish delicacy which would hide such facts, +should give way before the obligation which the historian is under of +holding up to public opprobrium, and branding with public infamy, the +church by which the measures were instigated, the sovereign by whom they +were enforced, and the age in which they were permitted.</p> + +<p>The two original sources for our knowledge of these events are, <i>Quick's +Synodicon in Gallia</i>, 1692, folio; and <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Histoire de l'Edit de +Nantes</i>, 1695, 4to. From these works I extract the following accounts of +what happened in France in 1685. ‘Afterwards they fall upon the persons +of the Protestants; and there was no wickedness, though never so horrid, +which they did not put in practice, that they might enforce them to +change their religion…. They bound them as criminals are when they be +put to the rack; and in that posture, putting a funnel into their +mouths, they poured wine down their throats till its fumes had deprived +them of their reason, and they had in that condition made them consent +to become Catholics. Some they stripped stark naked, and after they had +offered them a thousand indignities, they stuck them with pins from head +to foot; they cut them with pen-knives, tear them by the noses with +red-hot pincers, and dragged them about the rooms till they promised to +become Roman Catholics, or that the doleful outcries of these poor +tormented creatures, calling upon God for mercy, constrained them to let +them go…. In some places they tied fathers and husbands to the +bed-posts, and ravished their wives and daughters before their eyes…. +From others they pluck off the nails of their hands and toes, which must +needs cause an intolerable pain. They burnt the feet of others. They +blew up men and women with bellows, till they were ready to burst in +pieces. If these horrid usages could not prevail upon them to violate +their consciences, and abandon their religion, they did then imprison +them in close and noisome dungeons, in which they exercised all kinds of +inhumanities upon them.’ <i>Quick's Synodicon</i>, vol. i. pp. cxxx. +cxxxi. ‘Cependant les troupes exerçoient partout de cruautez inouies. +Tout leur étoit permis, pourveu qu'ils ne fissent pas mourir. Ils +faisoient danser quelquefois leurs hôtes, jusqu'à ce qu'ils tombassent +en défaillance. Ils bernoient les autres jusqu'à ce qu'ils n'en +pouvoient plus…. Il y en eut quelques-uns à qui on versa de l'eau +bouillante dans la bouche…. Il y en eut plusieurs à qui on donna des +coups de bâton sous les pieds, pour éprouver si ce supplice est aussi +cruel que les relations le publient. On arrachoit à d'autres le poil de +la barbe…. D'autres brûloient à la chandelle le poil des bras et des +jambes de leurs hôtes. D'autres faisoient brûler de la poudre, si près +du visage de ceux qui leur resistoient, qu'elle leur grilloit toute la +peau. Ils mettoient à d'autres des charbons allumez dans les mains, et +les contraignoient de les tenir fermées, jusqu'à ce que les charbons +fussent éteints…. On brûla les pieds à plusieurs, tenant les uns +long-tems devant un grand feu; appliquant aux autres une pelle ardente +sous les pieds; liant les pieds des autres dans des bottines pleines de +graisse, qu'on faisoit fondre et chauffer peu à peu devant un brasier +ardent.’ <i>Benoist</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. v. pp. +887–889. One of the Protestants, named Ryau, they ‘lièrent fort +étroitement; lui sevrèrent les doigts des mains; lui fichèrent des +épingles sous les ongles; lui firent brûler de la poudre dans les +oreilles; lui percèrent les cuisses en plusieurs lieux, et versèrent du +vinaigre et du sel dans ses blessures. <i>Par ce tourment ils épuisèrent +sa patience en deux jours; et le forcèrent à changer de religion</i>,’ p. +890. ‘Ses dragons étoient les mêmes en tous lieux. Ils battoient, ils +étourdissoient, ils brûloient en Bourgogne comme en Poitou, en Champagne +comme en Guyenne, en Normandie comme en Languedoc. Mais ils n'avoient +pour les femmes ni plus de respect, ni plus de pitié que pour les +hommes. Au contraire, ils abusoient de la tendre pudeur qui est une des +propriétez de leur sexe; et ils s'en prevaloient pour leur faire de plus +sensibles outrages. On leur levoit quelquefois leurs juppes par dessus +la tête, et on leur jetoit des seaux d'eau sur le corps. Il y en eut +plusieurs que les soldats mirent en chemise, et qu'ils forcèrent de +danser avec eux dans cet état…. Deux filles de Calais, nommées le +Noble, furent mises toutes nuës sur le pavé, et furent ainsi exposées à +la mocquerie et aux outrages des passans…. Des dragons ayant lié la +dame de Vezençai à la quenouille de son lit, lui crachoient +dans la bouche quand elle l'ouvroit pour parler ou pour soupirer.’ pp. +891, 892. At p. 917 are other details, far more horrible, respecting the +treatment of women, and which indignation rather than shame prevents me +from transcribing. Indeed, the shame can only light on the church and +the government under whose united authority such scandalous outrages +could be openly perpetrated, merely for the sake of compelling men to +change their religious opinions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_439_439" id="Footnote_439_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_439_439"><span class="label">[439]</span></a> M. Blanqui (<i>Hist. de l'Economie Politique</i>, vol. ii. p. +10) says, that the revocation of the Edict of Nantes cost France ‘cinq +cent mille de ses enfants les plus industrieux,’ who +carried into other countries ‘les habitudes d'ordre et de travail dont +ils étaient imbus.’ See also <i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, chap. xxxvi., in +<i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xx. pp. 380, 381. Several of them +emigrated to North America. Compare <i>Godwin on Population</i>, pp. 388, +389, with <i>Benoist</i>, <i>l'Edit de Nantes</i>, vol. v. pp. 973, 974, and +<i>Lyell's Second Visit to the United States</i>, edit. 1849, vol. ii. p. +159. See also, on the effects of the Revocation, <i>Lettres inédites de +Voltaire</i>, vol. ii. p. 473.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_440_440" id="Footnote_440_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_440_440"><span class="label">[440]</span></a> On the diminished respect for kings, caused by the +abandonment of divine right, see <i>Spencer's Social Statics</i>, pp. 423, +424; and on the influence of the clergy in propagating the old doctrine, +see Allen's learned work on the <i>Royal Prerogative</i>, edit. 1849, p. 156. +See also some striking remarks by Locke, in <i>King's Life of Locke</i>, vol +ii. p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_441_441" id="Footnote_441_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_441_441"><span class="label">[441]</span></a> ‘Qu'est devenu, en effet, le droit divin, cette pensée, +autrefois acceptée par les masses, que les rois étaient les +représentants de Dieu sur la terre, que la racine de leur pouvoir était +dans le ciel? Elle s'est évanouie devant cette autre pensée, qu'aucun +nuage, aucun mysticisme n'obscurcit; devant cette pensée si naturelle et +brillant d'une clarté si nette et si vive, que la souveraine +puissance, sur la terre, appartient au peuple entier, et non à une +fraction, et moins encore à un seul homme.’ <i>Rey</i>, <i>Science Sociale</i>, +vol. iii. p. 308. Compare <i>Manning on the Law of Nations</i>, p. 101; +<i>Laing's Sweden</i>, p. 408; <i>Laing's Denmark</i>, p. 196; <i>Burke's Works</i>, +vol. i. p. 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_442_442" id="Footnote_442_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_442_442"><span class="label">[442]</span></a> In this, as in all instances, the language of respect long +survives the feeling to which the language owed its origin. Lord +Brougham (<i>Political Philosophy</i>, vol. i. p. 42, Lond. 1849) observes, +that ‘all their titles are derived from a divine original—all refer to +them as representing the Deity on earth. They are called “<i>Grace</i>,” +“<i>Majesty</i>.” They are termed “<i>The Lord's anointed</i>,” “<i>The Vicegerent +of God upon earth</i>;” with many other names which are either nonsensical +or blasphemous, but which are outdone in absurdity by the kings of the +East.’ True enough: but if Lord Brougham had written thus three +centuries ago, he would have had his ears cut off for his pains.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_443_443" id="Footnote_443_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_443_443"><span class="label">[443]</span></a> ‘La première période du gouvernement de Louis XIV commence +donc en 1661.’ <i>Capefigue's Louis XIV.</i>, vol. i. p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_444_444" id="Footnote_444_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_444_444"><span class="label">[444]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xi. p. 157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_445_445" id="Footnote_445_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_445_445"><span class="label">[445]</span></a> In <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxiii. p. 50, he is said to have +composed it ‘à l'âge de seize ans;’ and at p. 46, to have been born in +1623.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_446_446" id="Footnote_446_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_446_446"><span class="label">[446]</span></a> <i>Leslie's Natural Philosophy</i>, p. 201; <i>Bordas Demoulin</i>, +<i>Le Cartésianisme</i>, vol. i. p. 310. Sir John Herschel (<i>Disc. on Nat. +Philos.</i> pp. 229, 230) calls this ‘one of the first, if not the very +first,’ crucial instance recorded in physics; and he thinks that it +‘tended, more powerfully than any thing which had previously been done +in science, to confirm in the minds of men that disposition to +experimental verification which had scarcely yet taken full and secure +root.’ In this point of view, the addition it actually made to knowledge +is the smallest part of its merit.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_447_447" id="Footnote_447_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_447_447"><span class="label">[447]</span></a> Montucla (<i>Hist. des Mathématiques</i>, vol. ii. p. 61) says, +‘vers 1658;’ and at p. 65, ‘il se mit, vers le commencement de 1658, à +considérer plus profondément les propriétés de cette courbe.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_448_448" id="Footnote_448_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_448_448"><span class="label">[448]</span></a> Montucla (<i>Hist. des Mathémat.</i> vol. ii. p. 136) +enthusiastically declares that ‘si Descartes eût manqué à l'esprit +humain, Fermat l'eût remplacé en géométrie.’ Simson, the celebrated +restorer of Greek geometry, said that Fermat was the only modern who +understood porisms. See <i>Trail's Account of Simson</i>, 1812, 4to. pp. 18, +41. On the connexion between his views and the subsequent discovery of +the differential calculus, see <i>Brewster's Life of Newton</i>, vol. ii. pp. +7, 8; and compare <i>Comte</i>, <i>Philosophie Positive</i>, vol. i. pp. 228, 229, +726, 727.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_449_449" id="Footnote_449_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_449_449"><span class="label">[449]</span></a> See extracts from two letters written by Fermat to +Roberval, in 1636, in <i>Montucla</i>, <i>Hist. des Mathématiques</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 136, 137; respecting which there is no notice in the meagre article +on Fermat, in <i>Hutton's Mathematical Dictionary</i>, vol. i. p. 510, 4to. +1815. It is a disgrace to English mathematicians that this +unsatisfactory work of Hutton's should still remain the best they have +produced on the history of their own science. The same disregard of +dates is shown in the hasty remarks on Fermat by Playfair. See +<i>Playfair's Dissertation on the Progress of Mathematical Science</i>, +<i>Encyclop. Brit.</i> vol. i. p. 440, 7th edition.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_450_450" id="Footnote_450_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_450_450"><span class="label">[450]</span></a> <i>Hutton's Mathemat. Dict.</i> vol. i. p. 572.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_451_451" id="Footnote_451_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_451_451"><span class="label">[451]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_452_452" id="Footnote_452_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_452_452"><span class="label">[452]</span></a> Of which Sauveur may be considered the creator. Compare +<i>Eloge de Sauveur</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Fontenelle</i>, Paris, 1766, vol. v. +p. 435, with <i>Whewell's Hist. of the Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. ii. p. 334; +<i>Comte</i>, <i>Philos. Pos.</i> vol. ii. pp. 627, 628.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_453_453" id="Footnote_453_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_453_453"><span class="label">[453]</span></a> In the report presented to Napoleon by the French +Institute, it is said of the reign of Louis XIV., ‘les sciences exactes +et les sciences physiques peu cultivées en France dans un siècle qui +paroissoit ne trouver de charmes que dans la littérature.’ <i>Dacier</i>, +<i>Rapport Historique</i>, p. 24. Or, as Lacretelle expresses it +(<i>Dix-huitième Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 10), ‘La France, après avoir fourni +Descartes et Pascal, eut pendant quelque temps à envier aux nations +étrangères la gloire de produire des génies créateurs dans les +sciences.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_454_454" id="Footnote_454_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_454_454"><span class="label">[454]</span></a> A writer late in the seventeenth century says, with some +simplicity, ‘the present king of France is reputed an encourager of +choice and able men, in all faculties, who can attribute to his +greatness.’ <i>Aubrey's Letters</i>, vol. ii. p. 624.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_455_455" id="Footnote_455_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_455_455"><span class="label">[455]</span></a> The <i>Principia</i> of Newton appeared in 1687; and +Maupertuis, in 1732, ‘was the first astronomer of France who undertook a +critical defence of the theory of gravitation.’ <i>Grant's Hist. of +Physical Astronomy</i>, pp. 31, 43. In 1738, Voltaire writes, ‘La France +est jusqu'à présent le seul pays où les théories de Newton en physique, +et de Boerhaave en médecine, soient combattues. Nous n'avons pas +encore de bons éléments de physique; nous avons pour toute astronomie le +livre de Bion, qui n'est qu'un ramas informe de quelques mémoires de +l'académie.’ <i>Correspond.</i> in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xlvii. p. +340. On the tardy reception of Newton's discoveries in France, compare +<i>Eloge de Lacaille</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Bailly</i>, Paris, 1790, vol. i. pp. +175, 176. All this is the more remarkable, because several of the +conclusions at which Newton had arrived were divulged before they were +embodied in the <i>Principia</i>; and it appears from <i>Brewster's Life of +Newton</i> (vol. i. pp. 25, 26, 290), that his speculations concerning +gravity began in 1666, or perhaps in the autumn of 1665.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_456_456" id="Footnote_456_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_456_456"><span class="label">[456]</span></a> ‘L'abbé Picard fut en société avec Auzout, l'inventeur du +micromètre.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxiv. p. 253. See also <i>Préface de +l'Hist. de l'Acad. des Sciences</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Fontenelle</i>, Paris, +1766, vol. x. p. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_457_457" id="Footnote_457_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_457_457"><span class="label">[457]</span></a> The best account I have seen of the invention of the +micrometer, is in Mr. Grant's recent work, <i>History of Physical +Astronomy</i>, pp. 428, 450–453, where it is proved that Gascoigne invented +it in 1639, or possibly a year or two earlier. Compare <i>Humboldt's +Cosmos</i>, vol. iii. p. 52; who also ascribes it to Gascoigne, but +erroneously dates it in 1640. Montucla (<i>Hist. des Mathémat.</i> vol. ii. +pp. 570, 571) admits the priority of Gascoigne; but underrates his +merit, being apparently unacquainted with the evidence which Mr. Grant +subsequently adduced.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_458_458" id="Footnote_458_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_458_458"><span class="label">[458]</span></a> For a short account of this able man, see <i>Lankester's +Mem. of Ray</i>, p. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_459_459" id="Footnote_459_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_459_459"><span class="label">[459]</span></a> Notwithstanding the strong prejudice then existing against +Englishmen, Butterfield was employed by ‘the king and all the princes.’ +<i>Lister's Account of Paris at the close of the Seventeenth Century, +edited by Dr. Henning</i>, p. 85. Fontenelle mentions ‘M. Hubin,’ as one of +the most celebrated makers in Paris in 1687 (<i>Eloge d'Amoltons</i>, in +<i>Œuvres de Fontenelle</i>, Paris, 1766, vol. v. p. 113); but has +forgotten to state that he too was an Englishman. ‘Lutetiæ sedem +posuerat ante aliquod tempus <i>Anglus quidam nomine Hubinus</i>, vir +ingeniosus, atque hujusmodi machinationum peritus opifex et industrius. +Hominem adii,’ &c. <i>Huetii Commentarius de Rebus ad eum pertinentibus</i>, +p. 346. Thus, again, in regard to time-keepers, the vast superiority of +the English makers, late in the reign of Louis XIV., was equally +incontestable. Compare <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxiv. pp. 242, 243, with +<i>Brewster's Life of Newton</i>, vol. ii. p. 262; and as to the middle of +the reign of Louis XIV., see <i>Eloge de Sebastien</i>, in <i>Œuvres de +Fontenelle</i>, vol. vi. pp. 332, 333.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_460_460" id="Footnote_460_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_460_460"><span class="label">[460]</span></a> ‘Les manufactures étaient plutôt dirigées vers le brillant +que vers l'utile. On s'efforça, par un arrêt du mois de mars 1700, +d'extirper, ou du moins de réduire beaucoup les fabriques de bas au +métier. Malgré cette fausse direction, les objets d'un luxe +très-recherché faisaient des progrès bien lents. En 1687, après la mort +de Colbert, la cour soldait encore l'industrie des barbares, et faisait +fabriquer et broder ses plus beaux habits à Constantinople.’ <i>Lemontey</i>, +<i>Etablissement de Louis XIV</i>, p. 364. Lacretelle (<i>Dix-huitième Siècle</i>, +vol. ii. p. 5) says, that during the last thirty years of the reign of +Louis XIV. ‘les manufactures tombaient.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_461_461" id="Footnote_461_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_461_461"><span class="label">[461]</span></a> Cuvier (<i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxvii. p. 199) thus describes +the condition of France only seven years after the death of Louis XIV.: +‘Nos forges étaient alors presque dans l'enfance; et nous ne faisions +point d'acier: tout celui qu'exigeaient les différents métiers nous +venait de l'étranger…. Nous ne faisions point non plus alors de +fer-blanc, et il ne nous venait que de l'Allemagne.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_462_462" id="Footnote_462_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_462_462"><span class="label">[462]</span></a> ‘Certainement la découverte de Pecquet ne brille pas moins +dans l'histoire de notre art que la vérité démontrée pour la première +fois par Harvey.’ <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. iv. p. 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_463_463" id="Footnote_463_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_463_463"><span class="label">[463]</span></a> Henle (<i>Anatomie Générale</i>, vol. ii. p. 106) says, +that the discovery was made in 1649; but the historians of +medicine assign it to 1647. <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. iv. +pp. 207, 405; <i>Renouard</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. ii. p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_464_464" id="Footnote_464_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_464_464"><span class="label">[464]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxviii. pp. 123, 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_465_465" id="Footnote_465_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_465_465"><span class="label">[465]</span></a> Some of the great steps taken by Joubert are concisely +stated in <i>Broussais</i>, <i>Examen des Doctrines Médicales</i>, vol. i. pp. +293, 294, vol. iii. p. 361. Compare <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, +vol. iii. p. 210. Fernel, though enthusiastically praised by Patin, was +probably hardly equal to Joubert. <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. iii. pp. 59, +199, 648. At p. 106, Patin calls Fernel ‘le premier médecin de son +temps, et peut-être le plus grand qui sera jamais.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_466_466" id="Footnote_466_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_466_466"><span class="label">[466]</span></a> See a summary of them in <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Médecine</i>, vol. iii. pp. 405, 406, vol. vii. pp. 14, 15. Sir Benjamin +Brodie (<i>Lectures on Surgery</i>, p. 21) says, ‘Few greater benefits have +been conferred on mankind than that for which we are indebted to Ambrose +Parey—the application of a ligature to a bleeding artery.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_467_467" id="Footnote_467_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_467_467"><span class="label">[467]</span></a> ‘C'était là une vue très-ingénieuse et très-juste +qu'Ambroise Paré donnait pour la première fois. C'était un commencement +d'ostéologie comparée.’ <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part. ii. p. +42. To this I may add, that he is the first French writer on medical +jurisprudence. See <i>Paris and Fonblanque's Medical Jurisprudence</i>, 1823, +vol. i. p. xviii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_468_468" id="Footnote_468_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_468_468"><span class="label">[468]</span></a> ‘L'un des premiers auteurs à qui l'on doit des +observations cadavériques sur les maladies, est le fameux Baillou.’ +<i>Broussais</i>, <i>Examen des Doctrines Médicales</i>, vol. ii. p. 218. See also +vol. iii. p. 362; and <i>Renouard</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. ii. p. +89. The value of his services is recognized in a recent able work, +<i>Phillips on Scrofula</i>, 1846, p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_469_469" id="Footnote_469_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_469_469"><span class="label">[469]</span></a> ‘The most celebrated surgeon of the sixteenth century was +Ambroise Paré…. From the time of Paré until the commencement of the +eighteenth century, surgery was but little cultivated in France. +Mauriceau, Saviard, and Belloste, were the only French surgeons of note +who could be contrasted with so many eminent men of other nations. +During the eighteenth century, France produced two surgeons of +extraordinary genius; these are Petit and Desault.’ <i>Bowman's Surgery</i>, +in <i>Encyclop. of Medical Sciences</i>, 1847, 4to. pp. 829, 830.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_470_470" id="Footnote_470_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_470_470"><span class="label">[470]</span></a> It is unnecessary to adduce evidence respecting the +services rendered by Sydenham, as they are universally admitted; but +what, perhaps, is less generally known, is, that Glisson anticipated +those important views concerning irritability, which were afterwards +developed by Haller and Gorter. Compare <i>Renouard</i>, <i>Hist. de le +Médecine</i>, vol. ii. p. 192; <i>Elliotson's Human Physiol</i>. p. 471; <i>Bordas +Demoulin</i>, <i>Cartésianisme</i>, vol. i. p. 170; In <i>Wagner's Physiol.</i> 1841, +p. 655, the theory is too exclusively ascribed to Haller.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_471_471" id="Footnote_471_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_471_471"><span class="label">[471]</span></a> Of this we have numerous complaints from foreigners who +visited France. I will quote the testimony of one celebrated man. In +1699, Addison writes from Blois: ‘I made use of one of the physicians of +this place, who are as cheap as our English farriers, and generally as +ignorant.’ <i>Aikin's Life of Addison</i>, vol. i. p. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_472_472" id="Footnote_472_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_472_472"><span class="label">[472]</span></a> Indeed, France was the last great country in Europe in +which a chair of clinical medicine was established. See <i>Renouard</i>, +<i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. ii. p. 312; and <i>Bouillaud</i>, <i>Philos. +Médicale</i>, p. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_473_473" id="Footnote_473_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_473_473"><span class="label">[473]</span></a> M. Bouillaud, in his account of the state of medicine in +the seventeenth century, does not mention a single Frenchman during this +period. See <i>Bouillaud</i>, <i>Philosophie Médicale</i>, pp. 13 seq. During many +years of the power of Louis XIV., the French Academy only possessed one +anatomist; and of him, few students of physiology have ever heard: ‘M. +du Verney fut assez long-temps le seul anatomiste de l'académie, et ce ne +fut qu'en 1684 qu'on lui joignit M. Mery.’ <i>Eloge de Du Verney</i>, in +<i>Œuvres de Fontenelle</i>, vol. vi. p. 392.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_474_474" id="Footnote_474_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_474_474"><span class="label">[474]</span></a> <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part ii. pp. 64–73, +76–80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_475_475" id="Footnote_475_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_475_475"><span class="label">[475]</span></a> After Belon, nothing was done in France for the natural +history of animals until 1734, when there appeared the first volume of +Reaumur's great work. See <i>Swainson on the Study of Nat. Hist.</i> pp. 24, +43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_476_476" id="Footnote_476_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_476_476"><span class="label">[476]</span></a> On this remarkable man, who was the first philosophic +chemist Europe produced, and who, so early as 1630, anticipated some of +the generalizations made a hundred and fifty years later by Lavoisier, +see <i>Liebig's Letters on Chemistry</i>, pp. 46, 47; <i>Thomson's Hist. of +Chemistry</i>, vol. ii. pp. 95, 96; <i>Humboldt's Cosmos</i>, vol. ii. p. 729; +<i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Progrès des Sciences</i>, vol. i. p. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_477_477" id="Footnote_477_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_477_477"><span class="label">[477]</span></a> Cuvier (<i>Progrès des Sciences</i>, vol. i. p. 30) says of +Rey, ‘son écrit était tombé dans l'oubli le plus profond;’ and, in +another work, the same great authority writes (<i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, +part ii. p. 333): ‘Il y avait plus de quarante ans que Becker avait +présenté sa nouvelle théorie, développée par Stahl; il y avait encore +plus long-temps que les expériences de Boyle sur la chimie pneumatique +avaient été publiées, et cependant, rien de tout cela n'entrait encore +dans l'enseignement général de la chimie, du moins en France.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_478_478" id="Footnote_478_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_478_478"><span class="label">[478]</span></a> The highest present generalizations of the laws of +nutrition are those by M. Chevreul; which are thus summed up by MM. +Robin et Verdeil, in their admirable work, <i>Chimie Anatomique</i>, vol. i. +p. 203, Paris, 1853: ‘En passant des plantes aux animaux, nous voyons +que plus l'organisation de ces derniers est compliquée, plus les +aliments dont ils se nourrissent sont complexes et analogues par leurs +principes immédiats aux principes des organes qu'ils doivent entretenir.</p> + +<p>‘En définitive, on voit que les végétaux se nourrissent d'eau, d'acide +carbonique, d'autres gaz et de matières organiques à l'état d'engrais, +ou en d'autres termes altérées, c'est-à-dire ramenées à l'état de +principes plus simples, plus solubles. Au contraire, les animaux plus +élevés dans l'échelle organique ont besoin de matières bien plus +complexes quant aux principes immédiats qui les composent, et plus +variées dans leurs propriétés.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_479_479" id="Footnote_479_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_479_479"><span class="label">[479]</span></a> Brunfels in 1530, and Fuchs in 1542, were the two first +writers who observed the vegetable kingdom for themselves, instead of +copying what the ancients had said. Compare <i>Whewell's Hist. of the +Sciences</i>, vol. iii. pp. 305, 306, with <i>Pulteney's Hist. of Botany</i>, +vol. i. p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_480_480" id="Footnote_480_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_480_480"><span class="label">[480]</span></a> The microscope was exhibited in London, by Drebbel, about +1620; and this appears to be the earliest unquestionable notice of its +use, though some writers assert that it was invented at the beginning of +the seventeenth century, or even in 1590. Compare the different +statements, in <i>Pouillet</i>, <i>Elémens de Physique</i>, vol. ii. p. 357; +<i>Humboldt's Cosmos</i>, vol. ii. pp. 699, 700; <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Médecine</i>, vol. iv. p. 337; <i>Winckler</i>, <i>Gesch. der Botanik</i>, p. 136; +<i>Quekett's Treatise on the Microscope</i>, 1848, p. 2; <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Hist. des +Sciences</i>, part ii. p. 470; <i>Hallam's Lit. of Europe</i>, vol. iii. p. 202; +<i>Leslie's Nat. Philos.</i> p. 52. On the subsequent improvement of the +microscope during the seventeenth century, see <i>Brewster's Life of +Newton</i>, vol. i. pp. 29, 242, 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_481_481" id="Footnote_481_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_481_481"><span class="label">[481]</span></a> See <i>Balfour's Botany</i>, p. 15. In Pulteney's <i>Progress of +Botany in England</i>, this beautiful discovery is, if I rightly remember, +not even alluded to; but it appears, from a letter written in 1672, that +it was then becoming generally known, and had been confirmed by Grew and +Malpighi. <i>Ray's Correspond.</i> edit. 1848, p. 98. Compare <i>Richard</i>, +<i>Eléments de Botanique</i>, p. 46; where, however, M. Richard erroneously +supposes that Grew did not know of the tracheæ till 1682.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_482_482" id="Footnote_482_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_482_482"><span class="label">[482]</span></a> Compare <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part ii. p. 471, +with <i>Thomson's Vegetable Chemistry</i>, p. 950.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_483_483" id="Footnote_483_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_483_483"><span class="label">[483]</span></a> Dr. Thomson (<i>Vegetable Chemistry</i>, p. 950) says: ‘But the +person to whom we are indebted for the first attempt to ascertain the +structure of plants by dissection and microscopical observations, was +Dr. Nathaniel Grew.’ The character of Grew's inquiries, as ‘viewing the +internal, as well as external parts of plants,’ is also noticed in +<i>Ray's Correspond.</i> p. 188; and M. Winckler (<i>Gesch. der Botanik</i>, p. +382) ascribes to him and Malpighi the ‘neuen Aufschwung’ taken by +vegetable physiology late in the seventeenth century. See also, on Grew, +<i>Lindley's Botany</i>, vol. i. p. 93; and <i>Third Report of Brit. Assoc.</i> p. +27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_484_484" id="Footnote_484_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_484_484"><span class="label">[484]</span></a> The first book of his Anatomy of Plants was laid before +the Royal Society in 1670, and printed in 1671. <i>Hallam's Lit. of +Europe</i>, vol. iii. p. 580; and <i>Thomson's Hist. of the Royal +Society</i>, p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_485_485" id="Footnote_485_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_485_485"><span class="label">[485]</span></a> ‘The presence of sexual organs in plants was first shown +in 1676, by Sir Thomas Millington; and it was afterwards confirmed by +Grew, Malpighi, and Ray.’ <i>Balfour's Botany</i>, p. 236. See also +<i>Pulteney's Progress of Botany</i>, vol. i. pp. 336, 337; and <i>Lindley's +Botany</i>, vol. ii. p. 217: and, as to Ray, who was rather slow in +admitting the discovery, see <i>Lankester's Mem. of Ray</i>, p. 100. Before +this, the sexual system of vegetables had been empirically known to +several of the ancients, but never raised to a scientific truth. Compare +<i>Richard</i>, <i>Eléments de Botanique</i>, pp. 353, 427, 428, with <i>Matter</i>, +<i>Hist. de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie</i>, vol. ii. p. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_486_486" id="Footnote_486_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_486_486"><span class="label">[486]</span></a> In July 1665 he writes from Paris to his father, ‘The +lecture of plants here is only the naming of them, their degrees in heat +and cold, and sometimes their use in physick; scarce a word more than +may be seen in every herball.’ <i>Browne's Works</i>, vol. i. p. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_487_487" id="Footnote_487_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_487_487"><span class="label">[487]</span></a> Cuvier mentioning the inferiority of Tournefort's views to +those of his predecessors, gives as an instance, ‘puisqu'il a rejeté les +sexes des plantes.’ <i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part ii. p. 496. Hence he held +that the farina was ex-crementitious. <i>Pulteney's Progress of Botany</i>, +vol. i. p. 340.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_488_488" id="Footnote_488_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_488_488"><span class="label">[488]</span></a> This is admitted even by his eulogist Duvau. <i>Biog. Univ.</i> +vol. xlvi. p. 363.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_489_489" id="Footnote_489_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_489_489"><span class="label">[489]</span></a> On the method of Tournefort, which was that of a +corrollist, compare <i>Richard</i>, <i>Eléments de Botanique</i>, p. 547; +<i>Jussieu's Botany</i>, edit. Wilson, 1849, p. 516; <i>Ray's Correspond.</i> pp. +381, 382; <i>Lankester's Mem. of Ray</i>, p. 49; <i>Winckler</i>, <i>Gesch. der +Botanik</i>, p. 142. Cuvier (<i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part ii. p. 496), with +quiet irony, says of it, ‘vous voyez, messieurs, que cette méthode a le +mérite d'une grande clarté; qu'elle est fondée sur la forme de la fleur, +et par conséquent sur des considérations agréables à saisir…. Ce +qui en fit le succès, c'est que Tournefort joignit à son ouvrage une +figure de fleur et de fruit appartenant à chacun de ses genres.’ Even in +this, he appears to have been careless, and is said to have described ‘a +great many plants he never examined nor saw.’ <i>Letter from Dr. Sherard</i>, +in <i>Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. i. p. 356.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_490_490" id="Footnote_490_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_490_490"><span class="label">[490]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. v. pp. 236, 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_491_491" id="Footnote_491_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_491_491"><span class="label">[491]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxvii. p. 351.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_492_492" id="Footnote_492_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_492_492"><span class="label">[492]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xv. p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_493_493" id="Footnote_493_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_493_493"><span class="label">[493]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxiii. p. 496.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_494_494" id="Footnote_494_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_494_494"><span class="label">[494]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxix. p. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_495_495" id="Footnote_495_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_495_495"><span class="label">[495]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxix. p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_496_496" id="Footnote_496_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_496_496"><span class="label">[496]</span></a> ‘His best pictures were painted from about 1640 to 1660; +he died in 1682.’ <i>Wornum's Epochs of Painting</i>, Lond. 1847. p. 399. +Voltaire (<i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xix. p. 205) says +that he died in 1678.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_497_497" id="Footnote_497_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_497_497"><span class="label">[497]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxiv. p. 327; <i>Works of Sir Joshua +Reynolds</i>, vol. ii. pp. 454, 455.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_498_498" id="Footnote_498_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_498_498"><span class="label">[498]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxv. p. 579. Poussin was Barry's +‘favourite’ painter. <i>Letter from Barry</i>, in <i>Burke's Correspond.</i> vol. +i. p. 88. Compare <i>Otter's Life of Clarke</i>, vol. ii. p. 55. Sir Joshua +Reynolds (<i>Works</i>, vol. i. pp. 97, 351, 376) appears to have preferred +him to any of the French school; and in the report presented to Napoleon +by the Institute, he is the only French painter mentioned by the side of +the Greek and Italian artists. <i>Dacier</i>, <i>Rapport Historique</i>, p. 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_499_499" id="Footnote_499_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_499_499"><span class="label">[499]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxiii. p. 411; <i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, +in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xix. p. 158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_500_500" id="Footnote_500_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_500_500"><span class="label">[500]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxvi. p. 503.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_501_501" id="Footnote_501_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_501_501"><span class="label">[501]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. iv. p. 593.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_502_502" id="Footnote_502_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_502_502"><span class="label">[502]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xxxvi. p. 300. Respecting him, see <i>Lady +Morgan's France</i>, vol. ii. pp. 30, 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_503_503" id="Footnote_503_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_503_503"><span class="label">[503]</span></a> M. Capefigue (<i>Louis XIV</i>, vol. ii. p. 79) says, ‘Lulli +mourut en 1689;’ but 1687 is the date assigned in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. +xxv. p. 425; in <i>Chalmer's Biog. Dict.</i> vol. xx. p. 483; in <i>Rose's +Biog. Dict.</i> vol. ix. p. 350; and in <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Divers Etats</i>, vol. vii +p. 63. In <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xix. p. 200, he is called ‘le +père de la vraie musique en France.’ He was admired by Louis XIV. +<i>Lettres de Sévigné</i>, vol. ii. pp. 162, 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_504_504" id="Footnote_504_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_504_504"><span class="label">[504]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxvi. p. 42. Voltaire (<i>Œuvres</i>, +vol. xix. p. 162) says, ‘personne n'a jamais égalé Quinault;’ and Mr. +Hallam (<i>Lit. of Europe</i>, vol. iii. p. 507), ‘the unrivalled poet of +French music.’ See also <i>Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, vol. ii. p. +432.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_505_505" id="Footnote_505_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_505_505"><span class="label">[505]</span></a> When Louis XV. ascended the throne, painting in France was +in the lowest state of degradation. <i>Lady Morgan's +France</i>, vol. ii. p. 31. Lacretelle (<i>Dix-huitième Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. +11) says ‘Les beaux arts dégénérèrent plus sensiblement que les lettres +pendant la seconde partie du siècle de Louis XIV…. Il est certain que +les vingt-cinq dernières années du règne de Louis XIV n'offrirent que +des productions très-inférieures,’ &c. Thus too Barrington +(<i>Observations on the Statutes</i>, p. 377), ‘It is very remarkable that +the French school hath not produced any very capital painters since the +expensive establishment by Louis XIV. of the academies at Rome and +Paris.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_506_506" id="Footnote_506_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_506_506"><span class="label">[506]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxvi. pp. 499, 502; <i>Hallam's Lit.</i> +vol. iii. p. 493.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_507_507" id="Footnote_507_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_507_507"><span class="label">[507]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxix. pp. 306, 308.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_508_508" id="Footnote_508_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_508_508"><span class="label">[508]</span></a> <i>Rose's Biog. Dict.</i> vol. iv. p. 376; and <i>Biog. Univ.</i> +vol. v. pp. 7, 8, where it is said that ‘ses meilleures satires’ were +those published in 1666.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_509_509" id="Footnote_509_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_509_509"><span class="label">[509]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xxiii. p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_510_510" id="Footnote_510_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_510_510"><span class="label">[510]</span></a> <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. x. p. 322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_511_511" id="Footnote_511_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_511_511"><span class="label">[511]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. vi. p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_512_512" id="Footnote_512_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_512_512"><span class="label">[512]</span></a> <i>Brunet</i>, <i>Manuel du Libraire</i>, vol. iv. p. 105, Paris +1843; and note in <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. i. p. 421.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_513_513" id="Footnote_513_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_513_513"><span class="label">[513]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxiii. pp. 64, 71; <i>Palissot</i>, <i>Mém. +pour l'Hist. de Lit.</i> vol. ii. pp. 239, 241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_514_514" id="Footnote_514_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_514_514"><span class="label">[514]</span></a> <i>Polyeucte</i>, which is probably his greatest work, appeared +in 1640; <i>Médée</i> in 1635; <i>The Cid</i> in 1636; <i>Horace and Cinna</i> both in +1639. <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. ix. pp. 609–613.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_515_515" id="Footnote_515_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_515_515"><span class="label">[515]</span></a> Voltaire (<i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xx. +pp. 319–322) reluctantly confesses the decline of the French intellect +in the latter part of the reign of Louis; and Flassan (<i>Diplomat. +Franç.</i> vol. iv. p. 400) calls it ‘remarquable.’ See also <i>Barante</i>, +<i>Littérature Française</i>, p. 28; <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. +xxvi. p. 217.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_516_516" id="Footnote_516_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_516_516"><span class="label">[516]</span></a> Oppressed by defeats abroad, and by famine and misery at +home, Louis was laid at the mercy of his enemies; and ‘was +only saved by a party revolution in the English ministry.’ <i>Arnold's +Lectures on Modern History</i>, p. 137. Compare <i>Fragments sur l'Histoire</i>, +article xxiii. in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxvii. p. 345, with <i>De +Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XV</i>, vol. i. p. 86.</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_517_517" id="Footnote_517_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_517_517"><span class="label">[517]</span></a> For evidence of the depression and, indeed, utter +exhaustion of France during the latter years of Louis XIV., compare +<i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. pp. 11–18, with <i>Marmontel</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Régence</i>, Paris, 1826, pp. 79–97. The <i>Lettres inédites de Madame de +Maintenon</i> (vol. i. pp. 263, 284, 358, 389, 393, 408, 414, 422, 426, +447, 457, 463, vol. ii. pp. 19, 23, 33, 46, 56, and numerous other +passages) fully confirm this, and, moreover, prove that in Paris, early +in the eighteenth century, the resources, even of the wealthy classes, +were beginning to fail; while both public and private credit were so +shaken, that it was hardly possible to obtain money on any terms. In +1710, she, the wife of Louis XIV., complains of her inability to borrow +500 livres: ‘Tout mon crédit échoue souvent auprès de M. Desmaretz pour +une somme de cinq cents livres.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 33. In 1709, she +writes (vol. i. p. 447): ‘Le jeu devient insipide, parce qu'il n'y a +presque plus d'argent.’ See also vol. ii. p. 112; and in February 1711 +(p. 151): ‘Ce n'est pas l'abondance mais l'avarice qui fait jouer nos +courtisans; on met le tout pour le tout pour avoir quelque argent, et +les tables de lansquenet ont plus l'air d'un triste commerce que d'un +divertissement.’</p> + +<p>In regard to the people generally, the French writers supply us with +little information, because in that age they were too much occupied with +their great king and their showy literature, to pay attention to mere +popular interests. But I have collected from other sources some +information which I will now put together, and which I recommend to the +notice of the next French author who undertakes to compose a history of +Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>Locke, who was travelling in France in 1676 and 1677, +writes in his journal, ‘The rent of land in France fallen one–half in +these few years, by reason of the poverty of the people.’ <i>King's Life +of Locke</i>, vol. i. p. 139. About the same time, Sir William Temple says +(<i>Works</i>, vol. ii. p. 268), ‘The French peasantry are wholly dispirited +by labour and want.’ In 1691, another observer, proceeding from Calais, +writes, ‘From hence, travelling to Paris, there was opportunity enough +to observe what a prodigious state of poverty the ambition and +absoluteness of a tyrant can reduce an opulent and fertile country to. +There were visible all the marks and signs of a growing misfortune; all +the dismal indications of an overwhelming calamity. The fields were +uncultivated, the villages unpeopled, the houses dropping to decay.’ +<i>Burton's Diary</i>, note by Rutt, vol. iv. p. 79. In a tract published in +1689, the author says (<i>Somers Tracts</i>, vol. x. p. 264), ‘I have known +in France poor people sell their beds, and lie upon straw; sell their +pots, kettles, and all their necessary household goods, to content the +unmerciful collectors of the king's taxes.’ Dr. Lister, who visited +Paris in 1698, says, ‘Such is the vast multitude of poor wretches in all +parts of this city, that whether a person is in a carriage or on foot, +in the street, or even in a shop, he is alike unable to transact +business, on account of the importunities of mendicants.’ <i>Lister's +Account of Paris</i>, p. 46. Compare a <i>Letter from Prior</i>, in <i>Ellis's +Letters of Literary Men</i>, p. 213. In 1708, Addison, who, from personal +observation, was well acquainted with France, writes: ‘We think here as +you do in the country, that France is on her last legs.’ <i>Aikin's Life +of Addison</i>, vol. i. p. 233. Finally, in 1718—that is, three years +after the death of Louis—Lady Mary Montagu +gives the following account of the result of his reign, in a letter to +Lady Rich, dated Paris, 10th October, 1718: ‘I think nothing so terrible +as objects of misery, except one had the god-like attribute of being +able to redress them; and all the country villages of France show +nothing else. While the post-horses are changed, the whole town comes +out to beg, with such miserable starved faces, and thin, tattered +clothes, they need no other eloquence to persuade one of the +wretchedness of their condition.’ <i>Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu</i>, +vol. iii. p. 74, edit. 1803.</p></div> +</div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot">DEATH OF LOUIS XIV. REACTION AGAINST THE PROTECTIVE SPIRIT, +AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.</div> + +<p>At length Louis XIV. died. When it was positively +known that the old king had ceased to breathe, the +people went almost mad with joy.<a name="FNanchor_518_518" id="FNanchor_518_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_518_518" class="fnanchor">[518]</a> The tyranny which +had weighed them down was removed; and there at +once followed a reaction which, for sudden violence, +has no parallel in modern history.<a name="FNanchor_519_519" id="FNanchor_519_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_519_519" class="fnanchor">[519]</a> The great majority +indemnified themselves for their forced hypocrisy by +indulging in the grossest licentiousness. But among +the generation then forming, there were some high-spirited +youths, who had far higher views, and whose +notions of liberty were not confined to the license of the +gaming-house and the brothel. Devoted to the great +idea of restoring to France that freedom of utterance +which it had lost, they naturally turned their eyes +towards the only country where the freedom was +practised. Their determination to search for liberty +in the place where alone it could be found, gave rise to +that junction of the French and English intellects,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +which, looking at the immense chain of its effects, is +by far the most important fact in the history of the +eighteenth century.</p> + +<p>During the reign of Louis XIV., the French, puffed +up by national vanity, despised the barbarism of a +people who were so uncivilized as to be always turning +on their rulers, and who, within the space of forty +years, had executed one king, and deposed another.<a name="FNanchor_520_520" id="FNanchor_520_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_520_520" class="fnanchor">[520]</a> +They could not believe that such a restless horde possessed +anything worthy the attention of enlightened +men. Our laws, our literature, and our manners, were +perfectly unknown to them; and I doubt if at the end +of the seventeenth century there were, either in literature +or in science, five persons in France acquainted +with the English language.<a name="FNanchor_521_521" id="FNanchor_521_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_521_521" class="fnanchor">[521]</a> But a long experience of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +the reign of Louis XIV. induced the French to reconsider +many of their opinions. It induced them to suspect +that despotism may have its disadvantages, and that a +government composed of princes and bishops is not +necessarily the best for a civilized country. They began +to look, first with complacency, and then with respect, +upon that strange and outlandish people, who, though +only separated from themselves by a narrow sea, appeared +to be of an altogether different kind; and who, +having punished their oppressors, had carried their +liberties and their prosperity to a height of which the +world had seen no example. These feelings, which +before the Revolution broke out, were entertained by +the whole of the educated classes in France, were in +the beginning, confined to those men whose intellects +placed them at the head of their age. During the two +generations which elapsed between the death of Louis +XIV. and the outbreak of the Revolution, there was +hardly a Frenchman of eminence who did not either +visit England or learn English; while many of them +did both. Buffon, Brissot, Broussonnet, Condamine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +Delisle, Elie de Beaumont, Gournay, Helvétius, Jussieu, +Lalande, Lafayette, Larcher, L'Héritier, Montesquieu, +Maupertuis, Morellet, Mirabeau, Nollet, Raynal, the +celebrated Roland, and his still more celebrated wife, +Rousseau, Ségur, Suard, Voltaire—all these remarkable +persons flocked to London, as also did others of inferior +ability, but of considerable influence, such as Brequiny, +Bordes, Calonne, Coyer, Cormatin, Dufay, Dumarest, +Dezallier, Favier, Girod, Grosley, Godin, D'Hancarville, +Hunauld, Jars, Le Blanc, Ledru, Lescallier, Linguet, +Lesuire, Lemonnier, Levesque de Pouilly, Montgolfier, +Morand, Patu, Poissonier, Reveillon, Septchènes, +Silhouette, Siret, Soulavie, Soulès, and Valmont de +Brienne.</p> + +<p>Nearly all of these carefully studied our language, +and most of them seized the spirit of our literature. +Voltaire, in particular, devoted himself with his usual +ardour to the new pursuit, and acquired in England a +knowledge of those doctrines, the promulgation of +which, afterwards won for him so great a reputation.<a name="FNanchor_522_522" id="FNanchor_522_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_522_522" class="fnanchor">[522]</a> +He was the first who popularized in France the philosophy +of Newton, where it rapidly superseded that of +Descartes.<a name="FNanchor_523_523" id="FNanchor_523_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_523_523" class="fnanchor">[523]</a> He recommended to his countrymen the +writings of Locke;<a name="FNanchor_524_524" id="FNanchor_524_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_524_524" class="fnanchor">[524]</a> which soon gained immense popularity,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +and which supplied materials to Condillac for +his system of metaphysics,<a name="FNanchor_525_525" id="FNanchor_525_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_525_525" class="fnanchor">[525]</a> and to Rousseau for his +theory of education.<a name="FNanchor_526_526" id="FNanchor_526_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_526_526" class="fnanchor">[526]</a> Besides this, Voltaire was the +first Frenchman who studied Shakespeare; to whose +works he was greatly indebted, though he afterwards +wished to lessen what he considered the exorbitant +respect paid to them in France.<a name="FNanchor_527_527" id="FNanchor_527_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_527_527" class="fnanchor">[527]</a> Indeed, so intimate +was his knowledge of the English language,<a name="FNanchor_528_528" id="FNanchor_528_528"></a><a href="#Footnote_528_528" class="fnanchor">[528]</a> that we +can trace his obligations to Butler,<a name="FNanchor_529_529" id="FNanchor_529_529"></a><a href="#Footnote_529_529" class="fnanchor">[529]</a> one of the most +difficult of our poets, and to Tillotson,<a name="FNanchor_530_530" id="FNanchor_530_530"></a><a href="#Footnote_530_530" class="fnanchor">[530]</a> one of the +dullest of our theologians. He was acquainted with +the speculations of Berkeley,<a name="FNanchor_531_531" id="FNanchor_531_531"></a><a href="#Footnote_531_531" class="fnanchor">[531]</a> the most subtle metaphysician +who has ever written in English; and he had +read the works, not only of Shaftesbury,<a name="FNanchor_532_532" id="FNanchor_532_532"></a><a href="#Footnote_532_532" class="fnanchor">[532]</a> but even of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +Chubb,<a name="FNanchor_533_533" id="FNanchor_533_533"></a><a href="#Footnote_533_533" class="fnanchor">[533]</a> Garth,<a name="FNanchor_534_534" id="FNanchor_534_534"></a><a href="#Footnote_534_534" class="fnanchor">[534]</a> Mandeville,<a name="FNanchor_535_535" id="FNanchor_535_535"></a><a href="#Footnote_535_535" class="fnanchor">[535]</a> and Woolston.<a name="FNanchor_536_536" id="FNanchor_536_536"></a><a href="#Footnote_536_536" class="fnanchor">[536]</a> Montesquieu +imbibed in our country many of his principles; +he studied our language; and he always expressed admiration +for England, not only in his writings, but also +in his private conversation.<a name="FNanchor_537_537" id="FNanchor_537_537"></a><a href="#Footnote_537_537" class="fnanchor">[537]</a> Buffon learnt English, +and his first appearance as an author was as the translator +of Newton and of Hales.<a name="FNanchor_538_538" id="FNanchor_538_538"></a><a href="#Footnote_538_538" class="fnanchor">[538]</a> Diderot, following in +the same course, was an enthusiastic admirer of the +novels of Richardson;<a name="FNanchor_539_539" id="FNanchor_539_539"></a><a href="#Footnote_539_539" class="fnanchor">[539]</a> he took the idea of several of +his plays from the English dramatists, particularly from +Lillo; he borrowed many of his arguments from Shaftesbury +and Collins, and his earliest publication was a +translation of Stanyan's <i>History of Greece</i>.<a name="FNanchor_540_540" id="FNanchor_540_540"></a><a href="#Footnote_540_540" class="fnanchor">[540]</a> Helvétius, +who visited London, was never weary of praising the +people; many of the views in his great work on the +Mind are drawn from Mandeville; and he constantly +refers to the authority of Locke, whose principles hardly +any Frenchman would at an earlier period have dared +to recommend.<a name="FNanchor_541_541" id="FNanchor_541_541"></a><a href="#Footnote_541_541" class="fnanchor">[541]</a> The works of Bacon, previously little<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +known, were now translated into French; and his classification +of the human faculties was made the basis of +that celebrated Encyclopædia, which is justly regarded +as one of the greatest productions of the eighteenth +century.<a name="FNanchor_542_542" id="FNanchor_542_542"></a><a href="#Footnote_542_542" class="fnanchor">[542]</a> The <i>Theory of Moral Sentiments</i>, by Adam +Smith, was during thirty-four years translated three +different times, by three different French authors.<a name="FNanchor_543_543" id="FNanchor_543_543"></a><a href="#Footnote_543_543" class="fnanchor">[543]</a> +And such was the general eagerness, that directly the +<i>Wealth of Nations</i>, by the same great writer, appeared, +Morellet, who was then high in reputation, began to +turn it into French; and was only prevented from +printing his translation by the circumstance, that before +it could be completed, another version of it was published +in a French periodical.<a name="FNanchor_544_544" id="FNanchor_544_544"></a><a href="#Footnote_544_544" class="fnanchor">[544]</a> Coyer, who is still +remembered for his <i>Life of Sobieski</i>, visited England; +and after returning to his own country, showed the +direction of his studies by rendering into French the +Commentaries of Blackstone.<a name="FNanchor_545_545" id="FNanchor_545_545"></a><a href="#Footnote_545_545" class="fnanchor">[545]</a> Le Blanc travelled in +England, wrote a work expressly upon the English, and +translated into French the Political Discourses of +Hume.<a name="FNanchor_546_546" id="FNanchor_546_546"></a><a href="#Footnote_546_546" class="fnanchor">[546]</a> Holbach was certainly one of the most +active leaders of the liberal party in Paris; but a large +part of his very numerous writings consists solely in +translations of English authors.<a name="FNanchor_547_547" id="FNanchor_547_547"></a><a href="#Footnote_547_547" class="fnanchor">[547]</a> Indeed, it may be +broadly stated, that while, at the end of the seventeenth +century, it would have been difficult to find, even +among the most educated Frenchmen, a single person +acquainted with English, it would, in the eighteenth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +century, have been nearly as difficult to find in the +same class one who was ignorant of it. Men of all +tastes, and of the most opposite pursuits, were on this +point united as by a common bond. Poets, geometricians, +historians, naturalists, all seemed to agree as to +the necessity of studying a literature on which no one +before had wasted a thought. In the course of general +reading, I have met with proofs that the English language +was known, not only to those eminent Frenchmen +whom I have already mentioned, but also to mathematicians, +as D'Alembert,<a name="FNanchor_548_548" id="FNanchor_548_548"></a><a href="#Footnote_548_548" class="fnanchor">[548]</a> Darquier,<a name="FNanchor_549_549" id="FNanchor_549_549"></a><a href="#Footnote_549_549" class="fnanchor">[549]</a> Du Val le Roy,<a name="FNanchor_550_550" id="FNanchor_550_550"></a><a href="#Footnote_550_550" class="fnanchor">[550]</a> +Jurain,<a name="FNanchor_551_551" id="FNanchor_551_551"></a><a href="#Footnote_551_551" class="fnanchor">[551]</a> Lachapelle,<a name="FNanchor_552_552" id="FNanchor_552_552"></a><a href="#Footnote_552_552" class="fnanchor">[552]</a> Lalande,<a name="FNanchor_553_553" id="FNanchor_553_553"></a><a href="#Footnote_553_553" class="fnanchor">[553]</a> Le Cozic,<a name="FNanchor_554_554" id="FNanchor_554_554"></a><a href="#Footnote_554_554" class="fnanchor">[554]</a> Montucla,<a name="FNanchor_555_555" id="FNanchor_555_555"></a><a href="#Footnote_555_555" class="fnanchor">[555]</a> +Pezenas,<a name="FNanchor_556_556" id="FNanchor_556_556"></a><a href="#Footnote_556_556" class="fnanchor">[556]</a> Prony,<a name="FNanchor_557_557" id="FNanchor_557_557"></a><a href="#Footnote_557_557" class="fnanchor">[557]</a> Romme,<a name="FNanchor_558_558" id="FNanchor_558_558"></a><a href="#Footnote_558_558" class="fnanchor">[558]</a> and Roger Martin;<a name="FNanchor_559_559" id="FNanchor_559_559"></a><a href="#Footnote_559_559" class="fnanchor">[559]</a> to +anatomists, physiologists, and writers on medicine, +as Barthèz,<a name="FNanchor_560_560" id="FNanchor_560_560"></a><a href="#Footnote_560_560" class="fnanchor">[560]</a> Bichat,<a name="FNanchor_561_561" id="FNanchor_561_561"></a><a href="#Footnote_561_561" class="fnanchor">[561]</a> Bordeu,<a name="FNanchor_562_562" id="FNanchor_562_562"></a><a href="#Footnote_562_562" class="fnanchor">[562]</a> Barbeu Dubourg,<a name="FNanchor_563_563" id="FNanchor_563_563"></a><a href="#Footnote_563_563" class="fnanchor">[563]</a> +Bosquillon,<a name="FNanchor_564_564" id="FNanchor_564_564"></a><a href="#Footnote_564_564" class="fnanchor">[564]</a> Bourru,<a name="FNanchor_565_565" id="FNanchor_565_565"></a><a href="#Footnote_565_565" class="fnanchor">[565]</a> Begue de Presle,<a name="FNanchor_566_566" id="FNanchor_566_566"></a><a href="#Footnote_566_566" class="fnanchor">[566]</a> Cabanis,<a name="FNanchor_567_567" id="FNanchor_567_567"></a><a href="#Footnote_567_567" class="fnanchor">[567]</a> +Demours,<a name="FNanchor_568_568" id="FNanchor_568_568"></a><a href="#Footnote_568_568" class="fnanchor">[568]</a> Duplanil,<a name="FNanchor_569_569" id="FNanchor_569_569"></a><a href="#Footnote_569_569" class="fnanchor">[569]</a> Fouquet,<a name="FNanchor_570_570" id="FNanchor_570_570"></a><a href="#Footnote_570_570" class="fnanchor">[570]</a> Goulin,<a name="FNanchor_571_571" id="FNanchor_571_571"></a><a href="#Footnote_571_571" class="fnanchor">[571]</a> Lavirotte,<a name="FNanchor_572_572" id="FNanchor_572_572"></a><a href="#Footnote_572_572" class="fnanchor">[572]</a> +Lassus,<a name="FNanchor_573_573" id="FNanchor_573_573"></a><a href="#Footnote_573_573" class="fnanchor">[573]</a> Petit Radel,<a name="FNanchor_574_574" id="FNanchor_574_574"></a><a href="#Footnote_574_574" class="fnanchor">[574]</a> Pinel,<a name="FNanchor_575_575" id="FNanchor_575_575"></a><a href="#Footnote_575_575" class="fnanchor">[575]</a> Roux,<a name="FNanchor_576_576" id="FNanchor_576_576"></a><a href="#Footnote_576_576" class="fnanchor">[576]</a> Sauvages,<a name="FNanchor_577_577" id="FNanchor_577_577"></a><a href="#Footnote_577_577" class="fnanchor">[577]</a> and +Sue;<a name="FNanchor_578_578" id="FNanchor_578_578"></a><a href="#Footnote_578_578" class="fnanchor">[578]</a> to naturalists, as Alyon,<a name="FNanchor_579_579" id="FNanchor_579_579"></a><a href="#Footnote_579_579" class="fnanchor">[579]</a> Brémond,<a name="FNanchor_580_580" id="FNanchor_580_580"></a><a href="#Footnote_580_580" class="fnanchor">[580]</a> Brisson,<a name="FNanchor_581_581" id="FNanchor_581_581"></a><a href="#Footnote_581_581" class="fnanchor">[581]</a> +Broussonnet,<a name="FNanchor_582_582" id="FNanchor_582_582"></a><a href="#Footnote_582_582" class="fnanchor">[582]</a> Dalibard,<a name="FNanchor_583_583" id="FNanchor_583_583"></a><a href="#Footnote_583_583" class="fnanchor">[583]</a> Haüy,<a name="FNanchor_584_584" id="FNanchor_584_584"></a><a href="#Footnote_584_584" class="fnanchor">[584]</a> Latapie,<a name="FNanchor_585_585" id="FNanchor_585_585"></a><a href="#Footnote_585_585" class="fnanchor">[585]</a> Richard,<a name="FNanchor_586_586" id="FNanchor_586_586"></a><a href="#Footnote_586_586" class="fnanchor">[586]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +Rigaud,<a name="FNanchor_587_587" id="FNanchor_587_587"></a><a href="#Footnote_587_587" class="fnanchor">[587]</a> and Romé de Lisle;<a name="FNanchor_588_588" id="FNanchor_588_588"></a><a href="#Footnote_588_588" class="fnanchor">[588]</a> to historians, philologists, +and antiquaries, as Barthélemy,<a name="FNanchor_589_589" id="FNanchor_589_589"></a><a href="#Footnote_589_589" class="fnanchor">[589]</a> Butel Dumont,<a name="FNanchor_590_590" id="FNanchor_590_590"></a><a href="#Footnote_590_590" class="fnanchor">[590]</a> +De Brosses,<a name="FNanchor_591_591" id="FNanchor_591_591"></a><a href="#Footnote_591_591" class="fnanchor">[591]</a> Foucher,<a name="FNanchor_592_592" id="FNanchor_592_592"></a><a href="#Footnote_592_592" class="fnanchor">[592]</a> Freret,<a name="FNanchor_593_593" id="FNanchor_593_593"></a><a href="#Footnote_593_593" class="fnanchor">[593]</a> Larcher,<a name="FNanchor_594_594" id="FNanchor_594_594"></a><a href="#Footnote_594_594" class="fnanchor">[594]</a> Le Coc de +Villeray,<a name="FNanchor_595_595" id="FNanchor_595_595"></a><a href="#Footnote_595_595" class="fnanchor">[595]</a> Millot,<a name="FNanchor_596_596" id="FNanchor_596_596"></a><a href="#Footnote_596_596" class="fnanchor">[596]</a> Targe,<a name="FNanchor_597_597" id="FNanchor_597_597"></a><a href="#Footnote_597_597" class="fnanchor">[597]</a> Velly,<a name="FNanchor_598_598" id="FNanchor_598_598"></a><a href="#Footnote_598_598" class="fnanchor">[598]</a> Volney,<a name="FNanchor_599_599" id="FNanchor_599_599"></a><a href="#Footnote_599_599" class="fnanchor">[599]</a> and +Wailly;<a name="FNanchor_600_600" id="FNanchor_600_600"></a><a href="#Footnote_600_600" class="fnanchor">[600]</a> to poets and dramatists, as Chéron,<a name="FNanchor_601_601" id="FNanchor_601_601"></a><a href="#Footnote_601_601" class="fnanchor">[601]</a> Colardeau,<a name="FNanchor_602_602" id="FNanchor_602_602"></a><a href="#Footnote_602_602" class="fnanchor">[602]</a> +Delille,<a name="FNanchor_603_603" id="FNanchor_603_603"></a><a href="#Footnote_603_603" class="fnanchor">[603]</a> Desforges,<a name="FNanchor_604_604" id="FNanchor_604_604"></a><a href="#Footnote_604_604" class="fnanchor">[604]</a> Ducis,<a name="FNanchor_605_605" id="FNanchor_605_605"></a><a href="#Footnote_605_605" class="fnanchor">[605]</a> Florian,<a name="FNanchor_606_606" id="FNanchor_606_606"></a><a href="#Footnote_606_606" class="fnanchor">[606]</a> Laborde,<a name="FNanchor_607_607" id="FNanchor_607_607"></a><a href="#Footnote_607_607" class="fnanchor">[607]</a> +Lefèvre de Beauvray,<a name="FNanchor_608_608" id="FNanchor_608_608"></a><a href="#Footnote_608_608" class="fnanchor">[608]</a> Mercier,<a name="FNanchor_609_609" id="FNanchor_609_609"></a><a href="#Footnote_609_609" class="fnanchor">[609]</a> Patu,<a name="FNanchor_610_610" id="FNanchor_610_610"></a><a href="#Footnote_610_610" class="fnanchor">[610]</a> Pompignan,<a name="FNanchor_611_611" id="FNanchor_611_611"></a><a href="#Footnote_611_611" class="fnanchor">[611]</a> +Quétant,<a name="FNanchor_612_612" id="FNanchor_612_612"></a><a href="#Footnote_612_612" class="fnanchor">[612]</a> Roucher,<a name="FNanchor_613_613" id="FNanchor_613_613"></a><a href="#Footnote_613_613" class="fnanchor">[613]</a> and Saint Ange;<a name="FNanchor_614_614" id="FNanchor_614_614"></a><a href="#Footnote_614_614" class="fnanchor">[614]</a> to +miscellaneous writers, as Bassinet,<a name="FNanchor_615_615" id="FNanchor_615_615"></a><a href="#Footnote_615_615" class="fnanchor">[615]</a> Baudeau,<a name="FNanchor_616_616" id="FNanchor_616_616"></a><a href="#Footnote_616_616" class="fnanchor">[616]</a> Beaulaton,<a name="FNanchor_617_617" id="FNanchor_617_617"></a><a href="#Footnote_617_617" class="fnanchor">[617]</a> +Benoist,<a name="FNanchor_618_618" id="FNanchor_618_618"></a><a href="#Footnote_618_618" class="fnanchor">[618]</a> Bergier,<a name="FNanchor_619_619" id="FNanchor_619_619"></a><a href="#Footnote_619_619" class="fnanchor">[619]</a> Blavet,<a name="FNanchor_620_620" id="FNanchor_620_620"></a><a href="#Footnote_620_620" class="fnanchor">[620]</a> Bouchaud,<a name="FNanchor_621_621" id="FNanchor_621_621"></a><a href="#Footnote_621_621" class="fnanchor">[621]</a> +Bougainville,<a name="FNanchor_622_622" id="FNanchor_622_622"></a><a href="#Footnote_622_622" class="fnanchor">[622]</a> Bruté,<a name="FNanchor_623_623" id="FNanchor_623_623"></a><a href="#Footnote_623_623" class="fnanchor">[623]</a> Castera,<a name="FNanchor_624_624" id="FNanchor_624_624"></a><a href="#Footnote_624_624" class="fnanchor">[624]</a> Chantreau,<a name="FNanchor_625_625" id="FNanchor_625_625"></a><a href="#Footnote_625_625" class="fnanchor">[625]</a> +Charpentier,<a name="FNanchor_626_626" id="FNanchor_626_626"></a><a href="#Footnote_626_626" class="fnanchor">[626]</a> Chastellux,<a name="FNanchor_627_627" id="FNanchor_627_627"></a><a href="#Footnote_627_627" class="fnanchor">[627]</a> Contant d'Orville,<a name="FNanchor_628_628" id="FNanchor_628_628"></a><a href="#Footnote_628_628" class="fnanchor">[628]</a> De +Bissy,<a name="FNanchor_629_629" id="FNanchor_629_629"></a><a href="#Footnote_629_629" class="fnanchor">[629]</a> Demeunier,<a name="FNanchor_630_630" id="FNanchor_630_630"></a><a href="#Footnote_630_630" class="fnanchor">[630]</a> Desfontaines,<a name="FNanchor_631_631" id="FNanchor_631_631"></a><a href="#Footnote_631_631" class="fnanchor">[631]</a> Devienne,<a name="FNanchor_632_632" id="FNanchor_632_632"></a><a href="#Footnote_632_632" class="fnanchor">[632]</a> +Dubocage,<a name="FNanchor_633_633" id="FNanchor_633_633"></a><a href="#Footnote_633_633" class="fnanchor">[633]</a> Dupré,<a name="FNanchor_634_634" id="FNanchor_634_634"></a><a href="#Footnote_634_634" class="fnanchor">[634]</a> Duresnel,<a name="FNanchor_635_635" id="FNanchor_635_635"></a><a href="#Footnote_635_635" class="fnanchor">[635]</a> Eidous,<a name="FNanchor_636_636" id="FNanchor_636_636"></a><a href="#Footnote_636_636" class="fnanchor">[636]</a> Estienne,<a name="FNanchor_637_637" id="FNanchor_637_637"></a><a href="#Footnote_637_637" class="fnanchor">[637]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +Favier,<a name="FNanchor_638_638" id="FNanchor_638_638"></a><a href="#Footnote_638_638" class="fnanchor">[638]</a> Flavigny,<a name="FNanchor_639_639" id="FNanchor_639_639"></a><a href="#Footnote_639_639" class="fnanchor">[639]</a> Fontanelle,<a name="FNanchor_640_640" id="FNanchor_640_640"></a><a href="#Footnote_640_640" class="fnanchor">[640]</a> Fontenay,<a name="FNanchor_641_641" id="FNanchor_641_641"></a><a href="#Footnote_641_641" class="fnanchor">[641]</a> +Framery,<a name="FNanchor_642_642" id="FNanchor_642_642"></a><a href="#Footnote_642_642" class="fnanchor">[642]</a> Fresnais,<a name="FNanchor_643_643" id="FNanchor_643_643"></a><a href="#Footnote_643_643" class="fnanchor">[643]</a> Fréville,<a name="FNanchor_644_644" id="FNanchor_644_644"></a><a href="#Footnote_644_644" class="fnanchor">[644]</a> Frossard,<a name="FNanchor_645_645" id="FNanchor_645_645"></a><a href="#Footnote_645_645" class="fnanchor">[645]</a> +Galtier,<a name="FNanchor_646_646" id="FNanchor_646_646"></a><a href="#Footnote_646_646" class="fnanchor">[646]</a> Garsault,<a name="FNanchor_647_647" id="FNanchor_647_647"></a><a href="#Footnote_647_647" class="fnanchor">[647]</a> Goddard,<a name="FNanchor_648_648" id="FNanchor_648_648"></a><a href="#Footnote_648_648" class="fnanchor">[648]</a> Goudar,<a name="FNanchor_649_649" id="FNanchor_649_649"></a><a href="#Footnote_649_649" class="fnanchor">[649]</a> Guénée,<a name="FNanchor_650_650" id="FNanchor_650_650"></a><a href="#Footnote_650_650" class="fnanchor">[650]</a> +Guillemard,<a name="FNanchor_651_651" id="FNanchor_651_651"></a><a href="#Footnote_651_651" class="fnanchor">[651]</a> Guyard,<a name="FNanchor_652_652" id="FNanchor_652_652"></a><a href="#Footnote_652_652" class="fnanchor">[652]</a> Jault,<a name="FNanchor_653_653" id="FNanchor_653_653"></a><a href="#Footnote_653_653" class="fnanchor">[653]</a> Imbert,<a name="FNanchor_654_654" id="FNanchor_654_654"></a><a href="#Footnote_654_654" class="fnanchor">[654]</a> Joncourt,<a name="FNanchor_655_655" id="FNanchor_655_655"></a><a href="#Footnote_655_655" class="fnanchor">[655]</a> +Kéralio,<a name="FNanchor_656_656" id="FNanchor_656_656"></a><a href="#Footnote_656_656" class="fnanchor">[656]</a> Laboreau,<a name="FNanchor_657_657" id="FNanchor_657_657"></a><a href="#Footnote_657_657" class="fnanchor">[657]</a> Lacombe,<a name="FNanchor_658_658" id="FNanchor_658_658"></a><a href="#Footnote_658_658" class="fnanchor">[658]</a> Lafargue,<a name="FNanchor_659_659" id="FNanchor_659_659"></a><a href="#Footnote_659_659" class="fnanchor">[659]</a> +La Montagne,<a name="FNanchor_660_660" id="FNanchor_660_660"></a><a href="#Footnote_660_660" class="fnanchor">[660]</a> Lanjuinais,<a name="FNanchor_661_661" id="FNanchor_661_661"></a><a href="#Footnote_661_661" class="fnanchor">[661]</a> Lasalle,<a name="FNanchor_662_662" id="FNanchor_662_662"></a><a href="#Footnote_662_662" class="fnanchor">[662]</a> +Lasteyrie,<a name="FNanchor_663_663" id="FNanchor_663_663"></a><a href="#Footnote_663_663" class="fnanchor">[663]</a> Le Breton,<a name="FNanchor_664_664" id="FNanchor_664_664"></a><a href="#Footnote_664_664" class="fnanchor">[664]</a> Lécuy,<a name="FNanchor_665_665" id="FNanchor_665_665"></a><a href="#Footnote_665_665" class="fnanchor">[665]</a> Léonard des +Malpeines,<a name="FNanchor_666_666" id="FNanchor_666_666"></a><a href="#Footnote_666_666" class="fnanchor">[666]</a> Letourneur,<a name="FNanchor_667_667" id="FNanchor_667_667"></a><a href="#Footnote_667_667" class="fnanchor">[667]</a> Linguet,<a name="FNanchor_668_668" id="FNanchor_668_668"></a><a href="#Footnote_668_668" class="fnanchor">[668]</a> Lottin,<a name="FNanchor_669_669" id="FNanchor_669_669"></a><a href="#Footnote_669_669" class="fnanchor">[669]</a> Luneau,<a name="FNanchor_670_670" id="FNanchor_670_670"></a><a href="#Footnote_670_670" class="fnanchor">[670]</a> +Maillet Duclairon,<a name="FNanchor_671_671" id="FNanchor_671_671"></a><a href="#Footnote_671_671" class="fnanchor">[671]</a> Mandrillon,<a name="FNanchor_672_672" id="FNanchor_672_672"></a><a href="#Footnote_672_672" class="fnanchor">[672]</a> Marsy,<a name="FNanchor_673_673" id="FNanchor_673_673"></a><a href="#Footnote_673_673" class="fnanchor">[673]</a> +Moet,<a name="FNanchor_674_674" id="FNanchor_674_674"></a><a href="#Footnote_674_674" class="fnanchor">[674]</a> Monod,<a name="FNanchor_675_675" id="FNanchor_675_675"></a><a href="#Footnote_675_675" class="fnanchor">[675]</a> Mosneron,<a name="FNanchor_676_676" id="FNanchor_676_676"></a><a href="#Footnote_676_676" class="fnanchor">[676]</a> Nagot,<a name="FNanchor_677_677" id="FNanchor_677_677"></a><a href="#Footnote_677_677" class="fnanchor">[677]</a> Peyron,<a name="FNanchor_678_678" id="FNanchor_678_678"></a><a href="#Footnote_678_678" class="fnanchor">[678]</a> +Prévost,<a name="FNanchor_679_679" id="FNanchor_679_679"></a><a href="#Footnote_679_679" class="fnanchor">[679]</a> Puisieux,<a name="FNanchor_680_680" id="FNanchor_680_680"></a><a href="#Footnote_680_680" class="fnanchor">[680]</a> Rivoire,<a name="FNanchor_681_681" id="FNanchor_681_681"></a><a href="#Footnote_681_681" class="fnanchor">[681]</a> Robinet,<a name="FNanchor_682_682" id="FNanchor_682_682"></a><a href="#Footnote_682_682" class="fnanchor">[682]</a> Roger,<a name="FNanchor_683_683" id="FNanchor_683_683"></a><a href="#Footnote_683_683" class="fnanchor">[683]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +Roubaud,<a name="FNanchor_684_684" id="FNanchor_684_684"></a><a href="#Footnote_684_684" class="fnanchor">[684]</a> Salaville,<a name="FNanchor_685_685" id="FNanchor_685_685"></a><a href="#Footnote_685_685" class="fnanchor">[685]</a> Sauseuil,<a name="FNanchor_686_686" id="FNanchor_686_686"></a><a href="#Footnote_686_686" class="fnanchor">[686]</a> Secondat,<a name="FNanchor_687_687" id="FNanchor_687_687"></a><a href="#Footnote_687_687" class="fnanchor">[687]</a> Septchènes,<a name="FNanchor_688_688" id="FNanchor_688_688"></a><a href="#Footnote_688_688" class="fnanchor">[688]</a> +Simon,<a name="FNanchor_689_689" id="FNanchor_689_689"></a><a href="#Footnote_689_689" class="fnanchor">[689]</a> Soulès,<a name="FNanchor_690_690" id="FNanchor_690_690"></a><a href="#Footnote_690_690" class="fnanchor">[690]</a> Suard,<a name="FNanchor_691_691" id="FNanchor_691_691"></a><a href="#Footnote_691_691" class="fnanchor">[691]</a> Tannevot,<a name="FNanchor_692_692" id="FNanchor_692_692"></a><a href="#Footnote_692_692" class="fnanchor">[692]</a> +Thurot,<a name="FNanchor_693_693" id="FNanchor_693_693"></a><a href="#Footnote_693_693" class="fnanchor">[693]</a> Toussaint,<a name="FNanchor_694_694" id="FNanchor_694_694"></a><a href="#Footnote_694_694" class="fnanchor">[694]</a> Tressan,<a name="FNanchor_695_695" id="FNanchor_695_695"></a><a href="#Footnote_695_695" class="fnanchor">[695]</a> Trochereau,<a name="FNanchor_696_696" id="FNanchor_696_696"></a><a href="#Footnote_696_696" class="fnanchor">[696]</a> Turpin,<a name="FNanchor_697_697" id="FNanchor_697_697"></a><a href="#Footnote_697_697" class="fnanchor">[697]</a> +Ussieux,<a name="FNanchor_698_698" id="FNanchor_698_698"></a><a href="#Footnote_698_698" class="fnanchor">[698]</a> Vaugeois,<a name="FNanchor_699_699" id="FNanchor_699_699"></a><a href="#Footnote_699_699" class="fnanchor">[699]</a> Verlac,<a name="FNanchor_700_700" id="FNanchor_700_700"></a><a href="#Footnote_700_700" class="fnanchor">[700]</a> and Virloys.<a name="FNanchor_701_701" id="FNanchor_701_701"></a><a href="#Footnote_701_701" class="fnanchor">[701]</a> +Indeed, Le Blanc, who wrote shortly before the middle +of the eighteenth century, says: ‘We have placed English +in the rank of the learned languages; our women +study it, and have abandoned Italian in order to study +the language of this philosophic people; nor is there +to be found among us any one who does not desire to +learn it.’<a name="FNanchor_702_702" id="FNanchor_702_702"></a><a href="#Footnote_702_702" class="fnanchor">[702]</a></p> + +<p>Such was the eagerness with which the French imbibed +the literature of a people whom but a few years +before they had heartily despised. The truth is, that +in this new state of things they had no alternative. +For where but in England was a literature to be found +that could satisfy those bold and inquisitive thinkers +who arose in France after the death of Louis XIV.? +In their own country there had no doubt been great +displays of eloquence, of fine dramas, and of poetry, +which, though never reaching the highest point of excellence, +is of finished and admirable beauty. But it is +an unquestionable fact, and one melancholy to contemplate, +that during the sixty years which succeeded the +death of Descartes, France had not possessed a single<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +man who dared to think for himself. Metaphysicians, +moralists, historians, all had become tainted by the +servility of that bad age. During two generations, no +Frenchman had been allowed to discuss with freedom +any question, either of politics or of religion. The consequence +was, that the largest intellects, excluded from +their legitimate field, lost their energy; the national +spirit died away; the very materials and nutriment of +thought seemed to be wanting. No wonder then, if the +great Frenchmen of the eighteenth century sought that +aliment abroad which they were unable to find at home. +No wonder if they turned from their own land, and +gazed with admiration at the only people who, pushing +their inquiries into the highest departments, had shown +the same fearlessness in politics as in religion; a people +who, having punished their kings and controlled their +clergy, were storing the treasures of their experience in +that noble literature which never can perish, and of +which it may be said in sober truth, that it has stimulated +the intellect of the most distant races, and that, +planted in America and in India, it has already fertilized +the two extremities of the world.</p> + +<p>There are, in fact, few things in history so instructive +as the extent to which France was influenced by this +new pursuit. Even those who took part in actually +consummating the Revolution, were moved by the prevailing +spirit. The English language was familiar to +Carra,<a name="FNanchor_703_703" id="FNanchor_703_703"></a><a href="#Footnote_703_703" class="fnanchor">[703]</a> Dumouriez,<a name="FNanchor_704_704" id="FNanchor_704_704"></a><a href="#Footnote_704_704" class="fnanchor">[704]</a> Lafayette,<a name="FNanchor_705_705" id="FNanchor_705_705"></a><a href="#Footnote_705_705" class="fnanchor">[705]</a> and Lanthénas.<a name="FNanchor_706_706" id="FNanchor_706_706"></a><a href="#Footnote_706_706" class="fnanchor">[706]</a> +Camille Desmoulins had cultivated his mind from the +same source.<a name="FNanchor_707_707" id="FNanchor_707_707"></a><a href="#Footnote_707_707" class="fnanchor">[707]</a> Marat travelled in Scotland as well as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +in England, and was so profoundly versed in our +language that he wrote two works in it; one of which, +called <i>The Chains of Slavery</i>, was afterwards translated +into French.<a name="FNanchor_708_708" id="FNanchor_708_708"></a><a href="#Footnote_708_708" class="fnanchor">[708]</a> Mirabeau is declared by a high +authority to have owed part of his power to a careful +study of the English constitution;<a name="FNanchor_709_709" id="FNanchor_709_709"></a><a href="#Footnote_709_709" class="fnanchor">[709]</a> he translated not +only Watson's <i>History of Philip II.</i>, but also some parts +of Milton;<a name="FNanchor_710_710" id="FNanchor_710_710"></a><a href="#Footnote_710_710" class="fnanchor">[710]</a> and it is said that when he was in the +National Assembly, he delivered, as his own, passages +from the speeches of Burke.<a name="FNanchor_711_711" id="FNanchor_711_711"></a><a href="#Footnote_711_711" class="fnanchor">[711]</a> Mounier was well +acquainted with our language, and with our political +institutions both in theory and in practice;<a name="FNanchor_712_712" id="FNanchor_712_712"></a><a href="#Footnote_712_712" class="fnanchor">[712]</a> and in +a work, which exercised considerable influence, he proposed +for his own country the establishment of two +chambers, to form that balance of power of which England +supplied the example.<a name="FNanchor_713_713" id="FNanchor_713_713"></a><a href="#Footnote_713_713" class="fnanchor">[713]</a> The same idea, derived +from the same source, was advocated by Le Brun, who +was a friend of Mounier's, and who, like him, had paid +attention to the literature and government of the English +people.<a name="FNanchor_714_714" id="FNanchor_714_714"></a><a href="#Footnote_714_714" class="fnanchor">[714]</a> Brissot knew English; he had studied +in London the working of the English institutions, and +he himself mentions that, in his treatise on criminal +law, he was mainly guided by the course of English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +legislation.<a name="FNanchor_715_715" id="FNanchor_715_715"></a><a href="#Footnote_715_715" class="fnanchor">[715]</a> Condorcet also proposed as a model our +system of criminal jurisprudence,<a name="FNanchor_716_716" id="FNanchor_716_716"></a><a href="#Footnote_716_716" class="fnanchor">[716]</a> which, bad as it +was, certainly surpassed that possessed by France. +Madame Roland, whose position, as well as ability, +made her one of the leaders of the democratic party, +was an ardent student of the language and literature of +the English people.<a name="FNanchor_717_717" id="FNanchor_717_717"></a><a href="#Footnote_717_717" class="fnanchor">[717]</a> She too, moved by the universal +curiosity, came to our country; and, as if to show that +persons of every shade and of every rank were actuated +by the same spirit, the Duke of Orleans likewise visited +England; nor did his visit fail to produce its natural +results. ‘It was,’ says a celebrated writer, ‘in the +society of London that he acquired a taste for liberty; +and it was on his return from there that he brought into +France a love of popular agitation, a contempt for his +own rank, and a familiarity with those beneath him.’<a name="FNanchor_718_718" id="FNanchor_718_718"></a><a href="#Footnote_718_718" class="fnanchor">[718]</a></p> + +<p>This language, strong as it is, will not appear exaggerated +to any one who has carefully studied the history +of the eighteenth century. It is no doubt certain, that +the French Revolution was essentially a reaction against +that protective and interfering spirit which reached its +zenith under Louis XIV., but which, centuries before +his reign, had exercised a most injurious influence over +the national prosperity. While, however, this must be +fully conceded, it is equally certain that the impetus to +which the reaction owed its strength, proceeded from +England; and that it was English literature which +taught the lessons of political liberty, first to France, +and through France to the rest of Europe.<a name="FNanchor_719_719" id="FNanchor_719_719"></a><a href="#Footnote_719_719" class="fnanchor">[719]</a> On this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +account, and not at all from mere literary curiosity, I +have traced with some minuteness that union between +the French and English minds, which, though often +noticed, has never been examined with the care its importance +deserves. The circumstances which reinforced +this vast movement will be related towards the end of +the volume; at present I will confine myself to its first +great consequence, namely, the establishment of a complete +schism between the literary men of France, and +the classes who exclusively governed the country.</p> + +<p>Those eminent Frenchmen who now turned their +attention to England, found in its literature, in the +structure of its society, and in its government, many +peculiarities of which their own country furnished no +example. They heard political and religious questions +of the greatest moment debated with a boldness unknown +in any other part of Europe. They heard +dissenters and churchmen, whigs and tories, handling +the most dangerous topics, and treating them with +unlimited freedom. They heard public disputes +respecting matters which no one in France dared to +discuss; mysteries of state and mysteries of creed +unfolded and rudely exposed to the popular gaze. And, +what to Frenchmen of that age must have been equally +amazing, they not only found a public press possessing +some degree of freedom, but they found that within the +very walls of parliament the administration of the crown +was assailed with complete impunity, the character of its +chosen servants constantly aspersed, and, strange to say, +even the management of its revenues effectually controlled.<a name="FNanchor_720_720" id="FNanchor_720_720"></a><a href="#Footnote_720_720" class="fnanchor">[720]</a></p> + +<p>The successors of the age of Louis XIV., seeing these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +things, and seeing, moreover, that the civilization of the +country increased as the authority of the upper classes +and of the crown diminished, were unable to restrain +their wonder at so novel and exciting a spectacle. ‘The +English nation,’ says Voltaire, ‘is the only one on +the earth, which, by resisting its kings, has succeeded +in lessening their power.<a name="FNanchor_721_721" id="FNanchor_721_721"></a><a href="#Footnote_721_721" class="fnanchor">[721]</a> How I love the boldness +of the English! how I love men who say what they +think!’<a name="FNanchor_722_722" id="FNanchor_722_722"></a><a href="#Footnote_722_722" class="fnanchor">[722]</a> The English, says Le Blanc, are willing to +have a king, provided they are not obliged to obey +him.<a name="FNanchor_723_723" id="FNanchor_723_723"></a><a href="#Footnote_723_723" class="fnanchor">[723]</a> The immediate object of their government, +says Montesquieu, is political liberty;<a name="FNanchor_724_724" id="FNanchor_724_724"></a><a href="#Footnote_724_724" class="fnanchor">[724]</a> they possess +more freedom than any republic;<a name="FNanchor_725_725" id="FNanchor_725_725"></a><a href="#Footnote_725_725" class="fnanchor">[725]</a> and their system is +in fact a republic disguised as a monarchy.<a name="FNanchor_726_726" id="FNanchor_726_726"></a><a href="#Footnote_726_726" class="fnanchor">[726]</a> Grosley, +struck with amazement, exclaims, ‘Property is in England +a thing sacred, which the laws protect from all +encroachment, not only from engineers, inspectors, and +other people of that stamp, but even from the king +himself.’<a name="FNanchor_727_727" id="FNanchor_727_727"></a><a href="#Footnote_727_727" class="fnanchor">[727]</a> Mably, in the most celebrated of all his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +works, says, ‘The Hanoverians are only able to reign in +England because the people are free, and believe they +have a right to dispose of the crown. But if the kings +were to claim the same powers as the Stuarts, if they +were to believe that the crown belonged to them by +divine right, they would be condemning themselves and +confessing that they were occupying a place which is +not their own.’<a name="FNanchor_728_728" id="FNanchor_728_728"></a><a href="#Footnote_728_728" class="fnanchor">[728]</a> In England, says Helvétius, the +people are respected; every citizen can take some part +in the management of affairs; and authors are allowed +to enlighten the public respecting its own interests.<a name="FNanchor_729_729" id="FNanchor_729_729"></a><a href="#Footnote_729_729" class="fnanchor">[729]</a> +And Brissot, who had made these matters his especial +study, cries out, ‘Admirable constitution! which can +only be disparaged either by men who know it not, or +else by those whose tongues are bridled by slavery.’<a name="FNanchor_730_730" id="FNanchor_730_730"></a><a href="#Footnote_730_730" class="fnanchor">[730]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the opinions of some of the most celebrated +Frenchmen of that time; and it would be easy to fill a +volume with similar extracts. But, what I now rather +wish to do, is, to point out the first great consequence +of this new and sudden admiration for a country which, +in the preceding age, had been held in profound contempt. +The events which followed are, indeed, of +an importance impossible to exaggerate; since they +brought about that rupture between the intellectual and +governing classes, of which the revolution itself was +but a temporary episode.</p> + +<p>The great Frenchmen of the eighteenth century +being stimulated by the example of England into a love +of progress, naturally came into collision with the +governing classes, among whom the old stationary spirit +still prevailed. This opposition was a wholesome reaction +against that disgraceful servility for which, in +the reign of Louis XIV., literary men had been remarkable; +and if the contest which ensued had been conducted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +with anything approaching to moderation, the +ultimate result would have been highly beneficial; since +it would have secured that divergence between the +speculative and practical classes which, as we have +already seen, is essential to maintain the balance of +civilization, and to prevent either side from acquiring +a dangerous predominance. But, unfortunately, the +nobles and clergy had been so long accustomed to +power, that they could not brook the slightest contradiction +from those great writers, whom they ignorantly +despised as their inferiors. Hence it was, that when +the most illustrious Frenchmen of the eighteenth century +attempted to infuse into the literature of their +country a spirit of inquiry similar to that which existed +in England, the ruling classes became roused into a +hatred and jealousy which broke all bounds, and gave +rise to that crusade against knowledge which forms the +second principal precursor of the French Revolution.</p> + +<p>The extent of that cruel persecution to which literature +was now exposed, can only be fully appreciated by +those who have minutely studied the history of France +in the eighteenth century. For it was not a stray case +of oppression, which occurred here and there; but it +was a prolonged and systematic attempt to stifle all inquiry, +and punish all inquirers. If a list were drawn +up of all the literary men who wrote during the seventy +years succeeding the death of Louis XIV., it would be +found, that at least nine out of every ten had suffered +from the government some grievous injury; and that a +majority of them had been actually thrown into prison. +Indeed, in saying thus much, I am understating the +real facts of the case; for I question if one literary man +out of fifty escaped with entire impunity. Certainly, +my own knowledge of those times, though carefully +collected, is not so complete as I could have wished; +but, among those authors who were punished, I find the +name of nearly every Frenchman whose writings have +survived the age in which they were produced. Among +those who suffered either confiscation, or imprisonment, +or exile, or fines, or the suppression of their works, or +the ignominy of being forced to recant what they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +written, I find, besides a host of inferior writers, the +names of Beaumarchais, Berruyer, Bougeant, Buffon, +D'Alembert, Diderot, Duclos, Freret, Helvétius, La +Harpe, Linguet, Mably, Marmontel, Montesquieu, +Mercier, Morellet, Raynal, Rousseau, Suard, Thomas, +and Voltaire.</p> + +<p>The mere recital of this list is pregnant with instruction. +To suppose that all these eminent men deserved +the treatment they received, would, even in the absence +of direct evidence, be a manifest absurdity; since it +would involve the supposition, that a schism having +taken place between two classes, the weaker class was +altogether wrong, and the stronger altogether right. +Fortunately, however, there is no necessity for resorting +to any merely speculative argument respecting the probable +merits of the two parties. The accusations brought +against these great men are before the world; the penalties +inflicted are equally well known; and, by putting these +together, we may form some idea of the state of society, +in which such things could be openly practised.</p> + +<p>Voltaire, almost immediately after the death of +Louis XIV., was falsely charged with having composed +a libel on that prince; and, for this imaginary offence, +he, without the pretence of a trial, and without even +the shadow of a proof, was thrown into the Bastille, +where he was confined more than twelve months.<a name="FNanchor_731_731" id="FNanchor_731_731"></a><a href="#Footnote_731_731" class="fnanchor">[731]</a> +Shortly after he was released, there was put upon him +a still more grievous insult; the occurrence, and, above +all, the impunity of which, supply striking evidence as +to the state of society in which such things were permitted. +Voltaire, at the table of the Duke de Sully, +was deliberately insulted by the Chevalier de Rohan +Chabot, one of those impudent and dissolute nobles who +then abounded in Paris. The duke, though the outrage +was committed in his own house, in his own presence, +and upon his own guest, would not interfere; but seemed +to consider that a poor poet was honoured by being in +any way noticed by a man of rank. But, as Voltaire, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +the heat of the moment, let fall one of those stinging +retorts which were the terror of his enemies, the chevalier +determined to visit him with further punishment. +The course he adopted was characteristic of the man, +and of the class to which he belonged. He caused +Voltaire to be seized in the streets of Paris, and in his +presence ignominiously beaten, he himself regulating the +number of blows of which the chastisement was to consist. +Voltaire, smarting under the insult, demanded that +satisfaction which it was customary to give. This, +however, did not enter into the plan of his noble assailer, +who not only refused to meet him in the field, but +actually obtained an order, by which he was confined in +the Bastille for six months, and at the end of that time +was directed to quit the country.<a name="FNanchor_732_732" id="FNanchor_732_732"></a><a href="#Footnote_732_732" class="fnanchor">[732]</a></p> + +<p>Thus it was that Voltaire, having first been imprisoned +for a libel which he never wrote, and having then +been publicly beaten because he retorted an insult +wantonly put upon him, was now sentenced to another +imprisonment, through the influence of the very man +by whom he had been attacked. The exile which followed +the imprisonment seems to have been soon remitted; +as, shortly after these events, we find Voltaire again in +France, preparing for publication his first historical +work, a life of Charles XII. In this, there are none of +those attacks on Christianity which gave offence in his +subsequent writings; nor does it contain the least reflection +upon the arbitrary government under which he +had suffered. The French authorities at first granted +that permission, without which no book could then be +published; but as soon as it was actually printed, +the license was withdrawn, and the history forbidden to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +be circulated.<a name="FNanchor_733_733" id="FNanchor_733_733"></a><a href="#Footnote_733_733" class="fnanchor">[733]</a> The next attempt of Voltaire was one +of much greater value: it was therefore repulsed still +more sharply. During his residence in England, +his inquisitive mind had been deeply interested +by a state of things so different from any he had +hitherto seen; and he now published an account of +that remarkable people, from whose literature he had +learned many important truths. His work, which he +called <i>Philosophic Letters</i>, was received with general applause; +but, unfortunately for himself, he adopted in it +the arguments of Locke against innate ideas. The +rulers of France, though not likely to know much about +innate ideas, had a suspicion that the doctrine of Locke +was in some way dangerous; and, as they were told +that it was a novelty, they felt themselves bound to prevent +its promulgation. Their remedy was very simple. +They ordered that Voltaire should be again arrested +and that his work should be burned by the common +hangman.<a name="FNanchor_734_734" id="FNanchor_734_734"></a><a href="#Footnote_734_734" class="fnanchor">[734]</a></p> + +<p>These repeated injuries might well have moved a more +patient spirit than that of Voltaire.<a name="FNanchor_735_735" id="FNanchor_735_735"></a><a href="#Footnote_735_735" class="fnanchor">[735]</a> Certainly, those +who reproach this illustrious man, as if he were the instigator +of unprovoked attacks upon the existing state +of things, must know very little of the age in which it +was his misfortune to live. Even on what has been +always considered the neutral ground of physical science, +there was displayed the same despotic and persecuting +spirit. Voltaire, among other schemes for benefiting +France, wished to make known to his countrymen the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +wonderful discoveries of Newton, of which they were +completely ignorant. With this view, he drew up an +account of the labours of that extraordinary thinker; +but here again the authorities interposed, and forbade +the work to be printed.<a name="FNanchor_736_736" id="FNanchor_736_736"></a><a href="#Footnote_736_736" class="fnanchor">[736]</a> Indeed, the rulers of France, +as if sensible that their only security was the ignorance +of the people, obstinately set their face against every +description of knowledge. Several eminent authors had +undertaken to execute, on a magnificent scale, an Encyclopædia, +which should contain a summary of all the +branches of science and of art. This, undoubtedly the +most splendid enterprise ever started by a body of literary +men, was at first discouraged by the government, +and afterwards entirely prohibited.<a name="FNanchor_737_737" id="FNanchor_737_737"></a><a href="#Footnote_737_737" class="fnanchor">[737]</a> On other occasions, +the same tendency was shown in matters so trifling +that nothing but the gravity of their ultimate +results prevents them from being ridiculous. In 1770, +Imbert translated Clarke's <i>Letters on Spain</i>: one of the +best works then existing on that country. This book, +however, was suppressed as soon as it appeared; +and the only reason assigned for such a stretch of power +is, that it contained some remarks respecting the passion +of Charles III. for hunting, which were considered disrespectful +to the French crown, because Louis XV. was +himself a great hunter.<a name="FNanchor_738_738" id="FNanchor_738_738"></a><a href="#Footnote_738_738" class="fnanchor">[738]</a> Several years before this, +La Bletterie, who was favourably known in France by +his works, was elected a member of the French Academy. +But he, it seems, was a Jansenist, and had, moreover,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +ventured to assert that the Emperor Julian, notwithstanding +his apostacy, was not entirely devoid of +good qualities. Such offences could not be overlooked +in so pure an age; and the king obliged the Academy to +exclude La Bletterie from their society.<a name="FNanchor_739_739" id="FNanchor_739_739"></a><a href="#Footnote_739_739" class="fnanchor">[739]</a> That the +punishment extended no further, was an instance of +remarkable leniency; for Fréret, an eminent critic and +scholar,<a name="FNanchor_740_740" id="FNanchor_740_740"></a><a href="#Footnote_740_740" class="fnanchor">[740]</a> was confined in the Bastille, because he stated +in one of his memoirs, that the earliest Frankish chiefs +had received their titles from the Romans.<a name="FNanchor_741_741" id="FNanchor_741_741"></a><a href="#Footnote_741_741" class="fnanchor">[741]</a> The same +penalty was inflicted four different times upon Lenglet +du Fresnoy.<a name="FNanchor_742_742" id="FNanchor_742_742"></a><a href="#Footnote_742_742" class="fnanchor">[742]</a> In the case of this amiable and accomplished +man, there seems to have been hardly the shadow +of a pretext for the cruelty with which he was treated; +though, on one occasion, the alleged offence was, that +he had published a supplement to the History of De +Thou.<a name="FNanchor_743_743" id="FNanchor_743_743"></a><a href="#Footnote_743_743" class="fnanchor">[743]</a></p> + +<p>Indeed, we have only to open the biographies and correspondence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +of that time, to find instances crowding +upon us from all quarters. Rousseau was threatened +with imprisonment, was driven from France, and his +works were publicly burned.<a name="FNanchor_744_744" id="FNanchor_744_744"></a><a href="#Footnote_744_744" class="fnanchor">[744]</a> The celebrated treatise +of Helvétius on the mind was suppressed by an +order from the royal council: it was burned by the +common hangman, and the author was compelled to +write two letters, retracting his opinions.<a name="FNanchor_745_745" id="FNanchor_745_745"></a><a href="#Footnote_745_745" class="fnanchor">[745]</a> Some of +the geological views of Buffon having offended the clergy, +that illustrious naturalist was obliged to publish a formal +recantation of doctrines which are now known to +be perfectly accurate.<a name="FNanchor_746_746" id="FNanchor_746_746"></a><a href="#Footnote_746_746" class="fnanchor">[746]</a> The learned Observations on +the History of France, by Mably, were suppressed as +soon as they appeared;<a name="FNanchor_747_747" id="FNanchor_747_747"></a><a href="#Footnote_747_747" class="fnanchor">[747]</a> for what reason it would be +hard to say, since M. Guizot, certainly no friend either +to anarchy or to irreligion, has thought it worth while +to republish them, and thus stamp them with the authority +of his own great name. The History of the Indies, +by Raynal, was condemned to the flames, and the author +ordered to be arrested.<a name="FNanchor_748_748" id="FNanchor_748_748"></a><a href="#Footnote_748_748" class="fnanchor">[748]</a> Lanjuinais, in his well-known +work on Joseph II., advocated not only religious toleration, +but even the abolition of slavery; his book, therefore, +was declared to be ‘seditious;’ it was pronounced ‘destructive +of all subordination,’ and was sentenced to be +burned.<a name="FNanchor_749_749" id="FNanchor_749_749"></a><a href="#Footnote_749_749" class="fnanchor">[749]</a> The Analysis of Bayle, by Marsy, was +suppressed, and the author was imprisoned.<a name="FNanchor_750_750" id="FNanchor_750_750"></a><a href="#Footnote_750_750" class="fnanchor">[750]</a> The +History of the Jesuits, by Linguet, was delivered to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +flames; eight years later his <i>Journal</i> was suppressed; +and, three years after that, as he still persisted in writing, +his Political Annals were suppressed, and he himself +was thrown into the Bastille.<a name="FNanchor_751_751" id="FNanchor_751_751"></a><a href="#Footnote_751_751" class="fnanchor">[751]</a> Delisle de Sales +was sentenced to perpetual exile, and confiscation of all +his property, on account of his work on the Philosophy +of Nature.<a name="FNanchor_752_752" id="FNanchor_752_752"></a><a href="#Footnote_752_752" class="fnanchor">[752]</a> The treatise by Mey, on French Law, +was suppressed;<a name="FNanchor_753_753" id="FNanchor_753_753"></a><a href="#Footnote_753_753" class="fnanchor">[753]</a> that by Boncerf, on Feudal Law, was +burned.<a name="FNanchor_754_754" id="FNanchor_754_754"></a><a href="#Footnote_754_754" class="fnanchor">[754]</a> The Memoirs of Beaumarchais were likewise +burned;<a name="FNanchor_755_755" id="FNanchor_755_755"></a><a href="#Footnote_755_755" class="fnanchor">[755]</a> the Eloge on Fénelon by La Harpe was +merely suppressed.<a name="FNanchor_756_756" id="FNanchor_756_756"></a><a href="#Footnote_756_756" class="fnanchor">[756]</a> Duvernet having written a History +of the Sorbonne, which was still unpublished, was +seized and thrown into the Bastille, while the manuscript +was yet in his own possession.<a name="FNanchor_757_757" id="FNanchor_757_757"></a><a href="#Footnote_757_757" class="fnanchor">[757]</a> The celebrated work +of De Lolme on the English constitution was suppressed +by edict directly it appeared.<a name="FNanchor_758_758" id="FNanchor_758_758"></a><a href="#Footnote_758_758" class="fnanchor">[758]</a> The fate of being suppressed, +or prohibited, also awaited the Letters of Gervaise, +in 1724;<a name="FNanchor_759_759" id="FNanchor_759_759"></a><a href="#Footnote_759_759" class="fnanchor">[759]</a> the Dissertations of Courayer, in +1727;<a name="FNanchor_760_760" id="FNanchor_760_760"></a><a href="#Footnote_760_760" class="fnanchor">[760]</a> the Letters of Montgon, in 1732;<a name="FNanchor_761_761" id="FNanchor_761_761"></a><a href="#Footnote_761_761" class="fnanchor">[761]</a> the History +of Tamerlane, by Margat, also in 1732;<a name="FNanchor_762_762" id="FNanchor_762_762"></a><a href="#Footnote_762_762" class="fnanchor">[762]</a> the Essay +on Taste, by Cartaud, in 1736;<a name="FNanchor_763_763" id="FNanchor_763_763"></a><a href="#Footnote_763_763" class="fnanchor">[763]</a> the Life of Domat, +by Prévost de la Jannès, in 1742;<a name="FNanchor_764_764" id="FNanchor_764_764"></a><a href="#Footnote_764_764" class="fnanchor">[764]</a> the History of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +Louis XI., by Duclos, in 1745;<a name="FNanchor_765_765" id="FNanchor_765_765"></a><a href="#Footnote_765_765" class="fnanchor">[765]</a> the Letters of Bargeton, +in 1750;<a name="FNanchor_766_766" id="FNanchor_766_766"></a><a href="#Footnote_766_766" class="fnanchor">[766]</a> the Memoirs on Troyes, by Grosley, in +the same year;<a name="FNanchor_767_767" id="FNanchor_767_767"></a><a href="#Footnote_767_767" class="fnanchor">[767]</a> the History of Clement XI., by Reboulet, +in 1752;<a name="FNanchor_768_768" id="FNanchor_768_768"></a><a href="#Footnote_768_768" class="fnanchor">[768]</a> the School of Man, by Génard, also +in 1752;<a name="FNanchor_769_769" id="FNanchor_769_769"></a><a href="#Footnote_769_769" class="fnanchor">[769]</a> the Therapeutics of Garlon, in 1756;<a name="FNanchor_770_770" id="FNanchor_770_770"></a><a href="#Footnote_770_770" class="fnanchor">[770]</a> the +celebrated thesis of Louis, on Generation, in 1754;<a name="FNanchor_771_771" id="FNanchor_771_771"></a><a href="#Footnote_771_771" class="fnanchor">[771]</a> the +Treatise on Presidial Jurisdiction, by Jousse, in 1755;<a name="FNanchor_772_772" id="FNanchor_772_772"></a><a href="#Footnote_772_772" class="fnanchor">[772]</a> +the Ericie of Fontanelle, in 1768;<a name="FNanchor_773_773" id="FNanchor_773_773"></a><a href="#Footnote_773_773" class="fnanchor">[773]</a> the Thoughts of +Jamin, in 1769;<a name="FNanchor_774_774" id="FNanchor_774_774"></a><a href="#Footnote_774_774" class="fnanchor">[774]</a> the History of Siam, by Turpin, and +the Eloge of Marcus Aurelius, by Thomas, both in +1770;<a name="FNanchor_775_775" id="FNanchor_775_775"></a><a href="#Footnote_775_775" class="fnanchor">[775]</a> the works on Finance by Darigrand in 1764; and +by Le Trosne, in 1779;<a name="FNanchor_776_776" id="FNanchor_776_776"></a><a href="#Footnote_776_776" class="fnanchor">[776]</a> the Essay on Military Tactics, +by Guibert, in 1772; the Letters of Boucquet, in the same +year;<a name="FNanchor_777_777" id="FNanchor_777_777"></a><a href="#Footnote_777_777" class="fnanchor">[777]</a> and the Memoirs of Terrai, by Coquereau, in +1776.<a name="FNanchor_778_778" id="FNanchor_778_778"></a><a href="#Footnote_778_778" class="fnanchor">[778]</a> Such wanton destruction of property was, +however, mercy itself, compared to the treatment experienced +by other literary men in France. Desforges, +for example, having written against the arrest of the +Pretender to the English throne, was, solely on that account, +buried in a dungeon eight feet square, and confined +there for three years.<a name="FNanchor_779_779" id="FNanchor_779_779"></a><a href="#Footnote_779_779" class="fnanchor">[779]</a> This happened in 1749; and +in 1770, Audra, professor at the college of Toulouse, and +a man of some reputation, published the first volume +of his Abridgment of General History. Beyond this, +the work never proceeded; it was at once condemned +by the archbishop of the diocese, and the author was +deprived of his office. Audra, held up to public opprobrium,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +the whole of his labours rendered useless, and +the prospects of his life suddenly blighted, was unable +to survive the shock. He was struck with apoplexy, +and within twenty-four hours was lying a corpse in his +own house.<a name="FNanchor_780_780" id="FNanchor_780_780"></a><a href="#Footnote_780_780" class="fnanchor">[780]</a></p> + +<p>It will probably be allowed that I have collected sufficient +evidence to substantiate my assertion respecting +the persecutions directed against every description of +literature; but the carelessness with which the antecedents +of the French Revolution have been studied, has +given rise to such erroneous opinions on this subject, +that I am anxious to add a few more instances, so as to +put beyond the possibility of doubt the nature of the +provocations habitually received by the most eminent +Frenchmen of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p>Among the many celebrated authors who, though, inferior +to Voltaire, Montesquieu, Buffon, and Rousseau, +were second only to them, three of the most remarkable +were Diderot, Marmontel, and Morellet. The first two +are known to every reader; while Morellet, though comparatively +forgotten, had in his own time considerable +influence, and had, moreover, the distinguished merit of +being the first who popularized in France those great +truths which had been recently discovered in political +economy by Adam Smith, and in jurisprudence by +Beccaria.</p> + +<p>A certain M. Cury wrote a satire upon the Duke +d'Aumont, which he showed to his friend Marmontel, +who, struck by its power, repeated it to a small circle of +his acquaintance. The duke, hearing of this, was full of +indignation, and insisted upon the name of the author +being given up. This, of course, was impossible without +a gross breach of confidence; but Marmontel, to do +everything in his power, wrote to the duke, stating, +what was really the fact, that the lines in question had +not been printed, that there was no intention of making +them public, and that they had only been communicated +to a few of his own particular friends. It might have +been supposed that this would have satisfied even a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +French noble; but Marmontel, still doubting the result, +sought an audience of the minister, in the hope of procuring +the protection of the crown. All, however, was in +vain. It will hardly be believed, that Marmontel, who +was then at the height of his reputation, was seized in +the middle of Paris, and because he refused to betray his +friend, was thrown into the Bastille. Nay, so implacable +were his persecutors, that after his liberation from prison +they, in the hope of reducing him to beggary, deprived +him of the right of publishing the <i>Mercure</i>, upon which +nearly the whole of his income depended.<a name="FNanchor_781_781" id="FNanchor_781_781"></a><a href="#Footnote_781_781" class="fnanchor">[781]</a></p> + +<p>To the Abbé Morellet a somewhat similar circumstance +occurred. A miserable scribbler, named Palissot, +had written a comedy ridiculing some of the ablest +Frenchmen then living. To this Morellet replied by a +pleasant little satire, in which he made a very harmless +allusion to the Princess de Robeck, one of Palissot's +patrons. She, amazed at such presumption, complained +to the minister, who immediately ordered the abbé to be +confined in the Bastille, where he remained for some +months, although he had not only been guilty of no +scandal, but had not even mentioned the name of the +princess.<a name="FNanchor_782_782" id="FNanchor_782_782"></a><a href="#Footnote_782_782" class="fnanchor">[782]</a></p> + +<p>The treatment of Diderot was still more severe. This +remarkable man owed his influence chiefly to his immense +correspondence, and to the brilliancy of a conversation +for which, even in Paris, he was unrivalled, and +which he used to display with considerable effect at +those celebrated dinners where, during a quarter of a +century, Holbach assembled the most illustrious thinkers +in France.<a name="FNanchor_783_783" id="FNanchor_783_783"></a><a href="#Footnote_783_783" class="fnanchor">[783]</a> Besides this, he is the author of several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +works of interest, most of which are well known to the +students of French literature.<a name="FNanchor_784_784" id="FNanchor_784_784"></a><a href="#Footnote_784_784" class="fnanchor">[784]</a> His independent spirit, +and the reputation he obtained, earned for him a share +in the general persecution. The first work he wrote +was ordered to be publicly burned by the common +hangman.<a name="FNanchor_785_785" id="FNanchor_785_785"></a><a href="#Footnote_785_785" class="fnanchor">[785]</a> This, indeed, was the fate of nearly all +the best literary productions of that time; and Diderot +might esteem himself fortunate in merely losing his +property, provided he saved himself from imprisonment. +But, a few years later, he wrote another work, in which +he said that people who are born blind have some +ideas different from those who are possessed of their +eyesight. This assertion is by no means improbable,<a name="FNanchor_786_786" id="FNanchor_786_786"></a><a href="#Footnote_786_786" class="fnanchor">[786]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +and it contains nothing by which any one need be +startled. The men, however, who then governed France +discovered in it some hidden danger. Whether they +suspected that the mention of blindness was an allusion +to themselves, or whether they were merely instigated +by the perversity of their temper, is uncertain; at all +events, the unfortunate Diderot, for having hazarded +this opinion, was arrested, and without even the form +of a trial, was confined in the dungeon of Vincennes.<a name="FNanchor_787_787" id="FNanchor_787_787"></a><a href="#Footnote_787_787" class="fnanchor">[787]</a> +The natural results followed. The works of Diderot rose +in popularity;<a name="FNanchor_788_788" id="FNanchor_788_788"></a><a href="#Footnote_788_788" class="fnanchor">[788]</a> and he, burning with hatred against +his persecutors, redoubled his efforts to overthrow those +institutions, under shelter of which such monstrous +tyranny could be safely practised.</p> + +<p>It seems hardly necessary to say more respecting the +incredible folly with which the rulers of France, by turning +every able man into a personal enemy,<a name="FNanchor_789_789" id="FNanchor_789_789"></a><a href="#Footnote_789_789" class="fnanchor">[789]</a> at length +arrayed against the government all the intellect of the +country, and made the Revolution a matter not of choice +but of necessity. I will, however, as a fitting sequel to +the preceding facts, give one instance of the way in +which, to gratify the caprice of the higher classes, even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +the most private affections of domestic life, could be +publicly outraged. In the middle of the eighteenth +century, there was an actress on the French stage of +the name of Chantilly. She, though beloved by Maurice +de Saxe, preferred a more honourable attachment, and +married Favart, the well-known writer of songs and +of comic operas. Maurice, amazed at her boldness, applied +for aid to the French crown. That he should +have made such an application is sufficiently strange; +but the result of it is hardly to be paralleled except in +some Eastern despotism. The government of France, +on hearing the circumstance, had the inconceivable +baseness to issue an order directing Favart to abandon +his wife, and intrust her to the charge of Maurice, to +whose embraces she was compelled to submit.<a name="FNanchor_790_790" id="FNanchor_790_790"></a><a href="#Footnote_790_790" class="fnanchor">[790]</a></p> + +<p>These are among the insufferable provocations, by +which the blood of men is made to boil in their veins. +Who can wonder that the greatest and noblest minds in +France were filled with loathing at the government by +whom such things were done? If we, notwithstanding +the distance of time and country, are moved to indignation +by the mere mention of them, what must have +been felt by those before whose eyes they actually +occurred? And when, to the horror they naturally +inspired, there was added that apprehension of being +the next victim which every one might personally feel; +when, moreover, we remember that the authors of these +persecutions had none of the abilities by which even +vice itself is sometimes ennobled;—when we thus contrast +the poverty of their understandings with the greatness +of their crimes, we, instead of being astonished +that there was a revolution, by which all the machinery<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +of the state was swept away, should rather be amazed +at that unexampled patience by which alone the revolution +was so long deferred.</p> + +<p>To me, indeed, it has always appeared, that the delay of +the Revolution is one of the most striking proofs history +affords of the force of established habits, and of the +tenacity with which the human mind clings to old associations. +For, if ever there existed a government inherently +and radically bad, it was the government of France +in the eighteenth century. If ever there existed a state +of society likely, by its crying and accumulated evils, to +madden men to desperation, France was in that state. +The people, despised and enslaved, were sunk in abject +poverty, and were curbed by laws of stringent cruelty, +enforced with merciless barbarism. A supreme and +irresponsible control was exercised over the whole +country by the clergy, the nobles, and the crown. The +intellect of France was placed under the ban of a ruthless +proscription, its literature prohibited and burned, +its authors plundered and imprisoned. Nor was there +the least symptom that these evils were likely to be +remedied. The upper classes, whose arrogance was +increased by the long tenure of their power, only +thought of present enjoyment: they took no heed of the +future: they saw not that day of reckoning, the bitterness +of which they were soon to experience. The +people remained in slavery until the Revolution actually +occurred; while as to the literature, nearly every year +witnessed some new effort to deprive it of that share of +liberty which it still retained. Having, in 1764, issued +a decree forbidding any work to be published in which +questions of government were discussed;<a name="FNanchor_791_791" id="FNanchor_791_791"></a><a href="#Footnote_791_791" class="fnanchor">[791]</a> having, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +1767, made it a capital offence to write a book likely to +excite the public mind;<a name="FNanchor_792_792" id="FNanchor_792_792"></a><a href="#Footnote_792_792" class="fnanchor">[792]</a> and having, moreover, denounced +the same penalty of death against any one who +attacked religion,<a name="FNanchor_793_793" id="FNanchor_793_793"></a><a href="#Footnote_793_793" class="fnanchor">[793]</a> as also against any one who spoke +of matters of finance;<a name="FNanchor_794_794" id="FNanchor_794_794"></a><a href="#Footnote_794_794" class="fnanchor">[794]</a>—having taken these steps, the +rulers of France, very shortly before their final fall, +contemplated another measure still more comprehensive. +It is, indeed, a singular fact, that only nine +years before the Revolution, and when no power on +earth could have saved the institutions of the country, +the government was so ignorant of the real state of +affairs, and so confident that it could quell the spirit +which its own despotism had raised, that a proposal +was made by an officer of the crown to do away with +all the publishers, and not allow any books to be +printed except those which were issued from a press +paid, appointed, and controlled by the executive magistrate.<a name="FNanchor_795_795" id="FNanchor_795_795"></a><a href="#Footnote_795_795" class="fnanchor">[795]</a> +This monstrous proposition, if carried into +effect, would of course have invested the king with all +the influence which literature can command; it would +have been as fatal to the national intellect as the other +measures were to national liberty; and it would have +consummated the ruin of France, either by reducing +its greatest men to complete silence, or else by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +degrading them into mere advocates of those opinions +which the government might wish to propagate.</p> + +<p>For these are by no means to be considered as trifling +matters, merely interesting to men of letters. In +France, in the eighteenth century, literature was the +last resource of liberty. In England, if our great authors +should prostitute their abilities by inculcating +servile opinions, the danger would no doubt be considerable, +because other parts of society might find +it difficult to escape the contagion. Still, before the +corruption had spread, there would be time to stop +its course, so long as we possessed those free political +institutions, by the mere mention of which the generous +imagination of a bold people is easily fired. And +although such institutions are the consequence, not +the cause, of liberty, they do unquestionably react +upon it, and from the force of habit they could for +a while survive that from which they originally sprung. +So long as a country retains its political freedom, +there will always remain associations by which, even +in the midst of mental degradation, and out of the +depths of the lowest superstition, the minds of men +may be recalled to better things. But in France such +associations had no existence. In France everything +was for the governors and nothing for the governed. +There was neither free press, nor free parliament, +nor free debates. There were no public meetings; +there was no popular suffrage; there was no discussion +on the hustings; there was no habeas-corpus +act; there was no trial by jury. The voice of liberty, +thus silenced in every department of the state, could +only be heard in the appeals of those great men, +who, by their writings, inspirited the people to resistance. +This is the point of view from which we +ought to estimate the character of those who are often +accused of having wantonly disturbed the ancient +fabric.<a name="FNanchor_796_796" id="FNanchor_796_796"></a><a href="#Footnote_796_796" class="fnanchor">[796]</a> They, as well as the people at large, were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +cruelly oppressed by the crown, the nobles, and the +church; and they used their abilities to retaliate the +injury. There can be no doubt that this was the best +course open to them. There can be no doubt that rebellion +is the last remedy against tyranny, and that a despotic +system should be encountered by a revolutionary +literature. The upper classes were to blame, because they +struck the first blow; but we must by no means censure +those great men, who, having defended themselves from +aggression, eventually succeeded in smiting the government +by whom the aggression was originally made.</p> + +<p>Without, however, stopping to vindicate their conduct, +we have now to consider what is much more important, +namely, the origin of that crusade against +Christianity, in which, unhappily for France, they were +compelled to embark, and the occurrence of which forms +the third great antecedent of the French Revolution. +A knowledge of the causes of this hostility against +Christianity is essential to a right understanding of the +philosophy of the eighteenth century, and it will throw +some light on the general theory of ecclesiastical power.</p> + +<p>It is a circumstance well worthy of remark, that the +revolutionary literature which eventually overturned all +the institutions of France, was at first directed against +those which were religious, rather than against those +which were political. The great writers who rose into +notice soon after the death of Louis XIV., exerted +themselves against spiritual despotism; while the overthrow +of secular despotism was left to their immediate +successors.<a name="FNanchor_797_797" id="FNanchor_797_797"></a><a href="#Footnote_797_797" class="fnanchor">[797]</a> This is not the course which would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +pursued in a healthy state of society; and there is no +doubt, that to this peculiarity the crimes and the lawless +violence of the French Revolution are in no small degree +to be ascribed. It is evident, that in the legitimate +progress of a nation, political innovations should keep +pace with religious innovations, so that the people may +increase their liberty while they diminish their superstition. +In France, on the contrary, during nearly forty +years, the church was attacked, and the government +was spared. The consequence was, that the order and +balance of the country were destroyed; the minds of +men became habituated to the most daring speculations, +while their acts were controlled by the most oppressive +despotism; and they felt themselves possessed of capacities +which their rulers would not allow them to employ. +When, therefore, the French Revolution broke +out, it was not a mere rising of ignorant slaves against +educated masters, but it was a rising of men in whom +the despair caused by slavery was quickened by the +resources of advancing knowledge; men who were in +that frightful condition when the progress of intellect +outstrips the progress of liberty, and when a desire is +felt, not only to remove a tyranny, but also to avenge +an insult.</p> + +<p>There can be no doubt that to this we must ascribe +some of the most hideous peculiarities of the French +Revolution. It, therefore, becomes a matter of great +interest to inquire how it was, that while in England +political freedom and religious sceptism have accompanied +and aided each other, there should, on the other +hand, have taken place in France a vast movement, in +which, during nearly forty years, the ablest men neglected +the freedom, while they encouraged the scepticism, +and diminished the power of the church, without increasing +the liberties of the people.</p> + +<p>The first reason of this appears to be, the nature of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +those ideas out of which the French had long constructed +the traditions of their glory. A train of circumstances +which, when treating of the protective spirit, I attempted +to indicate, had secured to the French kings an +authority which, by making all classes subordinate to +the crown, flattered the popular vanity.<a name="FNanchor_798_798" id="FNanchor_798_798"></a><a href="#Footnote_798_798" class="fnanchor">[798]</a> Hence it +was, that in France the feelings of loyalty worked into +the national mind deeper than in any other country of +Europe, Spain alone excepted.<a name="FNanchor_799_799" id="FNanchor_799_799"></a><a href="#Footnote_799_799" class="fnanchor">[799]</a> The difference between +this spirit and that observable in England has +been already noticed, and may be still further illustrated +by the different ways in which the two nations have +dealt with the posthumous reputation of their sovereigns. +With the exception of Alfred, who is sometimes +called the Great,<a name="FNanchor_800_800" id="FNanchor_800_800"></a><a href="#Footnote_800_800" class="fnanchor">[800]</a> we in England have not sufficiently +loved any of our princes to bestow upon them titles +expressive of personal admiration. But the French +have decorated their kings with every variety of panegyric. +Thus, to take only a single name, one king is +Louis the Mild, another is Louis the Saint, another is +Louis the Just, another is Louis the Great, and the +most hopelessly vicious of all was called Louis the +Beloved.</p> + +<p>These are facts which, insignificant as they seem, +form most important materials for real history, since<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +they are unequivocal symptoms of the state of the +country in which they exist.<a name="FNanchor_801_801" id="FNanchor_801_801"></a><a href="#Footnote_801_801" class="fnanchor">[801]</a> Their relation to the +subject before us is obvious. For, by them, and by the +circumstances from which they sprung, an intimate and +hereditary association was engendered in the minds of +Frenchmen, between the glory of their nation and the +personal reputation of their sovereign. The consequence +was, that the political conduct of the rulers of France +was protected against censure by a fence far more impassable +than any that could be erected by the most +stringent laws. It was protected by those prejudices +which each generation bequeathed to its successor. It +was protected by that halo which time had thrown +round the oldest monarchy in Europe.<a name="FNanchor_802_802" id="FNanchor_802_802"></a><a href="#Footnote_802_802" class="fnanchor">[802]</a> And above<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +all, it was protected by that miserable national vanity, +which made men submit to taxation and to slavery, in +order that foreign princes might be dazzled by the +splendour of their sovereign, and foreign countries intimidated +by the greatness of his victories.</p> + +<p>The upshot of all this was, that when, early in the +eighteenth century, the intellect of France began to be +roused into action, the idea of attacking the abuses of the +monarchy never occurred even to the boldest thinker. +But, under the protection of the crown, there had grown +up another institution, about which less delicacy was +felt. The clergy, who for so long a period had been +allowed to oppress the consciences of men, were not +sheltered by those national associations which surrounded +the person of the sovereign; nor had any of +them, with the single exception of Bossuet, done much +to increase the general reputation of France. Indeed, +the French church, though during the reign of Louis +XIV. it possessed immense authority, had always exercised +it in subordination to the crown, at whose +bidding it had not feared to oppose even the pope himself.<a name="FNanchor_803_803" id="FNanchor_803_803"></a><a href="#Footnote_803_803" class="fnanchor">[803]</a> +It was, therefore, natural, that in France the +ecclesiastical power should be attacked before the temporal +power; because, while it was as despotic, it was +less influential, and because it was unprotected by those +popular traditions which form the principal support of +every ancient institution.</p> + +<p>These considerations are sufficient to explain why it +was that, in this respect, the French and English intellects +adopted courses so entirely different. In England, +the minds of men, being less hampered with the prejudices +of an indiscriminate loyalty, have been able at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +each successive step in the great progress to direct their +doubts and inquiries on politics as well as on religion; +and thus establishing their freedom as they diminished +their superstition, they have maintained the balance of +the national intellect, without allowing to either of its +divisions an excessive preponderance. But in France +the admiration for royalty had become so great, that +this balance was disturbed; the inquiries of men not +daring to settle on politics, were fixed on religion, and +gave rise to the singular phenomenon of a rich and +powerful literature, in which unanimous hostility to the +church was unaccompanied by a single voice against the +enormous abuses of the state.</p> + +<p>There was likewise another circumstance which increased +this peculiar tendency. During the reign of +Louis XIV. the personal character of the hierarchy had +done much to secure their dominion. All the leaders +of the church were men of virtue, and many were men +of ability. Their conduct, tyrannical as it was, seems +to have been conscientious; and the evils which it produced +are merely to be ascribed to the gross impolicy of +entrusting ecclesiastics with power. But after the +death of Louis XIV. a great change took place. The +Clergy, from causes which it would be tedious to investigate, +became extremely dissolute, and often very +ignorant. This made their tyranny more oppressive, +because to submit to it was more disgraceful. The +great abilities and unblemished morals of men like +Bossuet, Fénélon, Bourdaloue, Fléchier, and Mascaron, +diminished in some degree the ignominy which is +always connected with blind obedience. But when they +were succeeded by such bishops and cardinals as Dubois, +Lafiteau, Tencin, and others who flourished under the +regency, it became difficult to respect the heads of the +church, tainted as they were with open and notorious +depravity.<a name="FNanchor_804_804" id="FNanchor_804_804"></a><a href="#Footnote_804_804" class="fnanchor">[804]</a> At the same time that there occurred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +this unfavourable change among the ecclesiastical rulers, +there also occurred that immense reaction of which I +have endeavoured to trace the early workings. It was +therefore, at the very moment when the spirit of inquiry +became stronger that the character of the Clergy became +more contemptible.<a name="FNanchor_805_805" id="FNanchor_805_805"></a><a href="#Footnote_805_805" class="fnanchor">[805]</a> The great writers who were now +rising in France, were moved to indignation when they +saw that those who usurped unlimited power over +consciences had themselves no consciences at all. It is +evident, that every argument which they borrowed from +England against ecclesiastical power, would gain additional +force when directed against men whose personal +unfitness was universally acknowledged.<a name="FNanchor_806_806" id="FNanchor_806_806"></a><a href="#Footnote_806_806" class="fnanchor">[806]</a></p> + +<p>Such was the position of the rival parties, when, +almost immediately after the death of Louis XIV., there +began that great struggle between authority and reason, +which is still unfinished, although in the present state +of knowledge its result is no longer doubtful. On the +one side there was a compact and numerous priesthood, +supported by the prescription of centuries and by the +authority of the crown. On the other side there was a +small body of men, without rank, without wealth, and +as yet without reputation, but animated by a love of +liberty, and by a just confidence in their own abilities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +Unfortunately, they at the very outset committed a +serious error. In attacking the clergy, they lost their +respect for religion. In their determination to weaken +ecclesiastical power, they attempted to undermine the +foundations of Christianity. This is deeply to be regretted +for their own sake, as well as for its ultimate +effects in France; but it must not be imputed to them +as a crime, since it was forced on them by the exigencies +of their position. They saw the frightful evils which +their country was suffering from the institution of +priesthood as it then existed; and yet they were told +that the preservation of that institution in its actual +form was essential to the very being of Christianity. +They had always been taught that the interests of the +clergy were identical with the interests of religion; how +then could they avoid including both clergy and religion +in the same hostility? The alternative was cruel; but +it was one from which, in common honesty, they had no +escape. We, judging these things by another standard, +possess a measure which they could not possibly have. +We should not now commit such an error, because we +know that there is no connexion between any one particular +form of priesthood and the interests of Christianity. +We know that the clergy are made for the +people, and not the people for the clergy. We know +that all questions of church government are matters, +not of religion, but of policy, and should be settled, not +according to traditional dogmas, but according to large +views of general expediency. It is because these propositions +are now admitted by all enlightened men, +that in our country the truths of religion are rarely +attacked except by superficial thinkers. If, for instance, +we were to find that the existence of our bishops, with +their privileges and their wealth, is unfavourable to the +progress of society, we should not on that account feel +enmity against Christianity; because we should remember +that episcopacy is its accident, and not its +essential, and that we could do away with the institution +and yet retain the religion. In the same way, if we +should ever find, what was formerly found in France, +that the clergy were tyrannical, this would excite in us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +an opposition, not to Christianity, but merely to the external +form which Christianity assumed. So long as +our clergy confine themselves to the beneficent duties of +their calling, to the alleviation of pain and distress, +either bodily or mental, so long will we respect them +as the ministers of peace and of charity. But if they +should ever again entrench on the rights of the laity,—if +they should ever again interfere with an authoritative +voice in the government of the state,—it will then be +for the people to inquire, whether the time has not come +to effect a revision of the ecclesiastical constitution of +the country. This, therefore, is the manner in which +we now view these things. What we think of the +clergy will depend upon themselves; but will have no +connection with what we think of Christianity. We +look on the clergy as a body of men who, notwithstanding +their disposition to intolerance, and notwithstanding +a certain narrowness incidental to their +profession, do undoubtedly form part of a vast and +noble institution, by which the manners of men have +been softened, their sufferings assuaged, their distresses +relieved. As long as this institution performs its functions, +we are well content to let it stand. If, however, +it should be out of repair, or if it should be found inadequate +to the shifting circumstances of an advancing +society, we retain both the power and the right of +remedying its faults; we may, if need be, remove some +of its parts; but we would not, we dare not, tamper +with those great religious truths which are altogether +independent of it; truths which comfort the mind of +man, raise him above the instincts of the hour, and infuse +into him those lofty aspirations which, revealing to +him his own immortality, are the measure and the +symptom of a future life.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, this was not the way in which these +matters were considered in France. The government +of that country, by investing the clergy with great +immunities, by treating them as if there were something +sacred about their persons, and by punishing as heresy +the attacks which were made on them, had established +in the national mind an indissoluble connexion between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +their interests and the interests of Christianity. The +consequence was, that when the struggle began, the +ministers of religion, and religion itself, were both +assailed with equal zeal. The ridicule, and even the +abuse, heaped on the clergy, will surprise no one who is +acquainted with the provocation that had been received. +And although, in the indiscriminate onslaught which +soon followed, Christianity was, for a time, subjected to +a fate which ought to have been reserved for those who +called themselves her ministers; this, while it moves us +to regret, ought by no means to excite our astonishment. +The destruction of Christianity in France was the necessary +result of those opinions which bound up the destiny +of the national priesthood with the destiny of the +national religion. If both were connected by the same +origin, both should fall in the same ruin. If that which +is the tree of life, were, in reality, so corrupt that it +could only bear poisonous fruits, then it availed little to +lop off the boughs and cut down the branches; but it +were better, by one mighty effort, to root it up from +the ground, and secure the health of society by stopping +the very source of the contagion.</p> + +<p>These are reflections which must make us pause before +we censure the deistical writers of the eighteenth +century. So perverted, however, are the reasonings +to which some minds are accustomed, that those who +judge them most uncharitably are precisely those whose +conduct forms their best excuse. Such are the men +who, by putting forth the most extravagant claims +in favour of the clergy, are seeking to establish the +principle, by the operation of which the clergy were +destroyed. Their scheme for restoring the old system +of ecclesiastical authority depends on the supposition +of its divine origin: a supposition which, if inseparable +from Christianity, will at once justify the infidelity +which they hotly attack. The increase of the +power of the clergy is incompatible with the interests +of civilization. If, therefore, any religion adopts as its +creed the necessity of such an increase, it becomes the +bounden duty of every friend to humanity to do his +utmost, either to destroy the creed, or failing in that,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +to overturn the religion. If pretensions of this sort are +an essential part of Christianity, it behoves us at once +to make our choice; since the only option can be, +between abjuring our faith or sacrificing our liberty. +Fortunately, we are not driven to so hard a strait; and +we know that these claims are as false in theory, as +they would be pernicious in practice. It is, indeed, +certain, that if they were put into execution, the clergy, +though they might enjoy a momentary triumph, would +have consummated their own ruin, by preparing the +way among us for scenes as disastrous as those which +occurred in France.</p> + +<p>The truth is, that what is most blamed in the great +French writers, was the natural consequence of the +development of their age. Never was there a more +striking illustration of the social law already noticed, +that, if government will allow religious scepticism to +run its course, it will issue in great things, and will +hasten the march of civilization; but that, if an attempt +is made to put it down with a strong hand, it may, no +doubt, be repressed for a time, but eventually will rise +with such force as to endanger the foundation of +society. In England, we adopted the first of these +courses; in France, they adopted the second. In +England, men were allowed to exercise their own +judgment on the most sacred subjects; and, as soon as +the diminution of their credulity had made them set +bounds to the power of the clergy, toleration immediately +followed, and the national prosperity has never +been disturbed. In France, the authority of the clergy +was increased by a superstitious king; faith usurped +the place of reason, not a whisper of doubt was allowed +to be heard, and the spirit of inquiry was stifled, until +the country fell to the brink of ruin. If Louis XIV. +had not interfered with the natural progress, France, +like England, would have continued to advance. After +his death, it was, indeed, too late to save the clergy, +against whom all the intellect of the nation was +soon arrayed. But the force of the storm might still +have been broken, if the government of Louis XV. +had conciliated what it was impossible to resist; and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +instead of madly attempting to restrain opinions by laws, +had altered the laws to suit the opinions. If the rulers +of France, instead of exerting themselves to silence the +national literature, had yielded to its suggestions, and +had receded before the pressure of advancing knowledge, +the fatal collision would have been avoided; +because the passions which caused the collision would +have been appeased. In such case, the church would +have fallen somewhat earlier; but the state itself would +have been saved. In such case, France would, in all +probability, have secured her liberties, without increasing +her crimes; and that great country, which, +from her position and resources, ought to be the pattern +of European civilization, might have escaped the ordeal +of those terrible atrocities, through which she was compelled +to pass, and from the effects of which she has +not yet recovered.</p> + +<p>It must, I think, be admitted that, during, at all +events, the first half of the reign of Louis XV., it was +possible, by timely concessions, still to preserve the +political institutions of France. Reforms there must +have been; and reforms too of a large and uncompromising +character. So far, however, as I am able to +understand the real history of that period, I make no +doubt that, if these had been granted in a frank and +ungrudging spirit, everything could have been retained +necessary for the only two objects at which government +ought to aim, namely, the preservation of order, and +the prevention of crime. But, by the middle of the +reign of Louis XV., or, at all events, immediately afterwards, +the state of affairs began to alter; and, in the +course of a few years, the spirit of France became so +democratic, that it was impossible even to delay a +revolution, which, in the preceding generation, might +have been altogether averted. This remarkable change +is connected with that other change already noticed, by +virtue of which, the French intellect began, about the +same period, to direct its hostility against the state, +rather than, as heretofore, against the church. As soon +as this, which may be called the second epoch of the +eighteenth century, had been fairly entered, the movement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +became irresistible. Event after event followed +each other in rapid succession; each one linked to its +antecedent, and the whole forming a tendency impossible +to withstand. It was in vain that the government, +yielding some points of real importance, adopted +measures by which the church was controlled, the +power of the clergy diminished, and even the order of +the jesuits suppressed. It was in vain that the crown +now called to its councils, for the first time, men imbued +with the spirit of reform; men, like Turgot and +Necker, whose wise and liberal proposals would, in +calmer days, have stilled the agitation of the popular +mind. It was in vain that promises were made to +equalize the taxes, to redress some of the most crying +grievances, to repeal some of the most obnoxious laws. +It was even in vain that the states-general were summoned; +and that thus, after the lapse of a hundred +and seventy years, the people were again admitted to +take part in the management of their own affairs. All +these things were in vain; because the time for treaty +had gone by, and the time for battle had come. The +most liberal concessions that could possibly have been +devised would have failed to avert that deadly struggle, +which the course of preceding events made inevitable. +For the measure of that age was now full. The upper +classes, intoxicated by the long possession of power, had +provoked the crisis; and it was needful that they should +abide the issue. There was no time for mercy; there +was no pause, no compassion, no sympathy. The only +question that remained was, to see whether they who +had raised the storm could ride the whirlwind; or, +whether it was not rather likely that they should be the +first victims of that frightful hurricane, in which, for a +moment, laws, religion, morals, all perished, the lowest +vestiges of humanity were effaced, and the civilization +of France not only submerged, but, as it then appeared, +irretrievably ruined.</p> + +<p>To ascertain the successive changes of this, the second +epoch of the eighteenth century, is an undertaking +full of difficulty; not only on account of the rapidity +with which the events occurred, but also on account of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +their extreme complication, and of the way in which +they acted and reacted upon each other. The materials, +however, for such an inquiry are very numerous; and, +as they consist of evidence supplied by all classes and +all interests, it has appeared to me possible to reconstruct +the history of that time, according to the only +manner in which history deserves to be studied; that +is to say, according to the order of its social and intellectual +development. In the seventh chapter of +the present volume, I shall, therefore, attempt to trace +the antecedents of the French Revolution during that +remarkable period, in which the hostility of men, +slackening in regard to the abuses of the church, was, +for the first time, turned against the abuses of the +state. But, before entering into this, which may be +distinguished as the political epoch of the eighteenth +century, it will be necessary, according to the plan +which I have sketched, to examine the changes that occurred +in the method of writing history, and to indicate +the way in which those changes were affected by the +tendencies of the earlier, or, as it may be termed, the +ecclesiastical epoch. In this manner, we shall the more +easily understand the activity of that prodigious movement +which led to the French Revolution; because we +shall see that it not only affected the opinions of men in regard +to what was passing under their eyes, but that it also +biased their speculative views in regard to the events +of preceding ages; and thus gave rise to that new +school of historical literature, the formation of which +is by no means the least of the many benefits which we +owe to the great thinkers of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_518_518" id="Footnote_518_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_518_518"><span class="label">[518]</span></a> ‘L'annonce de la mort du grand roi ne produisit chez le +peuple français qu'une explosion de joie.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des +Français</i>, vol. xxvii. p. 220. ‘Le jour des obsèques +de Louis XIV, on établit des guinguettes sur le chemin de Saint-Denis. +Voltaire, que la curiosité avoit mené aux funérailles du souverain, vit +dans ces guinguettes le peuple ivre de vin et de joie de la mort de +Louis XIV.’ <i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. 29: see also <i>Condorcet</i>, +<i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. 118; <i>De Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XV</i>, vol. +i. p. 18; <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. p. 221; <i>Lemontey</i>, +<i>Etablissement de Louis XIV</i>, pp. 311, 388.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_519_519" id="Footnote_519_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_519_519"><span class="label">[519]</span></a> ‘Kaum hatte er aber die Augen geschlossen, als alles +umschlug. Der reprimirte Geist warf sich in eine zügellose Bewegung.’ +<i>Ranke</i>, <i>die Päpste</i>, vol. iii. p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_520_520" id="Footnote_520_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_520_520"><span class="label">[520]</span></a> The shock which these events gave to the delicacy of the +French mind was very serious. The learned Saumaise declared that the +English are ‘more savage than their own mastiffs.’ <i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, +vol. i. p. 444. Another writer said that we were ‘barbares révoltés;’ +and ‘les barbares sujets du roi.’ <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. ii. pp. +105, 362. Patin likened us to the Turks; and said, that having executed +one king, we should probably hang the next. <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. i. +p. 261, vol. ii. p. 518, vol. iii. p. 148. Compare <i>Mém. de Campion</i>, p. +213. After we had sent away James II., the indignation of the French +rose still higher, and even the amiable Madame Sévigné, having occasion +to mention Mary the wife of William III., could find no better name for +her than Tullia: ‘la joie est universelle de la déroute de ce prince, +dont la femme est une Tullie.’ <i>Lettres de Sévigné</i>, +vol. v. p. 179. Another influential French lady mentions ‘la férocité +des anglais.’ <i>Lettres inédites de Maintenon</i>, vol. i. p. 303; and +elsewhere (p. 109), ‘je hais les anglais comme le peuple…. +Véritablement je ne les puis souffrir.’</p> + +<p>I will only give two more illustrations of the wide diffusion of such +feelings. In 1679, an attempt was made to bring bark into discredit as a +‘remède anglais’ (<i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. v. p. 430): +and at the end of the seventeenth century, one of the arguments in Paris +against coffee was that the English liked it. <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Divers Etats</i>, +vol. vii. p. 216.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_521_521" id="Footnote_521_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_521_521"><span class="label">[521]</span></a> ‘Au temps de Boileau, personne en France n'apprenait +l'anglais.’ <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxxviii. p. 337, and see vol. +xix. p. 159. ‘Parmi nos grands écrivains du xvii<sup>e</sup> siècle, il n'en est +aucun, je crois, ou l'on puisse reconnaître un souvenir, une impression +de l'esprit anglais.’ <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit. au XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. iii. +p. 324. Compare <i>Barante</i>, <i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, p. 47, and <i>Grimm</i>, +<i>Correspond.</i> vol. v. p. 135, vol. xvii. p. 2.</p> + +<p>The French, during the reign of Louis XIV., principally knew us from the +accounts given by two of their countrymen, Monconys and Sorbière; both +of whom published their travels in England, but neither of whom were +acquainted with the English language. For proof of this, see <i>Monconys</i>, +<i>Voyages</i>, vol. iii. pp. 34, 69, 70, 96; and <i>Sorbière</i>, <i>Voyage</i>, pp. +45, 70.</p> + +<p>When Prior arrived at the court of Louis XIV. as plenipotentiary, no one +in Paris was aware that he had written poetry (<i>Lettres sur les +Anglais</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxvi. p. 130); +and when Addison, being in Paris, presented Boileau with +a copy of the <i>Musæ Anglicanæ</i>, the Frenchman learnt for the first time +that we had any good poets: ‘first conceived an opinion of the English +genius for poetry.’ Tickell's statement, in <i>Aikin's Life of Addison</i>, +vol. i. p. 65. Finally, it is said that Milton's <i>Paradise Lost</i> was not +even by report in France until after the death of Louis XIV., though the +poem was published in 1667, and the king died in 1715; ‘Nous n'avions +jamais entendu parler de ce poëme en France, avant que l'auteur de la +Henriade nous en eût donné une idée dans le neuvième chapitre de son +Essai sur la poésie épique.’ <i>Dict. Philos.</i> article <i>Epopée</i>, in +<i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxxix. p. 175; see also vol. lxvi. p. +249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_522_522" id="Footnote_522_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_522_522"><span class="label">[522]</span></a> ‘Le vrai roi du xviii<sup>e</sup> siècle, c'est Voltaire; mais +Voltaire à son tour est un écolier de l'Angleterre. Avant que Voltaire +eût connu l'Angleterre, soit par ses voyages, soit part ses amitiés, il +n'était pas Voltaire, et le xviii<sup>e</sup> siècle se cherchait encore.’ +<i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philos.</i> I<sup>re</sup> série, vol. iii. pp. 38, 39. +Compare <i>Damiron</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philos. en France</i>, Paris, 1828, vol. i. +p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_523_523" id="Footnote_523_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_523_523"><span class="label">[523]</span></a> ‘J'avais été le premier qui eût osé développer à ma nation +les découvertes de Newton, en langage intelligible.’ <i>Œuvres de +Voltaire</i>, vol. i. p. 315; see also vol. xix. p. 87, vol. xxvi. p. 71; +<i>Whewell's Hist. of Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. ii. p. 206; <i>Weld's Hist. of +the Royal Society</i>, vol. i. p. 441. After this, the Cartesian physics +lost ground every day; and in <i>Grimm's Correspondence</i>, vol. ii. p. 148, +there is a letter, dated Paris, 1757, which says, ‘Il n'y a guère plus +ici de partisans de Descartes que M. de Mairan.’ Compare <i>Observations +et Pensées</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. iii. p. 298.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_524_524" id="Footnote_524_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_524_524"><span class="label">[524]</span></a> Which he was never weary of praising; so that, as M. Cousin +says (<i>Hist. de la Philos.</i> II. série, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312), ‘Locke +est le vrai maître de Voltaire.’ Locke was one of the authors he put +into the hands of Madame du Châtelet. <i>Condorcet</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. +296.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_525_525" id="Footnote_525_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_525_525"><span class="label">[525]</span></a> <i>Morell's Hist. of Philos.</i> 1846, vol. i. p. 134; +<i>Hamilton's Discuss.</i> p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_526_526" id="Footnote_526_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_526_526"><span class="label">[526]</span></a> ‘Rousseau tira des ouvrages de Locke une grande partie de +ses idées sur la politique et l'éducation; Condillac toute sa +philosophie.’ <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit. au XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. i. p. 83. See +also, on the obligations of Rousseau to Locke, <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> +vol. v. p. 97; <i>Musset Pathay</i>, <i>Vie de Rousseau</i>, vol. i. p. 38, vol. +ii. p. 394; <i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, vol. i. p. 113; <i>Romilly's Memoirs</i>, +vol. i. pp. 211, 212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_527_527" id="Footnote_527_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_527_527"><span class="label">[527]</span></a> In 1768, Voltaire (<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. lxvi. p. 249) writes +to Horace Walpole, ‘Je suie le premier qui ait fait connaître +Shakespeare aux français.’ See also his <i>Lettres inédites</i>, vol. ii. p. +500; <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit. au XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. iii. p. 325; and +<i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. xii. pp. 124, 125, 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_528_528" id="Footnote_528_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_528_528"><span class="label">[528]</span></a> There are extant many English letters written by Voltaire, +which, though of course containing several errors, also contain abundant +evidence of the spirit with which he seized our idiomatic expressions. +In addition to his <i>Lettres inédites</i>, published at Paris in the present +year (1856), see <i>Chatham Correspond.</i> vol. ii. pp. 131–133; and +<i>Phillimore's Mém. of Lyttelton</i>, vol. i. pp. 323–325, vol. ii. pp. 555, +556, 558.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_529_529" id="Footnote_529_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_529_529"><span class="label">[529]</span></a> <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. i. p. 332; <i>Voltaire</i>, +<i>Lettres inédites</i>, vol. ii. p. 258; and the account of Hudibras, with +translations from it, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xxvi. pp. 132–137; also a +conversation between Voltaire and Townley, in <i>Nichols's Illustrations +of the Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. iii. p. 722.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_530_530" id="Footnote_530_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_530_530"><span class="label">[530]</span></a> Compare <i>Mackintosh's Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 341, with <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, +vol. xxxix. p. 259, vol. xlvii. p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_531_531" id="Footnote_531_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_531_531"><span class="label">[531]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxxviii. pp. 216–218, vol. +xlvi. p. 282, vol. xlvii. p. 439, vol. lvii. p. 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_532_532" id="Footnote_532_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_532_532"><span class="label">[532]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xxxvii. p. 353, vol. lvii. p. 66; +<i>Correspond. inédite de Dudeffand</i>, vol. ii. p. 230.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_533_533" id="Footnote_533_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_533_533"><span class="label">[533]</span></a> <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xxxiv. p. 294, vol. lvii. p. 121.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_534_534" id="Footnote_534_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_534_534"><span class="label">[534]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xxxvii. pp. 407, 441.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_535_535" id="Footnote_535_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_535_535"><span class="label">[535]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xxxvi. p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_536_536" id="Footnote_536_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_536_536"><span class="label">[536]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xxxiv. p. 288, vol. xli. pp. 212–217; <i>Biog. +Univ.</i> vol. li. pp. 199, 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_537_537" id="Footnote_537_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_537_537"><span class="label">[537]</span></a> <i>Lerminier</i>, <i>Philos. du Droit</i>, vol. i. p. 221; +<i>Klimrath</i>, <i>Hist. du Droit</i>, vol. ii. p. 502; <i>Harris's Life of +Hardwicke</i>, vol. ii. p. 398, vol. iii. pp. 432–434; <i>Mém. de Diderot</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 193, 194; <i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_538_538" id="Footnote_538_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_538_538"><span class="label">[538]</span></a> <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit. au XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 182; +<i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. vi. p. 235; <i>Le Blanc</i>, <i>Lettres</i>, vol. i. p. 93, +vol. ii. pp. 159, 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_539_539" id="Footnote_539_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_539_539"><span class="label">[539]</span></a> ‘Admirateur passionné du romancier anglais.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> +vol. xxxvii. p. 581. Compare <i>Diderot</i>, <i>Corresp.</i> vol. i. p. 352; vol. +ii. pp. 44, 52, 53; <i>Mercier sur Rousseau</i>, vol. i. p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_540_540" id="Footnote_540_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_540_540"><span class="label">[540]</span></a> <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit.</i> vol. ii. p. 115; <i>Schlosser's +Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. i. pp. 34, 42; <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der +Philos.</i> vol. xi. p. 314; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xi. p. 314; <i>Grimm</i>, +<i>Correspond.</i> vol. xv. p. 81. Stanyan's <i>History of Greece</i> was once +famous, and even so late as 1804, I find Dr. Parr recommending it. +Parr's <i>Works</i>, vol. viii. p. 422. Diderot told Sir Samuel Romilly that +he had collected materials for a history of the trial of Charles I. +<i>Life of Romilly</i>, vol. i. p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_541_541" id="Footnote_541_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_541_541"><span class="label">[541]</span></a> <i>Diderot</i>, <i>Mém.</i> vol. ii. p. 286; <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Philos.</i> II<sup>e</sup> série, vol. ii. p. 331; <i>Helvétius de l'Esprit</i>, vol. i. +pp. 31, 38, 46, 65, 114, 169, 193, 266, 268, vol. ii. pp. 144, 163, 165, +195, 212; <i>Letters addressed to Hume</i>, Edinb. 1849, pp. 9, 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_542_542" id="Footnote_542_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_542_542"><span class="label">[542]</span></a> This is the arrangement of our knowledge under the heads +of Memory, Reason, and Imagination, which D'Alembert took from Bacon. +Compare <i>Whewell's Philos. of the Sciences</i>, vol. ii. p. 306; <i>Cuvier</i>, +<i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part ii. p. 276; <i>Georgel</i>, <i>Mém.</i> vol. ii. p. +241; <i>Bordas Demoulin</i>, <i>Cartésianisme</i>, vol. i. p. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_543_543" id="Footnote_543_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_543_543"><span class="label">[543]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, <i>France Lit.</i> ix. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_544_544" id="Footnote_544_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_544_544"><span class="label">[544]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, i. 236, 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_545_545" id="Footnote_545_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_545_545"><span class="label">[545]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, lxv. 161, 190, 212; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> +x. 158, 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_546_546" id="Footnote_546_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_546_546"><span class="label">[546]</span></a> <i>Burton's Life of Hume</i>, vol. i. pp. 365, 366, 406.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_547_547" id="Footnote_547_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_547_547"><span class="label">[547]</span></a> See the list, in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xx. pp. 463–466; and +compare <i>Mém. de Diderot</i>, vol. iii. p. 49, from which it seems that +Holbach was indebted to Toland, though Diderot speaks rather doubtingly. +In <i>Almon's Mem. of Wilkes</i> 1805, vol. iv. +pp. 176, 177, there is an English letter, tolerably well written, from +Holbach to Wilkes.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_548_548" id="Footnote_548_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_548_548"><span class="label">[548]</span></a> <i>Musset Pathay</i>, <i>Vie de Rousseau</i>, ii. 10, 175; +<i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, liv. 207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_549_549" id="Footnote_549_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_549_549"><span class="label">[549]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> x. 556.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_550_550" id="Footnote_550_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_550_550"><span class="label">[550]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xii. 418.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_551_551" id="Footnote_551_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_551_551"><span class="label">[551]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, <i>France Lit.</i> iv. 34, 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_552_552" id="Footnote_552_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_552_552"><span class="label">[552]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 361.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_553_553" id="Footnote_553_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_553_553"><span class="label">[553]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxiii. 226.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_554_554" id="Footnote_554_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_554_554"><span class="label">[554]</span></a> <i>Montucla</i>, <i>Hist. des Mathém.</i> ii. 170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_555_555" id="Footnote_555_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_555_555"><span class="label">[555]</span></a> <i>Montucla</i>, ii. 120, iv. 662, 665, 670.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_556_556" id="Footnote_556_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_556_556"><span class="label">[556]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> iii. 253, xxxiii. 564.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_557_557" id="Footnote_557_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_557_557"><span class="label">[557]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, <i>France Lit.</i> vii. 353.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_558_558" id="Footnote_558_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_558_558"><span class="label">[558]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxxviii. 530.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_559_559" id="Footnote_559_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_559_559"><span class="label">[559]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxxviii. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_560_560" id="Footnote_560_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_560_560"><span class="label">[560]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> iii. 450.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_561_561" id="Footnote_561_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_561_561"><span class="label">[561]</span></a> <i>Bichat sur la Vie</i>, 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_562_562" id="Footnote_562_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_562_562"><span class="label">[562]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, i. 416.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_563_563" id="Footnote_563_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_563_563"><span class="label">[563]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> iii. 345.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_564_564" id="Footnote_564_564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_564_564"><span class="label">[564]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, i. 260, 425, ii. 354.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_565_565" id="Footnote_565_565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_565_565"><span class="label">[565]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> i. 476.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_566_566" id="Footnote_566_566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_566_566"><span class="label">[566]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> iv. 55, 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_567_567" id="Footnote_567_567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_567_567"><span class="label">[567]</span></a> <i>Notice sur Cabanis</i>, p. viii. in his <i>Physique et +Moral.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_568_568" id="Footnote_568_568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_568_568"><span class="label">[568]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xi. 65, 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_569_569" id="Footnote_569_569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_569_569"><span class="label">[569]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xii. 276.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_570_570" id="Footnote_570_570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_570_570"><span class="label">[570]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xv. 359.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_571_571" id="Footnote_571_571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_571_571"><span class="label">[571]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xviii. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_572_572" id="Footnote_572_572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_572_572"><span class="label">[572]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, iv. 641, vi. 9, 398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_573_573" id="Footnote_573_573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_573_573"><span class="label">[573]</span></a> <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Eloges</i>, i. 354.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_574_574" id="Footnote_574_574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_574_574"><span class="label">[574]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, vii. 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_575_575" id="Footnote_575_575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_575_575"><span class="label">[575]</span></a> <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Eloges</i>, iii. 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_576_576" id="Footnote_576_576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_576_576"><span class="label">[576]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxxix. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_577_577" id="Footnote_577_577"></a><a href="#FNanchor_577_577"><span class="label">[577]</span></a> <i>Le Blanc</i>, <i>Lettres</i>, i. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_578_578" id="Footnote_578_578"></a><a href="#FNanchor_578_578"><span class="label">[578]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, ix. 286.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_579_579" id="Footnote_579_579"></a><a href="#FNanchor_579_579"><span class="label">[579]</span></a> <i>Robin et Verdeil</i>, <i>Chim. Anat.</i> ii. 416.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_580_580" id="Footnote_580_580"></a><a href="#FNanchor_580_580"><span class="label">[580]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> v. 530, 531.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_581_581" id="Footnote_581_581"></a><a href="#FNanchor_581_581"><span class="label">[581]</span></a> <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Eloges</i>, i. 196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_582_582" id="Footnote_582_582"></a><a href="#FNanchor_582_582"><span class="label">[582]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vi. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_583_583" id="Footnote_583_583"></a><a href="#FNanchor_583_583"><span class="label">[583]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, ii. 372.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_584_584" id="Footnote_584_584"></a><a href="#FNanchor_584_584"><span class="label">[584]</span></a> <i>Haüy</i>, <i>Minéralogie</i>, ii. 247, 267, 295, 327, 529, 609, +iii. 75, 293, 307, 447, 575, iv. 45, 280, 292, 362.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_585_585" id="Footnote_585_585"></a><a href="#FNanchor_585_585"><span class="label">[585]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, iv. 598.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_586_586" id="Footnote_586_586"></a><a href="#FNanchor_586_586"><span class="label">[586]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> viii. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_587_587" id="Footnote_587_587"></a><a href="#FNanchor_587_587"><span class="label">[587]</span></a> <i>Swainson</i>, <i>Disc. on Nat. Hist.</i> 52; <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Règne +Animal</i>, iii. 415.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_588_588" id="Footnote_588_588"></a><a href="#FNanchor_588_588"><span class="label">[588]</span></a> <i>De Lisle</i>, <i>Cristallographie</i>, 1772, xviii. xx. xxiii. +xxv. xxvii. 78, 206, 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_589_589" id="Footnote_589_589"></a><a href="#FNanchor_589_589"><span class="label">[589]</span></a> <i>Albemarle's Rockingham</i>, ii. 156; <i>Campbell's +Chancellors</i>, v. 365.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_590_590" id="Footnote_590_590"></a><a href="#FNanchor_590_590"><span class="label">[590]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vi. 386.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_591_591" id="Footnote_591_591"></a><a href="#FNanchor_591_591"><span class="label">[591]</span></a> <i>Letters to Hume</i>, Edin. 1849, 276, 278.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_592_592" id="Footnote_592_592"></a><a href="#FNanchor_592_592"><span class="label">[592]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xv. 332.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_593_593" id="Footnote_593_593"></a><a href="#FNanchor_593_593"><span class="label">[593]</span></a> <i>Brewster's Life of Newton</i>, ii. 302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_594_594" id="Footnote_594_594"></a><a href="#FNanchor_594_594"><span class="label">[594]</span></a> <i>Palissot</i>, <i>Mém.</i> ii. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_595_595" id="Footnote_595_595"></a><a href="#FNanchor_595_595"><span class="label">[595]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> ix. 549.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_596_596" id="Footnote_596_596"></a><a href="#FNanchor_596_596"><span class="label">[596]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxix. 51, 53.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_597_597" id="Footnote_597_597"></a><a href="#FNanchor_597_597"><span class="label">[597]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xliv. 534.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_598_598" id="Footnote_598_598"></a><a href="#FNanchor_598_598"><span class="label">[598]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xlviii. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_599_599" id="Footnote_599_599"></a><a href="#FNanchor_599_599"><span class="label">[599]</span></a> <i>Volney</i>, <i>Syrie et Egypte</i>, ii. 100, 157; <i>Quérard</i>, x. +271, 273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_600_600" id="Footnote_600_600"></a><a href="#FNanchor_600_600"><span class="label">[600]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> i. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_601_601" id="Footnote_601_601"></a><a href="#FNanchor_601_601"><span class="label">[601]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> viii. 340, 341.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_602_602" id="Footnote_602_602"></a><a href="#FNanchor_602_602"><span class="label">[602]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, i. 276.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_603_603" id="Footnote_603_603"></a><a href="#FNanchor_603_603"><span class="label">[603]</span></a> <i>Palissot</i>, <i>Mém.</i> i. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_604_604" id="Footnote_604_604"></a><a href="#FNanchor_604_604"><span class="label">[604]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xi. 281, xi. 172, 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_605_605" id="Footnote_605_605"></a><a href="#FNanchor_605_605"><span class="label">[605]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, ii. 626, 627.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_606_606" id="Footnote_606_606"></a><a href="#FNanchor_606_606"><span class="label">[606]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> iii. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_607_607" id="Footnote_607_607"></a><a href="#FNanchor_607_607"><span class="label">[607]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, iv. 342.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_608_608" id="Footnote_608_608"></a><a href="#FNanchor_608_608"><span class="label">[608]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> v. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_609_609" id="Footnote_609_609"></a><a href="#FNanchor_609_609"><span class="label">[609]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vi. 62.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_610_610" id="Footnote_610_610"></a><a href="#FNanchor_610_610"><span class="label">[610]</span></a> <i>Garrick Correspond.</i> 4to, 1832, ii. 385, 395, 416.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_611_611" id="Footnote_611_611"></a><a href="#FNanchor_611_611"><span class="label">[611]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxxv. 314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_612_612" id="Footnote_612_612"></a><a href="#FNanchor_612_612"><span class="label">[612]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, vii. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_613_613" id="Footnote_613_613"></a><a href="#FNanchor_613_613"><span class="label">[613]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxxix. 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_614_614" id="Footnote_614_614"></a><a href="#FNanchor_614_614"><span class="label">[614]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxxix. 530.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_615_615" id="Footnote_615_615"></a><a href="#FNanchor_615_615"><span class="label">[615]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, i. 209.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_616_616" id="Footnote_616_616"></a><a href="#FNanchor_616_616"><span class="label">[616]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> iii. 533.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_617_617" id="Footnote_617_617"></a><a href="#FNanchor_617_617"><span class="label">[617]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> iii. 631.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_618_618" id="Footnote_618_618"></a><a href="#FNanchor_618_618"><span class="label">[618]</span></a> <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Règne Animal</i>, iii. 334.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_619_619" id="Footnote_619_619"></a><a href="#FNanchor_619_619"><span class="label">[619]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, i. 284, vii. 287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_620_620" id="Footnote_620_620"></a><a href="#FNanchor_620_620"><span class="label">[620]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, i. 237.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_621_621" id="Footnote_621_621"></a><a href="#FNanchor_621_621"><span class="label">[621]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> v. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_622_622" id="Footnote_622_622"></a><a href="#FNanchor_622_622"><span class="label">[622]</span></a> <i>Dutens</i>, <i>Mém.</i> iii. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_623_623" id="Footnote_623_623"></a><a href="#FNanchor_623_623"><span class="label">[623]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vi. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_624_624" id="Footnote_624_624"></a><a href="#FNanchor_624_624"><span class="label">[624]</span></a> <i>Murray's Life of Bruce</i>, 121; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vi. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_625_625" id="Footnote_625_625"></a><a href="#FNanchor_625_625"><span class="label">[625]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> viii. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_626_626" id="Footnote_626_626"></a><a href="#FNanchor_626_626"><span class="label">[626]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> viii. 246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_627_627" id="Footnote_627_627"></a><a href="#FNanchor_627_627"><span class="label">[627]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> viii. 266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_628_628" id="Footnote_628_628"></a><a href="#FNanchor_628_628"><span class="label">[628]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> ix. 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_629_629" id="Footnote_629_629"></a><a href="#FNanchor_629_629"><span class="label">[629]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xlv. 394.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_630_630" id="Footnote_630_630"></a><a href="#FNanchor_630_630"><span class="label">[630]</span></a> <i>Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, iii. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_631_631" id="Footnote_631_631"></a><a href="#FNanchor_631_631"><span class="label">[631]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Voltaire.</i> lvi. 527.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_632_632" id="Footnote_632_632"></a><a href="#FNanchor_632_632"><span class="label">[632]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xi. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_633_633" id="Footnote_633_633"></a><a href="#FNanchor_633_633"><span class="label">[633]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, ii. 598.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_634_634" id="Footnote_634_634"></a><a href="#FNanchor_634_634"><span class="label">[634]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xii. 313, 314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_635_635" id="Footnote_635_635"></a><a href="#FNanchor_635_635"><span class="label">[635]</span></a> <i>Nichols's Lit. Anec.</i> ii. 154; <i>Palissot</i>, <i>Mém.</i> ii. +311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_636_636" id="Footnote_636_636"></a><a href="#FNanchor_636_636"><span class="label">[636]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> iv. 547, xii. 595.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_637_637" id="Footnote_637_637"></a><a href="#FNanchor_637_637"><span class="label">[637]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xiii. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_638_638" id="Footnote_638_638"></a><a href="#FNanchor_638_638"><span class="label">[638]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, iii. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_639_639" id="Footnote_639_639"></a><a href="#FNanchor_639_639"><span class="label">[639]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xv. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_640_640" id="Footnote_640_640"></a><a href="#FNanchor_640_640"><span class="label">[640]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xv. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_641_641" id="Footnote_641_641"></a><a href="#FNanchor_641_641"><span class="label">[641]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_642_642" id="Footnote_642_642"></a><a href="#FNanchor_642_642"><span class="label">[642]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, i. 525.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_643_643" id="Footnote_643_643"></a><a href="#FNanchor_643_643"><span class="label">[643]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xvi. 48.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_644_644" id="Footnote_644_644"></a><a href="#FNanchor_644_644"><span class="label">[644]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> li. 508.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_645_645" id="Footnote_645_645"></a><a href="#FNanchor_645_645"><span class="label">[645]</span></a> <i>Smith's Tour on the Continent in 1786</i>, i. 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_646_646" id="Footnote_646_646"></a><a href="#FNanchor_646_646"><span class="label">[646]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xvi. 388.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_647_647" id="Footnote_647_647"></a><a href="#FNanchor_647_647"><span class="label">[647]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xvi. 502.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_648_648" id="Footnote_648_648"></a><a href="#FNanchor_648_648"><span class="label">[648]</span></a> <i>Sinclair's Correspond.</i> i. 157.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_649_649" id="Footnote_649_649"></a><a href="#FNanchor_649_649"><span class="label">[649]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, iii. 418.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_650_650" id="Footnote_650_650"></a><a href="#FNanchor_650_650"><span class="label">[650]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xix. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_651_651" id="Footnote_651_651"></a><a href="#FNanchor_651_651"><span class="label">[651]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, i. 10, iii. 536.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_652_652" id="Footnote_652_652"></a><a href="#FNanchor_652_652"><span class="label">[652]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> iii. 469.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_653_653" id="Footnote_653_653"></a><a href="#FNanchor_653_653"><span class="label">[653]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxi. 419.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_654_654" id="Footnote_654_654"></a><a href="#FNanchor_654_654"><span class="label">[654]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxi. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_655_655" id="Footnote_655_655"></a><a href="#FNanchor_655_655"><span class="label">[655]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, xxxviii. 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_656_656" id="Footnote_656_656"></a><a href="#FNanchor_656_656"><span class="label">[656]</span></a> <i>Palissot</i>, <i>Mém.</i> i. 425.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_657_657" id="Footnote_657_657"></a><a href="#FNanchor_657_657"><span class="label">[657]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxiii. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_658_658" id="Footnote_658_658"></a><a href="#FNanchor_658_658"><span class="label">[658]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxiii. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_659_659" id="Footnote_659_659"></a><a href="#FNanchor_659_659"><span class="label">[659]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxiii. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_660_660" id="Footnote_660_660"></a><a href="#FNanchor_660_660"><span class="label">[660]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, iv. 503.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_661_661" id="Footnote_661_661"></a><a href="#FNanchor_661_661"><span class="label">[661]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxiii. 373.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_662_662" id="Footnote_662_662"></a><a href="#FNanchor_662_662"><span class="label">[662]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, iv. 579.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_663_663" id="Footnote_663_663"></a><a href="#FNanchor_663_663"><span class="label">[663]</span></a> <i>Sinclair's Correspond.</i> ii. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_664_664" id="Footnote_664_664"></a><a href="#FNanchor_664_664"><span class="label">[664]</span></a> <i>Mem. and Correspond. of Sir. J. E. Smith</i>, i. 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_665_665" id="Footnote_665_665"></a><a href="#FNanchor_665_665"><span class="label">[665]</span></a> <i>Biog. des Hommes Vivants</i>, iv. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_666_666" id="Footnote_666_666"></a><a href="#FNanchor_666_666"><span class="label">[666]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, v. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_667_667" id="Footnote_667_667"></a><a href="#FNanchor_667_667"><span class="label">[667]</span></a> <i>Nichols's Lit. Anec.</i> iv. 583; <i>Longchamp et Wagnière</i>, +<i>Mém.</i> i. 395.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_668_668" id="Footnote_668_668"></a><a href="#FNanchor_668_668"><span class="label">[668]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, v. 316.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_669_669" id="Footnote_669_669"></a><a href="#FNanchor_669_669"><span class="label">[669]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxv. 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_670_670" id="Footnote_670_670"></a><a href="#FNanchor_670_670"><span class="label">[670]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxv. 432.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_671_671" id="Footnote_671_671"></a><a href="#FNanchor_671_671"><span class="label">[671]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxvi. 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_672_672" id="Footnote_672_672"></a><a href="#FNanchor_672_672"><span class="label">[672]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxvi. 468.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_673_673" id="Footnote_673_673"></a><a href="#FNanchor_673_673"><span class="label">[673]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxvii. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_674_674" id="Footnote_674_674"></a><a href="#FNanchor_674_674"><span class="label">[674]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxix. 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_675_675" id="Footnote_675_675"></a><a href="#FNanchor_675_675"><span class="label">[675]</span></a> <i>Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, i. 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_676_676" id="Footnote_676_676"></a><a href="#FNanchor_676_676"><span class="label">[676]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, vi. 330.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_677_677" id="Footnote_677_677"></a><a href="#FNanchor_677_677"><span class="label">[677]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxx. 539.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_678_678" id="Footnote_678_678"></a><a href="#FNanchor_678_678"><span class="label">[678]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxxiii. 553.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_679_679" id="Footnote_679_679"></a><a href="#FNanchor_679_679"><span class="label">[679]</span></a> <i>Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, i. 22, iii. 307, iv. +207.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_680_680" id="Footnote_680_680"></a><a href="#FNanchor_680_680"><span class="label">[680]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxxvi. 305, 306.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_681_681" id="Footnote_681_681"></a><a href="#FNanchor_681_681"><span class="label">[681]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxxviii. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_682_682" id="Footnote_682_682"></a><a href="#FNanchor_682_682"><span class="label">[682]</span></a> <i>Peignot</i>, <i>Dict. des Livres</i>, ii. 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_683_683" id="Footnote_683_683"></a><a href="#FNanchor_683_683"><span class="label">[683]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, viii. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_684_684" id="Footnote_684_684"></a><a href="#FNanchor_684_684"><span class="label">[684]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xxxix. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_685_685" id="Footnote_685_685"></a><a href="#FNanchor_685_685"><span class="label">[685]</span></a> <i>Biog. des Hommes Vivants</i>, v. 294.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_686_686" id="Footnote_686_686"></a><a href="#FNanchor_686_686"><span class="label">[686]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, viii. 474.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_687_687" id="Footnote_687_687"></a><a href="#FNanchor_687_687"><span class="label">[687]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xli. 426.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_688_688" id="Footnote_688_688"></a><a href="#FNanchor_688_688"><span class="label">[688]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xlii. 45, 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_689_689" id="Footnote_689_689"></a><a href="#FNanchor_689_689"><span class="label">[689]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xlii. 389.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_690_690" id="Footnote_690_690"></a><a href="#FNanchor_690_690"><span class="label">[690]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xliii. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_691_691" id="Footnote_691_691"></a><a href="#FNanchor_691_691"><span class="label">[691]</span></a> <i>Garrick Correspond.</i> ii. 604; <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vi. +205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_692_692" id="Footnote_692_692"></a><a href="#FNanchor_692_692"><span class="label">[692]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xliv. 512.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_693_693" id="Footnote_693_693"></a><a href="#FNanchor_693_693"><span class="label">[693]</span></a> <i>Life of Roscoe</i>, <i>by his Son</i>, i. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_694_694" id="Footnote_694_694"></a><a href="#FNanchor_694_694"><span class="label">[694]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xlvi. 398, 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_695_695" id="Footnote_695_695"></a><a href="#FNanchor_695_695"><span class="label">[695]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xlvi. 497.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_696_696" id="Footnote_696_696"></a><a href="#FNanchor_696_696"><span class="label">[696]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, iv. 45, ix. 558.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_697_697" id="Footnote_697_697"></a><a href="#FNanchor_697_697"><span class="label">[697]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xlvii. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_698_698" id="Footnote_698_698"></a><a href="#FNanchor_698_698"><span class="label">[698]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xlvii. 232.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_699_699" id="Footnote_699_699"></a><a href="#FNanchor_699_699"><span class="label">[699]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Brissot</i>, i. 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_700_700" id="Footnote_700_700"></a><a href="#FNanchor_700_700"><span class="label">[700]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xlviii. 217, 218.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_701_701" id="Footnote_701_701"></a><a href="#FNanchor_701_701"><span class="label">[701]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xlix. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_702_702" id="Footnote_702_702"></a><a href="#FNanchor_702_702"><span class="label">[702]</span></a> ‘Nous avons mis depuis peu leur langue au rang des +langues savantes; les femmes même l'apprennent, et ont renoncé à +l'italien pour étudier celle de ce peuple philosophe. Il n'est point +dans la province d'Armande et de Belise qui ne veuille savoir +l'anglois.’ <i>Le Blanc</i>, <i>Lettres</i>, vol. ii. p. 465. Compare <i>Grimm</i>, +<i>Corresp.</i> vol. xiv. p. 484; and <i>Nichols's Lit. Anec.</i> vol. iii. pp. +460, 461.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_703_703" id="Footnote_703_703"></a><a href="#FNanchor_703_703"><span class="label">[703]</span></a> <i>Williams's Letters from France</i>, vol. iii. p. 68, 2nd +edit. 1796; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. vii. p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_704_704" id="Footnote_704_704"></a><a href="#FNanchor_704_704"><span class="label">[704]</span></a> <i>Adolphus's Biog. Mem.</i> 1799, vol. i. p. 352.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_705_705" id="Footnote_705_705"></a><a href="#FNanchor_705_705"><span class="label">[705]</span></a> <i>Lady Morgan's France</i>, vol. ii. p. 304; <i>Mém. de +Lafayette</i>, vol. i. pp. 41, 49, 70, vol. ii. pp. 26, 74, 83, 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_706_706" id="Footnote_706_706"></a><a href="#FNanchor_706_706"><span class="label">[706]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, <i>France Littéraire</i>, vol. iv. p. 540.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_707_707" id="Footnote_707_707"></a><a href="#FNanchor_707_707"><span class="label">[707]</span></a> The last authors he read, shortly before his execution, +were Young and Hervey. <i>Lamartine</i>, <i>Hist. des Girondins</i>, vol. viii. p. +45. In 1769 Madame Riccoboni writes from Paris, that Young's <i>Night +Thoughts</i> had become very popular there; and she justly adds, ‘c'est une +preuve sans réplique du changement de l'esprit français.’ <i>Garrick +Correspondence</i>, vol. ii. p. 566, 4to. 1832.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_708_708" id="Footnote_708_708"></a><a href="#FNanchor_708_708"><span class="label">[708]</span></a> <i>Lamartine</i>, <i>Hist. des Girondins</i>, vol. iv. p. 119; +<i>Mém. de Brissot</i>, vol. i. pp. 336, 337, vol. ii. p. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_709_709" id="Footnote_709_709"></a><a href="#FNanchor_709_709"><span class="label">[709]</span></a> ‘Une des supériorités secondaires, une des supériorités +d'étude qui appartenaient à Mirabeau, c'était la profonde connaissance, +la vive intelligence de la constitution anglaise, de ses ressorts +publics et de ses ressorts cachés.’ <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit. au XVIII<sup>e</sup> +Siècle</i>, vol. iv. p. 153.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_710_710" id="Footnote_710_710"></a><a href="#FNanchor_710_710"><span class="label">[710]</span></a> Particularly the democratic passages, ‘un corps de +doctrine de tous ses écrits républicains.’ <i>Dumont</i>, <i>Souvenirs sur +Mirabeau</i>, p. 119. As to his translation of Watson, see <i>Alison's +Europe</i>, vol. i. p. 452. He also intended to translate Sinclair's +History of the Revenue. <i>Correspond. of Sir J. Sinclair</i>, vol. ii. p. +119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_711_711" id="Footnote_711_711"></a><a href="#FNanchor_711_711"><span class="label">[711]</span></a> <i>Prior's Life of Burke</i>, p. 546, 3rd edit. 1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_712_712" id="Footnote_712_712"></a><a href="#FNanchor_712_712"><span class="label">[712]</span></a> ‘Il étudiait leur langue, la théorie et plus encore la +pratique de leurs institutions.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxx. p. 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_713_713" id="Footnote_713_713"></a><a href="#FNanchor_713_713"><span class="label">[713]</span></a> <i>Continuation de Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. +xxx. p. 434. Montlosier (<i>Monarchie Française</i>, vol. ii. p. 340) says +that this idea was borrowed from England; but he does not mention who +suggested it.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_714_714" id="Footnote_714_714"></a><a href="#FNanchor_714_714"><span class="label">[714]</span></a> <i>Du Mesnil</i>, <i>Mém. sur Le Brun</i>, pp. 10, 14, 29, 82, 180, +182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_715_715" id="Footnote_715_715"></a><a href="#FNanchor_715_715"><span class="label">[715]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Brissot</i>, vol. i. pp. 63, 64, vol. ii. pp. 25, +40, 188, 206, 260, 313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_716_716" id="Footnote_716_716"></a><a href="#FNanchor_716_716"><span class="label">[716]</span></a> Dupont de Nemours (<i>Mém. sur Turgot</i>, p. 117) says of +criminal jurisprudence, ‘M. de Condorcet proposait en modèle celle des +Anglais.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_717_717" id="Footnote_717_717"></a><a href="#FNanchor_717_717"><span class="label">[717]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Roland</i>, vol. i. pp. 27, 55, 89, 136, vol. ii. +pp. 99, 135, 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_718_718" id="Footnote_718_718"></a><a href="#FNanchor_718_718"><span class="label">[718]</span></a> ‘Le duc d'Orléans puisa ainsi le goût de la liberté dans +la vie de Londres. Il en rapporta en France les habitudes d'insolence +contre la cour, l'appétit des agitations populaires, le mépris pour son +propre rang, la familiarité avec la foule,’ &c. <i>Lamartine</i>, <i>Hist. des +Girondins</i>, vol. ii. p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_719_719" id="Footnote_719_719"></a><a href="#FNanchor_719_719"><span class="label">[719]</span></a> M. Lerminier (<i>Philos. du Droit</i>, vol. i. p. 19) says of +England, ‘cette île célèbre donne à l'Europe l'enseignement de la +liberté politique; elle en fut l'école au dix–huitième siècle pour tout +ce que l'Europe eut de penseurs.’ See also <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis +XVI</i>, vol. iii. p. 161; <i>Mém. de Marmontel</i>, vol. iv. pp. 38, 39; +<i>Stäudlin</i>, <i>Gesch. der theolog. Wissenschaften</i>, vol. ii. p. +291.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_720_720" id="Footnote_720_720"></a><a href="#FNanchor_720_720"><span class="label">[720]</span></a> Hume, who was acquainted with several eminent Frenchmen +who visited England, says (<i>Philosophical Works</i>, vol. iii. p. 8), +‘nothing is more apt to surprise a foreigner than the extreme liberty +which we enjoy in this country, of communicating whatever we please to +the public, and of openly censuring every measure entered into by the +king or his ministers.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_721_721" id="Footnote_721_721"></a><a href="#FNanchor_721_721"><span class="label">[721]</span></a> ‘La nation anglaise est la seule de la terre qui soit +parvenue à régler le pouvoir des rois en leur résistant.’ <i>Lettre VIII +sur les Anglais</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxvi. p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_722_722" id="Footnote_722_722"></a><a href="#FNanchor_722_722"><span class="label">[722]</span></a> ‘Que j'aime la hardiesse anglaise! que j'aime les gens +qui disent ce qu'ils pensent!’ <i>Letter from Voltaire</i>, in <i>Correspond. +de Dudeffand</i>, vol. ii. p. 263. For other instances of his admiration of +England, see <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xl. pp. 105–109; vol. li. pp. +137, 390; vol. liv. pp. 298, 392; vol. lvi. pp. 162, 163, 195, 196, 270; +vol. lvii. p. 500; vol. lviii. pp. 128, 267; vol. lix. pp. 265, 361; +vol. lx. p. 501; vol. lxi. pp. 43, 73, 129, 140, 474, 475; vol. lxii. +pp. 343, 379, 392; vol. lxiii. pp. 128, 146, 190, 196, 226, 237, 415; +vol. lxiv. pp. 36, 96, 269; vol. lxvi. pp. 93, 159; vol. lxvii. pp. 353, +484.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_723_723" id="Footnote_723_723"></a><a href="#FNanchor_723_723"><span class="label">[723]</span></a> ‘Ils veulent un roi, aux conditions, pour ainsi dire, de +ne lui point obéir.’ <i>Le Blanc</i>, <i>Lettres d'un François</i>, vol. i. p. +210.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_724_724" id="Footnote_724_724"></a><a href="#FNanchor_724_724"><span class="label">[724]</span></a> ‘Il y a aussi une nation dans le monde qui a pour objet +direct de sa constitution la liberté politique.’ <i>Esprit des Lois</i>, +livre xi. chap. v. in <i>Œuvres de Montesquieu</i>, p. 264. Conversely De +Staël (<i>Consid. sur la Rév.</i> vol. iii. p. 261), ‘la liberté politique +est le moyen suprême.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_725_725" id="Footnote_725_725"></a><a href="#FNanchor_725_725"><span class="label">[725]</span></a> ‘L'Angleterre est à présent le plus libre pays qui soit +au monde, je n'en excepte aucune république.’ <i>Notes sur l'Angleterre</i>, +in <i>Œuvres de Montesquieu</i>, p. 632.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_726_726" id="Footnote_726_726"></a><a href="#FNanchor_726_726"><span class="label">[726]</span></a> ‘Une nation où la république se cache sous la forme de la +monarchie.’ <i>Esprit des Lois</i>, livre v. chap. xix. in <i>Œuvres de +Montesquieu</i>, page 225; also quoted in <i>Bancroft's American Revolution</i>, +vol. ii. p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_727_727" id="Footnote_727_727"></a><a href="#FNanchor_727_727"><span class="label">[727]</span></a> <i>Grosley's Tour to London</i>, vol. i. pp. 16, 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_728_728" id="Footnote_728_728"></a><a href="#FNanchor_728_728"><span class="label">[728]</span></a> <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observ. sur l'Hist. de France</i>, vol. ii. p. +185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_729_729" id="Footnote_729_729"></a><a href="#FNanchor_729_729"><span class="label">[729]</span></a> <i>Helvétius de l'Esprit.</i> vol. i. pp. 102, 199: ‘un pays +où le peuple est respecté comme en Angleterre; … un pays où chaque +citoyen a part au maniement des affaires générales, où tout homme +d'esprit peut éclairer le public sur ses véritables intérêts.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_730_730" id="Footnote_730_730"></a><a href="#FNanchor_730_730"><span class="label">[730]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Brissot</i>, vol. ii. p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_731_731" id="Footnote_731_731"></a><a href="#FNanchor_731_731"><span class="label">[731]</span></a> <i>Condorcet</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, pp. 118, 119; <i>Duvernet</i>, +<i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, pp. 30, 32; <i>Longchamp et Wagnière</i>, <i>Mém. sur +Voltaire</i>, vol. i. p. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_732_732" id="Footnote_732_732"></a><a href="#FNanchor_732_732"><span class="label">[732]</span></a> <i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, pp. 46–48; <i>Condorcet</i>, +<i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, pp. 125, 126. Compare vol. lvi. p. 162; <i>Lepan</i>, <i>Vie +de Voltaire</i>, 1837, pp. 70, 71; and <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xlix. p. 468. +Duvernet, who, writing from materials supplied by Voltaire, had the best +means of information, gives a specimen of the fine feeling of a French +duke in the eighteenth century. He says, that, directly after Rohan had +inflicted this public chastisement, ‘Voltaire rentre dans l'hôtel, +demande au duc de Sully de regarder cet outrage fait à l'un de ses +convives, comme fait à lui-même: il le sollicite de se joindre à lui +pour en poursuivre la vengeance, et de venir chez un commissaire en +certifier la déposition. <i>Le duc de Sully se refuse à tout.</i>’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_733_733" id="Footnote_733_733"></a><a href="#FNanchor_733_733"><span class="label">[733]</span></a> ‘L'Histoire de Charles XII, dont on avait arrêté une +première édition après l'avoir autorisée.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xlix. p. +470. Comp. <i>Nichols's Lit. Anec.</i> vol. i. p. 388.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_734_734" id="Footnote_734_734"></a><a href="#FNanchor_734_734"><span class="label">[734]</span></a> <i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, pp. 63–65; <i>Condorcet</i>, +<i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, pp. 138–140; <i>Lepan</i>,<i> Vie de Voltaire</i>, pp. 93, +381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_735_735" id="Footnote_735_735"></a><a href="#FNanchor_735_735"><span class="label">[735]</span></a> The indignation of Voltaire appears in many of his +letters; and he often announced to his friends his intention of quitting +for ever a country where he was liable to such treatment. See <i>Œuvres +de Voltaire</i>, vol. liv. pp. 58, 335, 336, vol. lv. p. 229, vol. lvi. pp. +162, 163, 358, 447, 464, 465, vol. lvii. pp. 144, 145, 155, 156, vol. +lviii. pp. 36, 222, 223, 516, 517, 519, 520, 525, 526, 563, vol. lix. +pp. 107, 116, 188, 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_736_736" id="Footnote_736_736"></a><a href="#FNanchor_736_736"><span class="label">[736]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. i. pp. 147, 315, vol. lvii. +pp. 211, 215, 219, 247, 295; <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit. au XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. +i. p. 14; <i>Brougham's Men of Letters</i>, vol. i. pp. 53, 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_737_737" id="Footnote_737_737"></a><a href="#FNanchor_737_737"><span class="label">[737]</span></a> <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. i. pp. 90–95, vol. ii. p. +399; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xi. p. 316; <i>Brougham's Men of Letters</i>, vol. +ii. p. 439.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_738_738" id="Footnote_738_738"></a><a href="#FNanchor_738_738"><span class="label">[738]</span></a> <i>Boucher de la Richarderie</i>, <i>Bibliothèque des Voyages</i>, +vol. iii. pp. 390–393, Paris, 1808: ‘La distribution en France de la +traduction de ce voyage fut arrêtée pendant quelque temps par des ordres +supérieurs du gouvernement…. Il y a tout lieu de croire que les +ministres de France crurent, ou feignirent de croire, que le passage en +question pouvoit donner lieu à des applications sur le goût effréné de +Louis XV pour la chasse, et inspirèrent aisément cette prévention à un +prince très-sensible, comme on sait, aux censures les plus indirectes de +sa passion pour ce genre d'amusement.’ See also the account of Imbert, +the translator, in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxi. p. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_739_739" id="Footnote_739_739"></a><a href="#FNanchor_739_739"><span class="label">[739]</span></a> <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. vi. pp. 161, 162; the crime +being, ‘qu'un janséniste avait osé imprimer que Julien, apostat +exécrable aux yeux d'un bon chrétien, n'était pourtant pas un homme sans +quelques bonnes qualités à en juger mondainement.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_740_740" id="Footnote_740_740"></a><a href="#FNanchor_740_740"><span class="label">[740]</span></a> M. Bunsen (<i>Egypt</i>, vol. i. p. 14) refers to Fréret's +‘acute treatise on the Babylonian year;’ and Turgot, in his +<i>Etymologie</i>, says (<i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. iii. p. 83), ‘l'illustre +Fréret, un des savans qui ont su le mieux appliquer la philosophie à +l'érudition.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_741_741" id="Footnote_741_741"></a><a href="#FNanchor_741_741"><span class="label">[741]</span></a> This was at the very outset of his career: ‘En 1715, +l'homme qui devait illustrer l'érudition française au xviii<sup>e</sup> siècle, +Fréret, était mis à la Bastille pour avoir avancé, dans un mémoire sur +l'origine des Français, que les Francs ne formaient pas une nation à +part, et que leurs premiers chefs avaient reçu de l'empire romain le +titre de <i>patrices</i>.’ <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit. au XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. +30: see also <i>Nichols's Lit. Anec.</i> vol. ii. p. 510.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_742_742" id="Footnote_742_742"></a><a href="#FNanchor_742_742"><span class="label">[742]</span></a> He was imprisoned in the Bastille, for the first time, in +1725; then in 1743, in 1750, and finally in 1751. <i>Biographie +Universelle</i>, vol. xxiv. p. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_743_743" id="Footnote_743_743"></a><a href="#FNanchor_743_743"><span class="label">[743]</span></a> In 1743, Voltaire writes: ‘On vient de mettre à la +Bastille l'abbé Lenglet, pour avoir publié des mémoires déjà +très-connus, qui servent de supplément à l'histoire de notre célèbre De +Thou. L'infatigable et malheureux Lenglet rendait un signalé service aux +bons citoyens, et aux amateurs des recherches historiques. Il méritait +des récompenses; on l'emprisonne cruellement à l'âge de soixante-huit +ans.’ <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. i. pp. 400, 401, vol. lviii. pp. +207, 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_744_744" id="Footnote_744_744"></a><a href="#FNanchor_744_744"><span class="label">[744]</span></a> <i>Musset Pathay</i>, <i>Vie de Rousseau</i>, vol. i. pp. 68, 99, +296, 377, vol. ii. pp. 111, 385, 390; <i>Mercier sur Rousseau</i>, vol. i. p. +14, vol. ii. pp. 179, 314.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_745_745" id="Footnote_745_745"></a><a href="#FNanchor_745_745"><span class="label">[745]</span></a> <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Corresp.</i> vol. ii. p. 349; <i>Walpole's Letters</i>, +1840, vol. iii. p. 418.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_746_746" id="Footnote_746_746"></a><a href="#FNanchor_746_746"><span class="label">[746]</span></a> <i>Lyell's Principles of Geology</i>, pp. 39, 40; <i>Mém. of +Mallet du Pan</i>, vol. i. p. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_747_747" id="Footnote_747_747"></a><a href="#FNanchor_747_747"><span class="label">[747]</span></a> <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. ii. p. 214; +<i>Williams's Letters from France</i>, vol. ii. p. 86, 3rd edit. 1796.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_748_748" id="Footnote_748_748"></a><a href="#FNanchor_748_748"><span class="label">[748]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. i. p. 253; <i>Mém. de Lafayette</i>, +vol. ii. p. 34 note; <i>Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, vol. ii. p. 365. +On Raynal's flight, compare a letter from Marseilles, written in 1786, +and printed in <i>Mem. and Correspond. of Sir J. E. Smith</i>, vol. i. p. +194.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_749_749" id="Footnote_749_749"></a><a href="#FNanchor_749_749"><span class="label">[749]</span></a> See the proceedings of the avocat-général, in <i>Peignot</i>, +<i>Livres condamnés</i>, vol. i. pp. 230, 231; and in <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de +Louis XVI</i>, vol. iii. pp. 93–97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_750_750" id="Footnote_750_750"></a><a href="#FNanchor_750_750"><span class="label">[750]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, <i>France Lit.</i> vol. v. p. 565.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_751_751" id="Footnote_751_751"></a><a href="#FNanchor_751_751"><span class="label">[751]</span></a> <i>Peignot</i>, <i>Livres condamnés</i>, vol. i. pp. 241, 242.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_752_752" id="Footnote_752_752"></a><a href="#FNanchor_752_752"><span class="label">[752]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxiv. p. 561; <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, +vol. lxix. pp. 374, 375; <i>Lettres inédites de Voltaire</i>, vol. ii. p. +528; <i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, pp. 202, 203. According to some of +these authorities, parliament afterwards revoked this sentence; but +there is no doubt that the sentence was passed, and De Sales imprisoned, +if not banished.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_753_753" id="Footnote_753_753"></a><a href="#FNanchor_753_753"><span class="label">[753]</span></a> <i>Peignot</i>, <i>Livres condamnés</i>, vol. i. pp. 314, 316.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_754_754" id="Footnote_754_754"></a><a href="#FNanchor_754_754"><span class="label">[754]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. lxix. p. 204;<i> Lettres de +Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, vol. iii. p. 260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_755_755" id="Footnote_755_755"></a><a href="#FNanchor_755_755"><span class="label">[755]</span></a> 'Quatre mémoires … condamnés à être lacérés et brûlés +par la main du bourreau.' <i>Peignot</i>, vol. i. p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_756_756" id="Footnote_756_756"></a><a href="#FNanchor_756_756"><span class="label">[756]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxiii. p. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_757_757" id="Footnote_757_757"></a><a href="#FNanchor_757_757"><span class="label">[757]</span></a> <i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Hist. de la Sorbonne</i>, vol. i. p. vi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_758_758" id="Footnote_758_758"></a><a href="#FNanchor_758_758"><span class="label">[758]</span></a> ‘Supprimée par arrêt du conseil’ in 1771, which was the +year of its publication. Compare <i>Cassagnac's Révolution</i>, vol. i. p. +33; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxiv. p. 634.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_759_759" id="Footnote_759_759"></a><a href="#FNanchor_759_759"><span class="label">[759]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, <i>France Lit.</i> vol. iii. p. 337.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_760_760" id="Footnote_760_760"></a><a href="#FNanchor_760_760"><span class="label">[760]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. x. p. 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_761_761" id="Footnote_761_761"></a><a href="#FNanchor_761_761"><span class="label">[761]</span></a> <i>Peignot</i>, vol. i. p. 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_762_762" id="Footnote_762_762"></a><a href="#FNanchor_762_762"><span class="label">[762]</span></a> <i>ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 289.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_763_763" id="Footnote_763_763"></a><a href="#FNanchor_763_763"><span class="label">[763]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. vii. p. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_764_764" id="Footnote_764_764"></a><a href="#FNanchor_764_764"><span class="label">[764]</span></a> <i>Lettres d'Aguesseau</i>, vol. ii. pp. 320, 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_765_765" id="Footnote_765_765"></a><a href="#FNanchor_765_765"><span class="label">[765]</span></a> <i>Cassagnac</i>, <i>Causes de la Rév.</i> vol. i. p. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_766_766" id="Footnote_766_766"></a><a href="#FNanchor_766_766"><span class="label">[766]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. iii. p. 375.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_767_767" id="Footnote_767_767"></a><a href="#FNanchor_767_767"><span class="label">[767]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, vol. iii. p. 489.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_768_768" id="Footnote_768_768"></a><a href="#FNanchor_768_768"><span class="label">[768]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. vii. pp. 483, 484.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_769_769" id="Footnote_769_769"></a><a href="#FNanchor_769_769"><span class="label">[769]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. iii. p. 302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_770_770" id="Footnote_770_770"></a><a href="#FNanchor_770_770"><span class="label">[770]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. iii. p. 261.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_771_771" id="Footnote_771_771"></a><a href="#FNanchor_771_771"><span class="label">[771]</span></a> On the importance of this remarkable thesis, and on its +prohibition, see <i>Saint-Hilaire</i>, <i>Anomalies de +l'Organisation</i>, vol. i. p. 355.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_772_772" id="Footnote_772_772"></a><a href="#FNanchor_772_772"><span class="label">[772]</span></a> <i>Quérard</i>, vol. iv. p. 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_773_773" id="Footnote_773_773"></a><a href="#FNanchor_773_773"><span class="label">[773]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xv. p. 203.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_774_774" id="Footnote_774_774"></a><a href="#FNanchor_774_774"><span class="label">[774]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xxi. p. 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_775_775" id="Footnote_775_775"></a><a href="#FNanchor_775_775"><span class="label">[775]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xlv. p. 462, vol. xlvii. p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_776_776" id="Footnote_776_776"></a><a href="#FNanchor_776_776"><span class="label">[776]</span></a> <i>Peignot</i>, vol. i. pp. 90, 91, vol. ii. p. 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_777_777" id="Footnote_777_777"></a><a href="#FNanchor_777_777"><span class="label">[777]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 170, vol. ii. p. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_778_778" id="Footnote_778_778"></a><a href="#FNanchor_778_778"><span class="label">[778]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_779_779" id="Footnote_779_779"></a><a href="#FNanchor_779_779"><span class="label">[779]</span></a> ‘Il resta trois ans dans la cage; c'est un caveau creusé +dans le roc, de huit pieds en carré, où le prisonnier ne reçoit le jour +que par les crevasses des marches de l'église.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xi. +p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_780_780" id="Footnote_780_780"></a><a href="#FNanchor_780_780"><span class="label">[780]</span></a> <i>Peignot</i>, <i>Livres condamnés</i>, vol. i. pp. 14, 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_781_781" id="Footnote_781_781"></a><a href="#FNanchor_781_781"><span class="label">[781]</span></a> <i>Mémoires de Marmontel</i>, vol. ii. pp. 143–176; and see +vol. iii. pp. 30–46, 95, for the treatment he afterwards received from +the Sorbonne, because he advocated religious toleration. See also +<i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. liv. p. 258; and <i>Letters of Eminent +Persons addressed to Hume</i>, pp. 207, 212, 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_782_782" id="Footnote_782_782"></a><a href="#FNanchor_782_782"><span class="label">[782]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, vol. i. pp. 86–89; <i>Mélanges par +Morellet</i>, vol. ii. pp. 3–12; <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. liv. pp. +106, 111, 114, 122, 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_783_783" id="Footnote_783_783"></a><a href="#FNanchor_783_783"><span class="label">[783]</span></a> Marmontel (<i>Mém.</i> vol. ii. p. 313) says, ‘qui n'a +connu Diderot que dans ses écrits ne l'a point connu:’ meaning +that his works were inferior to his talk. His conversational powers are +noticed by Ségur, who disliked him, and by Georgel, who hated him. +<i>Ségur</i>, <i>Souvenirs</i>, vol. iii. p. 34; <i>Georgel</i>, <i>Mém.</i> vol. ii. p. +246. Compare <i>Forster's Life of Goldsmith</i>, vol. i. p. 69; <i>Musset +Pathay</i>, <i>Vie de Rousseau</i>, vol. i. p. 95, vol. ii. p. 227; <i>Mémoires +d'Epinay</i>, vol. ii. pp. 73, 74, 88; <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Corresp.</i> vol. xv. pp. +79–90; <i>Morellet</i>, <i>Mém.</i> vol. i. p. 28; <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Lit. au XVIII<sup>e</sup> +Siècle</i>, vol. i. p. 82.</p> + +<p>As to Holbach's dinners, on which Madame de Genlis wrote a well-known +libel, see <i>Schlosser's Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. i. p. 166; <i>Biog. +Univ.</i> vol. xx. p. 462; <i>Jesse's Selwyn</i>, vol. ii. p. 9; <i>Walpole's +Letters to Mann</i>, vol. iv. p. 283; <i>Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works</i>, p. +73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_784_784" id="Footnote_784_784"></a><a href="#FNanchor_784_784"><span class="label">[784]</span></a> It is also stated by the editor of his correspondence, +that he wrote a great deal for authors, which they published under their +name. <i>Mém. et Corresp. de Diderot</i>, vol. iii. p. 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_785_785" id="Footnote_785_785"></a><a href="#FNanchor_785_785"><span class="label">[785]</span></a> This was the <i>Pensées Philosophiques</i>, in 1746, his first +original work; the previous ones being translations from English. <i>Biog. +Univ.</i> xi. p. 314. Duvernet (<i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. 240) says, that +he was imprisoned for writing it, but this I believe is a mistake; at +least I do not remember to have met with the statement elsewhere, and +Duvernet is frequently careless.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_786_786" id="Footnote_786_786"></a><a href="#FNanchor_786_786"><span class="label">[786]</span></a> Dugald Stewart, who has collected some important evidence +on this subject, has confirmed several of the views put forward by +Diderot. <i>Philos. of the Mind</i>, vol. iii. pp. 401 seq.; comp. pp. 57, +407, 435. Since then still greater attention has been paid to the +education of the blind, and it has been remarked that ‘it is an +exceedingly difficult task to teach them to think accurately.’ <i>M. +Alister's Essay on the Blind</i>, in <i>Jour. of Stat. Soc.</i> vol. i. p. +378: see also Dr. Fowler, in <i>Report of Brit. Assoc.</i> for +1847; <i>Transac. of Sec.</i> pp. 92, 93, and for 1848, p. 88. These passages +unconsciously testify to the sagacity of Diderot; and they also testify +to the stupid ignorance of a government, which sought to put an end to +such inquiries by punishing their author.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_787_787" id="Footnote_787_787"></a><a href="#FNanchor_787_787"><span class="label">[787]</span></a> <i>Mém. et Corresp. de Diderot</i>, vol. i. pp. 26–29; <i>Musset +Pathay</i>, <i>Vie de Rousseu</i>, vol. i. p. 47, vol. ii. p. 276; <i>Letter to +d'Argental</i> in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. lviii. p. 454; +<i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>Dix-huitième Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_788_788" id="Footnote_788_788"></a><a href="#FNanchor_788_788"><span class="label">[788]</span></a> A happy arrangement, by which curiosity baffles +despotism. In 1767, an acute observer wrote, ‘Il n'y a plus de livres +qu'on imprime plusieurs fois, que les livres condamnés. Il faut +aujourd'hui qu'un libraire prie les magistrate de brûler son livre pour +le faire vendre.’ <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Corresp.</i> vol. v. p. 498. To the same +effect, <i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. i. pp. 15, 16; <i>Mém. de Georgel</i>, vol. ii. +p. 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_789_789" id="Footnote_789_789"></a><a href="#FNanchor_789_789"><span class="label">[789]</span></a> ‘Quel est aujourd'hui parmi nous +l'homme de lettres de quelque mérite qui n'ait éprouvé plus ou moins les +fureurs de la calomnie et de la persécution?’ etc. <i>Grimm</i>, +<i>Corresp.</i> vol. v. p. 451. This was written in 1767, and during more +than forty years previously we find similar expressions; the earliest I +have met with being in a letter to Thiriot, in 1723, in which Voltaire +says <i>(Œuvres</i>, vol. lvi. p. 94), ‘la sévérité devient plus grande de +jour en jour dans l'inquisition de la librairie.’ For other instances, +see his letter to De Formont, pp. 423–425, also vol. lvii. pp. 144, 351, +vol. lviii. p. 222; his <i>Lettres inédites</i>, vol. i. p. 547; <i>Mém. de +Diderot</i>, vol. ii. p. 215; <i>Letters of Eminent Persons to Hume</i>, pp. 14, +15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_790_790" id="Footnote_790_790"></a><a href="#FNanchor_790_790"><span class="label">[790]</span></a> Part of this is related, rather inaccurately, in +<i>Schlosser's Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. iii. p. 483. The fullest account +is in <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Corresp. Lit.</i> vol. viii. pp. 231–233: ‘Le grand +Maurice, irrité d'une résistance qu'il n'avait jamais éprouvée nulle +part, eut la faiblesse de demander une lettre de cachet pour enlever à un +mari sa femme, et pour la contraindre d'être sa concubine; et, chose +remarquable, cette lettre de cachet fut accordée et exécutée. Les deux +époux plièrent sous le joug de la nécessité, et la petite Chantilly fut +à la fois femme de Favart et maîtresse de Maurice de Saxe.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_791_791" id="Footnote_791_791"></a><a href="#FNanchor_791_791"><span class="label">[791]</span></a> ‘L'Averdy was no sooner named controller of finance than +he published a decree, in 1764 (<i>arrêt du conseil</i>),—which, according +to the state of the then existing constitution, had the force of a +law,—by which every man was forbidden to print, or cause to be printed, +anything whatever upon administrative affairs, or government regulations +in general, under the penalty of a breach of the police laws; by which +the man was liable to be punished without defence, and not as was the +case before the law courts, where he might defend himself, and could +only be judged according to law.’ <i>Schlosser's Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. +ii. p. 166: see also <i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, vol. i. p. 141, vol. ii. p. 75, +‘un arrêt du conseil, qui défendait d'imprimer sur les matières +d'administration.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_792_792" id="Footnote_792_792"></a><a href="#FNanchor_792_792"><span class="label">[792]</span></a> ‘L'ordonnance de 1767, rendue sous le ministère du +chancelier Maupeou, portait la peine de mort contre tout auteur d'écrits +tendant à émouvoir les esprits.’ <i>Cassagnac</i>, <i>Causes de la Révolution</i>, +vol. i. p. 313.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_793_793" id="Footnote_793_793"></a><a href="#FNanchor_793_793"><span class="label">[793]</span></a> In April 1757, D'Alembert writes from Paris, ‘on vient de +publier une déclaration qui inflige la peine de mort à tous ceux qui +auront publié des écrits tendants à attaquer la religion.’ <i>Œuvres de +Voltaire</i>, vol. liv. p. 34. This, I suppose, is the same edict as that +mentioned by M. Amédée Renée, in his continuation of <i>Sismondi</i>, +<i>Histoire des Français</i>, vol. xxx. p. 247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_794_794" id="Footnote_794_794"></a><a href="#FNanchor_794_794"><span class="label">[794]</span></a> ‘Il avait été défendu, sous peine de mort, aux écrivains +de parler de finances.’ <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. +490.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_795_795" id="Footnote_795_795"></a><a href="#FNanchor_795_795"><span class="label">[795]</span></a> This was the suggestion of the avocat-général in 1780. +See the proposal, in his own words, in <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. xi. +pp. 143, 144. On the important functions of the avocats-généraux in the +eighteenth century, see a note in <i>Lettres d'Aguesseau</i>, vol. i. p. +264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_796_796" id="Footnote_796_796"></a><a href="#FNanchor_796_796"><span class="label">[796]</span></a> And we should also remember what the circumstances were +under which the accusation was first heard in France. +‘Les reproches d'avoir tout détruit, adressés aux philosophes du +dix-huitième siècle, ont commencé le jour où il s'est trouvé en France +un gouvernement qui a voulu rétablir les abus dont les écrivains de +cette époque avaient accéléré la destruction.’ <i>Comte</i>, <i>Traité de +Législation</i>, vol. i. p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_797_797" id="Footnote_797_797"></a><a href="#FNanchor_797_797"><span class="label">[797]</span></a> The nature of this change, and the circumstances under +which it happened, will be examined in the last chapter of the present +volume; but that the revolutionary movement, while headed by Voltaire +and his coadjutors, was directed against the church, and not against the +state, is noticed by many writers; some of whom have also observed, that +soon after the middle of the reign of Louis XV. the ground began to be +shifted, and a disposition was first shown to attack political abuses. +On this remarkable fact, indicated by several authors, but explained by +none, compare <i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 305; +<i>Barruel</i>, <i>Mém. pour l'Hist. du Jacobinisme</i>, vol. i. p. xviii., vol. +ii. p. 113; <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>L'Ancien Régime</i>, p. 241; +<i>Alison's Europe</i>, vol. i. p. 165, vol. xiv. p. 286; <i>Mém. de Rivarol</i>, +p. 35; <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. iv. p. 397; <i>Lamartine</i>, +<i>Hist. des Girondins</i>, vol. i. p. 183; <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. lx. +p. 307, vol. lxvi. p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_798_798" id="Footnote_798_798"></a><a href="#FNanchor_798_798"><span class="label">[798]</span></a> See some striking remarks in M. Tocqueville's great work, +<i>De la Démocratie</i>, vol. i. p. 5; which should be compared with the +observation of Horace Walpole, who was well acquainted with French +society, and who says, happily enough, that the French ‘love themselves +in their kings.’ <i>Walpole's Mem. of George III</i>, vol. ii. p. 240.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_799_799" id="Footnote_799_799"></a><a href="#FNanchor_799_799"><span class="label">[799]</span></a> Not only the political history of Spain, but also its +literature, contains melancholy evidence of the extraordinary loyalty of +the Spaniards, and of the injurious results produced by it. See, on +this, some useful reflections in <i>Ticknor's Hist. of Spanish +Literature</i>, vol. i. pp. 95, 96, 133, vol. iii. pp. 191–193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_800_800" id="Footnote_800_800"></a><a href="#FNanchor_800_800"><span class="label">[800]</span></a> Our admiration of Alfred is greatly increased by the +fact, that we know very little about him. The principal authority +referred to for his reign is Asser, whose work, there is reason to +believe, is not genuine. See the arguments in <i>Wright's Biog. Brit. +Lit.</i> vol. i. pp. 408–412. It moreover appears, that some of the +institutions popularly ascribed to him, existed before his time. +<i>Kemble's Saxons in England</i>, vol. i. pp. 247, 248.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_801_801" id="Footnote_801_801"></a><a href="#FNanchor_801_801"><span class="label">[801]</span></a> The French writers, under the old régime, constantly +boast that loyalty was the characteristic of their nation, and taunt the +English with their opposite and insubordinate spirit. ‘Il n'est pas ici +question des François, qui se sont toujours distingués des autres +nations par leur amour pour leurs rois.’ <i>Le Blanc</i>, <i>Lettres d'un +François</i>, vol. iii. p. 523. ‘The English do not love their sovereigns +as much as could be desired.’ <i>Sorbière's Voyage to England</i>, p. 58. ‘Le +respect de la majesté royale, caractère distinctif des Français.’ <i>Mém. +de Montbarey</i>, vol. ii. p. 54. ‘L'amour et la fidélité que les Français +ont naturellement pour leurs princes.’ <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. ii. p. +3. ‘Les Français, qui aiment leurs princes.’ <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> +vol. iii. p. 381; and see vol. xi. p. 729. For further evidence, see +<i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies</i>, vol. iv. p. 346; <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Divers Etats</i>, +vol. vii. p. 105; <i>Ségur</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. p. 32; <i>Lamartine</i>, +<i>Hist. des Girondins</i>, vol. iv. p. 58.</p> + +<p>Now, contrast with all this the sentiments contained in one of the most +celebrated histories in the English language: ‘There is not any one +thing more certain and more evident, than that princes are made for the +people, and not the people for them; and perhaps there is no nation +under heaven that is more entirely possessed with this notion of princes +than the English nation is in this age; so that they will soon be uneasy +to a prince who does not govern himself by this maxim, and in time grow +very unkind to him.’ <i>Burnet's History of his Own Time</i>, vol. vi. p. +223. This manly and wholesome passage was written while the French were +licking the dust from the feet of Louis XIV.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_802_802" id="Footnote_802_802"></a><a href="#FNanchor_802_802"><span class="label">[802]</span></a> ‘La race des rois la plus ancienne.’ <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, +vol. ix. p. 281. ‘Nos rois, issus de la plus grande race du monde, et +devant qui les Césars, et la plus grande partie des princes qui jadis +ont commandé tant de nations, ne sont que des roturiers.’ <i>Mém. de +Motteville</i>, vol. ii. p. 417. And a Venetian ambassador, in the +sixteenth century, says, that France is ‘il regno più antico d'ogn' +altro che sia in essere al presente.’ <i>Relat. des Ambassad.</i> vol. i. p. +470. Compare <i>Boullier</i>, <i>Maison Militaire des Rois de France</i>, p. 360.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_803_803" id="Footnote_803_803"></a><a href="#FNanchor_803_803"><span class="label">[803]</span></a> <i>Capefigue's Louis XIV</i>, vol. i. pp. 204, 301; +<i>Koch</i>, <i>Tableau des Révolutions</i>, vol. ii. p. 16. M. Ranke (<i>Die +Päpste</i>, vol. ii. p. 257) ascribes this to the circumstances attending +the apostasy of Henry IV.; but the cause lies much deeper, being +connected with that triumph of the secular interests over the spiritual, +of which the policy of Henry IV. was itself a consequence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_804_804" id="Footnote_804_804"></a><a href="#FNanchor_804_804"><span class="label">[804]</span></a> <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 408; +<i>Flassan</i>, <i>Hist. de la Diplomatie</i>, vol. v. p. 3; <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne +de Louis XV</i>, vol. i. pp. 35, 347; <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. ii. pp. +42, 43, 154, 155, 223, 224. What was, if possible, still more +scandalous, was, that in 1723 the assembly of the clergy elected as +their president, unanimously (‘d'une voix unanime’), the infamous +Dubois, the most notoriously immoral man of his time. <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mém.</i> +vol. ii. p. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_805_805" id="Footnote_805_805"></a><a href="#FNanchor_805_805"><span class="label">[805]</span></a> On this decline of the French clergy, see <i>Villemain</i>, +<i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. iii. pp. 178, 179; <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Philos.</i> II<sup>e</sup> série, vol. i. p. 301. <i>Tocqueville</i> (<i>Règne de Louis XV</i>, +vol. i. pp. 35–38, 365) says, ‘le clergé prêchait une morale qu'il +compromettait par sa conduite;’ a noticeable remark, when made by an +opponent of the sceptical philosophy, like the elder M. Tocqueville. +Among this profligate crew, Massillon stood alone; he being the last +French bishop who was remarkable for virtue as well as for ability.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_806_806" id="Footnote_806_806"></a><a href="#FNanchor_806_806"><span class="label">[806]</span></a> Voltaire says of the English, ‘quand ils apprennent qu'en +France de jeunes gens connus par leurs débauches, et élevés à la +prélature par des intrigues de femmes, font publiquement l'amour, +s'égaient à composer des chansons tendres, donnent tous les jours des +soupers délicats et longs, et de là vont implorer les lumières du +Saint-Esprit, et se nomment hardiment les successeures des apôtres ils +remercient Dieu d'être protestants.’ <i>Lettres sur les Anglais</i>, in +<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xxvi. p. 29.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot">STATE OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE IN FRANCE FROM THE END OF +THE SIXTEENTH TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</div> + +<p>It may be easily supposed, that those vast movements +in the intellect of France, which I have just traced, +could not fail to produce a great change in the method +of writing history. That bold spirit with which men +were beginning to estimate the transactions of their +own time, was sure to influence their opinions respecting +those of a former age. In this, as in every branch of +knowledge, the first innovation consisted in recognizing +the necessity of doubting what had hitherto been believed; +and this feeling, when once established, went +on increasing, destroying at each step some of those +monstrous absurdities by which, as we have seen, even +the best histories were disfigured. The germs of the +reform may be discerned in the fourteenth century, +though the reform itself did not begin until late in the +sixteenth century. During the seventeenth century, it +advanced somewhat slowly; but in the eighteenth century +it received a sudden accession of strength, and, +in France in particular, it was hastened by that fearless +and inquisitive spirit which characterized the age, and +which, purging history of innumerable follies, raised its +standard, and conferred on it a dignity hitherto unknown. +The rise of historical scepticism, and the extent +to which it spread, do indeed form such curious features +in the annals of the European intellect, as to make it +surprising that no one should have attempted to examine +a movement to which a great department of modern +literature owes its most valuable peculiarities. In the +present chapter, I hope to supply this deficiency so far<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +as France is concerned; and I shall endeavour to mark +the different steps by which the progress was effected, +in order that, by knowing the circumstances most +favourable to the study of history, we may with the +greater ease inquire into the probability of its future +improvement.</p> + +<p>There is, in reference to this subject, a preliminary +consideration well worthy of notice. This is, that men +seem always to have begun to doubt in matters of religion, +before they ventured to do so in matters of history. +It might have been expected that the reproaches, +and, in a superstitious age, the dangers, to which heresy +is exposed, would have intimidated inquirers, and would +have induced them to prefer the safer path of directing +their scepticism upon questions of literary speculation. +Such, however, is by no means the course which the +human mind has adopted. In an early stage of society, +when the clergy had universal influence, a belief in the +unpardonable criminality of religious error is so deeply +rooted, that it engrosses the attention of all; it forces +every one who thinks, to concentrate upon theology his +reflections and his doubts, and it leaves no leisure for +topics which are conceived to be of inferior importance.<a name="FNanchor_807_807" id="FNanchor_807_807"></a><a href="#Footnote_807_807" class="fnanchor">[807]</a> +Hence, during many centuries, the subtlest intellects +of Europe exhausted their strength on the rights and +dogmas of Christianity; and while upon these matters +they often showed the greatest ability, they, upon other +subjects, and especially upon history, displayed that infantine +credulity, of which I have already given several +examples.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span></p> + +<p>But when, in the progress of society, its theological +element begins to decay, the ardour with which religious +disputes were once conducted becomes sensibly +weakened. The most advanced intellects are the first +to feel the growing indifference, and, therefore, they are +also the first to scrutinize real events with that inquisitive +eye which their predecessors had reserved for religious +speculations. This is a great turning-point in the +history of every civilized nation. From this moment +theological heresies become less frequent,<a name="FNanchor_808_808" id="FNanchor_808_808"></a><a href="#Footnote_808_808" class="fnanchor">[808]</a> and literary +heresies become more common. From this moment the +spirit of inquiry and of doubt fastens itself upon every +department of knowledge, and begins that great career +of conquest, in which by every succeeding discovery the +power and dignity of man are increased, while at the +same time most of his opinions are disturbed, and many +of them are destroyed: until, in the march of this vast +but noiseless revolution, the stream of tradition is, as it +were, interrupted, the influence of ancient authority is +subverted, and the human mind, waxing in strength, +learns to rely upon its own resources, and to throw off +incumbrances by which the freedom of its movements +had long been impaired.</p> + +<p>The application of these remarks to the history of +France, will enable us to explain some interesting phenomena +in the literature of that country. During the +whole of the Middle Ages, and I may say till the end of +the sixteenth century, France, though fertile in annalists +and chroniclers, had not produced a single historian, +because she had not produced a single man who presumed +to doubt what was generally believed. Indeed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +until the publication of Du Haillan's history of the kings +of France, no one had even attempted a critical digest +of the materials which were known to be extant. This +work appeared in 1576;<a name="FNanchor_809_809" id="FNanchor_809_809"></a><a href="#Footnote_809_809" class="fnanchor">[809]</a> and the author, at the conclusion +of his labours, could not disguise the pride which he +felt at having accomplished so great an undertaking. In +his dedication to the king he says, ‘I am, sire, the first of +all the French who have written the history of France, +and, in a polite language, shown the grandeur and dignity +of our kings; for before there was nothing but the +old rubbish of chronicles which spoke of them.’ He +adds in the preface: ‘Only I will say, without presumption +and boasting, that I have done a thing which +had not been done before, or seen by any of our nation, +and have given to the history of France a dress it never +appeared in before.’<a name="FNanchor_810_810" id="FNanchor_810_810"></a><a href="#Footnote_810_810" class="fnanchor">[810]</a> Nor were these the idle boasts of +an obscure man. His work went through numerous +editions; was translated into Latin, and was reprinted +in foreign countries. He himself was looked upon as +one of the glories of the French nation, and was rewarded +by the favour of the king, who conferred on +him the office of secretary of finance.<a name="FNanchor_811_811" id="FNanchor_811_811"></a><a href="#Footnote_811_811" class="fnanchor">[811]</a> From his work, +we may, therefore, gain some notion of what was then +the received standard of historical literature; and with +this view, it is natural to inquire what the materials +were which he chiefly employed. About sixty years +earlier, an Italian named Paulus Emilius had published +a gossiping compilation on the ‘Actions of the French.’<a name="FNanchor_812_812" id="FNanchor_812_812"></a><a href="#Footnote_812_812" class="fnanchor">[812]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +This book, which is full of extravagant fables, was taken +by Du Haillan as the basis of his famous history of the +kings of France; and from it he unhesitatingly copies +those idle stories which Emilius loved to relate. This +will give us some idea of the credulity of a writer, who +was reckoned by his contemporaries to be, beyond all +comparison, the greatest historian France had produced. +But this is not all. Du Haillan, not content with borrowing +from his predecessor everything that was most +incredible, gratifies his passion for the marvellous by +some circumstances of his own invention. He begins +his history with a long account of a council which, he +says, was held by the celebrated Pharamond, in order +to determine whether the French should be governed +by a monarchy or by an aristocracy. It is, indeed, +doubtful if any such person as Pharamond ever existed; +and it is certain that, if he did exist, all the materials +had long perished from which an opinion could be formed +respecting him.<a name="FNanchor_813_813" id="FNanchor_813_813"></a><a href="#Footnote_813_813" class="fnanchor">[813]</a> But Du Haillan, regardless of these +little difficulties, gives us the fullest information touching +the great chieftain; and, as if determined to tax +to the utmost the credulity of his readers, mentions, as +members of the council of Pharamond, two persons, +Charamond and Quadrek, whose very names are invented +by the historian.<a name="FNanchor_814_814" id="FNanchor_814_814"></a><a href="#Footnote_814_814" class="fnanchor">[814]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such was the state of historical literature in France +early in the reign of Henry III. A great change was, +however, at hand. The remarkable intellectual progress +made by the French towards the close of the sixteenth +century was, as I have shown, preceded by that scepticism +which appears to be its necessary precursor. +The spirit of doubt, which had begun with religion, was +communicated to literature. The impulse was immediately +felt in every department of knowledge, and now +it was that history first emerged from a debasement +in which it had for centuries been sunk. On this +subject a mere statement of dates may be of service to +those persons who, from a dislike to general reasoning, +would otherwise deny the connexion which I wish to +establish. In 1588 was published the first sceptical +book ever written in the French language.<a name="FNanchor_815_815" id="FNanchor_815_815"></a><a href="#Footnote_815_815" class="fnanchor">[815]</a> In 1598, +the French government, for the first time, ventured upon +a great public act of religious toleration. In 1604, +De Thou published that celebrated work, which is +allowed by all critics to be the first great history composed +by a Frenchman.<a name="FNanchor_816_816" id="FNanchor_816_816"></a><a href="#Footnote_816_816" class="fnanchor">[816]</a> And at the very moment +when these things were passing, another eminent +Frenchman, the illustrious Sully,<a name="FNanchor_817_817" id="FNanchor_817_817"></a><a href="#Footnote_817_817" class="fnanchor">[817]</a> was collecting the +materials for his historical work, which, though hardly +equal to that of De Thou, comes immediately after it +in ability, in importance, and in reputation. Nor can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +we fail to remark, that both these great historians, who +left all their predecessors immeasurably behind them, +were the confidential ministers and intimate friends of +Henry IV., the first king of France whose memory is +stained by the imputation of heresy, and the first who +dared to change his religion, not in consequence of any +theological arguments, but on the broad and notorious +ground of political expediency.<a name="FNanchor_818_818" id="FNanchor_818_818"></a><a href="#Footnote_818_818" class="fnanchor">[818]</a></p> + +<p>But it was not merely over such eminent historians +as these that the sceptical spirit displayed its influence. +The movement was now becoming sufficiently active to +leave its marks in the writings of far inferior men. +There were two particulars in which the credulity of +the earlier historians was very striking. These consisted +in the uncritical manner in which, by blindly copying +their predecessors, they confused the dates of different +events; and in the readiness with which they believed +the most improbable statements, upon imperfect evidence, +and often upon no evidence at all. It is surely +a singular proof of that intellectual progress which I am +endeavouring to trace, that, within a very few years, +both these sources of error were removed. In 1597, +Serres was appointed historiographer of France; and, in +the same year, he published his history of that country.<a name="FNanchor_819_819" id="FNanchor_819_819"></a><a href="#Footnote_819_819" class="fnanchor">[819]</a> +In this work, he insists upon the necessity of carefully +recording the date of each event; and the example, +which he first set, has, since his time, been generally +followed.<a name="FNanchor_820_820" id="FNanchor_820_820"></a><a href="#Footnote_820_820" class="fnanchor">[820]</a> The importance of this change will be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +willingly acknowledged by those who are aware of the +confusion into which history has been thrown by the +earlier writers having neglected, what now seems, so +obvious a precaution. Scarcely had this innovation +been established, when it was followed, in the same +country, by another of still greater moment. This was +the appearance, in 1621, of a history of France, by +Scipio Dupleix; in which, for the first time, the evidence +for historical facts was published with the facts themselves.<a name="FNanchor_821_821" id="FNanchor_821_821"></a><a href="#Footnote_821_821" class="fnanchor">[821]</a> +It is needless to insist upon the utility of a +step which, more than any other, has taught historians +to be industrious in collecting their authorities, and +careful in scrutinizing them.<a name="FNanchor_822_822" id="FNanchor_822_822"></a><a href="#Footnote_822_822" class="fnanchor">[822]</a> To this may be added, +that Dupleix was also the first Frenchman who ventured<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +to publish a system of philosophy in his own language.<a name="FNanchor_823_823" id="FNanchor_823_823"></a><a href="#Footnote_823_823" class="fnanchor">[823]</a> +It is true, that the system itself is intrinsically of little +value;<a name="FNanchor_824_824" id="FNanchor_824_824"></a><a href="#Footnote_824_824" class="fnanchor">[824]</a> but, at the time it appeared, it was an unprecedented, +and, on that account, a profane attempt, to +unfold the mysteries of philosophy in the vulgar speech; +and, in this point of view, supplies evidence of the increasing +diffusion of a spirit bolder and more inquisitive +than any formerly known. It is not, therefore, surprising, +that, almost at the same moment, there should be +made, in the same country, the first systematic attempt +at historical scepticism. The system of philosophy by +Dupleix appeared in 1602; and in 1599, La Popelinière +published at Paris what he calls the <i>History of Histories</i>, +in which he criticizes historians themselves, and examines +their works with that sceptical spirit, to which his +own age was deeply indebted.<a name="FNanchor_825_825" id="FNanchor_825_825"></a><a href="#Footnote_825_825" class="fnanchor">[825]</a> This able man was +also the author of a <i>Sketch of the New History of the +French</i>; containing a formal refutation of that fable, so +dear to the early historians, according to which the +monarchy of France was founded by Francus, who +arrived in Gaul after the conclusion of the siege of +Troy.<a name="FNanchor_826_826" id="FNanchor_826_826"></a><a href="#Footnote_826_826" class="fnanchor">[826]</a></p> + +<p>It would be useless to collect all the instances in +which this advancing spirit of scepticism now began to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +purge history of its falsehoods. I will only mention +two or three more of those which have occurred in my +reading. In 1614, De Rubis published at Lyons a work +on the European monarchies; in which he not only +attacks the long-established belief respecting the descent +from Francus, but boldly asserts, that the Franks owe +their name to their ancient liberties.<a name="FNanchor_827_827" id="FNanchor_827_827"></a><a href="#Footnote_827_827" class="fnanchor">[827]</a> In 1620, Gomberville, +in a dissertation on history, refutes many of +those idle stories respecting the antiquity of the French, +which had been universally received until his time.<a name="FNanchor_828_828" id="FNanchor_828_828"></a><a href="#Footnote_828_828" class="fnanchor">[828]</a> +And, in 1630, Berthault published at Paris the ‘French +Floras,’ in which he completely upsets the old method; +since he lays it down as a fundamental principle, that +the origin of the French must only be sought for +in those countries where they were found by the +Romans.<a name="FNanchor_829_829" id="FNanchor_829_829"></a><a href="#Footnote_829_829" class="fnanchor">[829]</a></p> + +<p>All these, and similar productions, were, however, +entirely eclipsed by Mezeray's History of France; the +first volume of which was published in 1643, and the +last in 1651.<a name="FNanchor_830_830" id="FNanchor_830_830"></a><a href="#Footnote_830_830" class="fnanchor">[830]</a> It is, perhaps, hardly fair to his predecessors, +to call him the first general historian of +France;<a name="FNanchor_831_831" id="FNanchor_831_831"></a><a href="#Footnote_831_831" class="fnanchor">[831]</a> but there can be no doubt that his work is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +greatly superior to any that had yet been seen. The +style of Mezeray is admirably clear and vigorous, rising, +at times, to considerable eloquence. Besides this, he has +two other merits much more important. These are, +an indisposition to believe strange things, merely because +they have hitherto been believed; and an inclination to +take the side of the people, rather than that of their +rulers.<a name="FNanchor_832_832" id="FNanchor_832_832"></a><a href="#Footnote_832_832" class="fnanchor">[832]</a> Of these principles, the first was too common +among the ablest Frenchmen of that time to excite +much attention.<a name="FNanchor_833_833" id="FNanchor_833_833"></a><a href="#Footnote_833_833" class="fnanchor">[833]</a> But the other principle enabled +Mezeray to advance an important step before all his +contemporaries. He was the first Frenchman who, in +a great historical work, threw off that superstitious +reverence for royalty which had long troubled the minds +of his countrymen, and which, indeed, continued to +haunt them for another century. As a necessary consequence, +he was also the first who saw that a history, +to be of real value, must be a history, not only of kings, +but of nations. A steady perception of this principle +led him to incorporate into his book matters which, +before his time, no one cared to study. He communicates +all the information he could collect respecting the +taxes which the people had paid; the sufferings they had +undergone from the gripping hands of their governors; +their manners, their comforts, even the state of the towns +which they inhabited; in a word, what affected the interests +of the French people, as well as what affected +the interests of the French monarchy.<a name="FNanchor_834_834" id="FNanchor_834_834"></a><a href="#Footnote_834_834" class="fnanchor">[834]</a> These were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +the subjects which Mezeray preferred to insignificant +details respecting the pomp of courts and the lives +of kings. These were the large and comprehensive +matters on which he loved to dwell, and on which he +expatiated; not, indeed, with so much fulness as we +could desire, but still with a spirit and an accuracy +which entitles him to the honour of being the greatest +historian France produced before the eighteenth +century.</p> + +<p>This was, in many respects, the most important +change which had yet been effected in the manner of +writing history. If the plan begun by Mezeray had +been completed by his successors, we should possess +materials, the absence of which no modern researches +can possibly compensate. Some things, indeed, we +should, in that case, have lost. We should know less +than we now know of courts and of camps. We should +have heard less of the peerless beauty of French queens, +and of the dignified presence of French kings. We +might even have missed some of the links of that evidence +by which the genealogies of princes and nobles +are ascertained, and the study of which delights the +curiosity of antiquaries and heralds. But, on the other +hand, we should have been able to examine the state of +the French people during the latter half of the seventeenth +century; while, as things now stand, our knowledge +of them, in that most important period, is inferior +in accuracy and in extent to the knowledge we possess +of some of the most barbarous tribes of the earth.<a name="FNanchor_835_835" id="FNanchor_835_835"></a><a href="#Footnote_835_835" class="fnanchor">[835]</a> If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +the example of Mezeray had been followed, with such +additional resources as the progress of affairs would +have supplied, we should not only have the means of +minutely tracing the growth of a great and civilised +nation, but we should have materials that would suggest +or verify those original principles, the discovery of +which constitutes the real use of history.</p> + +<p>But this was not to be. Unhappily for the interests +of knowledge, the march of French civilization was, at +this period, suddenly checked. Soon after the middle +of the seventeenth century, that lamentable change took +place in France, which gave a new turn to the destinies +of the nation. The reaction which the spirit of inquiry +underwent, and the social and intellectual circumstances +which, by bringing the Fronde to a premature +close, prepared the way for Louis XIV., have been described +in a former part of this volume, where I have +attempted to indicate the general effects of the disastrous +movement. It now remains for me to point out +how this retrogressive tendency opposed obstacles to +the improvement of historical literature, and prevented +authors, not only from relating with honesty what was +passing around them, but also from understanding +events which had occurred before their time.</p> + +<p>The most superficial students of French literature +must be struck by the dearth of historians during that +long period in which Louis XIV. held the reins of +government.<a name="FNanchor_836_836" id="FNanchor_836_836"></a><a href="#Footnote_836_836" class="fnanchor">[836]</a> To this, the personal peculiarities of the +king greatly contributed. His education had been +shamefully neglected; and as he never had the energy +to repair its deficiencies, he all his life remained +ignorant of many things with which even princes are +usually familiar.<a name="FNanchor_837_837" id="FNanchor_837_837"></a><a href="#Footnote_837_837" class="fnanchor">[837]</a> Of the course of past events he knew<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +literally nothing, and he took no interest in any history +except the history of his own exploits. Among a free +people, this indifference on the part of the sovereign +could never have produced injurious results; indeed, as +we have already seen, the absence of royal patronage is, +in a highly civilized country, the most favourable condition +of literature. But at the accession of Louis XIV. +the liberties of the French were still too young, and the +habits of independent thought too recent, to enable +them to bear up against that combination of the crown +and the church, which was directed against them. The +French, becoming every day more servile, at length +sunk so low, that, by the end of the seventeenth century, +they seemed to have lost even the wish of resistance. +The king, meeting no opposition, endeavoured to exercise +over the intellect of the country an authority equal +to that with which he conducted its government.<a name="FNanchor_838_838" id="FNanchor_838_838"></a><a href="#Footnote_838_838" class="fnanchor">[838]</a> In +all the great questions of religion and of politics, the +spirit of inquiry was stifled, and no man was allowed to +express an opinion unfavourable to the existing state of +things. As the king was willing to endow literature, +he naturally thought that he had a right to its services. +Authors, who were fed by his hand, were not to raise +their voices against his policy. They received his wages, +and they were bound to do the bidding of him who paid +them. When Louis assumed the government, Mezeray +was still living; though I need hardly say that his great +work was published before this system of protection and +patronage came into play. The treatment to which he,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +the great historian of France, was now subjected, was +a specimen of the new arrangement. He received from +the crown a pension of four thousand francs; but when +he, in 1668, published an abridgment of his History,<a name="FNanchor_839_839" id="FNanchor_839_839"></a><a href="#Footnote_839_839" class="fnanchor">[839]</a> +it was intimated to him that some remarks upon the +tendency of taxation were likely to cause offence in +high quarters. As, however, it was soon found that +Mezeray was too honest and too fearless to retract what +he had written, it was determined to have recourse to +intimidation, and half of his pension was taken from +him.<a name="FNanchor_840_840" id="FNanchor_840_840"></a><a href="#Footnote_840_840" class="fnanchor">[840]</a> But as this did not produce a proper effect, +another order was issued, which deprived him of the +remaining half; and thus early, in this bad reign, there +was set an example of punishing a man for writing with +honesty upon a subject in which, of all others, honesty +is the first essential.<a name="FNanchor_841_841" id="FNanchor_841_841"></a><a href="#Footnote_841_841" class="fnanchor">[841]</a></p> + +<p>Such conduct as this showed what historians were to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +expect from the government of Louis XIV. Several +years later, the king took another opportunity of displaying +the same spirit. Fénelon had been appointed +preceptor to the grandson of Louis, whose early vices +his firmness and judgment did much to repress.<a name="FNanchor_842_842" id="FNanchor_842_842"></a><a href="#Footnote_842_842" class="fnanchor">[842]</a> But +a single circumstance was thought sufficient to outweigh +the immense service which Fénelon thus rendered to the +royal family, and, if his pupil had come to the throne, +would have rendered prospectively to the whole of +France. His celebrated romance, <i>Telemachus</i>, was published +in 1699, as it appears, without his consent.<a name="FNanchor_843_843" id="FNanchor_843_843"></a><a href="#Footnote_843_843" class="fnanchor">[843]</a> The +king suspected that, under the guise of a fiction, Fénelon +intended to reflect on the conduct of government. It +was in vain that the author denied so dangerous an +imputation. The indignation of the king was not to be +appeased. He banished Fénelon from the court; and +would never again admit to his presence a man whom +he suspected of even insinuating a criticism upon +the measures adopted by the administration of the +country.<a name="FNanchor_844_844" id="FNanchor_844_844"></a><a href="#Footnote_844_844" class="fnanchor">[844]</a></p> + +<p>If the king could, on mere suspicion, thus treat a +great writer, who had the rank of an archbishop and +the reputation of a saint, it was not likely that he would +deal more tenderly with inferior men. In 1681, the +Abbé Primi, an Italian, then residing at Paris, was induced +to write a history of Louis XIV. The king, +delighted with the idea of perpetuating his own fame, +conferred several rewards upon the author: and arrangements +were made that the work should be composed in +Italian, and immediately translated into French. But +when the history appeared, there were found in it some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +circumstances which it was thought ought not to have +been disclosed. On this account, Louis caused the book +to be suppressed, the papers of the author to be seized, +and the author himself to be thrown into the Bastille.<a name="FNanchor_845_845" id="FNanchor_845_845"></a><a href="#Footnote_845_845" class="fnanchor">[845]</a></p> + +<p>Those, indeed, were dangerous times for independent +men; times when no writer on politics or religion was +safe, unless he followed the fashion of the day, and defended +the opinions of the court and the church. The +king, who had an insatiable thirst for what he called +glory,<a name="FNanchor_846_846" id="FNanchor_846_846"></a><a href="#Footnote_846_846" class="fnanchor">[846]</a> laboured to degrade contemporary historians +into mere chroniclers of his own achievements. He +ordered Racine and Boileau to write an account of his +reign; he settled a pension upon them, and he promised +to supply them with the necessary materials.<a name="FNanchor_847_847" id="FNanchor_847_847"></a><a href="#Footnote_847_847" class="fnanchor">[847]</a> But +even Racine and Boileau, poets though they were, knew +that they would fail in satisfying his morbid vanity; +they, therefore, received the pension, but omitted to +compose the work for which the pension was conferred. +So notorious was the unwillingness of able men to +meddle with history, that it was thought advisable to beat +up literary recruits from foreign countries. The case +of the Abbé Primi has just been mentioned; he was an +Italian, and only one year later a similar offer was made +to an Englishman. In 1683, Burnet visited France, and +was given to understand that he might receive a pension, +and that he might even enjoy the honour of conversing +with Louis himself, provided he would write a history<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +of the royal affairs; such history, it was carefully added, +being on the ‘side’ of the French king.<a name="FNanchor_848_848" id="FNanchor_848_848"></a><a href="#Footnote_848_848" class="fnanchor">[848]</a></p> + +<p>Under such circumstances as these, it is no wonder +that history, so far as its great essentials are concerned, +should have rapidly declined during the power of +Louis XIV. It became, as some think, more elegant; +but it certainly became more feeble. The language in +which it was composed was worked with great care, the +periods neatly arranged, the epithets soft and harmonious. +For that was a polite and obsequious age, full +of reverence, of duty, and of admiration. In history, +as it was then written, every king was a hero, and every +bishop was a saint. All unpleasant truths were suppressed; +nothing harsh or unkind was to be told. +These docile and submissive sentiments being expressed +in an easy and flowing style, gave to history that air +of refinement, that gentle, unobtrusive gait, which made +it popular with the classes that it flattered. But even +so, while its form was polished, its life was extinct. +All its independence was gone, all its honesty, all its +boldness. The noblest and the most difficult department +of knowledge, the study of the movements of the +human race, was abandoned to every timid and creeping +intellect that cared to cultivate it. There was +Boulainvilliers, and Daniel, and Maimburg, and Varillas, +and Vertot, and numerous others, who in the reign of +Louis XIV. were believed to be historians; but whose +histories have scarcely any merit, except that of enabling +us to appreciate the period in which such productions +were admired, and the system of which they were +the representatives.</p> + +<p>To give a complete view of the decline of historical +literature in France, from the time of Mezeray until<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +early in the eighteenth century, would require a summary +of every history which was written; for all of +them were pervaded by the same spirit. But, as this +would occupy much too large a space, it will probably +be thought sufficient if I confine myself to such illustrations +as will bring the tendency of the age most clearly +before the reader; and for this purpose, I will notice the +works of two historians I have not yet mentioned; one +of whom was celebrated as an antiquary, the other as +a theologian. Both possessed considerable learning, +and one was a man of undoubted genius; their works +are, therefore, worth attention, as symptoms of the state +of the French intellect late in the seventeenth century. +The name of the antiquary was Audigier; the name of +the theologian was Bossuet: and from them we may learn +something respecting the way in which, during the reign +of Louis XIV., it was usual to contemplate the transactions +of past ages.</p> + +<p>The celebrated work of Audigier, on the Origin of the +French, was published at Paris in 1676.<a name="FNanchor_849_849" id="FNanchor_849_849"></a><a href="#Footnote_849_849" class="fnanchor">[849]</a> It would be +unjust to deny that the author was a man of great and +careful reading. But his credulity, his prejudices, his +reverence for antiquity, and his dutiful admiration for +everything established by the church and the court, +warped his judgment to an extent which, in our time, +seems incredible; and, as there are probably few persons +in England who have read his once famous book, +I will give an outline of its leading views.</p> + +<p>In this great history we are told, that 3464 years after +the creation of the world, and 590 years before the birth +of Christ, was the exact period at which Sigovese, nephew +to the king of the Celts, was first sent into Germany.<a name="FNanchor_850_850" id="FNanchor_850_850"></a><a href="#Footnote_850_850" class="fnanchor">[850]</a> +Those who accompanied him were necessarily travellers;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +and as, in the German language, <i>wandeln</i> means <i>to go</i>, we +have here the origin of the Vandals.<a name="FNanchor_851_851" id="FNanchor_851_851"></a><a href="#Footnote_851_851" class="fnanchor">[851]</a> But the antiquity +of the Vandals is far surpassed by that of the +French. Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune, who are sometimes +supposed to be gods, were in reality kings of +Gaul.<a name="FNanchor_852_852" id="FNanchor_852_852"></a><a href="#Footnote_852_852" class="fnanchor">[852]</a> And, if we look back a little further, it becomes +certain that Gallus, the founder of Gaul, was no other +than Noah himself; for in those days the same man frequently +had two names.<a name="FNanchor_853_853" id="FNanchor_853_853"></a><a href="#Footnote_853_853" class="fnanchor">[853]</a> As to the subsequent history +of the French, it was fully equal to the dignity of their +origin. Alexander the Great, even in all the pride of +his victories, never dared to attack the Scythians, who +were a colony sent from France.<a name="FNanchor_854_854" id="FNanchor_854_854"></a><a href="#Footnote_854_854" class="fnanchor">[854]</a> It is from these great +occupiers of France that there have proceeded all the +gods of Europe, all the fine arts, and all the sciences.<a name="FNanchor_855_855" id="FNanchor_855_855"></a><a href="#Footnote_855_855" class="fnanchor">[855]</a> +The English themselves are merely a colony of the +French, as must be evident to whoever considers the +similarity of the words Angles and Anjou;<a name="FNanchor_856_856" id="FNanchor_856_856"></a><a href="#Footnote_856_856" class="fnanchor">[856]</a> and to +this fortunate descent the natives of the British islands +are indebted for such bravery and politeness as they still +possess.<a name="FNanchor_857_857" id="FNanchor_857_857"></a><a href="#Footnote_857_857" class="fnanchor">[857]</a> Several other points are cleared up by this +great critic with equal faculty. The Salian Franks were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +so called from the rapidity of their flight;<a name="FNanchor_858_858" id="FNanchor_858_858"></a><a href="#Footnote_858_858" class="fnanchor">[858]</a> the Bretons +were evidently Saxons;<a name="FNanchor_859_859" id="FNanchor_859_859"></a><a href="#Footnote_859_859" class="fnanchor">[859]</a> and even the Scotch, about +whose independence so much has been said, were vassals +to the kings of France.<a name="FNanchor_860_860" id="FNanchor_860_860"></a><a href="#Footnote_860_860" class="fnanchor">[860]</a> Indeed, it is impossible to exaggerate +the dignity of the crown of France; it is difficult +even to conceive its splendour. Some have supposed that +the emperors are superior to the kings of France, but this +is the mistake of ignorant men; for an emperor means a +mere military ruler, while the title of king includes all +the functions of supreme power.<a name="FNanchor_861_861" id="FNanchor_861_861"></a><a href="#Footnote_861_861" class="fnanchor">[861]</a> To put the question, +therefore, on its real footing, the great king Louis XIV. +is an emperor, as have been all his predecessors, the +illustrious rulers of France, for fifteen centuries.<a name="FNanchor_862_862" id="FNanchor_862_862"></a><a href="#Footnote_862_862" class="fnanchor">[862]</a> And +it is an undoubted fact, that Antichrist, about whom so +much anxiety is felt, will never be allowed to appear in +the world until the French empire has been destroyed. +This, says Audigier, it would be idle to deny; for it is +asserted by many of the saints, and it is distinctly foreshadowed +by St. Paul, in his second epistle to the +Thessalonians.<a name="FNanchor_863_863" id="FNanchor_863_863"></a><a href="#Footnote_863_863" class="fnanchor">[863]</a></p> + +<p>Strange as all this appears, there was nothing in it to +revolt the enlightened age of Louis XIV. Indeed, the +French, dazzled by the brilliancy of their prince, must +have felt great interest in learning how superior he was +to all other potentates, and how he had not only been +preceded by a long line of emperors, but was in fact an +emperor himself. They must have been struck with awe +at the information communicated by Audigier respecting +the arrival of Antichrist, and the connexion between that +important event and the fate of the French monarchy. +They must have listened with pious wonder to the illustration +of these matters from the writings of the fathers, +and from the epistle to the Thessalonians. All this they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +would easily receive; because to worship the king, and +venerate the church, were the two cardinal maxims of +that age. To obey, and to believe, were the fundamental +ideas of a period, in which the fine arts did for +a time flourish,—in which the perception of beauty, +though too fastidious, was undoubtedly keen,—in which +taste and the imagination, in its lower departments, +were zealously cultivated,—but in which, on the other +hand, originality and independence of thought were extinguished, +the greatest and the largest topics were forbidden +to be discussed, the sciences were almost deserted, +reforms and innovations were hated, new opinions were +despised, and their authors punished, until at length, +the exuberance of genius being tamed into sterility, the +national intellect was reduced to that dull and monotonous +level which characterizes the last twenty years +of the reign of Louis XIV.</p> + +<p>In no instance can we find a better example of this +reactionary movement, than in the case of Bossuet, +bishop of Meaux. The success, and indeed the mere +existence, of his work on Universal History, becomes, +from this point of view, highly instructive. Considered +by itself, the book is a painful exhibition of a great +genius cramped by a superstitious age. But considered +in reference to the time in which it appeared, it is invaluable +as a symptom of the French intellect; since it +proves, that towards the end of the seventeenth century, +one of the most eminent men, in one of the first countries +of Europe, could willingly submit to a prostration +of judgment, and could display a blind credulity, of +which, in our day, even the feeblest minds would be +ashamed; and that this, so far from causing scandal, or +bringing a rebuke on the head of the author, was received +with universal and unqualified applause. Bossuet +was a great orator, a consummate dialectician, and an +accomplished master of those vague sublimities by +which most men are easily affected. All these qualities +he, a few years later, employed in the production of +what is probably the most formidable work ever directed +against Protestantism.<a name="FNanchor_864_864" id="FNanchor_864_864"></a><a href="#Footnote_864_864" class="fnanchor">[864]</a> But when he, leaving these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +matters, entered the vast field of history, he could +think of no better way of treating his new subject, than +by following the arbitrary rules peculiar to his own +profession.<a name="FNanchor_865_865" id="FNanchor_865_865"></a><a href="#Footnote_865_865" class="fnanchor">[865]</a> His work is an audacious attempt to +degrade history to a mere handmaid of theology.<a name="FNanchor_866_866" id="FNanchor_866_866"></a><a href="#Footnote_866_866" class="fnanchor">[866]</a> As +if, on such matters, doubt were synonymous with crime, +he, without the slightest hesitation, takes everything for +granted which the church had been accustomed to +believe. This enables him to speak with perfect confidence +respecting events which are lost in the remotest +antiquity. He knows the exact number of years which +have elapsed since the moment when Cain murdered +his brother; when the deluge overwhelmed the world; +and when Abraham was summoned to his mission.<a name="FNanchor_867_867" id="FNanchor_867_867"></a><a href="#Footnote_867_867" class="fnanchor">[867]</a> +The dates of these, and similar occurrences, he fixes +with a precision, which might almost make us believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +that they had taken place in his own time, if not under +his own eyes.<a name="FNanchor_868_868" id="FNanchor_868_868"></a><a href="#Footnote_868_868" class="fnanchor">[868]</a> It is true, that the Hebrew books on +which he willingly relied, supply no evidence of the +slightest value concerning the chronology even of their +own people; while the information they contain respecting +other countries is notoriously meagre and +unsatisfactory.<a name="FNanchor_869_869" id="FNanchor_869_869"></a><a href="#Footnote_869_869" class="fnanchor">[869]</a> But so narrow were the views of +Bossuet upon history, that with all this he, in his own +opinion, had no concern. The text of the Vulgate declared, +that these things had happened at a particular +time; and a number of holy men, calling themselves +the council of the church, had, in the middle of the sixteenth +century, pronounced the Vulgate to be authentic, +and had taken upon themselves to place it above all +other versions.<a name="FNanchor_870_870" id="FNanchor_870_870"></a><a href="#Footnote_870_870" class="fnanchor">[870]</a> This theological opinion was accepted +by Bossuet as an historical law; and thus the decision +of a handful of cardinals and bishops, in a superstitious +and uncritical age, is the sole authority for that early +chronology, the precision of which is, to an uninformed +reader, a matter of great admiration.<a name="FNanchor_871_871" id="FNanchor_871_871"></a><a href="#Footnote_871_871" class="fnanchor">[871]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the same way, because Bossuet had been taught +that the Jews are the chosen people of God, he, under +the title of Universal History, almost confines his attention +to them, and treats this obstinate and ignorant race +as if they formed the pivot upon which the affairs of the +universe had been made to turn.<a name="FNanchor_872_872" id="FNanchor_872_872"></a><a href="#Footnote_872_872" class="fnanchor">[872]</a> His idea of an universal +history excludes those nations who were the first +to reach civilization, and to some of whom the Hebrews +owed the scanty knowledge which they subsequently +acquired.<a name="FNanchor_873_873" id="FNanchor_873_873"></a><a href="#Footnote_873_873" class="fnanchor">[873]</a> He says little of the Persians, and less of +the Egyptians; nor does he even mention that far +greater people between the Indus and the Ganges, whose +philosophy formed one of the elements of the school of +Alexandria, whose subtle speculations anticipated all +the efforts of European metaphysics, and whose sublime +inquiries, conducted in their own exquisite language, +date from a period when the Jews, stained with every +variety of crime, were a plundering and vagabond tribe, +wandering on the face of the earth, raising their hand +against every man and every man raising his hand +against them.</p> + +<p>When he enters the more modern period, he allows +himself to be governed by the same theological prejudices. +So contracted is his view, that he considers the +whole history of the church as the history of providential +interference; and he takes no notice of the manner +in which, contrary to the original scheme, it has been +affected by foreign events.<a name="FNanchor_874_874" id="FNanchor_874_874"></a><a href="#Footnote_874_874" class="fnanchor">[874]</a> Thus, for example, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +most important fact relating to the early changes in +Christianity, is the extent to which its doctrines have +been influenced by the African form of the Platonic +philosophy.<a name="FNanchor_875_875" id="FNanchor_875_875"></a><a href="#Footnote_875_875" class="fnanchor">[875]</a> But this, Bossuet never mentions; nor +does he even hint that any such thing had occurred. +It suited his views to look upon the church as a perpetual +miracle, and he therefore omits the most important +event in its early history.<a name="FNanchor_876_876" id="FNanchor_876_876"></a><a href="#Footnote_876_876" class="fnanchor">[876]</a> To descend a little +later: every one acquainted with the progress of civilization +will allow, that no small share of it is due to +those gleams of light, which, in the midst of surrounding +darkness, shot from the great centres of Cordova +and Bagdad. These, however, were the work of Mohammedanism; +and as Bossuet had been taught that +Mohammedanism is a pestilential heresy, he could not +bring himself to believe that Christian nations had derived +anything from so corrupt a source. The consequence +is, that he says nothing of that great religion, +the noise of which has filled the world;<a name="FNanchor_877_877" id="FNanchor_877_877"></a><a href="#Footnote_877_877" class="fnanchor">[877]</a> and having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +occasion to mention its founder, he treats him with +scorn, as an impudent impostor, whose pretensions it is +hardly fitting to notice.<a name="FNanchor_878_878" id="FNanchor_878_878"></a><a href="#Footnote_878_878" class="fnanchor">[878]</a> The great apostle, who diffused +among millions of idolaters the sublime verity of +one God, is spoken of by Bossuet with supreme contempt; +because Bossuet, with the true spirit of his profession, +could see nothing to admire in those whose opinions differed +from his own.<a name="FNanchor_879_879" id="FNanchor_879_879"></a><a href="#Footnote_879_879" class="fnanchor">[879]</a> But when he has occasion to mention +some obscure member of that class to which he himself belonged, +then it is that he scatters his praises with boundless +profusion. In his scheme of universal history, Mohammed +is not worthy to play a part. He is passed by; but the truly +great man, the man to whom the human race is really +indebted, is—Martin, bishop of Tours. He it is, says +Bossuet, whose unrivalled actions filled the universe with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +his fame, both during his lifetime and after his death.<a name="FNanchor_880_880" id="FNanchor_880_880"></a><a href="#Footnote_880_880" class="fnanchor">[880]</a> It +is true, that not one educated man in fifty has ever heard +the name of Martin, bishop of Tours. But Martin performed +miracles, and the church had made him a saint; +his claims, therefore, to the attention of historians must +be far superior to the claims of one who, like Mohammed, +was without these advantages. Thus it is that, in +the opinion of the only eminent writer on history during +the power of Louis XIV., the greatest man Asia has +ever produced, and one of the greatest the world has +ever seen, is considered in every way inferior to a mean +and ignorant monk, whose most important achievement +was the erection of a monastery, and who spent the +best part of his life in useless solitude, trembling before +the superstitious fancies of his weak and ignoble +nature.<a name="FNanchor_881_881" id="FNanchor_881_881"></a><a href="#Footnote_881_881" class="fnanchor">[881]</a></p> + +<p>Such was the narrow spirit with which the great +facts of history were contemplated by a writer, who, +when he was confined to his own department, displayed +the most towering genius. This contracted view was +the inevitable consequence of his attempt to explain the +complicated movements of the human race by principles +which he had generalized from his own inferior studies.<a name="FNanchor_882_882" id="FNanchor_882_882"></a><a href="#Footnote_882_882" class="fnanchor">[882]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +Nor need any one be offended, that, from a scientific +point of view, I assign to the pursuits of Bossuet a +rank lower than that in which they are sometimes +placed. It is certain that religious dogmas do, in many +cases, influence the affairs of men. But it is equally +certain, that as civilization advances, such influence decreases, +and that even when the power of those dogmas +was at its height, there were many other motives by +which the actions of mankind were also governed. +And since the study of history is the study of the +aggregate of these motives, it is evident that history +must be superior to theology; just as the whole is +superior to a part. A neglect of this simple consideration +has, with a few eminent exceptions, led all ecclesiastical +authors into serious errors. It has induced in +them a disposition to disregard the immense variety of +external events, and to suppose that the course of affairs +is regulated by some principles which theology alone +can detect. This, indeed, is only the result of a general +law of the mind, by which those who have any favourite +profession, are apt to exaggerate its capacity; to explain +events by its maxims, and as it were, to refract through +its medium the occurrences of life.<a name="FNanchor_883_883" id="FNanchor_883_883"></a><a href="#Footnote_883_883" class="fnanchor">[883]</a> Among theologians, +however, such prejudices are more dangerous +than in any other profession, because among them alone +are they fortified by that bold assumption of supernatural +authority on which many of the clergy willingly +rely.</p> + +<p>These professional prejudices, when supported by +theological dogmas, in a reign like that of Louis XIV.,<a name="FNanchor_884_884" id="FNanchor_884_884"></a><a href="#Footnote_884_884" class="fnanchor">[884]</a> +are sufficient to account for the peculiarities which +mark the historical work of Bossuet. Besides this, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +his case, the general tendency was aggravated by personal +characteristics. His mind was remarkable for a +haughtiness, which we find constantly breaking out +into a general contempt for mankind.<a name="FNanchor_885_885" id="FNanchor_885_885"></a><a href="#Footnote_885_885" class="fnanchor">[885]</a> At the same +time his amazing eloquence, and the effects which it +never failed to produce, seemed to justify the overweening +confidence that he felt in his own powers. +There is, indeed, in some of his greatest efforts, so much +of the fire and majesty of genius, that we are reminded +of those lofty and burning words with which the prophets +of antiquity thrilled their hearers. Bossuet, thus +standing, as he supposed, on an eminence which raised +him above the ordinary weaknesses of men, loved to +taunt them with their follies, and to deride every aspiration +of their genius. Every thing like intellectual +boldness seemed to gall his own superiority.<a name="FNanchor_886_886" id="FNanchor_886_886"></a><a href="#Footnote_886_886" class="fnanchor">[886]</a> It was +this boundless arrogance with which he was filled, +which gives to his works some of their most marked +peculiarities. It was this, that made him strain every +nerve to abase and vilify those prodigious resources of +the human understanding, which are often despised by +men who are ignorant of them; but which in reality +are so great, that no one has yet arisen able to scan +them in the whole of their gigantic dimensions. It was +this same contempt for the human intellect, that made +him deny its capacity to work out for itself the epochs +through which it has passed; and, consequently, made +him recur to the dogma of supernatural interference. +It was this, again, that, in those magnificent orations +which are among the greatest wonders of modern art,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +caused him to exhaust the language of eulogy, not upon +intellectual eminence, but upon mere military achievements, +upon great conquerors, those pests and destroyers +of men, who pass their lives in discovering new ways of +slaying their enemies, and in devising new means of +aggravating the miseries of the world. And, to descend +still lower, it was this same contempt for the dearest +interests of mankind, which made him look with reverence +upon a king, who considered all those interests as +nothing; but who had the merit of enslaving the mind +of France, and of increasing the power of that body of +men, among whom Bossuet himself was the most distinguished.</p> + +<p>In the absence of sufficient evidence respecting the +general state of the French at the end of the seventeenth +century, it is impossible to ascertain to what extent such +notions as these had penetrated the popular mind. But, +looking at the manner in which government had broken +the spirit of the country, I should be inclined to suppose +that the opinions of Bossuet were very acceptable +to his own generation. This, however, is a question +rather of curiosity than of importance; for only a few +years later there appeared the first symptoms of that +unprecedented movement, which not merely destroyed +the political institutions of France, but effected a greater +and more permanent revolution in every department of +the national intellect. At the death of Louis XIV., in +literature, as well as in politics, in religion, and in +morals, everything was ripe for reaction. The materials +still existing are so ample, that it would be possible to +trace with considerable minuteness the steps of this +great process; but it will, I think, be more agreeable +to the general scheme of this Introduction, if I pass +over some of the intermediate links, and confine myself +to those salient instances in which the spirit of the age +is most strikingly portrayed.</p> + +<p>There is, indeed, something extraordinary in the +change which, in France, one generation was able to +effect in the method of writing history. The best way, +perhaps, to form an idea of this, will be to compare the +works of Voltaire with those of Bossuet; because these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +great authors were probably the most able, and were +certainly the most influential, Frenchmen during the +period they respectively represented. The first great +improvement which we find in Voltaire, as compared +with Bossuet, is an increased perception of the dignity +of the human intellect. In addition to the circumstances +already noticed, we must remember that the +reading of Bossuet lay in a direction which prevented +him from feeling this. He had not studied those +branches of knowledge where great things have been +achieved; but he was very conversant with the writings +of the saints and fathers, whose speculations are by no +means calculated to give us a high opinion of the resources +of their own understanding. Thus accustomed +to contemplate the workings of the mind in what is, on +the whole, the most puerile literature Europe has ever +produced, the contempt which Bossuet felt for mankind +went on increasing; until it reached that inordinate +degree which, in his later works, is painfully conspicuous. +But Voltaire, who paid no attention to such +things as these, passed his long life in the constant +accumulation of real and available knowledge. His +mind was essentially modern. Despising unsupported +authority, and heedless of tradition, he devoted himself +to subjects in which the triumph of the human reason +is too apparent to be mistaken. The more his knowledge +advanced, the more he admired those vast powers +by which the knowledge had been created. Hence his +admiration for the intellect of man, so far from diminishing, +grew with his growth; and, just in the same +proportion, there was strengthened his love of humanity, +and his dislike to the prejudices which had long obscured +its history. That this, in the march of his mind, was +the course it actually followed, will be evident to any +one who considers the different spirit of his works, in +reference to the different periods of life in which they +were produced.</p> + +<p>The first historical work of Voltaire was a life of +Charles XII., in 1728.<a name="FNanchor_887_887" id="FNanchor_887_887"></a><a href="#Footnote_887_887" class="fnanchor">[887]</a> At this time his knowledge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +was still scanty, and he was still influenced by the +servile traditions of the preceding generation. It is not, +therefore, wonderful, that he should express the greatest +respect for Charles, who, among the admirers of military +fame, will always preserve a certain reputation; +though his only merits are, that he ravaged many countries +and killed many men. But we find little sympathy +with his unfortunate subjects, the accumulations of +whose industry supported the royal armies;<a name="FNanchor_888_888" id="FNanchor_888_888"></a><a href="#Footnote_888_888" class="fnanchor">[888]</a> nor is +there much pity for those nations who were oppressed +by this great robber in the immense line of his conquests +from Sweden to Turkey. Indeed, the admiration +of Voltaire for Charles is unbounded. He calls him +the most extraordinary man the world had ever seen;<a name="FNanchor_889_889" id="FNanchor_889_889"></a><a href="#Footnote_889_889" class="fnanchor">[889]</a> +he declares him to be a prince full of honour;<a name="FNanchor_890_890" id="FNanchor_890_890"></a><a href="#Footnote_890_890" class="fnanchor">[890]</a> and +while he scarcely blames his infamous murder of Patkul,<a name="FNanchor_891_891" id="FNanchor_891_891"></a><a href="#Footnote_891_891" class="fnanchor">[891]</a> +he relates with evident emotion how the royal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +lunatic, at the head of forty servants, resisted an entire +army.<a name="FNanchor_892_892" id="FNanchor_892_892"></a><a href="#Footnote_892_892" class="fnanchor">[892]</a> In the same way, he says, that after the battle +of Narva, all the attempts of Charles were unable to +prevent medals from being struck at Stockholm in celebration +of that event;<a name="FNanchor_893_893" id="FNanchor_893_893"></a><a href="#Footnote_893_893" class="fnanchor">[893]</a> although Voltaire well knew +that a man of such extravagant vanity must have been +pleased by so durable a homage, and although it is quite +certain that if he had not been pleased, the medals +would never have been struck: for who would venture, +without an object, to offend, in his own capital, one of +the most arbitrary and revengeful of princes?</p> + +<p>So far, it might appear that little had been gained in +the method of writing history.<a name="FNanchor_894_894" id="FNanchor_894_894"></a><a href="#Footnote_894_894" class="fnanchor">[894]</a> But, even thus early, +we find one vast improvement. In Voltaire's Life of +Charles XII., faulty as it is, there are none of those +assumptions of supernatural interference in which +Bossuet delighted, and which were natural to the reign +of Louis XIV. The absence of this marks the first great +stage in the French school of history in the eighteenth +century; and we find the same peculiarity in all the +subsequent historians, none of whom recurred to a +method, which, though suitable for the purposes of theologians,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +is fatal to all independent inquiries, since it not +only prescribes the course the inquirer is bound to +take, but actually sets up a limit beyond which he is +forbidden to proceed.</p> + +<p>That Voltaire should have infringed upon this ancient +method only thirteen years after the death of Louis XIV., +and that he should have done this in a popular work, +abounding with such dangerous adventures as are +always found to tempt the mind to an opposite course, +is a step of no common merit, and becomes still more +worthy of remark, if taken in connexion with another +fact of considerable interest. This is, that the life of +Charles XII. represents the first epoch, not only in the +eighteenth century, but also in the intellect of Voltaire +himself.<a name="FNanchor_895_895" id="FNanchor_895_895"></a><a href="#Footnote_895_895" class="fnanchor">[895]</a> After it was published, this great man turned +awhile from history, and directed his attention to some +of the noblest subjects: to mathematics, to physics, +to jurisprudence, to the discoveries of Newton, and to +the speculations of Locke. In these things he perceived +those capabilities of the human mind, which +his own country had formerly witnessed, but of which +during the authority of Louis XIV. the memory had +been almost lost. Then it was that, with extended +knowledge and sharpened intellect, he returned to the +great field of history.<a name="FNanchor_896_896" id="FNanchor_896_896"></a><a href="#Footnote_896_896" class="fnanchor">[896]</a> The manner in which he now<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +treated his old subject, showed the change that had +come over him. In 1752, appeared his celebrated work +on Louis XIV.,<a name="FNanchor_897_897" id="FNanchor_897_897"></a><a href="#Footnote_897_897" class="fnanchor">[897]</a> the very title of which is suggestive +of the process through which his mind had passed. His +former history was an account of a king; this is an +account of an age. To the production of his youth he +gave the title of a <i>History of Charles XII.</i>; this he called +the <i>Age of Louis XIV.</i> Before, he had detailed the peculiarities +of a prince; now, he considered the movements +of a people. Indeed, in the introduction to the work, +he announces his intention to describe, ‘not the actions +of a single man, but the character of men.’<a name="FNanchor_898_898" id="FNanchor_898_898"></a><a href="#Footnote_898_898" class="fnanchor">[898]</a> Nor, in +this point of view, is the execution inferior to the design. +While he is contented with giving a summary of military +achievements, on which Bossuet hung with delight, +he enters at great length into those really important +matters which, before his time, found no place in the +history of France. He has one chapter on commerce and +internal government;<a name="FNanchor_899_899" id="FNanchor_899_899"></a><a href="#Footnote_899_899" class="fnanchor">[899]</a> another chapter on finances;<a name="FNanchor_900_900" id="FNanchor_900_900"></a><a href="#Footnote_900_900" class="fnanchor">[900]</a> +another on the history of science;<a name="FNanchor_901_901" id="FNanchor_901_901"></a><a href="#Footnote_901_901" class="fnanchor">[901]</a> and three chapters +on the progress of the fine arts.<a name="FNanchor_902_902" id="FNanchor_902_902"></a><a href="#Footnote_902_902" class="fnanchor">[902]</a> And though +Voltaire did not attach much value to theological disputes, +still he knew that they have often played a great +part in the affairs of men; he therefore gives several distinct<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +chapters to a relation of ecclesiastical matters during +the reign of Louis.<a name="FNanchor_903_903" id="FNanchor_903_903"></a><a href="#Footnote_903_903" class="fnanchor">[903]</a> It is hardly necessary to observe +the immense superiority which a scheme like this possessed, +not only over the narrow views of Bossuet, but +even over his own earlier history. Still it cannot be +denied, that we find in it prejudices from which it was +difficult for a Frenchman, educated in the reign of +Louis XIV., to be entirely free. Not only does Voltaire +dwell at needless length upon those amusements and +debaucheries of Louis, with which history can have +little concern, but he displays an evident disposition to +favour the king himself, and to protect his name from +the infamy with which it ought to be covered.<a name="FNanchor_904_904" id="FNanchor_904_904"></a><a href="#Footnote_904_904" class="fnanchor">[904]</a></p> + +<p>But the next work of Voltaire showed that this was +a mere personal feeling, and did not affect his general +views as to the part which the acts of princes ought to +occupy in history. Four years after the appearance of +the <i>Age of Louis XIV.</i>, he published his important +treatise on the <i>Morals, Manners, and Character of Nations</i>.<a name="FNanchor_905_905" id="FNanchor_905_905"></a><a href="#Footnote_905_905" class="fnanchor">[905]</a> +This is not only one of the greatest books +which appeared during the eighteenth century, but it +still remains the best on the subject to which it refers.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +The mere reading it displays is immense;<a name="FNanchor_906_906" id="FNanchor_906_906"></a><a href="#Footnote_906_906" class="fnanchor">[906]</a> what, however, +is far more admirable, is the skill with which the +author connects the various facts, and makes them illustrate +each other, sometimes by a single remark, sometimes +only by the order and position in which they are +placed. Indeed, considered solely as a work of art, it +would be difficult to praise it too highly; while, as a +symptom of the times, it is important to observe, that +it contains no traces of that adulation of royalty +which characterized Voltaire in the period of his youth, +and which is found in all the best writers during the +power of Louis XIV. In the whole of this long and +important work, the great historian takes little notice +of the intrigues of courts, or of the changes of ministers, +or of the fate of kings; but he endeavours to discover +and develop the different epochs through which +Man has successively passed. ‘I wish,’ he says, ‘to write +a history, not of wars, but of society; and to ascertain +how men lived in the interior of their families, and what +were the arts which they commonly cultivated.’<a name="FNanchor_907_907" id="FNanchor_907_907"></a><a href="#Footnote_907_907" class="fnanchor">[907]</a> For, +he adds, ‘my object is the history of the human mind, +and not a mere detail of petty facts; nor am I concerned +with the history of great lords, who made war upon +French kings; but I want to know what were the steps +by which men passed from barbarism to civilization.’<a name="FNanchor_908_908" id="FNanchor_908_908"></a><a href="#Footnote_908_908" class="fnanchor">[908]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was in this way that Voltaire taught historians +to concentrate their attention on matters of real importance, +and to neglect those idle details with which +history had formerly been filled. But what proves this +to be a movement arising as much from the spirit of the +age as from the individual author, is, that we find precisely +the same tendency in the works of Montesquieu +and Turgot, who were certainly the two most eminent +of the contemporaries of Voltaire; and both of whom +followed a method similar to his, in so far as, omitting +descriptions of kings, courts, and battles, they confined +themselves to points which illustrate the character of +mankind, and the general march of civilization. And +such was the popularity of this change in the old routine, +that its influence was felt by other historians of inferior, +but still of considerable, ability. In 1755, Mallet<a name="FNanchor_909_909" id="FNanchor_909_909"></a><a href="#Footnote_909_909" class="fnanchor">[909]</a> +published his interesting, and, at the time it was written, +most valuable work, on the history of Denmark;<a name="FNanchor_910_910" id="FNanchor_910_910"></a><a href="#Footnote_910_910" class="fnanchor">[910]</a> in +which he professes himself a pupil of the new school. +‘For why,’ he says, ‘should history be only a recital of +battles, sieges, intrigues, and negotiations? And why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +should it contain merely a heap of petty facts and dates, +rather than a great picture of the opinions, customs, +and even inclinations of a people?’<a name="FNanchor_911_911" id="FNanchor_911_911"></a><a href="#Footnote_911_911" class="fnanchor">[911]</a> Thus too, in +1765, Mably published the first part of his celebrated +work on the history of France;<a name="FNanchor_912_912" id="FNanchor_912_912"></a><a href="#Footnote_912_912" class="fnanchor">[912]</a> in the preface to +which, he complains that historians ‘have neglected the +origin of laws and customs, in favour of sieges and +battles.’<a name="FNanchor_913_913" id="FNanchor_913_913"></a><a href="#Footnote_913_913" class="fnanchor">[913]</a> In the same spirit, Velly and Villaret, in +their voluminous history of France, express regret that +historians should usually relate what happens to the +sovereign, in preference to what happens to the people, +and should omit the manners and characteristics of a +nation, in order to study the acts of a single man.<a name="FNanchor_914_914" id="FNanchor_914_914"></a><a href="#Footnote_914_914" class="fnanchor">[914]</a> +Duclos, again, announces that his history is not of war, +nor of politics, but of men and manners:<a name="FNanchor_915_915" id="FNanchor_915_915"></a><a href="#Footnote_915_915" class="fnanchor">[915]</a> while, +strange to say, even the courtly Hénault declares that +his object was to describe laws and manners, which he +calls the soul of history, or rather history itself.<a name="FNanchor_916_916" id="FNanchor_916_916"></a><a href="#Footnote_916_916" class="fnanchor">[916]</a></p> + +<p>Thus it was, that historians began to shift, as it were, +the scene of their labours, and to study subjects connected +with those popular interests, on which the great +writers under Louis XIV. disdained to waste a thought.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +I need hardly observe, how agreeable such views were +to the general spirit of the eighteenth century, and how +well they harmonized with the temper of men who were +striving to lay aside their former prejudices, and despise +what had once been universally admired. All this was +but part of that vast movement, which prepared the +way for the Revolution, by unsettling ancient opinions, +by encouraging a certain mobility and restlessness of +mind, and, above all, by the disrespect it showed for +those powerful individuals, hitherto regarded as gods +rather than as men, but who now, for the first time, +were neglected by the greatest and most popular historians, +who passed over even their prominent actions, +in order to dwell upon the welfare of nations, and the +interests of the people at large.</p> + +<p>To return, however, to what was actually effected by +Voltaire, there is no doubt that, in his case, this tendency +of the time was strengthened by a natural comprehensiveness +of mind, which predisposed him to large +views, and made him dissatisfied with that narrow range +to which history had been hitherto confined.<a name="FNanchor_917_917" id="FNanchor_917_917"></a><a href="#Footnote_917_917" class="fnanchor">[917]</a> Whatever +may be thought of the other qualities of Voltaire, +it must be allowed that, in his intellect, everything was +on a great scale.<a name="FNanchor_918_918" id="FNanchor_918_918"></a><a href="#Footnote_918_918" class="fnanchor">[918]</a> Always prepared for thought, and +always ready to generalize, he was averse to the study +of individual actions, unless they could be made +available for the establishment of some broad and +permanent principle. Hence his habit of looking at +history with a view to the stages through which the +country had passed, rather than with a view to the +character of the men by whom the country had been +governed. The same tendency appears in his lighter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +works; and it has been well observed,<a name="FNanchor_919_919" id="FNanchor_919_919"></a><a href="#Footnote_919_919" class="fnanchor">[919]</a> that, even in +his dramas, he endeavours to portray, not so much the +passions of individuals, as the spirit of epochs. In +<i>Mahomet</i>, his subject is a great religion; in <i>Alzire</i>, the +conquest of America; in <i>Brutus</i>, the formation of the +Roman power; in the <i>Death of Cæsar</i>, the rise of the +empire upon the ruins of that power.<a name="FNanchor_920_920" id="FNanchor_920_920"></a><a href="#Footnote_920_920" class="fnanchor">[920]</a></p> + +<p>By this determination to look upon the course of +events as a great and connected whole, Voltaire was +led to several results, which have been complacently +adopted by many authors, who, even while using them, +revile him from whom they were taken. He was the +first historian who, rejecting the ordinary method of +investigation, endeavoured, by large general views, to +explain the origin of feudality; and, by indicating +some of the causes of its decline in the fourteenth +century,<a name="FNanchor_921_921" id="FNanchor_921_921"></a><a href="#Footnote_921_921" class="fnanchor">[921]</a> he laid the foundation for a philosophic +estimate of that important institution.<a name="FNanchor_922_922" id="FNanchor_922_922"></a><a href="#Footnote_922_922" class="fnanchor">[922]</a> He was the +author of a profound remark, afterwards adopted by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +Constant, to the effect, that licentious religious ceremonies +have no connexion with licentious national +morals.<a name="FNanchor_923_923" id="FNanchor_923_923"></a><a href="#Footnote_923_923" class="fnanchor">[923]</a> Another observation of his, which has been +only partly used by writers on ecclesiastical history, is +pregnant with instruction. He says, that one of the +reasons why the bishops of Rome acquired an authority +so superior to that of the eastern patriarchs, was the +greater subtlety of the Greek mind. Nearly all the +heresies proceeded from the east; and, with the exception +of Honorius I., not a single pope adopted a system +condemned by the church. This gave to the papal +power an unity and consolidation, which the patriarchal +power was unable to reach; and thus the Holy See owes +part of its authority to the early dulness of the +European fancy.<a name="FNanchor_924_924" id="FNanchor_924_924"></a><a href="#Footnote_924_924" class="fnanchor">[924]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span></p> + +<p>It would be impossible to relate all the original remarks +of Voltaire, which, when he made them, were attacked +as dangerous paradoxes, and are now valued as sober +truths. He was the first historian who recommended +universal freedom of trade; and, although he expresses +himself with great caution,<a name="FNanchor_925_925" id="FNanchor_925_925"></a><a href="#Footnote_925_925" class="fnanchor">[925]</a> still the mere announcement +of the idea in a popular history forms an epoch in +the progress of the French mind. He is the originator +of that important distinction between the increase of +population and the increase of food, to which political +economy has been greatly indebted;<a name="FNanchor_926_926" id="FNanchor_926_926"></a><a href="#Footnote_926_926" class="fnanchor">[926]</a> a principle +adopted several years later by Townsend, and then used +by Malthus as the basis of his celebrated work.<a name="FNanchor_927_927" id="FNanchor_927_927"></a><a href="#Footnote_927_927" class="fnanchor">[927]</a> He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +has, moreover, the merit of being the first who dispelled +the childish admiration with which the Middle Ages +had been hitherto regarded, and which they owed to +those dull and learned writers, who, in the sixteenth +and seventeenth centuries, were the principal investigators +of the early history of Europe. These industrious +compilers had collected extensive materials, which +Voltaire turned to good account, and by their aid overthrew +the conclusions at which the authors had themselves +arrived. In his works, the Middle Ages are, for +the first time, represented as what they really were,—a +period of ignorance, ferocity, and licentiousness; a +period when injuries were unredressed, crime unpunished, +and superstition unrebuked. It may be said, +with some show of justice, that Voltaire, in the picture +he drew, fell into the opposite extreme, and did not +sufficiently recognize the merit of those truly great +men, who, at long intervals, stood here and there, like +solitary beacons, whose light only made the surrounding +darkness more visible. Still, after every allowance for +that exaggeration which a reaction of opinions always +causes, it is certain that his view of the Middle Ages is +not only far more accurate than that of any preceding +writer, but conveys a much juster idea of the time than +can be found in those subsequent compilations which we +owe to the industry of modern antiquaries; a simple +and plodding race, who admire the past because they +are ignorant of the present, and who, spending their +lives amid the dust of forgotten manuscripts, think +themselves able, with the resources of their little +learning, to speculate on the affairs of men, to trace the +history of different periods, and even to assign to each +the praise it ought to receive.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span></p> + +<p>With such writers as these, Voltaire was always at +war; and no one has done so much to lessen the influence +they once exercised over even the highest +branches of knowledge. There was also another class of +dictators, whose authority this great man was equally +successful in reducing, namely, the old class of classical +scholars and commentators, who, from the middle of the +fourteenth till early in the eighteenth century, were the +chief dispensers of fame, and were respected as being +by far the most distinguished men Europe had ever +produced. The first great assaults made upon them +were late in the seventeenth century, when two controversies +sprung up, of which I shall hereafter give an +account,—one in France, and one in England,—by both +of which their power was considerably damaged. But +their two most formidable opponents were, undoubtedly, +Locke and Voltaire. The immense services rendered +by Locke in lessening the reputation of the old classical +school, will be examined in another part of this work; +at present we are only concerned with the steps taken +by Voltaire.</p> + +<p>The authority wielded by the great classical scholars +rested not only on their abilities, which are undeniable, +but also on the supposed dignity of their pursuits. It +was generally believed that ancient history possessed +some inherent superiority over modern history; and this +being taken for granted, the inference naturally followed, +that the cultivators of the one were more praiseworthy +than the cultivators of the other; and that a Frenchman, +for instance, who should write the history of some +Greek republic, displayed a nobler turn of mind than if +he had written the history of his own country. This +singular prejudice had for centuries been a traditional +notion; which men accepted, because they had received +it from their fathers, and which it would have been +almost an impiety to dispute. The result was, that the +few really able writers on history devoted themselves +chiefly to that of the ancients; or, if they published an +account of modern times, they handled their theme, not +according to modern ideas, but according to ideas gathered +from their more favourite pursuit. This confusion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +of the standard of one age with the standard of another, +caused a double evil. Historians, by adopting this plan, +injured the originality of their own minds; and, what +was far worse, they set a bad example to the literature +of their country. For every great nation has a mode of +expression, and of thought, peculiar to itself, and with +which its sympathies are intimately connected. To introduce +any foreign model, however admirable it may +be, is to violate this connexion, and to impair the value +of literature by limiting the scope of its action. By +such a course, the taste may possibly be refined, but the +vigour will certainly be weakened. Indeed, the refinement +of the taste may well be doubted, when we see +what has taken place in our country, where our great +scholars have corrupted the English language by a +jargon so uncouth, that a plain man can hardly discern +the real lack of ideas which their barbarous and mottled +dialect strives to hide.<a name="FNanchor_928_928" id="FNanchor_928_928"></a><a href="#Footnote_928_928" class="fnanchor">[928]</a> At all events, it is certain, +that every people worthy of being called a nation, possess +in their own language ample resources for expressing +the highest ideas they are able to form; and although, +in matters of science, it may be convenient to coin such +words as are more easily understood in foreign countries, +it is a grave offence to depart on other subjects +from the vernacular speech; and it is a still graver one,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +to introduce notions and standards for action, suited +perhaps to former times, but which the march of society +has left far behind, and with which we have no real +sympathy, though they may excite that sickly and artificial +interest which the classical prejudices of early +education still contrive to create.</p> + +<p>It was against these evils that Voltaire entered the +field. The wit and the ridicule with which he attacked +the dreaming scholars of his own time, can only be appreciated +by those who have studied his works. Not, as +some have supposed, that he used these weapons as a +substitute for argument, still less that he fell into the +error of making ridicule a test for truth. No one could +reason more closely than Voltaire, when reasoning +suited his purpose. But he had to deal with men impervious +to argument; men whose inordinate reverence +for antiquity had only left them two ideas, namely, that +every thing old is right, and that every thing new is +wrong. To argue against these opinions would be idle +indeed; the only other resource was, to make them ridiculous, +and weaken their influence, by holding up their +authors to contempt. This was one of the tasks Voltaire +set himself to perform; and he did it well.<a name="FNanchor_929_929" id="FNanchor_929_929"></a><a href="#Footnote_929_929" class="fnanchor">[929]</a> He, therefore, +used ridicule, not as the test of truth, but as the +scourge of folly. And with such effect was the punishment +administered, that not only did the pedants and +theologians of his own time wince under the lash, but +even their successors feel their ears tingle when they +read his biting words; and they revenge themselves by +reviling the memory of that great writer, whose works +are as a thorn in their side, and whose very name they +hold in undisguised abhorrence.</p> + +<p>These two classes have, indeed, reasons enough for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +hatred with which they still regard the greatest Frenchman +of the eighteenth century. For, Voltaire did more +than any other man to sap the foundation of ecclesiastical +power, and to destroy the supremacy of classical +studies. This is not the place for discussing the theological +opinions which he attacked; but of the state of classical +opinions an idea may be formed, by considering some +of those circumstances which were recorded by the +ancients respecting their history, and which, until the +appearance of Voltaire, were implicitly believed by +modern scholars, and through them by the people at +large.</p> + +<p>It was believed that, in ancient times, Mars ravished +a virgin, and that the offspring of the intrigue were no +other than Romulus and Remus, both of whom it was +intended to put to death; but they were fortunately +saved by the attentions of a she-wolf and a woodpecker; +the wolf giving them suck, and the woodpecker protecting +them from insects. It was, moreover, believed +that Romulus and Remus, when grown up to man's +estate, determined to build a city, and that, being joined +by the descendants of the Trojan warriors, they succeeded +in erecting Rome. It was believed that both +brothers came to an untimely end; Remus being murdered, +and Romulus being taken up to heaven by his +father, who descended for that purpose in the midst of +a tempest. The great scholars then proceeded to relate +the succession of several other kings; the most remarkable +of whom was Numa, whose only communications +with his wife were carried on in a sacred grove. Another +of the sovereigns of Rome was Tullus Hostilius, who, +having offended the clergy, perished from the effects of +their anger; his death being caused by lightning, and +preceded by pestilence. Then again, there was one +Servius Tullius, who was also a king, and whose greatness +was prognosticated by the appearance of flames +round his head as he was sleeping in his cradle. After +this, it was but a slight matter that the ordinary laws +of mortality should be suspended; we were, therefore, assured +that those ignorant barbarians, the early Romans, +passed two hundred and forty-five years under the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +government of only seven kings, all of whom were +elected in the prime of life, one of whom was expelled +the city, and three of whom were put to death.</p> + +<p>These are a few of the idle stories in which the great +scholars took intense delight, and which, during many +centuries, were supposed to form a necessary part of the +annals of the Latin empire. Indeed, so universal was +the credulity, that, until they were destroyed by Voltaire, +there were only four writers who had ventured openly +to attack them. Cluverius, Perizonius, Pouilly, and +Beaufort were the names of these bold innovators; but +by none of them was any impression made on the +public mind. The works of Cluverius and Perizonius, +being composed in Latin, were addressed entirely to a +class of readers who, infatuated with a love of antiquity, +would listen to nothing that diminished the reputation +of its history. Pouilly and Beaufort wrote in French; +both of them, and especially Beaufort, were men of +considerable ability; but their powers were not versatile +enough to enable them to extirpate prejudices which +were so strongly protected, and which had been fostered +by the education of many successive generations.</p> + +<p>The service, therefore, rendered by Voltaire in purging +history of these foolish conceits, is, not that he +was the first by whom they were attacked, but that he +was the first to attack them with success; and this because +he was also the first who mingled ridicule with +argument, thus not only assailing the system, but also +weakening the authority of those by whom the system +was supported. His irony, his wit, his pungent and +telling sarcasms, produced more effect than the gravest +arguments could have done; and there can be no doubt +that he was fully justified in using those great resources +with which nature had endowed him, since by their aid +he advanced the interests of truth, and relieved men +from some of their most inveterate prejudices.</p> + +<p>It is not, however, to be supposed that ridicule was +the only means employed by Voltaire in effecting this +important object. So far from that, I can say with +confidence, after a careful comparison of both writers, +that the most decisive arguments advanced by Niebuhr<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +against the early history of Rome, had all been anticipated +by Voltaire; in whose works they may be found, +by whoever will take the trouble of reading what this +great man has written, instead of ignorantly railing +against him. Without entering into needless detail, it +is enough to mention that, amidst a great variety of +very ingenious and very learned discussion, Niebuhr has +put forward several views with which later critics have +been dissatisfied; but that there are three, and only +three, principles which are fundamental to his history, +and which it is impossible to refute. These are:—I. +That, on account of the inevitable intermixture of +fable essential to a rude people, no nation can possess +trustworthy details respecting its own origin. II. That +even such early documents as the Romans might have +possessed, had been destroyed before they were incorporated +into a regular history. III. That ceremonies +established in honour of certain events alleged to have +taken place in former times, were a proof, not that the +events had happened, but that they were believed to +have happened. The whole fabric of the early history +of Rome at once fell to pieces, as soon as these three +principles were applied to it. What, however, is most +remarkable, is, that not only are all three laid down by +Voltaire, but their bearing upon Roman history is distinctly +shown. He says that no nation is acquainted +with its own origin; so that all primitive history is +necessarily an invention.<a name="FNanchor_930_930" id="FNanchor_930_930"></a><a href="#Footnote_930_930" class="fnanchor">[930]</a> He remarks, that since +even such historical works as the Romans once possessed, +were all destroyed when their city was burned, +no confidence can be placed in the accounts which, at +a much later period, are given by Livy and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +compilers.<a name="FNanchor_931_931" id="FNanchor_931_931"></a><a href="#Footnote_931_931" class="fnanchor">[931]</a> And, as innumerable scholars busied themselves +in collecting evidence respecting ceremonies instituted +in celebration of certain events, and then appealed +to the evidence in order to prove the events, Voltaire +makes a reflection which now seems very obvious, but +which these learned men had entirely overlooked. He +notices, that their labour is bootless, because the date of +the evidence is, with extremely few exceptions, much +later than the date of the event to which it refers. +In such cases, the existence of a festival, or of a monument, +proves, indeed, the belief which men entertain, +but by no means proves the reality of the occurrence +concerning which the belief is held.<a name="FNanchor_932_932" id="FNanchor_932_932"></a><a href="#Footnote_932_932" class="fnanchor">[932]</a> This simple, but +important maxim, is, even in our own days, constantly +lost sight of, while before the eighteenth century it was +universally neglected. Hence it was that historians +were able to accumulate fables which were believed +without examination;<a name="FNanchor_933_933" id="FNanchor_933_933"></a><a href="#Footnote_933_933" class="fnanchor">[933]</a> it being altogether forgotten,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +that fables, as Voltaire says, begin to be current in one +generation, are established in the second, become respectable +in the third, while in the fourth generation +temples are raised in honour of them.<a name="FNanchor_934_934" id="FNanchor_934_934"></a><a href="#Footnote_934_934" class="fnanchor">[934]</a></p> + +<p>I have been the more particular in stating the immense +obligations history is under to Voltaire, because in +England there exists against him a prejudice, which +nothing but ignorance, or something worse than ignorance, +can excuse;<a name="FNanchor_935_935" id="FNanchor_935_935"></a><a href="#Footnote_935_935" class="fnanchor">[935]</a> and because, taking him on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +whole, he is probably the greatest historian Europe has +yet produced. In reference, however, to the mental +habits of the eighteenth century, it is important to show, +that in the same period similar comprehensiveness was +being displayed by other French historians; so that in +this case, as in all others, we shall find that a large +share of what is effected, even by the most eminent +men, is due to the character of the age in which they +live.</p> + +<p>The vast labours of Voltaire towards reforming the +old method of writing history, were greatly aided by +those important works which Montesquieu put forward +during the same period. In 1734,<a name="FNanchor_936_936" id="FNanchor_936_936"></a><a href="#Footnote_936_936" class="fnanchor">[936]</a> this remarkable +man published what may be truly called the first book +in which there can be found any information concerning +the real history of Rome; because it is also the first in +which the affairs of the ancient world are treated in a +large and comprehensive spirit.<a name="FNanchor_937_937" id="FNanchor_937_937"></a><a href="#Footnote_937_937" class="fnanchor">[937]</a> Fourteen years later, +there appeared, by the same author, the <i>Spirit of Laws</i>; +a more famous production, but, as it seems to me, not a +greater one. The immense merit of the <i>Spirit of Laws</i> +is, indeed, incontestable, and cannot be affected by the +captious attempts made to diminish it by those minute +critics, who seem to think that when they detect the +occasional errors of a great man, they in some degree reduce +him to their own level. It is not such petty +cavilling which can destroy an European reputation; +and the noble work of Montesquieu will long survive all +attacks of this kind, because its large and suggestive +generalizations would retain their value even if the particular +facts of which the illustrations consist were all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +unfounded.<a name="FNanchor_938_938" id="FNanchor_938_938"></a><a href="#Footnote_938_938" class="fnanchor">[938]</a> Still, I am inclined to believe, that in +point of original thought it is barely equal to his earlier +work, though it is unquestionably the fruit of much +greater reading. Without, however, instituting a comparison +between them, our present object is merely to +consider the contributions they jointly contain towards +a right understanding of history, and the way in which +those contributions are connected with the general spirit +of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p>In this point of view, there are, in the works of Montesquieu, +two leading peculiarities. The first is, the +complete rejection of those personal anecdotes, and +those trivial details respecting individuals, which belong +to biography, but with which, as Montesquieu clearly +saw, history has no concern. The other peculiarity is, +the very remarkable attempt which he first made to +effect an union between the history of man and those +sciences which deal with the external world. As these +are the two great characteristics of the method adopted +by Montesquieu, it will be necessary to give some +account of them, before we can understand the place he +really occupies, as one of the founders of the philosophy +of history.</p> + +<p>We have already seen that Voltaire had strongly insisted +on the necessity of reforming history, by paying +more attention to the history of the people, and less attention +to that of their political and military rulers. +We have also seen, that this great improvement was so +agreeable to the spirit of the time, that it was generally +and quickly adopted, and thus became an indication of +those democratic tendencies, of which it was in reality +a result. It is not, therefore, surprising that Montesquieu +should have taken the same course, even before +the movement had been clearly declared; since he, like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +most great thinkers, was a representative of the intellectual +condition, and a satisfier of the intellectual +wants, of the age in which he lived.</p> + +<p>But, what constitutes the peculiarity of Montesquieu +in this matter, is, that with him a contempt for those +details respecting courts, ministers, and princes, in which +ordinary compilers take great delight, was accompanied +by an equal contempt for other details which are really +interesting, because they concern the mental habits of +the few truly eminent men who, from time to time, have +appeared on the stage of public life. This was because +Montesquieu perceived that, though these things are +very interesting, they are also very unimportant. He +knew, what no historian before him had even suspected, +that in the great march of human affairs, individual +peculiarities count for nothing; and that, therefore, the +historian has no business with them, but should leave +them to the biographer, to whose province they properly +belong. The consequence is, that not only does he +treat the most powerful princes with such disregard as +to relate the reigns of six emperors in two lines,<a name="FNanchor_939_939" id="FNanchor_939_939"></a><a href="#Footnote_939_939" class="fnanchor">[939]</a> but +he constantly enforces the necessity, even in the case of +eminent men, of subordinating their special influence to +the more general influence of the surrounding society. +Thus, many writers had ascribed the ruin of the Roman +Republic to the ambition of Cæsar and Pompey, and +particularly to the deep schemes of Cæsar. This, Montesquieu +totally denies. According to his view of history, +no great alteration can be effected, except by virtue of +a long train of antecedents, where alone we are to +seek the cause of what to a superficial eye is the work +of individuals. The republic, therefore, was overthrown, +not by Cæsar and Pompey, but by that state of things +which made the success of Cæsar and Pompey +possible.<a name="FNanchor_940_940" id="FNanchor_940_940"></a><a href="#Footnote_940_940" class="fnanchor">[940]</a> It is thus that the events which ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +historians relate are utterly valueless. Such events, instead +of being causes, are merely the occasions on which +the real causes act.<a name="FNanchor_941_941" id="FNanchor_941_941"></a><a href="#Footnote_941_941" class="fnanchor">[941]</a> They may be called the accidents +of history; and they must be treated as subservient to +those vast and comprehensive conditions, by which alone +the rise and fall of nations are ultimately governed.<a name="FNanchor_942_942" id="FNanchor_942_942"></a><a href="#Footnote_942_942" class="fnanchor">[942]</a></p> + +<p>This, then, was the first great merit of Montesquieu, +that he effected a complete separation between biography +and history, and taught historians to study, not the pecularities +of individual character, but the general +aspect of the society in which the peculiarities appeared. +If this remarkable man had accomplished nothing further, +he would have rendered an incalculable service to +history, by pointing out how one of its most fertile +sources of error might be safely removed. And although, +unhappily, we have not yet reaped the full benefit of his +example, this is because his successors have really had +the capacity of rising to so high a generalization: it is, +however, certain, that since his time, an approximation +towards such elevated views may be noticed, even +among those inferior writers who, for want of sufficient +grasp, are unable to adopt them to their full extent.</p> + +<p>In addition to this, Montesquieu made another great +advance in the method of treating history. He was the +first who, in an inquiry into the relations between the +social conditions of a country and its jurisprudence, +called in the aid of physical knowledge, in order to +ascertain how the character of any given civilization is +modified by the action of the external world. In his +work on the <i>Spirit of Laws</i>, he studies the way in which +both the civil and political legislation of a people are +naturally connected with their climate, soil, and food.<a name="FNanchor_943_943" id="FNanchor_943_943"></a><a href="#Footnote_943_943" class="fnanchor">[943]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> +It is true, that in this vast enterprise he almost entirely +failed; but this was because meteorology, chemistry, +and physiology, were still too backward to admit of such +an undertaking. This, however, affects the value only +of his conclusions, not of his method; and here, as elsewhere, +we see the great thinker tracing the outline of a +plan, which, in the then state of knowledge, it was impossible +to fill up, and the completion of which he was +obliged to leave to the riper experience and more +powerful resources of a later age. Thus to anticipate +the march of the human intellect, and, as it were, forestal +its subsequent acquisitions, is the peculiar prerogative +of minds of the highest order; and it is this which +gives to the writings of Montesquieu a certain fragmentary +and provisional appearance, which was the necessary +consequence of a profoundly speculative genius dealing +with materials that were intractable, simply because +science had not yet reduced them to order by generalizing +the laws of their phenomena. Hence it is, that +many of the inferences drawn by Montesquieu are untenable; +such, for instance, as those regarding the effect +of diet in stimulating population by increasing the +fecundity of women,<a name="FNanchor_944_944" id="FNanchor_944_944"></a><a href="#Footnote_944_944" class="fnanchor">[944]</a> and the effect of climate in +altering the proportion between the births of the +sexes.<a name="FNanchor_945_945" id="FNanchor_945_945"></a><a href="#Footnote_945_945" class="fnanchor">[945]</a> In other cases, an increased acquaintance with +barbarous nations has sufficed to correct his conclusions, +particularly those concerning the effect which he supposed +climate to produce on individual character; for +we have now the most decisive evidence, that he was +wrong in asserting<a name="FNanchor_946_946" id="FNanchor_946_946"></a><a href="#Footnote_946_946" class="fnanchor">[946]</a> that hot climates make people +unchaste and cowardly, while cold climates make them +virtuous and brave.</p> + +<p>These, indeed, are comparatively trifling objections, +because, in all the highest branches of knowledge, the +main difficulty is, not to discover facts, but to discover +the true method according to which the laws of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> +facts may be ascertained.<a name="FNanchor_947_947" id="FNanchor_947_947"></a><a href="#Footnote_947_947" class="fnanchor">[947]</a> In this, Montesquieu performed +a double service, since he not only enriched +history, but also strengthened its foundation. He enriched +history by incorporating with it physical inquiries; +and he strengthened history by separating it from biography, +and thus freeing it from details which are +always unimportant, and often unauthentic. And +although he committed the error of studying the influence +of nature over men considered as individuals,<a name="FNanchor_948_948" id="FNanchor_948_948"></a><a href="#Footnote_948_948" class="fnanchor">[948]</a> +rather than over men considered as an aggregate society, +this arose principally from the fact that, in his time, the +resources necessary for the more complicated study had +not yet been created. Those resources, as I have shown, +are political economy and statistics; political economy +supplying the means of connecting the laws of physical +agents with the laws of the inequality of wealth, and, +therefore, with a great variety of social disturbances; +while statistics enable us to verify those laws in their +widest extent, and to prove how completely the volition +of individual men is controlled by their antecedents, +and by the circumstances in which they are placed. It +was, therefore, not only natural, but inevitable, that +Montesquieu should fail in his magnificent attempt to +unite the laws of the human mind with the laws of +external nature. He failed, partly because the sciences +of external nature were too backward, and partly because +those other branches of knowledge which connect +nature with men were still unformed. For, as to political +economy, it had no existence as a science until the +publication of the <i>Wealth of Nations</i> in 1776, twenty-one +years after the death of Montesquieu. As to +statistics, their philosophy is a still more recent creation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +since it is only during the last thirty years that they +have been systematically applied to social phenomena; +the earlier statisticians being merely a body of industrious +collectors, groping in the dark, bringing together +facts of every kind without selection or method, and +whose labours were consequently unavailable for those +important purposes to which they have been successfully +applied during the present generation.</p> + +<p>Only two years after the publication of the <i>Spirit of +Laws</i>, Turgot delivered those celebrated lectures, of +which it has been said, that in them he created the +philosophy of history.<a name="FNanchor_949_949" id="FNanchor_949_949"></a><a href="#Footnote_949_949" class="fnanchor">[949]</a> This praise is somewhat exaggerated; +for in the most important matters relating +to the philosophy of his subject, he takes the same view +as Montesquieu; and Montesquieu, besides preceding +him in point of time, was his superior certainly in +learning, perhaps in genius. Still, the merit of Turgot +is immense; and he belongs to that extremely small +class of men who have looked at history comprehensively, +and have recognized the almost boundless knowledge +needed for its investigation. In this respect, his method +is identical with that of Montesquieu, since both of these +great men excluded from their scheme the personal +details which ordinary historians accumulate, and concentrated +their attention upon those large general causes, +by the operation of which the destinies of nations are +permanently affected. Turgot clearly perceived, that, +notwithstanding the variety of events produced by the +play of human passions, there is amid this apparent +confusion a principle of order, and a regularity of march, +not to be mistaken by those whose grasp is firm enough +to seize the history of man as a complete and single +whole.<a name="FNanchor_950_950" id="FNanchor_950_950"></a><a href="#Footnote_950_950" class="fnanchor">[950]</a> It is true that Turgot, subsequently engaged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +in political life, never possessed sufficient leisure to fill +up the splendid outline of what he so successfully +sketched: but though in the execution of his plan he +fell short of Montesquieu, still the analogy between the +two men is obvious, as also is their relation to the age +in which they lived. They, as well as Voltaire, were +the unconscious advocates of the democratic movement, +inasmuch as they discountenanced the homage which +historians had formerly paid to individuals, and rescued +history from being a mere recital of the deeds of political +and ecclesiastical rulers. At the same time, Turgot, +by the captivating prospects which he held out of future +progress,<a name="FNanchor_951_951" id="FNanchor_951_951"></a><a href="#Footnote_951_951" class="fnanchor">[951]</a> and by the picture which he drew of the +capacity of society to improve itself, increased the impatience +which his countrymen were beginning to feel +against that despotic government, in whose presence +amelioration seemed to be hopeless. These, and similar +speculations, which now for the first time appeared in +French literature, stimulated the activity of the intellectual +classes, cheered them under the persecutions to +which they were exposed, and emboldened them to the +arduous enterprise of leading on the people to attack +the institutions of their native land. Thus it was, that +in France every thing tended to the same result. Every +thing indicated the approach of some sharp and terrible +struggle, in which the spirit of the present should war +with the spirit of the past; and in which it should be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> +finally settled, whether the people of France could free +themselves from the chains in which they had long been +held, or whether, missing their aim, they were doomed +to sink still lower in that ignominious vassalage, which +makes even the most splendid periods of their political +history a warning and a lesson to the civilized world.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_807_807" id="Footnote_807_807"></a><a href="#FNanchor_807_807"><span class="label">[807]</span></a> See some very just remarks in <i>Whewell's Philos. of the +Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. ii. p. 143. In <i>Neander's Hist. of the Church</i>, +vol. iv. pp. 41, 128, there are two curious illustrations of the +universal interest which theological discussions once inspired in +Europe; and on the former subservience of philosophy to theology, +compare <i>Hamilton's Discussions on Philosophy</i>, p. 197. But no one has +treated this subject so ably as M. Auguste Comte, in his great work, +<i>Philosophie Positive</i>. The service which the metaphysicians rendered to +the church by their development of the doctrine of transubstantiation +(<i>Blánco White's Evidence against Catholicism</i>, pp. 256–258) is a +striking instance of this subordination of the intellect to +ecclesiastical dogmas.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_808_808" id="Footnote_808_808"></a><a href="#FNanchor_808_808"><span class="label">[808]</span></a> M. Tocqueville says, what I am inclined to think is true, +that an increasing spirit of equality lessens the disposition to form +new religious creeds. <i>Démocratie en Amérique</i>, vol. iv. pp. 16, 17. At +all events, it is certain that increasing knowledge has this effect; for +those great men whose turn of mind would formerly have made them +heretics, are now content to confine their innovations to other fields +of thought. If St. Augustin had lived in the seventeenth century, he +would have reformed or created the physical sciences. If Sir Isaac +Newton had lived in the fourth century, he would have organized a new +sect, and have troubled the church with his originality.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_809_809" id="Footnote_809_809"></a><a href="#FNanchor_809_809"><span class="label">[809]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xix. pp. 315, 316; where it is said, +‘l'ouvrage de Du Haillan est remarquable en ce que c'est le premier +corps d'histoire de France qui ait paru dans notre langue.’ See also +<i>Dacier</i>, <i>Rapport sur les Progrès de l'Histoire</i>, p. 170; and <i>Des +Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. x. p. 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_810_810" id="Footnote_810_810"></a><a href="#FNanchor_810_810"><span class="label">[810]</span></a> <i>Bayle</i>, article <i>Haillan</i>, note L.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_811_811" id="Footnote_811_811"></a><a href="#FNanchor_811_811"><span class="label">[811]</span></a> <i>Mercure François</i>, in <i>Bayle</i>, article <i>Haillan</i>, note D.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_812_812" id="Footnote_812_812"></a><a href="#FNanchor_812_812"><span class="label">[812]</span></a> <i>De Rebus gestis Francorum</i>, which appeared about 1516. +<i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xiii. p. 119. Compare, respecting the author, +<i>Mézéray</i>, <i>Hist. de France</i>, vol. ii. p. 363, with <i>Audigier</i>, +<i>l'Origine des François</i>, vol. ii. p. 118, who complains of his opinion +about Clovis, ‘quoy qu'il fasse profession de relever la gloire des +François.’ Even the superficial Boulainvilliers (<i>Hist. de l'Ancien +Gouvernement</i>, vol. ii. p. 166) contemptuously notices ‘les rétoriciens +postérieurs, tels que Paul Emile.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_813_813" id="Footnote_813_813"></a><a href="#FNanchor_813_813"><span class="label">[813]</span></a> Compare <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. i. pp. 176, +177, with <i>Montlosier</i>, <i>Monarchie Française</i>, vol. i. pp. 43, 44. +Philippe de Comines, though superior to Sismondi and Montlosier in point +of ability, lived in the middle ages, and therefore had no idea of +doubting, but simply says, ‘Pharamond fut esleu roy, l'an 420, et +régna dix ans,’ <i>Mém. de Comines</i>, livre viii. chap. xxvii. +vol. iii. p. 232. But De Thou, coming a hundred years after Comines, +evidently suspected that it was not all quite right, and therefore puts +it on the authority of others. ‘Pharamond, qui <i>selon nos historiens</i> a +porté le premier la couronne des François.’ <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> +vol. x. p. 530. See a singular passage on Pharamond in <i>Mém. de +Duplessis Mornay</i>, vol. ii. p. 405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_814_814" id="Footnote_814_814"></a><a href="#FNanchor_814_814"><span class="label">[814]</span></a> Sorel (<i>La Bibliothèque Françoise</i>, Paris, 1667, p. 373) +says of Du Haillan, ‘On lui peut reprocher d'avoir donné un commencement +fabuleux à son histoire, qui est entièrement de son invention, ayant +fait tenir un conseil entre Pharamond et ses plus fidelles conseillers, +pour sçavoir si ayant la puissance en main il deuoit réduire les +François au gouvernement aristocratique ou monarchique, et faisant faire +une harangue à chacun d'eux pour soustenir son opinion. On y voit les +noms de Charamond et de Quadrek, personnages imaginaires.’ Sorel, who +had a glimmering notion that this was not exactly the way to write +history, adds, ‘C'est une chose fort surprenante. On est fort peu +asseuré si Pharamond fut jamais au monde, et quoy qu'on sçache qu'il y +ait esté, c'est une terrible hardiesse d'en raconter des choses qui +n'ont aucun appuy.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_815_815" id="Footnote_815_815"></a><a href="#FNanchor_815_815"><span class="label">[815]</span></a> ‘Die erste Regung des skeptischen Geistes finden wir in den +Versuchen des Michael von Montaigne.’ <i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> +vol. ix. p. 443.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_816_816" id="Footnote_816_816"></a><a href="#FNanchor_816_816"><span class="label">[816]</span></a> The first volume appeared in 1604. See <i>Le Long</i>, +<i>Bibliothèque Historique de la France</i>, vol. ii. p. 375; and preface to +<i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. i. p. iv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_817_817" id="Footnote_817_817"></a><a href="#FNanchor_817_817"><span class="label">[817]</span></a> Sismondi has scarcely done justice to Sully; but the +reader will find a fuller account of him in <i>Capefigue</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Réforme</i>, vol. viii. pp. 101–117; and a still better one in <i>Blanqui</i>, +<i>Histoire de l'Economie Politique</i>, vol. i. pp. 347–361.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_818_818" id="Footnote_818_818"></a><a href="#FNanchor_818_818"><span class="label">[818]</span></a> According to D'Aubigné, the king, on his conversion, said, +‘Je ferai voir à tout le monde que je n'ai esté persuadé par autre +théologie que la nécessité de l'estat.’ <i>Smedley's Reformed Religion in +France</i>, vol. ii. p. 362. That Henry felt this is certain; and that he +expressed it to his friends is probable; but he had a difficult game to +play with the Catholic church; and in one of his edicts we find ‘une +grande joye de son retour à l'église, dont il attribuoit la cause à la +grâce du Tout-Puissant, et aux prières de ses fidèles sujets.’ <i>De +Thou</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> vol. xii. pp. 105, 106. Compare, at pp. 468, 469, +the message he sent to the pope.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_819_819" id="Footnote_819_819"></a><a href="#FNanchor_819_819"><span class="label">[819]</span></a> <i>Marchand</i>, <i>Dictionnaire Historique</i>, vol. ii. pp. 205, +209, La Haye, 1758, folio. This curious and learned work, which is much +less read than it deserves, contains the only good account of Serres I +have been able to meet with; vol. ii. pp. 197–213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_820_820" id="Footnote_820_820"></a><a href="#FNanchor_820_820"><span class="label">[820]</span></a> ‘On ne prenoit presque aucun soin de marquer les dates des +événemens dans les ouvrages historiques…. De Serres reconnut ce +défaut; et pour y remédier, il rechercha avec beaucoup de soin les dates +des événemens qu'il avoit à employer, et les marqua dans son histoire le +plus exactement qu'il lui fut possible. Cet exemple a été imité depuis +par la plupart de ceux qui l'ont suivi; et c'est à lui qu'on est +redevable de l'avantage qu'on tire d'une pratique si nécessaire et si +utile.’ <i>Marchand</i>, <i>Dict. Historique</i>, vol. ii. p. 206.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_821_821" id="Footnote_821_821"></a><a href="#FNanchor_821_821"><span class="label">[821]</span></a> ‘Il est le premier historien qui ait cité en marge ses +autorités; précaution absolument nécessaire quand on n'écrit pas +l'histoire de son temps, à moins qu'on ne s'en tienne aux faits connus.’ +<i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xix. p. 95. And the <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. +xii. p. 277, says, ‘On doit lui faire honneur d'avoir cité en marge les +auteurs dont il s'est servi; précaution indispensable, que l'on +connaissait peu avant lui, et que les historiens modernes négligent trop +aujourd'hui.’ Bassompierre, who had a quarrel with Dupleix, has given +some curious details respecting him and his History; but they are, of +course, not to be relied on. <i>Mém. de Bassompierre</i>, vol. iii. pp. 356, +357. Patin speaks favourably of his history of Henry IV. <i>Lettres de +Patin</i>, vol. i. p. 17: but compare <i>Sully</i>, <i>Œconomies Royales</i>, vol. +ix. pp. 121, 249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_822_822" id="Footnote_822_822"></a><a href="#FNanchor_822_822"><span class="label">[822]</span></a> The ancients, as is well known, rarely took this trouble. +<i>Mure's Hist. of Greek Literature</i>, vol. iv. pp. 197, 306, 307. But what +is much more curious is, that, even in scientific works, there was an +equal looseness; and Cuvier says, that, in the sixteenth century, ‘on se +bornait à dire, d'une manière générale, Aristote a dit telle chose, sans +indiquer ni le passage ni le livre dans lequel la citation se trouvait.’ +<i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, part ii. p. 63; and at p. 88, ‘suivant +l'usage de son temps, Gessner n'indique pas +avec précision les endroits d'où il a tiré ses citations:’ see also p. +214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_823_823" id="Footnote_823_823"></a><a href="#FNanchor_823_823"><span class="label">[823]</span></a> ‘Le premier ouvrage de philosophie publié dans cette +langue.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xii. p. 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_824_824" id="Footnote_824_824"></a><a href="#FNanchor_824_824"><span class="label">[824]</span></a> So it seemed to me, when I turned over its leaves a few +years ago. However, Patin says, ‘sa philosophie françoise n'est pas +mauvaise.’ <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. iii. p. 357. On the dialectic powers +of Dupleix, see a favourable judgment in <i>Hamilton's Discuss. on +Philos.</i> p. 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_825_825" id="Footnote_825_825"></a><a href="#FNanchor_825_825"><span class="label">[825]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxv. p. 402. Sorel (<i>Bibliothèque +Françoise</i>, p. 165), who is evidently displeased at the unprecedented +boldness of La Popelinière, says, ‘il dit ses sentimens en bref des +historiens de toutes les nations, et de plusieurs langues, et +particulièrement des historiens françois, dont il parle avec beaucoup +d'asseurance.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_826_826" id="Footnote_826_826"></a><a href="#FNanchor_826_826"><span class="label">[826]</span></a> ‘Il réfute l'opinion, alors fort accréditée, de l'arrivée +dans les Gaules de Francus et des Troyens.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxv. p. +402. Compare <i>Le Long</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Historique de la France</i>, vol. ii. +p. 39. Patin says that De Thou was much indebted to him: ‘M. de Thou a +pris hardiment de la Popelinière.’ <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. i. p. 222. +There is a notice of Popelinière, in connexion with Richer, in <i>Mém. de +Richelieu</i>, vol. v. p. 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_827_827" id="Footnote_827_827"></a><a href="#FNanchor_827_827"><span class="label">[827]</span></a> ‘Il réfute les fables qu'on avançoit sur l'origine des +François, appuyées sur le témoignage au faux Bérose. Il dit que leur nom +vient de leur ancienne franchise.’ <i>Le Long</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Historique</i>, +vol. ii. p. 750.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_828_828" id="Footnote_828_828"></a><a href="#FNanchor_828_828"><span class="label">[828]</span></a> Compare <i>Sorel</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Françoise</i>, p. 298, with +<i>Du Fresnoy</i>, <i>Méthode pour étudier l'Histoire</i>, vol. x. p. 4, Parie, +1772. There is an account of Gomberville in <i>Les Historiettes de +Tallemant des Réaux</i>, vol. viii. pp. 15–19; a singularly curious book, +which is, for the seventeenth century, what Brantome is for the +sixteenth. I ought to have mentioned earlier the inimitable ridicule +with which Rabelais treats the habit historians had of tracing the +genealogies of their heroes back to Noah. <i>Œuvres de Rabelais</i>, vol. +i. pp. 1–3, and vol. ii. pp. 10–17: see also, at vol. v. pp. 171, 172, +his defence of the antiquity of Chinon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_829_829" id="Footnote_829_829"></a><a href="#FNanchor_829_829"><span class="label">[829]</span></a> ‘L'auteur croit qu'il ne faut pas la chercher ailleurs que +dans le pays où ils out été connus des Romains, c'est-à-dire entre +l'Elbe et le Rhin,’ <i>Le Long</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Historique</i>, vol. ii. p. +56. This work of Berthault's was, for many years, a text-book in the +French colleges. <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. iv. p. 347.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_830_830" id="Footnote_830_830"></a><a href="#FNanchor_830_830"><span class="label">[830]</span></a> The first volume in 1643; the second in 1646; and the last +in 1651. <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxviii. p. 510.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_831_831" id="Footnote_831_831"></a><a href="#FNanchor_831_831"><span class="label">[831]</span></a> ‘The French have now their first general historian, +Mezeray.’ <i>Hallam's Literature of Europe</i>, vol. iii. p. 228; and see +<i>Stephen's Lectures on the History of France</i>, 1851, vol. i. p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_832_832" id="Footnote_832_832"></a><a href="#FNanchor_832_832"><span class="label">[832]</span></a> Bayle says, that Mezeray is, ‘de tous les historiens celui +qui favorise le plus les peuples contre la cour.’ <i>Le Long</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Historique</i>, vol. iii. p. lxxxvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_833_833" id="Footnote_833_833"></a><a href="#FNanchor_833_833"><span class="label">[833]</span></a> Though it did not prevent him from believing that sudden +tempests, and unusual appearances in the heavens, were aberrations, due +to supernatural interference, and, as such, were the prognosticators of +political change. <i>Mézéray</i>, <i>Hist. de France</i>, vol. i. +pp. 202, 228, 238, 241, 317, 792, vol. ii. pp. 485, 573, 1120, vol. iii. +pp. 31, 167, 894; instructive passages, as proving that, even in +powerful minds, the scientific and secular method was still feeble.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_834_834" id="Footnote_834_834"></a><a href="#FNanchor_834_834"><span class="label">[834]</span></a> What he did on these subjects is most remarkable, +considering that some of the best materials were unknown, and in +manuscript, and that even De Thou gives scarcely any information +respecting them; so that Mezeray had no model. See, among other passages +which have struck me in the first volume, pp. 145–147, 204, 353, 356, +362–365, 530, 531, 581, 812, 946, 1039. Compare his indignant +expressions at vol. ii. p. 721.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_835_835" id="Footnote_835_835"></a><a href="#FNanchor_835_835"><span class="label">[835]</span></a> Those who have studied the French memoirs of the +seventeenth century, know how little can be found in them respecting the +condition of the people; while the fullest private correspondence, such +as the letters of Sévigné and De Maintenon, are equally unsatisfactory. +The greater part of the evidence now extant has been collected by M. +Monteil, in his valuable work, <i>Histoire des divers Etats</i>: but whoever +will put all this together must admit, that we are better informed as to +the condition of many savage tribes than we are concerning the lower +classes of France during the reign of Louis XIV.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_836_836" id="Footnote_836_836"></a><a href="#FNanchor_836_836"><span class="label">[836]</span></a> This is noticed in <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. +xxvii. pp. 181, 182; also in <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Littérature Française</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 29, 30. Compare <i>D'Argenson</i>, <i>Réflexions sur les Historiens +François</i>, in <i>Mémoires de l'Académie des +Inscriptions</i>, vol. xxviii. p. 627, with <i>Boulainvilliers</i>, <i>Ancien +Gouvernement de la France</i>, vol. i. p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_837_837" id="Footnote_837_837"></a><a href="#FNanchor_837_837"><span class="label">[837]</span></a> ‘Le jeune Louis XIV n'avait reçu aucune éducation +intellectuelle.’ <i>Capefigue's Richelieu, Mazarin et la Fronde</i>, vol. ii. +p. 245. On the education of Louis XIV., which was as shamefully +neglected as that of our George III., see <i>Lettres inédites de +Maintenon</i>, vol. ii. p. 369; <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mém. Secrets</i>, vol. i. pp. 167, +168; <i>Mém. de Brienne</i>, vol. i. pp. 391–393.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_838_838" id="Footnote_838_838"></a><a href="#FNanchor_838_838"><span class="label">[838]</span></a> On his political maxims, see <i>Lemontey</i>, <i>Etablissement de +Louis XIV</i>, pp. 325–327, 407, 408. The eloquent remarks made by M. +Ranke upon an Italian despotism, are admirably applicable to his whole +system: ‘Sonderbare Gestalt menschlichen Dinge! Die Kräfte des Landes +bringen den Hof hervor, der Mittelpunkt des Hofes ist der Fürst, das +letzte Product des gesammten Lebens ist zuletzt das Selbstgefühl des +Fürsten.’ <i>Die Päpste</i>, vol. ii. p. 266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_839_839" id="Footnote_839_839"></a><a href="#FNanchor_839_839"><span class="label">[839]</span></a> His <i>Abrégé Chronologique</i> was published in 1668, in three +volumes quarto. <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxviii. p. 510. Le Long +(<i>Bibliothèque Historique</i>, vol. iii. p. lxxxv.) says, that it was only +allowed to be published in consequence of a ‘privilège’ which Mezeray +had formerly obtained. But there seems to have been some difficulty, of +which these writers are not aware: for Patin, in a letter dated Paris, +23 December 1664, speaks of it as being then in the press: ‘on imprime +ici en <i>grand-in-quarto</i> un Abrégé de l'Histoire de France, par M. +Mezeray.’ <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. iii. p. 503: compare p. 665. It long +remained an established school-book: see D'Argenson's Essay, in <i>Mém. de +l'Académie</i>, vol. xxviii. p. 635; and <i>Works of Sir William Temple</i>, +vol. iii. p. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_840_840" id="Footnote_840_840"></a><a href="#FNanchor_840_840"><span class="label">[840]</span></a> <i>Barrière</i>, <i>Essai sur les Mœurs du Dix-septième +Siècle</i>, prefixed to <i>Mém. de Brienne</i>, vol. i. pp. 129, 130, where +reference is made to his original correspondence with Colbert. This +treatment of Mezeray is noticed, but imperfectly, in <i>Boulainvilliers</i>, +<i>Hist. de l'Ancien Gouvernement</i>, vol. i. p. 196; in <i>Lemontey</i>, +<i>Etablissement de Louis XIV</i>, p. 331; and in <i>Palissot</i>, <i>Mém. pour l'Hist. +de Lit.</i> vol. ii. p. 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_841_841" id="Footnote_841_841"></a><a href="#FNanchor_841_841"><span class="label">[841]</span></a> In 1685 was published at Paris what was called an improved +edition of Mezeray's History; that is, an edition from which the honest +remarks were expunged. See <i>Le Long</i>, <i>Bibliothèque Historique</i>, vol. +ii. p. 53, vol. iv. p. 381; and <i>Brunet</i>, <i>Manuel du Libraire</i>, vol. +iii. p. 383, Paris, 1843. Hampden, who knew Mezeray, has recorded an +interesting interview he had with him in Paris, when the great historian +lamented the loss of the liberties of France. See <i>Calamy's Life of +Himself</i>, vol. i. pp. 392, 393.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_842_842" id="Footnote_842_842"></a><a href="#FNanchor_842_842"><span class="label">[842]</span></a> <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxvi. pp. 240, +241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_843_843" id="Footnote_843_843"></a><a href="#FNanchor_843_843"><span class="label">[843]</span></a> ‘Par l'infidélité d'un domestique chargé de transcrire le +manuscrit.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xiv. p. 289; and see <i>Peignot</i>, <i>Dict. +des Livres condamnés</i>, vol. i. pp. 134, 135. It was suppressed in +France, and appeared in Holland in the same year, 1699. <i>Lettres de +Sévigné</i>, vol. vi. pp. 434, 435 note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_844_844" id="Footnote_844_844"></a><a href="#FNanchor_844_844"><span class="label">[844]</span></a> ‘Louis XIV prit le Télémaque pour une personnalité…. +Comme il (Fénelon) avait déplu au roi, il mourut dans +l'exil.’ <i>Lerminier</i>, <i>Philos. du Droit</i>, vol. ii. pp. 219, 220; and see +<i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, chap. xxxii., in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. +xx. p. 307.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_845_845" id="Footnote_845_845"></a><a href="#FNanchor_845_845"><span class="label">[845]</span></a> These circumstances are related in a letter from Lord +Preston, dated Paris, 22 July 1682, and printed in <i>Dalrymple's +Memoirs</i>, pp. 141, 142, appendix to vol. i. The account given by M. +Peignot (<i>Livres condamnés</i>, vol. ii. pp. 52, 53) is incomplete, he +being evidently ignorant of the existence of Lord Preston's letter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_846_846" id="Footnote_846_846"></a><a href="#FNanchor_846_846"><span class="label">[846]</span></a> An able writer has well called him ‘glorieux plutôt +qu'appréciateur de la vraie gloire.’ <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Histoire de la +Diplomatie Française</i>, vol. iv. p. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_847_847" id="Footnote_847_847"></a><a href="#FNanchor_847_847"><span class="label">[847]</span></a> In 1677, Madame de Sévigné writes from Paris respecting +the king: ‘Vous savez bien qu'il a donné deux mille écus de pension à +Racine et à Despréaux, en leur commandant de travailler à son histoire, +dont il aura soin de donner des Mémoires.’ <i>Lettres de Sévigné</i>, vol. +iii. p. 362. Compare <i>Eloge de Valincourt</i>, in +<i>Œuvres de Fontenelle</i>, vol. vi. p. 383; and <i>Hughes's Letters</i>, +edit. 1773, vol. ii. pp. 74, 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_848_848" id="Footnote_848_848"></a><a href="#FNanchor_848_848"><span class="label">[848]</span></a> Burnet relates this with delightful simplicity: ‘Others +more probably thought that the king, hearing I was a writer of history, +had a mind to engage me to write on his side. I was told a pension would +be offered me. But I made no steps towards it; for though I was offered +an audience of the king, I excused it, since I could not have the honour +to be presented to that king by the minister of England.’ <i>Burnet's Own +Time</i>, vol. ii. p. 385.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_849_849" id="Footnote_849_849"></a><a href="#FNanchor_849_849"><span class="label">[849]</span></a> During many years it enjoyed great reputation; and there +is no history written in that period respecting which Le Long gives so +many details. See his <i>Bibliothèque Historique de la France</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 13, 14. Compare <i>La Bibliothèque de Leber</i>, vol. ii. p. 110, Paris, +1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_850_850" id="Footnote_850_850"></a><a href="#FNanchor_850_850"><span class="label">[850]</span></a> <i>Audigier</i>, <i>L'Origine des François</i>, Paris, 1676, vol. i. +p. 5. See also p. 45, where he congratulates himself on being the first +to clear up the history of Sigovese.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_851_851" id="Footnote_851_851"></a><a href="#FNanchor_851_851"><span class="label">[851]</span></a> <i>Audigier</i>, vol. i. p. 7. Other antiquaries have adopted +the same preposterous etymology. See a note in <i>Kemble's Saxons in +England</i>, vol. i. p. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_852_852" id="Footnote_852_852"></a><a href="#FNanchor_852_852"><span class="label">[852]</span></a> ‘Or le plus ancien Jupiter, le plus ancien Neptune, et le +plus ancien Pluton, sont ceux de Gaule; ils la divisèrent les premiers +en Celtique, Aquitaine et Belgique, et obtinrent chacun une de ces +parties en partage. Jupiter, qu'on fait régner au ciel, eut la +Celtique…. Neptune, qu'on fait régner sur les eaux, et sur les mers, +eut l'Aquitaine, qui n'est appelée de la sorte qu'à cause de l'abondance +de ses eaux, et de la situation sur l'océan.’ <i>Audigier</i>, <i>L'Origine des +François</i>, vol. i. pp. 223, 224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_853_853" id="Footnote_853_853"></a><a href="#FNanchor_853_853"><span class="label">[853]</span></a> See his argument, vol. i. pp. 216, 217, beginning, ‘le nom +de Noé, que portèrent les Galates, est Gallus;’ and compare vol. ii. p. +109, where he expresses surprise that so little should have been done by +previous writers towards establishing this obvious origin of the +French.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_854_854" id="Footnote_854_854"></a><a href="#FNanchor_854_854"><span class="label">[854]</span></a> <i>Audigier</i>, vol. i. pp. 196, 197, 255, 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_855_855" id="Footnote_855_855"></a><a href="#FNanchor_855_855"><span class="label">[855]</span></a> ‘Voilà donc les anciennes divinitez d'Europe, originaires +de Gaule, aussi bien que les beaux arts et les hautes sciences.’ +<i>Audigier</i>, vol. i. p. 234.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_856_856" id="Footnote_856_856"></a><a href="#FNanchor_856_856"><span class="label">[856]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. pp. 73, 74. He sums up, ‘c'en est assez +pour relever l'Anjou, à qui cette gloire appartient légitimement.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_857_857" id="Footnote_857_857"></a><a href="#FNanchor_857_857"><span class="label">[857]</span></a> Vol. i. pp. 265, 266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_858_858" id="Footnote_858_858"></a><a href="#FNanchor_858_858"><span class="label">[858]</span></a> Vol. i. p. 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_859_859" id="Footnote_859_859"></a><a href="#FNanchor_859_859"><span class="label">[859]</span></a> Vol. ii. pp. 179, 180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_860_860" id="Footnote_860_860"></a><a href="#FNanchor_860_860"><span class="label">[860]</span></a> Vol. ii. p. 269.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_861_861" id="Footnote_861_861"></a><a href="#FNanchor_861_861"><span class="label">[861]</span></a> Vol. ii. p. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_862_862" id="Footnote_862_862"></a><a href="#FNanchor_862_862"><span class="label">[862]</span></a> Vol. ii. pp. 451–454.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_863_863" id="Footnote_863_863"></a><a href="#FNanchor_863_863"><span class="label">[863]</span></a> ‘A quoy nous pourrions joindre un autre monument fort +authentique, c'est le résultat de certains pères, et de certains +docteurs de l'église, qui tiennent que l'Ante-christ ne viendra point au +monde qu'après la dissection, c'est-à-dire après la dissipation de +nostre empire. Leur fondement est dans la seconde épistre de saint Paul +aux Thessaloniciens.’ <i>Audigier</i>, vol. ii. p. 462.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_864_864" id="Footnote_864_864"></a><a href="#FNanchor_864_864"><span class="label">[864]</span></a> This is the opinion of Mr. Hallam respecting Bossuet's +History of the Variations of Protestant Churches. <i>Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. +p. 486: compare <i>Lerminier</i>, <i>Philos. du Droit</i>, vol. ii. p. 86. +Attempts have been made by Protestant theologians to retort against the +Catholics the arguments of Bossuet, on the ground that religious +variations are a necessary consequence of the honest pursuit of +religious truth. See <i>Blanco White's Evidence against Catholicism</i>, pp. +109–112; and his <i>Letters from Spain</i>, <i>by Doblado</i>, p. 127. With this I +fully agree; but it would be easy to show that the argument is fatal to +all ecclesiastical systems with strictly defined creeds, and, therefore, +strikes as heavily against the Protestant churches as against the +Catholic. Beausobre, in his acute and learned work on Manichæism, seems +to have felt this; and he makes the dangerous admission, ‘que si +l'argument de M. de Meaux vaut quelque chose contre la Réformation, il a +la même force contre le Christianisme.’ <i>Hist. de Manichée</i>, vol. i. p. +526. On Bossuet as a controversialist, see <i>Stäudlin</i>, <i>Geschichte der +theologischen Wissenschaften</i>, vol. ii. pp. 43–45; and for a +contemporary opinion of his great work, see a characteristic passage in +<i>Lettres de Sévigné</i>, vol. v. p. 409.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_865_865" id="Footnote_865_865"></a><a href="#FNanchor_865_865"><span class="label">[865]</span></a> His method is fairly stated by <i>Sismondi</i>, +<i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. xxv. p. 427.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_866_866" id="Footnote_866_866"></a><a href="#FNanchor_866_866"><span class="label">[866]</span></a> See, on this attempt of Bossuet‘s, some good remarks in +<i>Stäudlin</i>, <i>Geschichte der theologischen Wissenschaften</i>, vol. ii. p. +198: 'Kirche und Christenthum sind für diesen Bischoff der Mittelpunct +der ganzen Geschichte. Aus diesem Gesichtspuncte betrachtet er nicht nur +die Patriarchen und Propheten, das Judenthum und die alten Weissagungen, +sondern auch die Reiche der Welt.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_867_867" id="Footnote_867_867"></a><a href="#FNanchor_867_867"><span class="label">[867]</span></a> <i>Bossuet</i>, <i>Discours sur l'Histoire Universelle</i>, pp. 10, +11, 16, 17; see also, at p. 90, a curious specimen of his chronological +calculations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_868_868" id="Footnote_868_868"></a><a href="#FNanchor_868_868"><span class="label">[868]</span></a> He says, that if the ordinarily received dates of the +Pentateuch and the Prophets are not true, then the miracles must fall, +and the writings themselves are not inspired. <i>Hist. Univ.</i> p. 360. It +would be hard to find, even in the works of Bossuet a more rash +assertion than this.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_869_869" id="Footnote_869_869"></a><a href="#FNanchor_869_869"><span class="label">[869]</span></a> Indeed the Jews have no consecutive chronology before +Solomon. See <i>Bunsen's Egypt</i>, vol. i. pp. viii. xxv. 170, 178, 185, +vol. ii. p. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_870_870" id="Footnote_870_870"></a><a href="#FNanchor_870_870"><span class="label">[870]</span></a> Doing this, as they did everything else, on account, not +of reason, but of dogma; for, as a learned writer says, ‘l'Église a bien +distingué certains livres en apocryphes et en orthodoxes; elle s'est +prononcée d'une manière formelle sur le choix des ouvrages canoniques; +néanmoins sa critique n'a jamais été fondée sur un examen raisonné, mais +seulement sur la question de savoir si tel ou tel écrit était d'accord +avec les dogmes qu'elle enseignait.’ <i>Maury</i>, <i>Légendes Pieuses</i>, p. +224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_871_871" id="Footnote_871_871"></a><a href="#FNanchor_871_871"><span class="label">[871]</span></a> Theologians have always been remarkable for the exactness +of their knowledge on subjects respecting which nothing is known; but +none of them have surpassed the learned Dr. Stukeley. In 1730, this +eminent divine writes: ‘But according to the calculations I have made of +this matter, I find God Almighty ordered Noah to get the creatures into +the ark on Sunday the 12th of October, the very day of the autumnal +equinox that year; and on this present day, on the Sunday se'nnight +following (the 19th of October), that terrible catastrophe began, the +moon being past her third quarter.’ <i>Nichols's Illustrations of the +Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. ii. p. 792.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_872_872" id="Footnote_872_872"></a><a href="#FNanchor_872_872"><span class="label">[872]</span></a> ‘Premièrement, ces empires ont pour la plupart une liaison +nécessaire avec l'histoire du peuple de Dieu. Dieu s'est servi des +Assyriens et des Babyloniens pour châtier ce peuple; des Perses pour le +rétablir; d'Alexandre et de ses premiers successeurs pour le protéger; +d'Antiochus l'Illustre et de ses successeurs pour l'exercer; des Romains +pour soutenir sa liberté contre les rois de Syrie, que ne songeaient +qu'à le détruire.’ <i>Bossuet</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> p. 382. Well may M. +Lerminier say (<i>Philos. du Droit</i>, vol. ii. p. 87), that Bossuet ‘a +sacrifié toutes les nations au peuple juif.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_873_873" id="Footnote_873_873"></a><a href="#FNanchor_873_873"><span class="label">[873]</span></a> On the extraordinary and prolonged ignorance of the Jews, +even to the time of the Apostles, see <i>Mackay's Progress of the +Intellect</i>, vol. i. pp. 13 seq.; a work of profound learning.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_874_874" id="Footnote_874_874"></a><a href="#FNanchor_874_874"><span class="label">[874]</span></a> The original scheme of Christianity, as stated by its +Great Author (<i>Matthew</i> x. 6, and xv. 24), was merely to convert the +Jews; and if the doctrines of Christ had never extended beyond that +ignorant people, they could not have received those modifications which +philosophy imposed upon them. The whole of this subject is admirably +discussed in <i>Mackay's Progress of the Intellect in Religious +Development</i>, vol. ii. pp. 382 seq.; and on the ‘universalism,’ first +clearly announced ‘by the Hellenist Stephen,’ see p. 484. Neander makes +a noticeable attempt to evade the difficulty caused by the changes in +Christianity from ‘various outward causes:’ see his <i>History of the +Church</i>, vol. iii. p. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_875_875" id="Footnote_875_875"></a><a href="#FNanchor_875_875"><span class="label">[875]</span></a> Neander (<i>Hist. of the Church</i>, vol. ii. p. 42) even +thinks that Cerinthus whose views are remarkable as being the point +where Gnosticism and Judaism touch each other, borrowed his system from +Alexandria. But this, though not unlikely, seems only to rest on the +authority of Theodoret. On the influence of the Platonism of Alexandria +in developing the idea of the Logos, see <i>Neander</i>, vol. ii. pp. 304, +306–314. Compare <i>Sharpe's Hist. of Egypt</i>, vol. ii. pp. 152 seq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_876_876" id="Footnote_876_876"></a><a href="#FNanchor_876_876"><span class="label">[876]</span></a> And having to mention Clemens Alexandrinus, who was more +deeply versed in the philosophy of Alexandria than were any of the other +fathers, Bossuet merely says, p. 98, ‘à peu près dans le même temps, le +saint prêtre Clément Alexandrin déterra les antiquités du paganisme pour +le confondre.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_877_877" id="Footnote_877_877"></a><a href="#FNanchor_877_877"><span class="label">[877]</span></a> About the time that Bossuet wrote, a very learned writer +calculated that the area of the countries which professed Mohammedanism, +exceeded, by one fifth, those where Christianity was believed. See +<i>Brerewood's Inquiries touching the Diversity of Languages and +Religions</i>, Lond. 1674, pp. 144, 145. The estimate of Southey (<i>Vindiciæ +Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ</i>, London, 1826, p. 48), is very vague; but it is much +easier to judge of the extent of Mohammedan countries than of the extent +of their population. On this latter point we have the most conflicting +statements. In the nineteenth century, there are, according to Sharon +Turner (<i>Hist. of England</i>, vol. iii. p. 485, edit. 1839), eighty +million Mohammedans; according to Dr. Elliotson (<i>Human Physiology</i>, p. +1055, edit. 1840), more than a hundred and twenty-two million; while, +according to Mr. Wilkin (note in <i>Sir Thomas Browne's Works</i>, vol. ii. +p. 37, edit. 1835), there are a hundred and eighty-eight million.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_878_878" id="Footnote_878_878"></a><a href="#FNanchor_878_878"><span class="label">[878]</span></a> ‘Le faux prophète donna ses victoires pour toute marque de +sa mission.’ <i>Bossuet</i>, p. 125.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_879_879" id="Footnote_879_879"></a><a href="#FNanchor_879_879"><span class="label">[879]</span></a> The greatest Mohammedan writers have always expressed +ideas regarding the Deity more lofty than those possessed by the +majority of Christians. The Koran contains noble passages on the oneness +of God; and for the views of their ordinary theologians, I may refer to +an interesting Mohammedan sermon, in <i>Transactions of the Bombay +Society</i>, vol. i. pp. 146–158. See also, in vol. iii. pp. 398–448, an +Essay by Vans Kennedy; and compare a remarkable passage, considering the +quarter from which it comes, in <i>Autobiography of the Emperor +Jehangueir</i>, p. 44. Those who are so thoughtless as to believe that +Mohammed was a hypocrite, had better study the admirable remarks of M. +Comte (<i>Philos. Pos.</i> vol. v. pp. 76, 77), who truly says, ‘qu'un homme +vraiment supérieur n'a jamais pu exercer aucune grande action sur ses +semblables sans être d'abord lui-même intimement convaincu.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_880_880" id="Footnote_880_880"></a><a href="#FNanchor_880_880"><span class="label">[880]</span></a> ‘Saint Martin fut fait évêque de Tours, et remplit tout +l'univers du bruit de sa sainteté et de ses miracles, durant sa vie, et +après sa mort.’ <i>Bossuet</i>, <i>Hist. Univ.</i> p. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_881_881" id="Footnote_881_881"></a><a href="#FNanchor_881_881"><span class="label">[881]</span></a> The Benedictines have written the life of Martin in their +<i>Hist. Lit. de la France</i>, vol. i. part ii. pp. 413–417, Paris, 1733, +4to. They say that he erected the first monastery in Gaul: ‘Martin, +toujours passionné pour la solitude, érigea un monastère qui fut le +premier que l'on eût encore vû dans les Gaules,’ p. 414. At p. 415, they +make the unnecessary admission, that the saint ‘n'avoit point étudié les +sciences profanes.’ I may add, that the miracles of Martin are related +by Fleury, who evidently believes that they were really performed. +<i>Fleury</i>, <i>Hist. Ecclésiastique</i>, livre xvi. no. 31, vol. iv. pp. +215–217, Paris, 1758, 12mo. Neander, having the advantage of living a +hundred years later than Fleury, is content to say, ‘the veneration of +his period denominated him a worker of miracles.’ <i>Hist. of the Church</i>, +vol. iv. p. 494. There is a characteristic anecdote of him, from +Sulpitius Severus, in <i>Mosheim's Eccles. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_882_882" id="Footnote_882_882"></a><a href="#FNanchor_882_882"><span class="label">[882]</span></a> At pp. 479, 480, Bossuet gives a sort of summary of his +historical principles; and if they are true, history is evidently +impossible to be written. On this account, though fully recognizing the +genius of Bossuet, I cannot agree with the remarks made upon him by M. +Comte, <i>Philos. Pos.</i> vol. iv. p. 280, vol. vi. pp. 316, 317.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_883_883" id="Footnote_883_883"></a><a href="#FNanchor_883_883"><span class="label">[883]</span></a> And then, as M. Charles Comte well says, they call this +prejudice their moral sense, or their moral instinct. <i>Comte</i>, <i>Traité +de Législation</i>, vol. i. p. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_884_884" id="Footnote_884_884"></a><a href="#FNanchor_884_884"><span class="label">[884]</span></a> The connection between the opinions of Bossuet and the +despotism of Louis XIV. is touched on by Montlosier, who, however, has +probably laid too much stress on the influence which the civil law +exercised over both. <i>Montlosier</i>, <i>Monarchie Française</i>, vol. ii. p. +90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_885_885" id="Footnote_885_885"></a><a href="#FNanchor_885_885"><span class="label">[885]</span></a> He belonged to a class of historians, described by a +celebrated writer in a single sentence: ‘dans leurs écrits l'auteur +paraît souvent grand, mais l'humanité est toujours petite.’ +<i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Démocratie</i>, vol. iv. p. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_886_886" id="Footnote_886_886"></a><a href="#FNanchor_886_886"><span class="label">[886]</span></a> Hardly any one acquainted with the writings and the +history of Bossuet will require evidence of his singular arrogance. But +the reader may consult <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Franç.</i> vol. xxvi. p. 247; +and on his treatment of Fénelon, which was the most shameful transaction +of his life, compare <i>Burnet's Own Time</i>, vol. iv. p. 384, with +<i>Capefigue's Louis XIV</i>, vol. ii. p. 58; where there is printed one of +the many epigrams to which the conduct of Bossuet gave rise.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_887_887" id="Footnote_887_887"></a><a href="#FNanchor_887_887"><span class="label">[887]</span></a> He says that he wrote it in 1728. <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, +vol. xxii. p. 5, but, according to M. Lepan (<i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. 382), +‘il parut en 1731.’ Both statements may be accurate, as Voltaire +frequently kept his works for some time in manuscript.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_888_888" id="Footnote_888_888"></a><a href="#FNanchor_888_888"><span class="label">[888]</span></a> Sir A. Alison, who certainly cannot be accused of want of +respect for military conquerors, says of Sweden, ‘the attempt which +Charles XII. made to engage her in long and arduous wars, so completely +drained the resources of the country, that they did not recover the loss +for half a century.’ <i>Hist. of Europe</i>, vol. x. p. 504. See also, on the +effects produced by the conscriptions of Charles XII., <i>Laing's Sweden</i>, +p. 59; <i>Koch</i>, <i>Tableau des Révolutions</i>, vol. ii. p. 63; and above all, +a curious passage in <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mém. Secrets</i>, vol. i. p. 448. Several +of the soldiers of Charles XII. who were taken prisoners, were sent into +Siberia, where Bell fell in with them early in the eighteenth century. +<i>Bell's Travels in Asia</i>, edit. Edinb. 1788, vol. i. pp. 223–224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_889_889" id="Footnote_889_889"></a><a href="#FNanchor_889_889"><span class="label">[889]</span></a> ‘Charles XII, l'homme le plus extraordinaire peut-être qui +ait jamais été sur la terre, qui a réuni en lui toutes les grandes +qualités de ses aïeux, et qui n'a eu d'autre défaut ni d'autre malheur +que de les avoir toutes outrées.’ <i>Hist. de Charles XII</i>, livre i., in +<i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxii. p. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_890_890" id="Footnote_890_890"></a><a href="#FNanchor_890_890"><span class="label">[890]</span></a> ‘Plein d'honneur.’ <i>Ibid.</i> in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xxii. p. +63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_891_891" id="Footnote_891_891"></a><a href="#FNanchor_891_891"><span class="label">[891]</span></a> Which Burke, not without justice, compares to the murder +of Monaldeschi by Christina. <i>Burke's Works</i>, vol. i. p. 412. See some +remarks on the murder of Patkul, in <i>Vattel</i>, <i>Droit des Gens</i>, vol. i. +p. 230; and an account of it, from Swedish authorities, in <i>Somers +Tracts</i>, vol. xiii. pp. 879–881. For Voltaire's version see his +<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xxii. pp. 136, 137; which may be contrasted with +<i>Crichton and Wheaton's History of Scandinavia</i>, Edinb. 1838, vol. ii. +p. 127.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_892_892" id="Footnote_892_892"></a><a href="#FNanchor_892_892"><span class="label">[892]</span></a> <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxii. pp. 250–260. It may +interest some persons to hear, that the litter in which this madman ‘was +borne from the battle of Pultava’ is still preserved at Moscow. <i>Kohl's +Russia</i>, p. 220. It was also seen by M. Custine. <i>Custine's Russia</i>, +vol. iii. p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_893_893" id="Footnote_893_893"></a><a href="#FNanchor_893_893"><span class="label">[893]</span></a> ‘Sa modestie ne put empêcher qu'on ne frappât à Stockholm +plusieurs médailles pour perpétuer la mémoire de ces événements.’ +<i>Charles XII</i>, livre ii., in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xxii. p. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_894_894" id="Footnote_894_894"></a><a href="#FNanchor_894_894"><span class="label">[894]</span></a> Even some of its geographical details are said to be +inaccurate. Compare <i>Villemain</i>, <i>Littérature au XVIII<sup>e</sup> +Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 33, with <i>Kohl's Russia</i>, p. 505. However, as M. +Villemain says, this must always be the case, when writers, who only +know a country from maps, attempt to enter into details respecting +military geography. In regard to style, it cannot be too highly praised; +and a well-known critic, Lacratelle, calls it ‘le modèle le plus +accompli de narration qui existe dans notre langue.’ <i>Lacretelle</i>, +<i>Dix-huitième Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 42. In 1843 it was still used as a +text book in the French royal colleges. See <i>Report on Education in +France</i>, in <i>Journal of Stat. Soc.</i> vol. vi. p. 308. Further information +respecting this work may be found in <i>Longchamp et Wagnière</i>, <i>Mém. sur +Voltaire</i>, vol. ii. p. 494; and in <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. viii. p. 224, +vol. x. p. 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_895_895" id="Footnote_895_895"></a><a href="#FNanchor_895_895"><span class="label">[895]</span></a> It is evident, from Voltaire's correspondence, that he +afterwards became somewhat ashamed of the praises he had bestowed on +Charles XII. In 1735, he writes to De Formont, ‘si Charles XII +n'avait pas été excessivement grand, malheureux, et fou, je me serais +bien donné de garde de parler de lui.’ <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. +lvi. p. 462. In 1758, advancing still further, he says of Charles, +‘voilà, monsieur, ce que les hommes de tous les temps et de tous les +pays appellent un héros; mais c'est le vulgaire de tous les temps et de +tous les pays qui donne ce nom à la soif du carnage.’ <i>Ibid.</i> +vol. lx. p. 411. In 1759, he writes, that he was then engaged on the +history of Peter the Great: ‘mais je doute que cela soit aussi amusant +que la vie de Charles XII; car ce Pierre n'était qu'un sage +extraordinaire, et Charles un fou extraordinaire, qui se battait, comme +Don Quichotte, contre des moulins à vent.’ Vol. lxi. p. 23: see also p. +350. These passages prove the constant +progress Voltaire was making in his conception of what history ought to +be, and what its uses were.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_896_896" id="Footnote_896_896"></a><a href="#FNanchor_896_896"><span class="label">[896]</span></a> In 1741, he mentions his increasing love of history. +<i>Corresp.</i> in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. li. p. 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_897_897" id="Footnote_897_897"></a><a href="#FNanchor_897_897"><span class="label">[897]</span></a> Lord Brougham, in his life of Voltaire, says that it +appeared in 1751. <i>Lives of Men of Letters</i>, vol. i p. 106. But 1752 is +the date given in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xlix. 478; in <i>Quérard</i>, <i>France Lit.</i> +vol. x. p. 355; and in <i>Lepan</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. 382.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_898_898" id="Footnote_898_898"></a><a href="#FNanchor_898_898"><span class="label">[898]</span></a> ‘On veut essayer de peindre à la postérité, non les +actions d'un seul homme, mais l'esprit des hommes dans le siècle le plus +éclairé qui fut jamais.’ <i>Siècle de Louis XIV</i>, in <i>Œuvres de +Voltaire</i>, vol. xix. p. 213. And in his correspondence respecting his +work on Louis XIV., he carefully makes the same distinction. See vol. +lvi. pp. 453, 488, 489, 500, vol. lvii. pp. 337, 342–344, vol. lix. p. +103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_899_899" id="Footnote_899_899"></a><a href="#FNanchor_899_899"><span class="label">[899]</span></a> Chap. xxix., in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. xx. pp. +234–267.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_900_900" id="Footnote_900_900"></a><a href="#FNanchor_900_900"><span class="label">[900]</span></a> Chap. xxx., in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xx. pp. 267–291. This +chapter is praised in <i>Sinclair's History of the Public Revenue</i>, vol. +iii. appendix, p. 77; an indifferent work, but the best we have on the +important subject to which it refers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_901_901" id="Footnote_901_901"></a><a href="#FNanchor_901_901"><span class="label">[901]</span></a> Chap. xxxi., in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xx. pp. 291–299; +necessarily a very short chapter, because of the paucity of +materials.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_902_902" id="Footnote_902_902"></a><a href="#FNanchor_902_902"><span class="label">[902]</span></a> Chapters xxxii. to xxxiv., in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xx. pp. +299–338.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_903_903" id="Footnote_903_903"></a><a href="#FNanchor_903_903"><span class="label">[903]</span></a> <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xx. pp. 338–464.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_904_904" id="Footnote_904_904"></a><a href="#FNanchor_904_904"><span class="label">[904]</span></a> This disposition to favour Louis XIV. is noticed by +Condorcet, who says it was the only early prejudice which Voltaire was +unable to shake off: ‘c'est le seul préjugé de sa jeunesse qu'il ait +conservé.’ <i>Condorcet</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, +vol. i. p. 286. See also, on this defect, <i>Grimm et Diderot</i>, <i>Corresp. +Lit.</i> vol. ii. p. 182; <i>Lemontey</i>, <i>Etablissement Monarchique</i>, pp. 451, +452; <i>Mém. de Brissot</i>, vol. ii. pp. 88, 89. It is interesting to +observe, that Voltaire's earlier opinions were still more favourable to +Louis XIV. than those which he afterwards expressed in his history. See +a letter which he wrote in 1740 to Lord Harvey, printed in <i>Œuvres de +Voltaire</i>, vol. lviii. pp. 57–63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_905_905" id="Footnote_905_905"></a><a href="#FNanchor_905_905"><span class="label">[905]</span></a> Mr. Burton, in his interesting work, <i>Life and +Correspondence of Hume</i>, vol. ii. p. 129, says it was ‘first published +in 1756;’ and the same date is given by Quérard (<i>France Littéraire</i>, +vol. x. p. 359), who is a very accurate bibliographer; so that Condorcet +(<i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. 199) and Lord Brougham (<i>Men of Letters</i>, vol. i. +p. 98) are probably in error in assigning it to 1757. In regard to its +title, I translate ‘Mœurs’ as ‘morals and manners;’ for M. +Tocqueville uses ‘mœurs’ as equivalent to the Latin word ‘mores.’ +<i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Démocratie en Amérique</i>, vol. iii. pp. 50, 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_906_906" id="Footnote_906_906"></a><a href="#FNanchor_906_906"><span class="label">[906]</span></a> Superficial writers are so much in the habit of calling +Voltaire superficial, that it may be well to observe, that his accuracy +has been praised, not only by his own countrymen, but by several English +authors of admitted learning. For three remarkable instances of this, +from men whom no one will accuse of leaning towards his other opinions, +see <i>notes to Charles V.</i>, in <i>Robertson's Works</i>, pp. 431, 432; +<i>Barrington's Observations on the Statutes</i>, p. 293; and <i>Warton's +History of English Poetry</i>, vol. i. p. xvi. Even Sir W. Jones, in his +preface to the <i>Life of Nader Shah</i>, says, that Voltaire is ‘the best +historian’ the French have produced. <i>Works of Sir William Jones</i>, vol. +v. p. 542; and compare the preface to his <i>Persian Grammar</i>, in <i>Works</i>, +vol. ii. p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_907_907" id="Footnote_907_907"></a><a href="#FNanchor_907_907"><span class="label">[907]</span></a> ‘Je voudrais découvrir quelle était alors la société des +hommes, comment on vivait dans l'intérieur des familles, quels arts +étaient cultivés, plutôt que de répéter tant de malheurs et tant de +combats, funestes objets de l'histoire, et lieux communs de la +méchanceté humaine.’ <i>Essai sur les Mœurs</i>, chap. lxxxi., in +<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xvi. p. 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_908_908" id="Footnote_908_908"></a><a href="#FNanchor_908_908"><span class="label">[908]</span></a> ‘L'objet était l'histoire de l'esprit humain, et non pas +le détail des faits presque toujours défigurés; il ne s'agissait pas de +rechercher, par exemple, de quelle famille était le seigneur de Puiset, +ou le seigneur de Montlheri, qui firent la guerre à des rois de France; +mais de voir par quels degrés on est parvenu de la rusticité barbare de +ces temps à la politesse du nôtre.’ Supplement to <i>Essai sur les +Mœurs</i>, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xviii. p. 435. Compare <i>Fragments sur +l'Histoire</i>, vol. xxvii. p. 214, with two letters in vol. lx. pp. 153, +154, vol. lxv. p. 370.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_909_909" id="Footnote_909_909"></a><a href="#FNanchor_909_909"><span class="label">[909]</span></a> Mallet, though born in Geneva, was a Frenchman in the +habits of his mind: he wrote in French, and is classed among French +historians, in the report presented to Napoleon by the Institut. +<i>Dacier</i>, <i>Rapport sur les Progrès de l'Histoire</i>, p. 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_910_910" id="Footnote_910_910"></a><a href="#FNanchor_910_910"><span class="label">[910]</span></a> Göthe, in his Autobiography, mentions his obligations to +this work, which, I suspect, exercised considerable influence over the +early associations of his mind: ‘Ich hatte die Fabeln der Edda schon +längst aus der Vorrede zu Mallet's Dänischer Geschichte kennen gelernt, +und mich derselben sogleich bemächtigt; sie gehörten unter diejenigen +Mährchen, die ich, von einer Gesellschaft aufgefordert, am liebsten +erzählte.’ <i>Wahrheit u. Dichtung</i>, in <i>Goethe's Werke</i>, vol. ii. part +ii. p. 169. Percy, a very fair judge, thought highly of Mallet's +history, part of which, indeed, he translated. See a letter from him, in +<i>Nichols's Illustrations of the Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. vii. p. 719.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_911_911" id="Footnote_911_911"></a><a href="#FNanchor_911_911"><span class="label">[911]</span></a> <i>Mallet's Northern Antiquities</i>, edit. Blackell, 1847, p. +78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_912_912" id="Footnote_912_912"></a><a href="#FNanchor_912_912"><span class="label">[912]</span></a> The first two volumes were published in 1765; the other +two in 1790. <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxvi. pp. 9, 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_913_913" id="Footnote_913_913"></a><a href="#FNanchor_913_913"><span class="label">[913]</span></a> <i>Mably</i>, <i>Observ. sur l'Hist. de France</i>, vol. i. p. ii.; +and compare vol. iii. p. 289: but this latter passage was written +several years later.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_914_914" id="Footnote_914_914"></a><a href="#FNanchor_914_914"><span class="label">[914]</span></a> ‘Bornés à nous apprendre les victoires ou les défaites du +souverain, ils ne nous disent rien ou presque rien des peuples qu'il a +rendus heureux ou malheureux. On ne trouve dans leurs écrits que longues +descriptions de sièges et de batailles; nulle mention des mœurs et de +l'esprit de la nation. Elle y est presque toujours sacrifiée à un seul +homme.’ <i>Histoire de France par Velly</i>, Paris, 1770, 4to, vol. i. p. 6; +and see, to the same effect, the <i>Continuation by Villaret</i>, vol. v. p. +vi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_915_915" id="Footnote_915_915"></a><a href="#FNanchor_915_915"><span class="label">[915]</span></a> ‘Si l'histoire que j'écris n'est ni militaire, ni +politique, ni économique, du moins dans le sens que je conçois pour ces +différentes parties, on me demandera quelle est donc celle que je me +propose d'écrire. C'est l'histoire des hommes et des mœurs.’ +<i>Duclos</i>, <i>Louis XIV et Louis XV</i>, vol. i. p. xxv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_916_916" id="Footnote_916_916"></a><a href="#FNanchor_916_916"><span class="label">[916]</span></a> ‘Je voulois connoître nos loix, nos mœurs, et tout ce +qui est l'âme de l'histoire, ou plutôt l'histoire même.’ <i>Hénault</i>, +<i>Nouvel Abrégé chronologique de l'Histoire de France</i>, edit. Paris, +1775, vol. i. p. i.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_917_917" id="Footnote_917_917"></a><a href="#FNanchor_917_917"><span class="label">[917]</span></a> In 1763, he writes to D'Argental: ‘il y a environ douze +batailles dont je n'ai point parlé, Dieu merci, parceque j'écris +l'histoire de l'esprit humain, et non une gazette.’ <i>Œuvres de +Voltaire</i>, vol. lxiii. p. 51. See also his letter to Tabareau (<i>Lettres +inédites de Voltaire</i>, vol. ii. p. 585): ‘Personne ne +lit les détails des combats et des sièges; rien n'est plus ennuyeux que +la droite et la gauche, les bastions et la contrescarpe.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_918_918" id="Footnote_918_918"></a><a href="#FNanchor_918_918"><span class="label">[918]</span></a> M. Lamartine characterizes him as ‘ce génie non pas le +plus haut, mais le plus vaste de la France.’ <i>Hist. des Girondins</i>, vol. +i. p. 180.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_919_919" id="Footnote_919_919"></a><a href="#FNanchor_919_919"><span class="label">[919]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xlix. p. 493. His <i>Orphelin de la +Chine</i> is taken from Chinese sources: see <i>Davis's China</i>, vol. ii. p. +258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_920_920" id="Footnote_920_920"></a><a href="#FNanchor_920_920"><span class="label">[920]</span></a> The surprising versatility of Voltaire's mind is shown by +the fact, unparalleled in literature, that he was equally great as a +dramatic writer and as an historian. Mr. Forster, in his admirable <i>Life +of Goldsmith</i>, 1854, says (vol. i. p. 119), ‘Gray's high opinion of +Voltaire's tragedies is shared by one of our greatest authorities on +such a matter now living, Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, whom I have often +heard maintain the marked superiority of Voltaire over all his +countrymen in the knowledge of dramatic art, and the power of producing +theatrical effects.’ Compare <i>Correspondence of Gray and Mason</i>, edit. +Mitford, 1855, p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_921_921" id="Footnote_921_921"></a><a href="#FNanchor_921_921"><span class="label">[921]</span></a> <i>Essai sur les Mœurs</i>, chap. lxxxv., in <i>Œuvres</i>, +vol. xvi. p. 412, and elsewhere.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_922_922" id="Footnote_922_922"></a><a href="#FNanchor_922_922"><span class="label">[922]</span></a> During the eighteenth century, and, I may say, until the +publication in 1818 of Hallam's Middle Ages, there was in the English +language no comprehensive account of the feudal system; unless, perhaps, +we except that given by Robertson, who in this, as in many other matters +of history, was a pupil of Voltaire. Not only Dalrymple, and writers of +his kind, but even Blackstone, took so narrow a view of this great +institution, that they were unable to connect it with the general state +of society to which it belonged. Some of our historians gravely traced +it back to Moses, in whose laws they found the origin of allodial lands. +See a charming passage in <i>Barry's History of the Orkney Islands</i>, p. +219. On the spirit of feudality, there are some remarks well worth +reading in <i>Comtés Philos. Posit.</i> vol. v. pp. 393–413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_923_923" id="Footnote_923_923"></a><a href="#FNanchor_923_923"><span class="label">[923]</span></a> Constant, in his work on Roman polytheism, says, ‘des +rites indécens peuvent être pratiqués par un peuple religieux avec une +grande pureté de cœur. Mais quand l'incrédulité atteint ces peuples, +ces rites sont pour lui la cause et le prétexte de la plus révoltante +corruption.’ This passage is quoted by Mr. Milman, who calls it +‘extremely profound and just.’ <i>Milman's History of Christianity</i>, 1840, +vol. i. p. 28. And so it is—extremely profound and just. But it happens +that precisely the same remark was made by Voltaire, just about the time +that Constant was born. Speaking of the worship of Priapus, he says +(<i>Essai sur les Mœurs</i>, chap. cxliii. in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. +xvii. p. 341), ‘nos idées de bienséance nous portent à croire qu'un +cérémonie qui nous paraît si infâme n'a été inventée que par la débauche; +mais il n'est guère croyable que la dépravation des mœurs ait jamais +chez aucun peuple établi des cérémonies religieuses. Il est probable, au +contraire, que cette coutume fut d'abord introduite dans les temps de +simplicité, et qu'on ne pensa d'abord qu'à honorer la Divinité dans le +symbole de la vie qu'elle nous a donnée. Une telle cérémonie a dû +inspirer la licence à la jeunesse, et paraître ridicule aux esprits +sages, dans les temps plus raffinés, plus corrompus, et plus éclairés.’ +Compare the remarks on the indecency of the Spartan customs, in +<i>Thirlwall's Hist. of Greece</i>, vol. i. pp. 326, 327.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_924_924" id="Footnote_924_924"></a><a href="#FNanchor_924_924"><span class="label">[924]</span></a> <i>Essai sur les Mœurs</i>, chaps. xiv. and xxxi., in +<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xv. pp. 391, 514. Neander observes, that in the Greek +church there were more heresies than in the Latin church, because the +Greeks thought more; but he has failed to perceive how this favoured the +authority of the popes. <i>Neander's History of the Church</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 198, 199, vol. iii. pp. 191, 492, vol. iv. p. 90, vol. vi. +p. 293, vol. viii. p. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_925_925" id="Footnote_925_925"></a><a href="#FNanchor_925_925"><span class="label">[925]</span></a> In his account of the trade of Archangel, he says, ‘les +Anglais obtinrent le privilége d'y commercer sans payer aucun droit; et +c'est ainsi que toutes les nations devraient peut-être négocier +ensemble.’ <i>Hist. de Russie</i>, part i. chap. i., in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. +xxiii. p. 35. Remarkable words to have been written by a Frenchman, born +at the end of the seventeenth century; and yet they have, so far as I am +aware, escaped the attention of all the historians of political economy. +Indeed, on this, as on most matters, sufficient justice has not been +done to Voltaire, whose opinions were more accurate than those of +Quesnay and his followers. However, Mr. M'Culloch, in noticing one of +the economical errors of Voltaire, honestly admits that his ‘opinions on +such subjects are, for the most part, very correct.’ <i>M'Culloch's +Principles of Political Economy</i>, p. 530. For proof of his sympathy with +Turgot's efforts to establish free trade, compare <i>Lettres inédites de +Voltaire</i>, vol. ii. pp. 367, 403, 423, with <i>Longchamp</i>, <i>Mém. sur +Voltaire</i>, vol. i. pp. 376, 378.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_926_926" id="Footnote_926_926"></a><a href="#FNanchor_926_926"><span class="label">[926]</span></a> ‘The idea of the different ratios by which population and +food increase, was originally thrown out by Voltaire; and was picked up +and expanded into many a goodly volume by our English political +economists in the present century.’ <i>Laing's Notes</i>, second series, p. +42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_927_927" id="Footnote_927_927"></a><a href="#FNanchor_927_927"><span class="label">[927]</span></a> It is often said that Malthus was indebted to Townsend's +writings for his views on population; but this obligation has been too +strongly stated, as, indeed, is always the case when charges of +plagiarism are brought against great works. Still, Townsend is to be +considered as the precursor of Malthus; and if the reader is interested +in tracing the paternity of ideas, he will find some interesting +economical remarks in <i>Townsend's Journey through Spain</i>, vol. i. pp. +379, 383, vol. ii. pp. 85, 337, 387–393; which must be compared with +<i>M'Culloch's Literature of Political Economy</i>, pp. 259, 281–3. Voltaire +having preceded these authors, has, of course, fallen into errors which +they avoided; but nothing can be better than the way in which he opposes +the ignorant belief of his own time, that every thing should be done to +increase population. ‘Le point principal n'est pas d'avoir du superflu +en hommes, mais de rendre ce que nous en avons le moins malheureux qu'il +est possible,’ is the summing-up of his able remarks, in <i>Dict. +Philos.</i>, article <i>Population</i>, sect. 2, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xli. p. +466. Godwin, in his notice of the history of these opinions, is +evidently ignorant of what was done by Voltaire. <i>Sinclair's Corresp.</i> +vol. i. p. 396.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_928_928" id="Footnote_928_928"></a><a href="#FNanchor_928_928"><span class="label">[928]</span></a> With the single exception of Porson, not one of the great +English scholars has shown an appreciation of the beauties of his native +language; and many of them, such as Parr (in all his works) and Bentley +(in his mad edition of Milton), have done every thing in their power to +corrupt it. And there can be little doubt, that the principal reason why +well-educated women write and converse in a purer style than +well-educated men, is because they have not formed their taste according +to those ancient classical standards, which, admirable as they are in +themselves, should never be introduced into a state of society unfitted +for them. To this may be added, that Cobbett, the most racy and +idiomatic of all our writers, and Erskine, by far the greatest of our +forensic orators, knew little or nothing of any ancient language; and +the same observation applies to Shakespeare. On the supposed connexion +between the improvement of taste and the study of classical models, +there are some remarks worth attending to in <i>Rey's Théorie et Pratique +de la Science Sociale</i>, vol. i. pp. 98–101.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_929_929" id="Footnote_929_929"></a><a href="#FNanchor_929_929"><span class="label">[929]</span></a> ‘We can best judge, from the Jesuitical rage with which he +was persecuted, how admirably he had delineated the weaknesses and +presumption of the interpreters of the ancients, who shone in the +schools and academies, and had acquired great reputation by their +various and copiously exhibited learning.’ <i>Schlosser's Eighteenth +Century</i>, vol. i. p. 120. At p. 270, M. Schlosser says, ‘And it was only +a man of Voltaire's wit and talents, who could throw the light of an +entirely new criticism upon the darkness of those grabbing and +collecting pedants.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_930_930" id="Footnote_930_930"></a><a href="#FNanchor_930_930"><span class="label">[930]</span></a> ‘C'est l'imagination seule qui a écrit les premières +histoires. Non seulement chaque peuple inventa son origine, mais il +inventa aussi l'origine du monde entier.’ <i>Dict. Philos.</i> article +<i>Histoire</i>, sec. 2, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xl. p. 195. See also his +article on Chronology, vol. xxxviii. p. 77, for the application of +this to the history of Rome, where he says, ‘Tite Live n'a garde de dire +en quelle année Romulus commença son prétendu règne.’ And at vol. xxxvi. +p. 86, ‘tous les peuples se sont attribués des origines imaginaires; et +aucun n'a touché à la véritable.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_931_931" id="Footnote_931_931"></a><a href="#FNanchor_931_931"><span class="label">[931]</span></a> ‘Qu'on fasse attention que la république romaine a été +cinq cents ans sans historiens; que Tite Live lui-même déplore la perte +des autres monuments qui périrent presque tous dans l'incendie de Rome,’ +&c. <i>Dict. Philos.</i> in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xl. p. 202. At p. 188, ‘ce +peuple, si récent en comparaison des nations asiatiques, a été cinq +cents années sans historiens. Ainsi, il n'est pas surprenant que Romulus +ait été le fils de Mars, qu'une louve ait été sa nourrice, qu'il ait +marché avec mille hommes de son village de Rome contre vingt-cinq mille +combattants du village des Sabins.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_932_932" id="Footnote_932_932"></a><a href="#FNanchor_932_932"><span class="label">[932]</span></a> ‘Par quel excès de démence, par quel opiniâtreté absurde, +tant de compilateurs ont-ils voulu prouver dans tant de volumes énormes, +qu'une fête publique établie en mémoire d'un événement était une +démonstration de la vérité de cet événement?’ <i>Essai sur les Mœurs</i>, +in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xv. p. 109. See also the same remark applied to +monuments, in chap. cxcvii., <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xviii. pp. 412–414; and +again, in vol. xl. pp. 203, 204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_933_933" id="Footnote_933_933"></a><a href="#FNanchor_933_933"><span class="label">[933]</span></a> ‘La plupart des histoires out été crues sans examen, et +cette créance est un préjugé. Fabius Pictor raconte que, plusieurs +siècles avant lui, une vestale de la ville d'Albe, allant puiser de +l'eau dans sa cruche, fut violée, qu'elle accoucha de Romulus et de +Rémus, qu'ils furent nourris par une louve, etc. Le peuple romain crut +cette fable; il n'examina point si dans ce temps-là il y avait des +vestales dans le Latium, s'il était vraisemblable que la fille d'un roi +sortît de son couvent avec sa cruche, s'il était probable qu'une louve +allaitât deux enfants au lieu de les manger; le préjugé s'établit.’ +<i>Dict. Philos.</i> article <i>Préjugés</i>, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xli. pp. 488, +489.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_934_934" id="Footnote_934_934"></a><a href="#FNanchor_934_934"><span class="label">[934]</span></a> ‘Les amateurs du merveilleux disaient: Il faut bien que +ces faits soient vrais, puisque tant de monuments en sont la preuve. Et +nous disions: Il faut bien qu'ils soient faux, puisque le vulgaire les a +crus. Une fable a quelque cours dans une génération; elle s'établit dans +la seconde; elle devient respectable dans la troisième; la quatrième lui +élève des temples.’ <i>Fragments sur l'Histoire</i>, article i. in +<i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xxvii. pp. 158, 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_935_935" id="Footnote_935_935"></a><a href="#FNanchor_935_935"><span class="label">[935]</span></a> In this case, as in many others, ignorance has been +fortified by bigotry; for, as Lord Campbell truly says of Voltaire, +‘since the French Revolution, an indiscriminate abuse of this author has +been in England the test of orthodoxy and loyalty.’ <i>Campbell's Chief +Justices</i>, vol. ii. p. 335. Indeed, so extensively has the public mind +been prejudiced against this great man, that, until a very few years +ago, when Lord Brougham published a life of him, there was no book in +the English language containing even a tolerable account of one of the +most influential writers France has produced. This work of Lord +Brougham's, though a middling performance, is at least an honest one, +and, as it harmonizes with the general spirit of our time, it has +probably had considerable weight. In it he says of Voltaire, ‘nor can +any one since the days of Luther be named, to whom the spirit of free +inquiry, nay, the emancipation of the human mind from spiritual tyranny, +owes a more lasting debt of gratitude.’ <i>Brougham's Life of Voltaire</i>, +p. 132. It is certain, that the better the history of the eighteenth +century is understood, the more the reputation of Voltaire will +increase; as was clearly foreseen by a celebrated writer nearly a +generation ago. In 1831, Lerminier wrote these remarkable, and, as the +result has proved, prophetic words: ‘Il est temps de revenir à des +sentimens plus respectueux pour la mémoire de Voltaire…. +Voltaire a fait pour la France ce que Leibnitz a fait pour l'Allemagne; +pendant trois-quarts de siècle il a représenté son pays, puissant à la +manière de Luther et de Napoléon; il est destiné à survivre a +bien des gloires, et je plains ceux qui se sont oubliés jusqu'à laisser +tomber des paroles dédaigneuses sur le génie de cet homme.’ <i>Lerminier</i>, +<i>Philosophie du Droit</i>, vol. i. p. 199. Compare the glowing eulogy in +<i>Longchamp et Wagnière</i>, <i>Mémoires sur Voltaire</i>, vol. ii. pp. 388, 389, +with the remarks of Saint-Lambert, in <i>Mém. d'Epinay</i>, vol. i. p. 263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_936_936" id="Footnote_936_936"></a><a href="#FNanchor_936_936"><span class="label">[936]</span></a> <i>Vie de Montesquieu</i>, p. xiv., prefixed to his works.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_937_937" id="Footnote_937_937"></a><a href="#FNanchor_937_937"><span class="label">[937]</span></a> Before Montesquieu, the only two great thinkers who had +really studied Roman history were Macchiavelli and Vico: but +Macchiavelli did not attempt any thing approaching the generalizations +of Montesquieu, and he suffered, moreover, from the serious deficiency +of being too much occupied with the practical utility of his subject. +Vico, whose genius was perhaps even more vast than that of Montesquieu, +can hardly be considered his rival; for, though his <i>Scienza Nova</i> +contains the most profound views on ancient history, they are rather +glimpses of truth, than a systematic investigation of any one period.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_938_938" id="Footnote_938_938"></a><a href="#FNanchor_938_938"><span class="label">[938]</span></a> Which M. Guizot (<i>Civilisation en France</i>, vol. iv. p. +36), in his remarks on the <i>Esprit des Lois</i>, does not take sufficiently +into consideration. A juster appreciation of Montesquieu will be found +in <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philosophie</i>, part ii. vol. i. p. 182; and in +<i>Comte</i>, <i>Philosophie Positive</i>, vol. iv. pp. 243–252, 261. Compare +<i>Charles Comte</i>, <i>Traité de Législation</i>, vol. i. p. 125, with <i>Meyer</i>, +<i>Esprit des Institutions Judiciaires</i>, vol. i. p. lxi., respecting the +vast innovations he introduced.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_939_939" id="Footnote_939_939"></a><a href="#FNanchor_939_939"><span class="label">[939]</span></a> He says of the emperor Maximin, ‘il fut tué avec son fils +par ses soldats. Les deux premiers Gordiens périrent en Afrique. Maxime, +Balbin, et le troisième Gordien furent massacrés.’ <i>Grandeur et +Décadence des Romains</i>, chap. xvi., in <i>Œuvres de Montesquieu</i>, p. +167.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_940_940" id="Footnote_940_940"></a><a href="#FNanchor_940_940"><span class="label">[940]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> chap. xi., in <i>Œuvres de Montesquieu</i>, pp. +149–153. Compare a similar remark, respecting Charles XII., in <i>Esprit +des Lois</i>, livre x. chap. xiii. <i>Œuvres</i>, p. 260.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_941_941" id="Footnote_941_941"></a><a href="#FNanchor_941_941"><span class="label">[941]</span></a> On the difference between cause and occasion, see +<i>Grandeur et Décad.</i> chap. i. p. 126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_942_942" id="Footnote_942_942"></a><a href="#FNanchor_942_942"><span class="label">[942]</span></a> ‘Il y a des causes générales, soit morales, soit +physiques, qui agissent dans chaque monarchie, l'élèvent, la +maintiennent, ou la précipitent; tous les accidents sont soumis à ces +causes; et si le hasard d'une bataille, c'est-à-dire une cause +particulière, a ruiné un état, il y avoit une cause générale qui faisoit +que cet état devoit périr par une seule bataille. En un mot, l'allure +principale entraîne avec elle tous les accidente particuliers.’ <i>Grand. +et Décad. des Romains</i>, chap. xviii. p. 172.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_943_943" id="Footnote_943_943"></a><a href="#FNanchor_943_943"><span class="label">[943]</span></a> <i>De l'Esprit des Lois</i>, books xiv. to xviii. inclusive; +in <i>Œuvres</i>, pp. 300–336.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_944_944" id="Footnote_944_944"></a><a href="#FNanchor_944_944"><span class="label">[944]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> livre xxiii. chap. xiii. p. 395. Compare +<i>Burdach</i>, <i>Traité de Physiologie</i>, vol. ii. p. 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_945_945" id="Footnote_945_945"></a><a href="#FNanchor_945_945"><span class="label">[945]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> livre xvi. chap. iv., and livre xxiii. chap. xii. +pp. 317, 395.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_946_946" id="Footnote_946_946"></a><a href="#FNanchor_946_946"><span class="label">[946]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> livre xiv. chap. ii., livre xvii. chap. ii., and +elsewhere.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_947_947" id="Footnote_947_947"></a><a href="#FNanchor_947_947"><span class="label">[947]</span></a> On the supreme importance of method, see my defence of +Bichat in the next chapter.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_948_948" id="Footnote_948_948"></a><a href="#FNanchor_948_948"><span class="label">[948]</span></a> How completely futile this was, as regards results, is +evident from the fact, that a hundred years after he wrote, we, with all +our increased knowledge, can affirm nothing positively respecting the +direct action of climate, food, and soil, in modifying individual +character; though it has, I trust, appeared in the second chapter of +this Introduction, that something can be ascertained respecting their +indirect action, that is, their action on individual minds through the +medium of social and economical organisation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_949_949" id="Footnote_949_949"></a><a href="#FNanchor_949_949"><span class="label">[949]</span></a> ‘Il a créé en 1750 la philosophie de l'histoire dans ses +deux discours prononcés en Sorbonne.’ <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Philosophie</i>, I. série, vol. i. p. 147. There is a short notice of these +striking productions in <i>Condorcet</i>, <i>Vie de Turgot</i>, pp. 11–16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_950_950" id="Footnote_950_950"></a><a href="#FNanchor_950_950"><span class="label">[950]</span></a> Nothing can be better than his summary of this vast +conception: ‘Tous les ages sont enchaînés par une suite de causes et +d'effets qui lient l'état du monde à tous ceux qui l'ont précédé.’ +<i>Second Discours en Sorbonne</i>, in <i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. +ii. p. 52. Every thing Turgot wrote on history is a +development of this pregnant sentence. That he understood the necessity +of an historian being acquainted with physical science, and with the +laws of the configuration of the earth, climate, soil, and the like, is +evident in his fragment, <i>La Géographie Politique</i>, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 166–208. It is no slight proof of his political sagacity, that +in 1750 he distinctly foretold the freedom of the American colonies. +Compare <i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. ii. p. 66, with <i>Mém. sur Turgot</i>, +vol. i. p. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_951_951" id="Footnote_951_951"></a><a href="#FNanchor_951_951"><span class="label">[951]</span></a> A confidence which is apparent in his economical as well +as in his historical works. In 1811, Sir James Mackintosh writes, that +Turgot ‘had more comprehensive views of the progress of society than any +man since Bacon:’ <i>Mem. of Mackintosh</i>, vol. ii. p. 133; and see a +similar remark by Dugald Stewart, in his <i>Philos. of the Mind</i>, vol. i. +p. 246.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot">PROXIMATE CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AFTER THE +MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</div> + +<p>In the last chapter but one, I have attempted to ascertain +what those circumstances were which, almost +immediately after the death of Louis XIV., prepared +the way for the French Revolution. The result of the +inquiry has been, that the French intellect was stimulated +into activity by the examples and teachings of +England; and that this stimulus caused, or at all events +encouraged, a great breach between the government of +France and its literature;—a breach the more remarkable, +because during the reign of Louis XIV. the +literature, notwithstanding its temporary brilliancy, had +been invariably submissive, and had intimately allied +itself with the government, which was always ready to +reward its services. We have also seen that, this rupture +having arisen between the governing classes and +the intellectual classes, it followed, that the former, true +to their ancient instincts, began to chastise that spirit +of inquiry to which they were unaccustomed: hence +those persecutions which, with hardly a single exception, +were directed against every man of letters, and hence +too those systematic attempts to reduce literature to a +subserviency similar to that in which it had been held +under Louis XIV. It has, moreover, appeared, that the +great Frenchmen of the eighteenth century, though +smarting from the injuries constantly inflicted on them +by the government and the church, abstained from attacking +the government, but directed all their hostility +against the church. This apparent anomaly, of the +religious institutions being assailed, and the political +institutions being spared, has been shown to be a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +perfectly natural circumstance, arising out of the antecedents +of the French nation; and an attempt has been +made to explain what those antecedents were, and how +they acted. In the present chapter, I purpose to complete +this inquiry by examining the next great stage in the +history of the French mind. It was needful that, before +both church and state could fall, men should change the +ground of their hostility, and should attack political +abuses with the zeal they had hitherto reserved for religious +ones. The question, therefore, now arises, as to +the circumstances under which this change took place, +and the period when it actually occurred.</p> + +<p>The circumstances which accompanied this great +change are, as we shall presently see, very complicated; +and, as they have never yet been studied in connexion +with each other, I shall, in the remaining part of this +volume, examine them at considerable length. On this +point it will, I think, be practicable to arrive at some +precise and well-defined results respecting the history of +the French Revolution. But the other point, namely, +the time at which the change took place, is not only +much more obscure, but by its nature will never admit +of complete precision. This, however, is a deficiency it +possesses in common with every other change in the +history of man. The circumstances of each change +may always be known, provided the evidence is ample +and authentic. But no amount of evidence can enable +us to fix the date of the change itself. That to which +attention is usually drawn by the compilers of history +is, not the change, but is merely the external result +which follows the change. The real history of the human +race is the history of tendencies which are perceived +by the mind, and not of events which are discerned by +the senses. It is on this account that no historical +epoch will ever admit of that chronological precision +familiar to antiquaries and genealogists. The death of +a prince, the loss of a battle, and the change of a dynasty, +are matters which fall entirely within the province +of the senses; and the moment in which they happen +can be recorded by the most ordinary observers. But +those great intellectual revolutions upon which all other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +revolutions are based, cannot be measured by so simple +a standard. To trace the movements of the human +mind, it is necessary to contemplate it under several +aspects, and then coördinate the results of what we +have separately studied. By this means we arrive at +certain general conclusions, which, like the ordinary +estimate of averages, increase in value in proportion as +we increase the number of instances from which they +are collected. That this is a safe and available method, +appears not only from the history of physical knowledge,<a name="FNanchor_952_952" id="FNanchor_952_952"></a><a href="#Footnote_952_952" class="fnanchor">[952]</a> +but also from the fact, that it is the basis of the empirical +maxims by which all men of sound understanding are +guided in those ordinary transactions of life to which +the generalizations of science have not yet been applied. +Indeed such maxims, which are highly valuable, and +which in their aggregate form what is called common +sense, are never collected with any thing like the precautions +that the philosophic historian ought to feel +himself bound to employ.</p> + +<p>The real objection, therefore, to generalizations respecting +the development of the intellect of a nation is, +not that they want certainty, but that they lack precision. +This is just the point at which the historian +diverges from the annalist. That the English intellect, +for example, is gradually becoming more democratic, or, +as it is termed, more liberal, is as certain as that the +crown of this country is worn by Queen Victoria. But +though both these statements are equally certain, the +latter statement is more precise. We can tell the very +day on which the Queen ascended the throne; the +moment of her death will be known with equal precision; +and there can be no doubt that many other +particulars respecting her will be minutely and accurately +preserved. In tracing, however, the growth of English +liberalism, all such exactness deserts us. We can point +out the year in which the Reform Bill was passed; but +who can point out the year in which the Reform Bill +first became necessary? In the same way, that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> +Jews will be admitted into parliament, is as certain as that +the Catholics have been admitted. Both these measures +are the inevitable result of that increasing indifference +to theological disputes, which must now be obvious to +every man who does not wilfully shut his eyes. But +while we know the hour in which the bill for Catholic +emancipation received the assent of the crown, there is +no one now living who can tell even the year in which +similar justice will be granted to the Jews. Both events +are equally certain, but both events are not equally +precise.</p> + +<p>This distinction between certainty and precision I +have stated at some length, because it seems to be little +understood,<a name="FNanchor_953_953" id="FNanchor_953_953"></a><a href="#Footnote_953_953" class="fnanchor">[953]</a> and because it is intimately connected with +the subject now before us. The fact of the French<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +intellect having, during the eighteenth century, passed +through two totally distinct epochs, can be proved +by every description of evidence; but it is impossible +to ascertain the precise time when one epoch +succeeded the other. All that we can do is, to compare +the different indications which the history of that age +presents, and arrive at an approximation which may +guide future inquirers. It would perhaps be more prudent +to avoid making any particular statement; but as +the employment of dates seems necessary to bring such +matters clearly before the mind, I will, by way of provisional +hypothesis, fix on the year 1750, as the period +when those agitations of society which caused the +French Revolution entered into their second and political +stage.</p> + +<p>That this was about the period when the great movement, +hitherto directed against the church, began to be +turned against the state, is an inference which many +circumstances seem to warrant. We know on the best +authority, that towards the year 1750, the French began +their celebrated inquiries respecting political economy,<a name="FNanchor_954_954" id="FNanchor_954_954"></a><a href="#Footnote_954_954" class="fnanchor">[954]</a> +and that, in their attempt to raise it to a science, they +were led to perceive the immense injury which the interference +of government had produced on the material +interests of the country.<a name="FNanchor_955_955" id="FNanchor_955_955"></a><a href="#Footnote_955_955" class="fnanchor">[955]</a> Hence a conviction arose that,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> +even in regard to the accumulation of wealth, the authority +possessed by the rulers of France was mischievous, +since it enabled them, under the notion of protecting commerce, +to trouble the freedom of individual action, and to +prevent trade from running into those profitable channels +which traders are best able to select for themselves. +Scarcely had a knowledge of this important truth been +diffused, when its consequences were quickly seen in the +national literature, and in the habits of national thought. +The sudden increase in France of works relating to finance +and to other questions of government, is, indeed, one of +the most remarkable features of that age. With such +rapidity did the movement spread, that we are told that, +soon after 1755, the economists effected a schism between +the nation and the government;<a name="FNanchor_956_956" id="FNanchor_956_956"></a><a href="#Footnote_956_956" class="fnanchor">[956]</a> and Voltaire, writing +in 1759, complains that the charms of lighter literature +were entirely neglected amidst the general zeal for +these new studies.<a name="FNanchor_957_957" id="FNanchor_957_957"></a><a href="#Footnote_957_957" class="fnanchor">[957]</a> It is not necessary to follow the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +subsequent history of this great change; nor need I +trace the influence exercised shortly before the Revolution +by the later economists, and particularly by Turgot, +the most eminent of their leaders.<a name="FNanchor_958_958" id="FNanchor_958_958"></a><a href="#Footnote_958_958" class="fnanchor">[958]</a> It is enough to say, +that within about twenty years after the movement was +first clearly seen, the taste for economical and financial +inquiries became so common, that it penetrated those +parts of society where habits of thought are not very +frequent; since we find that, even in fashionable life, +the conversation no longer turned upon new poems +and new plays, but upon political questions, and subjects +immediately connected with them.<a name="FNanchor_959_959" id="FNanchor_959_959"></a><a href="#Footnote_959_959" class="fnanchor">[959]</a> Indeed, when +Necker, in 1781, published his celebrated Report on the +Finances of France, the eagerness to obtain it was +beyond all bounds; six thousand copies were sold the +first day; and the demand still increasing, two presses +were kept constantly at work in order to satisfy the +universal curiosity.<a name="FNanchor_960_960" id="FNanchor_960_960"></a><a href="#Footnote_960_960" class="fnanchor">[960]</a> And what makes the democratic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> +tendency of all this the more obvious is, that Necker +was at that time one of the servants of the crown; so +that his work, looking at its general spirit, has been +truly called an appeal to the people against the king by +one of the ministers of the king himself.<a name="FNanchor_961_961" id="FNanchor_961_961"></a><a href="#Footnote_961_961" class="fnanchor">[961]</a></p> + +<p>This evidence of the remarkable change which, in or +about 1750, the French mind underwent, and which +formed what I term the second epoch of the eighteenth +century, might be easily strengthened by a wider survey +of the literature of that time. Immediately after the +middle of the century, Rousseau published those eloquent +works, which exercised immense influence, and in +which the rise of the new epoch is very observable; for +this most powerful writer abstained from those attacks +on Christianity,<a name="FNanchor_962_962" id="FNanchor_962_962"></a><a href="#Footnote_962_962" class="fnanchor">[962]</a> which unhappily had been too frequent, +and exerted himself almost exclusively against the civil +and political abuses of the existing society.<a name="FNanchor_963_963" id="FNanchor_963_963"></a><a href="#Footnote_963_963" class="fnanchor">[963]</a> To trace +the effects which this wonderful, but in some instances +misguided, man produced on the mind of his own and +of the succeeding generation, would occupy too large a +share of this Introduction; though the inquiry is full +of interest, and is one which it were to be wished some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> +competent historian would undertake.<a name="FNanchor_964_964" id="FNanchor_964_964"></a><a href="#Footnote_964_964" class="fnanchor">[964]</a> Inasmuch, +however, as the philosophy of Rousseau was itself only +a single phase of a far larger movement, I shall at present +pass over the individual, in order to consider the +general spirit of an age in which he played a vast, but +still a subsidiary part.</p> + +<p>The formation of a new epoch in France, about the +year 1750, may be further illustrated by three circumstances +of considerable interest, all pointing in the same +direction. The first circumstance is, that not a single +great French writer attacked the political institutions +of the country before the middle of the century; while, +after that period, the attacks of the ablest men were +incessant. The second circumstance is, that the only +eminent Frenchmen who continued to assail the clergy, +and yet refused to interfere in politics, were those who,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> +like Voltaire, had already reached an advanced age, and +had, therefore, drawn their ideas from the preceding +generation, in which the church had been the sole object +of hostility. The third circumstance, which is even +more striking than the other two, is, that almost at the +same moment there was seen a change in the policy of +the government; since, singularly enough, the ministers +of the crown displayed for the first time an open enmity +against the church, just as the intellect of the country +was preparing for its decisive onslaught on the government +itself. Of these three propositions, the first two +will probably be admitted by every student of French +literature: at all events, if they are false, they are so +exact and peremptory, that it will be easy to refute them +by giving examples to the contrary. But the third +proposition, being more general, is less susceptible of a +negative, and will therefore require the support of that +special evidence which I will now adduce.</p> + +<p>The great French writers having by the middle of the +eighteenth century succeeded in sapping the foundations +of the church, it was natural that the government +should step in and plunder an establishment which the +course of events had weakened. This, which took place +in France under Louis XV., was similar to what occurred +in England under Henry VIII.; for in both cases a +remarkable intellectual movement, directed against the +clergy, preceded and facilitated the attacks made on +them by the crown. It was in 1749 that the French +government took the first decisive step against the +church. And what proves the hitherto backward state +of the country in such matters is, that this consisted of +an edict against mortmain, a simple contrivance for +weakening the ecclesiastical power, which we in England +had adopted long before. Machault, who had recently +been raised to the office of controller-general, has the +glory of being the originator of this new policy. In +August 1749,<a name="FNanchor_965_965" id="FNanchor_965_965"></a><a href="#Footnote_965_965" class="fnanchor">[965]</a> he issued that celebrated edict which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +forbade the formation of any religious establishment +without the consent of the crown, duly expressed in +letters-patent, and registered in parliament; effective +precautions, which, says the great historian of France, +show that Machault ‘considered not only the increase, +but even the existence of these ecclesiastical properties, +as a mischief to the kingdom.’<a name="FNanchor_966_966" id="FNanchor_966_966"></a><a href="#Footnote_966_966" class="fnanchor">[966]</a></p> + +<p>This was an extraordinary step on the part of the +French government; but what followed showed that it +was only the beginning of a much larger design.<a name="FNanchor_967_967" id="FNanchor_967_967"></a><a href="#Footnote_967_967" class="fnanchor">[967]</a> +Machault, so far from being discountenanced, was, the +year after he had issued this edict, intrusted with the +seals in addition to the controllership;<a name="FNanchor_968_968" id="FNanchor_968_968"></a><a href="#Footnote_968_968" class="fnanchor">[968]</a> for, as Lacretelle +observes, the court ‘thought the time had now +come to tax the property of the clergy.’<a name="FNanchor_969_969" id="FNanchor_969_969"></a><a href="#Footnote_969_969" class="fnanchor">[969]</a> During the +forty years which elapsed between this period and the +beginning of the Revolution, the same anti-ecclesiastical +policy prevailed. Among the successors of Machault, +the only three of much ability were Choiseul, Necker, +and Turgot, all of whom were strenuous opponents of +that spiritual body, which no minister would have assailed +in the preceding generation. Not only these +eminent statesmen, but even such inferior men as +Calonne, Malesherbes, and Terray, looked on it as a +stroke of policy to attack privileges which superstition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> +had consecrated, and which the clergy had hitherto +reserved, partly to extend their own influence, and +partly to minister to those luxurious and profligate +habits, which in the eighteenth century were a scandal +to the ecclesiastical order.</p> + +<p>While these measures were being adopted against the +clergy, another important step was taken in precisely +the same direction. Now it was that the government +began to favour that great doctrine of religious liberty, +the mere defence of which it had hitherto punished as a +dangerous speculation. The connexion between the +attacks on the clergy and the subsequent progress of +toleration, may be illustrated, not only by the rapidity +with which one event succeeded the other, but also by +the fact, that both of them emanated from the same +quarter. Machault, who was the author of the edict of +mortmain, was also the first minister who showed a +wish to protect the Protestants against the persecutions +of the Catholic priesthood.<a name="FNanchor_970_970" id="FNanchor_970_970"></a><a href="#Footnote_970_970" class="fnanchor">[970]</a> In this he only partly +succeeded; but the impetus thus given soon became +irresistible. In 1760, that is only nine years later, +there was seen a marked change in the administration +of the laws; and the edicts against heresy, though not +yet repealed, were enforced with unprecedented mildness.<a name="FNanchor_971_971" id="FNanchor_971_971"></a><a href="#Footnote_971_971" class="fnanchor">[971]</a> +The movement quickly spread from the capital +to the remoter parts of the kingdom; and we are assured +that, after the year 1762, the reaction was felt +even in those provinces, which, from their backward +condition, had always been most remarkable for religious +bigotry.<a name="FNanchor_972_972" id="FNanchor_972_972"></a><a href="#Footnote_972_972" class="fnanchor">[972]</a> At the same time, as we shall presently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +see, a great schism arose in the church itself, which +lessened the power of the clergy, by dividing them into +two hostile parties. Of these factions, one made +common cause with the state, still further aiding the +overthrow of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Indeed, the +dissensions became so violent, that the last great blow +dealt to spiritual ascendency by the government of +Louis XVI. proceeded not from the hands of a layman, +but from one of the leaders of the church; a man who, +from his standing, would, under ordinary circumstances, +have protected the interests which he now eagerly attacked. +In 1787, only two years before the Revolution, +Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse,<a name="FNanchor_973_973" id="FNanchor_973_973"></a><a href="#Footnote_973_973" class="fnanchor">[973]</a> who was then minister, +laid before the parliament of Paris a royal edict, +by which the discouragement hitherto thrown upon +heresy was suddenly removed. By this law, the Protestants +were invested with all those civil rights which +the Catholic clergy had long held out as the reward of +adherence to their own opinions.<a name="FNanchor_974_974" id="FNanchor_974_974"></a><a href="#Footnote_974_974" class="fnanchor">[974]</a> It was, therefore, +natural that the more orthodox party should condemn, +as an impious innovation,<a name="FNanchor_975_975" id="FNanchor_975_975"></a><a href="#Footnote_975_975" class="fnanchor">[975]</a> a measure which, by placing +the two sects, in some degree, on the same footing, +seemed to sanction the progress of error; and which +certainly deprived the French church of one of the chief +attractions by which men had hitherto been induced to +join her communion. Now, however, all these considerations +were set at nought. Such was the prevailing +temper, that the parliament, though then in a mood +very refractory to the royal authority, did not hesitate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> +to register the edict of the king; and this great measure +became law; the dominant party being astonished, we +are told, how any doubt could be entertained as to the +wisdom of the principles on which it was based.<a name="FNanchor_976_976" id="FNanchor_976_976"></a><a href="#Footnote_976_976" class="fnanchor">[976]</a></p> + +<p>These were omens of the coming storm; signs of the +time, which those who run may read. Nor are there +wanting other marks, by which the true complexion of +that age may be clearly seen. In addition to what has +been just related, the government, soon after the middle +of the eighteenth century, inflicted a direct and fatal +injury upon the spiritual authority. This consisted in +the expulsion of the Jesuits; which is an event, important +not only for its ultimate effects, but also as an +evidence of the feelings of men, and of what could be +peaceably accomplished by the government of him who +was called ‘the most Christian king.’<a name="FNanchor_977_977" id="FNanchor_977_977"></a><a href="#Footnote_977_977" class="fnanchor">[977]</a></p> + +<p>The Jesuits, for at least fifty years after their institution, +rendered immense services to civilization, partly +by tempering with a secular element the more superstitious +views of their great predecessors, the Dominicans +and Franciscans, and partly by organizing a system +of education far superior to any yet seen in Europe. In +no university could there be found a scheme of instruction +so comprehensive as theirs; and certainly no where +was displayed such skill in the management of youth, +or such insight into the general operations of the +human mind. It must, in justice, be added, that this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> +illustrious society, notwithstanding its eager, and often +unprincipled, ambition, was, during a considerable period, +the steady friend of science, as well as of literature; and +that it allowed to its members a freedom and a boldness +of speculation which had never been permitted by any +other monastic order.</p> + +<p>As, however, civilization advanced, the Jesuits, like +every spiritual hierarchy the world has yet seen, began +to lose ground; and this not so much from their own +decay, as from a change in the spirit of those who surrounded +them. An institution admirably adapted to an +early form of society, was ill suited to the same society +in its maturer state. In the sixteenth century, the +Jesuits were before their age; in the eighteenth century, +they were behind it. In the sixteenth century, they +were the great missionaries of knowledge; because they +believed that, by its aid, they could subjugate the consciences +of men. But, in the eighteenth century, their +materials were more refractory; they had to deal with +a perverse and stiff-necked generation; they saw in +every country the ecclesiastical authority rapidly declining; +and they clearly perceived that their only +chance of retaining their old dominion was, by checking +that knowledge, the progress of which they had formerly +done much to accelerate.<a name="FNanchor_978_978" id="FNanchor_978_978"></a><a href="#Footnote_978_978" class="fnanchor">[978]</a></p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, the statesmen of France, +almost immediately after the middle of the eighteenth +century, determined to ruin an order which had long +ruled the world, and which was still the greatest bulwark +of the church. In this design they were aided by +a curious movement which had taken place in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> +church itself, and which, being connected with views of +much wider import, deserves the attention even of those +for whom theological controversies have no interest.</p> + +<p>Among the many points on which metaphysicians +have wasted their strength, that of free-will has provoked +the hottest disputes. And what has increased +the acerbity of their language, is, that this, which is +eminently a metaphysical question, has been taken up +by theologians, who have treated it with that warmth +for which they are remarkable.<a name="FNanchor_979_979" id="FNanchor_979_979"></a><a href="#Footnote_979_979" class="fnanchor">[979]</a> From the time of +Pelagius, if not earlier,<a name="FNanchor_980_980" id="FNanchor_980_980"></a><a href="#Footnote_980_980" class="fnanchor">[980]</a> Christianity has been divided +into two great sects, which, though in some respects +uniting by insensible shades, have always preserved the +broad features of their original difference. By one sect, +the freedom of the will is virtually, and often expressly, +denied; for it is asserted, not only that we cannot of +our own will effect anything meritorious, but that whatever +good we may do will be useless, since the Deity +has predestined some men to perdition, others to salvation. +By the other sect, the freedom of the will is as +strongly upheld; good works are declared essential to +salvation; and the opposite party is accused of exaggerating +that state of grace of which faith is a necessary +accompaniment.<a name="FNanchor_981_981" id="FNanchor_981_981"></a><a href="#Footnote_981_981" class="fnanchor">[981]</a></p> + +<p>These opposite principles, when pushed to their +logical consequences, must lead the first sect into antinomianism,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_982_982" id="FNanchor_982_982"></a><a href="#Footnote_982_982" class="fnanchor">[982]</a> +and the second sect into the doctrine of +supererogatory works.<a name="FNanchor_983_983" id="FNanchor_983_983"></a><a href="#Footnote_983_983" class="fnanchor">[983]</a> But since on such subjects, +men feel far more than they reason, it usually happens +that they prefer following some common and accredited +standard, or appealing to some ancient name:<a name="FNanchor_984_984" id="FNanchor_984_984"></a><a href="#Footnote_984_984" class="fnanchor">[984]</a> and +they, therefore, generally class themselves on the one +side under Augustin, Calvin, and Jansenius; on the +other side under Pelagius, Arminius, and Molina.</p> + +<p>Now, it is an interesting fact, that the doctrines +which in England are called Calvinistic, have been +always connected with a democratic spirit; while those +of Arminianism have found most favour among the +aristocratic or protective party. In the republics of +Switzerland, of North America, and of Holland, Calvinism +was always the popular creed.<a name="FNanchor_985_985" id="FNanchor_985_985"></a><a href="#Footnote_985_985" class="fnanchor">[985]</a> On the other +hand, in those evil days, immediately after the death of +Elizabeth, when our liberties were in imminent peril; +when the Church of England, aided by the crown, +attempted to subjugate the consciences of men; and +when the monstrous claim of the divine right of episcopacy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> +was first put forward;<a name="FNanchor_986_986" id="FNanchor_986_986"></a><a href="#Footnote_986_986" class="fnanchor">[986]</a>—then it was that Arminianism +became the cherished doctrine of the ablest and +most ambitious of the ecclesiastical party.<a name="FNanchor_987_987" id="FNanchor_987_987"></a><a href="#Footnote_987_987" class="fnanchor">[987]</a> And in +that sharp retribution which followed, the Puritans and +Independents, by whom the punishment was inflicted, +were, with scarcely an exception, Calvinists:<a name="FNanchor_988_988" id="FNanchor_988_988"></a><a href="#Footnote_988_988" class="fnanchor">[988]</a> nor +should we forget, that the first open movement against +Charles proceeded from Scotland, where the principles +of Calvin had long been in the ascendant.</p> + +<p>This different tendency of these two creeds is so +clearly marked, that an inquiry into its causes becomes +a necessary part of general history, and as we shall +presently see, is intimately connected with the history +of the French Revolution.</p> + +<p>The first circumstance by which we must be struck +is, that Calvinism is a doctrine for the poor, and Arminianism +for the rich. A creed which insists upon the +necessity of faith, must be less costly than one which +insists upon the necessity of works. In the former case, +the sinner seeks salvation by the strength of his belief; +in the latter case, he seeks it by the fullness of his contributions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> +And as those contributions, wherever the +clergy have much power, always flow in the same direction, +we find that in countries which favour the Arminian +doctrine of works, the priests are better paid, and +the churches more richly ornamented, than they are +where Calvinism has the upper hand. Indeed it is +evident to the most vulgar calculation, that a religion +which concentrates our charity upon ourselves, is less +expensive than one which directs our charity to others.</p> + +<p>This is the first great practical divergence of the two +creeds: a divergence which may be verified by any one +who is acquainted with the histories of different Christian +nations, or who has even travelled in countries where +the different tenets are professed. It is also observable, +that the Church of Rome, whose worship is addressed +mainly to the senses, and who delights in splendid +cathedrals and pompous ceremonies, has always displayed +against the Calvinists an animosity far greater +than she has done against any other Protestant sect.<a name="FNanchor_989_989" id="FNanchor_989_989"></a><a href="#Footnote_989_989" class="fnanchor">[989]</a></p> + +<p>Out of these circumstances, inevitably arose the aristocratic +tendency of Arminianism, and the democratic +tendency of Calvinism. The people love pomp and +pageantry as much as the nobles do, but they do not +love to pay for them. Their untutored minds are easily +captivated by the array of a numerous priesthood, and +by the gorgeousness of a well-appointed temple. Still, +they know full well that these things absorb a large part +of that wealth which would otherwise flow into their +own cottages. On the other hand, the aristocracy, by +their standing, their habits, and the traditions of their +education, naturally contract a taste for expense, which +makes them unite splendour with religion, and connect +pomp with piety. Besides this, they have an intuitive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +and well-founded belief that their own interests are +associated with the interests of the priesthood, and that +whatever weakens the one will hasten the downfall of +the other. Hence it is, that every Christian democracy +has simplified its external worship; every Christian +aristocracy has embellished it. By a parity of reasoning, +the more any society tends to equality, the more +likely it is that its theological opinions will be Calvinistic; +while the more a society tends towards inequality, +the greater the probability of those opinions being +Arminian.</p> + +<p>It would be easy to push this contrast still further, +and to show that Calvinism is more favourable to the +sciences, Arminianism to the arts;<a name="FNanchor_990_990" id="FNanchor_990_990"></a><a href="#Footnote_990_990" class="fnanchor">[990]</a> and that, on the +same principle, the first is better suited to thinkers, the +other to scholars.<a name="FNanchor_991_991" id="FNanchor_991_991"></a><a href="#Footnote_991_991" class="fnanchor">[991]</a> But without pretending to trace +the whole of this divergence, it is very important to +observe, that the professors of the former religion are +more likely to acquire habits of independent thinking +than those of the latter. And this on two distinct<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +grounds. In the first place, even the most ordinary of +the Calvinistic party are, by the very terms of their +creed, led, in religious matters, to fix their attention on +their own minds rather than on the minds of others. +They, therefore, as a body, are intellectually more narrow +than their opponents, but less servile; their views, +though generalized from a smaller field, are more independent; +they are less attached to antiquity, and more +heedless of those traditions to which the Arminian scholars +attach great importance. In the second place, those +who associate metaphysics with their religion are led +by Calvinism into the doctrine of necessity;<a name="FNanchor_992_992" id="FNanchor_992_992"></a><a href="#Footnote_992_992" class="fnanchor">[992]</a> a theory +which, though often misunderstood, is pregnant with +great truths, and is better calculated than any other +system to develop the intellect, because it involves +that clear conception of law, the attainment of which is +the highest point the human understanding can reach.</p> + +<p>These considerations will enable the reader to see +the immense importance of that revival of Jansenism, +which took place in the French church during the +eighteenth century. For, Jansenism being essentially +Calvinistic,<a name="FNanchor_993_993" id="FNanchor_993_993"></a><a href="#Footnote_993_993" class="fnanchor">[993]</a> those tendencies appeared in France by +which Calvinism is marked. There appeared the inquisitive, +democratic, and insubordinate spirit, which has +always accompanied that creed. A further confirmation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> +of the truth of the principles just laid down is, that +Jansenism originated with a native of the Dutch Republic;<a name="FNanchor_994_994" id="FNanchor_994_994"></a><a href="#Footnote_994_994" class="fnanchor">[994]</a> +that it was introduced into France during the +glimpse of freedom which preceded the power of Louis +XIV.;<a name="FNanchor_995_995" id="FNanchor_995_995"></a><a href="#Footnote_995_995" class="fnanchor">[995]</a> that it was forcibly repressed in his arbitrary +reign;<a name="FNanchor_996_996" id="FNanchor_996_996"></a><a href="#Footnote_996_996" class="fnanchor">[996]</a> and that before the middle of the eighteenth +century, it again arose, as the natural product of a state +of society by which the French Revolution was brought +about.</p> + +<p>The connexion between the revival of Jansenism and +the destruction of the Jesuits, is obvious. After the +death of Louis XIV., the Jansenists rapidly gained +ground, even in the Sorbonne;<a name="FNanchor_997_997" id="FNanchor_997_997"></a><a href="#Footnote_997_997" class="fnanchor">[997]</a> and by the middle of +the eighteenth century, they had organized a powerful +party in the French parliament.<a name="FNanchor_998_998" id="FNanchor_998_998"></a><a href="#Footnote_998_998" class="fnanchor">[998]</a> About the same +period, their influence began to show itself in the executive +government, and among the officers of the +crown. Machault, who held the important post of controller-general,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> +was known to favour their opinions;<a name="FNanchor_999_999" id="FNanchor_999_999"></a><a href="#Footnote_999_999" class="fnanchor">[999]</a> +and a few years after his retirement, Choiseul was called +to the head of affairs; a man of considerable ability, +by whom they were openly protected.<a name="FNanchor_1000_1000" id="FNanchor_1000_1000"></a><a href="#Footnote_1000_1000" class="fnanchor">[1000]</a> Their views +were likewise supported by Laverdy, controller-general +in 1764, and by Terray, controller of finances in 1769.<a name="FNanchor_1001_1001" id="FNanchor_1001_1001"></a><a href="#Footnote_1001_1001" class="fnanchor">[1001]</a> +The procureur-general, Gilbert des Voisins, was a Jansenist;<a name="FNanchor_1002_1002" id="FNanchor_1002_1002"></a><a href="#Footnote_1002_1002" class="fnanchor">[1002]</a> +so also was one of his successors, Chauvelin;<a name="FNanchor_1003_1003" id="FNanchor_1003_1003"></a><a href="#Footnote_1003_1003" class="fnanchor">[1003]</a> +and so was the advocate-general Pelletier de Saint-Fargeau;<a name="FNanchor_1004_1004" id="FNanchor_1004_1004"></a><a href="#Footnote_1004_1004" class="fnanchor">[1004]</a> +and so too was Camus, the well-known +advocate of the clergy.<a name="FNanchor_1005_1005" id="FNanchor_1005_1005"></a><a href="#Footnote_1005_1005" class="fnanchor">[1005]</a> Turgot, the greatest statesman +of the age, is said to have embraced the same +opinions;<a name="FNanchor_1006_1006" id="FNanchor_1006_1006"></a><a href="#Footnote_1006_1006" class="fnanchor">[1006]</a> while Necker, who on two different occasions +possessed almost supreme power, was notoriously +a rigid Calvinist. To this may be added, that not only +Necker, but also Rousseau, to whom a large share in +causing the Revolution is justly ascribed, were born in +Geneva, and drew their earliest ideas from that great +nursery of the Calvinistic theology.</p> + +<p>In such a state of things as this, it was impossible +that a body like the Jesuits should hold their ground. +They were the last defenders of authority and tradition, +and it was natural that they should fall in an age when +statesmen were sceptics, and theologians were Calvinists. +Even the people had already marked them for destruction; +and when Damiens, in 1757, attempted to assassinate +the king, it was generally believed that they were +the instigators of the act.<a name="FNanchor_1007_1007" id="FNanchor_1007_1007"></a><a href="#Footnote_1007_1007" class="fnanchor">[1007]</a> This we now know to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> +false; but the existence of such a rumour is evidence +of the state of the popular mind. At all events, the +doom of the Jesuits was fixed. In April 1761, parliament +ordered their constitutions to be laid before them.<a name="FNanchor_1008_1008" id="FNanchor_1008_1008"></a><a href="#Footnote_1008_1008" class="fnanchor">[1008]</a> +In August, they were forbidden to receive novices, their +colleges were closed, and a number of their most celebrated +works were publicly burned by the common +hangman.<a name="FNanchor_1009_1009" id="FNanchor_1009_1009"></a><a href="#Footnote_1009_1009" class="fnanchor">[1009]</a> Finally, in 1762, another edict appeared, +by which the Jesuits were condemned without even +being heard in their own defence;<a name="FNanchor_1010_1010" id="FNanchor_1010_1010"></a><a href="#Footnote_1010_1010" class="fnanchor">[1010]</a> their property was +directed to be sold, and their order secularized; they +were declared ‘unfit to be admitted into a well-governed +country,’ and their institute and society were formally +abolished.<a name="FNanchor_1011_1011" id="FNanchor_1011_1011"></a><a href="#Footnote_1011_1011" class="fnanchor">[1011]</a></p> + +<p>Such was the way in which this great society, long +the terror of the world, fell before the pressure of public +opinion. What makes its fall the more remarkable, is, +that the pretext which was alleged to justify the examination +of its constitutions, was one so slight, that no +former government would have listened to it for a single +moment. This immense spiritual corporation was +actually tried by a temporal court for ill faith in a +mercantile transaction, and for refusing to pay a sum of +money said to be due!<a name="FNanchor_1012_1012" id="FNanchor_1012_1012"></a><a href="#Footnote_1012_1012" class="fnanchor">[1012]</a> The most important body in +the Catholic church, the spiritual leaders of France, +the educators of her youth, and the confessors of her +kings, were brought to the bar, and sued in their collective +capacity, for the fraudulent repudiation of a +common debt!<a name="FNanchor_1013_1013" id="FNanchor_1013_1013"></a><a href="#Footnote_1013_1013" class="fnanchor">[1013]</a> So marked was the predisposition of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> +affairs, that it was not found necessary to employ for the +destruction of the Jesuits any of those arts by which +the popular mind is commonly inflamed. The charge +upon which they were sentenced, was not that they had +plotted against the state; nor that they had corrupted +the public morals; nor that they wished to subvert +religion. These were the accusations which were +brought in the seventeenth century, and which suited +the genius of that age. But in the eighteenth century, +all that was required was some trifling accident, that +might serve as a pretence to justify what the nation had +already determined. To ascribe, therefore, this great +event to the bankruptcy of a trader, or the intrigues of +a mistress,<a name="FNanchor_1014_1014" id="FNanchor_1014_1014"></a><a href="#Footnote_1014_1014" class="fnanchor">[1014]</a> is to confuse the cause of an act with the +pretext under which the act is committed. In the eyes +of the men of the eighteenth century, the real crime of +the Jesuits was, that they belonged to the past rather +than to the present, and that by defending the abuses +of ancient establishments, they obstructed the progress +of mankind. They stood in the way of the age, and the +age swept them from its path. This was the real cause +of their abolition: a cause not likely to be perceived by +those writers, who, under the guise of historians, are +only collectors of the prattle and gossip of courts; and +who believe that the destinies of great nations can be +settled in the ante-chambers of ministers, and in the +councils of kings.</p> + +<p>After the fall of the Jesuits, there seemed to be +nothing remaining which could save the French church +from immediate destruction.<a name="FNanchor_1015_1015" id="FNanchor_1015_1015"></a><a href="#Footnote_1015_1015" class="fnanchor">[1015]</a> The old theological spirit +had been for some time declining, and the clergy were +suffering from their own decay even more than from the +attacks made upon them. The advance of knowledge +was producing in France the same results as those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> +which I have pointed out in England; and the increasing +attractions of science drew off many illustrious men, +who in a preceding age would have been active members +of the spiritual profession. That splendid eloquence, +for which the French clergy had been remarkable, was +now dying away, and there were no longer heard the +voices of those great orators, at whose bidding the +temples had formerly been filled.<a name="FNanchor_1016_1016" id="FNanchor_1016_1016"></a><a href="#Footnote_1016_1016" class="fnanchor">[1016]</a> Massillon was the last +of that celebrated race who had so enthralled the mind, +and the magic of whose fascination it is even now hard +to withstand. He died in 1742; and after him the +French clergy possessed no eminent men of any kind, +neither thinkers, nor orators, nor writers.<a name="FNanchor_1017_1017" id="FNanchor_1017_1017"></a><a href="#Footnote_1017_1017" class="fnanchor">[1017]</a> Nor did +there seem the least possibility of their recovering their +lost position. While society was advancing they were +receding. All the sources of their power were dried up. +They had no active leaders; they had lost the confidence +of government; they had forfeited the respect of the +people; they had become a mark for the gibes of the +age.<a name="FNanchor_1018_1018" id="FNanchor_1018_1018"></a><a href="#Footnote_1018_1018" class="fnanchor">[1018]</a></p> + +<p>It does, at first sight, seem strange that, under these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> +circumstances, the French clergy should have been able, +for nearly thirty years after the abolition of the Jesuits, +to maintain their standing, so as to interfere with impunity +in public affairs.<a name="FNanchor_1019_1019" id="FNanchor_1019_1019"></a><a href="#Footnote_1019_1019" class="fnanchor">[1019]</a> The truth, however, is, that +this temporary reprieve of the ecclesiastical order was +owing to that movement which I have already noticed, +and by virtue of which the French intellect, during the +latter half of the eighteenth century, changed the ground +of its attack, and, directing its energies against political +abuses, neglected in some degree those spiritual +abuses to which its attention had been hitherto confined. +The result was, that in France the government enforced +a policy which the great thinkers had indeed originated, +but respecting which they were becoming less eager. +The most eminent Frenchmen were beginning their +attacks upon the state, and in the heat of their new +warfare they slackened their opposition to the church. +But in the mean time, the seeds they had sown germinated +in the state itself. So rapid was the march of +affairs, that those anti-ecclesiastical opinions which, +a few years earlier, were punished as the paradoxes of +designing men, were now taken up and put into execution +by senators and ministers. The rulers of France +carried into effect principles which had hitherto been +simply a matter of theory; and thus it happened, as is +always the case, that practical statesmen only apply and +work out ideas which have long before been suggested +by more advanced thinkers.</p> + +<p>Hence it followed, that at no period during the eighteenth +century did the speculative classes and practical +classes thoroughly combine against the church: since, +in the first half of the century, the clergy were principally +assailed by the literature, and not by the +government; in the latter half of the century, by the +government, and not by the literature. Some of the +circumstances of this singular transition have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> +already stated, and I hope clearly brought before the +mind of the reader. I now purpose to complete the +generalization, by proving that a corresponding change +was taking place in all other branches of inquiry; and +that, while in the first period attention was chiefly +directed towards mental phenomena, it was in the second +period more directed towards physical phenomena. +From this, the political movement received a vast accession +of strength. For the French intellect, shifting +the scene of its labours, diverted the thoughts of men +from the internal to the external, and concentrating +attention upon their material rather than upon their +spiritual wants, turned against the encroachments of +the state an hostility formerly reserved for the encroachments +of the church. Whenever a tendency arises to +prefer what comes from without to what comes from +within, and thus to aggrandize matter at the expense of +mind, there will also be a tendency to believe that an +institution which hampers our opinions is less hurtful +than one which controls our acts. Precisely in the same +way, men who reject the fundamental truths of religion, +will care little for the extent to which those truths are +perverted. Men who deny the existence of the Deity +and the immortality of the soul, will take no heed of +the way in which a gross and formal worship obscures +those sublime doctrines. All the idolatry, all the ceremonials, +all the pomp, all the dogmas, and all the +traditions by which religion is retarded, will give them +no disquietude, because they consider the opinions that +are checked to be equally false with those that are +favoured. Why should they, to whom transcendental +truths are unknown, labour to remove the superstitions +which darken the truths? Such a generation, so far +from attacking ecclesiastical usurpations, would rather +look on the clergy as convenient tools to ensnare the +ignorant and control the vulgar. Therefore it is that +we rarely hear of a sincere atheist being a zealous +polemic. But if that should occur, which a century +ago occurred in France; if it should happen that men +of great energy, and actuated by the feelings I have +described, were to find themselves in the presence of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> +political despotism,—they would direct against it the +whole of their powers; and they would act with the +more determined vigour, because, believing that their +all was at stake, temporal happiness would be to them +not only the first, but also the sole consideration.</p> + +<p>It is from this point of view that the progress of those +atheistical opinions, which now rose in France, becomes +a matter of great though painful interest. And the +date at which they appeared, fully corroborates what I +have just said respecting the change that took place in +the middle of the eighteenth century. The first great +work in which they were openly promulgated, was the +celebrated Encyclopædia, published in 1751.<a name="FNanchor_1020_1020" id="FNanchor_1020_1020"></a><a href="#Footnote_1020_1020" class="fnanchor">[1020]</a> Before +that time such degrading opinions, though occasionally +broached, were not held by any men of ability; nor +could they in the preceding state of society have made +much impression upon the age. But during the latter +half of the eighteenth century, they affected every department +of French literature. Between 1758 and +1770, atheistical tenets rapidly gained ground;<a name="FNanchor_1021_1021" id="FNanchor_1021_1021"></a><a href="#Footnote_1021_1021" class="fnanchor">[1021]</a> and in +1770 was published the famous work, called the <i>System +of Nature</i>; the success, and, unhappily, the ability of +which, makes its appearance an important epoch in the +history of France. Its popularity was immense;<a name="FNanchor_1022_1022" id="FNanchor_1022_1022"></a><a href="#Footnote_1022_1022" class="fnanchor">[1022]</a> and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> +the views it contains are so clearly and methodically +arranged, as to have earned for it the name of the code +of atheism.<a name="FNanchor_1023_1023" id="FNanchor_1023_1023"></a><a href="#Footnote_1023_1023" class="fnanchor">[1023]</a> Five years later, the Archbishop of Toulouse, +in a formal address to the king on behalf of the +clergy, declared that atheism had now become the prevailing +opinion.<a name="FNanchor_1024_1024" id="FNanchor_1024_1024"></a><a href="#Footnote_1024_1024" class="fnanchor">[1024]</a> This, like all similar assertions, must +have been an exaggeration; but that there was a large +amount of truth in it, is known to whoever has studied +the mental habits of the generation immediately preceding +the Revolution. Among the inferior class of +writers, Damilaville, Deleyre, Maréchal, Naigeon, Toussaint, +were active supporters of that cold and gloomy +dogma, which, in order to extinguish the hope of a +future life, blots out from the mind of man the glorious +instincts of his own immortality.<a name="FNanchor_1025_1025" id="FNanchor_1025_1025"></a><a href="#Footnote_1025_1025" class="fnanchor">[1025]</a> And, strange to say, +several even of the higher intellects were unable to +escape the contagion. Atheism was openly advocated +by Condorcet, by D'Alembert, by Diderot, by Helvétius, +by Lalande, by Laplace, by Mirabeau, and by Saint +Lambert.<a name="FNanchor_1026_1026" id="FNanchor_1026_1026"></a><a href="#Footnote_1026_1026" class="fnanchor">[1026]</a> Indeed, so thoroughly did all this harmonize<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> +with the general temper, that in society men +boasted of what, in other countries, and in other days, +has been a rare and singular error, an eccentric taint, +which those affected by it were willing to conceal. In +1764 Hume met, at the house of Baron d'Holbach, a +party of the most celebrated Frenchmen then residing +in Paris. The great Scotchman, who was no doubt +aware of the prevailing opinion, took occasion to raise +an argument as to the existence of an atheist, properly +so called; for his own part, he said, he had never +chanced to meet with one. ‘You have been somewhat +unfortunate,’ replied Holbach; ‘but at the present +moment you are sitting at table with seventeen of +them.’<a name="FNanchor_1027_1027" id="FNanchor_1027_1027"></a><a href="#Footnote_1027_1027" class="fnanchor">[1027]</a></p> + +<p>This, sad as it is, only forms a single aspect of that +immense movement, by which, during the latter half of +the eighteenth century, the French intellect was withdrawn +from the study of the internal, and concentrated +upon that of the external world. Of this tendency, we +find an interesting instance in the celebrated work of +Helvétius, unquestionably the ablest and most influential +treatise on morals which France produced at this period. +It was published in 1758;<a name="FNanchor_1028_1028" id="FNanchor_1028_1028"></a><a href="#Footnote_1028_1028" class="fnanchor">[1028]</a> and, although it bears the +title of an essay on ‘the Mind,’ it does not contain a +single passage from which we could infer that the mind, +in the sense in which the word is commonly used, has +any existence. In this work, which, during fifty years, +was the code of French morals, principles are laid down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> +which bear exactly the same relation to ethics that +atheism bears to theology. Helvétius, at the beginning +of his inquiry, assumes, as an incontestable fact, that the +difference between man and other animals is the result +of a difference in their external form; and that if, for +example, our wrists, instead of ending with hands and +flexible fingers, had merely ended like a horse's foot, we +should have always remained wanderers on the face of +the earth, ignorant of every art, entirely defenceless, +and having no other concern but to avoid the attacks of +wild beasts, and find the needful supply of our daily +food.<a name="FNanchor_1029_1029" id="FNanchor_1029_1029"></a><a href="#Footnote_1029_1029" class="fnanchor">[1029]</a> That the structure of our bodies is the sole +cause of our boasted superiority, becomes evident, when +we consider that our thoughts are simply the product of +two faculties, which we have in common with all other +animals; namely, the faculty of receiving impressions +from external objects, and the faculty of remembering +those impressions after they are received.<a name="FNanchor_1030_1030" id="FNanchor_1030_1030"></a><a href="#Footnote_1030_1030" class="fnanchor">[1030]</a> From +this, says Helvétius, it follows, that the internal powers +of man being the same as those of all other animals, +our sensibility and our memory would be useless, if it +were not for those external peculiarities by which we +are eminently distinguished, and to which we owe every +thing that is most valuable.<a name="FNanchor_1031_1031" id="FNanchor_1031_1031"></a><a href="#Footnote_1031_1031" class="fnanchor">[1031]</a> These positions being +laid down, it is easy to deduce all the essential principles +of moral actions. For, memory being merely one +of the organs of physical sensibility,<a name="FNanchor_1032_1032" id="FNanchor_1032_1032"></a><a href="#Footnote_1032_1032" class="fnanchor">[1032]</a> and judgment +being only a sensation,<a name="FNanchor_1033_1033" id="FNanchor_1033_1033"></a><a href="#Footnote_1033_1033" class="fnanchor">[1033]</a> all notions of duty and of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span> +virtue must be tested by their relation to the senses; in +other words, by the gross amount of physical enjoyment +to which they give rise. This is the true basis of moral +philosophy. To take any other view, is to allow ourselves +to be deceived by conventional expressions, which +have no foundation except in the prejudices of ignorant +men. Our vices and our virtues are solely the result of +our passions; and our passions are caused by our physical +sensibility to pain and to pleasure.<a name="FNanchor_1034_1034" id="FNanchor_1034_1034"></a><a href="#Footnote_1034_1034" class="fnanchor">[1034]</a> It was in this +way that the sense of justice first arose. To physical +sensibility men owe pleasure and pain; hence the feeling +of their own interests, and hence the desire of living +together in societies. Being assembled in society, there +grew up the notion of a general interest, since, without +it, society could not hold together; and, as actions are +only just or unjust in proportion as they minister to +this general interest, a measure was established, by +which justice is discriminated from injustice.<a name="FNanchor_1035_1035" id="FNanchor_1035_1035"></a><a href="#Footnote_1035_1035" class="fnanchor">[1035]</a> With +the same inflexible spirit, and with great fullness of +illustration, Helvétius examines the origin of those +other feelings which regulate human actions. Thus, +he says that both ambition and friendship are entirely +the work of physical sensibility. Men yearn after fame, +on account either of the pleasure which they expect the +mere possession of it will give, or else as the means of +subsequently procuring other pleasures.<a name="FNanchor_1036_1036" id="FNanchor_1036_1036"></a><a href="#Footnote_1036_1036" class="fnanchor">[1036]</a> As to friendship, +the only use of it is to increase our pleasures or +mitigate our pains; and it is with this object that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> +man longs to hold communion with his friend.<a name="FNanchor_1037_1037" id="FNanchor_1037_1037"></a><a href="#Footnote_1037_1037" class="fnanchor">[1037]</a> Beyond +this, life has nothing to offer. To love what is good +for the sake of the goodness, is as impossible as to love +what is bad for the sake of the evil.<a name="FNanchor_1038_1038" id="FNanchor_1038_1038"></a><a href="#Footnote_1038_1038" class="fnanchor">[1038]</a> The mother who +weeps for the loss of her child, is solely actuated by +selfishness; she mourns because a pleasure is taken +from her, and because she sees a void difficult to fill +up.<a name="FNanchor_1039_1039" id="FNanchor_1039_1039"></a><a href="#Footnote_1039_1039" class="fnanchor">[1039]</a> So it is, that the loftiest virtues, as well as the +meanest vices, are equally caused by the pleasure we +find in the exercise of them.<a name="FNanchor_1040_1040" id="FNanchor_1040_1040"></a><a href="#Footnote_1040_1040" class="fnanchor">[1040]</a> This is the great mover +and originator of all. Every thing that we have, and +every thing that we are, we owe to the external world; +nor is Man himself aught else except what he is made +by the objects which surround him.<a name="FNanchor_1041_1041" id="FNanchor_1041_1041"></a><a href="#Footnote_1041_1041" class="fnanchor">[1041]</a></p> + +<p>The views put forward in this celebrated work I have +stated at some length; not so much on account of the +ability with which they are advocated, as on account of +the clue they furnish to the movements of a most remarkable +age. Indeed, so completely did they harmonize +with the prevailing tendencies, that they not only +quickly obtained for their author a vast European +reputation,<a name="FNanchor_1042_1042" id="FNanchor_1042_1042"></a><a href="#Footnote_1042_1042" class="fnanchor">[1042]</a> but, during many years, they continued to +increase in influence, and, in France in particular, they +exercised great sway.<a name="FNanchor_1043_1043" id="FNanchor_1043_1043"></a><a href="#Footnote_1043_1043" class="fnanchor">[1043]</a> As that was the country in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> +which they arose, so also was it the country to which +they were best adapted. Madame Dudeffand, who passed +her long life in the midst of French society, and was +one of the keenest observers of her time, has expressed +this with great happiness. The work of Helvétius, she +says, is popular, since he is the man who has told to all +their own secret.<a name="FNanchor_1044_1044" id="FNanchor_1044_1044"></a><a href="#Footnote_1044_1044" class="fnanchor">[1044]</a></p> + +<p>True it was, that, to the contemporaries of Helvétius, +his views, notwithstanding their immense popularity, +bore the appearance of a secret; because the connexion +between them and the general march of events was, as +yet, but dimly perceived. To us, however, who, after +this interval of time, can examine the question with the +resources of a larger experience, it is obvious how such +a system met the wants of an age of which it was the +exponent and the mouthpiece. That Helvétius must +have carried with him the sympathies of his countrymen, +is clear, not only from the evidence we have of his +success, but also from a more comprehensive view of +the general complexion of those times. Even while he +was still pursuing his labours, and only four years +before he published them, a work appeared in France, +which, though displaying greater ability, and possessing +a higher influence than that of Helvétius, did, nevertheless, +point in exactly the same direction. I allude to +the great metaphysical treatise by Condillac, in many +respects one of the most remarkable productions of the +eighteenth century; and the authority of which, during +two generations, was so irresistible, that, without some +acquaintance with it, we cannot possibly understand +the nature of those complicated movements by which +the French Revolution was brought about.</p> + +<p>In 1754,<a name="FNanchor_1045_1045" id="FNanchor_1045_1045"></a><a href="#Footnote_1045_1045" class="fnanchor">[1045]</a> Condillac put forth his celebrated work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> +on the mind; the very title of which was a proof of the +bias with which it was written. Although this profound +thinker aimed at nothing less than an exhaustive +analysis of the human faculties, and although he is pronounced +by a very able, but hostile critic, to be the only +metaphysician France produced during the eighteenth +century,<a name="FNanchor_1046_1046" id="FNanchor_1046_1046"></a><a href="#Footnote_1046_1046" class="fnanchor">[1046]</a> still he found it utterly impossible to escape +from those tendencies towards the external which +governed his own age. The consequence was, that he +called his work a ‘Treatise on Sensations;’<a name="FNanchor_1047_1047" id="FNanchor_1047_1047"></a><a href="#Footnote_1047_1047" class="fnanchor">[1047]</a> and in it +he peremptorily asserts, that every thing we know is +the result of sensation; by which he means the effect +produced on us by the action of the external world. +Whatever may be thought of the accuracy of this +opinion, there can be no doubt that it is enforced with a +closeness and severity of reasoning which deserves the +highest praise. To examine, however, the arguments +by which his view is supported, would lead to a discussion +foreign to my present object, which is, merely +to point out the relation between his philosophy and the +general temper of his contemporaries. Without, therefore, +pretending to anything like a critical examination +of this celebrated book, I will simply bring together the +essential positions on which it is based, in order to +illustrate the harmony between it and the intellectual +habits of the age in which it appeared.<a name="FNanchor_1048_1048" id="FNanchor_1048_1048"></a><a href="#Footnote_1048_1048" class="fnanchor">[1048]</a></p> + +<p>The materials from which the philosophy of Condillac +was originally drawn, were contained in the great work +published by Locke about sixty years before this time. +But though much of what was most essential was +borrowed from the English philosopher, there was one +very important point in which the disciple differed from +his master. And this difference is strikingly characteristic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> +of the direction which the French intellect was +now taking. Locke, with some looseness of expression, +and possibly with some looseness of thought, had asserted +the separate existence of a power of reflection, +and had maintained that by means of that power the +products of sensation became available.<a name="FNanchor_1049_1049" id="FNanchor_1049_1049"></a><a href="#Footnote_1049_1049" class="fnanchor">[1049]</a> Condillac, +moved by the prevailing temper of his own time, would +not hear of such a distinction. He, like most of his +contemporaries, was jealous of any claim which increased +the authority of the internal, and weakened +that of the external. He, therefore, altogether rejects +the faculty of reflection as a source of our ideas; and +this partly because it is but the channel through which +ideas run from the senses, and partly because in its +origin it is itself a sensation.<a name="FNanchor_1050_1050" id="FNanchor_1050_1050"></a><a href="#Footnote_1050_1050" class="fnanchor">[1050]</a> Therefore, according to +him, the only question is as to the way in which our +contact with nature supplies us with ideas. For in this +scheme, the faculties of man are solely caused by the +operation of his senses. The judgments which we form +are, says Condillac, often ascribed to the hand of the +Deity; a convenient mode of reasoning, which has only +arisen from the difficulty of analyzing them.<a name="FNanchor_1051_1051" id="FNanchor_1051_1051"></a><a href="#Footnote_1051_1051" class="fnanchor">[1051]</a> By +considering how our judgments actually arise, we can +alone remove these obscurities. The fact is, that +the attention we give to an object is nothing but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> +sensation which that object excites;<a name="FNanchor_1052_1052" id="FNanchor_1052_1052"></a><a href="#Footnote_1052_1052" class="fnanchor">[1052]</a> and what we call +abstract ideas are merely different ways of being attentive.<a name="FNanchor_1053_1053" id="FNanchor_1053_1053"></a><a href="#Footnote_1053_1053" class="fnanchor">[1053]</a> +Ideas being thus generated, the subsequent +process is very simple. To attend to two ideas at the +same time, is to compare them; so that comparison is +not a result of attention, but is rather the attention itself.<a name="FNanchor_1054_1054" id="FNanchor_1054_1054"></a><a href="#Footnote_1054_1054" class="fnanchor">[1054]</a> +This at once gives us the faculty of judging, +because directly we institute a comparison, we do of +necessity form a judgment.<a name="FNanchor_1055_1055" id="FNanchor_1055_1055"></a><a href="#Footnote_1055_1055" class="fnanchor">[1055]</a> Thus, too, memory is a +transformed sensation;<a name="FNanchor_1056_1056" id="FNanchor_1056_1056"></a><a href="#Footnote_1056_1056" class="fnanchor">[1056]</a> while the imagination is +nothing but memory, which, being carried to its highest +possible vivacity, makes what is absent appear to be +present.<a name="FNanchor_1057_1057" id="FNanchor_1057_1057"></a><a href="#Footnote_1057_1057" class="fnanchor">[1057]</a> The impressions we receive from the external +world being, therefore, not the cause of our +faculties, but being the faculties themselves, the conclusion +to which we are driven is inevitable. It follows, +says Condillac, that in man nature is the beginning of +all; that to nature we owe the whole of our knowledge; +that we only instruct ourselves according to her lessons; +and that the entire art of reasoning consists in continuing +the work which she has appointed us to perform.<a name="FNanchor_1058_1058" id="FNanchor_1058_1058"></a><a href="#Footnote_1058_1058" class="fnanchor">[1058]</a></p> + +<p>It is so impossible to mistake the tendency of these +views, that I need not attempt to estimate their result<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> +otherwise than by measuring the extent to which they +were adopted. Indeed, the zeal with which they were +now carried into every department of knowledge, can +only surprise those who, being led by their habits of +mind to study history in its separate fragments, have not +accustomed themselves to consider it as an united whole, +and who, therefore, do not perceive that in every great +epoch there is some one idea at work, which is more +powerful than any other, and which shapes the events of +the time and determines their ultimate issue. In France, +during the latter half of the eighteenth century, this +idea was, the inferiority of the internal to the external. +It was this dangerous but plausible principle which +drew the attention of men from the church to the state; +which was seen in Helvétius the most celebrated of the +French moralists, and in Condillac the most celebrated +of the French metaphysicians. It was this same +principle which, by increasing, if I may so say, the +reputation of Nature, induced the ablest thinkers to +devote themselves to a study of her laws, and to +abandon those other pursuits which had been popular in +the preceding age. In consequence of this movement, +such wonderful additions were made to every branch of +physical science, that more new truths concerning the +external world were discovered in France during the +latter half of the eighteenth century than during all the +previous periods put together. The details of these +discoveries, so far as they have been subservient to the +general purposes of civilization, will be related in +another place; at present I will indicate only the most +prominent, in order that the reader may understand the +course of the subsequent argument, and may see the +connexion between them and the French Revolution.</p> + +<p>Taking a general view of the external world, we may +say, that the three most important forces by which the +operations of nature are effected, are heat, light, and +electricity; including under this last magnetic and +galvanic phenomena. On all these subjects, the French, +for the first time, now exerted themselves with signal +success. In regard to heat, not only were the materials +for subsequent induction collected with indefatigable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> +industry, but before that generation passed away, the +induction was actually made; for while the laws of its +radiation were worked out by Prevost,<a name="FNanchor_1059_1059" id="FNanchor_1059_1059"></a><a href="#Footnote_1059_1059" class="fnanchor">[1059]</a> those of its +conduction were established by Fourier, who, just before +the Revolution, employed himself in raising thermotics +to a science by the deductive application of that celebrated +mathematical theory which he contrived, and +which still bears his name.<a name="FNanchor_1060_1060" id="FNanchor_1060_1060"></a><a href="#Footnote_1060_1060" class="fnanchor">[1060]</a> In regard to electricity, +it is enough to notice, during the same period, the important +experiments of D'Alibard, followed by those +vast labours of Coulomb, which brought electrical +phenomena under the jurisdiction of the mathematics, +and thus completed what Œpinus had already prepared.<a name="FNanchor_1061_1061" id="FNanchor_1061_1061"></a><a href="#Footnote_1061_1061" class="fnanchor">[1061]</a> +As to the laws of light, those ideas were now +accumulating which rendered possible the great steps +that, at the close of the century, were taken by Malus, +and still later by Fresnel.<a name="FNanchor_1062_1062" id="FNanchor_1062_1062"></a><a href="#Footnote_1062_1062" class="fnanchor">[1062]</a> Both of these eminent +Frenchmen not only made important additions to our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> +knowledge of double refraction, but Malus discovered +the polarization of light, undoubtedly the most splendid +contribution received by optical science since the +analysis of the solar rays.<a name="FNanchor_1063_1063" id="FNanchor_1063_1063"></a><a href="#Footnote_1063_1063" class="fnanchor">[1063]</a> It was also in consequence +of this, that Fresnel began those profound researches +which placed on a solid basis that great undulatory +theory of which Hooke, Huygens, and above all Young, +are to be deemed the founders, and by which the corpuscular +theory of Newton was finally overthrown.<a name="FNanchor_1064_1064" id="FNanchor_1064_1064"></a><a href="#Footnote_1064_1064" class="fnanchor">[1064]</a></p> + +<p>Thus much as to the progress of French knowledge +respecting those parts of nature which are in themselves +invisible, and of which we cannot tell whether they have +a material existence, or whether they are mere conditions +and properties of other bodies.<a name="FNanchor_1065_1065" id="FNanchor_1065_1065"></a><a href="#Footnote_1065_1065" class="fnanchor">[1065]</a> The immense +value of these discoveries, as increasing the number of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> +known truths, is incontestable: but, at the same time, +another class of discoveries was made, which, dealing +more palpably with the visible world, and being also +more easily understood, produced more immediate results, +and, as I shall presently show, exercised a remarkable +influence in strengthening that democratic tendency +which accompanied the French Revolution. It is impossible, +within the limits I have assigned to myself, to +give anything like an adequate notion of the marvellous +activity with which the French now pushed their researches +into every department of the organic and inorganic +world; still it is, I think, practicable to compress +into a few pages such a summary of the more +salient points as will afford the reader some idea of what +was done by that generation of great thinkers which +flourished in France during the latter half of the eighteenth +century.</p> + +<p>If we confine our view to the globe we inhabit, it +must be allowed that chemistry and geology are the two +sciences which not only offer the fairest promise, but +already contain the largest generalizations. The reason +of this will become clear, if we attend to the ideas on +which these two great subjects are based. The idea of +chemistry, is the study of composition;<a name="FNanchor_1066_1066" id="FNanchor_1066_1066"></a><a href="#Footnote_1066_1066" class="fnanchor">[1066]</a> the idea of +geology, is the study of position. The object of the first +is, to learn the laws which govern the properties of +matter; the object of the second is, to learn the laws +which govern its locality. In chemistry, we experiment; +in geology, we observe. In chemistry, we deal with +the molecular arrangement of the smallest atoms;<a name="FNanchor_1067_1067" id="FNanchor_1067_1067"></a><a href="#Footnote_1067_1067" class="fnanchor">[1067]</a> +in geology, with the cosmological arrangement of the +largest masses. Hence it is that the chemist by his +minuteness, and the geologist by his grandeur, touch<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> +the two extremes of the material universe; and, +starting from these opposite points, have, as I could +easily prove, a constantly increasing tendency to bring +under their own authority sciences which have at +present an independent existence, and which, for the +sake of a division of labour, it is still convenient to +study separately; though it must be the business of +philosophy, properly so called, to integrate them into a +complete and effective whole. Indeed it is obvious, that +if we knew all the laws of the composition of matter, +and likewise all the laws of its position, we should likewise +know all the changes of which matter is capable +spontaneously, that is, when uninterrupted by the mind +of man. Every phenomenon which any given substance +presents must be caused either by something taking +place in the substance, or else by something taking +place out of it, but acting upon it; while what occurs +within must be explicable by its own composition, +and what occurs without must be due to its position in +relation to the objects by which it is affected. This is +an exhaustive statement of every possible contingency, +and to one of these two classes of laws every thing must +be referrible; even those mysterious forces which, whether +they be emanations from matter, or whether they +be merely properties of matter, must in an ultimate +analysis depend either on the internal arrangement, or +else on the external locality of their physical antecedents. +However convenient, therefore, it may be, in +the present state of our knowledge, to speak of vital +principles, imponderable fluids, and elastic æthers, such +terms can only be provisional, and are to be considered +as mere names for that residue of unexplained facts, +which it will be the business of future ages to bring +under generalizations wide enough to cover and include +the whole.</p> + +<p>These ideas of composition and of position being thus +the basis of all natural science, it is not surprising that +chemistry and geology, which are their best, but still +their insufficient representatives, should in modern times +have made more progress than any other of the great +branches of human knowledge. Although the chemists<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> +and geologists have not yet risen to the full height of +their respective subjects,<a name="FNanchor_1068_1068" id="FNanchor_1068_1068"></a><a href="#Footnote_1068_1068" class="fnanchor">[1068]</a> there are few things more +curious than to note the way in which, during the last +two generations, they have been rapidly expanding their +views—encroaching on topics with which, at first sight, +they appeared to have no concern—making other +branches of inquiry tributary to their own—and collecting +from every quarter that intellectual wealth which, +long hidden in obscure corners, had been wasted in the +cultivation of special and inferior pursuits. This, as +being one of the great intellectual characteristics of the +present age, I shall hereafter examine at considerable +length; but what I have now to show is, that in these +two vast sciences, which, though still very imperfect, +must eventually be superior to all others, the first important +steps were made by Frenchmen during the latter +half of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p>That we owe to France the existence of chemistry as +a science, will be admitted by everyone who uses the +word science in the sense in which alone it ought to be +understood, namely, as a body of generalizations so +irrefragably true, that, though they may be subsequently +covered by higher generalizations, they cannot be overthrown +by them; in other words, generalizations which +may be absorbed, but not refuted. In this point of view, +there are in the history of chemistry only three great +stages. The first stage was the destruction of the +phlogistic theory, and the establishment, upon its ruins, +of the doctrines of oxidation, combustion, and respiration. +The second stage was the establishment of the +principle of definite proportions, and the application to +it of the atomic hypothesis. The third stage, above +which we have not yet risen, consists in the union of +chemical and electrical laws, and in the progress we are +making towards fusing into one generalization their +separate phenomena. Which of these three stages was +in its own age the most valuable, is not now the question; +but it is certain that the first of them was the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> +work of Lavoisier, by far the greatest of the French +chemists. Before him several important points had +been cleared up by the English chemists, whose experiments +ascertained the existence of bodies formerly unknown. +The links, however, to connect the facts, were +still wanting; and until Lavoisier entered the field, +there were no generalizations wide enough to entitle +chemistry to be called a science; or, to speak more properly, +the only large generalization commonly received +was that by Stahl, which the great Frenchman proved +to be not only imperfect, but altogether inaccurate. A +notice of the vast discoveries of Lavoisier will be found +in many well-known books:<a name="FNanchor_1069_1069" id="FNanchor_1069_1069"></a><a href="#Footnote_1069_1069" class="fnanchor">[1069]</a> it is enough to say, that +he not only worked out the laws of the oxidation of +bodies and of their combustion, but that he is the author +of the true theory of respiration, the purely chemical +character of which he first demonstrated; thus laying +the foundation of those views respecting the functions +of food, which the German chemists subsequently developed, +and which, as I have proved in the second +chapter of this Introduction, may be applied to solve +some great problems in the history of Man. The merit +of this was so obviously due to France, that though the +system now established was quickly adopted in other +countries,<a name="FNanchor_1070_1070" id="FNanchor_1070_1070"></a><a href="#Footnote_1070_1070" class="fnanchor">[1070]</a> it received the name of the French chemistry.<a name="FNanchor_1071_1071" id="FNanchor_1071_1071"></a><a href="#Footnote_1071_1071" class="fnanchor">[1071]</a> +At the same time, the old nomenclature +being full of old errors, a new one was required, and +here again France took the initiative; since this great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> +reformation was begun by four of her most eminent +chemists, who flourished only a few years before the +Revolution.<a name="FNanchor_1072_1072" id="FNanchor_1072_1072"></a><a href="#Footnote_1072_1072" class="fnanchor">[1072]</a></p> + +<p>While one division of the French thinkers was reducing +to order the apparent irregularities of chemical +phenomena, another division of them was performing +precisely the same service for geology. The first step +towards popularizing this noble study was taken by +Buffon, who, in the middle of the eighteenth century, +broached a geological theory, which, though not quite +original, excited attention by its eloquence, and by the +lofty speculations with which he connected it.<a name="FNanchor_1073_1073" id="FNanchor_1073_1073"></a><a href="#Footnote_1073_1073" class="fnanchor">[1073]</a> This +was followed by the more special but still important +labours of Rouelle, Desmarest, Dolomieu, and Montlosier, +who, in less than forty years, effected a complete +revolution in the ideas of Frenchmen, by familiarizing +them with the strange conception, that the surface of +our planet, even where it appears perfectly stable, is +constantly undergoing most extensive changes. It began +to be understood, that this perpetual flux takes place<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> +not only in those parts of nature which are obviously +feeble and evanescent, but also in those which seem to +possess every element of strength and permanence, such +as the mountains of granite which wall the globe, and +are the shell and encasement in which it is held. As +soon as the mind became habituated to this notion of +universal change, the time was ripe for the appearance +of some great thinker, who should generalize the scattered +observations, and form them into a science, by +connecting them with some other department of knowledge, +of which the laws, or, at all events, the empirical +uniformities, had been already ascertained.</p> + +<p>It was at this point, and while the inquiries of geologists, +notwithstanding their value, were still crude and +unsettled, that the subject was taken up by Cuvier, one +of the greatest naturalists Europe has ever produced. A +few others there are who have surpassed him in depth; +but in comprehensiveness it would be hard to find his +superior; and the immense range of his studies gave +him a peculiar advantage in surveying the operations +and dependencies of the external world.<a name="FNanchor_1074_1074" id="FNanchor_1074_1074"></a><a href="#Footnote_1074_1074" class="fnanchor">[1074]</a> This remarkable +man is unquestionably the founder of geology +as a science, since he is not only the first who saw the +necessity of bringing to bear upon it the generalizations +of comparative anatomy, but he is also the first who +actually, executing this great idea, succeeded in coördinating +the study of the strata of the earth with the +study of the fossil animals found in them.<a name="FNanchor_1075_1075" id="FNanchor_1075_1075"></a><a href="#Footnote_1075_1075" class="fnanchor">[1075]</a> Shortly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> +before his researches were published, many valuable +facts had indeed been collected respecting the separate +strata; the primary formations being investigated by +the Germans, the secondary ones by the English.<a name="FNanchor_1076_1076" id="FNanchor_1076_1076"></a><a href="#Footnote_1076_1076" class="fnanchor">[1076]</a> +But these observations, notwithstanding their merit, +were isolated; and they lacked that vast conception +which gave unity and grandeur to the whole, by connecting +inquiries concerning the inorganic changes of +the surface of the globe with other inquiries concerning +the organic changes of the animals the surface contained.</p> + +<p>How completely this immense step is due to France, +is evident not only from the part played by Cuvier, but +also from the admitted fact, that to the French we owe +our knowledge respecting tertiary strata,<a name="FNanchor_1077_1077" id="FNanchor_1077_1077"></a><a href="#Footnote_1077_1077" class="fnanchor">[1077]</a> in which the +organic remains are most numerous, and the general +analogy to our present state is most intimate.<a name="FNanchor_1078_1078" id="FNanchor_1078_1078"></a><a href="#Footnote_1078_1078" class="fnanchor">[1078]</a> Another +circumstance may likewise be added, as pointing to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> +same conclusion. This is, that the first application of +the principles of comparative anatomy to the study of +fossil bones was also the work of a Frenchman, the +celebrated Daubenton. Hitherto these bones had been +the object of stupid wonder; some saying that they +were rained from heaven, others saying that they were +the gigantic limbs of the ancient patriarchs, men who +were believed to be tall because they were known to be +old.<a name="FNanchor_1079_1079" id="FNanchor_1079_1079"></a><a href="#Footnote_1079_1079" class="fnanchor">[1079]</a> Such idle conceits were for ever destroyed by +Daubenton, in a Memoir he published in 1762;<a name="FNanchor_1080_1080" id="FNanchor_1080_1080"></a><a href="#Footnote_1080_1080" class="fnanchor">[1080]</a> with +which, however, we are not now concerned, except that +it is evidence of the state of the French mind, and is +worth noting as a precursor of the discoveries of Cuvier.</p> + +<p>By this union of geology and anatomy, there was first +introduced into the study of nature a clear conception +of the magnificent doctrine of universal change; while +at the same time there grew up by its side a conception +equally steady of the regularity with which the changes +are accomplished, and of the undeviating laws by +which they are governed. Similar ideas had no doubt +been occasionally held in preceding ages; but the great +Frenchmen of the eighteenth century were the first who +applied them to the entire structure of the globe, and +who thus prepared the way for that still higher view +for which their minds were not yet ripe,<a name="FNanchor_1081_1081" id="FNanchor_1081_1081"></a><a href="#Footnote_1081_1081" class="fnanchor">[1081]</a> but to which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> +in our own time the most advanced thinkers are rapidly +rising. For it is now beginning to be understood, that +since every addition to knowledge affords fresh proof +of the regularity with which all the changes of nature +are conducted, we are bound to believe that the same +regularity existed long before our little planet assumed +its present form, and long before man trod the surface +of the earth. We have the most abundant evidence +that the movements incessantly occurring in the material +world have a character of uniformity; and this +uniformity is so clearly marked, that in astronomy, the +most perfect of all the sciences, we are able to predict +events many years before they actually happen; nor +can any one doubt, that if on other subjects our science +were equally advanced, our predictions would be equally +accurate. It is, therefore, clear, that the burden of proof +lies not on those who assert the eternal regularity +of nature, but rather on those who deny it; and who set +up an imaginary period, to which they assign an imaginary +catastrophe, during which they say new laws +were introduced and a new order established. Such +gratuitous assumptions, even if they eventually turn out +to be true, are in the present state of knowledge unwarrantable, +and ought to be rejected, as the last remains +of those theological prejudices by which the +march of every science has in its turn been hindered. +These and all analagous notions work a double mischief. +They are mischievous, because they cripple the human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> +mind by imposing limits to its inquiries; and above all +they are mischievous, because they weaken that vast +conception of continuous and uninterrupted law, which +few indeed are able firmly to seize, but on which the +highest generalizations of future science must ultimately +depend.</p> + +<p>It is this deep conviction, that changing phenomena +have unchanging laws, and that there are principles of +order to which all apparent disorder may be referred,—it +is this, which, in the seventeenth century, guided in +a limited field Bacon, Descartes, and Newton; which in +the eighteenth century was applied to every part of the +material universe; and which it is the business of the +nineteenth century to extend to the history of the +human intellect. This last department of inquiry we +owe chiefly to Germany; for, with the single exception +of Vico, no one even suspected the possibility of arriving +at complete generalizations respecting the progress +of man, until shortly before the French Revolution, +when the great German thinkers began to cultivate +this, the highest and most difficult of all studies. But +the French themselves were too much occupied with +physical science to pay attention to such matters;<a name="FNanchor_1082_1082" id="FNanchor_1082_1082"></a><a href="#Footnote_1082_1082" class="fnanchor">[1082]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> +and speaking generally, we may say that, in the eighteenth +century, each of the three leading nations of +Europe had a separate part to play. England diffused +a love of freedom; France, a knowledge of physical +science; while Germany, aided in some degree by Scotland, +revived the study of metaphysics, and created the +study of philosophic history. To this classification +some exceptions may of course be made; but that these +were the marked characteristics of the three countries, +is certain. After the death of Locke in 1704, and that +of Newton in 1727, there was in England a singular +dearth of great speculative thinkers; and this not +because the ability was wanting, but because it was +turned partly into practical pursuits, partly into political +contests. I shall hereafter examine the causes of this +peculiarity, and endeavour to ascertain the extent to +which it has influenced the fortunes of the country. +That the results were, on the whole, beneficial, I entertain +no doubt; but they were unquestionably injurious +to the progress of science, because they tended to divert +it from all new truths, except those likely to produce +obvious and practical benefit. The consequence was, +that though the English made several great discoveries, +they did not possess, during seventy years, a single man +who took a really comprehensive view of the phenomena +of nature; not one who could be compared with +those illustrious thinkers who in France reformed every +branch of physical knowledge. Nor was it until more +than two generations after the death of Newton, that +the first symptoms appeared of a remarkable reaction, +which quickly displayed itself in nearly every department +of the national intellect. In physics, it is enough +to mention Dalton, Davy, and Young, each of whom +was in his own field the founder of a new epoch; while +on other subjects I can only just refer, first, to the influence +of the Scotch school; and, secondly, to that +sudden and well-deserved admiration for the German +literature of which Coleridge was the principal exponent, +and which infused into the English mind a taste +for generalizations higher and more fearless than any +hitherto known. The history of this vast movement,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> +which began early in the nineteenth century, will be +traced in the future volumes of this work: at present +I merely notice it, as illustrating the fact, that until +the movement began, the English, though superior to +the French in several matters of extreme importance, +were for many years inferior to them in those large and +philosophic views, without which not only is the most +patient industry of no avail, but even real discoveries +lose their proper value, for want of such habits of generalization +as would trace their connexion with each +other, and consolidate their severed fragments into one +vast system of complete and harmonious truth.</p> + +<p>The interest attached to these inquiries has induced +me to treat them at greater length than I had intended; +perhaps at greater length than is suitable to the suggestive +and preparatory character of this Introduction. +But the extraordinary success with which the French +now cultivated physical knowledge is so curious, on account +of its connexion with the Revolution, that I must +mention a few more of its most prominent instances: +though, for the sake of brevity, I will confine myself +to those three great divisions which, when put together, +form what is called Natural History, and in all of which +we shall see that the most important steps were taken in +France during the latter half of the eighteenth century.</p> + +<p>In the first of these divisions, namely, the department +of zoology, we owe to the Frenchmen of the eighteenth +century those generalizations which are still the +highest this branch of knowledge has reached. Taking +zoology in the proper sense of the term, it consists only +of two parts, the anatomical part, which is its statics, +and the physiological part, which is its dynamics: the +first referring to the structure of animals; the other, +to their functions.<a name="FNanchor_1083_1083" id="FNanchor_1083_1083"></a><a href="#Footnote_1083_1083" class="fnanchor">[1083]</a> Both of these were worked out,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> +nearly at the same time, by Cuvier and Bichat; and +the leading conclusions at which they arrived, remain, +after the lapse of sixty years, undisturbed in their +essential points. In 1795, Cuvier laid down the great +principle, that the study and classification of animals +was to be, not as heretofore, with a view to external +peculiarities, but with a view to internal organization; +and that, therefore, no real advance could be made in +our knowledge except by extending the boundaries of +comparative anatomy.<a name="FNanchor_1084_1084" id="FNanchor_1084_1084"></a><a href="#Footnote_1084_1084" class="fnanchor">[1084]</a> This step, simple as it now +appears, was of immense importance, since by it zoology +was at once rescued from the hands of the observer, +and thrown into those of the experimenter: the consequence +of which has been the attainment of that precision +and accuracy of detail, which experiment alone can +give, and which is every way superior to such popular +facts as observation supplies. By thus indicating to +naturalists the true path of inquiry, by accustoming +them to a close and severe method, and by teaching +them to despise those vague descriptions in which they +had formerly delighted, Cuvier laid the foundation of +a progress which, during the last sixty years, has surpassed +the most sanguine expectations. This, then, is +the real service rendered by Cuvier, that he overthrew +the artificial system which the genius of Linnæus had +raised up,<a name="FNanchor_1085_1085" id="FNanchor_1085_1085"></a><a href="#Footnote_1085_1085" class="fnanchor">[1085]</a> and substituted in its place that far superior +scheme which gave the freest scope to future inquiry; +since, according to it, all systems are to be deemed imperfect<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span> +and provisional so long as any thing remains to +be learned respecting the comparative anatomy of the +animal kingdom. The influence exercised by this great +view was increased by the extraordinary skill and industry +with which its proposer followed it out, and +proved the practicability of his own precepts. His +additions to our knowledge of comparative anatomy are +probably more numerous than those made by any other +man; but what has gained him most celebrity is, the +comprehensive spirit with which he used what he acquired. +Independently of other generalizations, he is +the author of that vast classification of the whole animal +kingdom into vertebrata, mollusca, articulata, and radiata;<a name="FNanchor_1086_1086" id="FNanchor_1086_1086"></a><a href="#Footnote_1086_1086" class="fnanchor">[1086]</a> +a classification which keeps its ground, and is +one of the most remarkable instances of that large and +philosophic spirit which France brought to bear upon +the phenomena of the material world.<a name="FNanchor_1087_1087" id="FNanchor_1087_1087"></a><a href="#Footnote_1087_1087" class="fnanchor">[1087]</a></p> + +<p>Great, however, as is the name of Cuvier, a greater<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> +still remains behind. I allude, of course, to Bichat, +whose reputation is steadily increasing as our knowledge +advances, and who, if we compare the shortness +of his life with the reach and depth of his views, must +be pronounced the most profound thinker and the most +consummate observer by whom the organization of the +animal frame has yet been studied.<a name="FNanchor_1088_1088" id="FNanchor_1088_1088"></a><a href="#Footnote_1088_1088" class="fnanchor">[1088]</a> He wanted, indeed, +that comprehensive knowledge for which Cuvier +was remarkable; but though, on this account, his generalizations +were drawn from a smaller surface, they were, +on the other hand, less provisional: they were, I think, +more complete, and certainly they dealt with more momentous +topics. For the attention of Bichat was preëminently +directed to the human frame<a name="FNanchor_1089_1089" id="FNanchor_1089_1089"></a><a href="#Footnote_1089_1089" class="fnanchor">[1089]</a> in the largest +sense of the word; his object being so to investigate +the organization of man, as to rise, if possible, to some +knowledge concerning the causes and nature of life. +In this magnificent enterprise, considered as a whole, +he failed; but what he effected in certain parts of it is +so extraordinary, and has given such an impetus to +some of the highest branches of inquiry, that I will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> +briefly indicate his method, in order to compare it with +that other method which, at the same moment, Cuvier +adopted with immense success.</p> + +<p>The important step taken by Cuvier was, that he +insisted on the necessity of a comprehensive study of the +organs of animals, instead of following the old plan of +merely describing their habits and external peculiarities. +This was a vast improvement, since, in the place +of loose and popular observations, he substituted direct +experiment, and hence introduced into zoology a precision +formerly unknown.<a name="FNanchor_1090_1090" id="FNanchor_1090_1090"></a><a href="#Footnote_1090_1090" class="fnanchor">[1090]</a> But Bichat, with a still +keener insight, saw that even this was not enough. He +saw that, each organ being composed of different tissues, +it was requisite to study the tissues themselves, before +we could learn the way in which, by their combinations, +the organs are produced. This, like all really great +ideas, was not entirely struck out by a single man; for +the physiological value of the tissues had been recognized +by three or four of the immediate predecessors of +Bichat, such as Carmichael, Smyth, Bonn, Bordeu, and +Fallopius. These inquirers, however, notwithstanding +their industry, had effected nothing of much moment, +since, though they collected several special facts, there +was in their observations that want of harmony and +that general incompleteness always characteristic of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> +labours of men who do not rise to a commanding view +of the subject with which they deal.<a name="FNanchor_1091_1091" id="FNanchor_1091_1091"></a><a href="#Footnote_1091_1091" class="fnanchor">[1091]</a></p> + +<p>It was under these circumstances that Bichat began +those researches, which, looking at their actual and still +more at their prospective results, are probably the most +valuable contribution ever made to physiology by a +single mind. In 1801, only a year before his death,<a name="FNanchor_1092_1092" id="FNanchor_1092_1092"></a><a href="#Footnote_1092_1092" class="fnanchor">[1092]</a> +he published his great work on anatomy, in which the +study of the organs is made altogether subservient to +the study of the tissues composing them. He lays it +down, that the body of man consists of twenty-one distinct +tissues, all of which, though essentially different, +have in common the two great properties of extensibility +and contractility.<a name="FNanchor_1093_1093" id="FNanchor_1093_1093"></a><a href="#Footnote_1093_1093" class="fnanchor">[1093]</a> These tissues he, with indefatigable +industry,<a name="FNanchor_1094_1094" id="FNanchor_1094_1094"></a><a href="#Footnote_1094_1094" class="fnanchor">[1094]</a> subjected to every sort of examination;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> +he examined them in different ages and diseases, +with a view to ascertain the laws of their normal and +pathological development.<a name="FNanchor_1095_1095" id="FNanchor_1095_1095"></a><a href="#Footnote_1095_1095" class="fnanchor">[1095]</a> He studied the way each +tissue is affected by moisture, air, and temperature; +also the way in which their properties are altered by +various chemical substances,<a name="FNanchor_1096_1096" id="FNanchor_1096_1096"></a><a href="#Footnote_1096_1096" class="fnanchor">[1096]</a> and even their effect +on the taste.<a name="FNanchor_1097_1097" id="FNanchor_1097_1097"></a><a href="#Footnote_1097_1097" class="fnanchor">[1097]</a> By these means, and by many other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> +experiments tending in the same direction, he took so +great and sudden a step, that he is to be regarded not +merely as an innovator on an old science, but rather as +the creator of a new one.<a name="FNanchor_1098_1098" id="FNanchor_1098_1098"></a><a href="#Footnote_1098_1098" class="fnanchor">[1098]</a> And although subsequent +observers have corrected some of his conclusions, this +has only been done by following his method; the value +of which is now so generally recognized, that it is +adopted by nearly all the best anatomists, who, differing +in other points, are agreed as to the necessity of basing +the future progress of anatomy on a knowledge of the +tissues, the supreme importance of which Bichat was +the first to perceive.<a name="FNanchor_1099_1099" id="FNanchor_1099_1099"></a><a href="#Footnote_1099_1099" class="fnanchor">[1099]</a></p> + +<p>The methods of Bichat and of Cuvier, when put<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> +together, exhaust the actual resources of zoological +science; so that all subsequent naturalists have been +compelled to follow one of these two schemes; that is, +either to follow Cuvier in comparing the organs of +animals, or else to follow Bichat in comparing the tissues +which compose the organs.<a name="FNanchor_1100_1100" id="FNanchor_1100_1100"></a><a href="#Footnote_1100_1100" class="fnanchor">[1100]</a> And inasmuch as one +comparison is chiefly suggestive of function, and the +other comparison of structure, it is evident, that to +raise the study of the animal world to the highest point +of which it is capable, both these great plans are +necessary; but if we ask which of the two plans, unaided +by the other, is more likely to produce important +results, the palm must, I think, be yielded to that proposed +by Bichat. Certainly, if we look at the question +as one to be decided by authority, a majority of the most +eminent anatomists and physiologists now incline to the +side of Bichat, rather than to that of Cuvier; while, as +a matter of history, it may be proved that the reputation +of Bichat has, with the advance of knowledge, +increased more rapidly than that of his great rival. +What, however, appears to me still more decisive, is, +that the two most important discoveries made in our +time respecting the classification of animals, are entirely +the result of the method which Bichat suggested. The +first discovery is that made by Agassiz, who, in the +course of his ichthyological researches, was led to +perceive that the arrangement by Cuvier according +to organs, did not fulfil its purpose in regard to fossil +fishes, because in the lapse of ages the characteristics +of their structure were destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_1101_1101" id="FNanchor_1101_1101"></a><a href="#Footnote_1101_1101" class="fnanchor">[1101]</a> He, therefore,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> +adopted the only other remaining plan, and studied the +tissues, which, being less complex than the organs, are +oftener found intact. The result was the very remarkable +discovery, that the tegumentary membrane of fishes is +so intimately connected with their organization, that if +the whole of a fish has perished except this membrane, +it is practicable, by noting its characteristics, to reconstruct +the animal in its most essential parts. Of the +value of this principle of harmony, some idea may be +formed from the circumstance, that on it Agassiz has +based the whole of that celebrated classification, of +which he is the sole author, and by which fossil ichthyology +has for the first time assumed a precise and +definite shape.<a name="FNanchor_1102_1102" id="FNanchor_1102_1102"></a><a href="#Footnote_1102_1102" class="fnanchor">[1102]</a></p> + +<p>The other discovery, of which the application is much +more extensive, was made in exactly the same way. It +consists of the striking fact, that the teeth of each +animal have a necessary connexion with the entire +organization of its frame; so that, within certain +limits, we can predict the organization by examining +the tooth. This beautiful instance of the regularity of +the operations of nature was not known until more than +thirty years after the death of Bichat, and it is evidently +due to the prosecution of that method which he sedulously +inculcated. For the teeth never having been +properly examined in regard to their separate tissues, +it was believed that they were essentially devoid of +structure, or, as some thought, were simply a fibrous +texture.<a name="FNanchor_1103_1103" id="FNanchor_1103_1103"></a><a href="#Footnote_1103_1103" class="fnanchor">[1103]</a> But by minute microscopic investigations,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> +it has been recently ascertained that the tissues of the +teeth are strictly analogous to those of other parts of +the body;<a name="FNanchor_1104_1104" id="FNanchor_1104_1104"></a><a href="#Footnote_1104_1104" class="fnanchor">[1104]</a> and that the ivory, or dentine, as it is now +called,<a name="FNanchor_1105_1105" id="FNanchor_1105_1105"></a><a href="#Footnote_1105_1105" class="fnanchor">[1105]</a> is highly organized; that it, as well as the +enamel, is cellular, and is, in fact, a development of +the living pulp. This discovery, which, to the philosophic +anatomist, is pregnant with meaning, was made +about 1838; and though the preliminary steps were +taken by Purkinjé, Retzius, and Schwann, the principal +merit is due to Nasmyth and Owen,<a name="FNanchor_1106_1106" id="FNanchor_1106_1106"></a><a href="#Footnote_1106_1106" class="fnanchor">[1106]</a> between whom +it is disputed, but whose rival claims we are not here +called upon to adjust.<a name="FNanchor_1107_1107" id="FNanchor_1107_1107"></a><a href="#Footnote_1107_1107" class="fnanchor">[1107]</a> What I wish to observe is, +that the discovery is similar to that which we owe to +Agassiz; similar in the method by which it was worked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> +out, and also in the results which have followed from it. +Both are due to a recognition of the fundamental +maxim of Bichat, that the study of organs must be +subordinate to the study of tissues, and both have +supplied the most valuable aid to zoological classification. +On this point, the service rendered by Owen is +incontestable, whatever may be thought of his original +claims. This eminent naturalist has, with immense +industry, applied the discovery to all vertebrate animals; +and in an elaborate work, specially devoted to the +subject, he has placed beyond dispute the astonishing +fact, that the structure of a single tooth is a criterion +of the nature and organization of the species to which +it belongs.<a name="FNanchor_1108_1108" id="FNanchor_1108_1108"></a><a href="#Footnote_1108_1108" class="fnanchor">[1108]</a></p> + +<p>Whoever has reflected much on the different stages +through which our knowledge has successively passed, +must, I think, be led to the conclusion, that while fully +recognizing the great merit of these investigators of the +animal frame, our highest admiration ought to be +reserved not for those who make the discoveries, but +rather for those who point out how the discoveries are +to be made.<a name="FNanchor_1109_1109" id="FNanchor_1109_1109"></a><a href="#Footnote_1109_1109" class="fnanchor">[1109]</a> When the true path of inquiry has once +been indicated, the rest is comparatively easy. The +beaten highway is always open; and the difficulty is, +not to find those who will travel the old road, but those +who will make a fresh one. Every age produces in +abundance men of sagacity and of considerable industry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> +who, while perfectly competent to increase the details +of a science, are unable to extend its distant boundaries. +This is because such extension must be accompanied by +a new method,<a name="FNanchor_1110_1110" id="FNanchor_1110_1110"></a><a href="#Footnote_1110_1110" class="fnanchor">[1110]</a> which, to be valuable as well as new, +supposes on the part of its suggester, not only a complete +mastery over the resources of his subject, but also +the possession of originality and comprehensiveness,—the +two rarest forms of human genius. In this consists +the real difficulty of every great pursuit. As soon as +any department of knowledge has been generalized into +laws, it contains, either in itself or in its applications, +three distinct branches; namely, inventions, discoveries, +and method. Of these, the first corresponds to art; the +second to science; and the third to philosophy. In this +scale, inventions have by far the lowest place, and minds +of the highest order are rarely occupied by them. Next +in the series come discoveries; and here the province +of intellect really begins, since here the first attempt +is made to search after truth on its own account, and to +discard those practical considerations to which inventions +are of necessity referred. This is science properly +so called; and how difficult it is to reach this stage, is +evident from the fact, that all half-civilized nations have +made many great inventions, but no great discoveries. +The highest, however, of all the three stages, is the +philosophy of method, which bears the same relation +to science that science bears to art. Of its immense, +and indeed supreme importance, the annals of knowledge +supply abundant evidence; and for want of it, some +very great men have effected absolutely nothing, consuming +their lives in fruitless industry, not because their +labour was slack, but because their method was sterile.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> +The progress of every science is affected more by the +scheme according to which it is cultivated, than by the +actual ability of the cultivators themselves. If they who +travel in an unknown country, spend their force in running +on the wrong road, they will miss the point at +which they aim, and perchance may faint and fall by +the way. In that long and difficult journey after truth, +which the human mind has yet to perform, and of which +we in our generation can only see the distant prospect, +it is certain that success will depend not on the speed +with which men hasten in the path of inquiry, but +rather on the skill with which that path is selected for +them by those great and comprehensive thinkers, who +are as the lawgivers and founders of knowledge; because +they supply its deficiencies, not by investigating particular +difficulties, but by establishing some large and +sweeping innovation, which opens up a new vein of +thought, and creates fresh resources, which it is left for +their posterity to work out and apply.</p> + +<p>It is from this point of view that we are to rate the +value of Bichat, whose works, like those of all men of +the highest eminence,—like those of Aristotle, Bacon, +and Descartes,—mark an epoch in the history of the +human mind; and as such, can only be fairly estimated +by connecting them with the social and intellectual +condition of the age in which they appeared. This +gives an importance and a meaning to the writings of +Bichat, of which few indeed are fully aware. The two +greatest recent discoveries respecting the classification +of animals are, as we have just seen, the result of his +teaching; but his influence has produced other effects +still more momentous. He, aided by Cabanis, rendered +to physiology the incalculable service, of preventing +it from participating in that melancholy reaction +to which France was exposed early in the nineteenth +century. This is too large a subject to discuss +at present; but I may mention, that when Napoleon, +not from feelings of conviction, but for selfish purposes +of his own, attempted to restore the power of ecclesiastical +principles, the men of letters, with disgraceful +subserviency, fell into his view; and there began a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span> +marked decline in that independent and innovating +spirit, with which during fifty years the French had +cultivated the highest departments of knowledge. +Hence that metaphysical school arose, which, though +professing to hold aloof from theology, was intimately +allied with it; and whose showy conceits form, in their +ephemeral splendour, a striking contrast to the severer +methods followed in the preceding generation.<a name="FNanchor_1111_1111" id="FNanchor_1111_1111"></a><a href="#Footnote_1111_1111" class="fnanchor">[1111]</a> +Against this movement, the French physiologists have, +as a body, always protested; and it may be clearly +proved that their opposition, which even the great +abilities of Cuvier were unable to win over, is partly +due to the impetus given by Bichat, in enforcing in his +own pursuit the necessity of rejecting those assumptions +by which metaphysicians and theologians seek to control +every science. As an illustration of this I may +mention two facts worthy of note. The first is, that in +England, where during a considerable period the influence +of Bichat was scarcely felt, many, even of our +eminent physiologists, have shown a marked disposition +to ally themselves with the reactionary party; and have +not only opposed such novelties as they could not +immediately explain, but have degraded their own +noble science by making it a handmaid to serve the +purposes of natural theology. The other fact is, that +in France the disciples of Bichat have, with scarcely an +exception, rejected the study of final causes, to which +the school of Cuvier still adheres: while as a natural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> +consequence, the followers of Bichat are associated in +geology with the doctrine of uniformity; in zoology, +with that of the transmutation of species; and in astronomy, +with the nebular hypothesis: vast and magnificent +schemes, under whose shelter the human mind +seeks an escape from that dogma of interference, which +the march of knowledge every where reduces, and the +existence of which is incompatible with those conceptions +of eternal order, towards which, during the last +two centuries, we have been constantly tending.</p> + +<p>These great phenomena, which the French intellect +presents, and of which I have only sketched a rapid +outline, will be related with suitable detail in the latter +part of this work, when I shall examine the present +condition of the European mind, and endeavour to estimate +its future prospects. To complete, however, our +appreciation of Bichat, it will be necessary to take +notice of what some consider the most valuable of all +his productions, in which he aimed at nothing less than +an exhaustive generalization of the functions of life. +It appears, indeed, to me, that in many important +points Bichat here fell short; but the work itself still +stands alone, and is so striking an instance of the genius +of the author, that I will give a short account of its +fundamental views.</p> + +<p>Life considered as a whole has two distinct branches;<a name="FNanchor_1112_1112" id="FNanchor_1112_1112"></a><a href="#Footnote_1112_1112" class="fnanchor">[1112]</a> +one branch being characteristic of animals, the other of +vegetables. That which is confined to animals is called +animal life; that which is common both to animals and +vegetables is called organic life. While, therefore, +plants have only one life, man has two distinct lives, +which are governed by entirely different laws, and +which, though intimately connected, constantly oppose +each other. In the organic life, man exists solely for +himself; in the animal life he comes in contact with +others. The functions of the first are purely internal, +those of the second are external. His organic life is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span> +limited to the double process of creation and destruction: +the creative process being that of assimilation, as +digestion, circulation, and nutrition; the destructive +process being that of excretion, such as exhalation and +the like. This is what man has in common with +plants; and of this life he, when in a natural state, is +unconscious. But the characteristic of his animal life +is consciousness, since by it he is made capable of +moving, of feeling, of judging. By virtue of the first +life he is merely a vegetable; by the addition of the +second he becomes an animal.</p> + +<p>If now we look at the organs by which in man the +functions of these two lives are carried on, we shall be +struck by the remarkable fact, that the organs of his +vegetable life are very irregular, those of his animal +life very symmetrical. His vegetative, or organic, life +is conducted by the stomach, the intestines, and the +glandular system in general, such as the liver and the +pancreas; all of which are irregular, and admit of the +greatest variety of form and development, without their +functions being seriously disturbed. But in his animal +life the organs are so essentially symmetrical, that a +very slight departure from the ordinary type impairs +their action.<a name="FNanchor_1113_1113" id="FNanchor_1113_1113"></a><a href="#Footnote_1113_1113" class="fnanchor">[1113]</a> Not only the brain, but also the organs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> +of sense, as the eyes, the nose, the ears, are perfectly +symmetrical; and they as well as the other organs of +animal life, as the feet and hands, are double, presenting +on each side of the body two separate parts which +correspond with each other, and produce a symmetry +unknown to our vegetative life, the organs of which are, +for the most part, merely single, as in the stomach, +liver, pancreas, and spleen.<a name="FNanchor_1114_1114" id="FNanchor_1114_1114"></a><a href="#Footnote_1114_1114" class="fnanchor">[1114]</a></p> + +<p>From this fundamental difference between the organs +of the two lives, there have arisen several other differences +of great interest. Our animal life being double, +while our organic life is single, it becomes possible for +the former life to take rest, that is, stop part of its +functions for a time, and afterwards renew them. But +in organic life, to stop is to die. The life, which we +have in common with vegetables, never sleeps; and if +its movements entirely cease only for a single instant, +they cease for ever. That process by which our bodies +receive some substances and give out others, admits of +no interruption; it is, by its nature, incessant, because,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> +being single, it can never receive supplementary aid. +The other life we may refresh, not only in sleep, but +even when we are awake. Thus we can exercise the +organs of movement while we rest the organs of +thought; and it is even possible to relieve a function +while we continue to employ it, because, our animal life +being double, we are able for a short time, in case of +one of its parts being fatigued, to avail ourselves of the +corresponding part; using, for instance, a single eye or +a single arm, in order to rest the one which circumstances +may have exhausted; an expedient which the +single nature of organic life entirely prevents.<a name="FNanchor_1115_1115" id="FNanchor_1115_1115"></a><a href="#Footnote_1115_1115" class="fnanchor">[1115]</a></p> + +<p>Our animal life being thus essentially intermittent, +and our organic life being essentially continuous,<a name="FNanchor_1116_1116" id="FNanchor_1116_1116"></a><a href="#Footnote_1116_1116" class="fnanchor">[1116]</a> it +has necessarily followed that the first is capable of an +improvement of which the second is incapable. There +can be no improvement without comparison, since it is +only by comparing one state with another that we can +rectify previous errors, and avoid future ones. Now, +our organic life does not admit of such comparison, +because, being uninterrupted, it is not broken into +stages, but when unchequered by disease, runs on in +dull monotony. On the other hand, the functions of +our animal life, such as thought, speech, sight, and +motion, cannot be long exercised without rest; and as +they are constantly suspended, it becomes practicable +to compare them, and, therefore, to improve them. It +is by possessing this resource that the first cry of the +infant gradually rises into the perfect speech of the +man, and the unformed habits of early thought are +ripened into that maturity which nothing can give but +a long series of successive efforts.<a name="FNanchor_1117_1117" id="FNanchor_1117_1117"></a><a href="#Footnote_1117_1117" class="fnanchor">[1117]</a> But our organic +life, which we have in common with vegetables, admits<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span> +of no interruption, and consequently of no improvement. +It obeys its own laws; but it derives no benefit from +that repetition to which animal life is exclusively indebted. +Its functions, such as nutrition and the like, +exist in man several months before he is born, and +while, his animal life not having yet begun, the faculty +of comparison, which is the basis of improvement, is +impossible.<a name="FNanchor_1118_1118" id="FNanchor_1118_1118"></a><a href="#Footnote_1118_1118" class="fnanchor">[1118]</a> And although, as the human frame increases +in size, its vegetative organs become larger, it +cannot be supposed that their functions really improve, +since, in ordinary cases, their duties are performed as +regularly and as completely in childhood as in middle +age.<a name="FNanchor_1119_1119" id="FNanchor_1119_1119"></a><a href="#Footnote_1119_1119" class="fnanchor">[1119]</a></p> + +<p>Thus it is, that although other causes conspire, it +may be said that the progressiveness of animal life is +due to its intermittence; the unprogressiveness of organic +life to its continuity. It may, moreover, be said, +that the intermittence of the first life results from the +symmetry of its organs, while the continuity of the +second life results from their irregularity. To this wide +and striking generalization, many objections may be +made, some of them apparently insuperable; but that +it contains the germs of great truths I entertain little +doubt, and, at all events, it is certain that the method<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> +cannot be too highly praised, for it unites the study of +function and structure with that of embryology, of +vegetable physiology, of the theory of comparison, and +of the influence of habit; a vast and magnificent field, +which the genius of Bichat was able to cover, but of +which, since him, neither physiologists nor metaphysicians +have even attempted a general survey.</p> + +<p>This stationary condition, during the present century, +of a subject of such intense interest, is a decisive proof +of the extraordinary genius of Bichat; since, notwithstanding +the additions made to physiology, and to every +branch of physics connected with it, nothing has been +done at all comparable to that theory of life which he, +with far inferior resources, was able to construct. This +stupendous work he left, indeed, very imperfect; but +even in its deficiencies we see the hand of the great +master, whom, on his own subject, no one has yet approached. +His essay on life may well be likened to +those broken fragments of ancient art, which, imperfect +as they are, still bear the impress of the inspiration +which gave them birth, and present in each separate +part that unity of conception which to us makes them +a complete and living whole.</p> + +<p>From the preceding summary of the progress of physical +knowledge, the reader may form some idea of the +ability of those eminent men who arose in France +during the latter half of the eighteenth century. To +complete the picture, it is only necessary to examine +what was done in the two remaining branches of natural +history, namely, botany and mineralogy, in both of +which the first great steps towards raising each study +to a science were taken by Frenchmen a few years +before the Revolution.</p> + +<p>In botany, although our knowledge of particular +facts has, during the last hundred years, rapidly increased,<a name="FNanchor_1120_1120" id="FNanchor_1120_1120"></a><a href="#Footnote_1120_1120" class="fnanchor">[1120]</a> +we are only possessed of two generalizations<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> +wide enough to be called laws of nature. The first +generalization concerns the structure of plants; the +other concerns their physiology. That concerning their +physiology is the beautiful morphological law, according +to which the different appearance of the various +organs arises from arrested development: the stamens, +pistils, corolla, calyx, and bracts being simple modifications +or successive stages of the leaf. This is one of +many valuable discoveries we owe to Germany; it being +made by Göthe late in the eighteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_1121_1121" id="FNanchor_1121_1121"></a><a href="#Footnote_1121_1121" class="fnanchor">[1121]</a> With +its importance every botanist is familiar; while to the +historian of the human mind it is peculiarly interesting, +as strengthening that great doctrine of development, +towards which the highest branches of knowledge are +now hastening, and which, in the present century, has +been also carried into one of the most difficult departments +of animal physiology.<a name="FNanchor_1122_1122" id="FNanchor_1122_1122"></a><a href="#Footnote_1122_1122" class="fnanchor">[1122]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span></p> + +<p>But the most comprehensive truth with which we +are acquainted respecting plants, is that which includes +the whole of their general structure; and this we learnt +from those great Frenchmen who, in the latter half of +the eighteenth century, began to study the external +world. The first steps were taken directly after the +middle of the century, by Adanson, Duhamel de Monceau, +and, above all, Desfontaines; three eminent thinkers, +who proved the practicability of a natural method hitherto +unknown, and of which even Ray himself had only a +faint perception.<a name="FNanchor_1123_1123" id="FNanchor_1123_1123"></a><a href="#Footnote_1123_1123" class="fnanchor">[1123]</a> This, by weakening the influence +of the artificial system of Linnæus,<a name="FNanchor_1124_1124" id="FNanchor_1124_1124"></a><a href="#Footnote_1124_1124" class="fnanchor">[1124]</a> prepared the way +for an innovation more complete than has been effected +in any other branch of knowledge. In the very year in +which the Revolution occurred, Jussieu put forward a +series of botanical generalizations, of which the most +important are all intimately connected, and still remain +the highest this department of inquiry has reached.<a name="FNanchor_1125_1125" id="FNanchor_1125_1125"></a><a href="#Footnote_1125_1125" class="fnanchor">[1125]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> +Among these, I need only mention the three vast propositions +which are now admitted to form the basis of +vegetable anatomy. The first is, that the vegetable +kingdom, in its whole extent, is composed of plants +either with one cotyledon, or with two cotyledons, or +else with no cotyledon at all. The second proposition +is, that this classification, so far from being artificial, is +strictly natural; since it is a law of nature, that plants +having one cotyledon are endogenous, and grow by +additions made to the centre of their stems, while, on +the other hand, plants having two cotyledons are exogenous, +and are compelled to grow by additions made, +not to the centre of their stems, but to the circumference.<a name="FNanchor_1126_1126" id="FNanchor_1126_1126"></a><a href="#Footnote_1126_1126" class="fnanchor">[1126]</a> +The third proposition is, that when plants<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span> +grow at their centre, the arrangement of the fruit and +leaves is threefold; when, however, they grow at the +circumference, it is nearly always fivefold.<a name="FNanchor_1127_1127" id="FNanchor_1127_1127"></a><a href="#Footnote_1127_1127" class="fnanchor">[1127]</a></p> + +<p>This is what was effected by the Frenchmen of the +eighteenth century for the vegetable kingdom:<a name="FNanchor_1128_1128" id="FNanchor_1128_1128"></a><a href="#Footnote_1128_1128" class="fnanchor">[1128]</a> and +if we now turn to the mineral kingdom, we shall find +that our obligations to them are equally great. The +study of minerals is the most imperfect of the three +branches of natural history, because, notwithstanding +its apparent simplicity, and the immense number of experiments +which have been made, the true method of +investigation has not yet been ascertained; it being +doubtful whether mineralogy ought to be subordinated +to the laws of chemistry, or to those of crystallography, +or whether both sets of laws will have to be considered.<a name="FNanchor_1129_1129" id="FNanchor_1129_1129"></a><a href="#Footnote_1129_1129" class="fnanchor">[1129]</a> +At all events it is certain that, down to +the present time, chemistry has shown itself unable to +reduce mineralogical phenomena; nor has any chemist, +possessing sufficient powers of generalization, attempted +the task except Berzelius; and most of his conclusions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span> +were overthrown by the splendid discovery of isomorphism, +for which, as is well known, we are indebted to +Mitscherlich, one of the many great thinkers Germany +has produced.<a name="FNanchor_1130_1130" id="FNanchor_1130_1130"></a><a href="#Footnote_1130_1130" class="fnanchor">[1130]</a></p> + +<p>Although the chemical department of mineralogy is +in an unformed and indeed anarchical condition, its +other department, namely, crystallography, has made +great progress; and here again the earliest steps were +taken by two Frenchmen, who lived in the latter half +of the eighteenth century. About 1760, Romé De +Lisle<a name="FNanchor_1131_1131" id="FNanchor_1131_1131"></a><a href="#Footnote_1131_1131" class="fnanchor">[1131]</a> set the first example of studying crystals, according +to a scheme so large as to include all the varieties +of their primary forms, and to account for their irregularities, +and the apparent caprice with which they were +arranged. In this investigation he was guided by the +fundamental assumption, that what is called an irregularity, +is in truth perfectly regular, and that the operations +of nature are invariable.<a name="FNanchor_1132_1132" id="FNanchor_1132_1132"></a><a href="#Footnote_1132_1132" class="fnanchor">[1132]</a> Scarcely had this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> +great idea been applied to the almost innumerable forms +into which minerals crystallize, when it was followed +up with still larger resources by Haüy, another eminent +Frenchman.<a name="FNanchor_1133_1133" id="FNanchor_1133_1133"></a><a href="#Footnote_1133_1133" class="fnanchor">[1133]</a> This remarkable man achieved a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> +complete union between mineralogy and geometry; and, +bringing the laws of space to bear on the molecular +arrangements of matter, he was able to penetrate into +the intimate structure of crystals.<a name="FNanchor_1134_1134" id="FNanchor_1134_1134"></a><a href="#Footnote_1134_1134" class="fnanchor">[1134]</a> By this means, he +succeeded in proving that the secondary forms of all +crystals are derived from their primary forms by a +regular process of decrement;<a name="FNanchor_1135_1135" id="FNanchor_1135_1135"></a><a href="#Footnote_1135_1135" class="fnanchor">[1135]</a> and that, when a substance +is passing from a liquid to a solid state, its particles +are compelled to cohere, according to a scheme +which provides for every possible change, since it includes +even those subsequent layers which alter the +ordinary type of the crystal, by disturbing its natural +symmetry.<a name="FNanchor_1136_1136" id="FNanchor_1136_1136"></a><a href="#Footnote_1136_1136" class="fnanchor">[1136]</a> To ascertain that such violations of symmetry +are susceptible of mathematical calculation, was +to make a vast addition to our knowledge; but what +seems to me still more important is, that it indicates an +approach to the magnificent idea, that every thing which +occurs is regulated by law, and that confusion and disorder +are impossible.<a name="FNanchor_1137_1137" id="FNanchor_1137_1137"></a><a href="#Footnote_1137_1137" class="fnanchor">[1137]</a> For, by proving that even the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> +most uncouth and singular forms of minerals are the +natural results of their antecedents, Haüy laid the +foundation of what may be called the pathology of the +inorganic world. However paradoxical such a notion +may seem, it is certain that symmetry is to crystals +what health is to animals; so that an irregularity of +shape in the first, corresponds with an appearance of +disease in the second.<a name="FNanchor_1138_1138" id="FNanchor_1138_1138"></a><a href="#Footnote_1138_1138" class="fnanchor">[1138]</a> When, therefore, the minds of +men became familiarized with the great truth, that in +the mineral kingdom there is, properly speaking, no +irregularity, it became more easy for them to grasp the +still higher truth, that the same principle holds good +of the animal kingdom, although, from the superior +complexity of the phenomena, it will be long before we +can arrive at an equal demonstration. But, that such a +demonstration is possible, is the principle upon which +the future progress of all organic, and indeed of all +mental science, depends. And it is very observable, +that the same generation which established the fact, +that the apparent aberrations presented by minerals are +strictly regular, also took the first steps towards establishing +the far higher fact, that the aberrations of the +human mind are governed by laws as unfailing as +those which determine the condition of inert matter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> +The examination of this would lead to a digression +foreign to my present design; but I may mention that, at +the end of the century, there was written in France the +celebrated treatise on insanity, by Pinel; a work remarkable +in many respects, but chiefly in this, that in it +the old notions respecting the mysterious and inscrutable +character of mental disease are altogether discarded:<a name="FNanchor_1139_1139" id="FNanchor_1139_1139"></a><a href="#Footnote_1139_1139" class="fnanchor">[1139]</a> +the disease itself is considered as a +phenomenon inevitably occurring under certain given +conditions, and the foundation laid for supplying another +link in that vast chain of evidence which connects +the material with the immaterial, and thus uniting +mind and matter into a single study, is now preparing +the way for some generalization, which, being common +to both, shall serve as a centre round which the +disjointed fragments of our knowledge may safely +rally.</p> + +<p>These were the views which, during the latter half +of the eighteenth century, began to dawn upon French +thinkers. The extraordinary ability and success with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span> +which these eminent men cultivated their respective +sciences, I have traced at a length greater that I had +intended, but still very inadequate to the importance +of the subject. Enough, however, has been brought +forward, to convince the reader of the truth of the proposition +I wished to prove; namely, that the intellect +of France was, during the latter half of the eighteenth +century, concentrated upon the external world with unprecedented +zeal, and thus aided that vast movement, +of which the Revolution itself was merely a single consequence. +The intimate connexion between scientific +progress and social rebellion, is evident from the fact, +that both are suggested by the same yearning after improvement, +the same dissatisfaction with what has been +previously done, the same restless, prying, insubordinate, +and audacious spirit. But in France this general analogy +was strengthened by the curious circumstances I +have already noticed, by virtue of which, the activity of +the country was, during the first half of the century, +directed against the church rather than against the +state; so that in order to complete the antecedents of +the Revolution, it was necessary that, in the latter half +of the century, the ground of attack should be shifted. +This is precisely what was done by the wonderful impetus +given to every branch of natural science. For, +the attention of men being thus steadily fixed upon the +external world, the internal fell into neglect; while, as +the external corresponds to the state, and the internal +to the church, it was part of the same intellectual +development, that the assailers of the existing fabric +should turn against political abuses the energy which +the preceding generation had reserved for religious +ones.</p> + +<p>Thus it was that the French Revolution, like every +great revolution the world has yet seen, was preceded +by a complete change in the habits and associations of +the national intellect. But besides this, there was also +taking place, precisely at the same time, a vast social +movement, which was intimately connected with the +intellectual movement, and indeed formed part of it, in +so far as it was followed by similar results and produced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> +by similar causes. The nature of this social revolution +I shall examine only very briefly, because in a future +volume it will be necessary to trace its history minutely, +in order to illustrate the slighter but still remarkable +changes which in the same period were going on in +English society.</p> + +<p>In France, before the Revolution, the people, though +always very social, were also very exclusive. The +upper classes, protected by an imaginary superiority, +looked with scorn upon those whose birth or titles were +unequal to their own. The class immediately below +them copied and communicated their example, and +every order in society endeavoured to find some fanciful +distinction which should guard them from the contamination +of their inferiors. The only three real sources +of superiority,—the superiority of morals, of intellect, +and of knowledge,—were entirely overlooked in this +absurd scheme; and men became accustomed to pride +themselves not on any essential difference, but on those +inferior matters, which, with extremely few exceptions, +are the result of accident, and therefore no test of +merit.<a name="FNanchor_1140_1140" id="FNanchor_1140_1140"></a><a href="#Footnote_1140_1140" class="fnanchor">[1140]</a></p> + +<p>The first great blow to this state of things, was the +unprecedented impulse given to the cultivation of +physical science. Those vast discoveries which were +being made, not only stimulated the intellect of thinking +men, but even roused the curiosity of the more +thoughtless parts of society. The lectures of chemists, +of geologists, of mineralogists, and of physiologists, +were attended by those who came to wonder, as well as +by those who came to learn. In Paris, the scientific +assemblages were crowded to overflowing.<a name="FNanchor_1141_1141" id="FNanchor_1141_1141"></a><a href="#Footnote_1141_1141" class="fnanchor">[1141]</a> The halls<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span> +and amphitheatres in which the great truths of nature +were expounded, were no longer able to hold their +audience, and in several instances it was found necessary +to enlarge them.<a name="FNanchor_1142_1142" id="FNanchor_1142_1142"></a><a href="#Footnote_1142_1142" class="fnanchor">[1142]</a> The sittings of the Academy, +instead of being confined to a few solitary scholars, +were frequented by every one whose rank or influence +enabled them to secure a place.<a name="FNanchor_1143_1143" id="FNanchor_1143_1143"></a><a href="#Footnote_1143_1143" class="fnanchor">[1143]</a> Even women of +fashion, forgetting their usual frivolity, hastened to +hear discussions on the composition of a mineral, on +the discovery of a new salt, on the structure of plants, +on the organization of animals, on the properties of the +electric fluid.<a name="FNanchor_1144_1144" id="FNanchor_1144_1144"></a><a href="#Footnote_1144_1144" class="fnanchor">[1144]</a> A sudden craving after knowledge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> +seemed to have smitten every rank. The largest and +the most difficult inquiries found favour in the eyes of +those whose fathers had hardly heard the names of the +sciences to which they belonged. The brilliant imagination +of Buffon made geology suddenly popular; the +same thing was effected for chemistry by the eloquence +of Fourcroy, and for electricity by Nollet; while the +admirable expositions of Lalande caused astronomy itself +to be generally cultivated. In a word, it is enough +to say, that during the thirty years preceding the +Revolution, the spread of physical science was so rapid, +that in its favour the old classical studies were despised;<a name="FNanchor_1145_1145" id="FNanchor_1145_1145"></a><a href="#Footnote_1145_1145" class="fnanchor">[1145]</a> +it was considered the essential basis of a good +education, and some slight acquaintance with it was +deemed necessary for every class, except those who +were obliged to support themselves by their daily +labour.<a name="FNanchor_1146_1146" id="FNanchor_1146_1146"></a><a href="#Footnote_1146_1146" class="fnanchor">[1146]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span></p> + +<p>The results produced by this remarkable change are +very curious, and from their energy and rapidity were +very decisive. As long as the different classes confined +themselves to pursuits peculiar to their own sphere, +they were encouraged to preserve their separate habits; +and the subordination, or, as it were, the hierarchy, of +society was easily maintained. But when the members +of the various orders met in the same place with the +same object, they became knit together by a new sympathy. +The highest and most durable of all pleasures, +the pleasure caused by the perception of fresh truths, +was now a great link, which banded together those +social elements that were formerly wrapped up in the +pride of their own isolation. Besides this, there was +also given to them not only a new pursuit, but also a +new standard of merit. In the amphitheatre and the +lecture-room, the first object of attention is the professor +and the lecturer. The division is between those who +teach and those who learn. The subordination of ranks +makes way for the subordination of knowledge.<a name="FNanchor_1147_1147" id="FNanchor_1147_1147"></a><a href="#Footnote_1147_1147" class="fnanchor">[1147]</a> The +petty and conventional distinctions of fashionable life +are succeeded by those large and genuine distinctions, +by which alone man is really separated from man. The +progress of the intellect supplies a new object of veneration; +the old worship of rank is rudely disturbed, +and its superstitious devotees are taught to bow the +knee before what to them is the shrine of a strange god. +The hall of science is the temple of democracy. Those +who come to learn, confess their own ignorance, abrogate +in some degree their own superiority, and begin to +perceive that the greatness of men has no connexion +with the splendour of their titles, or the dignity +of their birth; that it is not concerned with their +quarterings, their escutcheons, their descents, their +dexter-chiefs, their sinister-chiefs, their chevrons,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> +their bends, their azures, their gules, and the other +trumperies of their heraldry; but that it depends upon +the largeness of their minds, the powers of their +intellect, and the fullness of their knowledge.</p> + +<p>These were the views which, in the latter half of the +eighteenth century, began to influence those classes +which had long been the undisputed masters of +society.<a name="FNanchor_1148_1148" id="FNanchor_1148_1148"></a><a href="#Footnote_1148_1148" class="fnanchor">[1148]</a> And what shows the strength of this great +movement is, that it was accompanied by other social +changes, which, though in themselves apparently +trifling, become full of meaning when taken in connexion +with the general history of the time.</p> + +<p>While the immense progress of physical knowledge +was revolutionizing society, by inspiring the different +classes with an object common to all, and thus raising +a new standard of merit, a more trivial, but equally +democratic tendency was observable even in the conventional +forms of social life. To describe the whole of +these changes would occupy a space disproportioned to +the other parts of this Introduction; but it is certain +that, until the changes have been carefully examined, +it will be impossible for any one to write a history of +the French Revolution. As a specimen of what I mean, +I will notice two of these innovations which are very +conspicuous, and are also interesting on account of +their analogy with what has happened in English +society.</p> + +<p>The first of these changes was an alteration in dress, +and a marked contempt for those external appearances +hitherto valued as one of the most important of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> +matters. During the reign of Louis XIV., and indeed +during the first half of the reign of Louis XV., not only +men of frivolous tastes, but even those distinguished for +their knowledge, displayed in their attire a dainty +precision, a nice and studied adjustment, a pomp of +gold, of silver, and of ruffles, such as in our days can +nowhere be seen, except in the courts of European +princes, where a certain barbarian splendour is still +retained. So far was this carried, that in the seventeenth +century the rank of a person might be immediately +known by his appearance; no one presuming +to usurp a garb worn by the class immediately above +his own.<a name="FNanchor_1149_1149" id="FNanchor_1149_1149"></a><a href="#Footnote_1149_1149" class="fnanchor">[1149]</a> But in that democratic movement which +preceded the French Revolution, the minds of men +became too earnest, too intent upon higher matters, to +busy themselves with those idle devices which engrossed +the attention of their fathers. A contemptuous disregard +of such distinctions became general. In Paris the +innovation was seen even in those gay assemblies, +where a certain amount of personal decoration is still +considered natural. At dinners, suppers, and balls, it +is noticed by contemporary observers, that the dress +usually worn was becoming so simple as to cause a +confusion of ranks, until at length every distinction was +abandoned by both sexes; the men, on such occasions, +coming in a common frock-coat, the women in their +ordinary morning gowns.<a name="FNanchor_1150_1150" id="FNanchor_1150_1150"></a><a href="#Footnote_1150_1150" class="fnanchor">[1150]</a> Nay, to such a pitch was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> +this carried, that we are assured by the Prince de +Montbarey, who was in Paris at the time, that shortly +before the Revolution, even those who had stars and +orders were careful to hide them by buttoning their +coats, so that these marks of superiority might no longer +be seen.<a name="FNanchor_1151_1151" id="FNanchor_1151_1151"></a><a href="#Footnote_1151_1151" class="fnanchor">[1151]</a></p> + +<p>The other innovation to which I have referred is +equally interesting as characteristic of the spirit of the +time. This is, that the tendency to amalgamate the +different orders of society<a name="FNanchor_1152_1152" id="FNanchor_1152_1152"></a><a href="#Footnote_1152_1152" class="fnanchor">[1152]</a> was shown in the institution +of clubs; a remarkable contrivance, which to us +seems perfectly natural because we are accustomed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span> +it, but of which it may be truly said, that until the +eighteenth century its existence was impossible. Before +the eighteenth century, each class was so jealous of its +superiority over the one below it, that to meet together +on equal terms was impracticable; and although a +certain patronizing familiarity towards one's inferiors +might be safely indulged in, this only marked the +immense interval of separation, since the great man had +no fear of his condescension being abused. In those +good old times a proper respect was paid to rank and +birth; and he who could count his twenty ancestors +was venerated to an extent of which we, in these degenerate +days, can hardly form an idea. As to any thing +like social equality, that was a notion too preposterous +to be conceived; nor was it possible that any institution +should exist which placed mere ordinary men on a level +with those illustrious characters, whose veins were filled +with the purest blood, and the quarterings of whose +arms none could hope to rival.</p> + +<p>But in the eighteenth century the progress of knowledge +became so remarkable, that the new principle of +intellectual superiority made rapid encroachments on +the old principle of aristocratic superiority. As soon +as these encroachments had reached a certain point, +they gave rise to an institution suited to them; and +thus it was that there were first established clubs, in +which all the educated classes could assemble, without +regard to those other differences which, in the preceding +period, kept them separate. The peculiarity of this +was, that, for mere purposes of social enjoyment, men +were brought into contact, who, according to the aristocratic +scheme, had nothing in common, but who were +now placed on the same footing in so far as they +belonged to the same establishment, conformed to the +same rules, and reaped the same advantages. It was, +however, expected that the members, though varying in +many other respects, were to be all, in some degree, +educated; and in this way society first distinctly recognized +a classification previously unknown; the division +between noble and ignoble being succeeded by another +division between educated and uneducated.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span></p> + +<p>The rise and growth of clubs is, therefore, to the philosophic +observer, a question of immense importance; +and it is one which, as I shall hereafter prove, played a +great part in the history of England during the latter +half of the eighteenth century. In reference to our +present subject, it is interesting to observe, that the first +clubs, in the modern sense of the word, which ever +existed in Paris, were formed about 1782, only seven +years before the French Revolution. At the beginning +they were merely intended to be social assemblages; +but they quickly assumed a democratic character, conformable +to the spirit of the age. Their first result, as +was noticed by a keen observer of what was then passing, +was to make the manners of the upper classes more +simple than they had hitherto been, and to weaken that +love of form and ceremony suitable to their earlier habits. +These clubs likewise effected a remarkable separation +between the sexes; and it is recorded, that after their +establishment, women associated more with each other, +and were oftener seen in public unaccompanied by +men.<a name="FNanchor_1153_1153" id="FNanchor_1153_1153"></a><a href="#Footnote_1153_1153" class="fnanchor">[1153]</a> This had the effect of encouraging among men +a republican roughness, which the influence of the other +sex would have tended to keep down. All these things +effaced the old lines of demarcation between the different<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span> +ranks, and by merging the various classes into one, +made the force of their united opposition irresistible, +and speedily overthrew both the church and the state. +The exact period at which the clubs became political +cannot, of course, be ascertained, but the change seems +to have taken place about 1784.<a name="FNanchor_1154_1154" id="FNanchor_1154_1154"></a><a href="#Footnote_1154_1154" class="fnanchor">[1154]</a> From this moment +all was over; and although the government, in 1787, +issued orders to close the leading club, in which all +classes discussed political questions, it was found impossible +to stem the current. The order, therefore, +was rescinded; the club re-assembled, and no further +attempt was made to interrupt that course of affairs +which a long train of preceding events had rendered +inevitable.<a name="FNanchor_1155_1155" id="FNanchor_1155_1155"></a><a href="#Footnote_1155_1155" class="fnanchor">[1155]</a></p> + +<p>While all these things were conspiring to overthrow +the old institutions, an event suddenly occurred which +produced the most remarkable effects in France, and is +itself strikingly characteristic of the spirit of the eighteenth +century. On the other side of the Atlantic, a +great people, provoked by the intolerable injustice of +the English government, rose in arms, turned on their +oppressors, and, after a desperate struggle, gloriously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span> +obtained their independence. In 1776, the Americans +laid before Europe that noble Declaration, which ought +to be hung up in the nursery of every king, and blazoned +on the porch of every royal palace. In words, +the memory of which can never die, they declared, that +the object of the institution of government is to secure +the rights of the people; that from the people alone it +derives its powers; and ‘that whenever any form of +government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the +right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute +a new government, laying its foundations on such +principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as +to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and +happiness.’<a name="FNanchor_1156_1156" id="FNanchor_1156_1156"></a><a href="#Footnote_1156_1156" class="fnanchor">[1156]</a></p> + +<p>If this declaration had been made only one generation +earlier, the whole of France, with the exception of a few +advanced thinkers, would have rejected it with horror +and with scorn. Such, however, was now the temper +of the public mind, that the doctrines it contained were +not merely welcomed by a majority of the French +nation, but even the government itself was unable to +withstand the general feeling.<a name="FNanchor_1157_1157" id="FNanchor_1157_1157"></a><a href="#Footnote_1157_1157" class="fnanchor">[1157]</a> In 1776, Franklin +arrived in France, as envoy from the American people. +He met with the warmest reception from all classes,<a name="FNanchor_1158_1158" id="FNanchor_1158_1158"></a><a href="#Footnote_1158_1158" class="fnanchor">[1158]</a> +and succeeded in inducing the government to sign a +treaty, engaging to defend the young republic in the +rights it had gloriously won.<a name="FNanchor_1159_1159" id="FNanchor_1159_1159"></a><a href="#Footnote_1159_1159" class="fnanchor">[1159]</a> In Paris, the enthusiasm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span> +was irresistible.<a name="FNanchor_1160_1160" id="FNanchor_1160_1160"></a><a href="#Footnote_1160_1160" class="fnanchor">[1160]</a> From every quarter large bodies +of men came forward, volunteering to cross the Atlantic +and to fight for the liberties of America. The heroism +with which these auxiliaries aided the noble struggle, +forms a cheering passage in the history of that time; +but is foreign to my present purpose, which is merely +to notice its effect in hastening the approach of the +French Revolution. And this effect was indeed most +remarkable. Besides the indirect result produced by +the example of a successful rebellion, the French were +still further stimulated by actual contact with their new +allies. The French officers and soldiers who served in +America, introduced into their own country, on their +return, those democratic opinions which they had imbibed +in the infant republic.<a name="FNanchor_1161_1161" id="FNanchor_1161_1161"></a><a href="#Footnote_1161_1161" class="fnanchor">[1161]</a> By this means, fresh +strength was given to the revolutionary tendencies +already prevalent; and it is worthy of remark, that +Lafayette borrowed from the same source one of his +most celebrated acts. He drew his sword on behalf of +the Americans; and they, in their turn, communicated +to him that famous doctrine respecting the rights of +man, which, at his instigation, was formally adopted by +the National Assembly.<a name="FNanchor_1162_1162" id="FNanchor_1162_1162"></a><a href="#Footnote_1162_1162" class="fnanchor">[1162]</a> Indeed, there is reason to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span> +believe, that the final blow the French government +received was actually dealt by the hand of an American; +for it is said that it was in consequence of the advice of +Jefferson, that the popular part of the legislative body +proclaimed itself the National Assembly, and thus set +the crown at open defiance.<a name="FNanchor_1163_1163" id="FNanchor_1163_1163"></a><a href="#Footnote_1163_1163" class="fnanchor">[1163]</a></p> + +<p>I have now brought to a close my examination of the +causes of the French Revolution; but before concluding +the present chapter, it appears to me that the variety of +topics which have been discussed, makes it advisable +that I should sum up their leading points; and should +state, as briefly as possible, the steps of that long and +complicated argument, by which I have attempted to +prove, that the Revolution was an event inevitably +arising out of preceding circumstances. Such a summary, +by recalling the entire subject before the reader, +will remedy any confusion which the fullness of detail +may have produced, and will simplify an investigation +which many will consider to have been needlessly +protracted; but which could not have been abridged +without weakening, in some essential part, the support +of those general principles that I seek to establish.</p> + +<p>Looking at the state of France immediately after the +death of Louis XIV., we have seen that, his policy +having reduced the country to the brink of ruin, and +having destroyed every vestige of free inquiry, a reaction +became necessary; but that the materials for the +reaction could not be found among a nation, which for +fifty years had been exposed to so debilitating a system. +This deficiency at home, caused the most eminent +Frenchmen to turn their attention abroad, and gave rise +to a sudden admiration for the English literature, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span> +for those habits of thought which were then peculiar to +the English people. New life being thus breathed into +the wasted frame of French society, an eager and +inquisitive spirit was generated, such as had not been +seen since the time of Descartes. The upper classes, +taking offence at this unexpected movement, attempted +to stifle it, and made strenuous efforts to destroy that +love of inquiry which was daily gaining ground. To +effect their object, they persecuted literary men with +such bitterness, as to make it evident that the intellect +of France must either relapse into its former servility, +or else boldly assume the offensive. Happily for the +interests of civilization, the latter alternative was +adopted; and, in or about 1750, a deadly struggle +began, in which those principles of liberty which France +borrowed from England, and which had hitherto been +supposed only applicable to the church, were for the +first time applied to the state. Coinciding with this +movement, and indeed forming part of it, other circumstances +occurred of the same character. Now it was +that the political economists succeeded in proving that +the interference of the governing classes had inflicted +great mischief even upon the material interests of the +country; and had, by their protective measures, injured +what they were believed to have benefited. This +remarkable discovery in favour of general freedom, put +a fresh weapon into the hands of the democratic party; +whose strength was still further increased by the unrivalled +eloquence with which Rousseau assailed the +existing fabric. Precisely the same tendency was +exhibited in the extraordinary impulse given to every +branch of physical science, which familiarized men with +ideas of progress, and brought them into collision with +the stationary and conservative ideas natural to government. +The discoveries made respecting the external +world, encouraged a restlessness and excitement of +mind hostile to the spirit of routine, and therefore full +of danger for institutions only recommended by their +antiquity. This eagerness for physical knowledge also +effected a change in education; and the ancient languages +being neglected, another link was severed which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span> +connected the present with the past. The church, the +legitimate protector of old opinions, was unable to resist +the passion for novelty, because she was weakened by +treason in her own camp. For by this time, Calvinism +had spread so much among the French clergy, as to +break them into two hostile parties, and render it +impossible to rally them against their common foe. +The growth of this heresy was also important, because +Calvinism being essentially democratic, a revolutionary +spirit appeared even in the ecclesiastical profession, so +that the feud in the church was accompanied by another +feud between the government and the church. These +were the leading symptoms of that vast movement +which culminated in the French Revolution; and all of +them indicated a state of society so anarchical and so +thoroughly disorganized, as to make it certain that +some great catastrophe was impending. At length, +and when everything was ready for explosion, the news +of the American Rebellion fell like a spark on the +inflammatory mass, and ignited a flame which never +ceased its ravages until it had destroyed all that +Frenchmen once held dear, and had left for the +instruction of mankind an awful lesson of the crimes +into which continued oppression may hurry a generous +and long-suffering people.</p> + +<p>Such is a rapid outline of the view which my studies +have led me to take of the causes of the French Revolution. +That I have ascertained all the causes, I do not +for a moment suppose; but it will, I believe, be found +that none of importance have been omitted. It is, +indeed, true, that among the materials of which the +evidence consists, many deficiencies will be seen; and a +more protracted labour would have been rewarded by a +greater success. Of these shortcomings I am deeply +sensible; and I can only regret that the necessity of +passing on to a still larger field has compelled me to +leave so much for future inquirers to gather in. At the +same time, it ought to be remembered, that this is the +first attempt which has ever been made to study the +antecedents of the French Revolution according to a +scheme wide enough to include the whole of their intellectual<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span> +bearings. In defiance of sound philosophy, and, +I may say, in defiance of common understanding, historians +obstinately persist in neglecting those great +branches of physical knowledge, in which in every +civilized country the operations of the human mind +may be most clearly seen, and therefore the mental +habits most easily ascertained. The result is, that the +French Revolution, unquestionably the most important, +the most complicated, and the most glorious event in +history, has been given over to authors, many of whom +have displayed considerable ability, but all of whom +have shown themselves destitute of that preliminary +scientific education, in the absence of which it is impossible +to seize the spirit of any period, or to take a +comprehensive survey of its various parts. Thus, to +mention only a single instance: we have seen that the +extraordinary impulse given to the study of the external +world was intimately connected with that democratic +movement which overthrew the institutions of France. +But this connexion historians have been unable to +trace; because they were unacquainted with the progress +of the various branches of natural philosophy and +of natural history. Hence it is that they have exhibited +their great subject maimed and mutilated, shorn of +those fair proportions which it ought to possess. According +to this scheme, the historian sinks into the +annalist; so that, instead of solving a problem, he +merely paints a picture. Without, therefore, disparaging +the labours of those industrious men who have +collected materials for a history of the French Revolution, +we may assuredly say, that the history itself has +never been written; since they who have attempted the +task have not possessed such resources as would +enable them to consider it as merely a single part of +that far larger movement which was seen in every +department of science, of philosophy, of religion, and of +politics.</p> + +<p>Whether or not I have effected anything of real +value towards remedying this deficiency, is a question +for competent judges to decide. Of this, at least, I feel +certain, that whatever imperfections may be observed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span> +the fault consists, not in the method proposed, but in +the extreme difficulty of any single man putting into +full operation all the parts of so vast a scheme. It is +on this point, and on this alone, that I feel the need of +great indulgence. But, as to the plan itself, I have no +misgivings; because I am deeply convinced that the +time is fast approaching when the history of Man will +be placed on its proper footing; when its study will be +recognized as the noblest and most arduous of all pursuits; +and when it will be clearly seen, that, to cultivate +it with success, there is wanted a wide and comprehensive +mind, richly furnished with the highest branches +of human knowledge. When this is fully admitted, +history will be written only by those whose habits fit +them for the task; and it will be rescued from the +hands of biographers, genealogists, collectors of anecdotes, +chroniclers of courts, of princes, and of nobles,—those +babblers of vain things, who lie in wait at every +corner, and infest this the public highway of our +national literature. That such compilers should trespass +on a province so far above their own, and should think +that by these means they can throw light on the affairs +of men, is one of many proofs of the still backward +condition of our knowledge, and of the indistinctness +with which its boundaries have been mapped out. If I +have done anything towards bringing these intrusions +into discredit, and inspiring historians themselves with +a sense of the dignity of their own calling, I shall have +rendered in my time some little service, and I shall be +well content to have it said, that in many cases I have +failed in executing what I originally proposed. Indeed, +that there are in this volume several instances of such +failure, I willingly allow; and I can only plead the +immensity of the subject, the shortness of a single life, +and the imperfection of every single enterprise. I, +therefore, wish this work to be estimated, not according +to the finish of its separate parts, but according to the +way in which those parts have been fused into a complete +and symmetrical whole. This, in an undertaking +of such novelty and magnitude, I have a right to expect. +And I would, moreover, add, that if the reader has met<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span> +with opinions adverse to his own, he should remember +that his views are, perchance, the same as those which +I too once held, and which I have abandoned, because, +after a wider range of study, I found them unsupported +by solid proof, subversive of the interests of Man, and +fatal to the progress of his knowledge. To examine +the notions in which we have been educated, and to +turn aside from those which will not bear the test, is a +task so painful, that they who shrink from the suffering +should pause before they reproach those by whom the +suffering is undergone. What I have put forward may, +no doubt, be erroneous; but it is, at all events, the +result of an honest searching after truth, of unsparing +labour, of patient and anxious reflection. Conclusions +arrived at in this way, are not to be overturned by +stating that they endanger some other conclusions; nor +can they be even affected by allegations against their +supposed tendency. The principles which I advocate, +are based upon distinct arguments, supported by well-ascertained +facts. The only points, therefore, to be +ascertained, are, whether the arguments are fair, and +whether the facts are certain. If these two conditions +have been obeyed, the principles follow by an inevitable +inference. Their demonstration is, in the present +volume, necessarily incomplete; and the reader must +suspend his final judgment until the close of this Introduction, +when the subject in all its bearings will be laid +before him. The remaining part of the Introduction +will be occupied, as I have already intimated, with an +investigation of the civilizations of Germany, America, +Scotland, and Spain; each of which presents a different +type of intellectual development, and has, therefore, +followed a different direction in its religious, scientific, +social, and political history. The causes of these differences +I shall attempt to ascertain. The next step will +be to generalize the causes themselves; and having +thus referred them to certain principles common to all, +we shall be possessed of what may be called the fundamental +laws of European thought; the divergence of +the different countries being regulated either by the +direction those laws take, or else by their comparative<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span> +energy. To discover these fundamental laws will be +the business of the Introduction; while, in the body of +the work, I shall apply them to the history of England, +and endeavour by their aid to work out the epochs +through which we have successively passed, fix the +basis of our present civilization, and indicate the path +of our future progress.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_952_952" id="Footnote_952_952"></a><a href="#FNanchor_952_952"><span class="label">[952]</span></a> For a popular but able view of the value of averages in +scientific inquiries, see <i>Herschel's Disc. on Nat. Philos.</i> pp. +215–219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_953_953" id="Footnote_953_953"></a><a href="#FNanchor_953_953"><span class="label">[953]</span></a> As we see in the pretensions set forth by mathematicians, +who often suppose that an amount of certainty can be attained in their +own pursuits not to be found in any other. This error has probably +arisen, as Locke suggests, from confusing clearness with certainty. +<i>Essay on Human Understanding</i>, book iv. chap. ii. secs. 9 and 10, in +<i>Works</i>, vol. ii. pp. 73, 74. See also <i>Comte</i>, <i>Philos. Pos.</i> vol. i. +p. 103, where it is justly observed, that all branches of knowledge +capable of being generalized into sciences admit of equal certainty, but +not of equal precision: ‘si d'après l'explication précédente, les +diverses sciences doivent nécessairement présenter une précision +très-inégale, il n'en est nullement ainsi de leur certitude.’ This is +handled unsatisfactorily by Montucla (<i>Hist. des Mathémat.</i> vol. i. p. +33), who says, that the principal cause of the peculiar certainty +reached by the mathematician is, that ‘d'une idée claire il ne déduit +que des conséquences claires et incontestables.’ Similarly, Cudworth +(<i>Intellect. System</i>, vol. iii. p. 377): ‘nay the very essence of truth +here is this clear perceptibility, or intelligibility.’ On the other +hand, Kant, a far deeper thinker, avoided this confusion, by making +mathematical clearness the mark of a <i>kind</i> of certainty rather than of +a <i>degree</i> of it: ‘Die mathematische Gewissheit heisst auch Evidenz, +weil ein intuitives Erkenntniss klarer ist, als ein discursives. +Obgleich also beides, das mathematische und das philosophische +Vernunfterkenntniss an sich gleich gewiss ist, so ist doch die Art der +Gewissheit in beiden verschieden.’ <i>Logik</i>, <i>Einleitung</i>, sec. 9, in +<i>Kant's Werke</i>, vol. i. p. 399. On the opinions of the ancients +respecting certainty, compare <i>Matter</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie</i>, +vol. i. p. 195, with <i>Ritter's Hist. of Ancient Philos.</i> vol. ii. p. 46, +vol. iii. pp. 74, 426, 427, 484, 614.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_954_954" id="Footnote_954_954"></a><a href="#FNanchor_954_954"><span class="label">[954]</span></a> ‘Vers 1750, deux hommes de génie, observateurs judicieux et +profonds, conduits par une force d'attention très-soutenue à une logique +rigoureuse, animés d'un noble amour pour la patrie et pour l'humanité, +M. Quesnay et M. de Gournay, s'occupèrent avec suite de savoir si la +nature des choses n'indiquerait pas une science de l'économie politique, +et quels seraient les principes de cette science.’ <i>Additions aux +Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. iii. p. 310. M. Blanqui (<i>Hist. de l'Economie +Politique</i>, vol. ii. p. 78) also says, ‘vers l'année 1750;’ and Voltaire +(<i>Dict. Philos.</i> article <i>Blé</i>, in <i>Œuvres</i>, vol. xxxvii. p. 384) +says, ‘vers l'an 1750, la nation, rassasiée de vers, de tragédies, de +comédies, d'opéra, de romans, d'histoires romanesques, de réflexions +morales plus romanesques encore, et de disputes théologiques sur la +grâce et sur les convulsions, se mit enfin a raisonner sur les blés.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_955_955" id="Footnote_955_955"></a><a href="#FNanchor_955_955"><span class="label">[955]</span></a> The revolutionary tendency of this economical movement is +noticed in <i>Alison's Europe</i>, vol. i. pp. 184, 185; where, however, its +commencement is erroneously assigned to ‘about the year 1761.’ See also, +on the hostility this caused against government, <i>Mém. de Campan</i>, vol. +i. pp. 7, 8; <i>Mem. of Mallet du Pan</i>, vol. i. p. 32; and <i>Barruel</i>, +<i>Hist. du Jacobinisme</i>, vol. i. p. 193, vol. ii. p. 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_956_956" id="Footnote_956_956"></a><a href="#FNanchor_956_956"><span class="label">[956]</span></a> ‘D'ailleurs la nation s'étoit accoutumée à se séparer +toujours de plus en plus de son gouvernement, en raison même de ce que +ses écrivains avoient commencé à aborder les études politiques. C'étoit +l'époque où la secte des économistes se donnoit le plus de mouvement, +depuis que le marquis de Mirabeau avoit publié, en 1755, son <i>Ami des +Hommes</i>.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. +des Franç.</i> vol. xxix. p. 269. Compare <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de Louis +XV</i>, vol. ii. p. 58. In this same year, 1755, Goldsmith was in Paris, +and was so struck by the progress of insubordination, that he foretold +the freedom of the people; though I need hardly say that he was not a +man to understand the movement of the economists. <i>Prior's Life of +Goldsmith</i>, vol. i. pp. 198, 199; <i>Forster's Life of Goldsmith</i>, vol. i. +p. 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_957_957" id="Footnote_957_957"></a><a href="#FNanchor_957_957"><span class="label">[957]</span></a> In February 1759, he writes to Madame du Boccage: ‘Il me +paraît que les grâces et le bon goût sont bannis de France, et ont cédé +la place à la métaphysique embrouillée, à la politique des cerveaux +creux, à des discussions énormes sur les finances, sur le commerce, sur +la population, qui ne mettront jamais dans l'état ni un écu, ni un homme +de plus.’ <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. lx. p. 485. In 1763 (vol. lxiii. +p. 204): ‘Adieu, nos beaux arts, si les choses continuent comme elles +sont. La rage des remontrances et des projets sur les finances a saisi +la nation.’ Many of the ablest men being thus drawn off from mere +literary pursuits, there began, about twenty years before the +Revolution, a marked deterioration in style, particularly among prose +writers. Compare <i>Lettres de Dudeffand à Walpole</i>, vol. ii. p. 358, vol. +iii. pp. 163, 299; <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. ii. p. 374, vol. v. p. 123, +vol. viii. pp. 180, 275; <i>Mercier sur Rousseau</i>, vol. ii. p. 151.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_958_958" id="Footnote_958_958"></a><a href="#FNanchor_958_958"><span class="label">[958]</span></a> Georgel, who hated Turgot, says of him: ‘son cabinet et ses +bureaux se transformèrent en ateliers où les économistes forgeoient leur +système et leurs spéculations.’ <i>Mém. de Georgel</i>, vol. i. p. 406: see +also <i>Blanqui</i>, <i>Hist. de l'Écon. Politique</i>, vol. ii. pp. 96–112; +<i>Condorcet</i>, <i>Vie de Turgot</i>, pp. 32–35; <i>Twiss</i>, <i>Progress of Political +Econ.</i> pp. 142 seq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_959_959" id="Footnote_959_959"></a><a href="#FNanchor_959_959"><span class="label">[959]</span></a> Sismondi, under the year 1774, notices ‘les écrits +innombrables que chaque jour voyoit éclore sur la politique, et qui +avoient désormais remplacé dans l'intérêt des salons ces nouveautés +littéraires, ces vers, ces anecdotes galantes, dont peu d'années +auparavant le public étoit uniquement occupé.’ <i>Hist. des Français</i>, +vol. xxix. p. 495; and a similar remark in <i>Schlosser's Eighteenth +Century</i>, vol. ii. p. 126.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_960_960" id="Footnote_960_960"></a><a href="#FNanchor_960_960"><span class="label">[960]</span></a> See the account, written in Feb. 1781, in <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Corr. +Lit.</i> vol. xi. 260, where it is said of Necker's <i>Compte Rendu</i>, ‘La +sensation qu'a faite cet ouvrage est, je crois, sans exemple; il s'en +est débité plus de six mille exemplaires le jour même qu'il a paru, et +depuis, le travail continuel de deux imprimeries n'a pu suffire encore +aux demandes multipliées de la capitale, des provinces, et des pays +étrangers.’ Ségur (<i>Souvenirs</i>, vol. i. p. 138) mentions, that Necker's +work was ‘dans la poche de tous les abbés, et sur la toilette de toutes +les dames.’ The daughter of Necker, Madame de Staël, says of her +father's work, <i>Administration des Finances</i>, ‘on en vendit quatre-vingt +mille exemplaires.’ <i>De Staël sur la Révolution</i>, vol. i. p. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_961_961" id="Footnote_961_961"></a><a href="#FNanchor_961_961"><span class="label">[961]</span></a> The expression of the Baron de Montyon: see <i>Adolphus's +History of George III.</i> vol. iv. p. 290; and on the revolutionary +tendency of Necker's financial works, <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, +vol. ii. pp. xxxvii. xxxviii., vol. iv. pp. 18, 143. Necker published a +justification of his book, ‘malgré la défense du roi.’ <i>Du Mesnil</i>, +<i>Mém. sur Le Brun</i>, p. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_962_962" id="Footnote_962_962"></a><a href="#FNanchor_962_962"><span class="label">[962]</span></a> So far as I remember, there is not a single instance in +any of his works; and those who assail him on this ground should adduce +the passages on which they rely, instead of bringing vague general +charges. Compare <i>Life of Rousseau</i>, in <i>Brougham's Men of Letters</i>, +vol. i. p. 189; <i>Stäudlin</i>, <i>Gesch. der theolog. Wissenschaften</i>, +vol. ii. p. 442; <i>Mercier sur Rousseau</i>, 1791, vol. i. pp. 27–32, vol. +ii. pp. 279, 280.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_963_963" id="Footnote_963_963"></a><a href="#FNanchor_963_963"><span class="label">[963]</span></a> ‘Rousseau, qui déjà en 1753 avoit touché aux bases mêmes +de la société humaine, dans son <i>Discours sur l'origine de l'inégalité +parmi les hommes</i>.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, vol. xxix. p. 270. Schlosser (<i>Hist. of +the Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. i. p. 138) notices ‘the entirely new +system of absolute democracy which was brought forward by J. J. +Rousseau;’ see also p. 289, and <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. +v. p. 208.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_964_964" id="Footnote_964_964"></a><a href="#FNanchor_964_964"><span class="label">[964]</span></a> Napoleon said to Stanislas Girardin respecting Rousseau, +‘sans lui la France n'auroit pas eu de révolution.’ <i>Holland's Foreign +Reminiscences</i>, Lond. 1850, p. 261. This is certainly an exaggeration; +but the influence of Rousseau was, during the latter half of the +eighteenth century, most extraordinary. In 1765, Hume writes from Paris: +‘It is impossible to express or imagine the enthusiasm of this nation in +his favour; … no person ever so much engaged their attention as +Rousseau. Voltaire and every body else are quite eclipsed by him.’ +<i>Burton's Life of Hume</i>, vol. ii. p. 299. A letter written in 1754 (in +<i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. i. p. 122) says that his Dijon Discourse +‘fit une espèce de révolution à Paris.’ The circulation of his works was +unprecedented; and when <i>La Nouvelle Héloïse</i> appeared, ‘les libraires +ne pouvaient suffire aux demandes de toutes les classes. On louait +l'ouvrage à tant par jour, ou par heure. Quand il parut, on exigeait +douze sous par volume, en n'accordant que soixante minutes pour le +lire.’ <i>Musset Pathay</i>, <i>Vie de Rousseau</i>, vol. ii. p. 361. For further +evidence of the effect produced by his works, see <i>Lerminier</i>, <i>Philos. +du Droit</i>, vol. ii. p. 251; <i>Mém. de Roland</i>, vol. i. p. 196, vol. ii. +pp. 337, 359; <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. v. p. 193, vol. vi. p. 14; +<i>Alison's Europe</i>, vol. i. p. 170, vol. iii. p. 369, vol. iv. p. 376; +<i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, vol. i. p. 116; <i>Longchamp</i>, <i>Mém. sur Voltaire</i>, +vol. ii. p. 50; <i>Life of Romilly</i>, vol. i. p. 267; <i>Mem. of Mallet du +Pan</i>, vol. i. p. 127; <i>Burke's Works</i>, vol. i. p. 482; <i>Cassagnac</i>, +<i>Causes de la Rév.</i> vol. iii. p. 549; <i>Lamartine</i>, <i>Hist. des +Girondins</i>, vol. ii. p. 38, vol. iv. p. 93, vol. viii. p. 125; <i>Wahrheit +und Dichtung</i>, in <i>Göthe's Werke</i>, Stuttgart, 1837, vol. ii. part ii. +pp. 83, 104; <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond. Lit.</i> vol. xii. p. 222; <i>De Staël</i>, +<i>Consid. sur la Rév.</i> vol. ii. p. 371.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_965_965" id="Footnote_965_965"></a><a href="#FNanchor_965_965"><span class="label">[965]</span></a> Sismondi (xxix. p. 20), Lacretelle (<i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. +ii. p. 110), and Tocqueville (<i>Règne de Louis XV</i>, vol. ii. p. 103), +give the date 1749; so that 1747, in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxvi. p. 46, is +apparently a misprint.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_966_966" id="Footnote_966_966"></a><a href="#FNanchor_966_966"><span class="label">[966]</span></a> ‘Laissant voir dans toute cette loi, qui est assez longue, +qu'il regardoit non-seulement l'accroissement, mais l'existence de ces +propriétés ecclésiastiques, comme un mal pour le royaume.’ <i>Sismondi</i>, +<i>Hist. des Franç.</i> vol. xxix. p. 21. This, I suppose, is the edict +mentioned by Turgot, who wished to push the principle still further. +<i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. iii. pp. 254, 255; a bold and striking +passage.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_967_967" id="Footnote_967_967"></a><a href="#FNanchor_967_967"><span class="label">[967]</span></a> Mably mentions the excitement caused by this proceeding of +Machault, <i>Observations sur l'Histoire de France</i>, vol. ii. p. 415: ‘On +attaqua alors, dans plusieurs écrits, les immunités du clergé.’ On the +dislike felt by the clergy against the minister, see <i>Ségur</i>, +<i>Souvenirs</i>, vol. i. p. 35; <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. i. +pp. 283, 310, vol. ii. p. 146.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_968_968" id="Footnote_968_968"></a><a href="#FNanchor_968_968"><span class="label">[968]</span></a> In 1750, ‘Machault obtint les sceaux en conservant le +contrôle-général.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxvi. p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_969_969" id="Footnote_969_969"></a><a href="#FNanchor_969_969"><span class="label">[969]</span></a> ‘Croyait surtout que le temps était venu d'imposer les +biens du clergé.’ <i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 107. +Nearly the same words are used in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxvi. p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_970_970" id="Footnote_970_970"></a><a href="#FNanchor_970_970"><span class="label">[970]</span></a> On which account, he still further provoked the +indignation of the Catholic clergy. See <i>Felice</i>, <i>Hist. of the Protest. +of France</i>, pp. 401, 402; a letter written in 1751.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_971_971" id="Footnote_971_971"></a><a href="#FNanchor_971_971"><span class="label">[971]</span></a> ‘The approach of the year 1760 witnessed a sensible +relaxation of persecution…. The clergy perceived this with dismay; +and, in their general assembly of 1760, they addressed urgent +remonstrances to the king against this remission of the laws.’ <i>Felice</i>, +<i>Protest. of France</i>, p. 422. Comp. an interesting letter from Nismes in +1776, in <i>Thicknesse's Journey through France</i>, London, 1777, vol. i. p. +66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_972_972" id="Footnote_972_972"></a><a href="#FNanchor_972_972"><span class="label">[972]</span></a> Sismondi says of 1762, ‘Dès lors, la réaction de l'opinion +publique contre l'intolérance pénétra jusque dans les provinces les plus +fanatiques.’ <i>Hist. des Franç.</i> vol. xxix. p. 296. See also a letter +to Damilaville, dated 6th of May, 1765, in <i>Lettres inédites de +Voltaire</i>, vol. i. p. 412; and two other letters in <i>Œuvres de +Voltaire</i>, vol. lxiv. p. 225, vol. lxvi. p. 417.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_973_973" id="Footnote_973_973"></a><a href="#FNanchor_973_973"><span class="label">[973]</span></a> Of whom Hume, several years before, had formed a very high +opinion. See <i>Burton's Life of Hume</i>, vol. ii. p. 497; a too favourable +judgment, which should be contrasted with the opposite exaggerations, in +<i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. ix. pp. 360–363, and <i>Barruel</i>, <i>Hist. du +Jacobinisme</i>, vol. i. pp. 87, 199.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_974_974" id="Footnote_974_974"></a><a href="#FNanchor_974_974"><span class="label">[974]</span></a> <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Franç.</i> iii. 516; <i>Biog. Univ.</i> +xxiv. p. 656.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_975_975" id="Footnote_975_975"></a><a href="#FNanchor_975_975"><span class="label">[975]</span></a> <i>Georgel</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. ii. pp. 293, 294; a violent +outbreak against ‘l'irréligieux édit … qui autorise tous les cultes.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_976_976" id="Footnote_976_976"></a><a href="#FNanchor_976_976"><span class="label">[976]</span></a> ‘Le parlement de Paris discutait l'édit sur les +protestans. Vingt ans plus tôt, combien une telle résolution n'eût-elle +pas agité et divisé les esprits? En 1787, on ne s'étonnait que d'une +chose: c'était qu'il pût y avoir une discussion sur des principes +évidens.’ <i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. iii. pp. 342, 343. In +1776, Malesherbes, who was then minister, wished to secure nearly the +same privileges for the Protestants, but was prevented from doing so. +<i>Dutens</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol. ii. pp. 56–58. Dutens was himself concerned +in the negotiation.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_977_977" id="Footnote_977_977"></a><a href="#FNanchor_977_977"><span class="label">[977]</span></a> Henry II. used to refer to this title, by way of +justifying his persecution of the Protestants (<i>Ranke's Civil Wars in +France</i>, vol. i. p. 241); and great account was made of it by that +exemplary prince, Louis XV. <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. i. p. +155. The French antiquaries trace it back to Pepin, the father of +Charlemagne. <i>Barrington's Observations on the Statutes</i>, p. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_978_978" id="Footnote_978_978"></a><a href="#FNanchor_978_978"><span class="label">[978]</span></a> The Prince de Montbarey, who was educated by the Jesuits +about 1740, says, that, in their schools, the greatest attention was +paid to pupils intended for the church; while the abilities of those +destined for secular professions were neglected. See this statement, +which, coming from such a quarter, is very remarkable, in <i>Mémoires de +Montbarey</i>, vol. i. pp. 12, 13. Montbarey, so far from being prejudiced +against the Jesuits, ascribes the Revolution to their overthrow. <i>Ibid.</i> +vol. iii. p. 94. For other evidence of the exclusive and unsecular +character of their education in the eighteenth century, see <i>Schlosser's +Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. iv. pp. 29, 30, 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_979_979" id="Footnote_979_979"></a><a href="#FNanchor_979_979"><span class="label">[979]</span></a> See some singular observations in Parr's first sermon on +faith and morals (<i>Parr's Works</i>, vol. vi. p. 598), where we are told +that, in the management of the feud between Calvinists and Arminians, +‘the steadiness of defence should be proportionate to the impetuosity of +assault;’ unnecessary advice, so far as his own profession is concerned. +However, the Mohammedan theologians are said to have been even keener +than the Christians on the subject. See <i>Troyer's Discourse on the +Dabistan</i>, vol. i. p. cxxxv.; an important work on the Asiatic +religions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_980_980" id="Footnote_980_980"></a><a href="#FNanchor_980_980"><span class="label">[980]</span></a> Neander (<i>Hist. of the Church</i>, vol. iv. p. 105) finds the +germ of the Pelagian controversy in the dispute between Athanasius and +Apollinaris. Compare, respecting its origin, a note in <i>Milman's Hist. +of Christianity</i>, 1840, vol. iii. pp. 270, 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_981_981" id="Footnote_981_981"></a><a href="#FNanchor_981_981"><span class="label">[981]</span></a> No writer I have met with, has stated so fairly and +clearly the theological boundaries of these doctrines, as Göthe. +<i>Wahrheit und Dichtung</i>, in <i>Werke</i>, vol. ii. part ii. p. 200, +Stuttgart, 1837.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_982_982" id="Footnote_982_982"></a><a href="#FNanchor_982_982"><span class="label">[982]</span></a> Compare <i>Butler's Mem. of the Catholics</i>, vol. iii. p. +224; <i>Copleston on Necessity and Predestination</i>, pp. 25, 26; <i>Mosheim's +Eccles. History</i>, vol. ii. p. 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_983_983" id="Footnote_983_983"></a><a href="#FNanchor_983_983"><span class="label">[983]</span></a> Hence the theory of indulgences, constructed by the Church +of Rome with perfect consistency, and against which most of the +Protestant arguments are illogical.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_984_984" id="Footnote_984_984"></a><a href="#FNanchor_984_984"><span class="label">[984]</span></a> This seems to be the natural tendency, and has been +observed by Neander in his instructive account of the Gnostics, <i>History +of the Church</i>, vol. ii. p. 121: ‘The custom with such sects to attach +themselves to some celebrated name or other of antiquity.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_985_985" id="Footnote_985_985"></a><a href="#FNanchor_985_985"><span class="label">[985]</span></a> The Dutch church was the first which adopted, as an +article of faith, the doctrine of election held at Geneva. <i>Mosheim's +Eccles. History</i>, vol. ii. p. 112. See also, on this doctrine in the +Netherlands, <i>Sinclair's Corresp.</i> vol. ii. p. 199; <i>Coventry's Speech +in</i> 1672, in <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. iv. p. 537; and <i>Stäudlin</i>, +<i>Gesch. der theolog. Wissenschaften</i>, vol. i. p. 262: ‘In den +Niederlanden wurde der Calvinische Lehrbegriff zuerst in eine +scholastische Form gebracht.’</p> + +<p>As to the Calvinism of North America, compare <i>Bancroft's American +Revolution</i>, vol. i. pp. 165, 173, 174, vol. ii. pp. 329, 363, vol. iii. +p. 213; <i>Lyell's Second Visit to the United States</i>, 1849, vol. i. p. +51; and <i>Combe's Notes on the United States</i>, vol. i. pp. 35, 99, 223, +vol. iii. pp. 88, 118, 210, 226.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_986_986" id="Footnote_986_986"></a><a href="#FNanchor_986_986"><span class="label">[986]</span></a> It is sometimes said that this was advocated by Bancroft +as early as 1588; but this assertion appears to be erroneous, and Mr. +Hallam can find no instance before the reign of James I. <i>Const. Hist.</i> +vol. i. p. 390. The dogma, though new in the Church of England, was of +great antiquity. See, on its origin among the early Christians, +<i>Klimrath</i>, <i>Hist. du Droit</i>, vol. i. p. 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_987_987" id="Footnote_987_987"></a><a href="#FNanchor_987_987"><span class="label">[987]</span></a> The spread of Arminianism was frequently noticed in +Parliament during the reign of Charles I. <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. ii. pp. +444, 452, 455, 470, 484, 487, 491, 660, 947, 1368. On the decline of +Calvinism at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge early in the +seventeenth century, see a curious letter from Beale, in <i>Boyle's +Works</i>, vol. v. p. 483; and on this movement in the church after +Elizabeth, compare <i>Yonge's Diary</i>, p. 93, edit. Camden Soc. 1848; +<i>Orme's Life of Owen</i>, p. 32; <i>Harris's Lives of the Stuarts</i>, vol. i. +pp. 154–156, vol. ii. pp. 208, 213, 214; <i>Hutchinson's Mem.</i> pp. 66, 77; +<i>Hallam's Const. Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 466; <i>Des Maizeaux's Life of +Chillingworth</i>, p. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_988_988" id="Footnote_988_988"></a><a href="#FNanchor_988_988"><span class="label">[988]</span></a> Respecting the Calvinism of the opponents of the king, see +<i>Clarendon's Rebellion</i>, pp. 36, 37; <i>Bulstrode's Memoirs</i>, pp. 8, 9; +<i>Burton's Diary</i>, vol. iii. p. 206; <i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, vol. i. p. 68; +and on its influence in the House of Commons in 1628, <i>Carwithen's Hist. +of the Church of England</i>, vol. ii. p. 64.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_989_989" id="Footnote_989_989"></a><a href="#FNanchor_989_989"><span class="label">[989]</span></a> M Heber (<i>Life of Jeremy Taylor</i>, p. cxx.) says, that +Calvinism is ‘a system of all others the least attractive to the +feelings of a Roman Catholic.’ Philip II., the great Catholic champion, +especially hated the Calvinists, and in one of his edicts called their +sect ‘détestable,’ <i>De Thou</i>, <i>Hist.</i> vol. x. p. 705: compare vol. xi. +p. 458. To give an earlier instance; when the Roman inquisition was +revived in 1542, it was ordered that heretics, and in particular +Calvinists, should not be tolerated: ‘besonders Calvinisten.’ <i>Ranke</i>, +<i>Die Päpste</i>, vol. i. p. 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_990_990" id="Footnote_990_990"></a><a href="#FNanchor_990_990"><span class="label">[990]</span></a> By way of illustrating this, I may mention, that an +intelligent observer, who travelled all through Germany, remarked, in +1780, that the Calvinists, though richer than their opponents, had less +taste for the arts. <i>Riesbeck's Travels through Germany</i>, London, 1787, +vol. ii. p. 240. An interesting passage; in which, however, the author +has shown himself unable to generalize the facts which he indicates.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_991_991" id="Footnote_991_991"></a><a href="#FNanchor_991_991"><span class="label">[991]</span></a> The Arminians have had among them many men of great +learning, particularly of patristic learning; but the most profound +thinkers have been on the other side, as in the instances of Augustin, +Pascal, and Jonathan Edwards. To these Calvinistic metaphysicians the +Arminian party can oppose no one of equal ability; and it is remarkable, +that the Jesuits, by far the most zealous Arminians in the Romish +Church, have always been celebrated for their erudition, but have paid +so little attention to the study of the mind, that, as Sir James +Mackintosh says (<i>Dissert. on Ethical Philos.</i> p. 185), Buffier is ‘the +only Jesuit whose name has a place in the history of abstract +philosophy.’ And it is interesting to observe, that this superiority of +thought on the part of the Calvinists, accompanied by an inferiority of +learning, existed from the beginning; for Neander (<i>History of the +Church</i>, vol. iv. p. 299) remarks, that Pelagius ‘was not possessed of +the profound speculative spirit which we find in Augustin,’ but that ‘in +learning he was Augustin's superior.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_992_992" id="Footnote_992_992"></a><a href="#FNanchor_992_992"><span class="label">[992]</span></a> ‘A philosophical necessity, grounded on the idea of God's +foreknowledge, has been supported by theologians of the Calvinistic +school, more or less rigidly, throughout the whole of the present +century.’ <i>Morell's Speculative Philosophy of Europe</i>, 1846, vol. i. p. +366. Indeed, this tendency is so natural, that we find the doctrine of +necessity, or something extremely like it, laid down by Augustin. See +the interesting extracts in <i>Neander's History of the Church</i>, vol. vi. +pp. 424, 425; where, however, a loophole is left to let in the idea of +interference, or at all events of superintendence.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_993_993" id="Footnote_993_993"></a><a href="#FNanchor_993_993"><span class="label">[993]</span></a> ‘The five principal tenets of Jansenism, which amount in +fact to the doctrine of Calvin.’ <i>Palmer on the Church</i>, vol. i. p. 320; +and see the remarks of Mackintosh in his <i>Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 411. +According to the Jesuits, ‘Paulus genuit Augustinum, Augustinus +Calvinum, Calvinus Jansenium, Jansenius Sancryanum, Sancryanus Arnaldum +et fratres ejus.’ <i>Des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. iv. pp. 71, 72. +Compare <i>Huetius de Rebus ad eum pertinentibus</i>, p. 64: ‘Jansenium +dogmata sua ex Calvinianis fontibus derivasse.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_994_994" id="Footnote_994_994"></a><a href="#FNanchor_994_994"><span class="label">[994]</span></a> Jansenius was born in a village near Leerdam, and was +educated, if I mistake not, in Utrecht.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_995_995" id="Footnote_995_995"></a><a href="#FNanchor_995_995"><span class="label">[995]</span></a> The introduction of Jansenism into France is superficially +related by Duvernet (<i>Hist. de la Sorbonne</i>, vol. ii. pp. 170–175); but +the reader will find a contemporary and highly characteristic account in +<i>Mém. de Motteville</i>, vol. ii. pp. 224–227. The connexion between it and +the spirit of insubordination was remarked at the time; and Des Réaux, +who wrote in the middle of the seventeenth century, mentions an opinion +that the Fronde ‘étoit venue du Jansénisme.’ <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. iv. p. +72. Omer Talon too says that, in 1648, ‘il se trouvoit que tous ceux qui +étoient de cette opinion n'aimoient pas le gouvernement présent de +l'état,’ <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. ii. pp. 280, 281.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_996_996" id="Footnote_996_996"></a><a href="#FNanchor_996_996"><span class="label">[996]</span></a> Brienne, who knew Louis XIV. personally, says, +‘Jansénisme, l'horreur du roi.’ <i>Mém. de Brienne</i>, vol. ii. p. 240. +Compare <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mém. Secrets</i>, vol. i. p. 112. At the end of his +reign he promoted a bishop on the avowed ground of his opposition to the +Jansenists; this was in 1713. <i>Lettres inédites de Maintenon</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 396, 406; and see further vol. i. pp. 220, 222.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_997_997" id="Footnote_997_997"></a><a href="#FNanchor_997_997"><span class="label">[997]</span></a> ‘La Sorbonne, moliniste sous Louis XIV, fut janséniste +sous le régent, et toujours divisée.’ <i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Hist. de la +Sorbonne</i>, vol. ii. p. 225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_998_998" id="Footnote_998_998"></a><a href="#FNanchor_998_998"><span class="label">[998]</span></a> On the strength of the Jansenists in the parliament of +Paris, see <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XV</i>, vol. i. p. 352, vol. ii. +p. 176; <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Diplomatie</i>, vol. vi. p. 486; <i>Mém. de Georgel</i>, +vol. ii. p. 262; <i>Mém. de Bouillé</i>, vol. i. p. 67; <i>Palmer's Treatise on +the Church</i>, vol. i. pp. 327, 328.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_999_999" id="Footnote_999_999"></a><a href="#FNanchor_999_999"><span class="label">[999]</span></a> <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 439.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1000_1000" id="Footnote_1000_1000"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1000_1000"><span class="label">[1000]</span></a> <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. i. pp. 31, 145.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1001_1001" id="Footnote_1001_1001"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1001_1001"><span class="label">[1001]</span></a> <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XV</i>, vol. ii. p. 385; +<i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i>, vol. liv. p. 275; <i>Mém. de Georgel</i>, vol. i. +pp. 49–51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1002_1002" id="Footnote_1002_1002"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1002_1002"><span class="label">[1002]</span></a> <i>Duvernet</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. 90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1003_1003" id="Footnote_1003_1003"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1003_1003"><span class="label">[1003]</span></a> <i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. 119; +<i>Lavallée</i>, vol. iii. p. 477.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1004_1004" id="Footnote_1004_1004"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1004_1004"><span class="label">[1004]</span></a> <i>Mém. de Georgel</i>, vol. i. p. 57.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1005_1005" id="Footnote_1005_1005"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1005_1005"><span class="label">[1005]</span></a> <i>La Fayette</i>, <i>Mém.</i> vol. ii. p. 53; <i>Dumont</i>, +<i>Souvenirs</i>, p. 154; <i>Georgel</i>, vol. ii. p. 353, vol. iii. p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1006_1006" id="Footnote_1006_1006"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1006_1006"><span class="label">[1006]</span></a> <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. iii. p. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1007_1007" id="Footnote_1007_1007"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1007_1007"><span class="label">[1007]</span></a> ‘The Jesuits are charged by the vulgar as promoters of +that attempt.’ Letter from Stanley, written in 1761, in <i>Chatham +Correspond.</i> vol. ii. p. 127. Compare <i>Campan</i>, <i>Mém. de Marie +Antoinette</i>, vol. iii. pp. 19, 21; <i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Hist. des Franç.</i> vol. +xxix. pp. 111, 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1008_1008" id="Footnote_1008_1008"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1008_1008"><span class="label">[1008]</span></a> <i>Lavallée</i>, <i>Hist. des Français</i>, vol. iii. p. 476.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1009_1009" id="Footnote_1009_1009"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1009_1009"><span class="label">[1009]</span></a> <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Diplomatie Franç.</i> vol. vi. p. 491.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1010_1010" id="Footnote_1010_1010"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1010_1010"><span class="label">[1010]</span></a> ‘Sans que les accusés eussent été entendus.’ <i>Lavallée</i>, +vol. iii. p. 477. ‘Pas un seul n'a été entendu dans leur cause.’ +<i>Barruel sur l'Hist. du Jacobinisme</i>, vol. ii. +p. 264.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1011_1011" id="Footnote_1011_1011"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1011_1011"><span class="label">[1011]</span></a> <i>Lavallée</i>, iii. p. 477; <i>Flassan</i>, vi. pp. 504, 505; +<i>Sismondi</i>, xxix. p. 234; and the letters written by Diderot, who, +though he was in Paris at the time, gives rather an incomplete account, +<i>Mém. de Diderot</i>, vol. ii. pp. 127, 130–132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1012_1012" id="Footnote_1012_1012"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1012_1012"><span class="label">[1012]</span></a> <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Hist. de la Diplomatie</i>, vol. vi. pp. +486–488.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1013_1013" id="Footnote_1013_1013"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1013_1013"><span class="label">[1013]</span></a> ‘Enfin ils furent mis en cause, et le parlement de Paris +eut l'étonnement et la joie de voir les jésuites amenés devant lui comme +de vils banqueroutiers.’ <i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. ii. p. +252. ‘Condemned in France as fraudulent traders.’ <i>Schlosser's +Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. iv. p. 451.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1014_1014" id="Footnote_1014_1014"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1014_1014"><span class="label">[1014]</span></a> Several writers attribute the destruction of the Jesuits +to the exertions of Madame de Pompadour!</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1015_1015" id="Footnote_1015_1015"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1015_1015"><span class="label">[1015]</span></a> Choiseul is reported to have said of the Jesuits: ‘leur +éducation détruite, tous les autres corps religieux tomberont +d'eux-mêmes.’ <i>Barruel</i>, <i>Hist. du Jacobinisme</i>, vol. i. p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1016_1016" id="Footnote_1016_1016"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1016_1016"><span class="label">[1016]</span></a> In 1771, Horace Walpole writes from Paris that the +churches and convents were become so empty, as to ‘appear like abandoned +theatres destined to destruction;’ and this he contrasts with his former +experience of a different state of things. <i>Walpole's Letters</i>, vol. v. +p. 310, edit. 1840.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1017_1017" id="Footnote_1017_1017"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1017_1017"><span class="label">[1017]</span></a> ‘So low had the talents of the once illustrious church of +France fallen, that in the latter part of the eighteenth century, when +Christianity itself was assailed, not one champion of note appeared in +its ranks; and when the convocation of the clergy, in 1770, published +their famous anathema against the dangers of unbelief, and offered +rewards for the best essays in defence of the Christian faith, the +productions called forth were so despicable that they sensibly injured +the cause of religion.’ <i>Alison's Hist. of Europe</i>, vol. i. pp. 180, +181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1018_1018" id="Footnote_1018_1018"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1018_1018"><span class="label">[1018]</span></a> In 1766, the Rev. William Cole writes to Alban Butler: ‘I +travelled to Paris through Lille and Cambray in their public voitures, +and was greatly scandalized and amazed at the open and unreserved +disrespect, both of the trading and military people, for their clergy +and religious establishment. When I got to Paris, it was much worse.’ +<i>Ellis's Original Letters</i>, second series, vol. iv. p. 485. See also +<i>Walpole's Letters to Lady Ossory</i>, vol. ii. p. 513, edit. 1848; and the +complaint made at Besançon in 1761, in <i>Lepan</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. +113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1019_1019" id="Footnote_1019_1019"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1019_1019"><span class="label">[1019]</span></a> And also to retain their immense property, which, when the +Revolution occurred, was estimated at 80,000,000<i>l.</i> English money, +bringing in a yearly revenue of ‘somewhat under 75,000,000 francs.’ +<i>Alison's Europe</i>, vol. i. p. 183, vol. ii. p. 20, vol. xiv. pp. 122, +123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1020_1020" id="Footnote_1020_1020"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1020_1020"><span class="label">[1020]</span></a> M. Barante (<i>Littérature Française au XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, p. +94) says, ‘On arriva bientôt à tout nier; déjà l'incrédulité avait +rejeté les preuves divines de la révélation, et avait abjuré les devoirs +et les souvenirs chrétiens; on vit alors l'athéisme lever un front plus +hardi, et proclamer que tout sentiment religieux était une rêverie et un +désordre de l'esprit humain. C'est de l'époque de l'Encyclopédie que +datent les écrits où cette opinion est le plus expressément professée. +Ils furent peu imités.’ This last sentence is erroneous, I am sorry to +say.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1021_1021" id="Footnote_1021_1021"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1021_1021"><span class="label">[1021]</span></a> ‘Dans un intervalle de douze années, de 1758 à 1770, la +littérature française fut souillée par un grand nombre d'ouvrages où +l'athéisme étoit ouvertement professé.’ <i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, +vol. ii. p. 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1022_1022" id="Footnote_1022_1022"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1022_1022"><span class="label">[1022]</span></a> Voltaire, who wrote against it, mentions its diffusion +among all classes, and says it was read by ‘des savants, des ignorants, +des femmes.’ <i>Dict. Philos.</i> article <i>Dieu</i>, section iv., in <i>Œuvres +de Voltaire</i>, vol. xxxviii. p. 366: see also vol. lxvii. p. 260; +<i>Longchamp et Wagnière</i>, <i>Mém. sur Voltaire</i>, vol. i. pp. 13, 334; +<i>Lettres inédites de Voltaire</i>, vol. ii. pp. 210, 216; and a letter from +him in <i>Correspond. de Dudeffand</i>, vol. ii. p. 329. Compare <i>Tennemann</i>, +<i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. xi. p. 320: ‘mit ungetheiltem Beifalle +aufgenommen worden und grossen Einfluss +gehabt hat.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1023_1023" id="Footnote_1023_1023"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1023_1023"><span class="label">[1023]</span></a> ‘Le code monstrueux d'athéisme.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxix. +p. 88. Morellet, who in such matters was by no means a harsh judge, +says, ‘<i>Le Système de la Nature</i>, surtout, est un catéchisme d'athéisme +complet.’ <i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, vol. i. p. 133. Stäudlin (<i>Gesch. der +theolog. Wissenschaften</i>, vol. ii. p. 440) calls it ‘ein System des +entschiedenen Atheismus:’ while Tennemann, who has given by far the best +account of it I have met with, says, ‘Es machte bei seinem Erscheinen +gewaltiges Aufsehen, und ist fast immer als das Handbuch des Atheismus +betrachtet worden.’ <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. xi. p. 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1024_1024" id="Footnote_1024_1024"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1024_1024"><span class="label">[1024]</span></a> ‘Le monstrueux athéisme est devenu l'opinion dominante.’ +<i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. iii. p. 16: the address of the +archbishop with a deputation, ‘muni des pouvoirs de l'assemblée générale +du clergé,’ in September 1775.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1025_1025" id="Footnote_1025_1025"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1025_1025"><span class="label">[1025]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. x. pp. 471, 669, vol. xxvii. p. 8, vol. +xxx. p. 542; <i>Mém. de Brissot</i>, vol. i. p. 305; <i>Tocqueville</i>, <i>Règne de +Louis XV</i>, vol. ii. p. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1026_1026" id="Footnote_1026_1026"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1026_1026"><span class="label">[1026]</span></a> <i>Mem. of Mallet du Pan</i>, vol. i. p. 50; <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne +de Louis XVI</i>, vol. v. p. 127; <i>Barruel</i>, <i>Hist. du Jacobin.</i>, vol. i. +pp. 104, 135, 225, vol. ii. p. 23, vol. iii. p. 200; <i>Life of Romilly</i>, +vol. i. pp. 46, 145; <i>Stäudlin</i>, <i>Theolog. +Wissenschaften</i>, vol. ii. p. 440; <i>Georgel</i>, <i>Mém.</i> vol. ii. pp. +250, 350; <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. xv. p. 87; +<i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, vol. i. p. 130; <i>Lepan</i>, <i>Vie de Voltaire</i>, p. 369; +<i>Tennemann</i>, <i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. xi. p. 350; <i>Musset Pathay</i>, <i>Vie +de Rousseau</i>, vol. ii. pp. 177, 297; <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. v. p. 180; +<i>Hitchcock's Geol.</i> p. 263; <i>Mém. d'Epinay</i>, vol. ii. pp. 63, 66, 76.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1027_1027" id="Footnote_1027_1027"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1027_1027"><span class="label">[1027]</span></a> This was related to Romilly by Diderot. <i>Life of Romilly</i>, +vol. i. pp. 131, 132: see also <i>Burton's Life of Hume</i>, vol. ii. pp. +220. Priestley, who visited France in 1774, says, that ‘all the +philosophical persons to whom I was introduced at Paris (were) +unbelievers in Christianity, and even professed atheists.’ <i>Priestley's +Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 74. See also a letter by Horace Walpole, written +from Paris in 1765 (<i>Walpole's Letters</i>, edit. 1840, vol. v. p. 96): +‘their avowed doctrine is atheism.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1028_1028" id="Footnote_1028_1028"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1028_1028"><span class="label">[1028]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xx. p. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1029_1029" id="Footnote_1029_1029"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1029_1029"><span class="label">[1029]</span></a> ‘Si la nature, au lieu de mains et de doigts flexibles, +eût terminé nos poignets par un pied de cheval; qui doute que les +hommes, sans art, sans habitations, sans défense contre les animaux, +tout occupés du soin de pourvoir à leur nourriture et d'éviter les bêtes +féroces, ne fussent encore errants dans les forêts comme des troupeaux +fugitifs?’ <i>Helvétius</i>, <i>De l'Esprit</i>, vol. i. p. 2. Had Helvétius ever +read the attack of Aristotle against Anaxagoras for asserting that +διὰ τὸ χεῖοας ἔχειν, +φρονιμώώτατον εῖναι τῶν ζώων τὸν +ἄνθρωπον? <i>Cudworth</i>, <i>Intellect. Syst.</i> vol. iii. p. 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1030_1030" id="Footnote_1030_1030"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1030_1030"><span class="label">[1030]</span></a> <i>De l'Esprit</i>, vol. i. p. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1031_1031" id="Footnote_1031_1031"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1031_1031"><span class="label">[1031]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1032_1032" id="Footnote_1032_1032"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1032_1032"><span class="label">[1032]</span></a> ‘En effet la mémoire ne peut être qu'un des organes de la +sensibilité physique.’ vol. i. p. 6. Compare what M. Lepelletier says on +this, in his <i>Physiologie Médicale</i>, vol. iii. p. 272.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1033_1033" id="Footnote_1033_1033"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1033_1033"><span class="label">[1033]</span></a> ‘D'où je conclus que tout jugement n'est qu'une +sensation.’ <i>De l'Esprit</i>, vol. i. p. 10; ‘<i>juger</i>, comme je l'ai déjà +prouvé, n'est proprement que <i>sentir</i>.’ p. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1034_1034" id="Footnote_1034_1034"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1034_1034"><span class="label">[1034]</span></a> ‘Né sensible à la douleur et au plaisir, c'est à la +sensibilité physique que l'homme doit ses passions; et à ses passions, +qu'il doit tous ses vices et toutes ses vertus.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 53; +and see vol. i. p. 239.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1035_1035" id="Footnote_1035_1035"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1035_1035"><span class="label">[1035]</span></a> ‘Une fois parvenu à cette vérité, je découvre facilement +la source des vertus humaines; je voie que sans la sensibilité à la +douleur et au plaisir physique, les hommes, sans désirs, sans passions, +également indifférents à tout, n'eussent point connu d'intérêt +personnel; que sans intérêt personnel ils ne se fussent point rassemblés +en société, n'eussent point fait entr'eux de conventions, qu'il n'y eût +point eu d'intérêt général, par conséquent point d'actions justes ou +injustes; et qu'ainsi la sensibilité physique et l'intérêt personnel ont +été les auteurs de toute justice.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 278.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1036_1036" id="Footnote_1036_1036"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1036_1036"><span class="label">[1036]</span></a> <i>De l'Esprit</i>, vol. ii. pp. 19, 20, 30, 34, 293, 294, 318. +Compare Epicurus, in <i>Diog. Laert. de Vit. Philos.</i> lib. x. seg. 120, +vol. i. p. 654.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1037_1037" id="Footnote_1037_1037"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1037_1037"><span class="label">[1037]</span></a> <i>De l'Esprit</i>, vol. ii. p. 45. He sums up: ‘il s'ensuit +que l'amitié, ainsi que l'avarice, l'orgueil, l'ambition et les autres +passions, est l'effet immédiat de la sensibilité physique.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1038_1038" id="Footnote_1038_1038"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1038_1038"><span class="label">[1038]</span></a> ‘Il lui est aussi impossible d'aimer le bien pour le bien, +que d'aimer le mal pour le mal.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 73.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1039_1039" id="Footnote_1039_1039"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1039_1039"><span class="label">[1039]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1040_1040" id="Footnote_1040_1040"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1040_1040"><span class="label">[1040]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1041_1041" id="Footnote_1041_1041"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1041_1041"><span class="label">[1041]</span></a> ‘Nous sommes uniquement ce que nous font les objets qui +nous environnent.’ <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 306.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1042_1042" id="Footnote_1042_1042"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1042_1042"><span class="label">[1042]</span></a> Saint Surin, a zealous opponent of Helvétius, admits that +‘les étrangers les plus éminents par leurs dignités ou par leurs +lumières, désiraient d'être introduits chez un philosophe dont le nom +retentissait dans toute l'Europe.’ <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xx. p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1043_1043" id="Footnote_1043_1043"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1043_1043"><span class="label">[1043]</span></a> Brissot (<i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. p. 339) says, that in 1775, +‘le système d'Helvétius avait alors la plus grande vogue.’ Turgot, who +wrote against it, complains that it was praised ‘avec une sorte de +fureur’ (<i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol. ix. p. 297); and Georgel +(<i>Mémoires</i>, vol. ii. p. 256) says, ‘ce livre, écrit avec un style plein +de chaleur et d'images, se trouvoit sur toutes les toilettes.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1044_1044" id="Footnote_1044_1044"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1044_1044"><span class="label">[1044]</span></a> ‘D'ailleurs le siècle de Louis XV se +reconnut dans l'ouvrage d'Helvétius, et on prête à Mme. Dudeffand ce mot +fin et profond: “C'est un homme qui a dit le secret de tout le monde.”’ +<i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philos.</i> I. série, vol. iii. p. 201. Compare +<i>Corresp. de Dudeffand</i>, vol. i. p. xxii.; and a similar sentiment in +<i>Mém. de Roland</i>, vol. i. p. 104. The relation of Helvétius's work to +the prevailing philosophy is noticed in <i>Comte's Philos. Pos.</i> vol. iii. +pp. 791, 792. vol. v. pp. 744, 745.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1045_1045" id="Footnote_1045_1045"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1045_1045"><span class="label">[1045]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. ix. p. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1046_1046" id="Footnote_1046_1046"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1046_1046"><span class="label">[1046]</span></a> ‘Condillac est le métaphysicien français du XVIII<sup>e</sup> +siècle.’ <i>Cousin</i>, <i>Hist. de la Philos.</i> I. série, vol. iii. p. 83.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1047_1047" id="Footnote_1047_1047"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1047_1047"><span class="label">[1047]</span></a> ‘Traité des Sensations,’ which, as M. Cousin says, is, +‘sans comparaison, le chef-d'œuvre de Condillac.’ <i>Hist. de la +Philos.</i> II. série, vol. ii. p. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1048_1048" id="Footnote_1048_1048"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1048_1048"><span class="label">[1048]</span></a> On the immense influence of Condillac, compare <i>Renouard</i>, +<i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. ii. p. 355; <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Eloges</i>, vol. iii. +p. 387; <i>Broussais</i>, <i>Cours de Phrénologie</i>, pp. 45, 68–71, 829; +<i>Pinel</i>, <i>Alién. Mentale</i>, p. 94; <i>Brown's Philos. of the Mind</i>, p. +212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1049_1049" id="Footnote_1049_1049"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1049_1049"><span class="label">[1049]</span></a> Whether or not Locke held that reflection is an +independent as well as a separate faculty, is uncertain; because +passages could be quoted from his writings to prove either the +affirmative or the negative. Dr. Whewell justly remarks, that Locke uses +the word so vaguely as to ‘allow his disciples to make of his doctrines +what they please.’ <i>History of Moral Philosophy</i>, 1852, p. 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1050_1050" id="Footnote_1050_1050"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1050_1050"><span class="label">[1050]</span></a> ‘Locke distingue deux sources de nos idées, les sens et la +réflexion. Il seroit plus exact de n'en reconnoître qu'une, soit +parceque la réflexion n'est dans son principe que la sensation même, +soit parce qu'elle est moins la source des idées que le canal par lequel +elles découlent des sens.’ <i>Condillac</i>, <i>Traité des Sensations</i>, p. 13: +see also, at pp. 19, 216, the way in which sensation becomes reflection; +and the summing up, at p. 416, ‘que toutes nos connoissances viennent +des sens, et particulièrement du toucher.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1051_1051" id="Footnote_1051_1051"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1051_1051"><span class="label">[1051]</span></a> He says of Mallebranche (<i>Traité des Sensations</i>, p. +312), ‘ne pouvant comprendre comment nous formerions nous-mêmes ces +jugemens, il les attribue à Dieu; manière de raisonner fort commode, et +presque toujours la ressource des philosophes.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1052_1052" id="Footnote_1052_1052"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1052_1052"><span class="label">[1052]</span></a> ‘Mais à peine j'arrête la vue sur un objet, que les +sensations particulières que j'en reçois sont l'attention même que je +lui donne.’ <i>Traité des Sensations</i>, p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1053_1053" id="Footnote_1053_1053"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1053_1053"><span class="label">[1053]</span></a> ‘Ne sont que différentes manières d'être attentif.’ p. +122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1054_1054" id="Footnote_1054_1054"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1054_1054"><span class="label">[1054]</span></a> ‘Dès qu'il y a double attention, il y a comparaison; car +être attentif à deux idées ou les comparer, c'est la même chose.’ p. +17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1055_1055" id="Footnote_1055_1055"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1055_1055"><span class="label">[1055]</span></a> ‘Dès qu'il y a comparaison, il y a jugement.’ p. 65.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1056_1056" id="Footnote_1056_1056"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1056_1056"><span class="label">[1056]</span></a> ‘La mémoire n'est donc que la sensation transformée.’ p. +17. Compare p. 61.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1057_1057" id="Footnote_1057_1057"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1057_1057"><span class="label">[1057]</span></a> ‘L'imagination est la mémoire même, parvenue à toute la +vivacité dont elle est susceptible.’ p. 78. ‘Or j'ai appelé imagination +cette mémoire vive qui fait paroître présent ce qui est absent.’ p. 245.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1058_1058" id="Footnote_1058_1058"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1058_1058"><span class="label">[1058]</span></a> ‘Il résulte de cette vérité, que la nature commence tout +en nous: aussi ai-je démontré que, dans le principe ou dans le +commencement, nos connoissances sont uniquement son ouvrage, que nous ne +nous instruisons que d'après ses leçons, et que tout l'art de raisonner +consisté à continuer comme elle nous a fait commencer.’ p. 178.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1059_1059" id="Footnote_1059_1059"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1059_1059"><span class="label">[1059]</span></a> Compare <i>Powell on Radiant Heat</i>, p. 261, in <i>Second Rep. +of Brit. Assoc.</i>; <i>Whewell's History of Sciences</i>, vol. ii. p. 526; and +his <i>Philosophy</i>, vol. i. pp. 339, 340. Prevost was professor at Geneva; +but his great views were followed up in France by Dulong and Petit; and +the celebrated theory of dew by Dr. Wells is merely an application of +them. <i>Herschel's Nat. Philosophy</i>, pp. 163, 315, 316. Respecting the +further prosecution of these inquiries, and our present knowledge of +radiant heat, see <i>Liebig and Kopp's Reports</i>, vol. i. p. 79, vol. iii. +p. 30, vol. iv. p. 45.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1060_1060" id="Footnote_1060_1060"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1060_1060"><span class="label">[1060]</span></a> On Fourier's mathematical theory of conduction, see +<i>Comte</i>, <i>Philos. Positive</i>, vol. i. pp. 142, 175, 345, 346, 351, vol. +ii. pp. 453, 551; <i>Prout's Bridgewater Treatise</i>, pp. 203, 204; <i>Kelland +on Heat</i>, p. 6, in <i>Brit. Assoc. for</i> 1841; <i>Erman's Siberia</i>, vol. i. +p. 243; <i>Humboldt's Cosmos</i>, vol. i. p. 169; <i>Hitchcock's Geology</i>, p. +198; <i>Pouillet</i>, <i>Elémens de Physique</i>, ii. 696, 697.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1061_1061" id="Footnote_1061_1061"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1061_1061"><span class="label">[1061]</span></a> Coulomb's memoirs on electricity and magnetism were +published from 1782 to 1789. <i>Fifth Report of Brit. Assoc.</i> p. 4. +Compare <i>Liebig and Kopp's Reports</i>, vol. iii. p. 128; and on his +relation to Œpinus, who wrote in 1759, see <i>Whewell's Induc. +Sciences</i>, vol. iii. pp. 24–26, 35, 36, and <i>Haüy</i>, <i>Traité de +Minéralogie</i>, vol. iii. p. 44, vol. iv. p. 14. There is a still fuller +account of what was effected by Coulomb in M. Pouillet's able work, +<i>Elémens de Physique</i>, vol. i. part ii. pp. 63–79, 130–135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1062_1062" id="Footnote_1062_1062"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1062_1062"><span class="label">[1062]</span></a> Fresnel belongs to the present century; but M. Biot says +that the researches of Malus began before the passage of the Rhine in +1797. <i>Biot's Life of Malus</i>, in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxvi. p. 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1063_1063" id="Footnote_1063_1063"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1063_1063"><span class="label">[1063]</span></a> <i>Pouillet</i>, <i>Elémens de Physique</i>, vol. ii. part ii. pp. +484, 514; <i>Report of Brit. Assoc. for 1832</i>, p. 314; <i>Leslie's Nat. +Philos.</i> p. 83; <i>Whewell's Hist. of Sciences</i>, vol. ii. pp. 408–410; +<i>Philos. of Sciences</i>, vol. i. p. 350, vol. ii. p. 25; <i>Herschel's Nat. +Philos.</i> p. 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1064_1064" id="Footnote_1064_1064"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1064_1064"><span class="label">[1064]</span></a> The struggle between these rival theories, and the ease +with which a man of such immense powers as Young was put down, and, as +it were, suppressed, by those ignorant pretenders who presumed to +criticize him, will be related in another part of this work, as a +valuable illustration of the history and habits of the English mind. At +present the controversy is finished, so far as the advocates of emission +are concerned; but there are still difficulties on the other side, which +should have prevented Dr. Whewell from expressing himself with such +extreme positiveness on an unexhausted subject. This able writer says: +‘The undulatory theory of light; the only discovery which can stand by +the side of the theory of universal gravitation, as a doctrine belonging +to the same order, for its generality, its fertility, and its +certainty.’ <i>Whewell's Hist. of the Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. ii. p. 425; +see also p. 508.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1065_1065" id="Footnote_1065_1065"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1065_1065"><span class="label">[1065]</span></a> As to the supposed impossibility of conceiving the +existence of matter without properties which give rise to forces (note +in <i>Paget's Lectures on Pathology</i>, 1853, vol. i. p. 61), there are two +reasons which prevent me from attaching much weight to it. First, a +conception which, in one stage of knowledge, is called impossible, +becomes, in a later stage, perfectly easy, and so natural as to be often +termed necessary. Secondly, however indissoluble the connexion may +appear between force and matter, it was not found fatal to the dynamical +theory of Leibnitz; it has not prevented other eminent thinkers from +holding similar views; and the arguments of Berkeley, though constantly +attacked, have never been refuted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1066_1066" id="Footnote_1066_1066"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1066_1066"><span class="label">[1066]</span></a> Every chemical decomposition being only a new form of +composition. <i>Robin et Verdeil</i>, <i>Chimie Anatomique</i>, vol. i. pp. 455, +456, 498: ‘de tout cela il résulte, que la dissolution est un cas +particulier des combinaisons.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1067_1067" id="Footnote_1067_1067"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1067_1067"><span class="label">[1067]</span></a> What is erroneously called the atomic theory, is, +properly speaking, an hypothesis, and not a theory: but hypothesis +though it be, it is by its aid that we wield the doctrine of definite +proportions, the corner stone of chemistry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1068_1068" id="Footnote_1068_1068"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1068_1068"><span class="label">[1068]</span></a> Many of them being still fettered, in geology, by the +hypothesis of catastrophes; in chemistry, by the hypothesis of vital +forces.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1069_1069" id="Footnote_1069_1069"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1069_1069"><span class="label">[1069]</span></a> See, for instance, <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Progrès des Sciences</i>, vol. +i. pp. 32–34, 40; <i>Liebig's Letters on Chemistry</i>, p. 282; <i>Turner's +Chemistry</i>, vol. i. pp. 184, 185; <i>Brande's Chemistry</i>, vol. i. pp. +lxxxv.–lxxxix. 302; <i>Thomson's Animal Chemistry</i>, pp. 520, 634, and a +great part of the second volume of his <i>History of Chemistry</i>; also +<i>Müller's Physiol.</i> vol. i. pp. 90, 323.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1070_1070" id="Footnote_1070_1070"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1070_1070"><span class="label">[1070]</span></a> According to Mr. Harcourt (<i>Brit. Assoc. Report for +1839</i>, p. 10), Cavendish has this merit, so far as England is concerned: +‘He, first of all his contemporaries, did justice to the rival theory +recently proposed by Lavoisier.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1071_1071" id="Footnote_1071_1071"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1071_1071"><span class="label">[1071]</span></a> La chimie française. <i>Thomson's Hist. of Chemistry</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 101, 130. On the excitement caused by Lavoisier's views, +see a letter which Jefferson wrote in Paris, in 1789, printed partly in +<i>Tucker's Life of Jefferson</i>, vol. i. pp. 314, 315; and at length in +<i>Jefferson's Correspond.</i> vol. ii. pp. 453–455.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1072_1072" id="Footnote_1072_1072"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1072_1072"><span class="label">[1072]</span></a> ‘The first attempt to form a systematic chemical +nomenclature was made by Lavoisier, Berthollet, G. de Morveau, and +Fourcroy, soon after the discovery of oxygen gas.’ <i>Turner's Chemistry</i>, +vol. i. p. 127. Cuvier (<i>Progrès des Sciences</i>, vol. i. p. 39) and Robin +et Verdeil (<i>Chimie Anatomique</i>, vol. i. pp. 602, 603) ascribe the chief +merit to De Morveau. Thomson says (<i>Hist. of Chemistry</i>, vol. ii. p. +133): ‘This new nomenclature very soon made its way into every part of +Europe, and became the common language of chemists, in spite of the +prejudices entertained against it, and the opposition which it every +where met with.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1073_1073" id="Footnote_1073_1073"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1073_1073"><span class="label">[1073]</span></a> The famous central heat of Buffon is often supposed to +have been taken from Leibnitz; but, though vaguely taught by the +ancients, the real founder of the doctrine appears to have been +Descartes. See <i>Bordas Demoulin</i>, <i>Cartésianisme</i>, Paris, 1843, vol. i. +p. 312. There is an unsatisfactory note on this in <i>Prichard's Physical +Hist.</i> vol. i. p. 100. Compare <i>Experimental Hist. of Cold</i>, tit. 17, in +<i>Boyle's Works</i>, vol. ii. p. 308; <i>Brewster's Life of Newton</i>, vol. ii. +p. 100. On the central heat of the Pythagoreans, see <i>Tennemann</i>, +<i>Gesch. der Philos.</i> vol. i. p. 149; and as to the central fire +mentioned in the so-called Oracles of Zoroaster, see <i>Beausobre</i>, <i>Hist. +de Manichée</i>, vol. ii. p. 152. But the complete ignorance of the +ancients respecting geology made these views nothing but guesses. +Compare some sensible remarks in <i>Matter's Hist. de l'Ecole +d'Alexandrie</i>, vol. ii. p. 282.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1074_1074" id="Footnote_1074_1074"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1074_1074"><span class="label">[1074]</span></a> This comprehensiveness of Cuvier is justly remarked by M. +Flourens as the leading characteristic of his mind. <i>Flourens</i>, <i>Hist. +des Travaux de Cuvier</i>, pp. 76, 142, 306: ‘ce qui caractérise partout M. +Cuvier, c'est l'esprit vaste.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1075_1075" id="Footnote_1075_1075"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1075_1075"><span class="label">[1075]</span></a> Hence he is called by Mr. Owen, ‘the founder of +palæontological science.’ <i>Owen on Fossil Mammalia</i>, in <i>Report of Brit. +Assoc. for 1843</i>, p. 208. It was in 1796 that there were thus ‘opened to +him entirely new views of the theory of the earth.’ p. 209. See also +<i>Bakewell's Geology</i>, p. 368; and <i>Milne Edwards</i>, <i>Zoologie</i>, part ii. +p. 279. The importance of this step is becoming more evident every year; +and it has been justly remarked, that without palæontology there would +be, properly speaking, no geology. <i>Balfour's Botany</i>, 1849, p. 591. Sir +R. Murchison (<i>Siluria</i>, 1854, p. 366) says, ‘it is essentially the +study of organic remains which has led to the clear subdivision of the +vast mass of older rocks, which were there formerly merged under the +unmeaning term “Grauwacke.”’ In the same able work, p. 465, we are told +that, ‘in surveying the whole series of formations, the practical +geologist is fully impressed with the conviction that there has, at all +periods, subsisted a very intimate connexion between the existence, or, +at all events, the preservation of animals, and the media in which they +have been fossilized.’ For an instance of this in the old red sandstone, +see p. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1076_1076" id="Footnote_1076_1076"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1076_1076"><span class="label">[1076]</span></a> <i>Whewell's Hist. of Sciences</i>, vol. iii. p. 679; <i>Lyell's +Geol.</i> p. 59. Indeed gneiss received its name from the Germans. +<i>Bakewell's Geol.</i> p. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1077_1077" id="Footnote_1077_1077"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1077_1077"><span class="label">[1077]</span></a> Compare <i>Conybeare's Report on Geology</i>, p. 371 (<i>Brit. +Assoc. for</i> 1832), with <i>Bakewell's Geol.</i> pp. 367, 368, 419, and +<i>Lyell's Geol.</i> p. 59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1078_1078" id="Footnote_1078_1078"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1078_1078"><span class="label">[1078]</span></a> In the older half of the secondary rocks, mammals are +hardly to be found, and they do not become common until the tertiary. +<i>Murchison's Siluria</i>, pp. 466, 467; and <i>Strickland on Ornithology</i>, p. +210 (<i>Brit. Assoc. for</i> 1844). So, too, in the vegetable kingdom, many +of the plants in the tertiary strata belong to genera still existing; +but this is rarely the case with the secondary strata; while in the +primary strata, even the families are different to those now found on +the earth. <i>Balfour's Botany</i>, pp. 592, 593. Compare Wilson's additions +to <i>Jussieu's Botany</i>, 1849, p. 746; and for further illustration of +this remarkable law of the relation between advancing time and +diminished similarity, a law suggesting the most curious speculations, +see <i>Hitchcock's Geology</i>, p. 21; <i>Lyell's Geology</i>, p. 183; and <i>Owen's +Lectures on the Invertebrata</i>, 1855, pp. 38, 576.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1079_1079" id="Footnote_1079_1079"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1079_1079"><span class="label">[1079]</span></a> Mr. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire (<i>Anomalies de +l'Organisation</i>, vol. i. pp. 121–127) has collected some evidence +respecting the opinions formerly held on these subjects. Among other +instances, he mentions a learned man named Henrion, an academician, and, +I suppose, a theologian, who in 1718 published a work, in which ‘il +assignait à Adam cent vingt-trois pieds neuf pouces;’ Noah being twenty +feet shorter, and so on. The bones of elephants were sometimes taken for +giants: see a pleasant circumstance in <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Hist. des Sciences</i>, +part ii. p. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1080_1080" id="Footnote_1080_1080"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1080_1080"><span class="label">[1080]</span></a> ‘Daubenton a le premier détruit toutes ces idées; il a le +premier appliqué l'anatomie comparée à la détermination de ces os…. Le +mémoire où Daubenton a tenté, pour la première fois, la solution de ce +problème important est de 1762.’ <i>Flourens</i>, <i>Travaux de Cuvier</i>, pp. +36, 37. Agassiz (<i>Report on Fossil Fishes</i>, p. 82, <i>Brit. Assoc. for</i> +1842) claims this merit too exclusively for Cuvier, overlooking the +earlier researches of Daubenton; and the same mistake is made in +<i>Hitchcock's Geol.</i> p. 249, and in <i>Bakewell's Geol.</i> p. 384.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1081_1081" id="Footnote_1081_1081"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1081_1081"><span class="label">[1081]</span></a> Even Cuvier held the doctrine of catastrophes; but, as +Sir Charles Lyell says (<i>Principles of Geology</i>, p. 60), his own +discoveries supplied the means of overthrowing it, and of familiarizing +us with the idea of continuity. Indeed it was one of the fossil +observations of Cuvier which first supplied the link between reptiles, +fishes, and cetaceous mammals. See <i>Owen on Fossil Reptiles</i>, pp. 60, +198, <i>Brit. Assoc. for</i> 1841; and compare <i>Carus's Comparative Anatomy</i>, +vol. i. p. 155. To this I may add, that Cuvier unconsciously prepared +the way for disturbing the old dogma of fixity of species, though he +himself clung to it to the last. See some observations, which are very +remarkable, considering the period when they were written, in <i>Cabanis</i>, +<i>Rapports du Physique et du Moral</i>, pp. 427, 428: conclusions drawn from +Cuvier, which Cuvier would have himself rejected.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1082_1082" id="Footnote_1082_1082"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1082_1082"><span class="label">[1082]</span></a> Neither Montesquieu nor Turgot appear to have believed in +the possibility of generalizing the past, so as to predict the future; +while as to Voltaire, the weakest point in his otherwise profound view +of history was his love of the old saying, that great events spring from +little causes; a singular error for so comprehensive a mind, because it +depended on confusing causes with conditions. That a man like Voltaire +should have committed what now seems so gross a blunder, is a mortifying +reflection for those who are able to appreciate his vast and penetrating +genius, and it may teach the best of us a wholesome lesson. This fallacy +was avoided by Montesquieu and Turgot; and the former writer, in +particular, displayed such extraordinary ability, that there can be +little doubt, that had he lived at a later period, and thus had the +means of employing in their full extent the resources of political +economy and physical science, he would have had the honour not only of +laying the basis, but also of rearing the structure of the philosophy of +the history of Man. As it was, he failed in conceiving what is the final +object of every scientific inquiry, namely, the power of foretelling the +future: and after his death, in 1755, all the finest intellects in +France, Voltaire alone excepted, concentrated their attention upon the +study of natural phenomena.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1083_1083" id="Footnote_1083_1083"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1083_1083"><span class="label">[1083]</span></a> The line of demarcation between anatomy as statical, and +physiology as dynamical, is clearly drawn by M. Comte (<i>Philos. +Positive</i>, vol. iii. p. 303) and by MM. Robin et Verdeil (<i>Chimie +Anatomique</i>, vol. i. pp. 11, 12, 40, 102, 188, 434). What is said by +Carus (<i>Comparative Anatomy</i>, vol. ii. p. 356) and by Sir Benjamin +Brodie (<i>Lectures on Pathology and Surgery</i>, p. 6) comes nearly to the +same thing, though expressed with less precision. On the other hand, M. +Milne Edwards (<i>Zoologie</i>, part i. p. 9) calls physiology ‘la science de +la vie;’ which, if true, would simply prove that there is no physiology +at all, for there certainly is at present no science of life.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1084_1084" id="Footnote_1084_1084"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1084_1084"><span class="label">[1084]</span></a> In his <i>Règne Animal</i>, vol. i. pp. vi. vii., he says that +preceding naturalists ‘n'avaient guère considéré que les rapports +extérieurs de ces espèces, et personne ne s'était occupé de coördonner +les classes et les ordres d'après l'ensemble de la structure…. Je dus +donc, et cette obligation me prit un temps considérable, je dus faire +marcher de front l'anatomie et la zoologie, les dissections et le +classement…. Les premiers résultats de ce double travail parurent en +1795, dans un mémoire spécial sur une nouvelle division des animaux à +sang blanc.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1085_1085" id="Footnote_1085_1085"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1085_1085"><span class="label">[1085]</span></a> On the opposition between the methods of Linnæus and of +Cuvier, see <i>Jenyns' Report on Zoology</i>, pp. 144, 145, in <i>Brit. Assoc. +for</i> 1834.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1086_1086" id="Footnote_1086_1086"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1086_1086"><span class="label">[1086]</span></a> The foundations of this celebrated arrangement was laid +by Cuvier, in a paper read in 1795. <i>Whewell's History of the Induc. +Sciences</i>, vol. iii. p. 494. It appears, however (<i>Flourens</i>, <i>Travaux +de Cuvier</i>, pp. 69, 70), that it was in, or just after, 1791, that the +dissection of some mollusca suggested to him the idea of reforming the +classification of the whole animal kingdom. Compare <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Règne +Animal</i>, vol. i. pp. 51, 52 note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1087_1087" id="Footnote_1087_1087"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1087_1087"><span class="label">[1087]</span></a> The only formidable opposition made to Cuvier's +arrangement has proceeded from the advocates of the doctrine of circular +progression: a remarkable theory, of which Lamarck and Macleay are the +real originators, and which is certainly supported by a considerable +amount of evidence. Still, among the great majority of competent +zoologists, the fourfold division holds its ground, although the +constantly-increasing accuracy of microscopical observations has +detected a nervous system much lower in the scale than was formerly +suspected, and has thereby induced some anatomists to divide the radiata +into acrita and nematoneura. <i>Owen's Invertebrata</i>, 1855, pp. 14, 15; +and <i>Rymer Jones's Animal Kingdom</i>, 1855, p. 4. As, however, it seems +probable that all animals have a distinct nervous system, this +subdivision is only provisional; and it is very likely that when our +microscopes are more improved, we shall have to return to Cuvier's +arrangement. Some of Cuvier's successors have removed the apodous +echinoderms from the radiata; but in this Mr. Rymer Jones (<i>Animal +Kingdom</i>, p. 211) vindicates the Cuverian classification.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1088_1088" id="Footnote_1088_1088"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1088_1088"><span class="label">[1088]</span></a> We may except Aristotle; but between Aristotle and Bichat +I can find no middle man.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1089_1089" id="Footnote_1089_1089"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1089_1089"><span class="label">[1089]</span></a> But not exclusively. Mr. Blainville (<i>Physiol. comparée</i>, +vol. ii. p. 304) says, ‘celui qui, comme Bichat, bornait ses études à +l'anatomie humaine;’ and at p. 350, ‘quand on ne considère que ce qui se +passe chez l'homme, ainsi que l'a fait Bichat.’ This, however, is much +too positively stated. Bichat mentions ‘les expériences nombreuses que +j'ai faites sur les animaux vivans.’ <i>Bichat</i>, <i>Anatomie Générale</i>, vol. +i. p. 332; and for other instances of his experiments on animals below +man, see the same work, vol. i. pp. 164, 284, 311, 312, 326, vol. ii. +pp. 13, 25, 69, 73, 107, 133, 135, 225, 264, 423, vol. iii. pp. 151, +218, 242, 262, 363, 364, 400, 478, 501, vol. iv. pp. 27, 28, 34, 46, +229, 247, 471: see also <i>Bichat</i>, <i>Recherches sur la Vie</i>, pp. 262, 265, +277, 312, 336, 356, 358, 360, 368, 384, 400, 411, 439, 455, 476, 482, +494, 512: and his <i>Traité des Membranes</i>, pp. 48, 64, 67, 130, 158, 196, +201, 224. These are all experiments on inferior animals, which aided +this great physiologist in establishing those vast generalizations, +which, though applied to man, were by no means collected merely from +human anatomy. The impossibility of understanding physiology without +studying comparative anatomy, is well pointed out in Mr. Rymer Jones's +work, <i>Organization of the Animal Kingdom</i>, 1855, pp. 601, 791.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1090_1090" id="Footnote_1090_1090"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1090_1090"><span class="label">[1090]</span></a> Mr. Swainson (<i>Geography and Classification of Animals</i>, +p. 170) complains, strangely enough, that Cuvier ‘rejects the more plain +and obvious characters which every one can see, and which had been so +happily employed by Linnæus, and makes the differences between these +groups to depend upon circumstances which no one but an anatomist can +understand.’ See also p. 173: ‘characters which, however good, are not +always comprehensible, except to the anatomist.’ (Compare <i>Hodgson on +the Ornithology of Nepal</i>, in <i>Asiatic Researches</i>, vol. xix. p. 179, +Calcutta, 1836.) In other words, this is a complaint that Cuvier +attempted to raise zoology to a science, and, therefore, of course, +deprived it of some of its popular attractions, in order to invest it +with other attractions of a far higher character. The errors introduced +into the natural sciences by relying upon observation instead of +experiment, have been noticed by many writers; and by none more +judiciously than M. Saint Hilaire in his <i>Anomalies de l'Organisation</i>, +vol. i. p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1091_1091" id="Footnote_1091_1091"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1091_1091"><span class="label">[1091]</span></a> It is very doubtful if Bichat was acquainted with the +works of Smyth, Bonn, or Fallopius, and I do not remember that he any +where even mentions their names. He had, however, certainly studied +Bordeu; but I suspect that the author by whom he was most influenced was +Pinel, whose pathological generalizations were put forward just about +the time when Bichat began to write. Compare <i>Bichat</i>, <i>Traité des +Membranes</i>, pp. 3, 4, 107, 191; <i>Béclard</i>, <i>Anat. Gén.</i> pp. 65, 66; +<i>Bouillaud</i>, <i>Philos. Médicale</i>, p. 26; <i>Blainville</i>, <i>Physiol. +comparée</i>, vol. i. p. 284, vol. ii. pp. 19, 252; <i>Henle</i>, <i>Anat. Gén.</i> +vol. i. pp. 119, 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1092_1092" id="Footnote_1092_1092"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1092_1092"><span class="label">[1092]</span></a> <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. iv. pp. 468, 469.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1093_1093" id="Footnote_1093_1093"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1093_1093"><span class="label">[1093]</span></a> For a list of the tissues, see <i>Bichat</i>, <i>Anat. Gén.</i> +vol. i. p. 49. At p. 50 he says, ‘en effet, quel que soit le point de +vue sous lequel on considère ces tissus, ils ne se ressemblent +nullement: c'est la nature, et non la science, qui a tiré une ligne de +démarcation entre eux.’ There is, however, now reason to think, that +both animal and vegetable tissues are, in all their varieties, +referrible to a cellular origin. This great view, which M. Schwann +principally worked out, will, if fully established, be the largest +generalization we possess respecting the organic world, and it would be +difficult to overrate its value. Still there is danger lest, in +prematurely reaching at so vast a law, we should neglect the +subordinate, but strongly-marked differences between the tissues as they +actually exist. Burdach (<i>Traité de Physiologie</i>, vol. vi. pp. 195, 196) +has made some good remarks on the confusion introduced into the study of +tissues, by neglecting those salient characteristics which were +indicated by Bichat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1094_1094" id="Footnote_1094_1094"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1094_1094"><span class="label">[1094]</span></a> Pinel says, ‘dans on seul hiver il ouvrit plus de six +cents cadavres.’ <i>Notice sur Bichat</i>, p. xiii., in vol. i of <i>Anat. +Gén.</i> By such enormous labour, and by working day and night in a +necessarily polluted atmosphere, he laid the foundation for that +diseased habit which caused a slight accident to prove fatal, and +carried him off at the age of thirty-one. ‘L'esprit a peine à concevoir +que la vie d'un seul homme puisse suffire à tant de travaux, à tant de +découvertes, faites ou indiquées: Bichat est mort avant d'avoir accompli +sa trente-deuxième année!’ <i>Pinel</i>, p. xvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1095_1095" id="Footnote_1095_1095"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1095_1095"><span class="label">[1095]</span></a> To this sort of comparative anatomy (if it may be so +called), which before his time scarcely existed, Bichat attached great +importance, and clearly saw that it would eventually become of the +utmost value for pathology. <i>Anat. Gén.</i> vol. i. pp. 331, 332, vol. ii. +pp. 234–241, vol. iv. p. 417, &c. Unfortunately these investigations +were not properly followed up by his immediate successors; and Müller, +writing long after his death, was obliged to refer chiefly to Bichat for +‘the true principles of general pathology.’ <i>Müller's Physiology</i>, 1840, +vol. i. p. 808. M. Vogel too, in his <i>Pathological Anatomy</i>, 1847, pp. +398, 413, notices the error committed by the earlier pathologists, in +looking at changes in the organs, and neglecting those in the tissues; +and the same remark is made in <i>Robin et Verdeil</i>, <i>Chimie Anatomique</i>, +1853, vol. i. p. 45; and in <i>Henle</i>, <i>Traité d'Anatomie</i>, vol. i. p. +vii., Paris, 1843. That ‘structural anatomy,’ and ‘structural +development,’ are to be made the foundations of pathology, is, moreover, +observed in <i>Simon's Pathology</i>, 1850, p. 115 (compare <i>Williams's +Principles of Medicine</i>, 1848, p. 67), who ascribes the chief merit of +this ‘rational pathology’ to Henle and Schwann: omitting to mention that +they only executed Bichat's scheme and (be it said +with every respect for these eminent men) executed it with a +comprehensiveness much inferior to that displayed by their great +predecessor. In <i>Broussais</i>, <i>Examen des Doctrines Médicales</i>, vol. iv. +pp. 106, 107, there are some just and liberal observations on the +immense service which Bichat rendered to pathology. See also <i>Béclard</i>, +<i>Anatomie</i>, Paris, 1852, p. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1096_1096" id="Footnote_1096_1096"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1096_1096"><span class="label">[1096]</span></a> <i>Bichat</i>, <i>Anat. Gén.</i> vol. i. pp. 51, 160, 161, 259, +372, vol. ii. pp. 47, 448, 449, vol. iii. pp. 33, 168, 208, 309, 406, +435, vol. iv. pp. 21, 52, 455–461, 517.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1097_1097" id="Footnote_1097_1097"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1097_1097"><span class="label">[1097]</span></a> According to M. Comte (<i>Philos. Pos.</i> vol. iii. p. 319), +no one had thought of this before Bichat. MM. Robin et Verdeil, in their +recent great work, fully admit the necessity of employing this singular +resource. <i>Chimie Anatomique</i>, 1853, vol. i. pp. 18, 125, 182, 357, +531.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1098_1098" id="Footnote_1098_1098"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1098_1098"><span class="label">[1098]</span></a> ‘Dès-lors il créa une science nouvelle, l'anatomie +générale.’ <i>Pinel sur Bichat</i>, p. xii. ‘A Bichat appartient +véritablement la gloire d'avoir conçu et surtout exécuté, le premier, le +plan d'une anatomie nouvelle.’ <i>Bouillaud</i>, <i>Philos. Médicale</i>, p. 27. +‘Bichat fut le créateur de l'histologie en assignant des caractères +précis à chaque classe de tissus.’ <i>Burdach</i>, <i>Physiologie</i>, vol. vii. +p. 111. ‘Le créateur de l'anatomie générale fut Bichat.’ <i>Henle</i>, +<i>Anatomie</i>, vol. i. p. 120. Similar remarks will be found in +<i>Saint-Hilaire</i>, <i>Anomalies de l'Organisation</i>, vol. i. p. 10; and in +<i>Robin et Verdeil</i>, <i>Chimie Anat.</i> vol. i. p. xviii., vol. iii. p. 405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1099_1099" id="Footnote_1099_1099"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1099_1099"><span class="label">[1099]</span></a> In <i>Béclard</i>, <i>Anat. Gén. 1852</i>, p. 61, it is said that +‘la recherche de ces tissus élémentaires, ou éléments organiques, est +devenue la préoccupation presque exclusive des anatomistes de nos +jours.’ Compare <i>Blainville</i>, <i>Physiol. Gén. et Comp.</i> vol. i. p. 93: +‘Aujourd'hui nous allons plus avant, nous pénétrons dans la structure +intime, non seulement de ces organes, mais encore des tissus qui +concourent à leur composition; nous faisons en un mot de la véritable +anatomie, de l'anatomie proprement dite.’ And at p. 105: ‘c'est un genre +de recherches qui a été cultivé avec beaucoup d'activité, et qui a reçu +une grande extension depuis la publication du bel ouvrage de Bichat.’ +See also vol. ii. p. 303.</p> + +<p>In consequence of this movement, there has sprung up, under the name of +<i>Degenerations of Tissues</i>, an entirely new branch of morbid anatomy, of +which, I believe, no instance will be found before the time of Bichat, +but the value of which is now recognized by most pathologists. Compare +<i>Paget's Surgical Pathology</i>, vol. i. pp. 98–112; <i>Williams's Principles +of Medicine</i>, pp. 369–376; <i>Burdach's Physiologie</i>, vol. viii. p. 367; +<i>Reports of Brit. Assoc.</i> vol. vi. p. 147; <i>Jones's and Sieveking's +Pathological Anatomy</i>, 1854, pp. 154–156, 302–304, 555–558. ‘They are,’ +say these last writers, ‘of extremely frequent occurrence; but their +nature has scarcely been recognized until of late.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1100_1100" id="Footnote_1100_1100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1100_1100"><span class="label">[1100]</span></a> Cuvier completely neglected the study of tissues; and in +the very few instances in which he mentions them, his language is +extremely vague. Thus, in his <i>Règne Animal</i>, vol. i. p. 12, he says of +living bodies, ‘leur tissu est donc composé de réseaux et de mailles, ou +de fibres et de lames solides, qui renferment des liquides dans leurs +intervalles.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1101_1101" id="Footnote_1101_1101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1101_1101"><span class="label">[1101]</span></a> A well-known ornithologist makes the same complaint +respecting the classification of birds. <i>Strickland on Ornithology</i>, +<i>Brit. Assoc. for</i> 1844, pp. 209, 210. Even in regard to living species, +Cuvier (<i>Règne Animal</i>, vol. ii. p. 126) says: ‘La classe des poissons +est de toutes celle qui offre le plus de difficultés quand on veut la +subdiviser en ordres d'après des caractères fixes et sensibles.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1102_1102" id="Footnote_1102_1102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1102_1102"><span class="label">[1102]</span></a> The discoveries of M. Agassiz are embodied in his great +work, <i>Recherches sur les Poissons fossiles</i>: but the reader who may not +have an opportunity of consulting that costly publication, will find two +essays by this eminent naturalist, which will give an idea of his +treatment of the subject, in <i>Reports of Brit. Assoc. for 1842</i>, pp. +80–88, and for 1844, pp. 279–310. How essential this study is to the +geologist, appears from the remark of Sir R. Murchison (<i>Siluria</i>, 1854, +p. 417), that ‘fossil fishes have everywhere proved the most exact +chronometers of the age of rocks.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1103_1103" id="Footnote_1103_1103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1103_1103"><span class="label">[1103]</span></a> That they were composed of fibres, was the prevailing +doctrine, until the discovery of their tubes, in 1835, by Purkinjé. +Before Purkinjé, only one observer, Leeuwenhœk, had announced their +tubular structure; but no one believed what he said, and Purkinjé was +unacquainted with his researches. Compare <i>Nasmyth's Researches on the +Teeth</i>, 1839, p. 159; <i>Owen's Odontography</i>, 1840–1845, vol. i. pp. ix. +x.; <i>Henle</i>, <i>Anat. Gén.</i> vol. ii. p. 457; <i>Reports of Brit. Assoc.</i> +vol. vii. pp. 135, 136 (<i>Transac. of Sections</i>).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1104_1104" id="Footnote_1104_1104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1104_1104"><span class="label">[1104]</span></a> Mr. Nasmyth, in his valuable, but, I regret to add, +posthumous work, notices, as the result of these discoveries, ‘the close +affinity subsisting between the dental and other organized tissues of +the animal frame.’ <i>Researches on the Development, &c. of the Teeth</i>, +1849, p. 198. This is, properly speaking, a continuation of Mr. +Nasmyth's former book, which bore the same title, and was published in +1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1105_1105" id="Footnote_1105_1105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1105_1105"><span class="label">[1105]</span></a> This name, which Mr. Owen appears to have first +suggested, has been objected to, though, as it seems to me, on +insufficient grounds. Compare <i>Owen's Odontography</i>, vol. i. p. iii., +with <i>Nasmyth's Researches</i>, 1849, pp. 3, 4. It is adopted in +<i>Carpenter's Human Physiol.</i> 1846, p. 154; and in <i>Jones and Sieveking's +Patholog. Anat.</i> 1854, pp. 483, 486.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1106_1106" id="Footnote_1106_1106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1106_1106"><span class="label">[1106]</span></a> See the correspondence in <i>Brit. Assoc. for</i> 1841, Sec., +pp. 2–23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1107_1107" id="Footnote_1107_1107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1107_1107"><span class="label">[1107]</span></a> In the notice of it in <i>Whewell's Hist. of Sciences</i>, +vol. iii. p. 678, nothing is said about Mr. Nasmyth; while in that in +<i>Wilson's Human Anatomy</i>, p. 65, edit. 1851, nothing is said about Mr. +Owen. A specimen of the justice with which men treat their +contemporaries. Dr. Grant (<i>Supplement to Hooper's Medical Dict.</i> 1848, +p. 1390) says, ‘the researches of Mr. Owen tend to confirm those of Mr. +Nasmyth.’ Nasmyth, in his last work (<i>Researches on the Teeth</i>, 1849, p. +81), only refers to Owen to point out an error; while Owen +(<i>Odontography</i>, vol. i. pp. xlvi.–lvi.) treats Nasmyth as an impudent +plagiarist.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1108_1108" id="Footnote_1108_1108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1108_1108"><span class="label">[1108]</span></a> Dr. Whewell (<i>Hist. of Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. iii. p. +678) says, that ‘he has carried into every part of the animal kingdom an +examination, founded upon this discovery, and has published the results +of this in his <i>Odontography</i>.’ If this able, but rather hasty writer, +had read the <i>Odontography</i>, he would have found that Mr. Owen, so far +from carrying the examination ‘into every part of the animal kingdom,’ +distinctly confines himself to ‘one of the primary divisions of the +animal kingdom’ (I quote his own words from <i>Odontography</i>, vol. i. p. +lxvii.), and appears to think, that below the vertebrata, the inquiry +would furnish little or no aid for the purposes of classification.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1109_1109" id="Footnote_1109_1109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1109_1109"><span class="label">[1109]</span></a> But in comparing the merits of discoverers themselves, we +must praise him who proves rather than him who suggests. See some +sensible remarks in <i>Owen's Odontography</i>, vol. i. p. xlix.; which, +however, do not affect my observations on the superiority of method.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1110_1110" id="Footnote_1110_1110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1110_1110"><span class="label">[1110]</span></a> By a new method of inquiring into a subject, I mean an +application to it of generalizations from some other subject, so as to +widen the field of thought. To call this a new method, is rather vague; +but there is no other word to express the process. Properly speaking, +there are only two methods, the inductive and the deductive; which, +though essentially different, are so mixed together, as to make it +impossible wholly to separate them. The discussion of the real nature of +this difference I reserve for my comparison, in the next volume, of the +German and American civilizations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1111_1111" id="Footnote_1111_1111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1111_1111"><span class="label">[1111]</span></a> In literature and in theology, Chateaubriand and De +Maistre were certainly the most eloquent, and were probably the most +influential leaders of this reaction. Neither of them liked induction, +but preferred reasoning deductively from premises which they assumed, +and which they called first principles. De Maistre, however, was a +powerful dialectician, and on that account his works are read by many +who care nothing for the gorgeous declamation of Chateaubriand. In +metaphysics, a precisely similar movement occurred; and Laromiguière, +Royer Collard, and Maine de Biran, founded that celebrated school which +culminated in M. Cousin, and which is equally characterized by an +ignorance of the philosophy of induction, and by a want of sympathy with +physical science.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1112_1112" id="Footnote_1112_1112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1112_1112"><span class="label">[1112]</span></a> <i>Bichat</i>, <i>Recherches sur la Vie et la Mort</i>, pp. 5–9, +226; and his <i>Anat. Gén.</i> vol. i. p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1113_1113" id="Footnote_1113_1113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1113_1113"><span class="label">[1113]</span></a> ‘C'est de là, sans doute, que naît cette autre différence +entre les organes des deux vies, savoir, que la nature se livre bien +plus rarement à des écarts de conformation dans la vie animale que dans +la vie organique…. C'est une remarque qui n'a pu échapper à celui dont +les dissections ont été un peu multipliées, que les fréquentes +variations de formes, de grandeur, de position, de direction des organes +internes, comme la rate, le foie, l'estomac, les reins, les organes +salivaires, etc…. Jetons maintenant les yeux sur les organes de la vie +animale, sur les sens, les nerfs, le cerveau, les muscles volontaires, +le larynx; tout y est exact, précis, rigoureusement déterminé dans la +forme, la grandeur et la position. On n'y voit presque jamais de +variétés, de conformation; s'il en existe, les fonctions sont troublées, +anéanties; tandis qu'elles restent les mêmes dans la vie organique, au +milieu des altérations diverses des parties.’ <i>Bichat sur la Vie</i>, pp. +23–25. Part of this view is corroborated by the evidence collected +by Saint Hilaire (<i>Anomalies de l'Organisation</i>, vol. i. pp. 248 seq.) +of the extraordinary aberrations to which the vegetative organs are +liable; and he mentions (vol. ii. p. 8) the case of a man, in whose body, +on dissection, ‘on reconnut que tous les viscères étaient transposés.’ +Comparative anatomy supplies another illustration. The bodies of +mollusca are less symmetrical than those of articulata; and in the +former, the ‘vegetal series of organs,’ says Mr. Owen, are more +developed than the animal series; while in the articulata, ‘the advance +is most conspicuous in the organs peculiar to animal life.’ <i>Owen's +Invertebrata</i>, p. 470. Compare <i>Burdach's Physiologie</i>, vol. i. pp. 153, +189; and a confirmation of the ‘unsymmetrical’ organs of the gasterpoda, +in <i>Grant's Comparative Anatomy</i>, p. 461. This curious antagonism is +still further seen in the circumstance, that idiots, whose functions of +nutrition and of excretion are often very active, are at the same time +remarkable for a want of symmetry in the organs of sensation. +<i>Esquirol</i>, <i>Maladies Mentales</i>, vol. ii. pp. 331, 332.</p> + +<p>A result, though perhaps an unconscious one, of the application and +extension of these ideas, is, that within the last few years there has +arisen a pathological theory of what are called ‘symmetrical diseases,’ +the leading facts of which have been long known, but are now only +beginning to be generalized. See <i>Paget's Pathology</i>, vol. i. pp. 18–22, +vol. ii. pp. 244, 245; <i>Simon's Pathology</i>, pp. 210, 211; <i>Carpenter's +Human Physiol.</i> pp. 607, 608.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1114_1114" id="Footnote_1114_1114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1114_1114"><span class="label">[1114]</span></a> <i>Bichat sur la Vie</i>, pp. 15–21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1115_1115" id="Footnote_1115_1115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1115_1115"><span class="label">[1115]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> pp. 21–50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1116_1116" id="Footnote_1116_1116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1116_1116"><span class="label">[1116]</span></a> On intermittence as a quality of animal life, see +<i>Holland's Medical Notes</i>, pp. 313, 314, where Bichat is mentioned as +its great expounder. As to the essential continuity of organic life, see +<i>Burdach's Physiologie</i>, vol. vii. p. 420. M. Comte has made some +interesting remarks on Bichat's law of intermittence. <i>Philos. +Positive</i>, vol. iii. pp. 300, 395, 744, 745, 750, 751.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1117_1117" id="Footnote_1117_1117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1117_1117"><span class="label">[1117]</span></a> On the development arising from practice, see <i>Bichat sur +la Vie</i>, pp. 207–225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1118_1118" id="Footnote_1118_1118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1118_1118"><span class="label">[1118]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> pp. 189–203, 225–230. M. Broussais also (in his +able work, <i>Cours de Phrénologie</i>, p. 487) says, that comparison only +begins after birth; but surely this must be very doubtful. Few +physiologists will deny that embryological phenomena, though neglected +by metaphysicians, play a great part in shaping the future character; +and I do not see how any system of psychology can be complete which +ignores considerations, probable in themselves, and not refuted by +special evidence. So carelessly, however, has this subject been +investigated, that we have the most conflicting statements respecting +even the <i>vagitus uterinus</i>, which, if it exists to the extent alleged +by some physiologists, would be a decisive proof that animal life (in +the sense of Bichat) does begin during the fœtal period. Compare +<i>Burdach</i>, <i>Physiol.</i> vol. iv. pp. 113, 114, with <i>Wagner's Physiol.</i> p. +182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1119_1119" id="Footnote_1119_1119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1119_1119"><span class="label">[1119]</span></a> ‘Les organes internes qui entrent alors en exercice, ou +qui accroissent beaucoup leur action, n'ont besoin d'aucune éducation; +ils atteignent tout à coup une perfection à laquelle ceux de la vie +animale ne parviennent que par habitude d'agir souvent.’ <i>Bichat sur la +Vie</i>, p. 231.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1120_1120" id="Footnote_1120_1120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1120_1120"><span class="label">[1120]</span></a> Dioscorides and Galen knew from 450 to 600 plants +(<i>Winckler</i>, <i>Geschichte der Botanik</i>, 1854, pp. 34, 40); but, according +to Cuvier (<i>Eloges</i>, vol. iii. p. 468), Linnæus, in 1778, ‘en indiquait +environ huit mille espèces;’ and Meyen (<i>Geog. of Plants</i>, p. 4) says, at +the time of Linnæus's death, ‘about 8,000 species were known.’ (Dr. +Whewell, in his <i>Bridgewater Treatise</i>, p. 247, says, ‘about 10,000.’) +Since then the progress has been uninterrupted; and in <i>Henslow's +Botany</i>, 1837, p. 136, we are told that ‘the number of species already +known and classified in works of botany amounts to about 60,000.’ Ten +years later, Dr. Lindley (<i>Vegetable Kingdom</i>, 1847, p. 800) states them +at 92,930; and two years afterwards, Mr. Balfour says ‘about 100,000.’ +<i>Balfour's Botany</i>, 1849, p. 560. Such is the rate at which our +knowledge of nature is advancing. To complete this historical note, I +ought to have mentioned, that in 1812, Dr. Thomson says ‘nearly 30,000 +species of plants have been examined and described.’ <i>Thomson's Hist. of +the Royal Society</i>, p. 21.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1121_1121" id="Footnote_1121_1121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1121_1121"><span class="label">[1121]</span></a> It was published in 1790. <i>Winckler</i>, <i>Gesch. der +Botanik</i>, p. 389. But the historians of botany have overlooked a short +passage in Göthe's works, which proves that he had glimpses of the +discovery in or before 1786. See <i>Italiänische Reise</i>, in <i>Göthe's +Werke</i>, vol. ii. part ii. p. 286, Stuttgart, 1837, where he writes from +Padua, in September 1786, ‘Hier in dieser neu mir entgegen tretenden +Mannigfaltigkeit wird jener Gedanke immer lebendiger: dass man sich alle +Pflanzengestalten vielleicht aus Einer entwickeln könne.’ There are some +interesting remarks on this brilliant generalization in <i>Owen's +Parthenogenesis</i>, 1849, pp. 53 seq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1122_1122" id="Footnote_1122_1122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1122_1122"><span class="label">[1122]</span></a> That is, into the study of animal monstrosities, which, +however capricious they may appear, are now understood to be the +necessary result of preceding events. Within the last thirty years +several of the laws of these unnatural births, as they used to be +called, have been discovered; and it has been proved that, so far from +being unnatural, they are strictly natural. A fresh science has thus +been created, under the name of Teratology, which is destroying the old +<i>lusus naturæ</i> in one of its last and favourite strongholds.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1123_1123" id="Footnote_1123_1123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1123_1123"><span class="label">[1123]</span></a> Dr. Lindley (<i>Third Report of Brit. Assoc.</i> p. 33) says, +that Desfontaines was the first who demonstrated the opposite modes of +increase in dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous stems. See also +<i>Richard</i>, <i>Eléments de Botanique</i>, p. 131; and <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Eloges</i>, vol. +i. p. 64. In regard to the steps taken by Adanson and De Monceau, see +<i>Winckler</i>, <i>Gesch. der Botanik</i>, pp. 204, 205; <i>Thomson's Chemistry of +Vegetables</i>, p. 951; <i>Lindley's Introduc. to Botany</i>, vol. ii. p. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1124_1124" id="Footnote_1124_1124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1124_1124"><span class="label">[1124]</span></a> It is curious to observe how even good botanists clung to +the Linnæan system long after the superiority of a natural system was +proved. This is the more noticeable, because Linnæus, who was a man of +undoubted genius, and who possessed extraordinary powers of combination, +always allowed that his own system was merely provisional, and that the +great object to be attained was a classification according to natural +families. See <i>Winckler</i>, <i>Geschichte der Botanik</i>, p. 202; and +<i>Richard</i>, <i>Eléments de Botanique</i>, p. 570. Indeed, what could be +thought of the permanent value of a scheme which put together the reed +and the barberry, because they were both hexandria; and forced sorrel to +associate with saffron, because both were trigynia? <i>Jussieu's Botany</i>, +1849, p. 524.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1125_1125" id="Footnote_1125_1125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1125_1125"><span class="label">[1125]</span></a> <i>The Genera Plantarum</i> of Antoine Jussieu was printed at +Paris in 1789; and, though it is known to have been the result of many +years of continued labour, some writers have asserted that the ideas in +it were borrowed from his uncle, Bernard Jussieu. But assertions of this +kind rarely deserve attention; and as Bernard did not choose to publish +anything of his own, his reputation ought to suffer for his +uncommunicativeness. Compare <i>Winckler</i>, <i>Gesch. der Botanik</i>, pp. +261–272, with <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxii. pp. 162–166. I will only add the +following remarks from a work of authority, <i>Richard</i>, <i>Eléments de +Botanique</i>, Paris, 1846, p. 572: ‘Mais ce ne fut qu'en 1789 que l'on eut +véritablement un ouvrage complet sur la méthode des familles naturelles. +Le <i>Genera Plantarum</i> d'A. L. de Jussieu présenta la science des +végétaux sous un point de vue si nouveau, par la précision et l'élégance +qui y règnent, par la profondeur et la justesse des principes généraux +qui y sont exposés pour la première fois, que c'est depuis cette époque +seulement que la méthode des familles naturelles a été véritablement +créée, et que date la nouvelle ère de la science des +végétaux…. L'auteur du <i>Genera Plantarum</i> posa le premier les bases de +la science, en faisant voir quelle était l'importance relative des +différents organes entre eux, et par conséquent leur valeur dans la +classification…. Il a fait, selon la remarque de Cuvier, la même +révolution dans les sciences d'observation que la chimie de Lavoisier +dans les sciences d'expérience. En effet, il a non seulement changé la +face de la botanique; mais son influence s'est également exercée sur les +autres branches de l'histoire naturelle, et y a introduit cet esprit de +recherches, de comparaison, et cette méthode philosophique et naturelle, +vers le perfectionnement de laquelle tendent désormais les efforts de +tous les naturalistes.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1126_1126" id="Footnote_1126_1126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1126_1126"><span class="label">[1126]</span></a> Hence the removal of a great source +of error; since it is now understood that in dicotyledons alone can age +be known with certainty. <i>Henslow's Botany</i>, p. 243: compare <i>Richard</i>, +<i>Eléments de Botanique</i>, p. 159, aphorisme xxiv. On the stems of +endogenous plants, which, being mostly tropical, have been less studied +than the exogenous, see <i>Lindley's Botany</i>, vol. i. pp. 221–236; where +there is also an account, pp. 229 seq., of the views which Schleiden +advanced on this subject in 1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1127_1127" id="Footnote_1127_1127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1127_1127"><span class="label">[1127]</span></a> On the arrangement of the leaves, now called phyllotaxis, +see <i>Balfour's Botany</i>, p. 92; <i>Burdach's Physiologie</i>, vol. v. p. 518.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1128_1128" id="Footnote_1128_1128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1128_1128"><span class="label">[1128]</span></a> The classification by cotyledons has been so successful, +that, ‘with very few exceptions, however, nearly all plants may be +referred by any botanist, at a single glance, and with unerring +certainty, to their proper class; and a mere fragment even of the stem, +leaf, or some other part, is often quite sufficient to enable him to +decide this question.’ <i>Henslow's Botany</i>, p. 30. In regard to some +difficulties still remaining in the way of the threefold cotyledonous +division of the whole vegetable world, see <i>Lindley's Botany</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 61 seq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1129_1129" id="Footnote_1129_1129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1129_1129"><span class="label">[1129]</span></a> Mr. Swainson (<i>Study of Natural History</i>, p. 356) says +‘mineralogy, indeed, which forms but a part of chemistry.’ This is +deciding the question very rapidly; but in the meantime, what becomes of +the geometrical laws of minerals? and what are we to do with that +relation between their structure and optical phenomena, which Sir David +Brewster has worked out with signal ability?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1130_1130" id="Footnote_1130_1130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1130_1130"><span class="label">[1130]</span></a> The difficulties introduced into the study of minerals by +the discovery of isomorphism and polymorphism, are no doubt +considerable; but M. Beudant (<i>Minéralogie</i>, Paris, 1841, p. 37) seems +to me to exaggerate their effect upon ‘l'importance des formes +crystallines.’ They are much more damaging to the purely chemical +arrangement, because our implements for measuring the minute angles of +crystals are still very imperfect, and the goniometer may fail in +detecting differences which really exist; and, therefore, many alleged +cases of isomorphism are probably not so in reality. Wollaston's +reflecting goniometer has been long considered the best instrument +possessed by crystallographers; but I learn from <i>Liebig and Kopp's +Reports</i>, vol. i. pp. 19, 20, that Frankenheim has recently invented one +for measuring the angles of ‘microscopic crystals.’ On the amount of +error in the measurement of angles, see <i>Phillips's Mineralogy</i>, 1837, +p. viii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1131_1131" id="Footnote_1131_1131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1131_1131"><span class="label">[1131]</span></a> He says, ‘depuis plus de vingt ans que je m'occupe de cet +objet.’ <i>Romé de Lisle</i>, <i>Cristallographie, ou Description des Formes +propres à tous les Corps du Règne Minéral</i>, Paris, 1783, vol. i. p. 91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1132_1132" id="Footnote_1132_1132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1132_1132"><span class="label">[1132]</span></a> See his <i>Essai de Cristallographie</i>, Paris, 1772, p. x.: +‘un de ceux qui m'a le plus frappé ce sont les formes régulières et +constantes que prennent naturellement certains corps que nous désignons +par le nom de cristaux.’ In the same work, p. 13: ‘il faut +nécessairement supposer que les molécules intégrantes des corps ont +chacune, suivant qui lui est propre, une figure constante et +déterminée.’ In his later treatise (<i>Cristallographie</i>, 1783, vol. i. p. +70), after giving some instances of the extraordinary complications +presented by minerals, he adds: ‘Il n'est donc pas étonnant que +d'habiles chimistes n'aient rien vu de constant ni de déterminé dans les +formes cristallines, tandis qu'il n'en est aucune qu'on ne puisse, avec +un peu d'attention rapporter à la figure élémentaire et primordiale dont +elle dérive.’ Even Buffon, notwithstanding his fine perception of law, +had just declared, ‘qu'en général la forme de cristallisation n'est pas +un caractère constant, mais plus équivoque et plus variable qu'aucun +autre des caractères par lesquels on doit distinguer les minéraux.’ <i>De +Lisle</i>, vol. i. p. xviii. Compare, on this great achievement of De +Lisle's, <i>Herschel's Nat. Philos.</i> p. 239: ‘he first ascertained the +important fact of the constancy of the angles at which their faces +meet.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1133_1133" id="Footnote_1133_1133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1133_1133"><span class="label">[1133]</span></a> The first work of Haüy appeared in 1784 (<i>Quérard</i>, +<i>France Littéraire</i>, vol. iv. p. 41); but he had read two special +memoirs in 1781. <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Eloges</i>, vol. iii. p. 138. The intellectual +relation between his views and those of his predecessor must be obvious +to every mineralogist; but Dr. Whewell, who has noticed this judiciously +enough, adds (<i>Hist. of the Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. iii. pp. 229, 230): +‘Unfortunately Romé de Lisle and Haüy were not only rivals, but in some +measure enemies…. Haüy revenged himself by rarely mentioning Romé in +his works, though it was manifest that his obligations to him were +immense; and by recording his errors while he corrected them.’ The +truth, however, is, that so far from rarely mentioning De Lisle, he +mentions him incessantly; and I have counted upwards of three hundred +instances in Haüy's great work, in which he is named, and his writings +are referred to. On one occasion he says of De Lisle, ‘En un mot, sa +cristallographie est le fruit d'un travail immense par son étendue, +presque entièrement neuf par son objet, et très-précieux par son +utilité.’ <i>Haüy</i>, <i>Traité de Minéralogie</i>, Paris, 1801, vol. i. p. 17. +Elsewhere he calls him, ‘cet habile naturaliste; ce savant célèbre,’ +vol. ii. p. 323; ‘ce célèbre naturaliste,’ vol. iii. p. 442; see also +vol. iv. pp. 51, &c. In a work of so much merit as Dr. Whewell's, it is +important that these errors should be indicated, because we have no +other book of value on the general history of the sciences; and many +authors have deceived themselves and their readers, by implicitly +adopting the statements of this able and industrious writer. I would +particularly caution the student in regard to the physiological part of +Dr. Whewell's History, where, for instance, the antagonism between the +methods of Cuvier and Bichat is entirely lost sight of, and while whole +pages are devoted to Cuvier, Bichat is disposed of in four lines.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1134_1134" id="Footnote_1134_1134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1134_1134"><span class="label">[1134]</span></a> ‘Haüy est donc le seul véritable auteur de la science +mathématique des cristaux.’ <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Progrès des Sciences</i>, vol. i. p. +8; see also p. 317. Dr. Clarke, whose celebrated lectures on mineralogy +excited much attention among his hearers, was indebted for some of his +principal views to his conversations with Haüy: see <i>Otter's Life of +Clarke</i>, vol. ii. p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1135_1135" id="Footnote_1135_1135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1135_1135"><span class="label">[1135]</span></a> See an admirable statement of the three forms of +decrement, in <i>Haüy</i>, <i>Traité de Minéralogie</i>, vol. i. pp. 285, 286. +Compare <i>Whewell's Hist. of the Induc. Sciences</i>, vol. iii. pp. 224, +225; who, however, does not mention Haüy's classification of +‘décroissemens sur les bords,’ ‘décroissemens sur les angles,’ and +‘décroissemens intermédiaires.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1136_1136" id="Footnote_1136_1136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1136_1136"><span class="label">[1136]</span></a> And, as he clearly saw, the proper method was to study +the laws of symmetry, and then apply them deductively to minerals, +instead of rising inductively from the aberrations actually presented by +minerals. This is interesting to observe, because it is analogous to the +method of the best pathologists, who seek the philosophy of their +subject in physiological phenomena, rather than in pathological ones; +striking downwards from the normal to the abnormal. ‘<i>La symétrie des +formes</i> sous lesquelles se présentent les solides que nous avons +considérés jusqu'ici, <i>nous a fourni des données</i> pour exprimer les lois +de décroissemens dont ces solides sont susceptibles.’ <i>Haüy</i>, <i>Traité de +Minéralogie</i>, vol. i. p. 442; compare vol. ii. p. 192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1137_1137" id="Footnote_1137_1137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1137_1137"><span class="label">[1137]</span></a> ‘Un coup d'œil peu attentif, jeté sur les cristaux, +les fit appeler d'abord de <i>purs jeux de la nature</i>, ce qui n'étoit +qu'une manière plus élégante de faire l'aveu de son ignorance. Un examen +réfléchi nous y découvre des lois d'arrangement, à l'aide desquelles le +calcul représente et enchaîne l'un à l'autre les résultats observés; +lois si variables et en même temps si précises et si régulières; +ordinairement très-simples, sans rien perdre de leur fécondité.’ <i>Haüy</i>, +<i>Minéralogie</i>, vol. i. pp. xiii. xiv. Again, vol. ii. p. 57, ‘notre but, +qui est de prouver que les lois d'où dépend la structure du cristal sont +les plus simples possibles dans leur ensemble.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1138_1138" id="Footnote_1138_1138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1138_1138"><span class="label">[1138]</span></a> On the remarkable power possessed by crystals, in common +with animals, of repairing their own injuries, see <i>Paget's Pathology</i>, +1853, vol. i. pp. 152, 153, confirming the experiments of Jordan on this +curious subject: ‘The ability to repair the damages sustained by injury +… is not an exclusive property of living beings; for even crystals +will repair themselves when, after pieces have been broken from them, +they are placed in the same conditions in which they were first +formed.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1139_1139" id="Footnote_1139_1139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1139_1139"><span class="label">[1139]</span></a> ‘M. Pinel a imprimé une marche nouvelle à l'étude de la +folie…. En la rangeant simplement, et sans différences aucunes, au +nombre des autres dérangemens de nos organes, en lui assignant une place +dans le cadre nosographique, il fit faire un pas immense à son +histoire.’ <i>Georget</i>, <i>de la Folie</i>, Paris, 1820, p. 69. In the same work, +p. 295, ‘M. Pinel, le premier en France, on pourrait dire en Europe, +jeta les fondemens d'un traitement vraiment rationnel en rangeant la +folie au nombre des autres affections organiques.’ M. Esquirol, who +expresses the modern and purely scientific view, says in his great work +(<i>Des Maladies Mentaes</i>, Paris, 1838, vol. i. p. 336), ‘L'aliénation +mentale, que les anciens peuples regardaient comme une inspiration ou +une punition des dieux, qui dans la suite fut prise pour la possession +des démons, qui dans d'autres temps passa pour une œuvre de la magie; +l'aliénation mentale, dis-je, avec toutes ses espèces et ses variétés +innombrables, ne diffère en rien des autres maladies.’ The recognition +of this he expressly ascribes to his predecessor: ‘grâce aux principes +exposés par Pinel.’ p. 340. Pinel himself clearly saw the connexion +between his own opinions and the spirit of the age: see <i>Pinel</i>, <i>Traité +Médico-Philosophique sur l'Aliénation Mentale</i>, p. xxxii.: ‘Un ouvrage +de médecine, publié en France à la fin du dix-huitième siècle, doit +avoir un autre caractère que s'il avoit été écrit à une époque +antérieure.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1140_1140" id="Footnote_1140_1140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1140_1140"><span class="label">[1140]</span></a> Comp. <i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. i. p. 23, with the +Introduction to <i>Des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, vol. i. p. 34. A good +illustration of this is, that the Prince de Montbarey, in his Memoirs, +gently censures Louis XV., not for his scandalous profligacy, but +because he selected for his mistresses some women who were not of high +birth. <i>Mém. de Montbarey</i>, vol. i. p. 341, and see vol. iii. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1141_1141" id="Footnote_1141_1141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1141_1141"><span class="label">[1141]</span></a> And that too even on such a subject as anatomy. In 1768, +Antoine Petit began his anatomical lectures in the great amphitheatre of +the Jardin du Roi; and the press to hear him was so great, that not only +all the seats were occupied, but the very window-ledges were crowded. +See the animated description in <i>Biog. Univ.</i> vol. xxxiii. p. 494.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1142_1142" id="Footnote_1142_1142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1142_1142"><span class="label">[1142]</span></a> Dr. Thomson (<i>History of Chemistry</i>, vol. ii. p. 169) +says of Fourcroy's lectures on chemistry, which began in 1784: ‘Such +were the crowds, both of men and women, who flocked to hear him, that it +was twice necessary to enlarge the size of the lecture-room.’ This +circumstance is also mentioned in <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Eloges</i>, vol. ii. p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1143_1143" id="Footnote_1143_1143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1143_1143"><span class="label">[1143]</span></a> In 1779, it was remarked that ‘les séances publiques de +l'Académie Française sont devenues une espèce de spectacle fort à la +mode:’ and as this continued to increase, the throng became at length so +great, that in 1785 it was found necessary to diminish the number of +tickets of admission, and it was even proposed that ladies should be +excluded, in consequence of some uproarious scenes which had happened. +<i>Grimm et Diderot</i>, <i>Correspond. Lit.</i> vol. x. p. 341, vol. xiv. pp. 148, +149, 185, 251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1144_1144" id="Footnote_1144_1144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1144_1144"><span class="label">[1144]</span></a> Goldsmith, who was in Paris in 1755, says with surprise, +‘I have seen as bright a circle of beauty at the chemical lectures of +Rouelle, as gracing the court of Versailles.’ <i>Prior's Life of +Goldsmith</i>, vol. i. p. 180; <i>Forster's Life of Goldsmith</i>, vol. i. p. 65. +In the middle of the century, electricity was very popular among the +Parisian ladies; and the interest felt in it was revived several years +later by Franklin. Compare <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspondance</i>, vol. vii. p. 122, +with <i>Tucker's Life of Jefferson</i>, vol. i. pp. 190, 191. Cuvier +(<i>Eloges</i>, vol. i. p. 56) tells us that even the anatomical descriptions +which Daubenton wrote for Buffon were to be found ‘sur la toilette des +femmes.’ This change of taste is also noticed, though in a jeering +spirit, in <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. vi. p. 32. Compare the account given +by Townsend, who visited France in 1786, on his way to Spain: ‘A +numerous society of gentlemen and ladies of the first fashion meet to +hear lectures on the sciences, delivered by men of the highest rank in +their profession…. I was much struck with the fluency and elegance of +language with which the anatomical professor spoke, and not a little so +with the deep attention of his auditors.’ <i>Townsend's Journey through +Spain</i>, vol. i. p. 41: see also <i>Smith's Tour on the Continent in 1786</i>, +vol. i. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1145_1145" id="Footnote_1145_1145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1145_1145"><span class="label">[1145]</span></a> In a letter written in 1756, it is said, ‘Mais c'est +peine perdue aujourd'hui que de plaisanter les érudits; il n'y en a plus +en France.’ <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. ii. p. 15. In 1764, ‘Il est +honteux et incroyable à quel point l'étude des anciens est négligée.’ +vol. iv. p. 97. In 1768, ‘Une autre raison qui rendra les traductions +des auteurs anciens de plus en plus rares en France, c'est que depuis +long temps on n'y sait plus le Grec, et qu'on néglige l'étude du Latin +tous les jours davantage.’ vol. vi. p. 140. Sherlock (<i>New Letters from +an English Traveller</i>, London, 1781, p. 86) says, ‘It is very rare to +meet a man in France that understands Greek.’ In 1785, Jefferson writes +from Paris to Madison, ‘Greek and Roman authors are dearer here than, I +believe, any where in the world; nobody here reads them, wherefore they +are not reprinted.’ <i>Jefferson's Correspond.</i> vol. i. p. 301. See +further, on this neglect of the ancients, a significant precursor of the +Revolution, <i>Mém. de Montbarey</i>, vol. iii. p. 181; <i>Villemain</i>, +<i>Littérature au XVIII<sup>e</sup> Siècle</i>, vol. iii. pp. 243–248; <i>Schlosser's +Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. i. p. 344.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1146_1146" id="Footnote_1146_1146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1146_1146"><span class="label">[1146]</span></a> For further evidence of the popularity of physical +knowledge, and of its study, even by those who might have been expected +to neglect it, see <i>Mém. de Roland</i>, vol. i. pp. 115, 268, 324, 343; +<i>Mém. de Morellet</i>, vol. i. p. 16; <i>Dupont de Nemours</i>, <i>Mém. sur +Turgot</i>, pp. 45, 52, 53, 411; <i>Mém. de Brissot</i>, vol. i. pp. 62, 151, +319, 336, 338, 357; <i>Cuvier</i>, <i>Progrès des Sciences</i>, vol. i. p. 89.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1147_1147" id="Footnote_1147_1147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1147_1147"><span class="label">[1147]</span></a> A celebrated writer has well said, though in a somewhat +different point of view, ‘Il ne peut y avoir dans les sciences +morales, pas plus que dans les sciences physiques, ni +maîtres, ni esclaves, ni rois, ni sujets, ni citoyens, ni étrangers.’ +<i>Comte</i>, <i>Traité de Législation</i>, vol. i. p. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1148_1148" id="Footnote_1148_1148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1148_1148"><span class="label">[1148]</span></a> The remarks which Thomas made upon Descartes in 1765, in +an <i>éloge</i> crowned by the Academy, illustrate the opinions which, in the +latter half of the eighteenth century, were becoming rapidly diffused in +France. See the passage beginning ‘O préjugés! ô ridicule fierté des +places et du rang!’ &c. <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. i. p. 74. +Certainly no one would have used such language, on such an occasion, +thirty years earlier. So, too, the Count de Ségur says of the younger +nobles before the Revolution, ‘nous préférions un mot d'éloges de +D'Alembert, de Diderot, à la faveur la plus signalée d'un prince.’ <i>Mém. +de Ségur</i>, vol. i. p. 142: see also vol. ii. p. 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1149_1149" id="Footnote_1149_1149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1149_1149"><span class="label">[1149]</span></a> Among many other illustrations which might be given of +this distinction of classes by dress, see <i>Monteil</i>, <i>Hist. des divers +Etats</i>, vol. vii. pp. 7–10; and <i>Tallemant des Réaux</i>, <i>Historiettes</i>, +vol. i. p. 36 note.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1150_1150" id="Footnote_1150_1150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1150_1150"><span class="label">[1150]</span></a> In August 1787, Jefferson writes from Paris +(<i>Correspondence</i>, vol. ii. p. 224): ‘In society, the <i>habit habillé</i> is +almost banished, and they begin to go even to great suppers in frock: the +court and diplomatic corps, however, must always be excepted. They are +too high to be reached by any improvement. They are the last refuge from +which etiquette, formality, and folly will be driven. Take away these, +and they would be on a level with other people.’ Jefferson was a +statesman and a diplomatist, and was well acquainted with his profession. +The change, however, which he noticed, had been coming on some years +earlier. In a letter written in May 1786, it is said: ‘Il est rare +aujourd'hui de rencontrer dans le monde des personnes qui soient ce qu'on +appelle habillées. Lee femmes sont en chemise et en chapeau, les hommes +en froc et en gilet.’ <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Correspond.</i> vol. xiv. p. 485; and on the +increased simplicity of attire in 1780, see vol. xi. pp. 141, 142. Ségur, +who witnessed these changes, and was much displeased by them, says of +their advocates, ‘ils ne voyaient pas que les frocs, remplaçant les +amples et imposans vêtemens de l'ancienne cour, présagaient un penchant +général pour l'égalité.’ <i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. i. p. 131. Soulavie +(<i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. vi. p. 38) observes, that ‘les grands, vers +les approches de la révolution, n'avoient plus que des habits simples et +peu coûteux;’ and that ‘on ne distingua plus une duchesse d'une actrice,’ +p. 43: see also an extract from Montjoye, in <i>Alison's History</i>, vol. i. +pp. 352, 353. Compare <i>Mém. sur Marie-Antoinette</i>, vol. i. pp. 226, 372, +vol. ii. p. 174, and <i>Mém. de Madame au Hausset</i>, introduc. p. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1151_1151" id="Footnote_1151_1151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1151_1151"><span class="label">[1151]</span></a> ‘Les personnes du premier rang et même d'un âge mûr, qui +avaient travaillé toute leur vie pour obtenir les ordres du roi, preuve +de la plus haute faveur, s'habituèrent à en cacher les marques +distinctives sous le froc le plus simple, qui leur permettait de courir +à pied dans les rues et de se confondre dans la foule.’ <i>Mém. de +Montbarey</i>, vol. iii. pp. 161, 162. Another alteration of the same +tendency is worth recording. The Baroness d'Oberkirch, who revisited +Paris in 1784, remarked, on her arrival, that ‘gentlemen began about +this time to go about unarmed, and wore swords only in full dress…. +And thus the French nobility laid aside a usage which the example of +their fathers had consecrated through centuries.’ <i>D'Oberkirch's +Memoirs</i>, Lond. 1852, vol. ii. p. 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1152_1152" id="Footnote_1152_1152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1152_1152"><span class="label">[1152]</span></a> A striking instance of which was, moreover, seen in the +number of <i>mésalliances</i>, which first became frequent about the middle +of the reign of Louis XV. Compare <i>Mém. de Montbarey</i>, vol. iii. pp. +116, 156, 157; <i>Lacretelle</i>, <i>Dix-huitième Siècle</i>, vol. iii. p. 220.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1153_1153" id="Footnote_1153_1153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1153_1153"><span class="label">[1153]</span></a> ‘Nous commençâmes aussi à avoir des clubs: les hommes s'y +réunissaient, non encore pour discuter, mais pour dîner, jouer au wisk, +et lire tous les ouvrages nouveaux. Ce premier pas, alors presque +inaperçu, eut dans la suite de grandes, et momentanément de funestes +conséquences. Dans le commencement, son premier résultat fut de séparer +les hommes des femmes, et d'apporter ainsi un notable changement dans +nos mœurs: elles devinrent moins frivoles, mais moins polies; plus +fortes, mais moins aimables: la politique y gagna, la société y perdit.’ +<i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. ii. p. 28. By the spring of 1786, this separation +of the sexes had become still more marked; and it was a common +complaint, that ladies were obliged to go to the theatre alone, men +being at their clubs. See the very curious observations in <i>Grimm</i>, +<i>Correspond.</i> vol. xiv. pp. 486–489, where there is also a notice of ‘le +prodigieux succès qu'a eu l'établissement des clubs à l'anglaise.’ See +also, on the diminished attention paid to women, <i>Williams's Letters +from France</i>, vol. ii. p. 80; 3rd edit. 1796.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1154_1154" id="Footnote_1154_1154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1154_1154"><span class="label">[1154]</span></a> The remarks of Georgel appear to apply to the political +clubs only: ‘A Paris les assemblées de nouvellistes, les clubs qui +s'étoient formés à l'instar de ceux des Anglais, s'expliquaient +hautement et sans retenue sur les droits de l'homme, sur les avantages +de la liberté, sur les grands abus de l'inégalité des conditions. Ces +clubs, trop accrédités, avoient commencé à se former en 1784.’ <i>Mém. de +Georgel</i>, vol. ii. p. 310.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1155_1155" id="Footnote_1155_1155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1155_1155"><span class="label">[1155]</span></a> ‘Le lieutenant de police fit fermer le club nommé <i>Club +du Salon</i>; ordre arbitraire et inutile: ce club alors était composé de +personnes distinguées de la noblesse ou de la haute bourgeoisie, ainsi +que des artistes et des hommes de lettres les plus considérés. Cette +réunion offrait, pour la première fois, l'image d'une égalité qui +devient bientôt, plus que la liberté même, le vœu le plus ardent de +la plus grande partie de la nation. Aussi le mécontentement produit par +la clôture de ce club fut si vif, que l'autorité se crut obligée de la +rouvrir.’ <i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. iii. pp. 258, 259. On the increase of +these clubs from 1787 to 1789, compare <i>Du Mesnil</i>, <i>Mém. sur Le Brun</i>, +p. 148; <i>Mém. de Lafayette</i>, vol. i. pp. 312, 322, 391, 434, vol. ii. p. +9; <i>Barruel</i>, <i>Hist. du Jacob.</i> vol. i. p. 40, vol. ii. p. 310, vol. v. +pp. 101, 168; <i>Thiers</i>, <i>Hist. de la Révolution</i>, vol. i. p. 36, Paris, +1834.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1156_1156" id="Footnote_1156_1156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1156_1156"><span class="label">[1156]</span></a> <i>Mem. of Franklin</i>, vol. ii. pp. 14 seq.; and <i>Mem. of +Jefferson</i>, vol. i. pp. 17–22, where the passages are given which +Congress altered.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1157_1157" id="Footnote_1157_1157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1157_1157"><span class="label">[1157]</span></a> Ségur (<i>Mém.</i> vol. i. p. 111) says that his father had +been frequently told by Maurepas that public opinion forced the +government, against its own wishes, to side with America. Compare <i>Mém. +de Georgel</i>, vol. iv. p. 370; and <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Diplomatie Française</i>, +vol. vii. p. 166.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1158_1158" id="Footnote_1158_1158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1158_1158"><span class="label">[1158]</span></a> The news of which soon reached England. In January 1777, +Burke writes (<i>Works</i>, vol. ii. p. 394), ‘I hear that Dr. Franklin has +had a most extraordinary reception at Paris from all ranks of people.’ +Soulavie (<i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. ii. p. 50) says, ‘J'ai vu Francklin +devenir un objet de culte.’ See also, on his popularity, <i>Mém. +d'Epinay</i>, vol. iii. p. 419.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1159_1159" id="Footnote_1159_1159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1159_1159"><span class="label">[1159]</span></a> <i>Flassan</i>, <i>Diplomatie Française</i>, vol. vii. p. 159; +<i>Life of Franklin</i>, <i>by Himself</i>, vol. ii. pp. 60, 61; <i>Mahon's Hist. of +England</i>, vol. vii. pp. 197, 198.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1160_1160" id="Footnote_1160_1160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1160_1160"><span class="label">[1160]</span></a> The sneering letter written from Paris by Lord Stormont, +as early as December 1774 (<i>Adolphus's +George III.</i> vol. ii. p. 316), should be compared with <i>Lafayette</i>, +<i>Mémoires</i>, vol. i. pp. 24, 169, 229; <i>Dutens</i>, <i>Mém. d'un Voyageur</i>, +vol. ii. p. 317; <i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. i. p. 149; and <i>Schlosser's +Eighteenth Century</i>, vol. v. p. 175.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1161_1161" id="Footnote_1161_1161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1161_1161"><span class="label">[1161]</span></a> <i>De Staël sur la Révolution</i>, vol. i. p. 88; <i>Mém. de +Montbarey</i>, vol. iii. pp. 134, 186; <i>Mém. de Ségur</i>, vol. i. p. 277; +<i>Campan</i>, <i>Mém. de Marie Antoinette</i>, vol. i. p. 233, vol. iii. pp. 96, +116; <i>Soulavie</i>, <i>Règne de Louis XVI</i>, vol. ii. pp. xxiv. li. iii.; +<i>Dumont</i>, <i>Souvenirs sur Mirabeau</i>, p. 176; <i>Mém. de Du Hausset</i>, +introduc. p. 40; <i>Mém. de Genlis</i>, vol. vi. p. 57; <i>Jefferson's Mem. and +Correspond.</i> vol. i. p. 59; and Maitland's speech, in <i>Parl. Hist.</i> vol. +xxx. pp. 198, 199; also the remarks of the Duke of Bedford, vol. xxxi. +p. 663.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1162_1162" id="Footnote_1162_1162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1162_1162"><span class="label">[1162]</span></a> <i>Lamartine</i>, <i>Hist. des Girondins</i>, vol. i. p. 46. Dumont +(<i>Souvenirs</i>, p. 97) calls this ‘une idée américaine;’ and see to the +same effect, <i>Mém. de Lafayette</i>, vol. i. pp. 193, 268, 269, 416, vol. +ii. pp. 139, 140; <i>Jefferson's Correspond.</i> vol. i. p. 90; <i>Barruel</i>, +<i>Hist. du Jacobinisme</i>, vol. v. p. 311. The influence which the American +Revolution exercised over the mind of Lafayette is noticed by Bouillé, +his cousin and his enemy. <i>Mém. de Bouillé</i>, vol. i. p. 102, vol. ii. +pp. 131, 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1163_1163" id="Footnote_1163_1163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1163_1163"><span class="label">[1163]</span></a> ‘The Duke of Dorset, the English ambassador, writing to +Mr. Pitt from Paris, July 9th, 1789, said, “Mr. Jefferson, the American +minister at this court, has been a great deal consulted by the principal +leaders of the <i>tiers état</i>; and I have great reason to think that it +was owing to his advice that order called itself <i>L'Assemblée +Nationale</i>.”’ <i>Tomline's Life of Pitt</i>, vol. ii. p. 266.</p></div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot">OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE SPANISH INTELLECT FROM THE +FIFTH TO THE MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.</div> + +<p>In the preceding chapters, I have endeavoured to establish +four leading propositions, which, according to my view, +are to be deemed the basis of the history of civilization. +They are: 1st, That the progress of mankind depends +on the success with which the laws of phenomena are +investigated, and on the extent to which a knowledge +of those laws is diffused. 2nd, That before such investigation +can begin, a spirit of scepticism must arise, +which, at first aiding the investigation, is afterwards +aided by it. 3rd, That the discoveries thus made, increase +the influence of intellectual truths, and diminish, +relatively not absolutely, the influence of moral truths; +moral truths being more stationary than intellectual +truths, and receiving fewer additions. 4th, That the +great enemy of this movement, and therefore the great +enemy of civilization, is the protective spirit; by which +I mean the notion that society cannot prosper, unless +the affairs of life are watched over and protected at +nearly every turn by the state and the church; the +state teaching men what they are to do, and the church +teaching them what they are to believe. Such are the +propositions which I hold to be the most essential for +a right understanding of history, and which I have defended +in the only two ways any proposition can be +defended; namely, inductively and deductively. The +inductive defence comprises a collection of historical +and scientific facts, which suggest and authorize the +conclusions drawn from them; while the deductive defence +consists of a verification of those conclusions, by +showing how they explain the history of different<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span> +countries and their various fortunes. To the former, +or inductive method of defence, I am at present unable to +add anything new; but the deductive defence I hope to +strengthen considerably, and by the aid of the following +chapters, confirm not only the four cardinal propositions +just stated, but also several minor propositions, which, +though strictly speaking flowing from them, will require +separate verification. According to the plan +already sketched, the remaining part of the introduction +will contain an examination of the history of +Spain, of Scotland, of Germany, and of the United +States of America, with the object of elucidating principles +on which the history of England supplies inadequate +information. And as Spain is the country where +what I conceive to be the fundamental conditions of +national improvement have been most flagrantly violated, +so also shall we find that it is the country where +the penalty paid for the violation has been most heavy, +and where, therefore, it is most instructive to ascertain +how the prevalence of certain opinions causes the decay +of the people among whom they predominate.</p> + +<p>We have seen that the old tropical civilizations were +accompanied by remarkable features which I have termed +Aspects of Nature, and which, by inflaming the imagination, +encouraged superstition, and prevented men +from daring to analyze such threatening physical phenomena; +in other words, prevented the creation of the +physical sciences. Now, it is an interesting fact that, +in these respects, no European country is so analogous +to the tropics as Spain. No other part of Europe is so +clearly designated by nature as the seat and refuge of +superstition. Recurring to what has been already +proved,<a name="FNanchor_1164_1164" id="FNanchor_1164_1164"></a><a href="#Footnote_1164_1164" class="fnanchor">[1164]</a> it will be remembered that among the most +important physical causes of superstition are famines, +epidemics, earthquakes, and that general unhealthiness +of climate, which, by shortening the average duration +of life, increases the frequency and earnestness with +which supernatural aid is invoked. These peculiarities,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span> +taken together, are more prominent in Spain than anywhere +else in Europe; it will therefore be useful to +give such a summary of them as will exhibit the mischievous +effects they have produced in shaping the +national character.</p> + +<p>If we except the northern extremity of Spain, we +may say that the two principal characteristics of the +climate are heat and dryness, both of which are favoured +by the extreme difficulty which nature has interposed +in regard to irrigation. For, the rivers which intersect +the land, run mostly in beds too deep to be made available +for watering the soil, which consequently is, and +always has been, remarkably arid.<a name="FNanchor_1165_1165" id="FNanchor_1165_1165"></a><a href="#Footnote_1165_1165" class="fnanchor">[1165]</a> Owing to this, and +to the infrequency of rain, there is no European country +as richly endowed in other respects, where droughts +and therefore famines have been so frequent and +serious.<a name="FNanchor_1166_1166" id="FNanchor_1166_1166"></a><a href="#Footnote_1166_1166" class="fnanchor">[1166]</a> At the same time the vicissitudes of climate, +particularly in the central parts, make Spain habitually +unhealthy; and this general tendency being +strengthened in the middle ages by the constant occurrence +of famine, caused the ravages of pestilence to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span> +unusually fatal.<a name="FNanchor_1167_1167" id="FNanchor_1167_1167"></a><a href="#Footnote_1167_1167" class="fnanchor">[1167]</a> When we moreover add that in the +Peninsula, including Portugal, earthquakes have been +extremely disastrous,<a name="FNanchor_1168_1168" id="FNanchor_1168_1168"></a><a href="#Footnote_1168_1168" class="fnanchor">[1168]</a> and have excited all those superstitious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span> +feelings which they naturally provoke, we may +form some idea of the insecurity of life, and of the ease<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span> +with which an artful and ambitious priesthood could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span> +turn such insecurity into an engine for the advancement +of their own power.<a name="FNanchor_1169_1169" id="FNanchor_1169_1169"></a><a href="#Footnote_1169_1169" class="fnanchor">[1169]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span></p> + +<p>Another feature of this singular country is the prevalence +of a pastoral life, mainly caused by the difficulty +of establishing regular habits of agricultural industry. +In most parts of Spain, the climate renders it impossible +for the labourer to work the whole of the day;<a name="FNanchor_1170_1170" id="FNanchor_1170_1170"></a><a href="#Footnote_1170_1170" class="fnanchor">[1170]</a> +and this forced interruption encourages among the +people an irregularity and instability of purpose, which +makes them choose the wandering avocations of a shepherd, +rather than the more fixed pursuits of agriculture.<a name="FNanchor_1171_1171" id="FNanchor_1171_1171"></a><a href="#Footnote_1171_1171" class="fnanchor">[1171]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span> +And during the long and arduous war which they waged +against their Mohammedan invaders, they were subject +to such incessant surprises and forays on the part of +the enemy, as to make it advisable that their means of +subsistence should be easily removed; hence they preferred +the produce of their flocks to that of their lands, +and were shepherds instead of agriculturists, simply +because by that means they would suffer less in case of +an unfavourable issue. Even after the capture of Toledo, +late in the eleventh century, the inhabitants of the +frontier in Estramadura, La Mancha, and New Castile, +were almost entirely herdsmen, and their cattle were +pastured not in private meadows but in the open +fields.<a name="FNanchor_1172_1172" id="FNanchor_1172_1172"></a><a href="#Footnote_1172_1172" class="fnanchor">[1172]</a> All this increased the uncertainty of life, and +strengthened that love of adventure, and that spirit of +romance, which, at a later period, gave a tone to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span> +popular literature. Under such circumstances, everything +grew precarious, restless, and unsettled; thought +and inquiry were impossible; doubt was unknown; +and the way was prepared for those superstitious habits, +and for that deep-rooted and tenacious belief, which +have always formed a principal feature in the history +of the Spanish nation.</p> + +<p>To what extent these circumstances would, if they +stood by themselves, have affected the ultimate destiny +of Spain, is a question hardly possible to answer; but +there can be no doubt that their effects must always +have been important, though, from the paucity of evidence, +we are unable to measure them with precision. +In regard, however, to the actual result, this point is of +little moment, because a long chain of other and still +more influential events became interwoven with those +just mentioned, and, tending in precisely the same +direction, produced a combination which nothing could +resist, and from which we may trace with unerring +certainty the steps by which the nation subsequently +declined. The history of the causes of the degradation +of Spain will indeed become too clear to be mistaken, if +studied in reference to those general principles which +I have enunciated, and which will themselves be confirmed +by the light they throw on this instructive +though melancholy subject.</p> + +<p>After the subversion of the Roman Empire, the first +leading fact in the history of Spain is the settlement of +the Visigoths, and the establishment of their opinions in +the Peninsula. They, as well as the Suevi, who immediately +preceded them, were Arians, and Spain during +a hundred and fifty years became the rallying point of +that famous heresy,<a name="FNanchor_1173_1173" id="FNanchor_1173_1173"></a><a href="#Footnote_1173_1173" class="fnanchor">[1173]</a> to which indeed most of the Gothic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span> +tribes then adhered. But, at the end of the fifth century, +the Franks, on their conversion from Paganism, +adopted the opposite and orthodox creed, and were encouraged +by their clergy to make war upon their heretical +neighbours. Clovis, who was then king of the +Franks, was regarded by the church as the champion +of the faith, in whose behalf he attacked the unbelieving +Visigoths.<a name="FNanchor_1174_1174" id="FNanchor_1174_1174"></a><a href="#Footnote_1174_1174" class="fnanchor">[1174]</a> His successors, moved by the same +motives, pursued the same policy;<a name="FNanchor_1175_1175" id="FNanchor_1175_1175"></a><a href="#Footnote_1175_1175" class="fnanchor">[1175]</a> and, during nearly +a century, there was a war of opinions between France +and Spain, by which the Visigothic Empire was seriously +endangered, and was more than once on the verge of +dissolution. Hence, in Spain, a war for national independence +became also a war for national religion,<a name="FNanchor_1176_1176" id="FNanchor_1176_1176"></a><a href="#Footnote_1176_1176" class="fnanchor">[1176]</a> and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span> +an intimate alliance was formed between the Arian +kings and the Arian clergy. The latter class were, in +those ages of ignorance, sure to gain by such a compact,<a name="FNanchor_1177_1177" id="FNanchor_1177_1177"></a><a href="#Footnote_1177_1177" class="fnanchor">[1177]</a> +and they received considerable temporal advantages +in return for the prayers which they offered up +against the enemy, as also for the miracles which they +occasionally performed. Thus early a foundation was +laid for the immense influence which the Spanish priesthood +have possessed ever since, and which was strengthened +by subsequent events. For, late in the sixth +century, the Latin clergy converted their Visigothic +masters, and the Spanish government, becoming orthodox, +naturally conferred upon its teachers an authority +equal to that wielded by the Arian hierarchy.<a name="FNanchor_1178_1178" id="FNanchor_1178_1178"></a><a href="#Footnote_1178_1178" class="fnanchor">[1178]</a> Indeed, +the rulers of Spain, grateful to those who had shown +them the error of their ways, were willing rather to +increase the power of the church than to diminish it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span> +The clergy took advantage of this disposition; and the +result was, that before the middle of the seventh century +the spiritual classes possessed more influence in +Spain than in any other part of Europe.<a name="FNanchor_1179_1179" id="FNanchor_1179_1179"></a><a href="#Footnote_1179_1179" class="fnanchor">[1179]</a> The ecclesiastical +synods became not only councils of the church, +but also parliaments of the realm.<a name="FNanchor_1180_1180" id="FNanchor_1180_1180"></a><a href="#Footnote_1180_1180" class="fnanchor">[1180]</a> At Toledo, which +was then the capital of Spain, the power of the clergy +was immense, and was so ostentatiously displayed, that +in a council they held there in the year 633, we find the +king literally prostrating himself on the ground before +the bishops;<a name="FNanchor_1181_1181" id="FNanchor_1181_1181"></a><a href="#Footnote_1181_1181" class="fnanchor">[1181]</a> and half a century later, the ecclesiastical +historian mentions that this humiliating practice +was repeated by another king, having become, he says, +an established custom.<a name="FNanchor_1182_1182" id="FNanchor_1182_1182"></a><a href="#Footnote_1182_1182" class="fnanchor">[1182]</a> That this was not a mere +meaningless ceremony, is moreover evident from other +and analogous facts. Exactly the same tendency is seen +in their jurisprudence; since, by the Visigothic code, +any layman, whether plaintiff or defendant, might insist +on his cause being tried not by the temporal magistrate, +but by the bishop of the diocese. Nay, even if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span> +both parties to the suit were agreed in preferring the +civil tribunal, the bishop still retained the power of revoking +the decision, if in his opinion it was incorrect; +and it was his especial business to watch over the administration +of justice, and to instruct the magistrates +how to perform their duty.<a name="FNanchor_1183_1183" id="FNanchor_1183_1183"></a><a href="#Footnote_1183_1183" class="fnanchor">[1183]</a> Another, and more painful +proof of the ascendency of the clergy, is that the +laws against heretics were harsher in Spain than in any +other country; the Jews in particular being persecuted +with unrelenting rigour.<a name="FNanchor_1184_1184" id="FNanchor_1184_1184"></a><a href="#Footnote_1184_1184" class="fnanchor">[1184]</a> Indeed, the desire of upholding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span> +the faith was strong enough to produce a +formal declaration that no sovereign should be acknowledged, +unless he promised to preserve its purity; the +judges of the purity being of course the bishops themselves, +to whose suffrage the king owed his throne.<a name="FNanchor_1185_1185" id="FNanchor_1185_1185"></a><a href="#Footnote_1185_1185" class="fnanchor">[1185]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the circumstances which, in and before +the seventh century, secured to the Spanish Church an +influence unequalled in any other part of Europe.<a name="FNanchor_1186_1186" id="FNanchor_1186_1186"></a><a href="#Footnote_1186_1186" class="fnanchor">[1186]</a> +Early in the eighth century, an event occurred which +apparently broke up and dispersed the hierarchy, but +which in reality was extremely favourable to them. In +711 the Mohammedans sailed from Africa, landed in the +south of Spain, and in the space of three years conquered +the whole country, except the almost inaccessible +regions of the north-west. The Spaniards, secure +in their native mountains,<a name="FNanchor_1187_1187" id="FNanchor_1187_1187"></a><a href="#Footnote_1187_1187" class="fnanchor">[1187]</a> soon recovered heart, rallied +their forces, and began in their turn to assail the invaders. +A desperate struggle ensued, which lasted +nearly eight centuries, and in which, a second time in +the history of Spain, a war for independence was also a +war for religion; the contest between Arabian Infidels +and Spanish Christians, succeeding that formerly carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span> +on between the Trinitarians of France and the Arians +of Spain. Slowly, and with infinite difficulty, the Christians +fought their way. By the middle of the ninth +century, they reached the line of the Douro.<a name="FNanchor_1188_1188" id="FNanchor_1188_1188"></a><a href="#Footnote_1188_1188" class="fnanchor">[1188]</a> Before +the close of the eleventh century, they conquered as far +as the Tagus, and Toledo, their ancient capital, fell into +their hands in 1085.<a name="FNanchor_1189_1189" id="FNanchor_1189_1189"></a><a href="#Footnote_1189_1189" class="fnanchor">[1189]</a> Even then much remained to be +done. In the south, the struggle assumed its deadliest +form, and there it was prolonged with such obstinacy, +that it was not until the capture of Malaga in 1487, +and of Granada in 1492, that the Christian empire was +re-established, and the old Spanish monarchy finally +restored.<a name="FNanchor_1190_1190" id="FNanchor_1190_1190"></a><a href="#Footnote_1190_1190" class="fnanchor">[1190]</a></p> + +<p>The effect of all this on the Spanish character was +most remarkable. During eight successive centuries, +the whole country was engaged in a religious crusade; +and those holy wars which other nations occasionally +waged, were, in Spain, prolonged and continued for +more than twenty generations.<a name="FNanchor_1191_1191" id="FNanchor_1191_1191"></a><a href="#Footnote_1191_1191" class="fnanchor">[1191]</a> The object being not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span> +only to regain a territory, but also to re-establish a +creed, it naturally happened that the expounders of +that creed assumed a prominent and important position. +In the camp, and in the council-chamber, the voice of +ecclesiastics was heard and obeyed; for as the war +aimed at the propagation of Christianity, it seemed +right that her ministers should play a conspicuous part +in a matter which particularly concerned them.<a name="FNanchor_1192_1192" id="FNanchor_1192_1192"></a><a href="#Footnote_1192_1192" class="fnanchor">[1192]</a> The +danger to which the country was exposed being moreover +very imminent, those superstitious feelings were +excited which danger is apt to provoke, and to which, +as I have elsewhere shown,<a name="FNanchor_1193_1193" id="FNanchor_1193_1193"></a><a href="#Footnote_1193_1193" class="fnanchor">[1193]</a> the tropical civilizations +owed some of their leading peculiarities. Scarcely were +the Spanish Christians driven from their homes and +forced to take refuge in the north, when this great +principle began to operate. In their mountainous retreat, +they preserved a chest filled with relics of the +saints, the possession of which they valued as their +greatest security.<a name="FNanchor_1194_1194" id="FNanchor_1194_1194"></a><a href="#Footnote_1194_1194" class="fnanchor">[1194]</a> This was to them a national standard,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span> +round which they rallied, and by the aid of which +they gained miraculous victories over their infidel opponents. +Looking upon themselves as soldiers of the +cross, their minds became habituated to supernatural +considerations to an extent which we can now hardly +believe, and which distinguished them in this respect +from every other European nation.<a name="FNanchor_1195_1195" id="FNanchor_1195_1195"></a><a href="#Footnote_1195_1195" class="fnanchor">[1195]</a> Their young men +saw visions, and their old men dreamed dreams.<a name="FNanchor_1196_1196" id="FNanchor_1196_1196"></a><a href="#Footnote_1196_1196" class="fnanchor">[1196]</a> +Strange sights were vouchsafed to them from heaven; +on the eve of a battle mysterious portents appeared; +and it was observed that whenever the Mohammedans +violated the tomb of a Christian saint, thunder and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span> +lightning were sent to rebuke the misbelievers, and, if +need be, to punish their audacious invasion.<a name="FNanchor_1197_1197" id="FNanchor_1197_1197"></a><a href="#Footnote_1197_1197" class="fnanchor">[1197]</a></p> + +<p>Under circumstances like these, the clergy could not +fail to extend their influence; or, we may rather say, the +course of events extended it for them. The Spanish +Christians, pent up for a considerable time in the mountains +of Asturias, and deprived of their former resources, +quickly degenerated, and soon lost the scanty civilization +to which they had attained. Stripped of all their +wealth, and confined to what was comparatively a barren +region, they relapsed into barbarism, and remained, for +at least a century, without arts, or commerce, or literature.<a name="FNanchor_1198_1198" id="FNanchor_1198_1198"></a><a href="#Footnote_1198_1198" class="fnanchor">[1198]</a> +As their ignorance increased, so also did their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span> +superstition; while this last, in its turn, strengthened +the authority of their priests. The order of affairs, +therefore, was very natural. The Mohammedan invasion +made the Christians poor; poverty caused ignorance; +ignorance caused credulity; and credulity, +depriving men both of the power and of the desire to +investigate for themselves, encouraged a reverential +spirit, and confirmed those submissive habits, and that +blind obedience to the Church, which form the leading +and most unfortunate peculiarity of Spanish history.</p> + +<p>From this it appears, that there were three ways in +which the Mohammedan invasion strengthened the +devotional feelings of the Spanish people. The first +way was by promoting a long and obstinate religious +war; the second was by the presence of constant and +imminent dangers; and the third way was by the +poverty, and therefore the ignorance, which it produced +among the Christians.</p> + +<p>These events being preceded by the great Arian war, +and being accompanied and perpetually reinforced by +those physical phenomena which I have indicated as +tending in the same direction, worked with such combined +and accumulative energy, that in Spain the theological +element became not so much a component of the +national character, but rather the character itself. The +ablest and most ambitious of the Spanish kings were +compelled to follow in the general wake; and, despots +though they were, they succumbed to that pressure of +opinions which they believed they were controlling. +The war with Granada, late in the fifteenth century, +was theological far more than temporal; and Isabella, +who made the greatest sacrifices in order to conduct it, +and who in capacity as well as in honesty was superior +to Ferdinand, had for her object not so much the acquisition +of territory as the propagation of the Christian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span> +faith.<a name="FNanchor_1199_1199" id="FNanchor_1199_1199"></a><a href="#Footnote_1199_1199" class="fnanchor">[1199]</a> Indeed, any doubts which could be entertained +respecting the purpose of the contest must have been +dissipated by subsequent events. For, scarcely was the +war brought to a close, when Ferdinand and Isabella +issued a decree expelling from the country every Jew +who refused to deny his faith; so that the soil of Spain +might be no longer polluted by the presence of unbelievers.<a name="FNanchor_1200_1200" id="FNanchor_1200_1200"></a><a href="#Footnote_1200_1200" class="fnanchor">[1200]</a> +To make them Christians, or, failing in that,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span> +to exterminate them, was the business of the Inquisition, +which was established in the same reign, and +which before the end of the fifteenth century was in full +operation.<a name="FNanchor_1201_1201" id="FNanchor_1201_1201"></a><a href="#Footnote_1201_1201" class="fnanchor">[1201]</a> During the sixteenth century, the throne +was occupied by two princes of eminent ability, who +pursued a similar course. Charles V., who succeeded +Ferdinand in 1516, governed Spain for forty years, and +the general character of his administration was the +same as that of his predecessors. In regard to his +foreign policy, his three principal wars were against +France, against the German princes, and against Turkey. +Of these, the first was secular; but the two last were +essentially religious. In the German war, he defended +the church against innovation; and at the battle of +Muhlberg, he so completely humbled the Protestant +princes, as to retard for some time the progress of the +Reformation.<a name="FNanchor_1202_1202" id="FNanchor_1202_1202"></a><a href="#Footnote_1202_1202" class="fnanchor">[1202]</a> In his other great war, he, as the champion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[447]</a></span> +of Christianity against Mohammedanism, consummated +what his grandfather Ferdinand had begun. +Charles defeated and dislodged the Mohammedans in +the east, just as Ferdinand had done in the west; the +repulse of the Turks before Vienna being to the sixteenth +century what the conquest of the Arabs of +Granada was to the fifteenth.<a name="FNanchor_1203_1203" id="FNanchor_1203_1203"></a><a href="#Footnote_1203_1203" class="fnanchor">[1203]</a> It was, therefore, with +reason that Charles, at the close of his career, could +boast that he had always preferred his creed to his +country, and that the first object of his ambition had +been to maintain the interests of Christianity.<a name="FNanchor_1204_1204" id="FNanchor_1204_1204"></a><a href="#Footnote_1204_1204" class="fnanchor">[1204]</a> The +zeal with which he struggled for the faith, also appears +in his exertions against heresy in the Low Countries. +According to contemporary and competent authorities, +from fifty thousand to a hundred thousand persons +were put to death in the Netherlands during his reign +on account of their religious opinions.<a name="FNanchor_1205_1205" id="FNanchor_1205_1205"></a><a href="#Footnote_1205_1205" class="fnanchor">[1205]</a> Later inquirers +have doubted the accuracy of this statement,<a name="FNanchor_1206_1206" id="FNanchor_1206_1206"></a><a href="#Footnote_1206_1206" class="fnanchor">[1206]</a> which +is probably exaggerated; but we know that, between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[448]</a></span> +1520 and 1550, he published a series of laws, to the +effect that those who were convicted of heresy should +be beheaded, or burned alive, or buried alive. The +penalties were thus various, to meet the circumstances +of each case. Capital punishment, however, was always +to be inflicted on whoever bought an heretical book, or +sold it, or even copied it for his own use.<a name="FNanchor_1207_1207" id="FNanchor_1207_1207"></a><a href="#Footnote_1207_1207" class="fnanchor">[1207]</a> His last +advice to his son, well accorded with these measures. +Only a few days before his death, he signed a codicil to +his will, recommending that no favour should ever be +shown to heretics; that they should all be put to death; +and that care should be taken to uphold the Inquisition, +as the best means of accomplishing so desirable an +end.<a name="FNanchor_1208_1208" id="FNanchor_1208_1208"></a><a href="#Footnote_1208_1208" class="fnanchor">[1208]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[449]</a></span></p> + +<p>This barbarous policy is to be ascribed, not to the +vices, nor to the temperament of the individual ruler, +but to the operation of large general causes, which +acted upon the individual, and impelled him to the +course he pursued. Charles was by no means a vindictive +man; his natural disposition was to mercy +rather than to rigour; his sincerity is unquestionable; +he performed what he believed to be his duty; and he +was so kind a friend, that those who knew him best +were precisely those who loved him most.<a name="FNanchor_1209_1209" id="FNanchor_1209_1209"></a><a href="#Footnote_1209_1209" class="fnanchor">[1209]</a> Little, +however, could all that avail in shaping his public +conduct. He was obliged to obey the tendencies of the +age and country in which he lived. And what those +tendencies were, appeared still more clearly after his +death, when the throne of Spain was occupied upwards +of forty years by a prince who inherited it in the prime +of life, and whose reign is particularly interesting as a +symptom and a consequence of the disposition of the +people over whom he ruled.</p> + +<p>Philip II., who succeeded Charles V. in 1555, was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[450]</a></span> +indeed eminently a creature of the time, and the ablest +of his biographers aptly terms him the most perfect +type of the national character.<a name="FNanchor_1210_1210" id="FNanchor_1210_1210"></a><a href="#Footnote_1210_1210" class="fnanchor">[1210]</a> His favourite maxim, +which forms the key to his policy, was, ‘That it is +better not to reign at all than to reign over heretics.’<a name="FNanchor_1211_1211" id="FNanchor_1211_1211"></a><a href="#Footnote_1211_1211" class="fnanchor">[1211]</a> +Armed with supreme power, he bent all his energies +towards carrying this principle into effect. Directly +that he heard that the Protestants were making converts +in Spain, he strained every nerve to stifle the +heresy;<a name="FNanchor_1212_1212" id="FNanchor_1212_1212"></a><a href="#Footnote_1212_1212" class="fnanchor">[1212]</a> and so admirably was he seconded by the +general temper of the people, that he was able without +risk to suppress opinions which convulsed every other +part of Europe. In Spain, the Reformation, after a +short struggle, died completely away, and in about ten +years the last vestige of it disappeared.<a name="FNanchor_1213_1213" id="FNanchor_1213_1213"></a><a href="#Footnote_1213_1213" class="fnanchor">[1213]</a> The Dutch +wished to adopt, and in many instances did adopt, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[451]</a></span> +reformed doctrine; therefore Philip waged against +them a cruel war, which lasted thirty years, and which +he continued till his death, because he was resolved to +extirpate the new creed.<a name="FNanchor_1214_1214" id="FNanchor_1214_1214"></a><a href="#Footnote_1214_1214" class="fnanchor">[1214]</a> He ordered that every +heretic who refused to recant should be burned. If +the heretic did recant, some indulgence was granted; +but having once been tainted, he must die. Instead of +being burned, he was therefore to be executed.<a name="FNanchor_1215_1215" id="FNanchor_1215_1215"></a><a href="#Footnote_1215_1215" class="fnanchor">[1215]</a> Of +the number of those who actually suffered in the Low +Countries, we have no precise information;<a name="FNanchor_1216_1216" id="FNanchor_1216_1216"></a><a href="#Footnote_1216_1216" class="fnanchor">[1216]</a> but Alva +triumphantly boasted that, in the five or six years of +his administration, he had put to death in cold blood +more than eighteen thousand, besides a still greater +number whom he had slain on the field of battle.<a name="FNanchor_1217_1217" id="FNanchor_1217_1217"></a><a href="#Footnote_1217_1217" class="fnanchor">[1217]</a> +This, even during his short tenure of power, would +make about forty thousand victims; an estimate probably +not far from the truth, since we know, from other +sources, that in one year more than eight thousand were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[452]</a></span> +either executed or burned.<a name="FNanchor_1218_1218" id="FNanchor_1218_1218"></a><a href="#Footnote_1218_1218" class="fnanchor">[1218]</a> Such measures were the +result of instructions issued by Philip, and formed a +necessary part of his general scheme.<a name="FNanchor_1219_1219" id="FNanchor_1219_1219"></a><a href="#Footnote_1219_1219" class="fnanchor">[1219]</a> The desire +paramount in his mind, and to which he sacrificed all +other considerations, was to put down the new creed, +and to reinstate the old one. To this, even his immense +ambition and his inordinate love of power were subordinate. +He aimed at the empire of Europe, because he +longed to restore the authority of the Church.<a name="FNanchor_1220_1220" id="FNanchor_1220_1220"></a><a href="#Footnote_1220_1220" class="fnanchor">[1220]</a> All +his policy, all his negotiations, all his wars, pointed to +this one end. Soon after his accession, he concluded +an ignominious treaty with the Pope, that it might not +be said that he bore arms against the head of the Christian +world.<a name="FNanchor_1221_1221" id="FNanchor_1221_1221"></a><a href="#Footnote_1221_1221" class="fnanchor">[1221]</a> And his last great enterprise, in some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[453]</a></span> +respects the most important of all, was to fit out, at an +incredible cost, that famous Armada with which he +hoped to humble England, and to nip the heresy of +Europe in its bud, by depriving the Protestants of their +principal support, and of the only asylum where they +were sure to find safe and honourable refuge.<a name="FNanchor_1222_1222" id="FNanchor_1222_1222"></a><a href="#Footnote_1222_1222" class="fnanchor">[1222]</a></p> + +<p>While Philip, following the course of his predecessors, +was wasting the blood and treasure of Spain in +order to propagate religious opinions,<a name="FNanchor_1223_1223" id="FNanchor_1223_1223"></a><a href="#Footnote_1223_1223" class="fnanchor">[1223]</a> the people, instead +of rebelling against so monstrous a system, acquiesced +in it, and cordially sanctioned it. Indeed, they +not only sanctioned it, but they almost worshipped the +man by whom it was enforced. There probably never +lived a prince who, during so long a period, and amid +so many vicissitudes of fortune, was adored by his subjects +as Philip II. was. In evil report, and in good +report, the Spaniards clung to him with unshaken +loyalty. Their affection was not lessened, either by his +reverses, or by his forbidding deportment, or by his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[454]</a></span> +cruelty, or by his grievous exactions. In spite of all, +they loved him to the last. Such was his absurd arrogance, +that he allowed none, not even the most powerful +nobles, to address him, except on their knees, and, in +return, he only spoke in half sentences, leaving them to +guess the rest, and to fulfil his commands as best they +might.<a name="FNanchor_1224_1224" id="FNanchor_1224_1224"></a><a href="#Footnote_1224_1224" class="fnanchor">[1224]</a> And ready enough they were to obey his +slightest wishes. A contemporary of Philip, struck by +the universal homage which he received, says that the +Spanish did ‘not merely love, not merely reverence, +but absolutely adore him, and deem his commands so +sacred, that they could not be violated without offence +to God.’<a name="FNanchor_1225_1225" id="FNanchor_1225_1225"></a><a href="#Footnote_1225_1225" class="fnanchor">[1225]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[455]</a></span></p> + +<p>That a man like Philip II., who never possessed a +friend, and whose usual demeanour was of the most +repulsive kind, a harsh master, a brutal parent, a bloody +and remorseless ruler,—that he should be thus reverenced +by a nation among whom he lived, and who had +their eyes constantly on his actions; that this should +have happened, is surely one of the most surprising, +and, at first sight, one of the most inexplicable facts in +modern history. Here we have a king who, though +afflicted by every quality most calculated to excite terror +and disgust, is loved far more than he is feared, and is +the idol of a very great people during a very long reign. +This is so remarkable as to deserve our serious attention; +and in order to clear up the difficulty, it will be +necessary to inquire into the causes of that spirit of +loyalty which, during several centuries, has distinguished +the Spaniards above every other European +people.</p> + +<p>One of the leading causes was undoubtedly the immense +influence possessed by the clergy. For the +maxims inculcated by that powerful body have a natural +tendency to make the people reverence their princes +more than they would otherwise do. And that there +is a real and practical connexion between loyalty and +superstition, appears from the historical fact that the +two feelings have nearly always flourished together and +decayed together. Indeed, this is what we should expect +on mere speculative grounds, seeing that both +feelings are the product of those habits of veneration +which make men submissive in their conduct and credulous +in their belief.<a name="FNanchor_1226_1226" id="FNanchor_1226_1226"></a><a href="#Footnote_1226_1226" class="fnanchor">[1226]</a> Experience, therefore, as well as +reason, points to this as a general law of the mind, +which, in its operation, may be occasionally disturbed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[456]</a></span> +but which holds good in a large majority of cases. +Probably the only instance in which the principle fails +is, when a despotic government so misunderstands its +own interests as to offend the clergy, and separate itself +from them. Whenever this is done, a struggle will +arise between loyalty and superstition; the first being +upheld by the political classes, the other by the spiritual +classes. Such a warfare was exhibited in Scotland; +but history does not afford many examples of it, and +certainly it never took place in Spain, where, on the +contrary, several circumstances occurred to cement the +union between the Crown and the Church, and to accustom +the people to look up to both with almost equal +reverence.</p> + +<p>By far the most important of these circumstances +was the great Arab invasion, which drove the Christians +into a corner of Spain, and reduced them to such +extremities, that nothing but the strictest discipline, +and the most unhesitating obedience to their leaders, +could have enabled them to make head against their +enemies. Loyalty to their princes became not merely +expedient, but necessary; for if the Spaniards had +been disunited, they would, in the face of the fearful +odds against which they fought, have had no chance +of preserving their national existence. The long war +which ensued, being both political and religious, caused +an intimate alliance between the political and religious +classes, since the kings and the clergy had an equal +interest in driving the Mohammedans from Spain. +During nearly eight centuries, this compact between +Church and State was a necessity forced upon the +Spaniards by the peculiarities of their position; and, +after the necessity had subsided, it naturally happened +that the association of ideas survived the original +danger, and that an impression had been made upon the +popular mind which it was hardly possible to efface.</p> + +<p>Evidence of this impression, and of the unrivalled +loyalty it produced, crowds upon us at every turn. In no +other country are the old ballads so numerous and so +intimately connected with the national history. It has, +however, been observed, that their leading characteristic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[457]</a></span> +is the zeal with which they inculcate obedience and +devotion to princes, and that from this source, even +more than from military achievements, they draw their +most favourite examples of virtue.<a name="FNanchor_1227_1227" id="FNanchor_1227_1227"></a><a href="#Footnote_1227_1227" class="fnanchor">[1227]</a> In literature the +first great manifestation of the Spanish mind was the +poem of <i>The Cid</i>, written at the end of the twelfth +century, in which we find fresh proof of that extraordinary +loyalty which circumstances had forced upon +the people.<a name="FNanchor_1228_1228" id="FNanchor_1228_1228"></a><a href="#Footnote_1228_1228" class="fnanchor">[1228]</a> The ecclesiastical councils display a similar +tendency; for, notwithstanding a few exceptions, +no other church has been equally eager in upholding +the rights of kings.<a name="FNanchor_1229_1229" id="FNanchor_1229_1229"></a><a href="#Footnote_1229_1229" class="fnanchor">[1229]</a> In civil legislation, we see the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[458]</a></span> +same principle at work; it being asserted, on high +authority, that in no system of laws is loyalty carried +to such extreme height as in the Spanish codes.<a name="FNanchor_1230_1230" id="FNanchor_1230_1230"></a><a href="#Footnote_1230_1230" class="fnanchor">[1230]</a> Even +their dramatic writers were unwilling to represent an +act of rebellion on the stage, lest they should appear to +countenance what, in the eyes of every good Spaniard, +was one of the most heinous of all offences.<a name="FNanchor_1231_1231" id="FNanchor_1231_1231"></a><a href="#Footnote_1231_1231" class="fnanchor">[1231]</a> Whatever +the king came in contact with, was in some degree +hallowed by his touch. No one might mount a horse +which he had ridden;<a name="FNanchor_1232_1232" id="FNanchor_1232_1232"></a><a href="#Footnote_1232_1232" class="fnanchor">[1232]</a> no one might marry a mistress<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[459]</a></span> +whom he had deserted.<a name="FNanchor_1233_1233" id="FNanchor_1233_1233"></a><a href="#Footnote_1233_1233" class="fnanchor">[1233]</a> Horse and mistress alike +were sacred, and it would have been impious for any +subject to meddle with what had been honoured by the +Lord's anointed. Nor were such rules confined to the +prince actually reigning. On the contrary, they survived +him, and, working with a sort of posthumous +force, forbade any woman whom he had taken as a +wife, to marry, even after he was dead. She had been +chosen by the king; such choice had already raised her +above the rest of mortals; and the least she could do +was to retire to a convent, and spend her life mourning +over her irreparable loss. These regulations were +enforced by custom rather than by law.<a name="FNanchor_1234_1234" id="FNanchor_1234_1234"></a><a href="#Footnote_1234_1234" class="fnanchor">[1234]</a> They were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[460]</a></span> +upheld by the popular will, and were the result of the +excessive loyalty of the Spanish nation. Of that loyalty +their writers often boast, and with good reason, since +it was certainly matchless, and nothing seemed able to +shake it. To bad kings and to good kings it equally +applied. It was in full strength amid the glory of +Spain in the sixteenth century; it was conspicuous +when the nation was decaying in the seventeenth +century; and it survived the shock of civil wars early +in the eighteenth.<a name="FNanchor_1235_1235" id="FNanchor_1235_1235"></a><a href="#Footnote_1235_1235" class="fnanchor">[1235]</a> Indeed, the feeling had so worked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[461]</a></span> +itself into the traditions of the country, as to become +not only a national passion, but almost an article of +national faith. Clarendon, in his History of that great +English Rebellion, the like of which, as he well knew, +could never have happened in Spain, makes on this +subject a just and pertinent remark. He says that a +want of respect for kings is regarded by the Spaniards +as a ‘monstrous crime;’ ‘submissive reverence to their +princes being a vital part of their religion.’<a name="FNanchor_1236_1236" id="FNanchor_1236_1236"></a><a href="#Footnote_1236_1236" class="fnanchor">[1236]</a></p> + +<p>These, then, were the two great elements of which +the Spanish character was compounded. Loyalty and +superstition; reverence for their kings and reverence +for their clergy were the leading principles which +influenced the Spanish mind, and governed the march +of Spanish history. The peculiar and unexampled circumstances +under which they arose, have been just +indicated; and having seen their origin, we will now +endeavour to trace their consequences. Such an examination +of results will be the more important, not only +because nowhere else in Europe have these feelings +been so strong, so permanent, and so unmixed, but also +because Spain, being seated at the further extremity of +the Continent, from which it is cut off by the Pyrenees, +has, from physical causes, as well as from moral ones, +come little into contact with other nations.<a name="FNanchor_1237_1237" id="FNanchor_1237_1237"></a><a href="#Footnote_1237_1237" class="fnanchor">[1237]</a> The course<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[462]</a></span> +of affairs being, therefore, undisturbed by foreign +habits, it becomes easier to discover the pure and +natural consequences of superstition and loyalty, two +of the most powerful and disinterested feelings which +have ever occupied the human heart, and to whose +united action we may clearly trace the leading events +in the history of Spain.</p> + +<p>The results of this combination were, during a considerable +period, apparently beneficial, and certainly +magnificent. For, the church and the crown making +common cause with each other, and being inspirited by +the cordial support of the people, threw their whole +soul into their enterprises, and displayed an ardour +which could hardly fail to insure success. Gradually +advancing from the north of Spain, the Christians, +fighting their way inch by inch, pressed on till they +reached the southern extremity, completely subdued +the Mohammedans, and brought the whole country +under one rule and one creed. This great result was +achieved late in the fifteenth century, and it cast an +extraordinary lustre on the Spanish name.<a name="FNanchor_1238_1238" id="FNanchor_1238_1238"></a><a href="#Footnote_1238_1238" class="fnanchor">[1238]</a> Spain, +long occupied by her own religious wars, had hitherto<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[463]</a></span> +been little noticed by foreign powers, and had possessed +little leisure to notice them. Now, however, she +formed a compact and undivided monarchy, and at +once assumed an important position in European +affairs.<a name="FNanchor_1239_1239" id="FNanchor_1239_1239"></a><a href="#Footnote_1239_1239" class="fnanchor">[1239]</a> During the next hundred years, her power +advanced with a speed of which the world had seen no +example since the days of the Roman Empire. So late +as 1478 Spain was still broken up into independent and +often hostile states; Granada was possessed by the +Mohammedans; the throne of Castile was occupied by +one prince, the throne of Aragon by another. Before +the year 1590, not only were these fragments firmly +consolidated into one kingdom, but acquisitions were +made abroad so rapidly as to endanger the independence +of Europe. The history of Spain, during +this period, is the history of one long and uninterrupted +success. That country, recently torn by civil +wars, and distracted by hostile creeds, was able in +three generations to annex to her territory the whole +of Portugal, Navarre, and Roussillon. By diplomacy, +or by force of arms, she acquired Artois and Franche +Comté, and the Netherlands; also the Milanese, Naples, +Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and the Canaries. +One of her kings was emperor of Germany; while his +son influenced the councils of England, whose queen +he married. The Turkish power, then one of the most +formidable in the world, was broken and beaten back +on every side. The French monarchy was humbled. +French armies were constantly worsted; Paris was +once in imminent jeopardy; and a king of France, +after being defeated on the field, was taken captive, and +led prisoner to Madrid. Out of Europe, the deeds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[464]</a></span> +of Spain were equally wonderful. In America, the +Spaniards became possessed of territories which covered +sixty degrees of latitude, and included both the tropics. +Besides Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, New +Granada, Peru, and Chili, they conquered Cuba, San +Domingo, Jamaica, and other islands. In Africa, they +obtained Ceuta, Melilla, Oran, Bougiah, and Tunis, and +overawed the whole coast of Barbary. In Asia, they +had settlements on each side of the Deccan; they held +part of Malacca; and they established themselves in +the Spice Islands. Finally, by the conquest of the noble +archipelago of the Philippines, they connected their +most distant acquisitions, and secured a communication +between every part of that enormous empire which +girdled the world.</p> + +<p>In connexion with this, a great military spirit arose, +such as no other modern nation has ever exhibited. All +the intellect of the country which was not employed in +the service of the Church was devoted to the profession +of arms. Indeed, the two pursuits were often united; +and it is said that the custom of ecclesiastics going to +war was practised in Spain long after it was abandoned +in other parts of Europe.<a name="FNanchor_1240_1240" id="FNanchor_1240_1240"></a><a href="#Footnote_1240_1240" class="fnanchor">[1240]</a> At all events, the general +tendency is obvious. A mere list of successful battles +and sieges in the sixteenth and part of the fifteenth century, +would prove the vast superiority of the Spaniards, +in this respect, over their contemporaries, and would +show how much genius they had expended in maturing +the arts of destruction. Another illustration, if another +were required, might be drawn from the singular fact +that since the time of ancient Greece, no country has +produced so many eminent literary men who were also +soldiers. Calderon, Cervantes, and Lope de Vega +risked their lives in fighting for their country. The +military profession was also adopted by many other +celebrated authors, among whom may be mentioned,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[465]</a></span> +Argote de Molina, Acuña, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, +Boscan, Carrillo, Cetina, Ercilla, Espinel, Francisco de +Figueroa, Garcilasso de la Vega, Guillen de Castro, +Hita, Hurtado de Mendoza, Marmol Carvajal, Perez de +Guzman, Pulgar, Rebolledo, Roxas, and Virues; all of +whom bore, in this manner, unconscious testimony to +the spirit by which Spain was universally pervaded.</p> + +<p>Here, then, we have a combination which many +readers will still consider with favour, and which, at +the time it occurred, excited the admiration, albeit the +terror, of Europe. We have a great people glowing +with military, patriotic, and religious ardour, whose +fiery zeal was heightened, rather than softened, by a +respectful obedience to their clergy, and by a chivalrous +devotion to their kings. The energy of Spain, being +thus both animated and controlled, became wary as +well as eager; and to this rare union of conflicting +qualities we must ascribe the great deeds which have +just been related. But the unsound part of a progress +of this sort is, that it depends too much upon individuals, +and therefore cannot be permanent. Such a +movement can only last as long as it is headed by able +men. When, however, competent leaders are succeeded +by incompetent ones, the system immediately falls to +the ground, simply because the people have been accustomed +to supply to every undertaking the necessary +zeal, but have not been accustomed to supply the skill +by which the zeal is guided. A country in this state, +if governed by hereditary princes, is sure to decay; +inasmuch as, in the ordinary course of affairs, incapable +rulers must sometimes arise. Directly this happens, +the deterioration begins; for the people, habituated to +indiscriminate loyalty, will follow wherever they are +led, and will yield to foolish counsels the same obedience +that they had before paid to wise ones. This leads us +to perceive the essential difference between the civilization +of Spain and the civilization of England. We, in +England, are a critical, dissatisfied, and captious people, +constantly complaining of our rulers, suspecting their +schemes, discussing their measures in a hostile spirit,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[466]</a></span> +allowing very little power either to the Church or to the +Crown, managing our own affairs in our own way, and +ready, on the slightest provocation, to renounce that +conventional, lip-deep loyalty, which, having never +really touched our hearts, is a habit lying on the surface, +but not a passion rooted in the mind. The loyalty of +Englishmen is not of that sort which would induce +them to sacrifice their liberties to please their prince, +nor does it ever, for a moment, blind them to a keen +sense of their own interests. The consequence is, that +our progress is uninterrupted, whether our kings are +good or whether they are bad. Under either condition, +the great movement goes on. Our sovereigns have had +their full share of imbecility and of crime. Still, even +men like Henry III. and Charles II. were unable to do +us harm. In the same way, during the eighteenth and +many years of the nineteenth century, when our improvement +was very conspicuous, our rulers were very +incompetent. Anne and the first two Georges were +grossly ignorant; they were wretchedly educated, and +nature had made them at once weak and obstinate. +Their united reigns lasted nearly sixty years; and after +they had passed away, we, for another period of sixty +years, were governed by a prince who was long incapacitated +by disease, but of whom we must honestly say +that, looking at his general policy, he was least mischievous +when he was most incapable. This is not the +place to expose the monstrous principles advocated by +George III., and to which posterity will do that justice +from which contemporary writers are apt to shrink; +but it is certain that neither his contracted understanding, +nor his despotic temper, nor his miserable +superstition, nor the incredible baseness of that ignoble +voluptuary who succeeded him on the throne, could do +aught to stop the march of English civilization, or to +stem the tide of English prosperity. We went on our +way rejoicing, caring for none of these things. We +were not to be turned aside from our path by the folly +of our rulers, because we know full well that we hold +our own fate in our own hands, and that the English +people possess within themselves those resources and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[467]</a></span> +that fertility of contrivance by which alone men can be +made great, and happy, and wise.</p> + +<p>In Spain, however, directly the government slackened +its hold, the nation fell to pieces.<a name="FNanchor_1241_1241" id="FNanchor_1241_1241"></a><a href="#Footnote_1241_1241" class="fnanchor">[1241]</a> During that prosperous +career which has just been noticed, the Spanish +throne was invariably filled by very able and intelligent +princes. Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V. and Philip +II., formed a line of sovereigns not to be matched in any +other country for a period of equal length. By them, +the great things were effected, and by their care, Spain +apparently flourished. But, what followed when they +were withdrawn from the scene, showed how artificial +all this was, and how rotten, even to the core, is that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[468]</a></span> +system of government which must be fostered before it +can thrive, and which, being based on the loyalty and +reverence of the people, depends for success not on the +ability of the nation, but on the skill of those to whom +the interests of the nation are entrusted.</p> + +<p>Philip II., the last of the great kings of Spain, died +in 1598, and after his death the decline was portentously +rapid.<a name="FNanchor_1242_1242" id="FNanchor_1242_1242"></a><a href="#Footnote_1242_1242" class="fnanchor">[1242]</a> From 1598 to 1700, the throne was +occupied by Philip III., Philip IV., and Charles II. The +contrast between them and their predecessors was most +striking.<a name="FNanchor_1243_1243" id="FNanchor_1243_1243"></a><a href="#Footnote_1243_1243" class="fnanchor">[1243]</a> Philip III. and Philip IV. were idle, ignorant, +infirm of purpose, and passed their lives in the +lowest and most sordid pleasures. Charles II., the last +of that Austrian dynasty which had formerly been so +distinguished, possessed nearly every defect which can +make a man ridiculous and contemptible. His mind +and his person were such as, in any nation less loyal +than Spain, would have exposed him to universal derision. +Although his death took place while he was +still in the prime of life, he looked like an old and worn-out +debauchee. At the age of thirty-five, he was +completely bald; he had lost his eyebrows; he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[469]</a></span> +paralyzed; he was epileptic; and he was notoriously +impotent.<a name="FNanchor_1244_1244" id="FNanchor_1244_1244"></a><a href="#Footnote_1244_1244" class="fnanchor">[1244]</a> His general appearance was absolutely +revolting, and was that of a drivelling idiot. To an +enormous mouth, he added a nether jaw protruding so +hideously that his teeth could never meet, and he was +unable to masticate his food.<a name="FNanchor_1245_1245" id="FNanchor_1245_1245"></a><a href="#Footnote_1245_1245" class="fnanchor">[1245]</a> His ignorance would +be incredible, if it were not substantiated by unimpeachable +evidence. He did not know the names of +the large towns, or even of the provinces, in his dominions; +and during the war with France he was heard +to pity England for losing cities which in fact formed +part of his own territory.<a name="FNanchor_1246_1246" id="FNanchor_1246_1246"></a><a href="#Footnote_1246_1246" class="fnanchor">[1246]</a> Finally, he was immersed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[470]</a></span> +in the most grovelling superstition; he believed himself +to be constantly tempted by the devil; he allowed +himself to be exorcised as one possessed by evil spirits; +and he would not retire to rest, except with his confessor +and two friars, who had to lie by his side during +the night.<a name="FNanchor_1247_1247" id="FNanchor_1247_1247"></a><a href="#Footnote_1247_1247" class="fnanchor">[1247]</a></p> + +<p>Now it was that men might clearly see on how sandy +a foundation the grandeur of Spain was built. When +there were able sovereigns, the country prospered; +when there were weak ones, it declined. Nearly everything +that had been done by the great princes of the +sixteenth century, was undone by the little princes of +the seventeenth. So rapid was the fall of Spain, that +in only three reigns after the death of Philip II., the +most powerful monarchy existing in the world was depressed +to the lowest point of debasement, was insulted +with impunity by foreign nations, was reduced more +than once to bankruptcy, was stripped of her fairest +possessions, was held up to public opprobrium, was +made a theme on which school-boys and moralists loved +to declaim respecting the uncertainty of human affairs, +and, at length, was exposed to the bitter humiliation of +seeing her territories mapped out and divided by a treaty +in which she took no share, but the provisions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[471]</a></span> +which she was unable to resent.<a name="FNanchor_1248_1248" id="FNanchor_1248_1248"></a><a href="#Footnote_1248_1248" class="fnanchor">[1248]</a> Then, truly, did she +drink to the dregs the cup of her own shame. Her +glory had departed from her, she was smitten down +and humbled. Well might a Spaniard of that time +who compared the present with the past, mourn over +his country, the chosen abode of chivalry and romance, +of valour and of loyalty. The mistress of the world, +the queen of the ocean, the terror of nations, was gone; +her power was gone, no more to return. To her might +be applied that bitter lamentation, which, on a much +slighter occasion, the greatest of the sons of men has +put into the mouth of a dying statesman. Good reason, +indeed, had the sorrowing patriot to weep, as one who +refused to be comforted, for the fate of his earth, his +realm, his land of dear souls, his dear, dear land, long +dear for her reputation through the world, but now +leased out like to a tenement or pelting farm.<a name="FNanchor_1249_1249" id="FNanchor_1249_1249"></a><a href="#Footnote_1249_1249" class="fnanchor">[1249]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[472]</a></span></p> + +<p>It would be a weary and unprofitable task to relate +the losses and disasters of Spain during the seventeenth +century. The immediate cause of them was +undoubtedly bad government and unskilful rulers; but +the real and overriding cause, which determined the +whole march and tone of affairs, was the existence of +that loyal and reverential spirit which made the people +submit to what any other country would have spurned, +and, by accustoming them to place extreme confidence +in individual men reduced the nation to that precarious +position in which a succession of incompetent +princes was sure to overthrow the edifice which competent +ones had built up.<a name="FNanchor_1250_1250" id="FNanchor_1250_1250"></a><a href="#Footnote_1250_1250" class="fnanchor">[1250]</a></p> + +<p>The increasing influence of the Spanish Church was +the first and most conspicuous consequence of the +declining energy of the Spanish government. For, +loyalty and superstition being the main ingredients of +the national character, and both of them being the +result of habits of reverence, it was to be expected that, +unless the reverence could be weakened, what was +taken from one ingredient would be given to the other. +As, therefore, the Spanish government, during the +seventeenth century, did, owing to its extreme imbecility, +undoubtedly lose some part of the hold it +possessed over the affections of the people, it naturally +happened that the Church stepped in, and occupying +the vacant place, received what the crown had forfeited. +Besides this, the weakness of the executive government +encouraged the pretensions of the priesthood, and +emboldened the clergy to acts of usurpation, which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[473]</a></span> +Spanish sovereigns of the sixteenth century, superstitious +though they were, would not have allowed for +a single moment.<a name="FNanchor_1251_1251" id="FNanchor_1251_1251"></a><a href="#Footnote_1251_1251" class="fnanchor">[1251]</a> Hence the very striking fact, that, +while in every other great country, Scotland alone +excepted, the power of the Church diminished during +the seventeenth century, it, in Spain, actually increased. +The results of this are well worth the attention, not +only of philosophic students of history, but also of +every one who cares for the welfare of his own country, +or feels an interest in the practical management of +public affairs.</p> + +<p>For twenty-three years after the death of Philip II., +the throne was occupied by Philip III., a prince as +distinguished by his weakness as his predecessors had +been by their ability. During more than a century +the Spaniards had been accustomed to be entirely ruled +by their kings, who, with indefatigable industry, personally +superintended the most important transactions, +and in other matters exercised the strictest supervision +over their ministers. But Philip III., whose listlessness +almost amounted to fatuity, was unequal to such +labour, and delegated the powers of government to +Lerma, who wielded supreme authority for twenty +years.<a name="FNanchor_1252_1252" id="FNanchor_1252_1252"></a><a href="#Footnote_1252_1252" class="fnanchor">[1252]</a> Among a people so loyal as the Spaniards,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[474]</a></span> +this unusual proceeding could not fail to weaken the +executive; since, in their eyes, the immediate and irresistible +interference of the sovereign was essential to +the management of affairs, and to the well-being of the +nation. Lerma, well aware of this feeling, and conscious +that his own position was very precarious, +naturally desired to strengthen himself by additional +support, so that he might not entirely depend on the +favour of the king. He therefore formed a strict +alliance with the clergy, and, from the beginning to the +end of his long administration did everything in his +power to increase their authority.<a name="FNanchor_1253_1253" id="FNanchor_1253_1253"></a><a href="#Footnote_1253_1253" class="fnanchor">[1253]</a> Thus the influence +lost by the crown was gained by the Church, to whose +advice a deference was paid even greater than had +been accorded by the superstitious princes of the +sixteenth century. In this arrangement, the interests +of the people were of course unheeded. Their welfare +formed no part of the general scheme. On the contrary, +the clergy, grateful to a government so sensible +of their merits, and so religiously disposed, used all +their influence in its favour; and the yoke of a double<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[475]</a></span> +despotism was riveted more firmly than ever upon the +neck of that miserable nation, which was now about to +reap the bitter fruit of a long and ignominious submission.<a name="FNanchor_1254_1254" id="FNanchor_1254_1254"></a><a href="#Footnote_1254_1254" class="fnanchor">[1254]</a></p> + +<p>The increasing power of the Spanish Church during +the seventeenth century, may be proved by nearly every +description of evidence. The convents and churches +multiplied with such alarming speed, and their wealth +became so prodigious, that even the Cortes, broken and +humbled though they were, ventured on a public remonstrance. +In 1626, only five years after the death +of Philip III., they requested that some means might +be taken to prevent what they described as a constant +invasion on the part of the Church. In this remarkable +document, the Cortes, assembled at Madrid, declared +that never a day passed in which laymen were not +deprived of their property to enrich ecclesiastics; and +the evil, they said, had grown to such a height, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[476]</a></span> +there were then in Spain upwards of nine thousand +monasteries, besides nunneries.<a name="FNanchor_1255_1255" id="FNanchor_1255_1255"></a><a href="#Footnote_1255_1255" class="fnanchor">[1255]</a> This extraordinary +statement has, I believe, never been contradicted, and +its probability is enhanced by several other circumstances. +Davila, who lived in the reign of Philip III., +affirms that in 1623, the two orders of Dominicans and +Franciscans alone amounted to thirty-two thousand.<a name="FNanchor_1256_1256" id="FNanchor_1256_1256"></a><a href="#Footnote_1256_1256" class="fnanchor">[1256]</a> +The other clergy increased in proportion. Before the +death of Philip III., the number of ministers performing +in the Cathedral of Seville had swelled to one +hundred; and in the diocese of Seville, there were +fourteen thousand chaplains; in the diocese of Calahorra, +eighteen thousand.<a name="FNanchor_1257_1257" id="FNanchor_1257_1257"></a><a href="#Footnote_1257_1257" class="fnanchor">[1257]</a> Nor did there seem any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[477]</a></span> +prospect of remedying this frightful condition. The +richer the Church became, the greater was the inducement +for laymen to enter it; so that there appeared to +be no limit to the extent to which the sacrifice of +temporal interests might be carried.<a name="FNanchor_1258_1258" id="FNanchor_1258_1258"></a><a href="#Footnote_1258_1258" class="fnanchor">[1258]</a> Indeed, the +movement, notwithstanding its suddenness, was perfectly +regular, and was facilitated by a long train of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[478]</a></span> +preceding circumstances. Since the fifth century, the +course of events, as we have already seen, invariably +tended in this direction, and insured to the clergy a +dominion which no other nation would have tolerated. +The minds of the people being thus prepared, the +people themselves looked on in silence at what it would +have been impious to oppose; for, as a Spanish historian +observes, every proposition was deemed heretical which +tended to lessen the amount, or even to check the +growth of that enormous wealth which was now possessed +by the Spanish Church.<a name="FNanchor_1259_1259" id="FNanchor_1259_1259"></a><a href="#Footnote_1259_1259" class="fnanchor">[1259]</a></p> + +<p>How natural all this was, appears also from another +fact of considerable interest. In Europe generally, the +seventeenth century was distinguished by the rise of a +secular literature in which ecclesiastical theories were +disregarded; the most influential writers, such as Bacon +and Descartes, being laymen, rather hostile to the +Church than friendly to it, and composing their works +with views purely temporal. But in Spain, no change +of this sort occurred.<a name="FNanchor_1260_1260" id="FNanchor_1260_1260"></a><a href="#Footnote_1260_1260" class="fnanchor">[1260]</a> In that country, the Church<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[479]</a></span> +retained her hold over the highest as well as over the +lowest intellects. Such was the pressure of public +opinion, that authors of every grade were proud to +count themselves members of the ecclesiastical profession, +the interests of which they advocated with a zeal +worthy of the Dark Ages. Cervantes, three years +before his death, became a Franciscan monk.<a name="FNanchor_1261_1261" id="FNanchor_1261_1261"></a><a href="#Footnote_1261_1261" class="fnanchor">[1261]</a> Lope +de Vega was a priest; he was an officer of the Inquisition; +and in 1623 he assisted at an auto da fé, in +which, amid an immense concourse of people, a heretic +was burned outside the gate of Alcalá at Madrid.<a name="FNanchor_1262_1262" id="FNanchor_1262_1262"></a><a href="#Footnote_1262_1262" class="fnanchor">[1262]</a> +Moreto, one of the three greatest dramatists Spain has +produced, assumed the monastic habit during the last +twelve years of his life.<a name="FNanchor_1263_1263" id="FNanchor_1263_1263"></a><a href="#Footnote_1263_1263" class="fnanchor">[1263]</a> Montalvan, whose plays are +still remembered, was a priest, and held office in the +Inquisition.<a name="FNanchor_1264_1264" id="FNanchor_1264_1264"></a><a href="#Footnote_1264_1264" class="fnanchor">[1264]</a> Tarrega, Mira de Mescua, and Tirso de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[480]</a></span> +Molina, were all successful writers for the stage, and +were all clergymen.<a name="FNanchor_1265_1265" id="FNanchor_1265_1265"></a><a href="#Footnote_1265_1265" class="fnanchor">[1265]</a> Solis, the celebrated historian +of Mexico, was also a clergyman.<a name="FNanchor_1266_1266" id="FNanchor_1266_1266"></a><a href="#Footnote_1266_1266" class="fnanchor">[1266]</a> Sandoval, whom +Philip III. appointed historiographer, and who is the +principal authority for the reign of Charles V., was at +first a Benedictine monk, afterwards became bishop of +Tuy, and later still, was raised to the see of Pampeluna.<a name="FNanchor_1267_1267" id="FNanchor_1267_1267"></a><a href="#Footnote_1267_1267" class="fnanchor">[1267]</a> +Davila, the biographer of Philip III., was a priest.<a name="FNanchor_1268_1268" id="FNanchor_1268_1268"></a><a href="#Footnote_1268_1268" class="fnanchor">[1268]</a> +Mariana was a Jesuit;<a name="FNanchor_1269_1269" id="FNanchor_1269_1269"></a><a href="#Footnote_1269_1269" class="fnanchor">[1269]</a> and Miñana, who continued +his History, was superior of a convent in Valencia.<a name="FNanchor_1270_1270" id="FNanchor_1270_1270"></a><a href="#Footnote_1270_1270" class="fnanchor">[1270]</a> +Martin Carrillo was a jurisconsult as well as an historian, +but, not satisfied with his double employment, +he too entered the Church, and became canon of Saragossa.<a name="FNanchor_1271_1271" id="FNanchor_1271_1271"></a><a href="#Footnote_1271_1271" class="fnanchor">[1271]</a> +Antonio, the most learned bibliographer +Spain ever possessed, was a canon of Seville.<a name="FNanchor_1272_1272" id="FNanchor_1272_1272"></a><a href="#Footnote_1272_1272" class="fnanchor">[1272]</a> Gracian, +whose prose works have been much read, and who +was formerly deemed a great writer, was a Jesuit.<a name="FNanchor_1273_1273" id="FNanchor_1273_1273"></a><a href="#Footnote_1273_1273" class="fnanchor">[1273]</a> +Among the poets, the same tendency was exhibited. +Paravicino was for sixteen years a popular preacher at +the courts of Philip III. and Philip IV.<a name="FNanchor_1274_1274" id="FNanchor_1274_1274"></a><a href="#Footnote_1274_1274" class="fnanchor">[1274]</a> Zamora was +a monk.<a name="FNanchor_1275_1275" id="FNanchor_1275_1275"></a><a href="#Footnote_1275_1275" class="fnanchor">[1275]</a> Argensola was a canon of Saragossa.<a name="FNanchor_1276_1276" id="FNanchor_1276_1276"></a><a href="#Footnote_1276_1276" class="fnanchor">[1276]</a> +Gongora was a priest;<a name="FNanchor_1277_1277" id="FNanchor_1277_1277"></a><a href="#Footnote_1277_1277" class="fnanchor">[1277]</a> and Rioja received a high post<a name="FNanchor_1278_1278" id="FNanchor_1278_1278"></a><a href="#Footnote_1278_1278" class="fnanchor">[1278]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[481]</a></span> +in the Inquisition. Calderon was chaplain to Philip +IV.;<a name="FNanchor_1279_1279" id="FNanchor_1279_1279"></a><a href="#Footnote_1279_1279" class="fnanchor">[1279]</a> and so fanatical are the sentiments which tarnish +his brilliant genius, that he has been termed the +poet of the Inquisition.<a name="FNanchor_1280_1280" id="FNanchor_1280_1280"></a><a href="#Footnote_1280_1280" class="fnanchor">[1280]</a> His love for the Church was +a passion, and he scrupled at nothing which could +advance its interests. In Spain, such feelings were +natural; though to other nations they seem so strange, +that an eminent critic has declared that it is hardly +possible to read his works without indignation.<a name="FNanchor_1281_1281" id="FNanchor_1281_1281"></a><a href="#Footnote_1281_1281" class="fnanchor">[1281]</a> If +this be so, the indignation should be extended to nearly +all his contemporary countrymen, great or small. There +was hardly a Spaniard of that period who did not entertain +similar sentiments. Even Villaviciosa, author of +one of the very best mock-heroic poems Spain has produced, +was not only an officer in the Inquisition, but, in +his last will, he strongly urged upon his family and all +his descendants, that they too should, if possible, enter +the service of that noble institution, taking whatever +place in it they could obtain, since all its offices were, +he said, worthy of veneration.<a name="FNanchor_1282_1282" id="FNanchor_1282_1282"></a><a href="#Footnote_1282_1282" class="fnanchor">[1282]</a> In such a state of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[482]</a></span> +society, anything approaching to a secular or scientific +spirit was, of course, impossible. Every one believed; +no one inquired. Among the better classes, all were +engaged in war or theology, and most were occupied +with both. Those who made literature a profession, +ministered, as professional men too often do, to the +prevailing prejudice. Whatever concerned the Church +was treated not only with respect, but with timid veneration. +Skill and industry worthy of a far better cause, +were expended in eulogizing every folly which superstition +had invented. The more cruel and preposterous +a custom was, the greater the number of persons who +wrote in its favour, albeit no one had ventured to assail +it. The quantity of Spanish works to prove the necessity +of religious persecution is incalculable; and this +took place in a country where not one man in a thousand +doubted the propriety of burning heretics. As to +miracles, which form the other capital resource of +theologians, they, in the seventeenth century, were constantly +happening, and as constantly being recorded. +All literary men were anxious to say something on that +important subject. Saints, too, being in great repute, +their biographies were written in profusion, and with +an indifference to truth which usually characterizes +that species of composition. With these and kindred +topics, the mind of Spain was chiefly busied. Monasteries, +nunneries, religious orders, and cathedrals +received equal attention, and huge books were written +about them, in order that every particular might be +preserved. Indeed, it often happened that a single +convent, or a single cathedral, would have more than +one historian; each seeking to distance his immediate +competitor, and all striving which could do most to +honour the Church and to uphold the interests of which +the Church was the guardian.<a name="FNanchor_1283_1283" id="FNanchor_1283_1283"></a><a href="#Footnote_1283_1283" class="fnanchor">[1283]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[483]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such, was the preponderance of the ecclesiastical +profession, and such was the homage paid to ecclesiastical +interests by the Spaniards during the seventeenth +century.<a name="FNanchor_1284_1284" id="FNanchor_1284_1284"></a><a href="#Footnote_1284_1284" class="fnanchor">[1284]</a> They did everything to strengthen the +Church in that very age when other nations first set +themselves in earnest to weaken it. This unhappy +peculiarity was undoubtedly the effect of preceding +events; but it was the immediate cause of the decline +of Spain, since, whatever may have been the case in +former periods, it is certain that, in modern times, the +prosperity of nations depends on principles to which +the clergy, as a body, are invariably opposed. Under +Philip III. they gained an immense accession of +strength; and in that very reign they signalized this +new epoch of their power by obtaining, with circumstances +of horrible barbarity, the expulsion of the +whole Moorish nation. This was an act so atrocious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[484]</a></span> +in itself,<a name="FNanchor_1285_1285" id="FNanchor_1285_1285"></a><a href="#Footnote_1285_1285" class="fnanchor">[1285]</a> and so terrible in its consequences, that +some writers have ascribed to it alone, the subsequent +ruin of Spain; forgetting that other causes, far more +potent, were also at work, and that this stupendous +crime could never have been perpetrated, except in a +country which, being long accustomed to regard heresy +as the most heinous of all offences, was ready, at any +cost, to purge the land and to free itself from men +whose mere presence was regarded as an insult to the +Christian faith.</p> + +<p>After the reduction, late in the fifteenth century, of +the last Mohammedan kingdom in Spain, the great +object of the Spaniards became to convert those whom +they had conquered.<a name="FNanchor_1286_1286" id="FNanchor_1286_1286"></a><a href="#Footnote_1286_1286" class="fnanchor">[1286]</a> They believed that the future +welfare of a whole people was at stake; and finding +that the exhortations of their clergy had no effect, they +had recourse to other means, and persecuted the men +they were unable to persuade. By torturing some, +by burning others, and by threatening all, they at +length succeeded; and we are assured that, after the +year 1526, there was no Mohammedan in Spain, who +had not been converted to Christianity.<a name="FNanchor_1287_1287" id="FNanchor_1287_1287"></a><a href="#Footnote_1287_1287" class="fnanchor">[1287]</a> Immense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[485]</a></span> +numbers of them were baptized by force; but being +baptized, it was held that they belonged to the Church, +and were amenable to her discipline.<a name="FNanchor_1288_1288" id="FNanchor_1288_1288"></a><a href="#Footnote_1288_1288" class="fnanchor">[1288]</a> That discipline +was administered by the Inquisition, which, +during the rest of the sixteenth century, subjected +these new Christians, or Moriscoes, as they were now +called,<a name="FNanchor_1289_1289" id="FNanchor_1289_1289"></a><a href="#Footnote_1289_1289" class="fnanchor">[1289]</a> to the most barbarous treatment. The +genuineness of their forced conversion was doubted; +it therefore became the business of the Church to +inquire into their sincerity.<a name="FNanchor_1290_1290" id="FNanchor_1290_1290"></a><a href="#Footnote_1290_1290" class="fnanchor">[1290]</a> The civil government +lent its aid; and among other enactments, an edict was +issued by Philip II. in 1566, ordering the Moriscoes to +abandon everything which by the slightest possibility +could remind them of their former religion. They +were commanded, under severe penalties, to learn +Spanish, and to give up all their Arabic books. They +were forbidden to read their native language, or to +write it, or even to speak it in their own houses. +Their ceremonies and their very games were strictly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[486]</a></span> +prohibited. They were to indulge in no amusements +which had been practised by their fathers; neither +were they to wear such clothes as they had been +accustomed to. Their women were to go unveiled; and +as bathing was a heathenish custom, all public baths +were to be destroyed, and even all baths in private +houses.<a name="FNanchor_1291_1291" id="FNanchor_1291_1291"></a><a href="#Footnote_1291_1291" class="fnanchor">[1291]</a></p> + +<p>By these and similar measures,<a name="FNanchor_1292_1292" id="FNanchor_1292_1292"></a><a href="#Footnote_1292_1292" class="fnanchor">[1292]</a> these unhappy +people were at length goaded into rebellion; and in +1568 they took the desperate step of measuring their +force against that of the whole Spanish monarchy. +The result could hardly be doubted; but the Moriscoes +maddened by their sufferings, and fighting for their all, +protracted the contest till 1571, when the insurrection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[487]</a></span> +was finally put down.<a name="FNanchor_1293_1293" id="FNanchor_1293_1293"></a><a href="#Footnote_1293_1293" class="fnanchor">[1293]</a> By this unsuccessful effort, +they were greatly reduced in numbers and in strength; +and, during the remaining twenty-seven years of the +reign of Philip II. we hear comparatively little of +them. Notwithstanding an occasional outbreak, the +old animosities were subsiding, and in the course of +time would probably have disappeared. At all events, +there was no pretence for violence on the part of the +Spaniards, since it was absurd to suppose that the +Moriscoes, weakened in every way, humbled, broken, +and scattered through the kingdom, could, even if +they desired it, effect any thing against the resources +of the executive government.</p> + +<p>But, after the death of Philip II., that movement +began which I have just described, and which, contrary +to the course of affairs in other nations, secured +to the Spanish clergy in the seventeenth century, more +power than they had possessed in the sixteenth. The +consequences of this were immediately apparent. +The clergy did not think that the steps taken by +Philip II. against the Moriscoes were sufficiently decisive; +and even during his lifetime they looked forward +to a new reign, in which these Christians of doubtful +sincerity should be either destroyed or driven from +Spain.<a name="FNanchor_1294_1294" id="FNanchor_1294_1294"></a><a href="#Footnote_1294_1294" class="fnanchor">[1294]</a> While he was on the throne, the prudence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[488]</a></span> +of the government restrained in some degree the eagerness +of the Church; and the king, following the +advice of his ablest ministers, refused to adopt the +measures to which he was urged, and to which his +own disposition prompted him.<a name="FNanchor_1295_1295" id="FNanchor_1295_1295"></a><a href="#Footnote_1295_1295" class="fnanchor">[1295]</a> But, under his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[489]</a></span> +successor, the clergy, as we have already seen, gained +fresh strength, and they soon felt themselves sufficiently +powerful to begin another and final crusade +against the miserable remains of the Moorish nation.<a name="FNanchor_1296_1296" id="FNanchor_1296_1296"></a><a href="#Footnote_1296_1296" class="fnanchor">[1296]</a></p> + +<p>The Archbishop of Valencia was the first to take +the field. In 1602, this eminent prelate presented a +memorial to Philip III. against the Moriscoes; and +finding that his views were cordially supported by the +clergy, and not discouraged by the crown, he followed +up the blow by another memorial having the same +object.<a name="FNanchor_1297_1297" id="FNanchor_1297_1297"></a><a href="#Footnote_1297_1297" class="fnanchor">[1297]</a> The Archbishop, who spoke as one having<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[490]</a></span> +authority, and who from his rank and position was a +natural representative of the Spanish Church, assured +the king that all the disasters which had befallen the +monarchy, had been caused by the presence of these +unbelievers, whom it was now necessary to root out, +even as David had done to the Philistines, and Saul to the +Amalekites.<a name="FNanchor_1298_1298" id="FNanchor_1298_1298"></a><a href="#Footnote_1298_1298" class="fnanchor">[1298]</a> He declared that the Armada, +which Philip II. sent against England in 1588, had +been destroyed, because God would not allow even +that pious enterprise to succeed, while those who +undertook it, left heretics undisturbed at home. For +the same reason, the late expedition to Algiers had +failed; it being evidently the will of Heaven that +nothing should prosper while Spain was inhabited by +apostates.<a name="FNanchor_1299_1299" id="FNanchor_1299_1299"></a><a href="#Footnote_1299_1299" class="fnanchor">[1299]</a> He, therefore, exhorted the king to exile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[491]</a></span> +all the Moriscoes, except some whom he might condemn +to work in the galleys, and others who could become +slaves, and labour in the mines of America.<a name="FNanchor_1300_1300" id="FNanchor_1300_1300"></a><a href="#Footnote_1300_1300" class="fnanchor">[1300]</a> This, +he added, would make the reign of Philip glorious to +all posterity, and would raise his fame far above that +of his predecessors, who in this matter had neglected +their obvious duty.<a name="FNanchor_1301_1301" id="FNanchor_1301_1301"></a><a href="#Footnote_1301_1301" class="fnanchor">[1301]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[492]</a></span></p> + +<p>These remonstrances, besides being in accordance +with the known views of the Spanish Church, were +warmly supported by the personal influence of the +Archbishop of Toledo, the primate of Spain. In only +one respect did he differ from the views advocated by +the Archbishop of Valencia. The Archbishop of +Valencia thought that children under seven years of +age need not share in the general banishment, but +might, without danger to the faith, be separated from +their parents, and kept in Spain. To this, the Archbishop +of Toledo strongly objected. He was unwilling, +he said, to run the risk of pure Christian blood being +polluted by infidels; and he declared that sooner than +leave one of these unbelievers to corrupt the land, he +would have the whole of them, men, women, and +children, at once put to the sword.<a name="FNanchor_1302_1302" id="FNanchor_1302_1302"></a><a href="#Footnote_1302_1302" class="fnanchor">[1302]</a></p> + +<p>That they should all be slain, instead of being +banished, was the desire of a powerful party in the +Church, who thought that such signal punishment +would work good by striking terror into the heretics +of every nation. Bleda, the celebrated Dominican, +one of the most influential men of his time, wished +this to be done, and to be done thoroughly. He said,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[493]</a></span> +that, for the sake of example, every Morisco in Spain +should have his throat cut, because it was impossible +to tell which of them were Christians at heart, and it +was enough to leave the matter to God, who knew his +own, and who would reward in the next world those +who were really Catholics.<a name="FNanchor_1303_1303" id="FNanchor_1303_1303"></a><a href="#Footnote_1303_1303" class="fnanchor">[1303]</a></p> + +<p>It was evident that the fate of the wretched remnant +of a once splendid nation was now sealed. The religious +scruples of Philip III. forbade him to struggle with +the Church; and his minister Lerma would not +risk his own authority by even the show of opposition. +In 1609, he announced to the king, that the expulsion +of the Moriscoes had become necessary. ‘The resolution,’ +replied Philip, ‘is a great one; let it be +executed.’<a name="FNanchor_1304_1304" id="FNanchor_1304_1304"></a><a href="#Footnote_1304_1304" class="fnanchor">[1304]</a> And executed it was, with unflinching +barbarity. About one million of the most industrious +inhabitants of Spain were hunted out like wild beasts, +because the sincerity of their religious opinions was +doubtful.<a name="FNanchor_1305_1305" id="FNanchor_1305_1305"></a><a href="#Footnote_1305_1305" class="fnanchor">[1305]</a> Many were slain, as they approached the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[494]</a></span> +coast; others were beaten and plundered; and the +majority, in the most wretched plight, sailed for Africa. +During the passage, the crew, in many of the ships, rose +upon them, butchered the men, ravished the women, +and threw the children into the sea. Those who escaped +this fate, landed on the coast of Barbary, where they +were attacked by the Bedouins, and many of them put +to the sword. Others made their way into the desert, +and perished from famine. Of the number of lives actually +sacrificed, we have no authentic account; but it +is said, on very good authority, that in one expedition, +in which 140,000 were carried to Africa, upwards of +100,000 suffered death in its most frightful forms +within a few months after their expulsion from Spain.<a name="FNanchor_1306_1306" id="FNanchor_1306_1306"></a><a href="#Footnote_1306_1306" class="fnanchor">[1306]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[495]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now, for the first time, the Church was really triumphant.<a name="FNanchor_1307_1307" id="FNanchor_1307_1307"></a><a href="#Footnote_1307_1307" class="fnanchor">[1307]</a> +For the first time, there was not a heretic +to be seen between the Pyrenees and the Straits of +Gibraltar. All were orthodox, and all were loyal. +Every inhabitant of that great country obeyed the +Church, and feared the king. And from this happy +combination, it was believed that the prosperity and +grandeur of Spain were sure to follow. The name of +Philip III. was to be immortal, and posterity would +never weary of admiring that heroic act by which the +last remains of an infidel race were cast out from the +land. Those who had even remotely participated in +the glorious consummation, were to be rewarded by +the choicest blessings. Themselves, and their families, +were under the immediate protection of Heaven. The +earth should bear more fruit, and the trees should clap +their hands. Instead of the thorn should come up the +fir-tree, and instead of the brier, the myrtle. A new +era was now inaugurated, in which Spain, purged of her +heresy, was to be at ease, and men, living in safety, +were to sleep under the shade of their own vineyards, +sow their gardens in peace, and eat of the fruit of the +trees they had planted.<a name="FNanchor_1308_1308" id="FNanchor_1308_1308"></a><a href="#Footnote_1308_1308" class="fnanchor">[1308]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[496]</a></span></p> + +<p>These were the promises held out by the Church, +and believed by the people. It is our business to +inquire how far the expectations were fulfilled, and +what the consequences were of an act which was instigated +by the clergy, welcomed by the nation, and eagerly +applauded by some of the greatest men of genius +Spain has produced.<a name="FNanchor_1309_1309" id="FNanchor_1309_1309"></a><a href="#Footnote_1309_1309" class="fnanchor">[1309]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[497]</a></span></p> + +<p>The effects upon the material prosperity of Spain +may be stated in a few words. From nearly every part +of the country, large bodies of industrious agriculturists +and expert artificers were suddenly withdrawn. +The best systems of husbandry then known, were +practised by the Moriscoes, who tilled and irrigated +with indefatigable labour.<a name="FNanchor_1310_1310" id="FNanchor_1310_1310"></a><a href="#Footnote_1310_1310" class="fnanchor">[1310]</a> The cultivation of rice, +cotton, and sugar, and the manufacture of silk and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[498]</a></span> +paper, were almost confined to them.<a name="FNanchor_1311_1311" id="FNanchor_1311_1311"></a><a href="#Footnote_1311_1311" class="fnanchor">[1311]</a> By their expulsion, +all this was destroyed at a blow, and most of +it was destroyed for ever. For, the Spanish Christians +considered such pursuits beneath their dignity. In +their judgment, war and religion were the only two +avocations worthy of being followed. To fight for the +king, or to enter the Church was honourable; but +everything else was mean and sordid.<a name="FNanchor_1312_1312" id="FNanchor_1312_1312"></a><a href="#Footnote_1312_1312" class="fnanchor">[1312]</a> When, therefore, +the Moriscoes were thrust out of Spain, there was +no one to fill their place; arts and manufactures either +degenerated, or were entirely lost, and immense regions +of arable land were left uncultivated. Some of the +richest parts of Valencia and Granada were so neglected, +that means were wanting to feed even the +scanty population which remained there.<a name="FNanchor_1313_1313" id="FNanchor_1313_1313"></a><a href="#Footnote_1313_1313" class="fnanchor">[1313]</a> Whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[499]</a></span> +districts were suddenly deserted, and down to the +present day have never been repeopled. These solitudes +gave refuge to smugglers and brigands, who +succeeded the industrious inhabitants formerly occupying +them; and it is said, that from the expulsion of the +Moriscoes is to be dated the existence of those organized +bands of robbers, which, after this period, became the +scourge of Spain, and which no subsequent government +has been able entirely to extirpate.<a name="FNanchor_1314_1314" id="FNanchor_1314_1314"></a><a href="#Footnote_1314_1314" class="fnanchor">[1314]</a></p> + +<p>To these disastrous consequences, others were added, +of a different, and, if possible, of a still more serious +kind. The victory gained by the Church increased +both her power and her reputation. During the rest +of the seventeenth century, not only were the interests +of the clergy deemed superior to the interests of laymen, +but the interests of laymen were scarcely thought of. +The greatest men, with hardly an exception, became +ecclesiastics, and all temporal considerations, all views +of earthly policy, were despised and set at nought. +No one inquired; no one doubted; no one presumed +to ask if all this was right. The minds of men succumbed +and were prostrate. While every other +country was advancing, Spain alone was receding.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[500]</a></span> +Every other country was making some addition to +knowledge, creating some art, or enlarging some +science. Spain, numbed into a death-like torpor, spellbound +and entranced by the accursed superstition +which preyed on her strength, presented to Europe a +solitary instance of constant decay. For her, no hope +remained; and, before the close of the seventeenth +century, the only question was, by whose hands the +blow should be struck, which would dismember that +once mighty empire, whose shadow had covered the +world, and whose vast remains were imposing even in +their ruin.</p> + +<p>To indicate the different steps which mark the +decline of Spain would be hardly possible, since even +the Spaniards, who, when it was too late, were stung +with shame, have abstained from writing what would +only be the history of their own humiliation; so that +there is no detailed account of the wretched reigns of +Philip IV. and Charles II., which together comprise a +period of nearly eighty years.<a name="FNanchor_1315_1315" id="FNanchor_1315_1315"></a><a href="#Footnote_1315_1315" class="fnanchor">[1315]</a> Some facts, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[501]</a></span> +I have been able to collect, and they are very significant. +At the beginning of the seventeenth century, +the population of Madrid was estimated to be 400,000; +at the beginning of the eighteenth century, less than +200,000.<a name="FNanchor_1316_1316" id="FNanchor_1316_1316"></a><a href="#Footnote_1316_1316" class="fnanchor">[1316]</a> Seville, one of the richest cities in Spain, +possessed in the sixteenth century upwards of sixteen +thousand looms, which gave employment to a hundred +and thirty thousand persons.<a name="FNanchor_1317_1317" id="FNanchor_1317_1317"></a><a href="#Footnote_1317_1317" class="fnanchor">[1317]</a> By the reign of Philip<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[502]</a></span> +V., these sixteen thousand looms had dwindled away +to less than three hundred;<a name="FNanchor_1318_1318" id="FNanchor_1318_1318"></a><a href="#Footnote_1318_1318" class="fnanchor">[1318]</a> and, in a report which +the Cortes made to Philip IV., in 1662, it is stated that +the city contained only a quarter of its former number +of inhabitants, and that even the vines and olives cultivated +in its neighbourhood, and which comprised a +considerable part of its wealth, were almost entirely +neglected.<a name="FNanchor_1319_1319" id="FNanchor_1319_1319"></a><a href="#Footnote_1319_1319" class="fnanchor">[1319]</a> Toledo, in the middle of the sixteenth +century, had upwards of fifty woollen manufactories; +in 1665, it had only thirteen, almost the whole of the +trade having been carried away by the Moriscoes, and +established at Tunis.<a name="FNanchor_1320_1320" id="FNanchor_1320_1320"></a><a href="#Footnote_1320_1320" class="fnanchor">[1320]</a> Owing to the same cause, the +art of manufacturing silk, for which Toledo was celebrated, +was entirely lost, and nearly forty thousand +persons, who depended on it, were deprived of their +means of support.<a name="FNanchor_1321_1321" id="FNanchor_1321_1321"></a><a href="#Footnote_1321_1321" class="fnanchor">[1321]</a> Other branches of industry +shared the same fate. In the sixteenth century, and +early in the seventeenth, Spain enjoyed great repute +for the manufacture of gloves, which were made in +enormous quantities, and shipped to many parts, being +particularly valued in England and France, and being +also exported to the Indies. But Martinez de Mata, +who wrote in the year 1655, assures us that at that +time this source of wealth had disappeared; the manufacture +of gloves having quite ceased, though formerly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[503]</a></span> +he says, it had existed in every city in Spain.<a name="FNanchor_1322_1322" id="FNanchor_1322_1322"></a><a href="#Footnote_1322_1322" class="fnanchor">[1322]</a> In +the once-flourishing province of Castile, every thing +was going to ruin. Even Segovia lost its manufactures, +and retained nothing but the memory of its +former wealth.<a name="FNanchor_1323_1323" id="FNanchor_1323_1323"></a><a href="#Footnote_1323_1323" class="fnanchor">[1323]</a> The decay of Burgos was equally +rapid; the trade of that famous city perished; and the +deserted streets and empty houses formed such a +picture of desolation, that a contemporary, struck by +the havoc, emphatically declared that Burgos had lost +every thing except its name.<a name="FNanchor_1324_1324" id="FNanchor_1324_1324"></a><a href="#Footnote_1324_1324" class="fnanchor">[1324]</a> In other districts, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[504]</a></span> +results were equally fatal. The beautiful provinces of +the south, richly endowed by nature, had formerly +been so wealthy, that their contributions alone sufficed, +in time of need, to replenish the imperial treasury; but +they now deteriorated with such rapidity, that, by the +year 1640, it was found hardly possible to impose a tax +on them which would be productive.<a name="FNanchor_1325_1325" id="FNanchor_1325_1325"></a><a href="#Footnote_1325_1325" class="fnanchor">[1325]</a> During the +latter half of the seventeenth century, matters became +still worse, and the poverty and wretchedness of the +people surpass all description. In the villages near +Madrid, the inhabitants were literally famishing; and +those farmers who had a stock of food refused to sell<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[505]</a></span> +it, because, much as they needed money, they were apprehensive +of seeing their families perish around them. +The consequence was, that the capital was in danger +of being starved; and ordinary threats producing no +effect, it was found necessary, in 1664, that the President +of Castile, with an armed force, and accompanied +by the public executioner, should visit the adjacent +villages, and compel the inhabitants to bring their supplies +to the markets of Madrid.<a name="FNanchor_1326_1326" id="FNanchor_1326_1326"></a><a href="#Footnote_1326_1326" class="fnanchor">[1326]</a> All over Spain, the +same destitution prevailed. That once rich and +prosperous country was covered with a rabble of +monks and clergy, whose insatiate rapacity absorbed +the little wealth yet to be found. Hence it happened, +that the government, though almost penniless, could +obtain no supplies. The tax-gatherers, urged to make +up the deficiency, adopted the most desperate expedients. +They not only seized the beds and all the +furniture, but they unroofed the houses, and sold the +materials of the roof, for whatever they would fetch. +The inhabitants were forced to fly; the fields were left +uncultivated; vast multitudes died from want and exposure; +entire villages were deserted; and in many of the +towns, upwards of two-thirds of the houses were, by +the end of the seventeenth century, utterly destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_1327_1327" id="FNanchor_1327_1327"></a><a href="#Footnote_1327_1327" class="fnanchor">[1327]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[506]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the midst of these calamities, the spirit and +energy of Spain were extinguished. In every department, +all power and life disappeared. The Spanish +troops were defeated at Rocroy in 1643; and several +writers ascribe to that battle the destruction of +the military reputation of Spain.<a name="FNanchor_1328_1328" id="FNanchor_1328_1328"></a><a href="#Footnote_1328_1328" class="fnanchor">[1328]</a> This, however, +was only one of many symptoms.<a name="FNanchor_1329_1329" id="FNanchor_1329_1329"></a><a href="#Footnote_1329_1329" class="fnanchor">[1329]</a> In 1656, it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[507]</a></span> +proposed to fit out a small fleet; but the fisheries on the +coast had so declined, that it was found impossible to +procure sailors enough to man even the few ships +which were required.<a name="FNanchor_1330_1330" id="FNanchor_1330_1330"></a><a href="#Footnote_1330_1330" class="fnanchor">[1330]</a> The charts which had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[508]</a></span> +made, were either lost or neglected; and the ignorance +of the Spanish pilots became so notorious, that no one +was willing to trust them.<a name="FNanchor_1331_1331" id="FNanchor_1331_1331"></a><a href="#Footnote_1331_1331" class="fnanchor">[1331]</a> As to the military +service, it is stated, in an account of Spain, late in the +seventeenth century, that most of the troops had +deserted their colours, and that the few who were faithful +were clothed in rags, received no pay, and were +dying of hunger.<a name="FNanchor_1332_1332" id="FNanchor_1332_1332"></a><a href="#Footnote_1332_1332" class="fnanchor">[1332]</a> Another account describes this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[509]</a></span> +once mighty kingdom as utterly unprotected; the +frontier towns ungarrisoned; the fortifications dilapidated +and crumbling away; the magazines without +ammunition; the arsenals empty; the workshops unemployed; +and even the art of building ships entirely +lost.<a name="FNanchor_1333_1333" id="FNanchor_1333_1333"></a><a href="#Footnote_1333_1333" class="fnanchor">[1333]</a></p> + +<p>While the country at large was thus languishing, as +if it had been stricken by some mortal distemper, the +most horrible scenes were occurring in the capital, +under the eyes of the sovereign. The inhabitants of +Madrid were starving; and the arbitrary measures +which had been adopted to supply them with food, +could only produce temporary relief. Many persons +fell down in the streets exhausted, and died where they +fell; others were seen in the public highway evidently +dying, but no one had wherewithal to feed them. At +length the people became desperate, and threw off all +control. In 1680, not only the workmen of Madrid, but +large numbers of the tradesmen, organized themselves +into bands, broke open private houses, and robbed and +murdered the inhabitants in the face of day.<a name="FNanchor_1334_1334" id="FNanchor_1334_1334"></a><a href="#Footnote_1334_1334" class="fnanchor">[1334]</a> During<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[510]</a></span> +the remaining twenty years of the seventeenth century, +the capital was in a state, not of insurrection, but of +anarchy. Society was loosened, and seemed to be +resolving itself into its elements. To use the emphatic +language of a contemporary, liberty and restraint were +equally unknown.<a name="FNanchor_1335_1335" id="FNanchor_1335_1335"></a><a href="#Footnote_1335_1335" class="fnanchor">[1335]</a> The ordinary functions of the +executive government were suspended. The police of +Madrid, unable to obtain the arrears of their pay, disbanded, +and gave themselves up to rapine. Nor did +there seem any means of remedying these evils. The +exchequer was empty, and it was impossible to replenish +it. Such was the poverty of the court, that +money was wanting to pay the wages of the king's +private servants, and to meet the daily expenses of his +household.<a name="FNanchor_1336_1336" id="FNanchor_1336_1336"></a><a href="#Footnote_1336_1336" class="fnanchor">[1336]</a> In 1693, payment was suspended of every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[511]</a></span> +life-pension; and all officers and ministers of the crown +were mulcted of one-third of their salaries.<a name="FNanchor_1337_1337" id="FNanchor_1337_1337"></a><a href="#Footnote_1337_1337" class="fnanchor">[1337]</a> Nothing, +however, could arrest the mischief. Famine and poverty +continued to increase;<a name="FNanchor_1338_1338" id="FNanchor_1338_1338"></a><a href="#Footnote_1338_1338" class="fnanchor">[1338]</a> and, in 1699, Stanhope, the +British minister then residing in Madrid, writes, that +never a day passed in which people were not killed in +the streets scuffling for bread; that his own secretary +had seen five women stifled to death by the crowd +before a bakehouse; and that, to swell the catalogue of +misery, upwards of twenty thousand additional beggars +from the country had recently flocked into the capital.<a name="FNanchor_1339_1339" id="FNanchor_1339_1339"></a><a href="#Footnote_1339_1339" class="fnanchor">[1339]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[512]</a></span></p> + +<p>If this state of things had continued for another +generation, the wildest anarchy must have ensued, and +the whole frame of society been broken up.<a name="FNanchor_1340_1340" id="FNanchor_1340_1340"></a><a href="#Footnote_1340_1340" class="fnanchor">[1340]</a> The +only chance of saving Spain from a relapse into barbarism, +was that it should fall, and fall quickly, under +foreign dominion. Such a change was indispensable; +and there was reason to fear that it might come in a +form which would have been inexpressibly odious to +the nation. For, late in the seventeenth century, +Ceuta was besieged by the Mohammedans; and as the +Spanish Government had neither troops nor ships, the +greatest apprehensions were entertained respecting the +fate of this important fortress; there being little doubt, +that if it fell, Spain would be again overrun by the +infidels, who, this time, at least, would have found +little difficulty in dealing with a people weakened by +suffering, half famished, and almost worn out.<a name="FNanchor_1341_1341" id="FNanchor_1341_1341"></a><a href="#Footnote_1341_1341" class="fnanchor">[1341]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[513]</a></span></p> + +<p>Fortunately, in the year 1700, when affairs were at +their worst, Charles II., the idiot king, died; and Spain +fell into the hands of Philip V., the grandson of Louis +XIV. This change from the Austrian dynasty to the +Bourbon,<a name="FNanchor_1342_1342" id="FNanchor_1342_1342"></a><a href="#Footnote_1342_1342" class="fnanchor">[1342]</a> brought with it many other changes. +Philip, who reigned from 1700 to 1746,<a name="FNanchor_1343_1343" id="FNanchor_1343_1343"></a><a href="#Footnote_1343_1343" class="fnanchor">[1343]</a> was a Frenchman, +not only by birth and education, but also in feelings +and habits.<a name="FNanchor_1344_1344" id="FNanchor_1344_1344"></a><a href="#Footnote_1344_1344" class="fnanchor">[1344]</a> Just before he entered Spain, Louis +charged him never to forget that he was a native of +France, the throne of which he might some day ascend.<a name="FNanchor_1345_1345" id="FNanchor_1345_1345"></a><a href="#Footnote_1345_1345" class="fnanchor">[1345]</a> +After he became king, he neglected the +Spaniards, despised their advice, and threw all the +power he could command into the hands of his own +countrymen.<a name="FNanchor_1346_1346" id="FNanchor_1346_1346"></a><a href="#Footnote_1346_1346" class="fnanchor">[1346]</a> The affairs of Spain were now administered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[514]</a></span> +by subjects of Louis XIV., whose ambassador +at Madrid frequently performed the functions of prime +minister.<a name="FNanchor_1347_1347" id="FNanchor_1347_1347"></a><a href="#Footnote_1347_1347" class="fnanchor">[1347]</a> What had once been the most powerful +monarchy in the world, became little else than a province +of France; all important matters being decided +in Paris, from whence Philip himself received his instructions.<a name="FNanchor_1348_1348" id="FNanchor_1348_1348"></a><a href="#Footnote_1348_1348" class="fnanchor">[1348]</a></p> + +<p>The truth is, that Spain, broken and prostrate, was +unable to supply ability of any kind; and if the government +of the country was to be carried on, it was +absolutely necessary that foreigners should be called<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[515]</a></span> +in.<a name="FNanchor_1349_1349" id="FNanchor_1349_1349"></a><a href="#Footnote_1349_1349" class="fnanchor">[1349]</a> Even in 1682, that is, eighteen years before the +accession of Philip V., there was not to be found a single +native well acquainted with the art of war; so that +Charles II. was obliged to intrust the military defence +of the Spanish Netherlands to De Grana, the Austrian +ambassador at Madrid.<a name="FNanchor_1350_1350" id="FNanchor_1350_1350"></a><a href="#Footnote_1350_1350" class="fnanchor">[1350]</a> When, therefore, the War +of the Succession broke out, in 1702, even the Spaniards +themselves desired that their troops should be commanded +by a foreigner.<a name="FNanchor_1351_1351" id="FNanchor_1351_1351"></a><a href="#Footnote_1351_1351" class="fnanchor">[1351]</a> In 1704, the extraordinary +spectacle was exhibited of the Duke of Berwick, an +Englishman, leading Spanish soldiers against the +enemy, and being in fact generalissimo of the Spanish +army.<a name="FNanchor_1352_1352" id="FNanchor_1352_1352"></a><a href="#Footnote_1352_1352" class="fnanchor">[1352]</a> The King of Spain, dissatisfied with his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[516]</a></span> +proceedings, determined to remove him; but, instead of +filling his place with a native, he applied to Louis XIV. +for another general; and this important post was confided +to Marshal Tessé, a Frenchman.<a name="FNanchor_1353_1353" id="FNanchor_1353_1353"></a><a href="#Footnote_1353_1353" class="fnanchor">[1353]</a> A little later, +Berwick was again summoned to Madrid, and ordered +to put himself at the head of the Spanish troops, and +defend Estremadura and Castile.<a name="FNanchor_1354_1354" id="FNanchor_1354_1354"></a><a href="#Footnote_1354_1354" class="fnanchor">[1354]</a> This he effected +with complete success; and, in the battle of Almansa, +which he fought in 1707, he overthrew the invaders, +ruined the party of the pretender Charles,<a name="FNanchor_1355_1355" id="FNanchor_1355_1355"></a><a href="#Footnote_1355_1355" class="fnanchor">[1355]</a> and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[517]</a></span> +secured the seat of Philip on the throne.<a name="FNanchor_1356_1356" id="FNanchor_1356_1356"></a><a href="#Footnote_1356_1356" class="fnanchor">[1356]</a> As the war, +however, still continued, Philip, in 1710, wrote to +Paris for another general, and requested that the Duke +de Vendôme might be sent to him.<a name="FNanchor_1357_1357" id="FNanchor_1357_1357"></a><a href="#Footnote_1357_1357" class="fnanchor">[1357]</a> This able commander, +on his arrival, infused new vigour into the +Spanish counsels, and utterly defeated the allies;<a name="FNanchor_1358_1358" id="FNanchor_1358_1358"></a><a href="#Footnote_1358_1358" class="fnanchor">[1358]</a> so +that the war by which the independence of Spain was +established, owed its success to the ability of foreigners,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[518]</a></span> +and to the fact that the campaigns were planned and +conducted, not by natives, but by French and English +generals.</p> + +<p>In the same way, the finances were, by the end of +the seventeenth century, in such deplorable confusion, +that Portocarrero, who at the accession of Philip V. +was the nominal minister of Spain, expressed a desire +that they should be administered by some one sent +from Paris, who could restore them.<a name="FNanchor_1359_1359" id="FNanchor_1359_1359"></a><a href="#Footnote_1359_1359" class="fnanchor">[1359]</a> He felt that no +one in Spain was equal to the task, and he was by no +means singular in this opinion. In 1701, Louville +wrote to Torcy, that if a financier did not soon arrive +from France, there would shortly be no finances to +administer.<a name="FNanchor_1360_1360" id="FNanchor_1360_1360"></a><a href="#Footnote_1360_1360" class="fnanchor">[1360]</a> The choice fell upon Orry, who reached +Madrid in the summer of 1701.<a name="FNanchor_1361_1361" id="FNanchor_1361_1361"></a><a href="#Footnote_1361_1361" class="fnanchor">[1361]</a> He found everything +in the most miserable condition; and the incompetence +of the Spaniards was so obvious, that he was +soon forced to undertake the management, not only of +the finances, but also of the war-department. To save +appearances, Canalez became the ostensible minister at +war; but he, being completely ignorant of affairs, +merely performed the drudgery of that office, the real +duties of which were fulfilled by Orry himself.<a name="FNanchor_1362_1362" id="FNanchor_1362_1362"></a><a href="#Footnote_1362_1362" class="fnanchor">[1362]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[519]</a></span></p> + +<p>This dominion of the French continued, without interruption, +until the second marriage of Philip V., in +1714, and the death of Louis XIV., in 1715, both of +which events weakened their influence, and for a time +almost destroyed it. The authority, however, which +they lost, was transferred, not to Spaniards, but to +other foreigners. Between 1714 and 1726, the two +most powerful and conspicuous men in Spain were +Alberoni, an Italian, and Ripperda, a Dutchman. Ripperda +was dismissed in 1726;<a name="FNanchor_1363_1363" id="FNanchor_1363_1363"></a><a href="#Footnote_1363_1363" class="fnanchor">[1363]</a> and after his fall, the +affairs of Spain were controlled by Konigseg, who +was a German, and who, indeed, was the Austrian +ambassador residing at Madrid.<a name="FNanchor_1364_1364" id="FNanchor_1364_1364"></a><a href="#Footnote_1364_1364" class="fnanchor">[1364]</a> Even Grimaldo,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[520]</a></span> +who held office before and after the dismissal of Ripperda, +was a disciple of the French school, and had +been brought up under Orry.<a name="FNanchor_1365_1365" id="FNanchor_1365_1365"></a><a href="#Footnote_1365_1365" class="fnanchor">[1365]</a> All this was not the +result of accident, nor is it to be ascribed to the caprice +of the court. In Spain, the national spirit had so died +away, that none but foreigners, or men imbued with +foreign ideas, were equal to the duties of government. +To the evidence already quoted on this point, I will +add two other testimonies. Noailles, a very fair judge, +and by no means prejudiced against the Spaniards, emphatically +stated, in 1710, that, notwithstanding their +loyalty, they were incapable of ruling, inasmuch as +they were ignorant both of war and of politics.<a name="FNanchor_1366_1366" id="FNanchor_1366_1366"></a><a href="#Footnote_1366_1366" class="fnanchor">[1366]</a> In +1711, Bonnac mentions that a resolution had been +formed to place no Spaniard at the head of affairs, because +those hitherto employed had proved to be either +unfortunate or unfaithful.<a name="FNanchor_1367_1367" id="FNanchor_1367_1367"></a><a href="#Footnote_1367_1367" class="fnanchor">[1367]</a></p> + +<p>The government of Spain being taken from the +Spaniards, now began to show some signs of vigour. +The change was slight, but it was in the right direction,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[521]</a></span> +though, as we shall presently see, it could not +regenerate Spain, owing to the unfavourable operation +of general causes. Still, the intention was good. For +the first time, attempts were made to vindicate the +rights of laymen, and to diminish the authority of +ecclesiastics. Scarcely had the French established +their dominion, when they suggested that it might be +advisable to relieve the necessities of the state, by +compelling the clergy to give up some of the wealth +which they had accumulated in their churches.<a name="FNanchor_1368_1368" id="FNanchor_1368_1368"></a><a href="#Footnote_1368_1368" class="fnanchor">[1368]</a> +Even Louis XIV. insisted that the important office of +President of Castile should not be conferred on an +ecclesiastic, because, he said, in Spain the priests and +monks had already too much power.<a name="FNanchor_1369_1369" id="FNanchor_1369_1369"></a><a href="#Footnote_1369_1369" class="fnanchor">[1369]</a> Orry, who for +several years possessed immense influence, exerted it +in the same direction. He endeavoured to lessen the +immunities possessed by the clergy, in regard to taxation, +and also in regard to their exemption from lay +jurisdiction. He opposed the privilege of sanctuary; +he sought to deprive churches of their right of asylum. +He even attacked the Inquisition, and worked so +powerfully on the mind of the king, that Philip, at +one time, determined to suspend that dreadful tribunal, +and abolish the office of grand inquisitor.<a name="FNanchor_1370_1370" id="FNanchor_1370_1370"></a><a href="#Footnote_1370_1370" class="fnanchor">[1370]</a> This intention +was very properly abandoned; for there can be +no doubt that if it had been enforced, it would have +caused a revolution, in which Philip would probably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[522]</a></span> +have lost his crown.<a name="FNanchor_1371_1371" id="FNanchor_1371_1371"></a><a href="#Footnote_1371_1371" class="fnanchor">[1371]</a> In such case, a reaction would +have set in, which would have left the Church stronger +than ever. Many things, however, were done for +Spain in spite of the Spaniards.<a name="FNanchor_1372_1372" id="FNanchor_1372_1372"></a><a href="#Footnote_1372_1372" class="fnanchor">[1372]</a> In 1707, the clergy +were forced to contribute to the state a small part +of their enormous wealth; the tax being disguised +under the name of a loan.<a name="FNanchor_1373_1373" id="FNanchor_1373_1373"></a><a href="#Footnote_1373_1373" class="fnanchor">[1373]</a> Ten years later, during +the administration of Alberoni, this disguise was thrown<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[523]</a></span> +off; and not only did government exact what was now +called ‘the ecclesiastical tax,’ but it imprisoned or +exiled those priests who, refusing to pay, stood up for +the privileges of their order.<a name="FNanchor_1374_1374" id="FNanchor_1374_1374"></a><a href="#Footnote_1374_1374" class="fnanchor">[1374]</a> This was a bold step +to be taken in Spain, and it was one on which, at that +time, no Spaniard would have ventured. Alberoni, +however, as a foreigner, was unversed in the traditions +of the country, which, indeed, on another memorable +occasion, he set at defiance. The government of +Madrid, acting in complete unison with public opinion, +had always been unwilling to negotiate with infidels; +meaning by infidels every people whose religious +notions differed from their own. Sometimes, such +negotiations were unavoidable, but they were entered +into with fear and trembling, lest the pure Spanish faith +should be tainted by too close a contact with unbelievers. +Even in 1698, when it was evident that the +monarchy was at its last gasp, and that nothing could +save it from the hands of the spoiler, the prejudice was +so strong, that the Spaniards refused to receive aid +from the Dutch, because the Dutch were heretics. At +that time, Holland was in the most intimate relation +with England, whose interest it was to secure the +independence of Spain against the machinations of +France. Obvious, however, as this was, the Spanish +theologians, being consulted respecting the proposal, +declared that it was inadmissible, since it would enable +the Dutch to propagate their religious opinions; so that, +according to this view, it was better to be subjugated +by a Catholic enemy, than to be assisted by a Protestant +friend.<a name="FNanchor_1375_1375" id="FNanchor_1375_1375"></a><a href="#Footnote_1375_1375" class="fnanchor">[1375]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[524]</a></span></p> + +<p>Still, much as the Spaniards hated Protestants, they +hated Mohammedans yet more.<a name="FNanchor_1376_1376" id="FNanchor_1376_1376"></a><a href="#Footnote_1376_1376" class="fnanchor">[1376]</a> They could never +forget how the followers of that creed had once conquered +nearly the whole of Spain, and had, during +several centuries, possessed the fairest portion of it. +The remembrance of this strengthened their religious +animosity, and caused them to be the chief supporters +of nearly every war which was waged against the +Mohammedans, both of Turkey and of Africa.<a name="FNanchor_1377_1377" id="FNanchor_1377_1377"></a><a href="#Footnote_1377_1377" class="fnanchor">[1377]</a> But +Alberoni, being a foreigner, was unmoved by these +considerations, and, to the astonishment of all Spain, +he, on the mere ground of political expediency, set at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[525]</a></span> +naught the principles of the Church, and not only concluded +an alliance with the Mohammedans, but supplied +them with arms and with money.<a name="FNanchor_1378_1378" id="FNanchor_1378_1378"></a><a href="#Footnote_1378_1378" class="fnanchor">[1378]</a> It is, indeed, +true, that, in these and similar measures, Alberoni +opposed himself to the national will, and that he lived +to repent of his boldness. It is, however, also true, that +his policy was part of a great secular and anti-theological +movement, which, during the eighteenth century, +was felt all over Europe. The effects of that movement +were seen in the government of Spain, but not +in the people. This was because the government for +many years was wielded by foreigners, or by natives +imbued with a foreign spirit. Hence we find that, +during the greater part of the eighteenth century, the +politicians of Spain formed a class more isolated, and, +if I may so say, more living on their own intellectual +resources, than the politicians of any other country +during the same period. That this indicated a state of +disease, and that no political improvement can produce +real good, unless it is desired by the people before +being conferred on them, will be admitted by whoever +has mastered the lessons which history contains. The +results actually produced in Spain, we shall presently +see. But it will first be advisable that I should give +some further evidence of the extent to which the influence +of the Church had prostrated the national<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[526]</a></span> +intellect, and by discouraging all inquiry, and fettering +all freedom of thought, had at length reduced the +country to such a plight, that the faculties of men, +rusted by disuse, were no longer equal to fulfil the +functions required from them; so that in every department, +whether of political life, or of speculative +philosophy, or even of mechanical industry, it was +necessary that foreigners should be called in, to do +that work, which the natives had become unable to +perform.</p> + +<p>The ignorance in which the force of adverse circumstances +had sunk the Spaniards, and their inactivity, +both bodily and mental, would be utterly incredible, if +it were not attested by every variety of evidence. +Gramont, writing from personal knowledge of the +state of Spain, during the latter half of the seventeenth +century, describes the upper classes as not only unacquainted +with science or literature, but as knowing +scarcely any thing even of the commonest events +which occurred out of their own country. The lower +ranks, he adds, are equally idle, and rely upon foreigners +to reap their wheat, to cut their hay, and to build their +houses.<a name="FNanchor_1379_1379" id="FNanchor_1379_1379"></a><a href="#Footnote_1379_1379" class="fnanchor">[1379]</a> Another observer of society, as it existed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[527]</a></span> +in Madrid in 1679, assures us that men, even of the highest +position, never thought it necessary that their +sons should study; and that those who were destined +for the army could not learn mathematics, if they desired +to do so, inasmuch as there were neither schools +nor masters to teach them.<a name="FNanchor_1380_1380" id="FNanchor_1380_1380"></a><a href="#Footnote_1380_1380" class="fnanchor">[1380]</a> Books, unless they +were books of devotion, were deemed utterly useless; +no one consulted them; no one collected them; and, +until the eighteenth century, Madrid did not possess a +single public library.<a name="FNanchor_1381_1381" id="FNanchor_1381_1381"></a><a href="#Footnote_1381_1381" class="fnanchor">[1381]</a> In other cities professedly devoted +to purposes of education, similar ignorance prevailed. +Salamanca was the seat of the most ancient +and most famous university in Spain, and there, if anywhere, +we might look for the encouragement of +science.<a name="FNanchor_1382_1382" id="FNanchor_1382_1382"></a><a href="#Footnote_1382_1382" class="fnanchor">[1382]</a> But De Torres, who was himself a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[528]</a></span> +Spaniard, and was educated at Salamanca, early in +the eighteenth century, declares that he had studied +at that university for five years before he had heard +that such things as the mathematical sciences +existed.<a name="FNanchor_1383_1383" id="FNanchor_1383_1383"></a><a href="#Footnote_1383_1383" class="fnanchor">[1383]</a> So late as the year 1771, the same university +publicly refused to allow the discoveries of +Newton to be taught; and assigned as a reason, that +the system of Newton was not so consonant with revealed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[529]</a></span> +religion as the system of Aristotle.<a name="FNanchor_1384_1384" id="FNanchor_1384_1384"></a><a href="#Footnote_1384_1384" class="fnanchor">[1384]</a> All over +Spain, a similar plan was adopted. Everywhere, +knowledge was spurned, and inquiry discouraged. +Feijoo, who, notwithstanding his superstition, and a +certain slavishness of mind, from which no Spaniard of +that age could escape, did, on matters of science, seek +to enlighten his countrymen, has left upon record his +deliberate opinion, that whoever had acquired all that +was taught in his time under the name of philosophy, +would, as the reward of his labour, be more ignorant +than he was before he began.<a name="FNanchor_1385_1385" id="FNanchor_1385_1385"></a><a href="#Footnote_1385_1385" class="fnanchor">[1385]</a> And there can be +no doubt that he was right. There can be no doubt +that, in Spain, the more a man was taught, the less he +would know. For, he was taught that inquiry was sinful, +that intellect must be repressed, and that credulity +and submission were the first of human attributes. The +Duke de Saint Simon, who, in 1721 and 1722, was the +French ambassador at Madrid, sums up his observations +by the remark, that, in Spain, science is a crime, +and ignorance a virtue.<a name="FNanchor_1386_1386" id="FNanchor_1386_1386"></a><a href="#Footnote_1386_1386" class="fnanchor">[1386]</a> Fifty years later, another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">[530]</a></span> +shrewd observer, struck with amazement at the condition +of the national mind, expresses his opinion in a +sentence equally pithy and almost equally severe. +Searching for an illustration to convey his sense of the +general darkness, he emphatically says, that the common +education of an English gentleman would, in +Spain, constitute a man of learning.<a name="FNanchor_1387_1387" id="FNanchor_1387_1387"></a><a href="#Footnote_1387_1387" class="fnanchor">[1387]</a></p> + +<p>Those who know what the common education of an +English gentleman was eighty years ago, will appreciate +the force of this comparison, and will understand how +benighted a country must have been, to which such a +taunt was applicable. To expect that, under such a +state of things, the Spaniards should make any of the +discoveries which accelerate the march of nations, +would be idle indeed; for they would not even receive +the discoveries, which other nations had made for them, +and had cast into the common lap. So loyal and +orthodox a people had nothing to do with novelties, +which, being innovations on ancient opinions, were +fraught with danger. The Spaniards desired to walk +in the ways of their ancestors, and not have their faith +in the past rudely disturbed. In the inorganic world, +the magnificent discoveries of Newton were contumeliously +rejected; and, in the organic world, the circulation +of the blood was denied, more than a hundred and +fifty years after Harvey had proved it.<a name="FNanchor_1388_1388" id="FNanchor_1388_1388"></a><a href="#Footnote_1388_1388" class="fnanchor">[1388]</a> These things<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[531]</a></span> +were new, and it was better to pause a little, and not +receive them too hastily. On the same principle, when, +in the year 1760, some bold men in the government +proposed that the streets of Madrid should be cleansed, +so daring a suggestion excited general anger. Not +only the vulgar, but even those who were called educated, +were loud in their censure. The medical profession, +as the guardians of the public health, were +desired, by the government, to give their opinion. +This, they had no difficulty in doing. They had no +doubt that the dirt ought to remain. To remove it, was +a new experiment; and of new experiments, it was impossible +to foresee the issue. Their fathers having lived +in the midst of it, why should not they do the same? +Their fathers were wise men, and must have had good +reasons for their conduct. Even the smell, of which +some persons complained, was most likely wholesome. +For, the air being sharp and piercing, it was extremely +probable that bad smells made the atmosphere heavy, +and in that way deprived it of some of its injurious +properties. The physicians of Madrid were, therefore, +of opinion that matters had better remain as their ancestors +had left them, and that no attempts should be +made to purify the capital by removing the filth which +lay scattered on every side.<a name="FNanchor_1389_1389" id="FNanchor_1389_1389"></a><a href="#Footnote_1389_1389" class="fnanchor">[1389]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[532]</a></span></p> + +<p>While such notions prevailed respecting the preservation +of health,<a name="FNanchor_1390_1390" id="FNanchor_1390_1390"></a><a href="#Footnote_1390_1390" class="fnanchor">[1390]</a> it is hardly to be supposed that the +treatment of disease should be very successful. To +bleed and to purge, were the only remedies prescribed +by the Spanish physicians.<a name="FNanchor_1391_1391" id="FNanchor_1391_1391"></a><a href="#Footnote_1391_1391" class="fnanchor">[1391]</a> Their ignorance of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[533]</a></span> +commonest functions of the human body was altogether +surprising, and can only be explained on the supposition, +that in medicine, as in other departments, the +Spaniards of the eighteenth century knew no more than +their progenitors of the sixteenth. Indeed, in some respects, +they appeared to know less. For, their treatment +was so violent, that it was almost certain death to submit +to it for any length of time.<a name="FNanchor_1392_1392" id="FNanchor_1392_1392"></a><a href="#Footnote_1392_1392" class="fnanchor">[1392]</a> Their own king, +Philip V., did not dare to trust himself in their hands, +but preferred having an Irishman for his physician.<a name="FNanchor_1393_1393" id="FNanchor_1393_1393"></a><a href="#Footnote_1393_1393" class="fnanchor">[1393]</a> +Though the Irish had no great medical reputation, anything +was better than a Spanish doctor.<a name="FNanchor_1394_1394" id="FNanchor_1394_1394"></a><a href="#Footnote_1394_1394" class="fnanchor">[1394]</a> The arts<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[534]</a></span> +incidental to medicine and surgery, were equally backward. +The instruments were rudely made, and the +drugs badly prepared. Pharmacy being unknown, the +apothecaries' shops, in the largest towns, were entirely +supplied from abroad; while, in the smaller towns, and +in districts remote from the capital, the medicines were +of such a quality, that the best which could be hoped of +them was, that they might be innocuous. For, in the +middle of the eighteenth century, Spain did not possess +one practical chemist. Indeed, we are assured by +Campomanes himself, that, so late as the year 1776, +there was not to be found in the whole country a single +man who knew how to make the commonest drugs, +such as magnesia, Glauber's salts, and the ordinary +preparations of mercury and antimony. This eminent +statesman adds, however, that a chemical laboratory +was about to be established in Madrid; and although +the enterprise, being without a precedent, would surely +be regarded as a portentous novelty, he expresses a +confident expectation, that, by its aid, the universal +ignorance of his countrymen would in time be remedied.<a name="FNanchor_1395_1395" id="FNanchor_1395_1395"></a><a href="#Footnote_1395_1395" class="fnanchor">[1395]</a></p> + +<p>Whatever was useful in practice, or whatever subserved<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[535]</a></span> +the purposes of knowledge, had to come from +abroad. Ensenada, the well-known minister of Ferdinand +VI., was appalled by the darkness and apathy of +the nation, which he tried, but tried in vain, to remove. +When he was at the head of affairs, in the middle of +the eighteenth century, he publicly declared that in +Spain there was no professorship of public law, or of +physics, or of anatomy, or of botany. He further added, +that there were no good maps of Spain, and that there +was no person who knew how to construct them. All +the maps which they had, came from France and Holland. +They were, he said, very inaccurate; but the +Spaniards, being unable to make any, had nothing else +to rely on. Such a state of things he pronounced to be +shameful. For, as he bitterly complained, if it were +not for the exertions of Frenchmen and Dutchmen, it +would be impossible for any Spaniard to know either +the position of his own town, or the distance from one +place to another.<a name="FNanchor_1396_1396" id="FNanchor_1396_1396"></a><a href="#Footnote_1396_1396" class="fnanchor">[1396]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">[536]</a></span></p> + +<p>The only remedy for all this, seemed to be foreign +aid; and Spain being now ruled by a foreign dynasty, +that aid was called in. Cervi established the Medical +Societies of Madrid and of Seville; Virgili founded the +College of Surgery at Cadiz; and Bowles endeavoured +to promote among the Spaniards the study of mineralogy.<a name="FNanchor_1397_1397" id="FNanchor_1397_1397"></a><a href="#Footnote_1397_1397" class="fnanchor">[1397]</a> +Professors were sought for, far and wide; +and application was made to Linnæus to send a person +from Sweden who could impart some idea of botany to +physiological students.<a name="FNanchor_1398_1398" id="FNanchor_1398_1398"></a><a href="#Footnote_1398_1398" class="fnanchor">[1398]</a> Many other and similar steps +were taken by the government, whose indefatigable +exertions would deserve our warmest praise, if we did +not know how impossible it is for any government to +enlighten a nation, and how absolutely essential it is +that the desire for improvement should, in the first +place, proceed from the people themselves. No progress +is real, unless it is spontaneous. The movement, +to be effective, must emanate from within, and not +from without; it must be due to general causes acting +on the whole country, and not to the mere will of a few +powerful individuals. During the eighteenth century, +all the means of improvement were lavishly supplied to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_537" id="Page_537">[537]</a></span> +the Spaniards; but the Spaniards did not want to improve. +They were satisfied with themselves; they were +sure of the accuracy of their own opinions; they were +proud of the notions which they inherited, and which +they did not wish either to increase or to diminish. +Being unable to doubt, they were, therefore, unwilling +to inquire. New and beautiful truths, conveyed in the +clearest and most attractive language, could produce +no effect upon men whose minds were thus hardened +and enslaved.<a name="FNanchor_1399_1399" id="FNanchor_1399_1399"></a><a href="#Footnote_1399_1399" class="fnanchor">[1399]</a> An unhappy combination of events, +working without interruption since the fifth century, +had predetermined the national character in a particular +direction, and neither statesmen, nor kings, nor legislators, +could effect aught against it. The seventeenth +century was, however, the climax of all. In that age, +the Spanish nation fell into a sleep, from which, as a +nation, it has never since awakened. It was a sleep, +not of repose, but of death. It was a sleep, in which +the faculties, instead of being rested, were paralyzed, +and in which a cold and universal torpor succeeded that +glorious, though partial, activity, which, while it made +the name of Spain terrible in the world, had insured +the respect even of her bitterest enemies.</p> + +<p>Even the fine arts, in which the Spaniards had +formerly excelled, partook of the general degeneracy, +and, according to the confession of their own writers, +had, by the beginning of the eighteenth century, fallen +into complete decay.<a name="FNanchor_1400_1400" id="FNanchor_1400_1400"></a><a href="#Footnote_1400_1400" class="fnanchor">[1400]</a> The arts which secure national<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_538" id="Page_538">[538]</a></span> +safety, were in the same predicament as those which +minister to national pleasure. There was no one in +Spain who could build a ship; there was no one who +knew how to rig it, after it was built. The consequence +was, that, by the close of the seventeenth century, the +few ships which Spain possessed, were so rotten, that, +says an historian, they could hardly support the fire of +their own guns.<a name="FNanchor_1401_1401" id="FNanchor_1401_1401"></a><a href="#Footnote_1401_1401" class="fnanchor">[1401]</a> In 1752, the government, being +determined to restore the navy, found it necessary to +send to England for shipwrights; and they were also +obliged to apply to the same quarter for persons who +could make ropes and canvass; the skill of the natives +being unequal to such arduous achievements.<a name="FNanchor_1402_1402" id="FNanchor_1402_1402"></a><a href="#Footnote_1402_1402" class="fnanchor">[1402]</a> In +this way, the ministers of the Crown, whose ability and +vigour, considering the difficult circumstances in which +the incapacity of the people placed them, were extremely +remarkable, contrived to raise a fleet superior +to any which had been seen in Spain for more than a +century.<a name="FNanchor_1403_1403" id="FNanchor_1403_1403"></a><a href="#Footnote_1403_1403" class="fnanchor">[1403]</a> They also took many other steps towards +putting the national defences into a satisfactory condition; +though in every instance, they were forced to +rely on the aid of foreigners. Both the military and +the naval service were in utter confusion, and had to +be organized afresh. The discipline of the infantry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_539" id="Page_539">[539]</a></span> +was remodelled by O'Reilly, an Irishman, to whose +superintendence the military schools of Spain were intrusted.<a name="FNanchor_1404_1404" id="FNanchor_1404_1404"></a><a href="#Footnote_1404_1404" class="fnanchor">[1404]</a> +At Cadiz, a great naval academy was +formed, but the head of it was Colonel Godin, a French +officer.<a name="FNanchor_1405_1405" id="FNanchor_1405_1405"></a><a href="#Footnote_1405_1405" class="fnanchor">[1405]</a> The artillery, which like everything else, +had become almost useless, was improved by Maritz, +the Frenchman; while the same service was rendered +to the arsenals by Gazola, the Italian.<a name="FNanchor_1406_1406" id="FNanchor_1406_1406"></a><a href="#Footnote_1406_1406" class="fnanchor">[1406]</a></p> + +<p>The mines, which form one of the greatest natural +sources of the wealth of Spain, had likewise suffered +from that ignorance and apathy into which the force +of circumstances had plunged the country. They +were either completely neglected, or if worked, they +were worked by other nations. The celebrated cobalt-mine, +situated in the valley of Gistan, in Aragon, was +entirely in the hands of the Germans, who, during the +first half of the eighteenth century, derived immense +profit from it.<a name="FNanchor_1407_1407" id="FNanchor_1407_1407"></a><a href="#Footnote_1407_1407" class="fnanchor">[1407]</a> In the same way, the silver-mines of +Guadalcanal, the richest in Spain, were undertaken, +not by natives, but by foreigners. Though they had +been discovered in the sixteenth century, they, as well +as other matters of importance, had been forgotten in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_540" id="Page_540">[540]</a></span> +the seventeenth, and were reopened, in 1728, by +English adventurers; the enterprise, the tools, the +capital, and even the miners, all coming from England.<a name="FNanchor_1408_1408" id="FNanchor_1408_1408"></a><a href="#Footnote_1408_1408" class="fnanchor">[1408]</a> +Another, and still more famous, mine is that +of Almaden in La Mancha, which produces mercury of +the finest quality, and in great profusion. This metal, +besides being indispensable for many of the commonest +arts, was of peculiar value to Spain, because without +it the gold and silver of the New World could not be +extracted from their ores. From Almaden, where +every natural facility exists for collecting it, and where +the cinnibar in which it is found is unusually rich, vast +supplies had formerly been drawn; but they had for +some time been diminishing, although the demand, +especially from foreign countries, was on the increase. +Under these circumstances, the Spanish government, +fearing that so important a source of wealth might +altogether perish, determined to institute an inquiry +into the manner in which the mine was worked. As, +however, no Spaniard possessed the knowledge requisite +for such an investigation, the advisers of the +Crown were obliged to call on foreigners to help them. +In 1752, an Irish naturalist, named Bowles, was commissioned +to visit Almaden, and ascertain the cause of +the failure. He found that the miners had acquired a +habit of sinking their shafts perpendicularly, instead +of following the direction of the vein.<a name="FNanchor_1409_1409" id="FNanchor_1409_1409"></a><a href="#Footnote_1409_1409" class="fnanchor">[1409]</a> So absurd a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_541" id="Page_541">[541]</a></span> +process was quite sufficient to account for their want of +success; and Bowles reported to the government, that +if a shaft were to be sunk obliquely, the mine would, +no doubt, again be productive. The government approved +of the suggestion, and ordered it to be carried +into effect. But the Spanish miners were too tenacious +of their old customs to give way. They sank +their shafts in the same manner as their fathers had +done; and what their fathers had done must be right. +The result was, that the mine had to be taken out +of their hands; but as Spain could supply no other +labourers, it was necessary to send to Germany for +fresh ones.<a name="FNanchor_1410_1410" id="FNanchor_1410_1410"></a><a href="#Footnote_1410_1410" class="fnanchor">[1410]</a> After their arrival, matters rapidly improved. +The mine, being superintended by an Irishman, +and worked by Germans, assumed quite a different +appearance; and, notwithstanding the disadvantages +with which new comers always have to contend, the +immediate consequence of the change was, that the +yield of mercury was doubled, and its cost to the consumer +correspondingly lowered.<a name="FNanchor_1411_1411" id="FNanchor_1411_1411"></a><a href="#Footnote_1411_1411" class="fnanchor">[1411]</a></p> + +<p>Such ignorance, pervading the whole nation, and +extending to every department of life, is hardly conceivable, +considering the immense advantages which +the Spaniards had formerly enjoyed. It is particularly +striking, when contrasted with the ability of the +government, which, for more than eighty years, constantly +laboured to improve the condition of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_542" id="Page_542">[542]</a></span> +country. Early in the eighteenth century, Ripperda, +in the hopes of stimulating Spanish industry, established +a large woollen manufactory at Segovia, which +had once been a busy and prosperous city. But the +commonest processes had now been forgotten; and he +was obliged to import manufacturers from Holland, to +teach the Spaniards how to make up the wool, though +that was an art for which in better days they had been +especially famous.<a name="FNanchor_1412_1412" id="FNanchor_1412_1412"></a><a href="#Footnote_1412_1412" class="fnanchor">[1412]</a> In 1757, Wall, who was then +minister, constructed, upon a still larger scale, a +similar manufactory at Guadalajara in New Castile. +Soon, however, something went wrong with the machinery; +and as the Spaniards neither knew nor cared +anything about these matters, it was necessary to +send to England for a workman to put it right.<a name="FNanchor_1413_1413" id="FNanchor_1413_1413"></a><a href="#Footnote_1413_1413" class="fnanchor">[1413]</a> +At length the advisers of Charles III., despairing of +rousing the people by ordinary means, devised a more +comprehensive scheme, and invited thousands of +foreign artisans to settle in Spain; trusting that their +example, and the suddenness of their influx might +invigorate this jaded nation.<a name="FNanchor_1414_1414" id="FNanchor_1414_1414"></a><a href="#Footnote_1414_1414" class="fnanchor">[1414]</a> All was in vain. +The spirit of the country was broken, and nothing +could retrieve it. Among other attempts which were +made, the formation of a National Bank was a +favourite idea of politicians, who expected great things +from an institution which was to extend credit, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_543" id="Page_543">[543]</a></span> +make advances to persons engaged in business. But, +though the design was executed, it entirely failed in +effecting its purpose. When the people are not enterprising, +no effort of government can make them so. +In a country like Spain, a great bank was an exotic, +which might live with art, but could never thrive by +nature. Indeed, both in its origin and in its completion, +it was altogether foreign, having been first +proposed by the Dutchman Ripperda,<a name="FNanchor_1415_1415" id="FNanchor_1415_1415"></a><a href="#Footnote_1415_1415" class="fnanchor">[1415]</a> and owing its +final organization to the Frenchman Cabarrus.<a name="FNanchor_1416_1416" id="FNanchor_1416_1416"></a><a href="#Footnote_1416_1416" class="fnanchor">[1416]</a></p> + +<p>In everything, the same law prevailed. In diplomacy, +the ablest men were not Spaniards, but foreigners; +and during the eighteenth century the strange +spectacle was frequently exhibited, of Spain being +represented by French, Italian, and even Irish ambassadors.<a name="FNanchor_1417_1417" id="FNanchor_1417_1417"></a><a href="#Footnote_1417_1417" class="fnanchor">[1417]</a> +Nothing was indigenous; nothing was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_544" id="Page_544">[544]</a></span> +done by Spain herself. Philip V., who reigned from +1700 to 1746, and possessed immense power, always +clung to the ideas of his own country, and was a +Frenchman to the last. For thirty years after his +death, the three most prominent names in Spanish +politics were, Wall, who was born in France, of Irish +parents;<a name="FNanchor_1418_1418" id="FNanchor_1418_1418"></a><a href="#Footnote_1418_1418" class="fnanchor">[1418]</a> Grimaldi, who was a native of Genoa; <a name="FNanchor_1419_1419" id="FNanchor_1419_1419"></a><a href="#Footnote_1419_1419" class="fnanchor">[1419]</a> +and Esquilache, who was a native of Sicily.<a name="FNanchor_1420_1420" id="FNanchor_1420_1420"></a><a href="#Footnote_1420_1420" class="fnanchor">[1420]</a> +Esquilache administered the finances for several years; +and, after enjoying the confidence of Charles III. to an +extent rarely possessed by any minister, was only +dismissed, in 1766, in consequence of the discontents +of the people at the innovations introduced by this +bold foreigner.<a name="FNanchor_1421_1421" id="FNanchor_1421_1421"></a><a href="#Footnote_1421_1421" class="fnanchor">[1421]</a> Wall, a much more remarkable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_545" id="Page_545">[545]</a></span> +man, was, in the absence of any good Spanish diplomatist, +sent envoy to London in 1747; and after +exercising great influence in matters of state, he was +placed at the head of affairs in 1754, and remained +supreme till 1763.<a name="FNanchor_1422_1422" id="FNanchor_1422_1422"></a><a href="#Footnote_1422_1422" class="fnanchor">[1422]</a> When this eminent Irishman relinquished +office, he was succeeded by the Genoese, +Grimaldi, who ruled Spain from 1763 to 1777, and +was entirely devoted to the French views of policy.<a name="FNanchor_1423_1423" id="FNanchor_1423_1423"></a><a href="#Footnote_1423_1423" class="fnanchor">[1423]</a> +His principal patron was Choiseul, who had imbued +him with his own notions, and by whose advice he was +chiefly guided.<a name="FNanchor_1424_1424" id="FNanchor_1424_1424"></a><a href="#Footnote_1424_1424" class="fnanchor">[1424]</a> Indeed, Choiseul, who was then the +first minister in France, used to boast, with exaggeration, +but not without a considerable amount of truth, +that his influence in Madrid was even greater than it +was in Versailles.<a name="FNanchor_1425_1425" id="FNanchor_1425_1425"></a><a href="#Footnote_1425_1425" class="fnanchor">[1425]</a></p> + +<p>However this may be, it is certain that four years +after Grimaldi took office, the ascendency of France +was exhibited in a remarkable way. Choiseul, who +hated the Jesuits, and had just expelled them from +France, endeavoured also to expel them from Spain.<a name="FNanchor_1426_1426" id="FNanchor_1426_1426"></a><a href="#Footnote_1426_1426" class="fnanchor">[1426]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_546" id="Page_546">[546]</a></span> +The execution of the plan was confided to Aranda, +who, though a Spaniard by birth, derived his intellectual +culture from France, and had contracted, in the +society of Paris, an intense hatred of every form of +ecclesiastical power.<a name="FNanchor_1427_1427" id="FNanchor_1427_1427"></a><a href="#Footnote_1427_1427" class="fnanchor">[1427]</a> The scheme, secretly prepared, +was skilfully accomplished.<a name="FNanchor_1428_1428" id="FNanchor_1428_1428"></a><a href="#Footnote_1428_1428" class="fnanchor">[1428]</a> In 1767, the +Spanish government, without hearing what the Jesuits +had to say in their defence, and indeed, without giving +them the least notice, suddenly ordered their expulsion; +and with such animosity were they driven from +the country, in which they sprung up, and had long been +cherished, that not only was their wealth confiscated, +and they themselves reduced to a wretched pittance, +but even that was directed to be taken from them, if +they published anything in their own vindication; +while it was also declared that whoever ventured to +write respecting them, should, if we were a subject<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_547" id="Page_547">[547]</a></span> +of Spain, be put to death, as one guilty of high +treason.<a name="FNanchor_1429_1429" id="FNanchor_1429_1429"></a><a href="#Footnote_1429_1429" class="fnanchor">[1429]</a></p> + +<p>Such boldness on the part of the government<a name="FNanchor_1430_1430" id="FNanchor_1430_1430"></a><a href="#Footnote_1430_1430" class="fnanchor">[1430]</a> +caused even the Inquisition to tremble. That once +omnipotent tribunal, threatened and suspected by the +civil authorities, became more wary in its proceedings, +and more tender in its treatment of heretics. Instead +of extirpating unbelievers by hundreds or by thousands, +it was reduced to such pitiful straits, that between 1746 +and 1759, it was only able to burn ten persons; and +between 1759 and 1788, only four persons.<a name="FNanchor_1431_1431" id="FNanchor_1431_1431"></a><a href="#Footnote_1431_1431" class="fnanchor">[1431]</a> The +extraordinary diminution during the latter period, was +partly owing to the great authority wielded by Aranda, +the friend of the encyclopædists and of other French +sceptics. This remarkable man was President of +Castile till 1773,<a name="FNanchor_1432_1432" id="FNanchor_1432_1432"></a><a href="#Footnote_1432_1432" class="fnanchor">[1432]</a> and he issued an order forbidding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_548" id="Page_548">[548]</a></span> +the Inquisition to interfere with the civil courts.<a name="FNanchor_1433_1433" id="FNanchor_1433_1433"></a><a href="#Footnote_1433_1433" class="fnanchor">[1433]</a> He +also formed a scheme for entirely abolishing it; but +his plan was frustrated, owing to its premature +announcement by his friends in Paris, to whom it had +been confided.<a name="FNanchor_1434_1434" id="FNanchor_1434_1434"></a><a href="#Footnote_1434_1434" class="fnanchor">[1434]</a> His views, however, were so far successful, +that after 1781, there is no instance in Spain +of a heretic being burned; the Inquisition being too +terrified by the proceedings of government to do anything +which might compromise the safety of the Holy +Institution.<a name="FNanchor_1435_1435" id="FNanchor_1435_1435"></a><a href="#Footnote_1435_1435" class="fnanchor">[1435]</a></p> + +<p>In 1777, Grimaldi, one of the chief supporters of +that anti-theological policy which France introduced +into Spain, ceased to be Minister; but he was succeeded +by Florida Blanca, who was his creature, and to whom +he transmitted his policy as well as his power.<a name="FNanchor_1436_1436" id="FNanchor_1436_1436"></a><a href="#Footnote_1436_1436" class="fnanchor">[1436]</a> The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_549" id="Page_549">[549]</a></span> +progress, therefore, of political affairs continued in the +same direction. Under the new minister, as under his +immediate predecessors, a determination was shown to +abridge the authority of the Church, and to vindicate +the rights of laymen. In everything, the ecclesiastical +interests were treated as subordinate to the secular. Of +this, many instances might be given; but one is too +important to be omitted. We have seen, that early in +the eighteenth century, Alberoni, when at the head of +affairs, was guilty of what in Spain was deemed the +enormous offence of contracting an alliance with +Mohammedans; and there can be no doubt that this +was one of the chief causes of his fall, since it was held, +that no prospect of mere temporal advantages could +justify an union, or even a peace, between a Christian +nation and a nation of unbelievers.<a name="FNanchor_1437_1437" id="FNanchor_1437_1437"></a><a href="#Footnote_1437_1437" class="fnanchor">[1437]</a> But the Spanish +government, which, owing to the causes I have related, +was far in advance of Spain itself, was gradually +becoming bolder, and growing more and more disposed +to force upon the country, views, which, abstractedly +considered, where extremely enlightened, but which the +popular mind was unable to receive. The result was, +that, in 1782, Florida Blanca concluded a treaty with +Turkey, which put an end to the war of religious +opinions; to the astonishment, as we are told, of the +other European powers, who could hardly believe that +the Spaniards would thus abandon their long-continued +efforts to destroy the infidels.<a name="FNanchor_1438_1438" id="FNanchor_1438_1438"></a><a href="#Footnote_1438_1438" class="fnanchor">[1438]</a> Before, however,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_550" id="Page_550">[550]</a></span> +Europe had time to recover from its amazement, other +and similar events occurred equally startling. In 1784, +Spain signed a peace with Tripoli; and in 1785, one +with Algiers.<a name="FNanchor_1439_1439" id="FNanchor_1439_1439"></a><a href="#Footnote_1439_1439" class="fnanchor">[1439]</a> And scarcely had these been ratified, +when, in 1786, a treaty was also concluded with +Tunis.<a name="FNanchor_1440_1440" id="FNanchor_1440_1440"></a><a href="#Footnote_1440_1440" class="fnanchor">[1440]</a> So that the Spanish people to their no small +surprise, found themselves on terms of amity with +nations, whom for more than ten centuries they had +been taught to abhor, and whom, in the opinion of the +Spanish Church, it was the first duty of a Christian +government to make war upon, and, if possible, to +extirpate.</p> + +<p>Putting aside, for a moment, the remote and intellectual +consequences of these transactions, there can be +no doubt that the immediate and material consequences +were very salutary; though, as we shall presently see, +they produced no lasting benefit, because they were +opposed by the unfavourable operation of more powerful +and more general causes. Still, it must be confessed +that the direct results were extremely advantageous; +and to those who take only a short view of human +affairs, it might well appear that the advantages would +be permanent. The immense line of coast from the +kingdoms of Fez and Morocco to the furthest extremity +of the Turkish empire was no longer allowed to pour +forth those innumerable pirates who, heretofore, swept +the seas, captured Spanish ships, and made slaves of +Spanish subjects. Formerly, vast sums of money were +annually consumed in ransoming these unhappy prisoners;<a name="FNanchor_1441_1441" id="FNanchor_1441_1441"></a><a href="#Footnote_1441_1441" class="fnanchor">[1441]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_551" id="Page_551">[551]</a></span> +but now all such evils were ended. At the +same time, great impetus was given to the commerce of +Spain; a new trade was thrown open, and her ships +could safely appear in the rich countries of the Levant. +This increased her wealth; which was moreover aided +by another circumstance growing out of these events. +For, the most fertile parts of Spain are those which are +washed by the Mediterranean, and which had for +centuries been the prey of Mohammedan corsairs, who +frequently landing by surprise, had at length caused +such constant fear, that the inhabitants gradually +retired towards the interior, and abstained from cultivating +the richest soil in their country. But, by the +treaties just concluded, such dangers were at once +removed; the people returned to their former abodes; +the earth again gave forth its fruits; regular industry +reappeared; villages sprung up; even manufactures +were established; and the foundation seemed to be +laid for a prosperity, the like of which had not been +known since the Mohammedans were driven out of +Granada.<a name="FNanchor_1442_1442" id="FNanchor_1442_1442"></a><a href="#Footnote_1442_1442" class="fnanchor">[1442]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_552" id="Page_552">[552]</a></span></p> + +<p>I have now laid before the reader a view of the most +important steps which were taken by those able and +vigorous politicians, who ruled Spain during the +greater part of the eighteenth century. In considering +how these reforms were effected, we must not +forget the personal character of Charles III., who +occupied the throne from 1759 to 1788.<a name="FNanchor_1443_1443" id="FNanchor_1443_1443"></a><a href="#Footnote_1443_1443" class="fnanchor">[1443]</a> He was a +man of great energy, and though born in Spain, had +little in common with it. When he became king, he had +been long absent from his native country, and had contracted +a taste for customs, and, above all, for opinions, +totally dissimilar to those natural to the Spaniards.<a name="FNanchor_1444_1444" id="FNanchor_1444_1444"></a><a href="#Footnote_1444_1444" class="fnanchor">[1444]</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_553" id="Page_553">[553]</a></span> +Comparing him with his subjects, he was enlightened +indeed. They cherished in their hearts, the most +complete, and therefore the worst, form of spiritual +power which has ever been exhibited in Europe. That +very power, he made it his business to restrain. In +this, as in other respects, he far surpassed Ferdinand +VI. and Philip V., though they, under the influence of +French ideas, had proceeded to what was deemed a +dangerous length.<a name="FNanchor_1445_1445" id="FNanchor_1445_1445"></a><a href="#Footnote_1445_1445" class="fnanchor">[1445]</a> The clergy, indignant at such +proceedings, murmured, and even threatened.<a name="FNanchor_1446_1446" id="FNanchor_1446_1446"></a><a href="#Footnote_1446_1446" class="fnanchor">[1446]</a> They +declared that Charles was despoiling the Church, +taking away her rights, insulting her ministers, and +thus ruining Spain beyond human remedy.<a name="FNanchor_1447_1447" id="FNanchor_1447_1447"></a><a href="#Footnote_1447_1447" class="fnanchor">[1447]</a> The +king, however, whose disposition was firm, and somewhat +obstinate, persevered in his policy; and as he and +his ministers were men of undoubted ability, they, +notwithstanding the opposition they encountered, succeeded +in accomplishing most of their plans. Mistaken +and short-sighted though they were, it is impossible +to refrain from admiring the honesty, the courage, and +the disinterestedness, which they displayed in endeavouring +to alter the destiny of that superstitions +and half barbarous country over which they ruled.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_554" id="Page_554">[554]</a></span> +We must not, however, conceal from ourselves, that in +this, as in all similar cases, they, by attacking evils +which the people were resolved to love, increased the +affection which the evils inspired. To seek to change +opinions by laws is worse than futile. It not only +fails, but it causes a reaction, which leaves the opinions +stronger than ever. First alter the opinion, and +then you may alter the law. As soon as you have convinced +men that superstition is mischievous, you may +with advantage take active steps against those classes +who promote superstition and live by it. But, however +pernicious any interest or any great body may be, +beware of using force against it, unless the progress +of knowledge has previously sapped it at its base, and +loosened its hold over the national mind. This has +always been the error of the most ardent reformers, +who, in their eagerness to effect their purpose, let the +political movement outstrip the intellectual one, and, +thus inverting the natural order, secure misery either +to themselves or to their descendants. They touch the +altar, and fire springs forth to consume them. Then +comes another period of superstition and of despotism; +another dark epoch in the annals of the human race. +And this happens merely because men will not bide +their time, but will insist on precipitating the march of +affairs. Thus, for instance, in France and Germany, it +is the friends of freedom who have strengthened +tyranny; it is the enemies of superstition who have +made superstition more permanent. In those countries, +it is still believed that government can regenerate +society; and therefore, directly they who hold liberal +opinions get possession of the government, they use +their power too lavishly, thinking that by doing so, +they will best secure the end at which they aim. In +England, the same delusion, though less general, is far +too prevalent; but as, with us, public opinion controls +politicians, we escape from evils which have happened +abroad, because we will not allow any government to +enact laws which the nation disapproves. In Spain, +however, the habits of the people were so slavish, and +their necks had so long been bowed under the yoke,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_555" id="Page_555">[555]</a></span> +that though the government, in the eighteenth century, +opposed their dearest prejudices, they rarely ventured +to resist, and they had no legal means of making their +voice heard. But not the less did they feel. The +materials for reaction were silently accumulating; and +before that century had passed away the reaction itself +was manifest. As long as Charles III. lived, it was +kept under; and this was owing partly to the fear +which his active and vigorous government inspired, +and partly to the fact that many of the reforms which +he introduced were so obviously beneficial as to shed a +lustre on his reign, which all classes could perceive. +Besides the exemption which his policy insured from +the incessant ravages of pirates, he also succeeded in +obtaining for Spain the most honourable peace which +any Spanish government had signed for two centuries; +thus recalling to the popular mind the brightest and +most glorious days of Philip II.<a name="FNanchor_1448_1448" id="FNanchor_1448_1448"></a><a href="#Footnote_1448_1448" class="fnanchor">[1448]</a> When Charles +came to the throne, Spain was hardly a third-rate +power; when he died, she might fairly claim to be a +first-rate one, since she had for some years negotiated +on equal terms with France, England, and Austria, +and had taken a leading part in the councils of Europe. +To this, the personal character of Charles greatly +contributed; he being respected for his honesty, as well +as feared for his vigour.<a name="FNanchor_1449_1449" id="FNanchor_1449_1449"></a><a href="#Footnote_1449_1449" class="fnanchor">[1449]</a> Merely as a man, he +bore high repute; while, as a sovereign, none of his +contemporaries were in any way equal to him, except<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_556" id="Page_556">[556]</a></span> +Frederick of Prussia, whose vast abilities, were, +however, tarnished by a base rapacity, and by an incessant +desire to overreach his neighbours. Charles +III. had nothing of this; but he carefully increased +the defences of Spain, and, raising her establishments +to a war-footing, he made her more formidable than +she had been since the sixteenth century. Instead of +being liable to insult from every petty potentate who +chose to triumph over her weakness, the country had +now the means of resisting, and if need be, of attacking. +While the army was greatly improved in the +quality of the troops, in their discipline, and in the +attention paid to their comforts, the navy was nearly +doubled in number, and more than doubled in efficiency.<a name="FNanchor_1450_1450" id="FNanchor_1450_1450"></a><a href="#Footnote_1450_1450" class="fnanchor">[1450]</a> +And this was done without imposing fresh +burdens on the people. Indeed, the national resources +were becoming so developed, that, in the reign of +Charles III., a large amount of taxation could have +been easier paid than a small one under his predecessors. +A regularity, hitherto unknown, was introduced +into the method both of assessing imposts, and of +collecting them.<a name="FNanchor_1451_1451" id="FNanchor_1451_1451"></a><a href="#Footnote_1451_1451" class="fnanchor">[1451]</a> The laws of mortmain were +relaxed, and steps were taken towards diminishing the +rigidity of entails.<a name="FNanchor_1452_1452" id="FNanchor_1452_1452"></a><a href="#Footnote_1452_1452" class="fnanchor">[1452]</a> The industry of the country +was liberated from many of the trammels which had +long been imposed upon it, and the principles of free +trade were so far recognized, that, in 1765, the old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_557" id="Page_557">[557]</a></span> +laws respecting corn were repealed; its exportation +was allowed, and also its transit from one part of +Spain to another, uninterrupted by those absurd precautions, +which preceding governments had thought it +advisable to invent.<a name="FNanchor_1453_1453" id="FNanchor_1453_1453"></a><a href="#Footnote_1453_1453" class="fnanchor">[1453]</a></p> + +<p>It was also in the reign of Charles III. that the +American Colonies were, for the first time, treated according +to the maxims of a wise and liberal policy. +The behaviour of the Spanish government in this +respect, contrasts most favourably with the conduct +pursued at the same time towards our great Colonies +by that narrow and incompetent man who then filled +the English throne. While the violence of George III. +was fomenting rebellion in the British Colonies, +Charles III. was busily engaged in conciliating the +Spanish ones. Towards this end, and with the object +of giving fair play to the growth of their wealth, he +did everything which the knowledge and resources of +that age allowed him to do. In 1764, he accomplished, +what was then considered the great feat of establishing +every month a regular communication with +America, in order that the reforms which he projected +might be more easily introduced, and the grievances of +the Colonies attended to.<a name="FNanchor_1454_1454" id="FNanchor_1454_1454"></a><a href="#Footnote_1454_1454" class="fnanchor">[1454]</a> In the very next year,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_558" id="Page_558">[558]</a></span> +free trade was conceded to the West Indian Islands, +whose abundant commodities were now, for the first +time, allowed to circulate, to their own benefit, as well +as to the benefit of their neighbours.<a name="FNanchor_1455_1455" id="FNanchor_1455_1455"></a><a href="#Footnote_1455_1455" class="fnanchor">[1455]</a> Into the +Colonies generally, vast improvements were introduced, +many oppressions were removed, the tyranny of +officials was checked, and the burdens of the people +were lightened.<a name="FNanchor_1456_1456" id="FNanchor_1456_1456"></a><a href="#Footnote_1456_1456" class="fnanchor">[1456]</a> Finally, in 1778, the principles of +free trade having been successfully tried in the +American Islands, were now extended to the American +Continent; the ports of Peru and of New Spain were +thrown open; and by this means an immense impetus +was given to the prosperity of those magnificent +colonies, which nature intended to be rich, but which +the meddling folly of man had forced to be poor.<a name="FNanchor_1457_1457" id="FNanchor_1457_1457"></a><a href="#Footnote_1457_1457" class="fnanchor">[1457]</a></p> + +<p>All this reacted upon the mother country with such +rapidity, that scarcely was the old system of monopoly +broken up, when the trade of Spain began to advance, +and continued to improve, until the exports and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_559" id="Page_559">[559]</a></span> +imports had reached a height that even the authors of +the reform could hardly have expected; it being said +that the export of foreign commodities was tripled, +that the export of home-produce was multiplied fivefold, +and the returns from America ninefold.<a name="FNanchor_1458_1458" id="FNanchor_1458_1458"></a><a href="#Footnote_1458_1458" class="fnanchor">[1458]</a></p> + +<p>Many of the taxes, which bore heavily on the lower +ranks, were repealed, and the industrious classes, being +relieved of their principal burdens, it was hoped that +their condition would speedily improve.<a name="FNanchor_1459_1459" id="FNanchor_1459_1459"></a><a href="#Footnote_1459_1459" class="fnanchor">[1459]</a> And to +benefit them still more, such alterations were effected +in the administration of the law, as might enable them +to receive justice from the public tribunals, when they +had occasion to complain of their superiors. Hitherto, +a poor man had not the least chance of succeeding +against a rich one; but in the reign of Charles III., +government introduced various regulations, by which +labourers and mechanics could obtain redress, if their +masters defrauded them of their wages, or broke the +contracts made with them.<a name="FNanchor_1460_1460" id="FNanchor_1460_1460"></a><a href="#Footnote_1460_1460" class="fnanchor">[1460]</a></p> + +<p>Not only the labouring classes, but also the literary +and scientific classes, were encouraged and protected. +One source of danger, to which they had long been +exposed, was considerably lessened by the steps which +Charles took to curtail the power of the Inquisition. +The king, was, moreover, always ready to reward +them; he was a man of cultivated tastes, and he delighted<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_560" id="Page_560">[560]</a></span> +in being thought the patron of learning.<a name="FNanchor_1461_1461" id="FNanchor_1461_1461"></a><a href="#Footnote_1461_1461" class="fnanchor">[1461]</a> +Soon after his accession, he issued an order, exempting +from military service all printers, and all persons immediately +connected with printing, such as casters of +type, and the like.<a name="FNanchor_1462_1462" id="FNanchor_1462_1462"></a><a href="#Footnote_1462_1462" class="fnanchor">[1462]</a> He, also, as far as he was able, +infused new life into the old universities, and did all +that was possible towards restoring their discipline and +reputation.<a name="FNanchor_1463_1463" id="FNanchor_1463_1463"></a><a href="#Footnote_1463_1463" class="fnanchor">[1463]</a> He founded schools, endowed colleges, +rewarded professors, and granted pensions. In these +matters his munificence seemed inexhaustible, and is of +itself sufficient to account for the veneration with which +literary Spaniards regard his memory. They have +reason to regret that, instead of living now, they had +not lived when he was king. In his reign, it was +supposed that their interests must be identical with the +interests of knowledge; and these last were rated so +highly, that, in 1771, it was laid down as a settled +principle of government, that of all the branches of +public policy, the care of education is the most important.<a name="FNanchor_1464_1464" id="FNanchor_1464_1464"></a><a href="#Footnote_1464_1464" class="fnanchor">[1464]</a></p> + +<p>But this is not all. It is no exaggeration to say, that +in the reign of Charles III., the face of Spain underwent +greater changes than it had done during the hundred +and fifty years which had elapsed since the final expulsion +of the Mohammedans. At his accession, in 1759, +the wise and pacific policy of his predecessor, Ferdinand +VI., had enabled that prince not only to pay many of +the debts owed by the crown, but also to accumulate and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_561" id="Page_561">[561]</a></span> +leave behind him a considerable treasure.<a name="FNanchor_1465_1465" id="FNanchor_1465_1465"></a><a href="#Footnote_1465_1465" class="fnanchor">[1465]</a> Of this +Charles availed himself, to begin those works of public +splendour, which, more than any other part of his administration, +was sure to strike the senses, and to give +popularity to his reign. And when, by the increase of +wealth, rather than by the imposition of fresh burdens, +still larger resources were placed at his command, he +devoted a considerable part of them to completing his +designs. He so beautified Madrid, that forty years after +his death, it was stated, that, as it then stood, all its +magnificence was owing to him. The public buildings +and the public gardens, the beautiful walks round the +capital, its noble gates, its institutions, and the very +roads leading from it to the adjacent country, are all +the work of Charles III., and are among the most conspicuous +trophies which attest his genius and the sumptuousness +of his taste.<a name="FNanchor_1466_1466" id="FNanchor_1466_1466"></a><a href="#Footnote_1466_1466" class="fnanchor">[1466]</a></p> + +<p>In other parts of the country, roads were laid down, +and canals were dug, with the view of increasing trade +by opening up communications through tracts previously +impassable. At the accession of Charles III., the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_562" id="Page_562">[562]</a></span> +of the Sierra Morena was unoccupied, except by wild +beasts and banditti, who took refuge there.<a name="FNanchor_1467_1467" id="FNanchor_1467_1467"></a><a href="#Footnote_1467_1467" class="fnanchor">[1467]</a> No peaceful +traveller would venture into such a place; and commerce +was thus excluded from what nature had marked +as one of the greatest highways in Spain, standing +as it does between the basins of the Guadiana and +Guadalquivir, and in the direct course between the +ports on the Mediterranean and those on the Atlantic. +The active government of Charles III. determined to +remedy this evil; but the Spanish people not having +the energy to do what was required, six thousand Dutch +and Flemish were, in 1767, invited to settle in the +Sierra Morena. On their arrival, lands were allotted to +them, roads were cut through the whole of the district, +villages were built; and that which had just been an +impervious desert, was suddenly turned into a smiling +and fruitful territory.<a name="FNanchor_1468_1468" id="FNanchor_1468_1468"></a><a href="#Footnote_1468_1468" class="fnanchor">[1468]</a></p> + +<p>Nearly all over Spain, the roads were repaired; a +fund having been, so early as 1760, specially set apart +for that purpose.<a name="FNanchor_1469_1469" id="FNanchor_1469_1469"></a><a href="#Footnote_1469_1469" class="fnanchor">[1469]</a> Many new works were begun;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_563" id="Page_563">[563]</a></span> +and such improvements were introduced, while at the +same time, such vigilance was employed to prevent +peculation on the part of officials, that in a very few +years the cost of making public highways was reduced +to less than half of what it used to be.<a name="FNanchor_1470_1470" id="FNanchor_1470_1470"></a><a href="#Footnote_1470_1470" class="fnanchor">[1470]</a> Of the undertakings +which were brought to a successful issue, the +most important were, a road now first constructed from +Malaga to Antequera,<a name="FNanchor_1471_1471" id="FNanchor_1471_1471"></a><a href="#Footnote_1471_1471" class="fnanchor">[1471]</a> and another from Aquilas to +Lorca.<a name="FNanchor_1472_1472" id="FNanchor_1472_1472"></a><a href="#Footnote_1472_1472" class="fnanchor">[1472]</a> In this way, means of intercourse were supplied +between the Mediterranean and the interior of +Andalusia and of Mercia. While these communications +were established in the south and south-east of Spain, +others were opened up in the north and north-west. In +1769, a road was begun between Bilbao and Osma;<a name="FNanchor_1473_1473" id="FNanchor_1473_1473"></a><a href="#Footnote_1473_1473" class="fnanchor">[1473]</a> +and soon after, one was completed between Galicia and +Astorga.<a name="FNanchor_1474_1474" id="FNanchor_1474_1474"></a><a href="#Footnote_1474_1474" class="fnanchor">[1474]</a> These and similar works were so skilfully +executed, that the Spanish highways, formerly among +the worst in Europe, were now classed among the best. +Indeed, a competent, and by no means over-friendly, +judge gives it as his opinion, that at the death of Charles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_564" id="Page_564">[564]</a></span> +III. better roads were to be found in Spain than in any +other country.<a name="FNanchor_1475_1475" id="FNanchor_1475_1475"></a><a href="#Footnote_1475_1475" class="fnanchor">[1475]</a></p> + +<p>In the interior, rivers were made navigable, and +canals were formed to connect them with each other. +The Ebro runs through the heart of Aragon and part +of Old Castile, and is available for purposes of traffic as +high up as Logroño, and from thence down to Tudela. +But between Tudela and Saragossa, the navigation is +interrupted by its great speed, and by the rocks in its +bed. Consequently, Navarre is deprived of its natural +communication with the Mediterranean. In the enterprising +reign of Charles V., an attempt was made to +remedy this evil; but the plan failed, was laid aside, +and was forgotten, until it was revived, more than two +hundred years later, by Charles III. Under his auspices, +the great canal of Aragon was projected, with the magnificent +idea of uniting the Mediterranean and the +Atlantic. This, however, was one of many instances in +which the government of Spain was too far in advance +of Spain itself; and it was necessary to abandon a +scheme, to which the resources of the country were unequal. +But what was really effected, was of immense +value. A canal was actually carried to Saragossa, and +the waters of the Ebro were made available not only +for transport, but also for irrigating the soil. The +means of a safe and profitable trade were now supplied +even to the western extremity of Aragon. The old land, +becoming more productive, rose in value, and new land +was brought under the plough. From this, other parts +of Spain also benefited. Castile, for example, had in +seasons of scarcity always depended for supplies on +Aragon, though that province could, under the former +system, only produce enough for its own consumption. +But by this great canal, to which, about the same time,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_565" id="Page_565">[565]</a></span> +that of Tauste was also added,<a name="FNanchor_1476_1476" id="FNanchor_1476_1476"></a><a href="#Footnote_1476_1476" class="fnanchor">[1476]</a> the soil of Aragon became +far more productive than it had ever yet been; and +the rich plains of the Ebro yielded so abundantly, that +they were able to supply wheat and other food to the +Castilians, as well as to the Aragonese.<a name="FNanchor_1477_1477" id="FNanchor_1477_1477"></a><a href="#Footnote_1477_1477" class="fnanchor">[1477]</a></p> + +<p>The government of Charles III., moreover, constructed +a canal between Amposta and Alfaques,<a name="FNanchor_1478_1478" id="FNanchor_1478_1478"></a><a href="#Footnote_1478_1478" class="fnanchor">[1478]</a> +which irrigated the southern extremity of Catalonia, +and brought into cultivation a large district, which, +from the constant lack of rain, had hitherto been +untilled. Another and still greater enterprise belonging +to the same reign, was an attempt, only partly successful, +to establish a water-communication between the capital +and the Atlantic, by running a canal from Madrid to +Toledo, whence the Tagus would have conveyed goods +to Lisbon, and all the trade of the west would have +been opened up.<a name="FNanchor_1479_1479" id="FNanchor_1479_1479"></a><a href="#Footnote_1479_1479" class="fnanchor">[1479]</a> But this and many other noble +projects were nipped in the bud by the death of Charles +III., with whom every thing vanished. When he +passed away, the country relapsed into its former inactivity, +and it was clearly seen that these great works +were not national, but political; in other words that +they were due merely to individuals, whose most +strenuous exertions always come to naught, if they +are opposed by the operation of those general causes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_566" id="Page_566">[566]</a></span> +which are often undiscerned, but to which even the +strongest of us, do, in our own despite, pay implicit +obedience.</p> + +<p>Still for a time much was done; and Charles, reasoning +according to the ordinary maxims of politicians, +might well indulge the hope, that what he had effected +would permanently change the destiny of Spain. For +these and other works which he not only planned but +executed,<a name="FNanchor_1480_1480" id="FNanchor_1480_1480"></a><a href="#Footnote_1480_1480" class="fnanchor">[1480]</a> were not paid for, as is too often the case, +by taxes which oppressed the people, and trammelled +their industry. At his side, and constantly advising +him, there were men who really aimed at the public +good, and who never would have committed so fatal an +error. Under his rule the wealth of the country greatly +increased, and the comforts of the lower classes, instead +of being abridged, were multiplied. The imposts were +more fairly assessed than they had ever been before. +Taxes, which, in the seventeenth century, all the power +of the executive could not wring from the people, were +now regularly paid, and, owing to the development of +the national resources, they became at once more productive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_567" id="Page_567">[567]</a></span> +and less onerous. In the management of the +public finances, an economy was practised, the first +example of which had been set in the preceding reign, +when the cautious and pacific policy of Ferdinand VI. +laid a foundation for many of the improvements just +narrated. Ferdinand bequeathed to Charles III. a +treasure which he had not extorted, but saved. Among +the reforms which he introduced, and which an unwillingness +to accumulate details has compelled me to +omit, there is one very important, and also very characteristic +of his policy. Before his reign, Spain had +annually been drained of an immense amount of money, +on account of the right which the Pope claimed of +presenting to certain rich benefices, and of receiving +part of their produce; probably as a recompense for the +trouble he had taken. Of this duty the Pope was +relieved by Ferdinand VI., who secured to the Spanish +crown the right of conferring such preferment, and +thus saved to the country those enormous sums on +which the Roman Court had been wont to revel.<a name="FNanchor_1481_1481" id="FNanchor_1481_1481"></a><a href="#Footnote_1481_1481" class="fnanchor">[1481]</a> +This was just the sort of measure which would be +hailed with delight by Charles III., as harmonizing +with his own views; and we accordingly find, that, in +his reign, it was not only acted upon, but extended still +further. For, perceiving that, in spite of his efforts, +the feeling of the Spaniards on these matters was so +strong as to impel them to make offerings to him whom +they venerated as the Head of the Church, the king<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_568" id="Page_568">[568]</a></span> +determined to exercise control over even these voluntary +gifts. To accomplish this end, various devices +were suggested; and at length one was hit upon, +which was thought sure to be effectual. A royal order +was issued, directing that no person should send money +to Rome, but that if he had occasion to make remittances +there, they should pass not through the ordinary +channels, but through the ambassadors, ministers, or +other agents of the Spanish crown.<a name="FNanchor_1482_1482" id="FNanchor_1482_1482"></a><a href="#Footnote_1482_1482" class="fnanchor">[1482]</a></p> + +<p>If we now review the transactions which I have narrated, +and consider them as a whole, extending from +the accession of Philip V. to the death of Charles III., +over a period of nearly ninety years, we shall be struck +with wonder at their unity, at the regularity of their +march, and at their apparent success. Looking at them +merely in a political point of view, it may be doubted if +such vast and uninterrupted progress has ever been seen +in any country either before or since. For three +generations, there was no pause on the part of the +government; not one reaction, not one sign of halting. +Improvement upon improvement, and reform upon +reform, followed each other in swift succession. The +power of the Church, which has always been the +crying evil of Spain, and which hitherto none of the +boldest politicians had dared to touch, was restricted in +every possible way, by a series of statesmen, from Orry +to Florida Blanca, whose efforts were latterly, and for +nearly thirty years, zealously aided by Charles III., the +ablest monarch who has sat on the throne since the +death of Philip II. Even the Inquisition was taught +to tremble, and made to loosen its hold over its victims. +The burning of heretics was stopped. Torture was +disused. Prosecutions for heresy were discouraged. +Instead of punishing men for imaginary offences, a +disposition was shown to attend to their real interests, +to alleviate their burdens, to increase their comforts, +and to check the tyranny of those who were set over +them. Attempts were made to restrain the cupidity of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_569" id="Page_569">[569]</a></span> +the clergy, and prevent them from preying at will upon +the national wealth. With this view, the laws of +mortmain were revised, and various measures taken to +interpose obstacles in the way of persons who desired +to waste their property by bequeathing it for ecclesiastical +purposes. In this, as in other matters, the true +interests of society were preferred to the fictitious ones. +To raise the secular classes above the spiritual; to +discountenance the exclusive attention hitherto paid to +questions respecting which nothing is known, and +which it is impossible to solve; to do this, and, in the +place of such barren speculations, to substitute a taste +for science, or for literature, became the object of the +Spanish government for the first time since Spain had +possessed a government at all. As part of the same +scheme, the Jesuits were expelled, the right of sanctuary +was infringed, and the whole hierarchy, from the +highest bishop down to the lowest monk, were taught +to fear the law, to curb their passions, and to restrain +the insolence with which they had formerly treated +every rank except their own. These would have been +great deeds in any country; in such a country as Spain, +they were marvellous. Of them I have given an +abridged, and therefore an imperfect, account, but still +sufficient to show how the government laboured to +diminish superstition, to check bigotry, to stimulate +intellect, to promote industry, and to rouse the people +from their death-like slumber. I have omitted many +measures of considerable interest, and which tended in +the same direction; because, here, as elsewhere, I seek +to confine myself to those salient points which most +distinctly mark the general movement. Whoever will +minutely study the history of Spain during this period, +will find additional proof of the skill and vigour of +those who were at the head of affairs, and who devoted +their best energies to regenerating the country which +they ruled. But, for these special studies, special men +are required; and I shall be satisfied, if I have firmly +grasped the great march and outline of the whole. It +is enough for my purpose, if I have substantiated the +general proposition, and have convinced the reader of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_570" id="Page_570">[570]</a></span> +the clearness with which the statesmen of Spain +discerned the evils under which their country was +groaning, and of the zeal with which they set themselves +to remedy the mischief, and to resuscitate the fortunes +of what had once not only been the chief of European +monarchies, but had borne sway over the most splendid +and extensive territory that had been united under a +single rule since the fall of the Roman Empire.</p> + +<p>They who believe that a government can civilize a +nation, and that legislators are the cause of social progress, +will naturally expect that Spain reaped permanent +benefit from those liberal maxims, which now, for the +first time, were put into execution. The fact, however, +is, that such a policy, wise as it appeared, was of no +avail, simply because it ran counter to the whole train +of preceding circumstances. It was opposed to the +habits of the national mind, and was introduced into a +state of society not yet ripe for it. No reform can +produce real good, unless it is the work of public +opinion, and unless the people themselves take the +initiative. In Spain, during the eighteenth century, +foreign influence, and the complications of foreign +politics, bestowed enlightened rulers upon an unenlightened +country.<a name="FNanchor_1483_1483" id="FNanchor_1483_1483"></a><a href="#Footnote_1483_1483" class="fnanchor">[1483]</a> The consequence was, that, for a +time, great things were done. Evils were removed, +grievances were redressed, many important improvements +were introduced; and a spirit of toleration was +exhibited, such as had never before been seen in that +priest-ridden and superstitious land. But the mind of +Spain was untouched. While the surface, and as it +were the symptoms, of affairs were ameliorated, affairs +themselves remained unchanged. Below that surface,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_571" id="Page_571">[571]</a></span> +and far out of reach of any political remedy, large +general causes were at work, which had been operating +for many centuries, and which were sure, sooner or +later, to force politicians to retrace their steps, and +compel them to inaugurate a policy which would +suit the traditions of the country, and harmonize with +the circumstances under which those traditions had +been formed.</p> + +<p>At length the reaction came. In 1788, Charles III. +died; and was succeeded by Charles IV., a king of the +true Spanish breed, devout, orthodox, and ignorant.<a name="FNanchor_1484_1484" id="FNanchor_1484_1484"></a><a href="#Footnote_1484_1484" class="fnanchor">[1484]</a> +It was now seen how insecure everything was, and how +little reliance can be placed on reforms, which, instead +of being suggested by the people, are bestowed on them +by the political classes. Charles IV., though a weak +and contemptible prince,<a name="FNanchor_1485_1485" id="FNanchor_1485_1485"></a><a href="#Footnote_1485_1485" class="fnanchor">[1485]</a> was so supported in his +general views by the feelings of the Spanish nation, +that, in less than five years, he was able completely to +reverse that liberal policy which it had taken three +generations of statesmen to build up. In less than five +years everything was changed. The power of the +Church was restored; the slightest approach towards +free discussion was forbidden; old and arbitrary principles, +which had not been heard of since the seventeenth +century, were revived; the priests re-assumed their +former importance; literary men were intimidated, and +literature was discouraged; while the Inquisition, suddenly +starting up afresh, displayed an energy, which +caused its enemies to tremble, and proved that all the +attempts which had been made to weaken it, had been +unable to impair its vigour, or to daunt its ancient +spirit.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_572" id="Page_572">[572]</a></span></p> + +<p>The ministers of Charles III., and the authors of +those great reforms which signalized his reign, were +dismissed, to make way for other advisers, better suited +to this new state of things. Charles IV. loved the +Church too well to tolerate the presence of enlightened +statesmen. Aranda and Florida Blanca were both removed +from office, and both were placed in confinement.<a name="FNanchor_1486_1486" id="FNanchor_1486_1486"></a><a href="#Footnote_1486_1486" class="fnanchor">[1486]</a> +Jovellanos was banished from court, and +Cabarrus was thrown into prison.<a name="FNanchor_1487_1487" id="FNanchor_1487_1487"></a><a href="#Footnote_1487_1487" class="fnanchor">[1487]</a> For, now, work +had to be done, to which these eminent men would not +put their hands. A policy which had been followed +with undeviating consistency for nearly ninety years, +was about to be rescinded, in order that the old empire +of the seventeenth century, which was the empire of +ignorance, of tyranny, and of superstition, might be +resuscitated, and, if possible, restored to its pristine +vigour.</p> + +<p>Once more was Spain covered with darkness; once +more did the shadows of night overtake that wretched +land. The worst forms of oppression, says a distinguished +writer, seemed to be settling on the country with a new +and portentous weight.<a name="FNanchor_1488_1488" id="FNanchor_1488_1488"></a><a href="#Footnote_1488_1488" class="fnanchor">[1488]</a> At the same time, and indeed +as a natural part of the scheme, every investigation +likely to stimulate the mind, was prohibited, and an +order was actually sent to all the universities, forbidding +the study of moral philosophy; the minister, who issued +the order, justly observing, that the king did not want +to have philosophers.<a name="FNanchor_1489_1489" id="FNanchor_1489_1489"></a><a href="#Footnote_1489_1489" class="fnanchor">[1489]</a> There was, however, little fear<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_573" id="Page_573">[573]</a></span> +of Spain producing anything so dangerous. The nation +not daring, and, what was still worse, not wishing, +to resist, gave way, and let the king do as he liked. +Within a very few years, he neutralized the most valuable +reforms which his predecessors had introduced. +Having discarded the able advisers of his father, he +conferred the highest posts upon men as narrow and +incompetent as himself; he reduced the country to the +verge of bankruptcy; and, according to the remark of +a Spanish historian, he exhausted all the resources of +the state.<a name="FNanchor_1490_1490" id="FNanchor_1490_1490"></a><a href="#Footnote_1490_1490" class="fnanchor">[1490]</a></p> + +<p>Such was the condition of Spain, late in the eighteenth +century. The French invasion quickly followed; +and that unhappy country underwent every form of +calamity and of degradation. Herein, however, lies a difference. +Calamities may be inflicted by others; but no +people can be degraded except by their own acts. The +foreign spoiler works mischief; he cannot cause shame. +With nations, as with individuals, none are dishonoured +if they are true to themselves. Spain, during the present +century, has been plundered and oppressed, and +the opprobrium lights on the robbers, not on the robbed. +She has been overrun by a brutal and licentious soldiery; +her fields laid waste, her towns sacked, her villages +burned. It is to the criminal, rather than to the victim, +that the ignominy of these acts must belong. And, +even in a material point of view, such losses are sure to +be retrieved, if the people who incur them are inured to +those habits of self-government, and to that feeling of +self-reliance, which are the spring and the source of all +real greatness. With the aid of these, every damage +may be repaired, and every evil remedied. Without +them, the slightest blow may be fatal. In Spain, they +are unknown; and it seems impossible to establish +them. In that country, men have so long been accustomed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_574" id="Page_574">[574]</a></span> +to pay implicit deference to the Crown and the +Church, that loyalty and superstition have usurped the +place of those nobler emotions, to which all freedom is +owing, and in the absence of which, the true idea of +independence can never be attained.</p> + +<p>More than once, indeed, during the nineteenth century, +a spirit has appeared, from which better things +might have been augured. In 1812, in 1820, and in +1836, a few ardent and enthusiastic reformers attempted +to secure liberty to the Spanish people, by endowing +Spain with a free constitution. They succeeded for a +moment, and that was all. The forms of constitutional +government they could bestow; but they could not find +the traditions and the habits, by which the forms are +worked. They mimicked the voice of liberty; they +copied her institutions; they aped her very gestures. +And what then? At the first stroke of adverse fortune, +their idol fell to pieces. Their constitutions were broken +up, their assemblies dissolved, their enactments rescinded. +The inevitable reaction quickly followed. After each +disturbance, the hands of the government were strengthened, +the principles of despotism were confirmed, and +the Spanish liberals were taught to rue the day, in which +they vainly endeavoured to impart freedom to their +unhappy and ill-starred country.<a name="FNanchor_1491_1491" id="FNanchor_1491_1491"></a><a href="#Footnote_1491_1491" class="fnanchor">[1491]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_575" id="Page_575">[575]</a></span></p> + +<p>What makes these failures the more worthy of observation +is, that the Spaniards did possess, at a very +early period, municipal privileges and franchises, similar +to those which we had in England, and to which our +greatness is often ascribed. But such institutions, though +they preserve freedom, can never create it. Spain had +the form of liberty without its spirit; hence the form, +promising as it was, soon died away. In England, the +spirit preceded the form, and therefore the form was +durable. Thus it is, that though the Spaniards could +boast of free institutions a century before ourselves, +they were unable to retain them, simply because they +had the institutions and nothing more. We had no +popular representation till 1264;<a name="FNanchor_1492_1492" id="FNanchor_1492_1492"></a><a href="#Footnote_1492_1492" class="fnanchor">[1492]</a> but in Castile they +had it in 1169,<a name="FNanchor_1493_1493" id="FNanchor_1493_1493"></a><a href="#Footnote_1493_1493" class="fnanchor">[1493]</a> and in Aragon in 1133.<a name="FNanchor_1494_1494" id="FNanchor_1494_1494"></a><a href="#Footnote_1494_1494" class="fnanchor">[1494]</a> So, too, +while the earliest charter was granted to an English +town in the twelfth century,<a name="FNanchor_1495_1495" id="FNanchor_1495_1495"></a><a href="#Footnote_1495_1495" class="fnanchor">[1495]</a> we find, in Spain, a +charter conferred on Leon as early as 1020; and in the +course of the eleventh century the enfranchisement of +towns was as secure as laws could make it.<a name="FNanchor_1496_1496" id="FNanchor_1496_1496"></a><a href="#Footnote_1496_1496" class="fnanchor">[1496]</a></p> + +<p>The fact, however, is, that in Spain these institutions, +instead of growing out of the wants of the people +originated in a stroke of policy on the part of their +rulers. They were conceded to the citizens, rather +than desired by them. For, during the war with the +Mohammedans, the Christian kings of Spain, as they +advanced southwards, were naturally anxious to induce +their subjects to settle in the frontier towns, where they +might face and repel the enemy. With this object they +granted charters to the towns, and privileges to the +inhabitants.<a name="FNanchor_1497_1497" id="FNanchor_1497_1497"></a><a href="#Footnote_1497_1497" class="fnanchor">[1497]</a> And as the Mohammedans were gradually +beaten back from the Asturias to Granada, the +frontiers changed, and the franchises were extended to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_576" id="Page_576">[576]</a></span> +the new conquests, in order that what was the post of +danger, might also be the place of reward. But, meanwhile, +those general causes, which I have indicated, +were predetermining the nation to habits of loyalty and +of superstition, which grew to a height fatal to the +spirit of liberty. That being the case the institutions +were of no avail. They took no root; and as they were +originated by one political combination, they were destroyed +by another. Before the close of the fourteenth +century, the Spaniards were so firmly seated in the territories +they had lately acquired that there was little +danger of their being again expelled<a name="FNanchor_1498_1498" id="FNanchor_1498_1498"></a><a href="#Footnote_1498_1498" class="fnanchor">[1498]</a> while, on the +other hand, there was no immediate prospect of their +being able to push their conquests further, and drive +the Mohammedans from the strongholds of Granada. +The circumstances, therefore, which gave rise to the +municipal privileges had changed; and as soon as this +was apparent, the privileges began to perish. Being +unsuited to the habits of the people, they were sure to +fall, on the first opportunity.<a name="FNanchor_1499_1499" id="FNanchor_1499_1499"></a><a href="#Footnote_1499_1499" class="fnanchor">[1499]</a> Late in the fourteenth +century, their decline was perceptible; by the close of +the fifteenth century, they were almost extinct; and,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_577" id="Page_577">[577]</a></span> +early in the sixteenth century, they were finally overthrown.<a name="FNanchor_1500_1500" id="FNanchor_1500_1500"></a><a href="#Footnote_1500_1500" class="fnanchor">[1500]</a></p> + +<p>It is thus that general causes eventually triumph +over every obstacle. In the average of affairs, and on +a comparison of long periods, they are irresistible. +Their operation is often attacked, and occasionally, for +a little time, stopped by politicians, who are always +ready with their empirical and short-sighted remedies. +But when the spirit of the age is against those +remedies, they can at best only succeed for a moment; +and after that moment has passed, a reaction sets in, +and the penalty for violence has to be paid. Evidence +of this will be found in the annals of every civilized +country, by whoever will confront the history of legislation +with the history of opinion. The fate of the +Spanish towns has afforded us one good proof; the +fate of the Spanish Church will supply us with +another. For more than eighty years after the death of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_578" id="Page_578">[578]</a></span> +Charles II. the rulers of Spain attempted to weaken +the ecclesiastical power; and the end of all their efforts +was, that even such an insignificant and incompetent +king as Charles IV. was able, with the greatest ease, +rapidly to undo what they had done. This is because, +during the eighteenth century, while the clergy were +assailed by law, they were favoured by opinion. The +opinions of a people invariably depend on large +general causes, which influence the whole country; +but their laws are too often the work of a few powerful +individuals, in opposition to the national will. When +the legislators die, or lose office, there is always a +chance of their successors holding opposite views, and +subverting their plans. In the midst, however, of this +play and fluctuation of political life, the general causes +remain steady, though they are often kept out of +sight, and do not become visible, until politicians, inclining +to their side, bring them to the surface, and +invest them with open and public authority.</p> + +<p>This is what Charles IV. did in Spain; and when +he took measures to favour the Church, and to discourage +free inquiry, he merely sanctioned those +national habits which his predecessors had disregarded. +The hold which the hierarchy of that country possess +over public opinion has always been proverbial; but it +is even greater than is commonly supposed. What it +was in the seventeenth century, we have already seen; +and in the eighteenth century, there were no signs of +its diminution, except among a few bold men, who +could effect nothing, while the popular voice was so +strong against them. Early in the reign of Philip V., +Labat, who travelled in Spain, informs us, that when +a priest performed mass, nobles of the highest rank +deemed it an honour to help him to dress, and that they +would go down on their knees to him, and kiss his +hands.<a name="FNanchor_1501_1501" id="FNanchor_1501_1501"></a><a href="#Footnote_1501_1501" class="fnanchor">[1501]</a> When this was done by the proudest aristocracy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_579" id="Page_579">[579]</a></span> +in Europe, we may suppose what the general +feeling must have been. Indeed, Labat assures us, +that a Spaniard would hardly be considered of +sound faith, if he did not leave some portion of his +property to the Church; so completely had respect for +the hierarchy become an essential part of the national +character.<a name="FNanchor_1502_1502" id="FNanchor_1502_1502"></a><a href="#Footnote_1502_1502" class="fnanchor">[1502]</a></p> + +<p>A still more curious instance was exhibited on the +occasion of the expulsion of the Jesuits. That once +useful, but now troublesome, body was, during the +eighteenth century, what it is in the nineteenth—the +obstinate enemy of progress and of toleration. The +rulers of Spain, observing that it opposed all their +schemes of reform, resolved to get rid of an obstacle, +which met them at every turn. In France, the Jesuits +had just been treated as a public nuisance, and suppressed +at a blow, and without difficulty. The +advisers of Charles III. saw no reason why so salutary +a measure should not be imitated in their country; and, +in 1767, they, following the example which had been +set by the French in 1764, abolished this great mainstay +of the Church.<a name="FNanchor_1503_1503" id="FNanchor_1503_1503"></a><a href="#Footnote_1503_1503" class="fnanchor">[1503]</a> Having done this, the government +supposed that it had taken a decisive step +towards weakening ecclesiastical power, particularly as +the sovereign cordially approved of the proceeding. +The year after this occurred, Charles III., according to +his custom, appeared in the balcony of the palace, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_580" id="Page_580">[580]</a></span> +the festival of St. Charles, ready to grant any request +which the people might make to him, and which +usually consisted of a prayer for the dismissal of a +minister, or for the repeal of a tax. On this occasion, +however, the citizens of Madrid, instead of occupying +themselves with such worldly matters, felt that still +dearer interests were in peril; and, to the surprise and +terror of the court, they demanded, with one voice, +that the Jesuits should be allowed to return, and wear +their usual dress, in order that Spain might be gladdened +by the sight of these holy men.<a name="FNanchor_1504_1504" id="FNanchor_1504_1504"></a><a href="#Footnote_1504_1504" class="fnanchor">[1504]</a></p> + +<p>What can you do with a nation like this? What is +the use of laws when the current of public opinion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_581" id="Page_581">[581]</a></span> +thus sets in against them? In the face of such +obstacles, the government of Charles III., notwithstanding +its good intentions, was powerless. Indeed, +it was worse than powerless: it did harm; for, by +rousing popular sympathy in favour of the Church, it +strengthened what it sought to weaken. On that +cruel and persecuting Church, stained as it was with +every sort of crime, the Spanish nation continued to +bestow marks of affection, which, instead of being +diminished, were increased. Gifts and legacies flowed +in freely and from every side; men being willing to +beggar themselves and their families, in order to swell +the general contribution. And to such a height was +this carried, that, in 1788, Florida Blanca, minister of +the crown, stated that, within the last fifty years, the +ecclesiastical revenues had increased so rapidly, that +many of them had doubled in value.<a name="FNanchor_1505_1505" id="FNanchor_1505_1505"></a><a href="#Footnote_1505_1505" class="fnanchor">[1505]</a></p> + +<p>Even the Inquisition, the most barbarous institution +which the wit of man has ever devised, was upheld by +public opinion against the attacks of the crown. The +Spanish government wished to overthrow it, and did +everything to weaken it; but the Spanish people loved +it as of old, and cherished it as their best protection +against the inroads of heresy.<a name="FNanchor_1506_1506" id="FNanchor_1506_1506"></a><a href="#Footnote_1506_1506" class="fnanchor">[1506]</a> An illustration of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_582" id="Page_582">[582]</a></span> +this was exhibited in 1778, when, on occasion of a +heretic being sentenced by the Inquisition, several of +the leading nobles attended as servants, being glad to +have an opportunity of publicly displaying their obedience +and docility to the Church.<a name="FNanchor_1507_1507" id="FNanchor_1507_1507"></a><a href="#Footnote_1507_1507" class="fnanchor">[1507]</a></p> + +<p>All these things were natural, and in order. They +were the result of a long train of causes, the operation +of which I have endeavoured to trace, during thirteen +centuries, since the outbreak of the Arian war. Those +causes forced the Spaniards to be superstitious, and it +was idle mockery to seek to change their nature by +legislation. The only remedy for superstition is knowledge. +Nothing else can wipe out that plague-spot of +the human mind. Without it, the leper remains unwashed, +and the slave unfreed. It is to a knowledge +of the laws and relations of things, that European civilization +is owing; but it is precisely this in which Spain +has always been deficient. And until that deficiency +is remedied, until science, with her bold and inquisitive +spirit, has established her right to investigate all subjects,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_583" id="Page_583">[583]</a></span> +after her own fashion, and according to her own +method, we may be assured that, in Spain, neither +literature, nor universities, nor legislators, nor reformers +of any kind, will ever be able to rescue the +people from that helpless and benighted condition into +which the course of affairs has plunged them.</p> + +<p>That no great political improvement, however plausible +or attractive it may appear, can be productive of +lasting benefit, unless it is preceded by a change in public +opinion, and that every change of public opinion is +preceded by changes in knowledge, are propositions +which all history verifies, but which are particularly +obvious in the history of Spain. The Spaniards have +had everything except knowledge. They have had +immense wealth, and fertile and well-peopled territories, +in all parts of the globe. Their own country, +washed by the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and +possessed of excellent harbours, is admirably situated +for the purposes of trade between Europe and America, +being so placed as to command the commerce of both +hemispheres.<a name="FNanchor_1508_1508" id="FNanchor_1508_1508"></a><a href="#Footnote_1508_1508" class="fnanchor">[1508]</a> They had, at a very early period, +ample municipal privileges; they had independent +parliaments; they had the right of choosing their own +magistrates, and managing their own cities. They +have had rich and flourishing towns, abundant manufactures, +and skilful artizans, whose choice productions +could secure a ready sale in every market in the world. +They have cultivated the fine arts with eminent success; +their noble and exquisite paintings, and their +magnificent churches, being justly ranked among the +most wonderful efforts of the human hand. They +speak a beautiful, sonorous, and flexible language, and +their literature is not unworthy of their language. +Their soil yields treasures of every kind. It overflows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_584" id="Page_584">[584]</a></span> +with wine and oil, and produces the choicest fruits in +an almost tropical exuberance.<a name="FNanchor_1509_1509" id="FNanchor_1509_1509"></a><a href="#Footnote_1509_1509" class="fnanchor">[1509]</a> It contains the most +valuable minerals, in a profuse variety unexampled in +any other part of Europe. No where else do we find +such rare and costly marbles, so easily accessible, and +in such close communication with the sea, where they +might safely be shipped, and sent to countries which +require them.<a name="FNanchor_1510_1510" id="FNanchor_1510_1510"></a><a href="#Footnote_1510_1510" class="fnanchor">[1510]</a> As to the metals, there is hardly one +which Spain does not possess in large quantities. Her +mines of silver and of quicksilver are well known. +She abounds in copper,<a name="FNanchor_1511_1511" id="FNanchor_1511_1511"></a><a href="#Footnote_1511_1511" class="fnanchor">[1511]</a> and her supply of lead is +enormous.<a name="FNanchor_1512_1512" id="FNanchor_1512_1512"></a><a href="#Footnote_1512_1512" class="fnanchor">[1512]</a> Iron and coal, the two most useful of all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_585" id="Page_585">[585]</a></span> +the productions of the inorganic world,<a name="FNanchor_1513_1513" id="FNanchor_1513_1513"></a><a href="#Footnote_1513_1513" class="fnanchor">[1513]</a> are also +abundant in that highly favoured country. Iron is +said to exist in every part of Spain, and to be of the +best quality;<a name="FNanchor_1514_1514" id="FNanchor_1514_1514"></a><a href="#Footnote_1514_1514" class="fnanchor">[1514]</a> while the coal-mines of Asturias are +described as inexhaustible.<a name="FNanchor_1515_1515" id="FNanchor_1515_1515"></a><a href="#Footnote_1515_1515" class="fnanchor">[1515]</a> In short, nature has +been so prodigal of her bounty, that it has been +observed, with hardly an hyperbole, that the Spanish +nation possesses within itself nearly every natural production +which can satisfy either the necessity or the +curiosity of mankind.<a name="FNanchor_1516_1516" id="FNanchor_1516_1516"></a><a href="#Footnote_1516_1516" class="fnanchor">[1516]</a></p> + +<p>These are splendid gifts; it is for the historian to +tell how they have been used. Certainly, the people +who possess them have never been deficient in natural +endowments. They have had their full share of great +statesmen, great kings, great magistrates, and great +legislators. They have had many able and vigorous +rulers; and their history is ennobled by the frequent +appearance of courageous and disinterested patriots, +who have sacrificed their all, that they might help their +country. The bravery of the people has never been +disputed; while, as to the upper classes, the punctilious +honour of a Spanish gentleman has passed into a bye-word, +and circulated through the world. Of the nation +generally, the best observers pronounce them to be +high-minded, generous, truthful, full of integrity, warm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_586" id="Page_586">[586]</a></span> +and zealous friends, affectionate in all the private relations +of life, frank, charitable, and humane.<a name="FNanchor_1517_1517" id="FNanchor_1517_1517"></a><a href="#Footnote_1517_1517" class="fnanchor">[1517]</a> Their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_587" id="Page_587">[587]</a></span> +sincerity in religious matters is unquestionable;<a name="FNanchor_1518_1518" id="FNanchor_1518_1518"></a><a href="#Footnote_1518_1518" class="fnanchor">[1518]</a> they +are, moreover, eminently temperate and frugal.<a name="FNanchor_1519_1519" id="FNanchor_1519_1519"></a><a href="#Footnote_1519_1519" class="fnanchor">[1519]</a> Yet, +all these great qualities have availed them nothing, and +will avail them nothing, so long as they remain ignorant. +What the end of all this will be, and whether in their +unhappy country the right path will ever be taken, is +impossible for any one to say.<a name="FNanchor_1520_1520" id="FNanchor_1520_1520"></a><a href="#Footnote_1520_1520" class="fnanchor">[1520]</a> But if it is not taken, +no amelioration which can possibly be effected will +penetrate below the surface. The sole course is, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_588" id="Page_588">[588]</a></span> +weaken the superstition of the people; and this can +only be done by that march of physical science, which, +familiarizing men with conceptions of order and of regularity, +gradually encroaches on the old notions of perturbation, +of prodigy, and of miracle, and by this means +accustoms the mind to explain the vicissitudes of affairs +by natural considerations, instead of, as heretofore, by +those which are purely supernatural.</p> + +<p>To this, in the most advanced countries of Europe, +every thing has been tending for nearly three centuries. +But in Spain, unfortunately, education has always remained, +and still remains, in the hands of the clergy, +who steadily oppose that progress of knowledge, which +they are well aware would be fatal to their own +power.<a name="FNanchor_1521_1521" id="FNanchor_1521_1521"></a><a href="#Footnote_1521_1521" class="fnanchor">[1521]</a> The people, therefore, resting ignorant, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_589" id="Page_589">[589]</a></span> +the causes which kept them in ignorance continuing, +it avails the country nothing, that, from time to time, +enlightened rulers have come forward, and liberal +measures been adopted. The Spanish reformers have, +with rare exceptions, eagerly attacked the Church, +whose authority they clearly saw ought to be diminished. +But what they did not see is, that such diminution can +be of no real use unless it is the result of public opinion +urging on politicians to the work. In Spain, politicians +took the initiative, and the people lagged behind. Hence, +in Spain, what was done at one time was sure to be undone +at another. When the liberals were in power, they +suppressed the Inquisition; but Ferdinand VII. easily +restored it, because, though it had been destroyed by +Spanish legislators, its existence was suited to the +habits and traditions of the Spanish nation.<a name="FNanchor_1522_1522" id="FNanchor_1522_1522"></a><a href="#Footnote_1522_1522" class="fnanchor">[1522]</a> Fresh +changes occurring, this odious tribunal was, in 1820, +again abolished. Still, though its form is gone, its spirit +lives.<a name="FNanchor_1523_1523" id="FNanchor_1523_1523"></a><a href="#Footnote_1523_1523" class="fnanchor">[1523]</a> The name, the body, and the visible appearance +of the Inquisition, are no more; but the spirit which +generated the Inquisition is enshrined in the hearts of +the people, and, on slight provocation, would burst +forth, and reinstate an institution which is the effect, +far more than the cause, of the intolerant bigotry of the +Spanish nation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_590" id="Page_590">[590]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the same way, other and more systematic attacks +which were made on the Church, during the present +century, succeeded at first, but were sure to be eventually +baffled.<a name="FNanchor_1524_1524" id="FNanchor_1524_1524"></a><a href="#Footnote_1524_1524" class="fnanchor">[1524]</a> Under Joseph, in 1809, the monastic +orders were suppressed, and their property was confiscated.<a name="FNanchor_1525_1525" id="FNanchor_1525_1525"></a><a href="#Footnote_1525_1525" class="fnanchor">[1525]</a> +Little, however, did Spain gain by this. +The nation was on their side;<a name="FNanchor_1526_1526" id="FNanchor_1526_1526"></a><a href="#Footnote_1526_1526" class="fnanchor">[1526]</a> and as soon as the +storm passed away, they were restored. In 1836, there +was another political movement, and the liberals being +at the head of affairs, Mendizabal secularized all the +Church property, and deprived the clergy of nearly the +whole of their enormous and ill-gotten wealth.<a name="FNanchor_1527_1527" id="FNanchor_1527_1527"></a><a href="#Footnote_1527_1527" class="fnanchor">[1527]</a> He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_591" id="Page_591">[591]</a></span> +did not know how foolish it is to attack an institution, +unless you can first lessen its influence. Overrating the +power of legislation, he underrated the power of opinion. +This, the result clearly showed. Within a very few +years, the reaction began. In 1845, was enacted what +was called the law of devolution, by which the first step +was taken towards the re-endowment of the clergy.<a name="FNanchor_1528_1528" id="FNanchor_1528_1528"></a><a href="#Footnote_1528_1528" class="fnanchor">[1528]</a> +In 1851, their position was still further improved by the +celebrated Concordat, in which the right of acquiring, +as well as of possessing, was solemnly confirmed to +them.<a name="FNanchor_1529_1529" id="FNanchor_1529_1529"></a><a href="#Footnote_1529_1529" class="fnanchor">[1529]</a> With all this, the nation heartily concurred.<a name="FNanchor_1530_1530" id="FNanchor_1530_1530"></a><a href="#Footnote_1530_1530" class="fnanchor">[1530]</a> +Such, however, was the madness of the liberal party, +that, only four years afterwards, when they for a moment +obtained power, they forcibly annulled these arrangements, +and revoked concessions which had been made +to the Church, and which, unhappily for Spain, public<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_592" id="Page_592">[592]</a></span> +opinion had ratified.<a name="FNanchor_1531_1531" id="FNanchor_1531_1531"></a><a href="#Footnote_1531_1531" class="fnanchor">[1531]</a> The results might have been +easily foreseen. In Aragon and in other parts of Spain, +the people flew to arms; a Carlist insurrection broke +out, and a cry ran through the country, that religion +was in danger.<a name="FNanchor_1532_1532" id="FNanchor_1532_1532"></a><a href="#Footnote_1532_1532" class="fnanchor">[1532]</a> It is impossible to benefit such a +nation as this. The reformers were, of course, overthrown, +and by the autumn of 1856 their party was +broken up. The political reaction now began, and advanced +so rapidly, that, by the spring of 1857, the policy +of the two preceding years was completely reversed. +Those who idly thought that they could regenerate their +country by laws, saw all their hopes confounded. A +ministry was formed, whose measures were more in +accordance with the national mind. In May 1857, +Cortes assembled. The representatives of the people +sanctioned the proceedings of the executive government, +and, by their united authority, the worst provisions of +the Concordat of 1851 were amply confirmed, the sale +of Church property was forbidden, and all the limitations +which had been set to the power of the bishops +were at once removed.<a name="FNanchor_1533_1533" id="FNanchor_1533_1533"></a><a href="#Footnote_1533_1533" class="fnanchor">[1533]</a></p> + +<p>The reader will now be able to understand the real +nature of Spanish civilization. He will see how, +under the high-sounding names of loyalty and religion, +lurk the deadly evils which those names have always +concealed, but which it is the business of the historian +to drag to light and expose. A blind spirit of +reverence, taking the form of an unworthy and ignominious +submission to the Crown and the Church, is the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_593" id="Page_593">[593]</a></span> +capital and essential vice of the Spanish people. It is +their sole national vice, and it has sufficed to ruin +them. From it all nations have grievously suffered, +and many still suffer. But nowhere in Europe, has this +principle been so long supreme as in Spain. Therefore, +nowhere else in Europe are the consequences so +manifest and so fatal. The idea of liberty is extinct, +if, indeed, in the true sense of the word, it ever can be +said to have existed. Outbreaks, no doubt, there have +been, and will be; but they are bursts of lawlessness, +rather than of liberty. In the most civilized countries, +the tendency always is, to obey even unjust laws, but +while obeying them, to insist on their repeal. This is +because we perceive that it is better to remove +grievances than to resist them. While we submit to +the particular hardship, we assail the system from +which the hardship flows. For a nation to take this +view, requires a certain reach of mind, which, in the +darker periods of European history, was unattainable. +Hence we find, that, in the middle ages, though +tumults were incessant, rebellions were rare. But, +since the sixteenth century, local insurrections, provoked +by immediate injustice, are diminishing, and are +being superseded by revolutions, which strike at once +at the source from whence the injustice proceeds. +There can be no doubt that this change is beneficial; +partly because it is always good to rise from effects to +causes, and partly because revolutions being less frequent +than insurrections, the peace of society would be +more rarely disturbed, if men confined themselves +entirely to the larger remedy. At the same time, insurrections +are generally wrong; revolutions are +always right. An insurrection is too often the mad +and passionate effort of ignorant persons, who are impatient +under some immediate injury, and never stop +to investigate its remote and general causes. But a +revolution, when it is the work of the nation itself, is +a splendid and imposing spectacle, because to the +moral quality of indignation produced by the presence +of evil, it adds the intellectual qualities of foresight +and combination; and, uniting in the same act some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_594" id="Page_594">[594]</a></span> +the highest properties of our nature, it achieves a +double purpose, not only punishing the oppressor, but +also relieving the oppressed.</p> + +<p>In Spain, however, there never has been a revolution, +properly so called; there never has even been one +grand national rebellion. The people, though often +lawless, are never free. Among them, we find still +preserved that peculiar taint of barbarism, which makes +men prefer occasional disobedience to systematic +liberty. Certain feelings there are of our common +nature, which even their slavish loyalty cannot eradicate, +and which, from time to time, urge them to resist +injustice. Such instincts are happily the inalienable +lot of humanity, which we cannot forfeit, if we would, +and which are too often the last resource against the +extravagances of tyranny. And this is all that Spain +now possesses. The Spaniards, therefore, resist, not +because they are Spaniards, but because they are men. +Still, even while they resist, they revere. While they +will rise up against a vexatious impost, they crouch +before a system, of which the impost is the smallest +evil. They smite the tax-gatherer, but fall prostrate at +the feet of the contemptible prince for whom the tax-gatherer +plies his craft. They will even revile the +troublesome and importunate monk, or sometimes they +will scoff at the sleek and arrogant priest; while such +is their infatuation, that they would risk their lives in +defence of that cruel Church, which has inflicted on +them hideous calamities, but to which they still cling, +as if it were the dearest object of their affections.</p> + +<p>Connected with these habits of mind, and in sooth +forming part of them, we find a reverence for antiquity, +and an inordinate tenacity of old opinions, old beliefs, +and old habits, which remind us of those tropical +civilizations which formerly flourished. Such prejudices +were once universal even in Europe; but they +began to die out in the sixteenth century, and are +now, comparatively speaking, extinct, except in Spain, +where they have always been welcomed. In that +country, they retain their original force, and produce +their natural results. By encouraging the notion, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_595" id="Page_595">[595]</a></span> +all the truths most important to know are already +known, they repress those aspirations, and dull that +generous confidence in the future, without which +nothing really great can be achieved. A people who +regard the past with too wistful an eye, will never +bestir themselves to help the onward progress; they +will hardly believe that progress is possible. To them, +antiquity is synonymous with wisdom, and every improvement +is a dangerous innovation. In this state, +Europe lingered for many centuries; in this state, +Spain still lingers. Hence the Spaniards are remarkable +for an inertness, a want of buoyancy, and an +absence of hope, which, in our busy and enterprizing +age, isolate them from the rest of the civilized world. +Believing that little can be done, they are in no hurry +to do it. Believing that the knowledge they have +inherited, is far greater than any they can obtain, they +wish to preserve their intellectual possessions whole +and unimpaired; inasmuch as the least alteration in +them might lessen their value. Content with what +has been already bequeathed, they are excluded from +that great European movement, which, first clearly +perceptible in the sixteenth century, has ever since +been steadily advancing, unsettling old opinions, +destroying old follies, reforming and improving on +every side, influencing even such barbarous countries +as Russia and Turkey; but leaving Spain unscathed. +While the human intellect has been making the most +prodigious and unheard-of strides, while discoveries in +every quarter are simultaneously pressing upon us, and +coming in such rapid and bewildering succession, that +the strongest sight, dazzled by the glare of their +splendour, is unable to contemplate them as a whole; +while other discoveries still more important, and still +more remote from ordinary experience, are manifestly +approaching, and may be seen looming in the distance, +whence they are now obscurely working on the advanced +thinkers who are nearest to them, filling their +minds with those ill-defined, restless, and almost +uneasy, feelings, which are the invariable harbingers +of future triumph; while the veil is being rudely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_596" id="Page_596">[596]</a></span> +torn, and nature, violated at all points, is forced to disclose +her secrets, and reveal her structure, her economy, +and her laws, to the indomitable energy of man; while +Europe is ringing with the noise of intellectual achievements, +with which even despotic governments affect to +sympathize, in order that they may divert them from +their natural course, and use them as new instruments +whereby to oppress yet more the liberties of the +people; while, amidst this general din and excitement, +the public mind, swayed to and fro, is tossed and +agitated,—Spain sleeps on, untroubled, unheeding, +impassive, receiving no impressions from the rest of +the world, and making no impressions upon it. There +she lies, at the further extremity of the Continent, a +huge and torpid mass, the sole representative now remaining +of the feelings and knowledge of the Middle +Ages. And, what is the worst symptom of all, she is +satisfied with her own condition. Though she is the +most backward country in Europe, she believes herself +to be the foremost. She is proud of every thing of +which she should be ashamed. She is proud of the +antiquity of her opinions; proud of her orthodoxy; +proud of the strength of her faith; proud of her +immeasurable and childish credulity; proud of her +unwillingness to amend either her creed or her +customs; proud of her hatred of heretics, and proud of +the undying vigilance with which she has baffled their +efforts to obtain a full and legal establishment on her +soil.</p> + +<p>All these things conspiring together, produce, in +their aggregate, that melancholy exhibition to which +we give the collective name of Spain. The history +of that single word is the history of nearly every +vicissitude of which the human species is capable. It +comprises the extremes of strength and of weakness, +of unbounded wealth and of abject poverty. It is the +history of the mixture of different races, languages, +and bloods. It includes almost every political combination +which the wit of man can devise; laws infinite +in variety, as well as in number; constitutions of all +kinds, from the most stringent to the most liberal.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_597" id="Page_597">[597]</a></span> +Democracy, monarchy, government by priests, government +by municipalities, government by nobles, government +by representative bodies, government by natives, +government by foreigners, have been tried, and tried +in vain. Material appliances have been lavishly used; +arts, inventions, and machines introduced from abroad, +manufactures set up, communications opened, roads +made, canals dug, mines worked, harbours formed. +In a word, there has been every sort of alteration, +except alterations of opinion; there has been every +possible change, except changes in knowledge. And +the result is, that in spite of the efforts of successive +governments, in spite of the influence of foreign customs, +and in spite of those physical ameliorations, which +just touch the surface of society, but are unable +to penetrate beneath, there are no signs of national +progress; the priests are rather gaining ground than +losing it; the slightest attack on the Church rouses the +people; while, even the dissoluteness of the clergy, +and the odious vices which, in the present century, +have stained the throne, can do naught to lessen either +the superstition or the loyalty which the accumulated +force of many centuries has graven on the minds, and +eaten into the hearts of the Spanish nation.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> + +<p class="noindent">Footnotes:</p> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1164_1164" id="Footnote_1164_1164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1164_1164"><span class="label">[1164]</span></a> In the second chapter of the first volume of <i>Buckle's +History of Civilization</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1165_1165" id="Footnote_1165_1165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1165_1165"><span class="label">[1165]</span></a> ‘The low state of agriculture in Spain may be ascribed +partly to physical and partly to moral causes. At the head of the former +must be placed the heat of the climate and the aridity of the soil. Most +part of the rivers with which the country is intersected run in deep +beds, and are but little available except in a few favoured localities, +for purposes of irrigation.’ <i>M'Culloch's Geographical and Statistical +Dictionary</i>, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 708. See also <i>Laborde's Spain</i>, +London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 284, vol. v. p. 261. The relative aridity of +the different parts is stated in <i>Cook's Spain</i>, London, 1834, vol. ii. +pp. 216–219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1166_1166" id="Footnote_1166_1166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1166_1166"><span class="label">[1166]</span></a> On these droughts and famines, see <i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de +España</i>, Madrid, 1794, vol. ii. p. 270, vol. iii. p. 225, vol. iv. p. +32. <i>Conde</i>, <i>Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en España</i>, Paris, +1840, pp. 142, 149, 154, 170. <i>Davila</i>, <i>Historia de la Vida de Felipe +Tercero</i>, Madrid, 1771, folio, lib. ii. p. 114. <i>Clarke's Letters +concerning the Spanish Nation</i>, London, 1763, 4to. p. 282. <i>Udal ap +Rhys' Tour through Spain</i>, London, 1760, pp. 292, 293. <i>Spain by an +American</i>, London, 1831, vol. ii. p. 282. <i>Hoskins' Spain</i>, London, +1851, vol. i. pp. 127, 132, 152. ‘España es castigada frecuentemente con +las sequedades y faltas de lluvias.’ <i>Muriel</i>, <i>Gobierno de Carlos +III.</i>, Madrid, 1839, p. 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1167_1167" id="Footnote_1167_1167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1167_1167"><span class="label">[1167]</span></a> ‘Añádase á todo esto las repetidas pestes, y mortales +epidemias que han afligido á las provincias de España, mayormente á las +meridionales que han sido las mas sujetas á estas plagas. De estas se +hace mencion en los anales é historias muy freqüentemente; y en su +confirmacion se puede leer el tratado histórico, ó <i>epidemiológia</i> que +sobre ellas ha publicado Don Joachîn de Villalba, donde se verá con +dolor y espanto con quanta freqüencia se repetian estos azotes desde +mediados del siglo décimoquarto.’ … ‘Dos exemplos bien recientes y +dolorosos hemos visto, y conservaremos en la memoria, en los formidables +estragos que acaban de padecer gran parte del reyno de Sevilla, Cádiz, y +sus contornos, Málaga, Cartagena, y Alicante; sin contar la mortandad +con que han afligido á la mayor parte de los pueblos de ámbas Castillas +las epidemias de calenturas pútridas en el año pasado de 1805.’ … ‘Por +otra parte la fundacion de tantas capillas y procesiones á San Roque, y +á San Sebastian, como abogados contre la peste, que todavía se conservan +en la mayor parte de nuestras ciudades de España, son otro testimonio de +los grandes y repetidos estragos que habian padecido sus pueblos de este +azote. Y el gran número de médicos españoles que publicáron tratados +preservativos y curativos de la peste en los reynados de Cárlos V., +Felipe II., Felipe III., y Felipe IV., confirman mas la verdad de los +hechos.’ <i>Capmany</i>, <i>Qüestiones Criticas</i>, Madrid, 1807, pp. 51, 52; see +also pp. 66, 67; and <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion Social de los Moriscos de +España</i>, Madrid, 1857, pp. 106, 107; and the notice of Malaga in +<i>Bourgoing</i>, <i>Tableau de l'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1808, vol. iii. p. 242.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1168_1168" id="Footnote_1168_1168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1168_1168"><span class="label">[1168]</span></a> ‘Earthquakes are still often felt at Granada and along the +coast of the province of Alicante, where their effects have been very +disastrous. Much further in the interior, in the small Sierra del +Tremédal, or district of Albarracia, in the province of Terruel, +eruptions and shocks have been very frequent since the most remote +periods; the black porphyry is there seen traversing the altered strata +of the oolitic formation. The old inhabitants of the country speak of +sinking of the ground and of the escape of sulphureous gases when they +were young; these same phenomena have occurred during four consecutive +months of the preceding winter, accompanied by earthquakes, which have +caused considerable mischief to the buildings of seven villages situated +within a radius of two leagues. They have not, however, been attended +with any loss of life, on account of the inhabitants hastening to +abandon their dwellings at the first indications of danger.’ <i>Ezquerra +on the Geology of Spain</i>, in the <i>Quarterly Journal of the Geological +Society of London</i>, vol. vi. pp. 412, 413, London, 1850. ‘The provinces +of Malaga, Murcia, and Granada, and, in Portugal, the country round +Lisbon, are recorded at several periods to have been devastated, by +great earthquakes.’ <i>Lyell's Principles of Geology</i>, London, 1853, p. +358. ‘Los terremotos son tan sensibles y freqüentes en lo alto de las +montañas, como en lo llano, pues Sevilla está sujeta á ellos hallándose +situada sobre una llanura tan igual y baxa como Holanda.’ <i>Bowles</i>, +<i>Introduccion à la Historia Natural de España</i>, Madrid, 1789, 4to, pp. +90, 91. ‘The littoral plains, especially about Cartagena and Alicante, +are much subject to earthquakes.’ <i>Ford's Spain</i>, 1847, p. 168. ‘This +corner of Spain is the chief volcanic district of the Peninsula, which +stretches from Cabo de Gata to near Cartagena; the earthquakes are very +frequent.’ <i>Ford</i>, p. 174. ‘Spain, including Portugal, in its external +configuration, with its vast tableland of the two Castiles, rising +nearly 2,000 feet above the sea, is perhaps the most interesting portion +of Europe, not only in this respect, but as a region of earthquake +disturbance, where the energy and destroying power of this agency have +been more than once displayed upon the most tremendous scale.’ <i>Mallet's +Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association</i>, Report for 1858, p. 9, +London, 1858.</p> + +<p>I quote these passages at length, partly on account of their interest as +physical truths, and partly because the facts stated in them are +essential for a right understanding of the history of Spain. Their +influence on the Spanish character was pointed out, for I believe the +first time, in my <i>History of Civilization</i>, vol. i. pp. 123, 124. On +that occasion, I adduced no evidence to prove the frequency of +earthquakes in the Peninsula, because I supposed that all persons +moderately acquainted with the physical history of the earth were aware +of the circumstance. But, in April 1858, a criticism of my book appeared +in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, in which the serious blunders which I am said +to have committed are unsparingly exposed. In p. 468 of that Review, the +critic, after warning his readers against my ‘inaccuracies,’ observes, +‘But Mr. Buckle goes on to state that “earthquakes and volcanic +eruptions are more frequent and more destructive in Italy, and in the +Spanish and Portuguese peninsula, than in any other of the great +countries.” Whence he infers, by a singular process of reasoning, that +superstition is more rife, and the clergy more powerful; but that the +fine arts flourish, poetry is cultivated, and the sciences neglected. +Every link in this chain is more or less faulty. There is no volcano in +the Spanish peninsula, and the only earthquake known to have occurred +there was that of Lisbon.’ Now, I have certainly no right to expect that +a reviewer, composing a popular article for an immediate purpose, and +knowing that when his article is read, it will be thrown aside and +forgotten, should, under such unfavourable circumstances, be at the +pains of mastering all the details of his subject. To look for this +would be the height of injustice. He has no interest in being accurate; +his name being concealed, his reputation, if he have any, is not at +stake; and the errors into which he falls ought to be regarded with +leniency, inasmuch as their vehicle being an ephemeral publication, they +are not likely to be remembered, and they are therefore not likely to +work much mischief.</p> + +<p>These considerations have always prevented me from offering any reply to +anonymous criticisms. But the passage in the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, to +which I have called attention, displays such marvellous ignorance, that +I wish to rescue it from oblivion, and to put it on record as a literary +curiosity. The other charges brought against me could, I need hardly +say, be refuted with equal ease. Indeed, no reasonable person can +possibly suppose that, after years of arduous and uninterrupted study, I +should have committed those childish blunders with which my opponents +unscrupulously taunt me. Once for all, I may say that I have made no +assertion for the truth of which I do not possess ample and irrefragable +evidence. But it is impossible for me to arrange and adduce all the +proofs at the same time; and, in so vast an enterprise, I must in some +degree rely, not on the generosity of the reader, but on his candour. I +do not think that I am asking too much in requesting him, if on any +future occasion his judgment should be in suspense between me and my +critics, to give me the benefit of the doubt, and to bear in mind that +statements embodied in a deliberate and slowly-concocted work, +authenticated by the author's name, are, as a mere matter of antecedent +probability, more likely to be accurate than statements made in reviews +and newspapers, which, besides being written hastily, and often at very +short notice, are unsigned, and by which, consequently, their +promulgators evade all responsibility, avoid all risk, and can, in their +own persons, neither gain fame nor incur obloquy.</p> + +<p>The simple fact is, that in Spain there have been more earthquakes than +in all other parts of Europe put together, Italy excepted. If the +destruction of property and of life produced by this one cause were +summed up, the results would be appalling. When we moreover add those +alarming shocks, which, though less destructive, are far more frequent, +and of which not scores, nor hundreds, but thousands have occurred, and +which by increasing the total amount of fear, have to an incalculable +extent promoted the growth of superstition, it is evident that such +phenomena must have played an important part in +forming the national character of the Spaniards. Whoever will take the +trouble of consulting the following passages will find decisive proofs +of the frightful ravages committed by earthquakes in Spain alone; +Portugal being excluded. They all refer to a period of less than two +hundred years; the first being in 1639, and the last in 1829. <i>Lettres +de Madame de Villars, Ambassadrice en Espagne</i>, Amsterdam, 1759, p. 205. +<i>Laborde's Spain</i>, London, 1809, vol. i. p. 169. <i>Dunlop's Memoirs of +Spain</i>, Edinburgh, 1834, vol. ii. pp. 226, 227. <i>Boisel</i>, <i>Journal du +Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1669, 4to, p. 243. <i>Mallet's Earthquake +Catalogue of the British Association</i>, London, 1858; Report for 1853, p. +146; for 1854, pp. 26, 27, 54, 55, 57, 58, 65, 110, 140, 173, 196, 202. +<i>Swinburne's Travels through Spain</i>, London, 1787, vol. i. p. 166. +<i>Ford's Spain</i>, London, 1847, p. 178. <i>Bacon's Six Years in Biscay</i>, +London, 1838, p. 32, compared with <i>Inglis' Spain</i>, London, 1831, vol. +i. p. 393, vol. ii. p. 289–291.</p> + +<p>These authorities narrate the ravages committed during a hundred and +ninety years. From their account it is manifest, that in Spain hardly a +generation passed by without castles, villages, and towns being +destroyed, and men, women, or children killed by earthquakes. But +according to our anonymous instructor, it is doubtful if there ever was +an earthquake in Spain; for he says of the whole Peninsula, including +Portugal, ‘the only earthquake known to have occurred there was that of +Lisbon.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1169_1169" id="Footnote_1169_1169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1169_1169"><span class="label">[1169]</span></a> On the superstitious fears caused by earthquakes in Spain, +see a good passage in <i>Conde</i>, <i> Historia de la Dominacion de los +Arabes</i>, p. 155. ‘En el año 267, dia jeuves, 22 de la luna de Xawâl, +tembló la tierra con tan espantoso ruido y estremecimiento, que cayeron +muchos alcazares y magnificos edificios, y otros quedaron muy +quebrantados, se hundieron montes, se abrieron peñascos, y la tierra se +hundió y tragó pueblos y alturas, el mar se retrajo y apartó de las +costas, y desaparecieron islas y escollos en el mar. Las gentes +abandonaban los pueblos y huian á los campos, +las aves salian de sus nidos, y las fieras +espantadas dejaban sus grutas y madrigueras con general turbacion y +trastorno; nunca los hombres vieron ni oyeron cosa semejante; se +arruinaron muchos pueblos de la costa meridional y occidental de España. +Todas estas cosas influyeron tanto en los animos de los hombres, y en +especial en la ignorante multitud, que no pudo Almondhir persuadirles +que eran cosas naturales, aunque poco frecüentes, que no tenían influjo +ni relacion con las obras de los hombres, ni con sus +empresas, sino por su ignorancia y vanos temores, que lo mismo temblaba +la tierra para los muslimes que para los cristianos, para las fieras que +para las inocentes criaturas.’ Compare <i>Geddes' Tracts concerning +Spain</i>, London, 1730, vol. i. p. 89; and Mariana, who, under the year +1395, says (<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. v. p. 27): ‘Tembló la tierra en +Valencia mediado el mes de Diciembre, con que muchos edificios cayéron +por tierra, otros quedaron desplomados; que era maravilla y lástima. El +pueblo, <i>como agorero que es, pensaba eran señales del cielo</i> y +pronosticos de los daños que temian.’ The +history of Spain abounds with similar instances far too numerous to +quote or even to refer to. But the subject is so important and has been +so misrepresented, that, even at the risk of wearying the reader, I will +give one more illustration of the use of earthquakes in fostering +Spanish superstition. In 1504 ‘an earthquake, accompanied by a +tremendous hurricane, such as the oldest men did not remember, had +visited Andalusia, and especially Carmona, a place belonging to the +Queen, and occasioned frightful desolation there.’ The superstitious +Spaniards now read in these portents <i>the prophetic signs by which +Heaven announces some great calamity. Prayers were put up in every +temple,</i> &c. &c. <i>Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella</i>, Paris, +1842, vol. iii. p. 174.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1170_1170" id="Footnote_1170_1170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1170_1170"><span class="label">[1170]</span></a> <i>Buckle's History of Civilization</i>, vol. i. p. 43. See also +<i>Laborde's Spain</i>, vol. iv. p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1171_1171" id="Footnote_1171_1171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1171_1171"><span class="label">[1171]</span></a> A writer early in the eighteenth century notices ‘el gran +numero de pastores que hay.’ <i>Uztariz</i>, <i>Theorica y Practica de +Comercio</i>, 3rd ed. Madrid, 1757, folio p. 20. As to the Arabic period, +see <i>Conde</i>, <i>Historia de la Dominacion</i>, p. 244: ‘Muchos pueblos, +siguiendo su natural inclinacion, se entregaron á la ganaderia.’ Hence ‘the wandering life so congenial to the +habits of the Spanish peasantry,’ noticed in <i>Cook's Spain</i>, vol. i. p. +85, where, however, the connexion between this and the physical +constitution of the country is not indicated. The solution is given by +Mr. Ticknor with his usual accuracy and penetration: ‘The climate and +condition of the Peninsula, which from a very remote period had favoured +the shepherd's life and his pursuits, facilitated, no doubt, if they did +not occasion, the first introduction into Spanish poetry of a pastoral +tone, whose echoes are heard far back among the old ballads.’ … ‘From +the Middle Ages the occupations of a shepherd's life had prevailed in +Spain and Portugal to a greater extent than elsewhere in Europe; and, +probably, in consequence of this circumstance, eclogues and bucolics +were early known in the poetry of both countries, and became connected +in both with the origin of the popular drama.’ <i>Ticknor's History of +Spanish Literature</i>, London, 1849, vol. iii. pp. 9, 36. On the pastoral +literature of Spain, see <i>Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature</i>, +London, 1823, vol. i. pp. 123–129; and on the great number of pastoral +romances, <i>Southey's Letters from Spain</i>, Bristol, 1799, p. 336. But +these writers, not seizing the whole question, have failed to observe +the relation between the literary, physical, and social phenomena.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1172_1172" id="Footnote_1172_1172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1172_1172"><span class="label">[1172]</span></a> See the memoir by Jovellanos, in <i>Laborde's Spain</i>, vol. +iv. p. 127. This was the necessary consequence of those vindictive +attacks by which, for several centuries, both Mohammedans and Christians +seemed resolved to turn Spain into a desert; ravaging each other's +fields, and destroying every crop they could meet with. <i>Conde</i>, +<i>Dominacion de los Arabes</i>, pp. 75, 188, 278, 346, 396, 417, 418, 471, +499, 500, 505, 523, 539, 544, 551, 578, 645, 651, 658. To quote one of +these instances, late in the eleventh century: ‘La constancia de Alfonso +ben Ferdeland en hacer entradas y talas en tierra de Toledo dos veces +cada año, fué tanta que empobreció y apuró los pueblos;’ … ‘el tirano +Alfonso taló y quemó los campos y los pueblos.’ <i>Conde</i>, p. 346. As such +havoc, which was continued with few interruptions for about seven +hundred years, has done much towards forming the national character of +the Spaniards, it may be worth while to refer to <i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. iii. p. 438, vol. iv. pp. 193, 314, vol. v. pp. 92, 317, +337; and to <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1846, +vol. i. p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1173_1173" id="Footnote_1173_1173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1173_1173"><span class="label">[1173]</span></a> The unsettled chronology of the early history of Spain +appears from the different statements of various writers respecting the +duration of Arianism, a point of much more importance than the death and +accession of kings. Antequera (<i>Historia de la Legislacion Española</i>, +Madrid, 1849, p. 37) says, ‘La secta Arriana, pues, segun las epocas +fijadas, permaneció en España 125 años;’ Fleury (<i>Histoire +Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. vii. p. 586, Paris, 1758) says ‘environ 180 ans;’ +and M'Crie, generally well informed, says in his <i>History of the +Reformation in Spain</i>, Edinburgh, 1829, p. 7, ‘Arianism was the +prevailing and established creed of the country for nearly two +centuries:’ for this, he refers to Gregory of Tours. With good reason, +therefore, does M. Fauriel term it ‘une question qui souffre des +difficultés.’ See his able work, <i>Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale</i>, +Paris, 1836, vol. i. p. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1174_1174" id="Footnote_1174_1174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1174_1174"><span class="label">[1174]</span></a> In 496, the orthodox clergy looked on Clovis as ‘un +champion qu'il peut opposer aux hérétiques visigoths et burgondes.’ +<i>Fauriel</i>, <i>Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale</i>, vol. ii. p. 41. They also +likened him to Gideon, p. 66. Compare <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire +Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. vii. pp. 89, 90. Ortiz is so enthusiastic that he +forgets his patriotism, and warmly praises the ferocious barbarian who +made war, indeed, on his country, but still whose speculative opinions +were supposed to be sound. ‘Mientras Alarico desfogaba su encono contra +los Católicos, tuvo la Iglesia Galicana el consuelo de ver Católico á su +gran Rey Clodoveo. Era el único Monarca del mundo que á la sazón +profesaba la Religion verdadera.’ <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio de la Historia de +España</i>, vol. ii. p. 96, Madrid, 1796.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1175_1175" id="Footnote_1175_1175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1175_1175"><span class="label">[1175]</span></a> Thus, in 531, Childebert marched against the Visigoths, +because they were Arians. <i>Fauriel</i>, <i>Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale</i>, +vol. ii. p. 131; and in 542, Childebert and Clotaire made another attack, +and laid siege to Saragossa, p. 142. ‘No advertian los Godos lo que su +falsa creencia les perjudicaba, y si lo advertian, su obcecacion les +hacia no poner remedio. Los reyes francos, que eran católicos, les +movian guerras en las Galias por arrianos, y los obispos católicos de la +misma Galia gótica deseaban la dominacion de los francos.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, +<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. ii. p. 380, Madrid, 1850.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1176_1176" id="Footnote_1176_1176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1176_1176"><span class="label">[1176]</span></a> ‘Los Francos por el amor que tenian á la Religion +Cathólica, que poco antes abrazaran, aborrecian á los Visigodos como +gente inficionada de la secta Arriana.’ <i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, +vol. ii. p. 43. And of one of their great battles he says, p. 46, +‘vulgarmente se llamó el campo Arriano por causa de la religion que los +Godos seguian.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1177_1177" id="Footnote_1177_1177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1177_1177"><span class="label">[1177]</span></a> ‘En religion et en croyance, comme en toute chose, les +Visigoths se montrèrent plus sérieux, plus profonds, plus tenaces que +les Burgondes. J'ai dit ailleurs comment ils étaient devenus presque en +même temps chrétiens et ariens. Transplantés en Gaule et en Espagne, +non-seulement ils avaient persévéré dans leur hérésie; ils s'y étaient +affermis, affectionnés, et dans le peu que l'histoire laisse apercevoir +de leur clergé, on s'assure qu'il était austère, zélé, et qu'il exerçait +un grand empire sur les chefs comme sur la masse de la nation +visigothe.’ … ‘Les rois visigoths se croyaient obligés à de grandes +démonstrations de respect pour leur clergé arien.’ <i>Fauriel</i>, <i>Histoire +de la Gaule Méridionale</i>, vol. i. pp. 577, 578.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1178_1178" id="Footnote_1178_1178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1178_1178"><span class="label">[1178]</span></a> The abjuration of Recared took place between the years 586 +and 589. <i>Dunham's History of Spain and Portugal</i>, London, 1832, vol. i. +pp. 126–128. <i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. ii. pp. 99–101. +<i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio de la Historia de España</i>, vol. ii. p. 120. +<i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. ii. pp. 360–363; and says +Lafuente, p. 384, ‘Recaredo fué el primero que con todo el ardor de un +neófito, comenzó en el tercer concilio toledano à dar a estas asambleas +conocimiento y decision en negocios pertenecientes al gobierno temporal +de los pueblos.’ Similarly, Antequera (<i>Historia de la Legislación</i>, p. +31) is happy to observe that ‘Recaredo abjuró la heregia arriana, abrazó +decididamente la religion de Jesu-Cristo, <i>y concedió à los ministros de +la Iglesia una influencia en el gobierno del Estado, que vino à ser en +adelante, ilimitada y absoluta</i>.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1179_1179" id="Footnote_1179_1179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1179_1179"><span class="label">[1179]</span></a> ‘As for the councils held under the Visigoth kings of +Spain during the seventh century, it is not easy to determine whether +they are to be considered as ecclesiastical or temporal assemblies. No +kingdom was so thoroughly under the bondage of the hierarchy as Spain.’ +<i>Hallam's Middle Ages</i>, edit. 1846, vol. i. p. 511. ‘Les prêtres étaient +les seuls qui avaient conservé et même augmenté leur influence dans la +monarchie goth-espagnole.’ <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne</i>, +Bordeaux, 1815, p. 19. Compare <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. +ii. p. 368, on ‘la influencia y preponderancia del clero, no ya solo en +los negocios eclesiásticos, sino tambien en los políticos y de estado.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1180_1180" id="Footnote_1180_1180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1180_1180"><span class="label">[1180]</span></a> ‘But it is in Spain, after the Visigoths had cast off +their Arianism, that the bishops more manifestly influence the whole +character of the legislation. The synods of Toledo were not merely +national councils, but parliaments of the realm.’ <i>Milman's History of +Latin Christianity</i>, London, 1854, vol. i. p. 380. See also <i>Antequera</i>, +<i>Historia de la Legislación Española</i>, pp. 41, 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1181_1181" id="Footnote_1181_1181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1181_1181"><span class="label">[1181]</span></a> In 633, at a council of Toledo, the king ‘s'étant +prosterné á terre devant les évêques.’ <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire +Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. viii. p. 308, Paris, 1758.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1182_1182" id="Footnote_1182_1182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1182_1182"><span class="label">[1182]</span></a> In 688, at a council of Toledo, ‘le roi Egica y étoit en +personne; et après s'être prosterné devant les évêques, <i>suivant la +coutume</i>, il fit lire un mémoire où il leur demandoit conseil,’ &c. +<i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. ix. p. 89, Paris, 1758.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1183_1183" id="Footnote_1183_1183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1183_1183"><span class="label">[1183]</span></a> See a short but admirable summary of this part of the +Visigothic code in <i>Dunham's History of Spain</i>, vol. iv. pp. 77, 78; +perhaps the best history in the English language of a foreign modern +country. ‘In Spain, the bishops had a special charge to keep continual +watch over the administration of justice, and were summoned on all great +occasions to instruct the judges to act with piety and justice.’ +<i>Milman's History of Latin Christianity</i>, 1854, vol. i. p. 386. The +council of Toledo, in 633, directs bishops to admonish judges. <i>Fleury</i>, +<i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. viii. p. 313; and a learned Spanish +lawyer, Sempere, says of the bishops, ‘Le code du <i>Fuero Juzgo</i> fut leur +ouvrage; les juges étaient sujets à leur juridiction; les plaideurs, +grevés par la sentence des juges, pouvaient se plaindre aux évêques, et +ceux-ci évoquer ainsi leurs arrêts, les réformer, et châtier les +magistrats. Les procureurs du roi, comme les juges, étaient obligés de +se présenter aux synodes diocésains annuels, pour apprendre des +ecclésiastiques l'administration de la justice; enfin le gouvernement +des Goths n'était qu'une monarchie théocratique.’ <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Monarchie +Espagnole</i>, Paris, 1826, vol. i. p. 6, vol. ii. pp. 212–214.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1184_1184" id="Footnote_1184_1184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1184_1184"><span class="label">[1184]</span></a> ‘The terrible laws against heresy, and the atrocious +juridical persecutions of the Jews, already designate Spain as the +throne and centre of merciless bigotry.’ <i>Milman's History of Latin +Christianity</i>, vol. i. p. 381. ‘Tan luego como la religion católica se +halló dominando en el trono y en el pueblo, comenzaron los concilianos +toledanos á dictar disposiciones canónicas y á prescribir castigos +contra los idolatras, contra los judios, y contra los hereges.’ +<i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. ix. pp. 199–200. See also p. 214, +and vol. ii. pp. 406, 407, 451. <i>Prescott's History of Ferdinand and +Isabella</i>, vol. i. pp. 235, 236. <i>Johnston's Institutes of the Civil Law +of Spain</i>, p. 262. <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne</i>, vol. i. +pp. 260, 261; and <i>Southey's Chronicle of the Cid</i>, p. 18. I +particularly indicate these passages, on account of the extraordinary +assertion of Dr. M'Crie, that ‘on a review of criminal proceedings in +Spain anterior to the establishment of the court of Inquisition, it +appears in general that heretics were more mildly treated there than in +other countries.’ <i>M'Crie's</i> <i>History of the Reformation in Spain</i>, p. +83, the best book on the Spanish Protestants.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1185_1185" id="Footnote_1185_1185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1185_1185"><span class="label">[1185]</span></a> A council of Toledo in 638 orders, ‘qu'à l'avenir aucun +roi ne montera sur le trône qu'il ne promette de conserver la foi +catholique;’ and at another council in 681, ‘le roi y présenta un écrit +par lequel il prioit les évêques de lui assurer le royaume, qu'il tenoit +de leurs suffrages.’ <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. viii. p. +339, vol. ix. p. 70.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1186_1186" id="Footnote_1186_1186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1186_1186"><span class="label">[1186]</span></a> Those happy times have received the warm applause of a +modern theologian, because in them the church, ‘ha opuesto un muro de +bronce al error;’ and because there existed ‘la mas estrecha concordia +entre el imperio y el sacerdocio, por cuyo inestimable beneficio debemos +hacer incesantes votos.’ <i>Observaciones sobre El Presente y El Porvenir +de la Iglesia en España</i>, <i>por Domingo Costa y Borras</i>, <i>Obispo de +Barcelona</i>, Barcelona, 1857, pp. 73, 75.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1187_1187" id="Footnote_1187_1187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1187_1187"><span class="label">[1187]</span></a> To which they fled with a speed which caused their great +enemy, Muza, to pass upon them a somewhat ambiguous eulogy. ‘Dijo, son +leones en sus castillos, aguilas en sus caballos, y mugeres en sus +escuadrones de á pié; pero si ven la ocasion la saben aprovechar, y +cuando quedan vencidos son cabras en escapar á los montes, que no ven la +tierra que pisan.’ <i>Conde</i>, <i>Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes</i>, +p. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1188_1188" id="Footnote_1188_1188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1188_1188"><span class="label">[1188]</span></a> <i>Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella</i>, vol. i. +pp. xxxviii. 287. Lafuente (<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. iii. p. 363) +marks the epoch rather indistinctly, ‘basta ya el Duero.’ Compare +<i>Florez</i>, <i>Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas</i>, Madrid, 4to, 1761, vol. +i. p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1189_1189" id="Footnote_1189_1189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1189_1189"><span class="label">[1189]</span></a> There is a spirited account of its capture in <i>Mariana's +Historia de España</i>, vol. ii. pp. 506–513; after which Ortiz (<i>Compendio +de la Historia</i>, vol. iii. p. 156) and Lafuente (<i>Historia General</i>, +vol. iv. pp. 236–242) are rather tame. The Mohammedan view of this, the +first decisive blow to their cause, will be found in <i>Conde</i>, <i>Historia +de la Dominacion de los Arabes</i>, p. 347. ‘Asi se perdió aquella ínclita +ciudad, y acabó el reino de Toledo con grave pérdida del Islam.’ The +Christian view is that ‘concedió Dios al Rey la conquista de aquella +capital.’ <i>Florez</i>, <i>Reynas Catholicas</i>, vol. i. p. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1190_1190" id="Footnote_1190_1190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1190_1190"><span class="label">[1190]</span></a> <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes</i>, vol. i. pp. 313, 349. +<i>Conde</i>, <i>Dominacion de los Arabes</i>, pp. 656, 664. <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, +vol. v. pp. 509, 561. <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia</i>, vol. ix. +pp. 341, 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1191_1191" id="Footnote_1191_1191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1191_1191"><span class="label">[1191]</span></a> ‘According to the magnificent style of the Spanish +historians, eight centuries of almost uninterrupted warfare elapsed, and +three thousand seven hundred battles were fought, before the last of the +Moorish kingdoms in Spain submitted to the Christian arms.’ <i>Robertson's +Charles V.</i> by Prescott, London, 1857, p. 65. ‘En nuestra misma España, +en Leon y Castilla, en esta nueva Tierra Santa, donde se sostenia una +cruzada perpétua y constante contra los infieles, donde se mantenía en +todo su fervor el espiritu á la vez religioso y guerrero.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, +<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. v. p. 293. ‘Era España theatro de una +continua guerra contra los enemigos de la Fe.’ <i>Florez</i>, <i>Reynas +Catholicas</i>, vol. i. p. 226. ‘El glorioso empeño de exterminar á los +enemigos de la Fe.’ p. 453. ‘Esta guerra sagrada.’ Vol. ii. p. 800. ‘Se +armaron nuestros Reyes Cathólicos, con zelo y animo alentado del cielo; +y como la causa era de Religion para ensanchar los Dominios de la Fe, +sacrificaron todas las fuerzas del Reyno, y sus mismas personas.’ p. +801. What was called the Indulgence of the Crusade was granted by the +Popes ‘aux Espagnols qui combattoient contre les Mores.’ <i>Fleury</i>, +<i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. xviii. p. xxi., vol. xix. pp. 158, 458, +vol. xxi. p. 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1192_1192" id="Footnote_1192_1192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1192_1192"><span class="label">[1192]</span></a> ‘En aquellos tiempos [y duró hasta todo el siglo xv. y toma +de Granada] eran los obispos los primeros capitanes de los exércitos.’ +<i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. iii. p. 189. ‘Los prelados habían sido +siempre los primeros no solo en promover la guerra contra Moros, sino á +presentarse en campaña con todo su poder y esfuerzo, animando á los +demas con las palabras y el exemplo.’ Vol. v. pp. 507, 508.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1193_1193" id="Footnote_1193_1193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1193_1193"><span class="label">[1193]</span></a> <i>History of Civilization</i>, vol. i. pp. 121–130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1194_1194" id="Footnote_1194_1194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1194_1194"><span class="label">[1194]</span></a> ‘Les chrétiens avoient apporté dans les Asturies une arche +ou coffre plein de reliques, qu‘ils regardèrent depuis comme la +sauve-garde de leur état.’ … ‘Elle fut emportée et mise enfin à +Oviedo, comme le lieu le plus sûr entre ces montagnes, Père +773, l'an 775.’ <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. ix. p. 190. +This ‘arca llena de reliquias’ was taken to the Asturias in 714. +<i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. ii. p. 227; and, according to +Ortiz (<i>Compendio</i>, vol. ii. p. 182), it was ‘un tesoro inestimable de +sagradas reliquias.’ See also <i>Geddes' Tracts concerning Spain</i>, vol. +ii. p. 237, London, 1730; and <i>Ford's Spain</i>, 1847, p. 388.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1195_1195" id="Footnote_1195_1195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1195_1195"><span class="label">[1195]</span></a> ‘But no people ever felt themselves to be so absolutely +soldiers of the cross as the Spaniards did, from the time of their +Moorish wars; no people ever trusted so constantly to the recurrence of +miracles in the affairs of their daily life; and therefore no people +ever talked of Divine things as of matters in their nature so familiar +and common-place. Traces of this state of feeling and character are to +be found in Spanish literature on all sides.’ <i>Ticknor's History of +Spanish Literature</i>, vol. ii. p. 333. Compare <i>Bouterwek's History of +Spanish Literature</i>, vol. i. pp. 105, 106; and the account of the battle +of las Navas in <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne</i>, vol. i. p. +153: ‘On voulait trouver partout des miracles.’ Some of the most +startling of these miracles may be found in <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. v. p. 227; in <i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 378, 395, vol. iii. p. 338; and in <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. iii. +p. 248, vol. iv. p. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1196_1196" id="Footnote_1196_1196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1196_1196"><span class="label">[1196]</span></a> One of the most curious of these prophetic dreams is +preserved in <i>Conde</i>, <i>Dominación de los Arabes</i>, pp. 378, 379, with its +interpretation by the theologians. They were for the most part +fulfilled. In 844 ‘El Apóstol Santiago, según que lo prometiera al Rey, +fué visto en un caballo blanco, y con una bandera blanca y en medio +della una cruz roxa, que capitaneaba nuestra gente.’ <i>Mariana</i>, +<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. ii. pp. 310, 311. In 957 ‘El Apóstol Santiago +fué visto entre las hacas dar la victoria à los fieles,’ p. 382. In 1236 +‘Publicóse por cierto que San Jorge ayudó á los Christianos, y que se +halló en la pelea.’ Vol. iii. p. 323. On the dreams which foreshadowed +these appearances, see <i>Mariana</i>, vol. ii. pp. 309, 446, vol. iii. pp. +15, 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1197_1197" id="Footnote_1197_1197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1197_1197"><span class="label">[1197]</span></a> ‘Priests mingle in the council and the camp, and, arrayed +in their sacerdotal robes, not unfrequently led the armies to battle. +They interpreted the will of Heaven as mysteriously revealed in dreams +and visions. Miracles were a familiar occurrence. The violated tombs of +the saints sent forth thunders and lightnings to consume the invaders.’ +<i>Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella</i>, vol. i. p. 39. In the +middle of the ninth century, there happened the following event: ‘En lo +mas cruel de los tormentos’ [to which the Christians were exposed] +‘subió Abderramen un dia á las azuteas ó galerias de su Palacio. +Descubrió desde alli los cuerpos de los Santos martirizados en los +patíbulos y atravesados con los palos, mandó los quemasen todos para que +no quedase reliquia. Cumplióse luego la órden: pero aquel impio probó +bien presto los rigores de la venganza divina que volvía por la sangre +derramada de sus Santos. Improvisamente se le pegó la lengua al paladar +y fauces; cerrósele la boca, y no pudo pronunciar una palabra, ni dar un +gemido. Conduxeronle, sus criados á la cama, murió aquella misma noche, +y antes de apagarse las hoguerasen que ardian los santos cuerpos, entró +la infeliz alma de Abderramen en los eternos fuegos del infierno.’ +<i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. iii. p. 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1198_1198" id="Footnote_1198_1198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1198_1198"><span class="label">[1198]</span></a> Circourt (<i>Histoire des Arabes</i>, vol. i. p. 5) says, ‘Les +chrétiens qui ne voulurent pas se soumettre furent rejetés dans les +incultes ravins des Pyrénées, où ils purent se maintenir comme les bêtes +fauves se maintiennent dans les forêts.’ But the most curious account of +the state of the Spanish Christians in the last half of the eighth +century, and in the first half of the ninth, will be found in <i>Conde</i>, +<i>Historia de la Dominacion</i>, pp. 95, 125. ‘Referian de estos pueblos de +Galicia que son cristianos, y de los mas bravos de Afranc; pero que +viven como fieras, que nunca lavan sus cuerpos ni vestidos, que no se +los mudan, y los llevan puestos hasta que se los caen despedazados en +andrajos, que entran unos en las casas de otros sin pedir licencia.’ … +In <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 815, ‘no habia guerra sino contra cristianos por mantener +frontera, y no con deseo de ampliar y extender los limites del reino, ni +por esperanza de sacar grandes riquezas, por ser los cristianos gente +pobre de montaña, sin saber nada de comercio ni de buenas artes.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1199_1199" id="Footnote_1199_1199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1199_1199"><span class="label">[1199]</span></a> ‘Isabella may be regarded as the soul of this war. She +engaged in it with the most exalted views, less to acquire territory than +to reëstablish the empire of the Cross over the ancient domain of +Christendom.’ <i>Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella</i>, vol. i. p. +392. Compare <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. xxiii. p. 583, +‘bannir de toute l'Espagne la secte de Mahomet;’ and <i>Circourt</i>, +<i>Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne</i>, vol. ii. pp. 99, 109, ‘pour elle une +seule chose avait de l'importance; extirper de ses royaumes le nom et la +secte de Mahomet.’ … ‘Sa vie fut presque exclusivement consacrée à +faire triompher la croix sur le croissant.’ Mariana (<i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. v. p. 344, and vol. vii. pp. 51, 52) has warmly eulogized +her character, which indeed, from the Spanish point of view, was perfect. +See also <i>Florez</i>, <i>Reynas Catholicas</i>, vol. ii. pp. 774, 788, 829.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1200_1200" id="Footnote_1200_1200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1200_1200"><span class="label">[1200]</span></a> ‘En España los Reyes Don Fernando y Doña Isabel luego que +se viéron desembarazados de la guerra de los Moros, acordáron de echar +de todo su reyno á los Judíos.’ <i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. +vi. p. 303. A Spanish historian, writing less than seventy years ago, +expresses his approbation in the following terms: ‘Arrancado de nuestra +peninsula el imperio Mahometano, quedaba todavía la secta Judayca, peste +acaso mas perniciosa, y sin duda mas peligrosa y extendida, por estar +los Judíos establecidos en todos los pueblos de ella. Pero los Catolicos +Monarcas, cuyo mayor afan era desarraigar de sus reynos toda planta y +raiz infecta y contraria á la fé de Jesu-Cristo, dieron decreto en +Granada dia 30 de Marzo del año mismo de 1492, mandando saliesen de sus +dominios los Judíos que no se bautizasen dentro de 4 meses.’ <i>Ortiz</i>, +<i>Compendio</i>, Madrid, 1798, vol. v. p. 564. The importance of knowing how +these and similar events are judged by Spaniards, induces me to give +their own words at a length which otherwise would be needlessly prolix. +Historians, generally, are too apt to pay more attention to public +transactions than to the opinions which those transactions evoke; +though, in point of fact, the opinions form the most valuable part of +history, since they are the result of more general causes, while +political actions are often due to the peculiarities of powerful +individuals.</p> + +<p>Of the number of Jews actually expelled, I can find no trustworthy +account. They are differently estimated at from 160,000 to 800,000. +<i>Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella</i>, vol. ii. p. 148. +<i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. vi. p. 304. <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, +vol. v. p. 564. <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. ix. pp. 412, 413. +<i>Llorente</i>, <i>Histoire de l'Inquisition</i>, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p. 261. +<i>Mata</i>, <i>Dos Discursos</i>, Madrid, 1794, pp. 64, 65. <i>Castro</i>, <i>Decadencia +de España</i>, Cadiz, 1852, p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1201_1201" id="Footnote_1201_1201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1201_1201"><span class="label">[1201]</span></a> It had been introduced into Aragon in 1242; but, according +to M. Tapia, ‘sin embargo la persecucion se limitó entónces á la secta +de los albigenses; y como de ellos hubo tan pocos en Castilla, no se +consideró sin duda necesario en ella el establecimiento de aquel +tribunal.’ <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Historia de la Civilizacion Española</i>, Madrid, +1840, vol. ii. p. 302. Indeed, Llorente says (<i>Histoire de l'Inquisition +d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1817, vol. i. p. 88), ‘Il est incertain si au +commencement du 15<sup>e</sup> siècle l'Inquisition existait en Castille.’ In the +recent work by M. Lafuente, 1232 is given as its earliest date; but, ‘á +fines del siglos xiv. y principios del xv. apenas puede saberse si +existia tribunal de Inquisicion en Castilla.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. ix. pp. 204–206, Madrid, 1852. It seems therefore with +good reason that Mariana (<i>Historia</i>, vol. vi. p. 171) terms the +Inquisition of Ferdinand and Isabella ‘un <i>nuevo</i> y santo tribunal.’ See +also <i>Florez</i>, <i>Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas</i>, vol. ii. p. 799.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1202_1202" id="Footnote_1202_1202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1202_1202"><span class="label">[1202]</span></a> <i>Prescott's History of Philip II.</i>, vol. i. p. 23, London, +1857. <i>Davies' History of Holland</i>, vol. i. p. 447, London, 1841. On the +religious character of his German policy, compare <i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia +de España</i>, vol. vii. p. 330; <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. vi. pp. 195, +196.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1203_1203" id="Footnote_1203_1203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1203_1203"><span class="label">[1203]</span></a> <i>Prescott's Philip II.</i>, vol. i. p. 3; and the +continuation of <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. xxvii. p. 280. +Robertson, though praising Charles V. for this achievement, seems rather +inclined to underrate its magnitude; <i>History of Charles V.</i>, p. 246.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1204_1204" id="Footnote_1204_1204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1204_1204"><span class="label">[1204]</span></a> In the speech he made at his abdication, he said that ‘he +had been ever mindful of the interests of the dear land of his birth, +but above all of the great interests of Christianity. His first object +had been to maintain these inviolate against the infidel.’ <i>Prescott's +Philip II.</i>, vol. i. p. 8. Miñana boasts that ‘el César con piadoso y +noble ánimo exponia su vida á los peligros para extender los limites del +Imperio Christiano.’ <i>Continuación de Mariana</i>, vol. viii. p. 352. +Compare the continuation of <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. +xxxi. p. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1205_1205" id="Footnote_1205_1205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1205_1205"><span class="label">[1205]</span></a> Grotius says, 100,000; Bor, Meteren, and Paul say 50,000. +<i>Watson's History of Philip II.</i>, London, 1839, pp. 45, 51. <i>Davies' +History of Holland</i>, London, 1841, vol. i. pp. 498, 499. <i>Motley's Dutch +Republic</i>, London, 1858, vol. i. pp. 103, 104.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1206_1206" id="Footnote_1206_1206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1206_1206"><span class="label">[1206]</span></a> It is doubted, if I rightly remember, by Mr. Prescott. But +the opinion of that able historian is entitled to less weight from his +want of acquaintance with Dutch literature, where the principal evidence +must be sought for. On this, as on many other matters, the valuable work +of Mr. Motley leaves little to desire.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1207_1207" id="Footnote_1207_1207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1207_1207"><span class="label">[1207]</span></a> <i>Prescott's Philip II.</i>, vol. i. pp. 196, 197. In 1523, +the first persons were burned. <i>Motley's Dutch Republic</i>, vol. i. p. 69. +The mode of burying alive is described in <i>Davies' History of Holland</i>, +vol. i. p. 383, vol. ii. pp. 311, 312.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1208_1208" id="Footnote_1208_1208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1208_1208"><span class="label">[1208]</span></a> He died on the 21st September; and on the 9th he signed a +codicil, in which he ‘enjoined upon his son to follow up and bring to +justice every heretic in his dominions, and this without exception, and +without favour or mercy to any one. He conjured Philip to cherish the +holy inquisition as the best means of accomplishing this good work.’ +<i>Prescott's Additions to Robertson's Charles V.</i>, p. 576. See also his +instructions to Philip in <i>Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and +Seventeenth Centuries</i>, vol. i. p. 91; and on his opinion of the +Inquisition, see his conversation with Sir Thomas Wyatt, printed from +the State Papers in <i>Froude's History of England</i>, vol. iii. p. 456, +London, 1858. This may have been mere declamation; but in <i>Tapia's +Civilizacion Española</i>, Madrid, 1840, vol. iii. pp. 76, 77, will be +found a deliberate and official letter, in which Charles does not +hesitate to say, ‘La santa inquisicion como oficio santo y puesto por +los reyes católicos, nuestros señores y abuelos á honra de Dios nuestro +señor y de nuestra santa fé católica, tengo firme é entrañablemente +asentado y fijado en mi corazon, para la mandar favorecer y honrar, como +principe justo y temeroso de Dios es obligado y debe hacer.’</p> + +<p>The codicil to the will of Charles still exists, or did very recently, +among the archives at Simancas. <i>Ford's Spain</i>, 1847, p. 334. In M. +Lafuente's great work, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xii. pp. 494, 495, +Madrid, 1853, it is referred to in language which, in more senses than +one, is perfectly Spanish: ‘Su testamento y codicilo respiran las ideas +cristianas y religiosas en que habia vivido y la piedad que señaló su +muerte.’ … ‘Es muy de notar en primera cláusula [i.e.] of the codicil</p></div> +por la cual deja muy encarecidamente recomendado al rey Don Felipe que +use de todo rigor en el castigo de los hereges luteranos que habian sido +presos y se hubieren de prender en España.’ … ‘“Sin escepcion de +persona alguna, ni admitir ruegos, ni tener respeto á persona alguna; +porque para el efecto de ello favorezca y mande favorecer al Santo +Oficio de la Inquisición,”’ &c.] + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1209_1209" id="Footnote_1209_1209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1209_1209"><span class="label">[1209]</span></a> Native testimony may perhaps be accused of being partial; +but, on the other hand, Raumer, in his valuable <i>History of the +Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries</i>, vol. i. p. 22, justly observes, +that his character has been misrepresented ‘by reason that historians +have availed themselves by preference of the inimical narratives of +French and Protestant writers.’ To steer between these extremes, I will +transcribe the summing up of Charles's reign as it is given by a learned +and singularly unprejudiced writer. ‘Tortuous as was sometimes the +policy of the emperor, he never, like Francis, acted with treachery; his +mind had too much of native grandeur for such baseness. Sincere in +religion and friendship, faithful to his word, clement beyond example, +liberal towards his servants, indefatigable in his regal duties, anxious +for the welfare of his subjects, and generally blameless in private +life, his character will not suffer by a comparison with that of any +monarch of his times.’ <i>Dunham's History of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 41. +‘Clemency was the basis of his character.’ p. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1210_1210" id="Footnote_1210_1210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1210_1210"><span class="label">[1210]</span></a> ‘The Spaniards, as he grew in years, beheld, with pride +and satisfaction, in their future sovereign, the most perfect type of +the national character.’ <i>Prescott's History of Philip II.</i> vol. i. p. +39. So, too, in <i>Motley's Dutch Republic</i>, vol. i. p. 128, ‘he was +entirely a Spaniard;’ and in <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. i. +p. 155, ‘pero el reinado de Felipe fué todo Español.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1211_1211" id="Footnote_1211_1211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1211_1211"><span class="label">[1211]</span></a> <i>Prescott's Philip II.</i> vol. i. pp. 68, 210, vol. ii. p. +26. <i>Watson's Philip II.</i> p. 55. Compare <i>Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire +Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. xxxiv. p. 273.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1212_1212" id="Footnote_1212_1212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1212_1212"><span class="label">[1212]</span></a> ‘Como era tan zeloso en la extirpación de la heregía, uno +de sus primeros cuidados fué el castigo de los Luteranos; y á presencia +suya, se executó en Valladolid el dia ocho de Octubre el suplicio de +muchos reos de este delito.’ <i>Miñana</i>, <i>Continuacion de Mariana</i>, vol. +ix. p. 212.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1213_1213" id="Footnote_1213_1213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1213_1213"><span class="label">[1213]</span></a> ‘The contest with Protestantism in Spain, under such +auspices, was short. It began in earnest and in blood about 1559, and +was substantially ended in 1570.’ <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish +Literature</i>, vol. i. p. 425. See also <i>M'Crie's History of the +Reformation in Spain</i>, pp. 336, 346. Thus it was that ‘España se +preservó del contagio. Hizolo con las armas Carlos V., y con las +hogueras los inquisidores. España se aisló del movimiento europeo.’ +<i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. i. p. 144, Madrid, 1850. M. +Lafuente adds, that, in his opinion, all Christendom is about to follow +the good example set by Spain of rejecting Protestantism. ‘Si no nos +equivocamos, en nuestra misma edad se notan sintomas de ir marchando +este problema hácia su resolucion. El catolicismo gana prosélitos; los +protestantes de hoy no son lo que antes fueron, y creemos que la unidad +católica se realizará.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1214_1214" id="Footnote_1214_1214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1214_1214"><span class="label">[1214]</span></a> Before the arrival of Alva, ‘Philip's commands to Margaret +were imperative, to use her utmost efforts to extirpate the heretics.’ +<i>Davies' History of Holland</i>, vol. i. p. 551; and in 1563 he wrote, ‘The +example and calamities of France prove how wholesome it is to punish +heretics with rigour.’ <i>Raumer's History of the Sixteenth and +Seventeenth Centuries</i>, vol. i. p. 171. The Spaniards deemed the Dutch +guilty of a double crime; being rebels against God and the king: +‘Rebeldes á Dios por la heregía, y á su Principe á quien debian +obedecer.’ <i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. vii. p. 410. ‘Tratauan +de secreto de quitar la obediencia á Dios y á su Principe.’ +<i>Vanderhammen's Don Filipe el Prudente Segundo deste Nombre</i>, Madrid, +1632, p. 44 rev. Or, as Miñana phrases it, Philip ‘tenia los mismos +enemigos que Dios.’ <i>Continuacion de Mariana</i>, vol. x. p. 139.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1215_1215" id="Footnote_1215_1215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1215_1215"><span class="label">[1215]</span></a> <i>Motley's Dutch Republic</i>, vol. i. p. 229. <i>Watson's +Philip II.</i> pp. 51, 52, 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1216_1216" id="Footnote_1216_1216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1216_1216"><span class="label">[1216]</span></a> Mr. Motley, under the year 1566, says, ‘The Prince of +Orange estimated that up to this period fifty thousand persons in the +provinces had been put to death in obedience to the edicts. He was a +moderate man, and accustomed to weigh his words.’ <i>Motley's Dutch +Republic</i>, vol. i. pp. 424, 425.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1217_1217" id="Footnote_1217_1217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1217_1217"><span class="label">[1217]</span></a> <i>Watson's Philip II.</i> pp. 248, 249. Tapia (<i>Civilizacion +Española</i>, vol. iii. p. 95) says, ‘quitó la vida á mas de diez y ocho mil +protestantes con diversos géneros de suplicios.’ Compare <i>Motley's Dutch +Republic</i>, vol. ii. p. 423, and <i>Davies' History of Holland</i>, vol. i. p. +608.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1218_1218" id="Footnote_1218_1218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1218_1218"><span class="label">[1218]</span></a> <i>Davies' History of Holland</i>, vol. i. p. 567. Vanderhammen +(<i>Don Filipe el Prudente</i>, Madrid, 1632, p. 52 rev.), with tranquil +pleasure, assures us that ‘muriessen mil y setecientas personas en pocos +dias con fuego, cordel y cuchillo en diuersos lugares.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1219_1219" id="Footnote_1219_1219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1219_1219"><span class="label">[1219]</span></a> ‘El duque de Alba, obrando en conformidad á las +instrucciones de su soberano, y apoyado en la aprobacion que merecian al +rey todas sus medidas.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xiii. p. +221.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1220_1220" id="Footnote_1220_1220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1220_1220"><span class="label">[1220]</span></a> ‘It was to restore the Catholic Church that he desired to +obtain the empire of Europe.’ <i>Davies' History of Holland</i>, vol. ii. p. +329. ‘El protestó siempre “que sus desinios en la guerra, y sus +exercitos no se encaminauan á otra cosa, que el ensalçamiento de la +Religion Christiana.”’ <i>Vanderhammen's Don Filipe el Prudente</i>, p. 125. +‘El que aspiraba á someter todas las naciones de la tierra á su credo +religioso.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xv. p. 203. The +bishop of Salamanca in 1563 openly boasted ‘que son roi ne s'étoit marié +avec la reine d'Angleterre que pour ramener cette isle à l'obéissance de +l'église.’ <i>Continuation de Fleury</i>, <i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. +xxxiii. p. 331. Compare <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. vi. p. 204. ‘Este +casamiento no debió de tener otras miras que el de la +religion.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1221_1221" id="Footnote_1221_1221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1221_1221"><span class="label">[1221]</span></a> On this treaty, the only humiliating one which he ever +concluded, see <i>Prescott's Philip II.</i> vol. i. p. 104. His dying advice +to his son was, ‘Siempre estareis en la obediencia de la Santa Iglesia +Romana, y del Sumo Pontifice, teniendole por vuestro Padre espiritual.’ +<i>Davila</i>, <i>Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero</i>, Madrid, 1771, folio, +lib. i. p. 29. According to another writer, ‘La ultima palabra que le +salió con el espiritu, fue: “Yo muero como Catolico Christiano en la Fe +y obediencia de la Iglesia Romana, y respeto al Papa, como á quien trae +en sus manos las llaues del Cielo, como á Principe de la Iglesia, y +Teniente de Dios sobre el imperio de las almas.”’ <i>Vanderhammen</i>, <i>Don +Filipe el Prudente</i>, p. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1222_1222" id="Footnote_1222_1222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1222_1222"><span class="label">[1222]</span></a> Elizabeth, uniting the three terrible qualities of heresy, +power, and ability, was obnoxious to the Spaniards to an almost +incredible degree, and there never was a more thoroughly national +enterprise than the fitting out of the Armada against her. One or two +passages from a grave historian, will illustrate the feelings with which +she was regarded even after her death, and will assist the reader in +forming an opinion respecting the state of the Spanish mind. ‘Isabel, ó +Jezabel, Reyna de Inglaterra, heretica Calvinista, y la mayor +perseguidora que ha tenido la sangre de Jesu-Christo y los hijos de la +Iglesia.’ <i>Davila</i>, <i>Historia de Felipe Tercero</i>, p. 74. ‘Los sucesos de +fuera causaron admiracion; y el mayor y muy esperado de toda la +Christiandad fue la muerte de Isabela, Reyna de Inglaterra, heretica +Calvinista, que hizo su nombre famoso con la infamia de su vida, y +perseguir á la Iglesia, derramando la sangre de los Santos, que +defendian la verdadera Religion Catolica, dexando registradas sus +maldades en las historias públicas del mundo, pasando su alma á coger el +desdichado fruto de su obstinada soberbia en las penas del Infierno, +donde conoce con el castigo perpetuo el engaño de su vida.’ pp. 83, 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1223_1223" id="Footnote_1223_1223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1223_1223"><span class="label">[1223]</span></a> One of the most eminent of living historians well says, +‘It was Philip's enthusiasm to embody the wrath of God against heretics.’ +<i>Motley's Dutch Republic</i>, vol. ii. p. 155. ‘Philip lived but to enforce +what he chose to consider the will of God.’ p. 285.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1224_1224" id="Footnote_1224_1224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1224_1224"><span class="label">[1224]</span></a> ‘Personne vivante ne parloit à lui qu'à genoux, et disoit +pour son excuse à cela qu'estant petit de corps, chacun eust paru plus +eslevé que lui, outre qu'il sçavoit que les Espagnols estoient d'humeur +si altiere et hautaine, qu'il estoit besoin qu'il les traittast de cette +façon; et pour ce mesme ne se laissoit voir que peu souvent du peuple, +n'y mesme des grands, sinon aux jours solemnels, et action +necessaire, en cette façon? il faisoit ses commandemens à demy mot, +et falloit que l'on devinast le reste, et que l'on ne manquast à +bien accomplir toutes ses intentions; mesmes les gentilshommes de sa +chambre, et autres qui approchoient plus près de sa personne, n'eussent +osé parler devant luy s'il ne leur eust commandé, se tenant un tout seul +à la fois près de la porte du lieu où il estoit, et demeurant nud teste +incessamment, et appuyé contra une tapisserie, pour attendre et recevoir +ses commandemens.’ <i>Mémoires de Cheverny</i>, pp. 352, 353, in <i>Petitot's +Collection des Mémoires</i>, vol. xxxvi. Paris, 1823.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1225_1225" id="Footnote_1225_1225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1225_1225"><span class="label">[1225]</span></a> These are the words of Contarini, as given in <i>Ranke's +Ottoman and Spanish Empires</i>, London, 1843, p. 33. Sismondi, though +unacquainted with this passage, observes in his <i>Literature of the South +of Europe</i>, vol. ii. p. 273, London, 1846, that Philip, though ‘little +entitled to praise, has yet been always regarded with enthusiasm by the +Spaniards.’ About half a century after his death, Sommerdyck visited +Spain, and in his curious account of that country he tells us that +Philip was called ‘le Salomon de son siècle.’ <i>Aarsens de Sommerdyck</i>, +<i>Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1665, 4to, pp. 63, 95. See also <i>Yañez</i>, +<i>Memorias para la Historia de Felipe III.</i>, Madrid, 1723, p. 294. ‘El +gran Felipe, aquel Sabio Salomon.’ Another writer likens him to Numa. +‘Hacia grandes progresos la piedad, á la qual se dedicaba tanto el Rey +Don Felipe, que parecia su reynado en España lo que en Roma el de Numa, +despues de Rómulo.’ <i>Miñana Continuacion de Mariana</i>, vol. ix. p. 241. +When he died, ‘celebradas sus exêquias entre lágrimas y gemidos.’ vol. +x. pp. 259, 260. We further learn from <i>Vanderhammen's Filipe Segundo</i>, +Madrid, 1632, p. 120 rev., that the people ascribed to him ‘una grandeza +adorable, y alguna cosa mas que las ordinarias á los demas hombres.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1226_1226" id="Footnote_1226_1226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1226_1226"><span class="label">[1226]</span></a> ‘Habits of reverence, which, if carried into religion, +cause superstition, and if carried into politics, cause despotism.’ +<i>Buckle's Hist. of Civilization</i>, vol. ii. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1227_1227" id="Footnote_1227_1227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1227_1227"><span class="label">[1227]</span></a> ‘More ballads are connected with Spanish history than with +any other, and, in general, they are better. The most striking +peculiarity of the whole mass is, perhaps, to be found in the degree in +which it expresses the national character. Loyalty is constantly +prominent. The Lord of Butrago sacrifices his own life to save that of +his sovereign,’ &c. <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. i. +p. 133. ‘In the implicit obedience of the old Spanish knight, the order +of the king was paramount to every consideration, even in the case of +friendship and love. This code of obedience has passed into a +proverb—“mas pesa el Rey que la sangre,”’ <i>Ford's Spain</i>, p. 183. +Compare the admirable little work of Mr. Lewes, <i>The Spanish Drama</i>, +London, 1846, p. 120, ‘ballads full of war, loyalty, and love.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1228_1228" id="Footnote_1228_1228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1228_1228"><span class="label">[1228]</span></a> See some interesting remarks in M. Tapia's <i>Civilizacion +Española</i>, vol. i. He observes that, though cruelly persecuted by +Alfonso, the first thing done by the Cid, after gaining a great victory, +was to order one of his captains ‘para que lleve al rey Alfonso treinta +caballos árabes bien ensillados, con sendas espadas pendientes de los +arzones en señal de homenage, á <i>pesar del agravio que habia recibido</i>.’ +p. 274. And at p. 280, ‘comedido y obediente súbdito á un rey que tan +mal le habia tratado.’ Southey (<i>Chronicle of the Cid</i>, p. 268) notices +with surprise that the Cid is represented in the old chronicles as +‘offering to kiss the feet of the king.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1229_1229" id="Footnote_1229_1229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1229_1229"><span class="label">[1229]</span></a> ‘Le xvi<sup>e</sup> Concile de Tolède appelait les rois “vicaires de +Dieu et du Christ;” et rien n'est plus fréquent dans les conciles de +cette époque que leurs exhortations aux peuples pour l'observation du +serment de fidélité á leur roi, et leurs anathêmes contre les +séditieux.’ <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. i. p. 41. ‘Aparte de +los asuntos de derecho civil y canonico y de otros varios que dicen +relacion al gobierno de la iglesia, sobre los cuales se contienen en +todos ellos disposiciones muy útiles y acertadas, la mayor parte de las +leyes dictadas en estas asambleas tuvieron por objeto dar fuerza y +estabilidad al poder real, proclamando su inviolabilidad y estableciendo +graves penas contra los infractores; condenar las heregías,’ &c. +<i>Antequera</i>, <i>Historia de la Legislacion Española</i>, p. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1230_1230" id="Footnote_1230_1230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1230_1230"><span class="label">[1230]</span></a> ‘Loyalty to a superior is carried to a more atrocious +length by the Spanish law than I have seen it elsewhere.’ … ‘The +<i>Partidas</i> (P. 2, T. 13, L. 1) speaks of an old law whereby any man who +openly wished to see the King dead, was condemned to death, and the loss +of all that he had. The utmost mercy to be shown him was to spare his +life and pluck out his eyes, that he might never see with them what he +had desired. To defame the King is declared as great a crime as to kill +him, and in like manner to be punished. The utmost mercy that could be +allowed was to cut out the offender's tongue. P. 2, T. 13, L. 4.’ +<i>Southey's Chronicle of the Cid</i>, p. 442. Compare <i>Johnston's Civil Law +of Spain</i>, London, 1825, p. 269, on ‘Blasphemers of the King.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1231_1231" id="Footnote_1231_1231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1231_1231"><span class="label">[1231]</span></a> Thus, Montalvan, the eminent poet and dramatist, who was +born in 1602, ‘avoided, we are told, representing rebellion on the +stage, lest he should seem to encourage it.’ <i>Ticknor's History of +Spanish Literature</i>, vol. ii. p. 283. A similar spirit is exhibited in +the plays of Calderon and of Lope de Vega. On the ‘Castilian loyalty’ +evinced in one of Calderon's comedies, see <i>Hallam's Literature of +Europe</i>, 2d edit. London, 1843, vol. iii. p. 63; and as to Lope, see +<i>Lewes on the Spanish Drama</i>, p. 78.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1232_1232" id="Footnote_1232_1232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1232_1232"><span class="label">[1232]</span></a> ‘His Majesty's horses could never be used by any other +person. One day, while Philip IV. was going in procession to the church +of Our Lady of Atocha, the Duke of Medina-de-las-Torres offered to +present him with a beautiful steed which belonged to him, and which was +accounted the finest in Madrid; but the King declined the gift, because +he should regret to render so noble an animal ever after useless.’' +<i>Dunlop's Memoirs</i>, vol. ii. p. 372. Madame d'Aulnoy, who travelled in +Spain in 1679, and who, from her position, had access to the best +sources of information, was told of this piece of etiquette. ‘L'on m'a +dit que lors que le Roy s'est servy d'un cheval, personne par respect ne +le monte jamais.’ <i>D'Aulnoy</i>, <i>Relation du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Lyon, +1693, vol. ii. p. 40. In the middle of the eighteenth century, I find +another notice of this loyal custom, which, likely enough, is still a +tradition in the Spanish stables. ‘If the king has once honoured a Pad +so much as to cross his back, it is never to be used again by anybody +else.’ <i>A Tour through Spain</i>, <i>by Udal ap Rhys</i>, 2d edit. London, 1760, +p. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1233_1233" id="Footnote_1233_1233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1233_1233"><span class="label">[1233]</span></a> Madame d'Aulnoy, who was very inquisitive respecting these +matters, says (<i>Relation du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, vol. ii. p. 411), ‘Il y a +une autre étiquette, c'est qu'après que le Roi a eu une Maitresse, s'il +vient à la quitter, il faut qu'elle se fasse Religieuse, comme je vous +l'ai déjà écrit; et l'on m'a conté que le feu Roi s'estant amoureux +d'une Dame du Palais, il fut un soir fraper doucement à la porte de sa +chambre. Comme elle comprit que c'estoit lui, elle ne voulut pas lui +ouvrir, et elle se contenta de lui dire au travers de la porte, <i>Baya, +baya, con Dios, no quiero ser monja</i>; c'est à dire, “Allez allez, Dieu +vous conduise, je n'ai pas envie d'estre Religieuse.”’ So too +Henry IV. of Castile, who came to the throne in the year 1454, made one +of his mistresses ‘abbess of a convent in Toledo;’ in this case to the +general scandal, because, says Mr. Prescott, he first expelled ‘her +predecessor, a lady of noble rank and irreproachable character.’ +<i>Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella</i>, vol. i. p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1234_1234" id="Footnote_1234_1234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1234_1234"><span class="label">[1234]</span></a> There is, however, one very remarkable old law, in the +form of a canon enacted by the third Council of Saragossa, which orders +that the royal widows ‘seront obligées à prendre l'habit de religieuses, +et à s'enfermer dans un monastère pour le reste de leur vie.’ <i>Fleury</i>, +<i>Histoire Ecclésiastique</i>, vol. ix. p. 104. In 1065 Ferdinand I. died; +and, says the biographer of the Spanish Queens, ‘La Reyna sobrevivió: y +parece, que muerto su marido, entró en algun Monasterio; lo que +expressamos no tanto por <i>la costumbre antigua</i>, quanto por constar en +la Memoria referida de la Iglesia de Leon, el dictado de ‘Consagrada á +Dios,’ frasse que denota estado Religioso.’ <i>Florez</i>, <i>Memorias de las +Reynas Catholicas</i>, Madrid, 1761, 4to, vol. i. p. 148. In 1667 it was a +settled principle that ‘les reines d'Espagne n'en sortent point. Le +couvent de <i>las Señoras descalças reales</i> est fondé afin que les reines +veuves s'y enferment.’ <i>Discours du Comte de Castrillo à la Reine +d'Espagne</i>, in <i>Mignet's Négociations relatives à la Succession +d'Espagne</i>, vol. ii. p. 604, Paris, 1835, 4to. This valuable work +consists for the most part of documents previously unpublished, many of +which are taken from the archives at Simancas. To the critical +historian, it would have been more useful if the original Spanish had +been given.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1235_1235" id="Footnote_1235_1235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1235_1235"><span class="label">[1235]</span></a> See some good remarks on San Phelipe, in <i>Ticknor's +History of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. iii. pp. 213, 214, which might +easily be corroborated by other testimony; as, for instance, Lafuente +under the year 1710: ‘Ni el abandono de la Francia, ni la prolongacion y +los azares de la guerra, ni los sacrificios pecuniarios y personales de +tantos años, nada bastaba á entibiar el amor de los castellanos á su rey +Felipe V.’ (<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xviii. p. 258); and Berwick +(<i>Mémoires</i>, vol. ii. p. 114, edit. Paris, 1778): ‘La fidélité inouie +des Espagnols;’ and, nine years earlier, a letter from Louville to +Torcy: ‘Le mot révolte, pris dans une acception rigoureuse, n'a pas de +sens en Espagne.’ <i>Louville</i>, <i>Mémoires sur l'établissement de la Maison de Bourbon en Espagne</i>, edit. Paris, +1818, vol. i. p. 128. See also <i>Memoirs of Ripperda</i>, London, 1740, p. +58; and <i>Mémoires de Gramont</i>, vol. ii. p. 77, edit. Petitot, Paris, +1827. All these passages illustrate Spanish loyalty in the eighteenth +century, except the reference to Gramont, which concerns the +seventeenth, and which should be compared with the following +observations of Madame D'Aulnoy, who writes from Madrid in 1679: +‘Quelques richesses qu'ayent les grands Seigneurs, quelque grande que +soit leur fierté ou leur présomption, ils obéïssent aux moindres ordres +du Roy, avec une exactitude et un respect que l'on ne peut assez loüer. +Sur le premier ordre ils partent, ils reviennent, ils vont en prison, ou +en exil, sans se plaindre. Il ne se peut trouver une soûmission, et une +obéïssance plus parfaite, ni un amour plus sincère, que celui des +Espagnols pour leur Roi. Ce nom leur est sacré, et pour réduire le +peuple à tout ce que l'on souhaite, il suffit de dire, “Le Roi le +veut.”’ <i>D'Aulnoy</i>, <i>Voyage</i>, vol. ii. pp. 256, 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1236_1236" id="Footnote_1236_1236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1236_1236"><span class="label">[1236]</span></a> ‘And Olivarez had been heard to censure very severely the +duke's (Buckingham's) familiarity and want of respect towards the +prince, a crime monstrous to the Spaniard.’ … ‘Their submissive +reverence to their princes being a vital part of their religion.’ +<i>Clarendon's History of the Rebellion</i>, ed. Oxford, 1843, p. 15. For the +religion of loyalty, in an earlier period, see <i>Florez</i>, <i>Reynas +Catholicas</i>, vol. i. p. 421: ‘La persona del Rey fue mirada de sus +fieles vassallos con respeto tan sagrado,’ that resistance was ‘una +especie de sacrilegio.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1237_1237" id="Footnote_1237_1237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1237_1237"><span class="label">[1237]</span></a> These impediments to intercourse were once deemed almost +invincible. Fontenay-Mareuil, who visited Spain in 1612, and was not a +little proud of the achievement, says, ‘Au reste, parcequ'on ne va pas +aussy ordinairement en Espagne qu'en France, en Italie et ailleurs; et +qu'estant comme en un coin, et séparée du reste du monde par la mer ou +par les Pyrénées, on n'en a, ce me semble, guere de connoissance, j'ay +pense que je devois faire icy une petite digression pour dire ce que +j'en ay appris dans ce voyage et despuis.’ <i>Mémoires de +Fontenay-Mareuil</i>, in <i>Collection des Mémoires par Petitot</i>, vol. i. p. +169, 1<sup>e</sup> Série, Paris, 1826. Seventy years later, another +writer on Spain says of the Pyrenees, ‘Ces montagnes sont à nos +voyageurs modernes, ce qu'étoit aux anciens mariniers le <i>Non plus +ultra</i> et les colomnes du grand Hercule.’ <i>L'Estat de l'Espagne</i>, +Geneve, 1681 Epistre, p. ii. This work, little known and not much worth +knowing, forms the third volume of <i>Le Prudent Voyageur</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1238_1238" id="Footnote_1238_1238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1238_1238"><span class="label">[1238]</span></a> ‘Con razon se miró la conquista de Granada, no como un +acontecimiento puramente español, sino como un suceso que interesaba al +mundo. Con razon tambien se regocijó toda la cristiandad. Hacia medio +siglo que otros mahometanos se habian apoderado de Constantinopla; la +caida de la capital y del imperio bizantino en poder de los turcos habia +llenado de terror á la Europa; pero la Europa se consoló al saber que en +España habia concluido la dominacion de los musulmanes.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, +<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xi. p. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1239_1239" id="Footnote_1239_1239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1239_1239"><span class="label">[1239]</span></a> ‘L'Espagne, long-temps partagée en plusieurs états, et +comme étrangère au reste de l'Europe, devint tout-à-coup une puissance +redoutable, faisant pencher pour elle la balance de la politique.’ +<i>Koch</i>, <i>Tableau des Révolutions de l'Europe</i>, Paris, 1823, vol. i. p. +362. On the relation between this and some changes in literature which +corresponded to it, see <i>Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature</i>, +vol. i. pp. 148–152, where there are some ingenious, though perhaps +scarcely tenable, speculations.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1240_1240" id="Footnote_1240_1240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1240_1240"><span class="label">[1240]</span></a> ‘The holy war with the infidels’ (Mohammedans) +‘perpetuated the unbecoming spectacle of militant ecclesiastics among +the Spaniards, to a still later period, and long after it had +disappeared from the rest of civilized Europe.’ <i>Prescott's History of +Ferdinand and Isabella</i>, vol. i. p. 162.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1241_1241" id="Footnote_1241_1241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1241_1241"><span class="label">[1241]</span></a> A learned Spanish lawyer has made some remarks which are +worth quoting, and which contain a curious mixture of truth and error: +‘Comment la monarchie espagnole fut-elle déchue de tant de grandeur et +de gloire? Comment perdit-elle les Pays-Bas et le Portugal dans le +dix-septième siècle, et s'y trouva-t-elle réduite à n'être qu'un +squelette de ce qu'elle avait été auparavant? Comment vit-elle +disparaître plus d'une moitié de sa population? Comment, possédant les +mines inépuisables du Nouveau Monde, les revenus de l'état n'étaient à +peine que de six millions de ducats sous le règne de Philippe III? +Comment son agriculture et son industrie furent-elles ruinées? et +comment presque tout son commerce passa-t-il dans les mains de ses plus +grands ennemis? Ce n'est point ici le lieu d'examiner les véritables +causes d'une métamorphose si triste; il suffira d'indiquer <i>que tous les +grands empires contiennent en euxmêmes le germe de leur dissolution</i>,’ +&c. ‘D'ailleurs les successeurs de ces deux monarques’ (Charles V. and +Philip II.) ‘n'eurent point les mêmes talens, ni les ducs de Lerme et +d'Olivarès, leurs ministres, ceux du cardinal Cisneros; et il est +difficile de calculer l'influence de la bonne ou de la mauvaise +direction des affaires sur la prospérité ou les malheurs des nations. +Sous une même forme de gouvernement, quel qu'il puisse être, <i>elles +tombent ou se relèvent suivant la capacité des hommes qui les dirigent</i>, +et d'après les circonstances où ils agissent.’ <i>Sempère</i>, <i>Histoire des +Cortès</i>, Bordeaux, 1815, pp. 265–267. Of the two passages which I have +marked with italics, the first is a clumsy, though common, attempt to +explain complicated phenomena by a metaphor which saves the trouble of +generalizing their laws. The other passage, though perfectly true as +regards Spain, does not admit of that universal application which M. +Sempere supposes; inasmuch as in England, and in the United States of +America, national prosperity has steadily advanced, even when the rulers +have been very incapable men.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1242_1242" id="Footnote_1242_1242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1242_1242"><span class="label">[1242]</span></a> ‘With Philip II. ends the greatness of the kingdom, which +from that period declined with fearful rapidity.’ <i>Dunham's History of +Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 87. And Ortiz (<i>Compendio</i>, vol. vii., Prologo, p. 6) +classes together ‘la muerte de Felipe II. y principios de nuestra +decadencia.’ The same judicious historian elsewhere observes (vol. vi. +p. 211), that if Philip III. had been equal to his father, Spain would +have continued to flourish. Several of the more recent Spanish writers, +looking at the heavy expenses caused by the policy of Philip II., and at +the debts which he incurred, have supposed that the decline of the +country began in the latter years of his reign. But the truth is, that +no great nation ever was, or ever will be, ruined by the prodigality of +its government. Such extravagance causes general discomfort, and +therefore ought not to be tolerated; but if this were the place for so +long an argument, I could easily show that its other and more permanent +inconveniences are nothing like what they are commonly supposed to be.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1243_1243" id="Footnote_1243_1243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1243_1243"><span class="label">[1243]</span></a> ‘Abstraido Felipe III. en devociones, amante Felipe IV. +deregocijos, mortificado Carlos II. por padecimientos, +cuidáronse poco ó nada de la gobernacion del Estado, y +confiaronla á validos altaneros, codiciosos, incapaces, y de muy funesta +memoria.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, 1856, +vol. i. p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1244_1244" id="Footnote_1244_1244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1244_1244"><span class="label">[1244]</span></a> ‘Sans espérance de postérité.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de +Noailles</i>, vol. i. p. 419. ‘Incapaz de tener hijos.’ +<i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. vi. p. 560. See also <i>Mémoires de Louville</i>, +vol. i. p. 82; and the allusions in <i>Lettres de Madame de Villars</i>, +edit. Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 53, 120, 164. She was ambassadress in Spain +in the reign of Charles II. M. Lafuente, who, if I rightly remember, +never quotes these interesting letters, and who indeed, with very few +exceptions, has used none but Spanish authorities, ventures nevertheless +to observe that ‘La circunstancia de no haber tenido sucesion, falta que +en general se achabaca mas al rey que á la reina,’ &c. <i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. xvii. pp. 198, 199, Madrid, 1856. According to the +biographer of the Spanish Queens, some persons imputed this to sorcery, +‘y aun se dijo si intervenia maleficio.’ <i>Florez</i>, <i>Memorias de las +Reynas Catholicas</i>, vol. ii. p. 973, Madrid, 1761, 4to.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1245_1245" id="Footnote_1245_1245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1245_1245"><span class="label">[1245]</span></a> In 1696, Stanhope, the English minister at Madrid, writes: +‘He has a ravenous stomach, and swallows all he eats whole, for his +nether jaw stands so much out that his two rows of teeth cannot meet; to +compensate which, he has a prodigious wide throat, so that a gizzard or +liver of a hen passes down whole, and his weak stomach not being able to +digest it, he voids it in the same manner.’ <i>Mahon's Spain under Charles +II.</i>, London, 1840, p. 79; a very valuable collection of original +documents, utterly unknown to any Spanish historian I have met with. +Some curious notices of the appearance of Charles II. in his childhood +may be seen published for the first time in <i>Mignet's Négociations +relatives à la Succession d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1835–1842, 4to. vol. i. pp. +294, 295, 310, 396, 404, 410, vol. ii. p. 130, vol. iii. pp. 418, 419, +423. See also vol. iv. p. 636, for an instance of his taciturnity, which +was almost the only mark of sense he ever gave, ‘Le roi l'écouta, et ne +lui répondit rien.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1246_1246" id="Footnote_1246_1246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1246_1246"><span class="label">[1246]</span></a> ‘Le Roy demeuroit dans une profonde ignorance et de ses +affaires et même des Etats de sa couronne; à peine connoissoit-il +quelles étoient les places qui lui appartenoient hors du continent +d'Espagne.’ … ‘La perte de Barcelone lui fut plus sensible qu'aucune +autre, parce que cette ville, capitale de la Catalogne, et située dans +le continent de l'Espagne, lui étoit plus connue que les villes de +Flandre, dont il ignoroit l'importance au point de croire que Mons +appartenoit au roi d'Angleterre, et de le plaindre lorsque le Roi fit la +conquête de cette province.’ <i>Mémoires du Marquis de Torcy</i>, vol. i. pp. +19, 23, edit. Petitot, Paris, 1828.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1247_1247" id="Footnote_1247_1247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1247_1247"><span class="label">[1247]</span></a> ‘Fancying everything that is said or done to be a +temptation of the devil, and never thinking himself safe but with his +confessor, and two friars by his side, whom he makes lie in his chamber +every night.’ <i>Mahon's Spain under Charles II.</i>, p. 102. On account, no +doubt, of this affection for monks, he is declared by a Spanish +historian to have possessed a ‘corazon pio y religioso.’ <i>Bacallar</i>, +<i>Comentarios de la Guerra de España</i>, vol. i. p. 20. The best notice of +the exorcism will be found in <i>Lafuente's Historia de España</i>, vol. +xvii. pp. 294–309, where there is an entire chapter, headed ‘Los +Hechizos del Rey.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1248_1248" id="Footnote_1248_1248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1248_1248"><span class="label">[1248]</span></a> ‘La foiblesse de l'Espagne ne permettoit pas à son roi de +se ressentir du traitement dont il croyoit à propos de se plaindre.’ +<i>Mémoires de Torcy</i>, vol. i. p. 81. Or, as an eminent native writer +bitterly says, ‘Las naciones estrangeras disponiendo de la monarquia +española como de bienes sin dueño.’ <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, +vol. iii. p. 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1249_1249" id="Footnote_1249_1249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1249_1249"><span class="label">[1249]</span></a></p> + +<div class="poem-container"> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This other Eden, demi-paradise;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This fortress, built by nature for herself</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Against infection and the hand of war;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This happy breed of men, this little world,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This precious stone set in the silver sea,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Which serves it in the office of a wall,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Or as a moat defensive to a house,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Against the envy of less happier lands;</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Fear'd by their breed and famous by their birth,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Renowned for their deeds as far from home,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">For Christian service and true chivalry,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's son:</span><br /> +<span class="i0">This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Dear for her reputation through the world,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Is now leas'd out, I die pronouncing it,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Like to a tenement or pelting farm.’</span><br /> +</div></div></div></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1250_1250" id="Footnote_1250_1250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1250_1250"><span class="label">[1250]</span></a> The Spanish theory of government is well stated in the +following passage in Davila's Life of Philip III. The remarks apply to +Philip II. ‘Que solo havia gobernado sin Validos ni Privados, tomando +para sí solo, como primera causa de su gobierno, el mandar, prohibir, +premiar, castigar, hacer mercedes, conocer sugetos, elegir Ministros, dar +oficios, y tener como espiritu que andaba sobre las aguas, ciencia y +providencia de todo, para que nada se hiciese sin su saber y querer: no +serviendo los Ministros mas que de poner por obra (obedeciendo) lo que su +Señor mandaba, velando sobre cada uno, como pastor de sus ovejas, para +ver la verdad con que executan sus mandamientos y acuerdos.’ <i>Davila</i>, +<i>Historia de Felipe Tercero</i>, lib. i. pp. 22, 23.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1251_1251" id="Footnote_1251_1251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1251_1251"><span class="label">[1251]</span></a> Even Philip II. always retained a certain ascendency over +the ecclesiastical hierarchy, though he was completely subjugated by +ecclesiastical prejudices. ‘While Philip was thus willing to exalt the +religious order, already far too powerful, he was careful that it should +never gain such a height as would enable it to overtop the royal +authority.’ <i>Prescott's History of Philip II.</i>, vol. iii. p. 235. ‘Pero +este monarca tan afecto á la Inquisicion mientras le servia para sus +fines, sabia bien tener á raya al Santo Oficio cuando intentaba invadir +ó usurpar las preeminencias de la autoridad real, ó arrogarse un poder +desmedido.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, +vol. xv. p. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1252_1252" id="Footnote_1252_1252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1252_1252"><span class="label">[1252]</span></a> ‘Por cuyo absoluto poderío se executaba todo.’ <i>Yañez</i>, +<i>Memorias para la Historia de Felipe III.</i>, Prologo, p. 150. ‘An +absoluteness in power over king and kingdom.’ Letter from Sir Charles +Cornwallis to the Lords of the Council in England, dated Valladolid, May +31, 1605, in <i>Winwood's Memorials</i>, vol. ii. p. 73, London, 1725, folio. +‘Porque no era fácil imaginar entónces, ni por fortuna se ha repetido el +ejemplo después, que hubiera un monarca tan pródigo de autoridad, y al +propio tiempo tan indolente, que por no tomarse siquiera el trabajo de +firmar los documentos de Estado, quisiera dar á la firma de un vasalla +suyo la misma autoridad que á la suya propia, y que advirtiera y +ordenára, como ordenó Felipe III. á todos sus consejos, tribunales, y +súbditos, que dieran á los despachos firmados por el duque de Lerma el +mismo cumplimiento y obediencia, y los ejecutáran y guardáran con el +mismo respeto que si fueran firmados por él.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. xv. pp. 449, 450. ‘El duque de Lerma, su valído, era el +que gobernaba el reino solo.’ vol. xvii. p. 332. His power lasted from +1598 to 1618. <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. vi. pp. 290, +325.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1253_1253" id="Footnote_1253_1253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1253_1253"><span class="label">[1253]</span></a> Davila (<i>Historia de Felipe Tercero</i>, lib. ii. p. 41), +after eulogizing the personal qualities of Lerma, adds, ‘Y sin estas +grandes partes tuvo demostraciones christianas, manifestandolo en los +conventos, iglesias, colegiatas, hospitales, ermitas y catedras, que +dejó fundadas, en que gastó, como me consta de los libros de su +Contaduría, un millon ciento cincuenta y dos mil doscientos ochenta y +tres ducados.’ After such monstrous prodigality, Watson might well say, +in his rather superficial, but, on the whole, well-executed History, +that Lerma showed ‘the most devoted attachment to the church,’ and +‘conciliated the favour of ecclesiastics.’ <i>Watson's History of Philip +III.</i>, London, 1839, pp. 4, 8, 46, 224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1254_1254" id="Footnote_1254_1254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1254_1254"><span class="label">[1254]</span></a> The only energy Philip III. ever displayed, was in +seconding the efforts of his minister to extend the influence of the +Church; and hence, according to a Spanish historian, he was ‘monarque le +plus pieux parmi tous ceux qui out occupé le trône d'Espagne depuis +saint Ferdinand.’ <i>Sempère</i>, <i>Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. i. p. 245. ‘El +principal cuidado de nuestro Rey era tener á Dios por amigo, grangear y +beneficiar su gracia, para que le asistiese propicio en quanto obrase y +dixese. De aqui tuvieron principio tantos dones ofrecidos á +Dios, tanta fundacion de Conventos, y favores hechos á Iglesias y +Religiones.’ <i>Davila</i>, <i>Historia de Felipe Tercero</i>, lib. ii. p. 170. +His wife, Margaret, was equally active. See <i>Florez</i>, <i>Reynas +Catholicas</i>, vol. ii. pp. 915, 916. ‘Demas de los frutos que dió para el +Cielo y para la tierra nuestra Reyna, tuvo otros de ambas lineas en +fundaciones de Templos y obras de piedad para bien del Reyno y de la +Iglesia. En Valladolid fundó el Convento de las Franciscas Descalzas. En +Madrid trasladó á las Agustinas Recoletas de Santa Isabel desde la calle +del Principe al sitio en que hoy estan. Protegió con sus limosnas la +fundacion de la Iglesia de Carmelitas Descalzas de Santa Ana; y empezó á +fundar el Real Convento de las Agustinas Recoletas con titulo de la +Encarnacion en este misma Corte, cuya primera piedra se puso á 10 de +Junio del 1611. En la parroquia de S. Gil junto al Palacio introdujo los +Religiosos Franciscos, cuyo Convento persevera hoy con la misma +advocacion.’ How the country fared, while all this was going on, we +shall presently see.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1255_1255" id="Footnote_1255_1255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1255_1255"><span class="label">[1255]</span></a> The burden of the petition was, ‘Que se tratasse con mas +veras de poner limite á los bienes, que se sacauan cada dia del braço +Seglar al Eclesiastico, enflaqueciendo no tan solo el patrimonio Real, +mas el comun, pues siendo aquel libre de pechos, contribuciones, y +gauelas, alojamientos, huespedes, y otros grauamenes mayores, presidios, +guerras, y soldados.’ … ‘Que las Religiones eran +muchas, las Mendicantes en excesso, y el Clero en grande multitud. Que +auia en España 9088 monasterios, aun no cõtando los de Monjas. Que yuan +metiẽdo poco á poco, con dotaciones, cofradias, +capellanias, o con cõpras, á todo el Reyno en su poder. Que se atajasse +tanto mal. Que huuiesse numero en los frayles, moderacion en los +Cõuentos, y aun en los Clerigos seglares.’ <i>Cespedes</i>, <i>Historia de Don +Felipe IV.</i>, Barcelona, 1634, fol. lib. vii. cap. 9, p. 272 rev. This is +the only noticeable passage in an unusually dull chronicle, which, +though professing to be a history of Philip IV., is confined to the +first few years of his reign.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1256_1256" id="Footnote_1256_1256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1256_1256"><span class="label">[1256]</span></a> ‘En este año, que iba escribiendo esta Historia, tenian +las Ordenes de Santo Domingo, y S. Francisco en España, treinta y dos +mil Religiosos, y los Obispados de Calahorra y Pamplona veinte y quatro +mil clerigos; pues qué tendran las demas Religiones, y los demas +Obispados?’ <i>Davila</i>, <i>Historia de Felipe Tercere</i>, lib. ii. p. 215. See +also cap. xcvii. pp. 248, 249; and, on the increase of convents, see +<i>Yañez</i>, <i>Memorias para la Historia de Felipe III.</i>, pp. 240, 268, 304, +305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1257_1257" id="Footnote_1257_1257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1257_1257"><span class="label">[1257]</span></a> ‘The reign of Philip III., surnamed from his piety the +Good, was the golden age of Churchmen. Though religious foundations were +already too numerous, great additions were made to them; and in those +which already existed, new altars or chancels were erected. Thus, the +duke of Lerma founded seven monasteries and two collegiate churches; +thus, also, the diocese of Calahorra numbered 18,000 chaplains, Seville +14,000. How uselessly the ministers of religion were multiplied, will +appear still more clearly from the fact that the cathedral of Seville +alone had a hundred, when half-a-dozen would assuredly have been +sufficient for the public offices of devotion.’ <i>Dunham's History of +Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 274. According to the passage quoted in note 93, from +Davila, there were twenty-four thousand ‘clerigos’ in the two dioceses +of Calahorra and Pamplona.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1258_1258" id="Footnote_1258_1258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1258_1258"><span class="label">[1258]</span></a> ‘Entre tanto crecia por instantes y se aumentaba +prodigiosamente el poder y la autoridad de la Iglesia. Sus pingües +riquezas desmembraban de una manera considerable las rentas de la +corona; y el estado eclesiástico, que muchos abrazaron en un principio á +consecuencia de las desgracias y calamidades de la época, fué despues el +mas solicitado por las inmensas ventajas que ofrecia su condicion +comparada con la de las clases restantes.’ <i>Antequera</i>, <i>Historia de la +Legislacion</i>, pp. 223, 224. See also in <i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice á la +Educacion</i>, Madrid, 1775–1777, vol. i. p. 465, and vol. iv. p. 219, a +statement made by the University of Toledo in 1619, or 1620, that ‘hay +doblados religiosos, clerigos y estudiantes; porque ya <i>no hallan otro +modo de vivir</i>, <i>ni de poder sustentarse</i>.’ If the eye of M. Lafuente +had lighted upon this and other passages, which I shall shortly quote +from contemporary observers, he would, I think, have expressed himself +much more strongly than he has done respecting this period, in his +recent brilliant, but unsatisfactory, History of Spain. On the great +wealth of the convents in 1679, when the rest of the country was steeped +in poverty, see a letter dated Madrid, July 25, 1679, in <i>D'Aulnoy</i>, +<i>Relation du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. p. 251. But the +earliest evidence I have met with is in a letter, written in 1609, to +Prince Henry of England, by Sir Charles Cornwallis, the English +ambassador at Madrid. ‘The furniture of their churches here, and the +riches and lustre of their sepulchres made in every monasterie (the +general povertye of this kingdome considered), are almost incredible. +The laity of this nation may say with Davyde (though in another sense), +“Zelus domus tuæ comedit me:” for, assuredly, the riches of the +Temporall hath in a manner all fallen into the mouthes and devouring +throates of the Spiritual.’ <i>Winwood's Memorials of Affairs of State</i>, +vol. iii. p. 10, London, 1725, folio.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1259_1259" id="Footnote_1259_1259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1259_1259"><span class="label">[1259]</span></a> ‘Deux millions de ducats, que le clergé possédait sous le +règne de Charles V, étaient réputés comme un revenu exorbitant; et, un +demi-siècle plus tard, lorsque ces revenus s'élevaient à huit millions, +on qualifiat d'hérétique, toute proposition tendant à opérer quelque +modification dans leur accroissement.’ <i>Sempère</i>, <i>Monarchie +Espagnole</i>, vol. ii. p. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1260_1260" id="Footnote_1260_1260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1260_1260"><span class="label">[1260]</span></a> In a work on Spanish literature which was published about +seventy years ago, and which, at the time of its appearance, made +considerable noise, this peculiarity is frankly admitted, but is deemed +rather an honour to Spain than otherwise, inasmuch as that country, we +are told, has produced philosophers who have gone much deeper into +things than Bacon, Descartes, and Newton, who, no doubt, were clever +men, but were nowise comparable to the great thinkers of the +Peninsula. Such assertions, proceeding, not from some ignorant despiser +of physical science, who contemns what he has never been at the pains to +study, but from a really able and, in some respects, competent judge, +are important for the history of opinion; and as the book is not very +common, I will give two or three extracts. ‘Confiesan los Franceses con +ingenuidad que Descartes fué un novelista: y con todo eso quieren +hacerle pasar por el promotor de la filosofía en Europa, como si su +filosofía se desemejase mucho de la que dominaba en las sectas de la +antigüedad. Su tratádo “Del Metodo” es nada en comparacion de los libros +“De la Corrupcion de las Artes” de Juan Luis Vives, que le antecedió +buen número de años.’ <i>Oracion Apologética por la España y su Mérito +Literario por D. J. P. Forner</i>, Madrid, 1786, p. xi. ‘No hemos tenido en +los efectos un Cartesio, no un Neuton: démoslo de barato: pero hemos +tenido justísimos legisladores y excelentes filósofos prácticos, que han +preferido el inefable gusto de trabajar en beneficio de la humanidad á +la ociosa ocupacion de edificar mundos imaginarios en la soledad y +silencio de un gabinete.’ p. 12. ‘Nada se disputaba en España.’ p. 61. +At p. 143 a comparison between Bacon and Vives; and the final decision, +p. 146, that Vives enjoys ‘una gloriosa superioridad sobre todos los +sabios de todos los siglos.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1261_1261" id="Footnote_1261_1261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1261_1261"><span class="label">[1261]</span></a> The final profession was not made till 1616; but he began +to wear the clothes in 1613. ‘Tal era su situacion el sábado santo 2 de +abril’ [1616] ‘que por no poder salir de su casa hubieron de darle en +ella la profesion de la venerable órden tercera de San Francisco, cuyo +hábito habia tomado en Alcalá, el dia 2 de julio de 1613.’ <i>Navarrete</i>, +<i>Vida de Cervantes</i>, p. cii. prefixed to <i>Don Quijote</i>, Barcelona, 1839. +Even in 1609, says Navarrete, (p. lxii.), ‘Se ha creido que entónces se +incorporó tambien Cervantes, como lo hizo Lope de Vega, en la +congregacion del oratorio del Caballero de Gracia, mientras que su muger +y su hermana doña Andrea se dedicaban á semejantes ejercicios de piedad +en la venerable órden tercera de San Francisco, cuyo hábito recibieron +en 8 de junio del mismo año.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1262_1262" id="Footnote_1262_1262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1262_1262"><span class="label">[1262]</span></a> <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. ii. pp. +125, 126, 137, 147, 148.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1263_1263" id="Footnote_1263_1263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1263_1263"><span class="label">[1263]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 374. <i>Biographie Universelle</i>, vol. +xxx. pp. 149, 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1264_1264" id="Footnote_1264_1264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1264_1264"><span class="label">[1264]</span></a> <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. ii. pp. +276, 327.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1265_1265" id="Footnote_1265_1265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1265_1265"><span class="label">[1265]</span></a> <i>Ticknor</i>, vol. ii. p. 327.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1266_1266" id="Footnote_1266_1266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1266_1266"><span class="label">[1266]</span></a> <i>Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. i. p. +525. But the best account is that given by his biographer, who assures +us of two facts; that he received ‘todas las órdenes sagradas,’ and that +he was ‘devotísimo de María santísima.’ <i>Vida de Solis</i>, p. 15, prefixed +to <i>Solis</i>, <i>Historia de la Conquista de Mejico</i>, edit. Paris, 1844.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1267_1267" id="Footnote_1267_1267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1267_1267"><span class="label">[1267]</span></a> <i>Biographie Universelle</i>, vol. xl. p. 319.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1268_1268" id="Footnote_1268_1268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1268_1268"><span class="label">[1268]</span></a> ‘Sacerdote soy.’ <i>Davila</i>, <i>Historia de la Vida de Felipe +Tercero</i>, lib. ii. p. 215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1269_1269" id="Footnote_1269_1269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1269_1269"><span class="label">[1269]</span></a> <i>Biographie Universelle</i>, vol. xxvii. p. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1270_1270" id="Footnote_1270_1270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1270_1270"><span class="label">[1270]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. xxix. p. 80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1271_1271" id="Footnote_1271_1271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1271_1271"><span class="label">[1271]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. vii. p. 219.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1272_1272" id="Footnote_1272_1272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1272_1272"><span class="label">[1272]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 293.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1273_1273" id="Footnote_1273_1273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1273_1273"><span class="label">[1273]</span></a> <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. iii. p. +177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1274_1274" id="Footnote_1274_1274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1274_1274"><span class="label">[1274]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii. p. 491, vol. iii. pp. 117, 118.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1275_1275" id="Footnote_1275_1275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1275_1275"><span class="label">[1275]</span></a> <i>Sismondi's Literature of the South of Europe</i>, vol. ii. +p. 348, London, 1846.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1276_1276" id="Footnote_1276_1276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1276_1276"><span class="label">[1276]</span></a> ‘Pero en fin murio Don Andres Martinez, y sucediole en la +Canongia nuestro Bartholome.’ <i>Pellicer</i>, <i>Ensayo de una Bibliotheca</i>, +Madrid, 1778, 4to. p. 94. This was the younger Argensola.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1277_1277" id="Footnote_1277_1277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1277_1277"><span class="label">[1277]</span></a> <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. ii. p. +486.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1278_1278" id="Footnote_1278_1278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1278_1278"><span class="label">[1278]</span></a> ‘Occupied a high place in the Inquisition.’ <i>Ticknor</i>, +vol. ii. p. 507. ‘Prit les ordres, et obtint un canonicat.‘**RSQU</p></div> <i>Biographie +Univ.</i> vol. xxxviii. p. 120.] + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1279_1279" id="Footnote_1279_1279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1279_1279"><span class="label">[1279]</span></a> In 1663 Philip IV. ‘le honró con otra Capellanía de honor +en su real Capilla.’ <i>Vida de Calderon</i>, p. iv., prefixed to <i>Las +Comedias de Calderon</i>, edit. Keil, Leipsique, 1827.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1280_1280" id="Footnote_1280_1280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1280_1280"><span class="label">[1280]</span></a> ‘Calderon is, in fact, the true poet of the Inquisition. +Animated by a religious feeling, which is too visible in all his pieces, +he inspires me only with horror for the faith which he professes.’ +<i>Sismondi's Literature of the South of Europe</i>, vol. ii. p. 379. Compare +<i>Lewes on the Spanish Drama</i>, pp. 176–179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1281_1281" id="Footnote_1281_1281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1281_1281"><span class="label">[1281]</span></a> Salfi says, ‘Calderon de la Barca excite encore plus une +sorte d'indignation, malgré son génie dramatique, qui le mit audessus de +Vega, son prédécesseur. En lisant ses drames sans prévention, vous +diriez qu'il a voulu faire servir son talent uniquement à confirmer les +préjugés et les superstitions les plus ridicules de sa nation.’ +<i>Ginguenè</i>, <i>Histoire Littéraire d'Italie</i>, vol. xii. p. 499, Paris, +1834.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1282_1282" id="Footnote_1282_1282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1282_1282"><span class="label">[1282]</span></a> ‘Entró en el año de 1622 á ser <i>Relator del Consejo de la +General Inquisicion</i>, cuyo empleo servió y desempeñó con todo honor +muchos años.’ And he declared, ‘en esta clausula de su Testamento: “Y por +quanto yo y mis hermanos y toda nuestra familia nos hemos sustentado, +autorizado y puesto en estado con las honras y mercedes, que nos ha hecho +el santo Oficio de la Inquisicion, á quien hemos servido como nuestros +antepassados; encargo afectuosissimamente á todos mis successores le sean +para siempre los mas respetuosos servidores y criados, viviendo en +ocupacion de su santo servido, procurando adelantarse y señalarse en él, +quanto les fuere possible, en qualquiera de sus ministerios; pues todos +son tan dignos de estimacion y veneracion.”’ <i>La Mosquea, por +Villaviciosa</i>, Prologo, pp. x.–xii., edit. Madrid, 1777.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1283_1283" id="Footnote_1283_1283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1283_1283"><span class="label">[1283]</span></a> ‘Hardly a convent or a saint of any note in +Spain, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, failed of +especial commemoration; and each of the religious orders and great +cathedrals had at least one historian, and most of them several. The +number of books on Spanish ecclesiastical history, is, therefore, one +that may well be called enormous.’ <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish +Literature</i>, vol. iii. p. 132. Forner assures us, somewhat needlessly, +of what no one ever doubted, that ‘los estudios sagrados jamas decayéron +en España.’ <i>Forner</i>, <i>Oracion Apologética</i>, Madrid, 1786, p. 141.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1284_1284" id="Footnote_1284_1284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1284_1284"><span class="label">[1284]</span></a> In 1623, Howell writes from Madrid: ‘Such is the +reverence they bear to the church here, and so holy a conceit they have +of all ecclesiastics, that the greatest Don in Spain will tremble to +offer the meanest of them any outrage or affront.’ <i>Howell's Letters</i>, +edit. London, 1754, p. 138. ‘The reverence they show to the holy +function of the church is wonderful; Princes and Queens will not disdain +to kiss a Capuchin's sleeve, or the surplice of a priest’ … ‘There +are no such sceptics and cavillers there, as in other places.’ p. 496. +In 1669, another observer writes: ‘En Espagne les Religieux sont les +maîtres, et l'emportent partout où ils se trouvent.’ <i>Voyages faits en +divers Temps en Espagne</i>, Amsterdam, 1700, p. 35. And, to quote one more +authority, the following picture is given of Spanish society in the +reign of Philip IV.: ‘No habia familia con quien no estuvieran +entroncados los frailes por amistad ó parentesco; ni casa que les +cerrara sus puertas; ni conversacion en que no se les cediera la +palabra; ni mesa en que no se les obligara á ocupar la primera silla; ni +resolucion grave entre ricos ó pobres que se adoptara sin su consejo; y +si no tomaban parte en ellas, las satisfacciones domésticas no eran +cabales.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. i. p. 94.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1285_1285" id="Footnote_1285_1285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1285_1285"><span class="label">[1285]</span></a> ‘Le cardinal de Richelieu, qui n'étoit pas +très-susceptible de pitié, l'appelle “le plus hardi et le plus barbare +conseil dont l'histoire de tous les siècles précédens fasse mention.”’ +<i>Sismondi</i>, <i>Histoire des Français</i>, vol. xxii. p. 163, Paris, 1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1286_1286" id="Footnote_1286_1286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1286_1286"><span class="label">[1286]</span></a> ‘Porque los Reyes queriendo, que en todo el Reino fuesen +Christianos, embiaron á Frai Francisco Ximenez, que fue Arzobispo de +Toledo i Cardenal, para que los persuadiese. Mas ellos, gente dura, +pertinaz, nuevamente conquistada, estuvieron recios,’ <i>Mendoza</i>, <i>Guerra +de Granada que hizo Felipe II. contra los Moriscos</i>, Valencia, 1776, +4to. p. 10. The author of this book was born early in the sixteenth +century, at Granada, where he lived for a considerable period.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1287_1287" id="Footnote_1287_1287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1287_1287"><span class="label">[1287]</span></a> ‘L'année 1526 vit donc disparaître dans toutes les +parties de l'Espagne les signes extérieurs de l'islamisme.’ <i>Circourt</i>, +<i>Hist. des Arabes d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1846, vol. ii. p. 220. M. Lafuente +(<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. x. p. 132) says of 1502, that ‘desde +entónces, por primera vez al cabo de ocho siglos, +no quedo un solo habitante en España que esteriormente +diera culto á Mahoma:’ but in vol. xi. p. 447, he says +that, in 1524, ‘volvieron inmediatamente á sus ritos y ceremonias +muslímicas.’ As M. de Circourt was well acquainted with all the +materials used by M. Lafuente, and is, moreover, a much more critical +writer, it seems likely that his statement is the correct one.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1288_1288" id="Footnote_1288_1288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1288_1288"><span class="label">[1288]</span></a> ‘Ces malheureux auraient tous été exterminés, s'ils +n'avaient consenti à recevoir le baptême. Au milieu des décombres de +leurs maisons, sur les cadavres fumans de leurs femmes, ils +s'agenouillèrent. Les germanos, ivres de sang, firent l'office de +prêtres; l'un d'eux prit un balai, aspergea la foule des musulmans, en +prononçant les paroles sacramentelles, et crut avoir fait des chrétiens. +L'armée des germanos se répandit ensuite dans le pays environnant, +saccageant d'abord, baptisant après.’ <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes +d'Espagne</i>, vol. ii. p. 175. See also p. 202.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1289_1289" id="Footnote_1289_1289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1289_1289"><span class="label">[1289]</span></a> That was their general name; but, in Aragon, they were +termed ‘“tornadizos,” en lenguage insultante.’ <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condición de +los Moriscos de España</i>, Madrid, 1857, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1290_1290" id="Footnote_1290_1290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1290_1290"><span class="label">[1290]</span></a> ‘Recibieron el Sacramento por comodidad, no de voluntad, +y asi encubrian todo lo possible el viuir y morir en la secta de Mahoma, +siendo infieles apostatas.’ <i>Vanderhammen's Filipe Segundo</i>, p. 12. +‘Porque la Inquisicion los comenzó á apretar mas de lo ordinario.’ +<i>Mendoza</i>, <i>Guerra de Granada</i>, p. 20. ‘Poner nuevo cuidado i diligencia +en descubrir los motivos destos hombres,’ p. 26. And yet this very +writer has the impudence to declaim against Mohammedanism as a cruel +religion. ‘Cruel i abominable religion aplacar á Dios con vida i sangre +innocente!’ pp. 107, 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1291_1291" id="Footnote_1291_1291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1291_1291"><span class="label">[1291]</span></a> Vanderhammen (<i>Filipe Segundo</i>, p. 12, Madrid, 1632) +merely tells us that ‘Por cedula el año sesenta y seis les mandó +dexassen el habito, lengua y costumbres de Moros, y fuessen Christianos +y lo pareciessen.’ But the exact provisions were, ‘Que dentro de tres +años aprendiesen los moriscos á hablar la lengua castellana, y de allí +adelante ninguno pudiese hablar, leer ni escriber arábigo en publico ni +en secreto: que todos los contratos que se hiciesen en arábigo fuesen +nulos: que todos los libros así escritos los llevasen en término de +treinta dias al presidente de la audiencia de Granada para que los +mandase examinar, devolviendoseles aquellos que no ofrecieran +inconveniente para que los pudiesen guardar solo durante los tres años: +que no se hicieran de nuevo marlotas, almalafas, calzas ni otra suerte +de vestidos de los que se usaban en tiempos de moros; que durante este +tiempo, las mujeres vestidas á la morisca llevarian la cara descubierta; +que no usasen de las ceremonias ni de los regocijos moros en las bodas, +sino conforme al uso de la Santa Madre Iglesia, abriendo las puertas de +sus casas en tales dias, y tambien en los de fiesta, no haciendo zambras +ni leylas con instrumentos ni cantares moriscos, aunque no dijesen en +ellos cosas contraria á la religion cristiana,’ &c. <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion +de los Moriscos</i>, pp. 31, 32, where other particulars will be found, +which should be compared with <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes +d'Espagne</i>, vol. ii. pp. 278, 283, 459–463.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1292_1292" id="Footnote_1292_1292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1292_1292"><span class="label">[1292]</span></a> Some of the other steps which were taken, before 1566, to +affront the Moriscoes are enumerated in <i>Prescott's History of Philip +II.</i>, vol. iii. p. 10, and elsewhere. In the reign of Charles V., there +were many acts of local tyranny which escape the general historian. One +of them, on the part of the Bishop of Guadix, is worth quoting. ‘On le +vit pousser l'intolérance jusqu'à faire raser les femmes et les obliger à +racler leurs ongles pour en faire disparaître les traces du henné, +cosmétique inoffensif dont il abhorrait l'usage, en raison de ce que les +Arabes l'avaient introduit.’ <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne</i>, +vol. ii. p. 226.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1293_1293" id="Footnote_1293_1293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1293_1293"><span class="label">[1293]</span></a> Its concluding scene, in March, 1571, is skilfully +depicted in <i>Prescott's History of Philip III.</i>, vol. iii. pp. 148–151. +The splendid courage of the Moriscoes is attested by Mendoza in his +contemporary history of the war; but, in narrating the horrible outrages +which they undoubtedly committed, he makes no allowance for the +long-continued and insufferable provocations which they had received +from the Spanish Christians. What he mentions of one of the battles is +curious, and I do not remember to have seen it elsewhere recorded. ‘Fue +porfiado por ambas partes el combate hasta venir á las espadas, de que +los Moros se aprovechan menos que nosotros, por tener las suyas un filo +i no herir ellos de punta.’ <i>Mendoza</i>, <i>Guerra de Granada</i>, edit. 4to. +Valencia, 1776, p. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1294_1294" id="Footnote_1294_1294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1294_1294"><span class="label">[1294]</span></a> An instance of this was exhibited in 1578, on the very +day in which Philip III. was born. ‘Predicando en un lugar de Aragon, +todo de Moriscos, llamado Ricla, ó Torrellas, un religioso, llamado +Vargas, el mismo dia que nació su Magestad, viendo el poco fruto que +hacia con sus sermones, dixo, como en Profecia, á aquella gente rebelde: +Pues no quereis despedir de vuestros pechos esta infernal secta, sabed, +que ha nacido en Castilla vn Principe que os ha de echar de España.’ <i>Porreño</i>, <i>Dichos +y Hechos de Phelipe III.</i>, in <i>Yañez</i>, <i>Memorias</i>, Madrid, +1723, p. 224; and nearly the same words in <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion de los +Moriscos</i>, p. 60. Mr. Prescott, in his <i>History of Philip II.</i>, vol. +iii. p. 139, quotes a Ms. letter from Don John of Austria to Philip II., +written in 1570, and stating that the Spanish monks were openly +preaching against the leniency with which the king treated the +Moriscoes. ‘Predicando en los púlpitos publicamente contra la benignidad +y clemencia que V. M. ha mandado usar con esta gente.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1295_1295" id="Footnote_1295_1295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1295_1295"><span class="label">[1295]</span></a> In a recent work of considerable authority, it is denied +that Philip II. entertained the desire of expelling the Moriscoes. ‘El +carácter austero y la severidad de Felipe II. redundaban en favor de los +moriscos, porque no daba oidos á las instigaciones de algunos personajes +que señalaban la expulsion general como unico remedio +eficaz para los males que ofrecia al pais aquella desventurada raza. +Acababa el monarca de tocar los tristes resultados de una emigracion por +las funestas consecuencias de la despoblacion del reino granadino, y +preferia continuar en la <i>senda de la conciliacion</i>, procurando de nuevo +la enseñanza de los conversos.’ <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion de los Moriscos</i>, +Madrid, 1857, p. 59. But to say nothing of the fact that this is +contrary to all we know of the character of Philip, we have, on the +other side of the question, the testimony of Archbishop Ribera, who +had often communicated with the King on the subject, and who distinctly +states that Philip desired the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, ‘El +hechar los Moros deste Reyno, ha sido cosa muy desseada, y procurada por +los Reyes Predecessores del Rey nuestro Señor, aunque no executada.’ … +‘El Rey Don Felipe Segundo, nuestro Señor, despues de suceder en estos +Reynos, <i>tuvo el mismo desseo</i>; y assi mandó, que se juntassen los +Prelados deste Reyno para buscar remedio el año de 1568; siendo +Arçobispo desta Metropoli el Reverendissimo Don Hernando de Lloazes. +Hizieronse en aquella Junta algunas Constituciones de consideracion. +Visto que no aprovechaban, mandó el año 1587 que se hiziesse otra Junta, +<i>en la qual me hallé yo</i>: añadimos tambien algunas nuevas +Constituciones. Y constando á su Magestad que no eran bastantes las +diligencias passadas, y que siempre perseveraban en su heregia, se +resolvio de mandarlos hechar del Reyno, ó por lo menos meterlos dentro +de la tierra.’ <i>Ximenez</i>, <i>Vida de Ribera</i>, Roma, 1734, 4to. pp. 419, +420. This important passage is decisive as to the real feelings of +Philip, unless we assume that Ribera has stated a deliberate falsehood. +But, strange to say, even the book in which so remarkable a passage is +contained, appears to be unknown either to M. Janer or to M. Lafuente.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1296_1296" id="Footnote_1296_1296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1296_1296"><span class="label">[1296]</span></a> ‘El rey Felipe III., hombre de rudo ingenio, se dejaba +gobernar con facilidad por aquellos que sabiendo los temores de su +conciencia, se aprovechaban de su imbecilidad para conseguir cuanto +querian. Muchos eclesiásticos, recordando las espulsiones de judios y +moros ejecutadas de órden de Fernando é Isabel, y conociendo que á +Felipe III. seria agradable imitar á estos monarcas, le aconsejaron que +condenase al destierro á todos los moriscos que vivian en sus reynos; +pues no solo se obstinaban en seguir la ley mahometana, sino que +tenían tratos con los turcos y entre sí para buscar sus +libertades por medio del rigor de las armas.’ <i>Castro</i>, <i>Decadencia de España</i>, Cadiz, 1852, pp. 101, 102.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1297_1297" id="Footnote_1297_1297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1297_1297"><span class="label">[1297]</span></a> These memorials are printed in the Appendix to his Life +by Ximenez. See the very curious book, entitled <i>Vida y Virtudes del +Venerable Siervo de Dios D. Juan de Ribera</i>, <i>por el R. P. Fr. Juan +Ximenez</i>, Roma, 1734, 4to. pp. 367–374, 376–393. This work is, I +believe, extremely rare; at all events, I endeavoured in vain to obtain +a copy from Spain or Italy, and, after some years' unsuccessful search, +I met with the one I now have, on a London book-stall. M. de Circourt, +in his learned History of the Spanish Arabs, does not appear to have +been aware of its existence, and he complains that he could not procure +the works of Ribera, whose Memorials he consequently quotes second-hand. +<i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1846, vol. iii. pp. +168, 351. Nor does Watson seem to have known it; though both he and M. +de Circourt refer to Escriva's Life of Ribera. <i>Watson's Philip III.</i>, +London, 1839, pp. 214–221. An abstract of these Memorials is given by +Geddes, who, though a learned and accurate writer, had the mischievous +habit of not indicating the sources of his information. <i>Geddes' +Tracts</i>, London, 1730, vol. i. pp. 60–71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1298_1298" id="Footnote_1298_1298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1298_1298"><span class="label">[1298]</span></a> ‘Por lo qual se puede creer, que nuestro Señor ha querido +reservar esta obra tan digna de pecho Real para Vuestra Magestad, como +reservó la libertad e su pueblo para Moyses, la entrada de la Tierra de +Promission para Josue, la vengança de la injuria antigua de los +Amalequitas para Saul, y la victoria de los Filisteos para David.’ +<i>Ximenez</i>, <i>Vida de Ribera</i>, p. 370. Again, p. 377: ‘Y al primer Rey que +tuvo el Mundo, en siendo elegido por Dios, y confirmado en su Reyno, le +embia á mandar por un Propheta que destruya á los Amalequitas, sin dexar +hombres, ni mugeres, ni niños, aunque sean de leche, en +fin que no quede rastro de ellos, ni des sus haziendas. Y porque no +cumplió exactamente su mandamiento, cayó en indignacion de Dios, y fue +privado del Reyno. Al segundo Rey, que fue David, le mandó Dios en +siendo jurado, que destruyesse los Philisteos, como lo hizo.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1299_1299" id="Footnote_1299_1299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1299_1299"><span class="label">[1299]</span></a> ‘El año quando se perdio la poderosa +Armada, que iba á Inglaterra, confiado de la benignidad del Rey nuestro +Señor, que está en el Cielo, me atreví con el zelo de fiel vassallo y +Capellán, á dezir á Su Magestad; que aviendo gastado mucho tiempo en +discurrir, que causa podia aver para que Dios, nuestro Señor, +permitiesse aquel mal sucesso se me havia ofrecido una cosa de mucha +consideracion, y era, querer dezir la Magestad Divina á Su Magestad +Catolica; que mientras no ponia remedio en estas Heregias de España, +cuyos Reynos le avia encomendado, no se debía ocupar en remediar las de +los Beynos agenos. Y ahora confiando en la misma benignidad, y clemencia +de Vuestra Magestad, me atrevo tambien á dezir, que aviendo considerado +la causa, porque Dios nos ha quitado de las manos la toma de Argel, +aviendose dispuesto todas las prevenciones para ella con la mayor +prudencia, y sagacidad, que hemos visto en nuestros tiempos, y +sirviendonos el mar, y los ayres, y las ocasiones, de la manera, que +podiamos dessear, tengo por sin duda, que ha sido, querer nuestro Señor +dar á Vuestra Magestad el ultimo recuerdo de la obligacion, que tiene, +de resolver esta platica.’ <i>Ximenez</i>, <i>Vida de Ribera</i>, p. 373. It would +be a pity if such admirable specimens of theological reasoning were to +remain buried in an old Roman quarto. I congratulate myself and the +reader on my acquisition of this volume, which is a vast repertory of +powerful, though obsolete, weapons.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1300_1300" id="Footnote_1300_1300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1300_1300"><span class="label">[1300]</span></a> ‘Todas estas cosas, y otras muchas, que dexo de dezir, +por no ser prolixo, me hazen evidencia, de que conviene para el servicio +de Dios nuestro Señor, y que Vuestra Magestad está obligado en +conciencia, como Rey, y Supremo Señor, á quien toca de justicia +defender, y conservar sus Reynos, mandar desterrar de España todos estos +Moriscos, sin que quede hombre, ni muger grande, ni pequeño; reservando +tan solamente los niños, y niñas, que no llegaren á siete años, para que +se guarden entre nosotros, repartien dolos por las casas particulares de +Christianos viejos. Y aun hay opinion de personas doctas, que estos +tales niños y niñas, los puede Vuestra Magestad dar por esclavos, y lo +fundan con razones probables.’ <i>Ximenez</i>, <i>Vida de Ribera</i>, pp. 379, +380. ‘Destos que se han de desterrar, podra Vuestra Magestad tomarlos +que fuere servido por esclavos, para proveer sus Galeras, ó para embiar +á las minas de las Indias, sin escrupulo alguno de conciencia, lo que +tambien será de no poca utilidad.’ p. 384. To do this, was to be +merciful; for they all deserved capital punishment, ‘merecian pena +capital.’ p. 381.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1301_1301" id="Footnote_1301_1301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1301_1301"><span class="label">[1301]</span></a> ‘Aora, Catolica Magestad, vemos que Dios nuestro Señor ha +reservado para Vuestra Magestad, y para su Real Corona, el nombre, y +hechos de Rey Catholico: permitiendo por sus secretos juizios, que los +que han sido siempre enemigos de su Iglesia se conserven, y que los que +antes eran Catholicos, ayan degenerado, y apostatado de su santa ley y +assi va la honra de Dios nuestro Señor, y el exemplo, y confusion de los +otros Reyes, en que Vuestra Magestad tenga sus Reynos limpios de +Hereges, y principalmente á España. Y quando esto huviesse de costar +grandes trabajos, y todo el oro, y plata, que hay en las Indias, estaria +muy bien empleado: pues se atraviessa la honra de Dios, la de su Santa +Iglesia, el antiguo renombre desta Corona,’ &c. <i>Ximenez</i>, <i>Vida de +Ribera</i>, p. 382. And on the neglect of duty by Charles V. and Philip +II., see p. 370.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1302_1302" id="Footnote_1302_1302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1302_1302"><span class="label">[1302]</span></a> ‘The most powerful promoter of their expulsion was Don +Bernardo de Roias y Sandoval, Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, and +Inquisitor-General and Chancellor of Spain. This great prelate, who was +brother to the Duke of Lerma, by whom the king for some years before, +and for some years after the expulsion was absolutely governed, was so +zealous to have the whole race of the Moriscoes extinguished, that he +opposed the detaining of their children who were under seven years of +age, affirming that of the two he judged it more advisable to cut the +throats of all the Moriscoes, men, women, and children, than to have any +of their children left in Spain, to defile the true Spanish blood with a +mixture of the Moorish.’ <i>Geddes' Tracts</i>, vol. i. pp. 85, 86. Navarrete +has pronounced a glowing eulogy upon the piety and other noble qualities +of this prelate; and says that ‘llenando de esplendor con su virtud tres +sillas episcopales, mereció que Clemente VIII. le honrase con el capelo, +y fué elevado á la primada de Toledo y al empleo de inquisidor general.’ +<i>Vida de Cervantes</i>, pp. xcvii., xcviii., Barcelona, 1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1303_1303" id="Footnote_1303_1303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1303_1303"><span class="label">[1303]</span></a> ‘He did assure all the old Christian laity, that whenever +the king should give the word, they might, without any scruple of +conscience, cut the throats of all the Moriscoes, and not spare any of +them upon their professing themselves Christians; but to follow the holy +and laudable example of the Croisado that was raised against the +Albigenses, who, upon their having made themselves masters of the city +of Bezeir; wherein were two hundred thousand Catholics and hereticks, +did ask Father Arnold, a Cistercian monk, who was their chief preacher, +“Whether they should put any to the sword that pretended to be +Catholics;” and were answered by the holy Abbot, “That they should kill +all without distinction, and leave it to God, who knew his own, to +reward them for being true Catholics in the next world;” which was +accordingly executed.’ <i>Geddes</i>, vol. i. p. 84.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1304_1304" id="Footnote_1304_1304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1304_1304"><span class="label">[1304]</span></a> ‘“Grande resolucion!” contestó el débil monarca al +ministro favorito: “hacedlo vos, duque.”’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. xv. p. 375. But this reply, so far from being a mark of +weakness on the part of Philip, was a strictly logical application of +the principles which he entertained, and which, indeed, were almost +universal in Spain. We know from his contemporary biographer, that +‘Determinó el Rey en los principios de su Reynado, como Rey tan poderoso +y Catolico, de consagrar y dedicar à Dios la potencia de sus Consejos y +Armas para extinguir y acabar los enemigos de la Iglesia Santa.’ +<i>Davila</i>, <i>Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero</i>, lib. i. p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1305_1305" id="Footnote_1305_1305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1305_1305"><span class="label">[1305]</span></a> This is the average estimate. Some authors make it less, +and some more; while one writer says, ‘The numbers expelled have been +estimated at four hundred thousand families, or two millions of souls.’ +<i>Clarke's Internal State of Spain</i>, London, 1818, p. 33. But this is +incredible. M. Castro (<i>Decadencia de España</i>, Cadiz, 1852, p. 105) +says, ‘España perdió en los moriscos un millon de habitantes;’ and M. +Janer (<i>Condicion de los Moriscos</i>, Madrid, 1857, p. 93), ‘Sin entrar en +cálculos sobre los que habia cuando se expidio el edicto de Valencia en +1609, ni sobre los que fenecieron en las rebeliones, de mano armada, de +sed, de hambre ó ahogados, creemos poder fijar, aproximadamente, en +novecientos mil los que llegaron á poner el pie fuera de la península, +despidiéndose para siempre de las costas y fronteras de España, cuya +cifra deducimos del exámen y contexto de unos y otros escritores, de las +listas que nos han quedado de los expulsos, de los datos de diversas +relaciones, estados y documentos examinados con este solo intento;’ and +further on, p. 105, ‘la expulsion de un millon, ó novecientos mil de sus +habitantes.’ Llorente (<i>Histoire de l'Inquisition</i>, vol. iii. p. 430, +Paris, 1818) says, ‘un million d'habitans utiles et laborieux;’ Ximenez +(<i>Vida de Ribera</i>, Roma, 1734, 4to. p. 70), ‘novecientos mil;’ and +Boisel, who was in Spain, fifty years after the expulsion, and collected +the traditionary evidence, says, ‘Il sortit neuf cens tant de mille +hommes de compte fait, de Valence, d'Andalousie, et de Castille.’ +<i>Boisel</i>, <i>Journal du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1669, 4to. p. 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1306_1306" id="Footnote_1306_1306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1306_1306"><span class="label">[1306]</span></a> <i>Watson's Philip III.</i>, pp. 234–235. <i>Davila</i>, <i>Vida de +Felipe III.</i>, p. 146. <i>Yañez</i>, <i>Memorias para la Historia de Felipe +III.</i>, pp. 281, 290. <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion de los Moriscos</i>, pp. 83, 84, +90. Some particulars respecting their expulsion may also be seen in +Cottington's Letters from Madrid, which were written in 1609, but are of +very little value. <i>Winwood's Memorials of Affairs of State</i>, vol. iii. +pp. 73, 91, 103, 118, London, folio, 1725.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1307_1307" id="Footnote_1307_1307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1307_1307"><span class="label">[1307]</span></a> In a contemporary sermon in commemoration of their +expulsion, the preacher joyfully exclaims, ‘Pues, que mayor honra +podemos tener en este Reyno, que ser todos los que vivimos en el, fieles +á Dios, y al Rey, sin compañia de estos Hereges y traydores?’ <i>Ximenez</i>, +<i>Vida de Ribera</i>, p. 423. Another clergyman cries out, ‘Al fin salieron +estos, y quedó la tierra libre de la infamia de este gente.’ <i>Davila</i>, +<i>Vida de Felipe Tercero</i>, p. 149. See also p. 151. ‘Y es digno de poner +en consideracion el zelo que los Reyes de España tuvieron en todo tiempo +de sustentar la Fé Catolica; pues en diferentes expulsiones que han +hecho, han sacado de sus Reynos tres millones de Moros, y dos millones +de Judios, enemigos de nuestra Iglesia.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1308_1308" id="Footnote_1308_1308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1308_1308"><span class="label">[1308]</span></a> See the sermon by the Archbishop of Valencia, printed at +length in the Appendix to <i>Ximenez</i>, <i>Vida de Ribera</i>, pp. 411–428. I +would fain quote it all, but the reader must be content with part of the +peroration, pp. 426, 427. ‘Entre las felizidades, que cuenta el Espiritu +Santo que tuvieron los hijos de Israel en el govierno del Rey Salomon, +es una; que vivian los hombres seguros, durmiendo á la sombra de su +parra, y de su higuera, sin tener de quien temer. <i>Assi estaremos en +este Reyno de aqui adelante</i>, por la misericordia de nuestro Señor, y +paternal providencia de Su Magestad, todo nos sobrará, y la misma tierra +se fertilizará y dará fruto de bendicion. Brocardico es, de que todos +usabades, diziendo que despues, que estos se bautizaron, no se avia +visto un año fertil; <i>aora todos lo seran</i>, porque las heregias y +blasfemias de estos tenian esterilizada, abrasada, y inficionada la +tierra, como dixo el Real Propheta David, con tantos pecados y +abominaciones.’ … ‘Y edificarán en las tierras, que antes eran +desiertas, plantando viñas, y bebiendo el vino de ellas, y sembrarán +huertas, y comeran del fruto de los arboles, que han plantado, y nunca +seran hechados de sus casas, dize Dios. Todo esto promete nuestro Señor +por dos Prophetas suyos. <i>Todo (digo otra vez) nos sobrará.</i>’ All this +was to happen to the people; while, as to the king, he, in the same +sermon, p. 416, is likened to David; and it was declared by another high +authority, that his expulsion of the Moriscoes was so great an exploit +(‘hazaña’), that ‘durára su memoria por los venideros siglos.’ +<i>Porreño</i>, in <i>Yañez</i>, <i>Memorias para Felipe III.</i>, p. 281.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1309_1309" id="Footnote_1309_1309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1309_1309"><span class="label">[1309]</span></a> ‘Amidst the devout exultation of the whole +kingdom,—Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and others of the principal men of +genius then alive, joining in the general jubilee.’ <i>Ticknor's History +of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. i. pp. 428, 429. Compare <i>Dunlop's +Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 16. Porreño says that it may be placed among the +seven wonders of the world; ‘la podemos poner entre las siete maravillas +del mundo.’ <i>Yañez</i>, <i>Memorias</i>, p. 297: and Davila (<i>Vida de Felipe +Tercero</i>, lib. ii. cap. 41, p. 139) pronounces it to be the most +glorious achievement which had been seen since the days of Pelayo. All +this is natural enough; but what is really curious is, to trace the +modern remains of this feeling. Campomanes (<i>Apendice á la Educacion +Popular</i>, vol. iv. p. 130, Madrid, 1777), a very able man, and far more +liberal than most of his countrymen, is not ashamed to speak of ‘la +justa expulsion de los moriscos desde 1610 á 1613.’ Ortiz, in 1801, +expresses himself with more hesitation, but is evidently in favour of a +measure which liberated Spain from ‘la perniciosa semilla de Mahoma que +restaba en ella.’ <i>Compendio de la Historia de España</i>, vol. vi. pp. +304, 305. Nay, even in 1856, the great modern historian of Spain, while +admitting the serious material injury which this horrible crime +inflicted on the country, assures us that it had the ‘immense advantage’ +of producing religious unity; unable to perceive that the very unity of +which he boasts, generates an acquiescence and stagnation of mind fatal +to all real improvement, because it prevents that play and collision of +opinions by which the wits of men are sharpened and made ready for use, +‘Con la expulsion se completó el principio de la unidad religiosa en +España, que fué un bien inmenso, pero se consumó la ruina de la +agricultura, que fué un inmenso mal.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, +vol. xvii. p. 340, Madrid, 1856. And, the year after this sagacious +sentiment had been given to the world, another eminent Spaniard, in a +work crowned by the Royal Academy of History, went still further, and +declared, that not only did the expulsion of the Moriscoes cause great +benefit by securing unity of creed, but that such unity was ‘necessary +on the Spanish soil.’ ‘Y si bajo el aspecto económico reprobamos +semejante medida por la influencia perniciosa que tuvo desde el momento +de dictarse, la imparcialidad de historiadores nos obliga á respetarla +por los inmensos bienes que produjo en el órden religioso y en el órden +político.’ … ‘La unidad religiosa era necesaria en el suelo español.’ +<i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion Social de los Moriscos de España</i>, Madrid, 1857, pp. +110, 114. What are we to think of a country in which these opinions are +expressed, not by some obscure fanatic, from the platform or the pulpit, +but by able and learned men, who promulgate them with all the authority +of their position, being themselves deemed, if anything, rather too bold +and too liberal for the people to whom they address their works?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1310_1310" id="Footnote_1310_1310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1310_1310"><span class="label">[1310]</span></a> ‘Los moros eran muy diestros en todo lo que mira á obras +de agua.’ <i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice á la Educacion Popular</i>, vol. iii. p. +cvii. ‘The Moors were the most intelligent agriculturists Spain ever +had.’ <i>Laborde's Spain</i>, vol. ii. p. 216. Even Jovellanos admits that +‘except in the parts occupied by the Moors, the Spaniards were almost +totally unacquainted with the art of irrigation.’ <i>Clarke's Internal +State of Spain</i>, p. 116. See also <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Arabes d'Espagne</i>, vol. +i. p. 255, vol. ii. p. 12, vol. iii. pp. 162, 222; <i>Bourgoing</i>, <i>Tableau +de l'Espagne</i>, vol. ii. pp. 170, 171; and <i>Townsend's Spain</i>, vol. iii. +p. 74. Remains of their splendid aqueducts still exist. <i>Hoskins' +Spain</i>, vol. i. pp. 120, 125, 291, 292. Compare <i>Spain by an American</i>, +vol. ii. p. 112 with <i>L'Estat de l'Espagne</i>, Genève, 1681, p. 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1311_1311" id="Footnote_1311_1311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1311_1311"><span class="label">[1311]</span></a> Compare <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion de los Moriscos</i>, pp. 47, 48, +with <i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice á la Educacion Popular</i>, vol. iii. p. +xxii., and <i>Dunlop's Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1312_1312" id="Footnote_1312_1312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1312_1312"><span class="label">[1312]</span></a> The more sensible among the Spaniards notice, with +regret, this national contempt for every form of useful industry. See +<i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Educacion Popular</i>, p. 128, and <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Monarchie +Espagnole</i>, vol. ii. pp. 277, 278. A traveller in Spain in 1669, says of +the people, ‘ils méprisent tellement le travail, que la plûpart des +artisans sont étrangers.’ <i>Voyages faits en divers Temps par M. +M****</i>, Amsterdam, 1700, p. 80. Another traveller, between 1693 +and 1695, says, they ‘think it below the dignity of a Spaniard to labour +and provide for the future.’ <i>Travels by a Gentleman</i> (by Bromley?), +London, 1702, p. 35. A third observer, in 1679, assures us that ‘ils +souffrent plus aisément la faim et les autres nécessitez de la vie, que +de travailler, disent-ils, comme des mercenaires, ce qui n'appartient +qu'à des esclaves.’ <i>D'Aulnoy</i>, <i>Relation du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Lyon, +1693, vol. ii. pp. 369, 370. For further illustrations of this, see +<i>Labat</i>, <i>Voyages en Espagne</i>, Paris, 1730, vol. i. pp. 285, 286. +<i>Capmany</i>, <i>Qüestiones Criticas</i>, pp. 43, 49, 50. <i>Laborde's Spain</i>, +vol. i. p. i. <i>Ranke's Spanish Empire</i>, p. 103. <i>Townsend's +Journey through Spain</i>, vol. ii. pp. 240, 241.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1313_1313" id="Footnote_1313_1313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1313_1313"><span class="label">[1313]</span></a> ‘Pudo, pues, decirse con razon de nuestra patria, que de +Arabia Feliz se habia convertido en Arabia Desierta, y de Valencia en +particular, que el bello jardin de España se habia convertido en páramo +seco y deslucido. Dejóse en breve sentir en todas partes el azote del +hambre; y al alegre bullicio de las poblaciones sucedió el melancólico +silencio de los despoblados, y al frecuente cruzar de los labradores y +trajineros por los caminos siguió el peligroso encuentro de los +salteadores que los infestaban, abrigándose en las ruinas de los pueblos +desiertos.’ <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion de los Moriscos</i>, p. 100. See also +<i>Dunlop's Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 16. Campomanes says, ‘El gran número de +artesanos, que salieron con la expulsion de los moriscos, causó un golpe +mortal á las manufacturas, y á la labranza.’ <i>Apendice á la Educacion +Popular</i>, vol. i. p. 13. And p. 268, ‘El punto de decadencia de nuestras +manufacturas, puede fixarse desde el año de 1609, en que tubo principio +la expulsion de los Moriscos.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1314_1314" id="Footnote_1314_1314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1314_1314"><span class="label">[1314]</span></a> ‘Sur la carte d'Espagne, en mille endroits est inscrit ce +funeste mot, <i>despoblado</i>; en mille endroits la nature sauvage a +repris la place des cultures. Étudiez la direction des +despoblados, et consultez les registres des commissaires de l'expulsion, +vous verrez presque toujours que les familles morisques couvraient ces +solitudes. Leur patrimoine abandonné forma le domaine des voleurs, qui +établirent avec une sorte de sécurité leurs correspondances effrontées à +travers toute l'Espagne. Le brigandage s'organisa comme une profession +ordinaire; et la contrebande, sa compagne, leva le front avec autant +d'audace, autant de succès.’ <i>Circourt</i>, <i>Histoire des Arabes +d'Espagne</i>, vol. iii. pp. 227, 228.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1315_1315" id="Footnote_1315_1315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1315_1315"><span class="label">[1315]</span></a> ‘Declinó pues muy sensiblemente la vasta monarquía, y +callaron atonitos los historiadores, como huyendo la necesidad de traer +á la memoria lo que veian y apenas creian. Enmudeció pues la historia de +España en los dos reynados de Felipe IV. y Carlos II. viendo continuaba +nuestra decadencia, hasta quedar España al nivel de los menos poderosos +Estados de Europa. Este silencio nos ha privado de saber no solo las +causas de nuestra decadencia, sino tambien de los acontecimientos +civiles y militares del siglo xvii.’ <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio de la Historia +de España</i>, vol. vi., Prologo, p. i. No attempt was made to supply the +deficiency complained of by Ortiz, until 1856, when M. Lafuente +published, in Madrid, the sixteenth and seventeenth volumes of his +History of Spain, which contain the reigns of Philip IV. and Charles II. +Of this work, I have no desire to speak disrespectfully; on the +contrary, it is impossible to read it without interest, on account of +the admirable clearness with which the different topics are arranged, +and also on account of its beautiful style, which reminds us of the best +days of Castilian prose. But I feel constrained to say, that, as a +history, and especially as a history which undertakes to investigate the +causes of the decline of Spain, it is a complete failure. In the first +place, M. Lafuente has not emancipated himself from those very +prejudices to which the decline of his country is owing. And, in the +second place, he has, particularly in the reigns of Philip IV. and +Charles II., not used sufficient diligence in searching for materials +for studying the economical changes through which Spain has passed. +Looking too intently at the surface, he mistakes symptoms for causes; so +that the real history of the Spanish people every where escapes his +grasp. As the object to which my studies are directed, compels me to +contemplate affairs from a larger and more general point of view than he +has done, it naturally happens that the conclusions at which we arrive +are very different; but I wish to bear my testimony, whatever it may be +worth, to the great merit of his book as a work of art, though, as a +work of science, it appears to me that he has effected nothing, and has +thrown no new light on the real history of that unfortunate, albeit once +splendid, nation, of which his eloquence, his learning, and his taste, +make him one of the chiefest ornaments.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1316_1316" id="Footnote_1316_1316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1316_1316"><span class="label">[1316]</span></a> See <i>Dunlop's Memoirs</i>, vol. ii. p. 320; and the +interesting calculations in <i>Uztariz</i>, <i>Theorica y Practica de +Comercio</i>, Madrid, 1757, folio, pp. 35, 36. Owing to the ignorance which +formerly prevailed respecting statistics, such estimates are necessarily +imperfect; but, after the desolation of Spain in the seventeenth +century, an extraordinary diminution in the population of the capital +was inevitable. Indeed, a contemporary of Charles II. states that in +1699, Madrid had only 150,000 inhabitants. <i>Mémoires de Louville</i>, +Paris, 1818, vol. i. p. 72. This account is taken from ‘un mémoire +manuscrit, en langue espagnole, trouvé dans les papiers du marquis de +Louville.’ p. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1317_1317" id="Footnote_1317_1317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1317_1317"><span class="label">[1317]</span></a> Capmany (<i>Qüestiones Criticas</i>, p. 30), who seems to have +written his able, but not very accurate, work for the express purpose of +concealing the decline of his country, has given these figures +erroneously. My information is derived from an official report made in +1701, by the trade-corporations (‘gremios’) of Seville. ‘Fijan la época +de la ruina de nuestras fábricas desde el reynado de Felipe II. y añaden +“haber llegado á tener solo en esta ciudad al arte mayor, y menor de la +sede, el número de mas de diez y seis mil telares, y se ocupaban en los +exercicios adherentes á él, mas de ciento treinta mil personas de ambos +sexos.”’ <i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice á la Educacion Popular</i>, vol. i. p. +473, Madrid, 1775. See also <i>Uztariz</i>, <i>Theorica y Practica de +Comercio</i>, p. 14, ‘diez y seis mil telares;’ where, however, no +authority is quoted.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1318_1318" id="Footnote_1318_1318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1318_1318"><span class="label">[1318]</span></a> ‘El principal origen y causa de que los 16,000 telares de +seda, lana, oro y plata, que se contaban en Sevilla, se hallen oy +reducidos á menos de 300.’ <i>Uztariz</i>, <i>Theorica de Comercio</i>, p. 243.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1319_1319" id="Footnote_1319_1319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1319_1319"><span class="label">[1319]</span></a> <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. ii. p. 52, who +refers to the report of the Cortes published by Alonso Nuñez de Castro.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1320_1320" id="Footnote_1320_1320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1320_1320"><span class="label">[1320]</span></a> <i>Laborde's Spain</i>, vol. iv. p. 338, where it is also +said, that Tunis became, in consequence of the expulsion of the +Moriscoes, famous for the manufacture of caps, which ‘were subsequently +imitated at Orleans.’ Compare, on the cap-manufactories of Tunis, a note +in <i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice, á la Educacion Popular</i>, vol. iv. p. 249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1321_1321" id="Footnote_1321_1321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1321_1321"><span class="label">[1321]</span></a> ‘Tolède, où se mettaient en œuvre 435,000 livres de +soie, avait déjà perdu ce travail, qui suffisait autrefois à l'existence +de 38,484 personnes. La population de cette ville avait éprouvé un tiers +de diminution, et vingt-cinq maisons de ses familles les plus illustres +étaient passées dans le domaine de divers couvens.’ <i>Sempere</i>, +<i>Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. ii. p. 50.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1322_1322" id="Footnote_1322_1322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1322_1322"><span class="label">[1322]</span></a> See his interesting essay, reprinted in the appendix to +<i>Campomanes</i>, vol. iv. p. 251. He says, ‘La fábrica de los guantes, que +tenian pocos años ha todas las ciudades de estos reynos para el consumo +de España y las Indias, era muy considerable; y se ha destruido, despues +que se dió entrada al consumo de guantes estrangeros.’ Such a statement, +made by a contemporary, is unimpeachable; but the reason he assigns is +inadequate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1323_1323" id="Footnote_1323_1323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1323_1323"><span class="label">[1323]</span></a> Segovia, as it appeared in 1659, is thus described in +<i>Boisel</i>, <i>Journal du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1669, 4to. p. 186: +‘Autresfois, cette ville qui paroist assez grande, estoit fort riche, +tant à cause que les rois de Castille y demeuroient, qu'à cause du grand +commerce des laines et des beaux draps qui s'y faisoient; mais à présent +le trafic n'y est plus, et on n'y fait plus que fort peu de draps, de +sorte que la ville est presque désert et fort pauvre. Une marque de sa +pauvreté, du mauvais ordre d'Espagne, et du peu de prévoyance des +Espagnols (quoy qu'on dise de leur flegme), c'est que le jour que j'y +arrivay jusques à deux heures après midy il n'y avoit point eu de pain +en toute la ville, et ils ne s'en étonnoient point.’ The decline of the +silk and wool manufactures of Segovia is also noticed by Martinez de la +Mata, who wrote in 1650. See his <i>Dos Discursos</i>, edited by Canga, +Madrid, 1794, p. 8. Saint Simon, who was there in 1722, says, ‘A l'égard +de leurs laines, j'en vis les manufactures à Ségovie qui me parurent peu +de chose et fort tombées de leur ancienne réputation.’ <i>Mémoires du Duc +de Saint Simon</i>, vol. xxxvii. p. 230, Paris, 1841. Segovia used to be +famous for the beautiful colour of its cloth, the dye of which was taken +from a shell-fish found in the West Indies, and is supposed to be the +same as the purpura of the ancients. See a note in <i>Dillon's Spain</i>, +Dublin, 1781, pp. 19, 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1324_1324" id="Footnote_1324_1324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1324_1324"><span class="label">[1324]</span></a> Such is the language of a Spaniard in the middle of the +seventeenth century. ‘Porque á la ciudad de Burgos, cabeza de Castilla, +no le ha quedado sino el nombre, ni aun vestigios de sus ruinas; +reducida la grandeza de sus tratos, Prior, y Cónsules, y ordenanzas para +la conservacion de ellos, á 600 vecinos, que conservanel nombre y lustre +de aquella antigua y noble cuidad, que encerró en si mas de seis mil, +sin la gente suelta, natural, y forastera.’ <i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice á la +Educacion</i>, vol. i. p. 453, Madrid, 1765. An intelligent Dutchman, who +visited Spain in 1665, says of Burgos, ‘elle a esté autrefois fort +marchande, mais depuis peu, elle a presque perdu tout son commerce.’ +<i>Aarsens de Sommerdyck</i>, <i>Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1665, 4to. p. 16. To +me, it certainly appears that facts of this sort have more to do with +the real history of Spain than the details of kings, and treaties, and +battles, which the Spanish historians love to accumulate.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1325_1325" id="Footnote_1325_1325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1325_1325"><span class="label">[1325]</span></a> ‘Could contribute little to the exigencies of the state.’ +<i>Dunlop's Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 285. Compare <i>Lamentos Apologéticos</i>, in +<i>Dos Discursos</i>, edit. Canga, Madrid, 1794, p. 82, on the state of +things in ‘lo mas fértil de Andalucia.’ The government first became +alive to all this when it found that no more money could be wrung from +the people. In May 1667, a council of state, convoked by the queen, +reported that ‘quant aux ressources qu'on voudrait tirer de l'Espagne, +sous forme de dons volontaires ou autrement, le conseil estime qu'il est +bien difficile d'imposer aux peuples des charges nouvelles;’ and in +November of that same year, at another meeting of the council, a memoir +was drawn up, stating that ‘depuis le règne de Don Ferdinand le +Catholique jusqu'à ce jour, la monarchie d'Espagne ne s'est pas encore +vue si près de sa ruine, si épuisée, si dénuée des ressources +nécessaires pour faire face à un grand péril.’ See extracts from the +proceedings of the Councils, published, for, I believe, the first time, +by M. Mignet, in his <i>Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne</i>, +vol. ii. pp. 124, 601, Paris, 1835, 4to. See also, in the same valuable +work, vol. ii. p. 127, a letter to Louis XIV., from his ambassador at +Madrid, dated 2nd June, 1667, and stating that ‘l'extrémité est ici si +grande qu'il se fait une contribution volontaire de tous les +particuliers que l'on appelle <i>donativo</i>, pour fournir quelque argent +présent pour les nécessitée publiques.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1326_1326" id="Footnote_1326_1326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1326_1326"><span class="label">[1326]</span></a> In 1664, Sir Richard Fanshawe writes from Madrid to +Secretary Bennet, ‘Since my last to you, of yesterday, the President of +Castile, having, by the king's special and angry command, gone forth to +the neighbouring villages, attended with the hangman, and whatsoever +else of terror incident to his place and derogatory to his person, the +markets in this town begin to be furnished again plentifully enough.’ +<i>Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe</i>, <i>written by herself</i>, edit. London, 1830, p. +291.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1327_1327" id="Footnote_1327_1327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1327_1327"><span class="label">[1327]</span></a> Nothing but the precise and uncontradicted evidence of a +contemporary witness could make such things credible. In 1686, Alvarez +Osorio y Redin wrote his <i>Discursos</i>. They were published in 1687 and +1688; they were reprinted at Madrid in 1775; and from the reprint, pp. +345–348, I extract the following particulars: ‘Es preciso decir con la +mayor brevedad, que pide el asunto, en la forma que los comisionantes +continuamente están saqueando todos los lugares, con capa de servir á +V.M. Entran en ellos, intíman sus comisiones á las justicias, y ellas +les suplican, tengan misericordia de los moradores, que estan con mucha +necesidad. Y luego que toman el uso, dicen: que á ellos no les toca +dispensar en hacer gracias: que traen orden de cobrar con todo rigor las +cantidades, que deben los lugares; y tambien dicen han de cobrar sus +salarios. Y se van entrando por las casas de los pobres labradores, y +demás vecinos; y con mucha cuenta y razon, les quitan el poco dinero, +que tienen: y á los que no tienen, les sacan prendas: y donde no las +hallan, les quitan las pobres camas, en que duermen: y se detienen en +vender las prendas, todo el tiempo que pueden.’ … ‘Los saquéos +referidos van continuando, obligando á los mas vecinos de los lugares, á +que se vayan huyendo de sus casas, dexando baldías sus haciendas de +campo; y los cobradores no tienen lástima de todas estas miserias, y +asolaciones, como si entráran en lugares de enemigos. Las casas, que +hallan vacías, si hay quien se las compre, las venden: y quando no +pueden venderlas, las quitan los texados; y venden la texa, y madera por +qualquier dinero. Con esta destruicion general, no han quedado en pie en +los lugares la tercera parte de casas, y han muerto de necesidad gran +multitud de personas. Con lo qual los lugares no tienen la mitad de +familias, que antiguamente habia en España. Y si no se pone remedio á +todo referido, será preciso, que la vengan á poblar de otros Reynos.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1328_1328" id="Footnote_1328_1328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1328_1328"><span class="label">[1328]</span></a> ‘Allí acabó aquella antigua milicia española que desde el +tiempo de los reyes católicos habia ganado tan gloriosos triunfos, +siendo el terror de sus enemigos.’ <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, +vol. iii. p. 150, Madrid, 1840. ‘La batalla de Rocroy, en que el jóven +Condé recogió los laureles con que engalanó la dorado cuna del niño Luis +XIV., acabó con la reputacion que aun habian podido ir conservando los +viejos tercios españoles de Flandres.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, +vol. xvii. p. 368, Madrid, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1329_1329" id="Footnote_1329_1329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1329_1329"><span class="label">[1329]</span></a> In the <i>Clarendon State Papers</i>, vol. i. p. 275, Oxford, +1767, folio, I find a letter written by Hopton to Secretary Windebank, +dated Madrid, 31st May, 1635. The author of this official communication +gives an account of the Spanish troops just raised, and says, ‘I have +observed these levies, and I find the horses are so weak, as the most of +them will never be able to go to the rendezvous, and those very hardly +gotten, the infantry so unwilling to serve, as they are carried like +galley-slaves, in chains, which serves not the turn, and so far short of +the number that was proposed, as they come not to one of three.’ This +was eight years before the battle of Rocroy; after it, matters became +rapidly worse. A letter from Sir Edward Hyde to Secretary Nicholas, +dated Madrid, 18th March, 1649–50, states, that Spanish ‘affairs are +really in huge disorder, and capable of being rendered almost +desperate;’ and another letter, on 14th April, 1650, ‘if some miracle do +not preserve them, this crown must be speedily destroyed,’ <i>Clarendon +State Papers</i>, vol. iii. pp. 13, 17, Oxford, 1786. An official Report on +the Netherlands, presented to Louis XIV. in 1665, declares that the +Dutch ‘considered Spain so weakened, as to be out of condition to renew +the war within the next one hundred years.’ <i>Raumer's History of the +Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries</i>, <i>illustrated by Original +Documents</i>, London, 1835, vol. i. p. 237. See also <i>Mignet</i>, +<i>Négociations relatives à la Succession d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1835–1842, +4to. vol. i. pp. 37, 38, 314, 315, vol. iii. p. 684, vol. iv. p. 218; +and <i>L'Estat de l'Espagne</i>, Genève, 1681, pp. 83, 271. ‘L'Espagne +faisant en nos jours plus de pitié que de peur à ceux qu'elle a tenus +long-tems dans une crainte perpétuelle, et dans une +respectueuse vénération.’ … ‘Aussi peut-on dire que les Espagnols qui +étoient autrefois des lions, ou des véritables hommes et incomparables +en valeur, sont maintenant des cerfs, ou des femmes, et enfin des +personnes peu propres à la guerre.’ And finally, the Spanish explanation +of all this in <i>Yañez</i>, <i>Memorias</i>, Prologo, pp. 148, 149, Madrid, 1723. +‘La Monarquia de España, cuya decadencia la avia yá Dios decretado desde +el año de 1621,’ &c.; blasphemously ascribing to the Almighty, what was +the result of their own folly, and obstinately shutting their eyes to +the real cause of their ruin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1330_1330" id="Footnote_1330_1330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1330_1330"><span class="label">[1330]</span></a> ‘A century ago, Spain had been as supreme at sea as on +land; her ordinary naval force was 140 galleys, which were the terror +both of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. But now’ (1656), ‘in consequence +of the decline of commerce and fisheries on the coast, instead of the +numerous squadrons of the Dorias and Mendozas, which were wont to attend +the movements of the first great John of Austria and the Emperor +Charles, the present High-Admiral of Spain, and favourite son of its +monarch, put to sea with three wretched gallies, which, with difficulty, +escaped from some Algerine corsairs, and were afterwards nearly +shipwrecked on the coast of Africa.’ <i>Dunlop's Memoirs</i>, vol. i. p. 549. +In 1663, ‘Il n'y avait à Cadix ni vaisseaux ni galères en état d'aller +en mer. Les Maures insultaient audacieusement les côtes de l'Andalousie, +et prenaient impunément les barques qui se hasardaient à une lieue de la +rade. Le duc d'Albuquerque, qui commandait les forces navales, se +plaignait hautement de la position humiliante dans laquelle on le +laissait. Il avait demandé avec instance qu'on lui donnât des matelots +et des soldats pour mettre sur les vaisseaux; mais le Comte de +Castrillo, président du Conseil de Finances (de la <i>hacienda</i>) avait +déclaré qu'il n'avait ni argent, ni la possibilité d'en trouver, et +conseillait de renoncer à l'armée navale.’ <i>Mignet</i>, <i>Négociations +relatives à la Succession d'Espagne</i>, vol. i. pp. 315, 316, Paris, 1835, +4to. from contemporary manuscripts. Even in 1648, Spain had ‘become so +feeble in point of naval affairs as to be obliged to hire Dutch vessels +for carrying on her American commerce.’ <i>Macpherson's Annals of +Commerce</i>, vol. ii. p. 435, London, 1805, 4to. And, to complete the +chain of evidence, there is a letter in the <i>Clarendon State Papers</i>, +vol. ii. p. 86, Oxford, 1773, folio, written from Madrid in June 1640, +stating that, ‘For ships they have few, mariners fewer, landsmen not so +many as they need, and, by all signs, money not at all that can be +spared.’ The history of Spain during this period never having been +written, I am compelled, in my own justification, to give these and +similar passages with a fulness which I fear will weary some readers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1331_1331" id="Footnote_1331_1331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1331_1331"><span class="label">[1331]</span></a> And when they did, it was to their own cost, as Stanhope +found, at the beginning of his career as British minister to the court +of Madrid, in 1690. See his letter to Lord Shrewsbury, in <i>Mahon's Spain +under Charles II.</i>, London, 1840, p. 3. ‘We were forced into a small +port, called Ferrol, three leagues short of the Groyne, and, by the +ignorance of a Spanish pilot, our ships fell foul one with another, and +the admiral's ship was on ground for some hours, but got off clear +without any damage.’ Indeed, the Spanish seamen, once the boldest and +most skilful navigators in the world, so degenerated, that, early in the +eighteenth century, we find it stated as a matter of course, that ‘to +form the Spaniard to marine affairs, is transporting them into unknown +countries.’ <i>The History of Cardinal Alberoni</i>, London, 1719, p. 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1332_1332" id="Footnote_1332_1332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1332_1332"><span class="label">[1332]</span></a> ‘Le peu de soldats qui résistaient à la désertion, +étaient vêtus de haillons, sans solde, sans pain,’ <i>Mémoires de +Louville</i>, edit. Paris, 1818, vol. i. p. 72. ‘Dans l'état le plus +misérable.’ p. 43. Compare Lefuente, in the reign of Philip +IV. (<i>Historia</i>, vol. xvi. p. 519), ‘los soldados peleaban andrajosos y +medio desnudos;’ and D'Aulnoy, in 1679 (<i>Relation du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, +vol. i. p. 168), ‘Il est rare que dans tout un régiment, il se trouve +deux soldats qui ayent plus d'une chemise.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1333_1333" id="Footnote_1333_1333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1333_1333"><span class="label">[1333]</span></a> ‘Ruinosos los muros de sus fortalezas, aun tenía +Barcelona abiertas las brechas, que hizo el duque de Vendoma; y desde +Rosas hasta Cadiz, no habia Alcazar, ni Castillo, no solo presidiado, +pero ni montada su artillería. La misma negligencia se admiraba en los +puertos de Vizcaya, y Galicia; no tenian los almazenes sus provisiones, +faltaban fundidores de armas, y las que habia, eran de ningun uso. +Vacios los arsenales y artilleros, se habia olvidado el arte de +construir naves, y no tenia el Rey mas que las destinadas al comercio de +Indias, y algunos galeones; seis galeras, consumidas del tiempo, y del +ocio, se ancoraban en Cartagena.’ <i>Bacallar</i>, <i>Comentarios de la Guerra +de España</i>, vol. i. p. 43. Another eye-witness describes ‘the best +fortresses consisting of ruined walls, mounted with here and there a +rusty cannon, and the man thought an able engineer who knew how to fire +them.’ <i>Ripperda's Memoirs</i>, second edition, London, 1740, p. 227.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1334_1334" id="Footnote_1334_1334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1334_1334"><span class="label">[1334]</span></a> <i>Dunlop's Memoirs</i>, vol. ii. pp. 224, 225. In 1680, +Madame de Villars, the wife of the French Ambassador, writes from +Madrid, that such was the state of affairs there, that her husband +thought it advisable that she should return home. <i>Lettres de Madame de +Villars</i>, Amsterdam, 1769, p. 169. A letter written by the Danish +ambassador in 1677, describes every house in Madrid as regularly armed +from top to bottom; ‘de haut en bas.’ <i>Mignet</i>, <i>Négociations relatives +à la Succession</i>, vol. iv. p. 638, Paris, 1842, 4to. The deaths from +starvation are said to have been particularly numerous in Andalusia. See +<i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iii. p. 167. ‘En Andalucia +especialmente moria mucha gente de hambre, y el consulado de Sevilla +envió una diputacion para representar que aquella ciudad habia quedado +reducida á la cuarta parte de la poblacion que habia tenido cincuenta +años antes.’ On the state of the people generally, in 1680, compare +<i>Lettres de Villars</i>, pp. 145, 152, 161.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1335_1335" id="Footnote_1335_1335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1335_1335"><span class="label">[1335]</span></a> ‘Point de libertés et point de frein.’ <i>Mém. de Louville</i>, +vol. i. p. 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1336_1336" id="Footnote_1336_1336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1336_1336"><span class="label">[1336]</span></a> In 1681, the French ambassadress writes from Madrid, ‘Je +ne vous parle point de la misère de ce royaume. La faim est jusques dans +le palais. J'étois hier avec huit ou dix camaristes, et La Moline, qui +disoient qu'il y avoit fort long-tems qu'on ne leur donnoit plus ni pain +ni viande. Aux écuries du roi et de la reine, de même.’ <i>Lettres de Madame +la Marquise de Villars</i>, Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 216, 217. The year after +Charles II. died: ‘II n'y avoit pas de fonds pour les choses les plus +nécessaires, pour la cuisine, l'écurie, les valets de pied,’ &c. +<i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires du Duc de Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 26, ed. Petitot, +Paris, 1828. Among other reckless expedients, the currency was so +depreciated, that, in a letter from Martin to Dr. Frazer, dated Madrid, +March 6th, 1680, we hear of ‘the fall of money to one fourth part of its +former value.’ <i>Miscellany of the Spalding Club</i>, vol. v. p. 187, +Aberdeen, 4to. 1852.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1337_1337" id="Footnote_1337_1337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1337_1337"><span class="label">[1337]</span></a> ‘The king has taken away, by a late decree, a third part +of all wages and salaries of all officers and ministers without +exception, and suspended for the ensuing year, 1694, all pensions for +life granted either by himself or his father.’ Letter from the English +Ambassador, dated Madrid, November 18th, 1693, in <i>Mahon's Spain under +Charles II.</i>, London, 1840, p. 40. This is also stated in <i>Millot</i>, +<i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. i. p. 359, Paris, 1828; ‘retranchant le +tiers des dépenses de sa maison, et des appointemens de ses officiers +tant militaires que civils.’ In the preceding reign, the pension had +been stopped, at all events for a time. In 1650, Sir Edward Hyde, writes +from Madrid, ‘there is an universal stop of all pensions which have been +granted formerly.’ <i>Clarendon State Papers</i>, vol. ii. p. 538, Oxford, +1773. The next step which was taken was a proposal, in 1667, to tax the +salaries of the members of the Council of Castile, Arragon, &c.; but +this idea was abandoned, until at length, they, like all other public +servants, came under the comprehensive edict of 1693. See the letter +from the French Ambassador to Louis XIV., dated Madrid, June 2nd, 1667, +in <i>Mignet</i>, <i>Négociations</i>, vol. ii. p. 128, Paris, 1835, 4to. The only +chance of recovering the history of Spain in the seventeenth century, is +by collating these and similar documents with the meagre notices to be +found in Spanish writers.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1338_1338" id="Footnote_1338_1338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1338_1338"><span class="label">[1338]</span></a> In 1695, ‘the miserable poverty in this country.’ +<i>Travels through Spain</i>, <i>performed by a Gentleman</i>, London, 1702, p. +62. And, in the same year, ‘L'Espagne, manquant de tout d'hommes, et +d'argent.’ <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. i. p. 402. ‘L'Espagne, presque +anéantie.’ p. 424.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1339_1339" id="Footnote_1339_1339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1339_1339"><span class="label">[1339]</span></a> See the letters in <i>Mahon's Spain under Charles II.</i>, pp. +138–140. On the 21st of May, ‘We have an addition of above 20,000 +beggars, flocked from the country round, to share in that little here +is, who were starving at home, and look like ghosts.’ On the 27th of +May, ‘The scarcity of bread is growing on apace towards a famine, which +increases, by vast multitudes of poor that swarm in upon us from the +countries round about. I shifted the best I could till this day, but the +difficulty of getting any without authority, has made me recur to the +Corregidor, as most of the foreign Ministers had done before; he, very +courteously, after inquiring what my family was, gave me an order for +twenty loaves every day: but I must send two leagues, to Vallejas, to +fetch it, as I have done this night, and my servants with long guns to +secure it when they have it, otherwise it would be taken from them, for +several people are killed every day in the streets, in scuffles for +bread, all being lawful prize that any body can catch.’ … ‘My +secretary, Don Francisco, saw yesterday five poor women stifled to death +by the crowd before a bakehouse.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1340_1340" id="Footnote_1340_1340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1340_1340"><span class="label">[1340]</span></a> Even M. Lafuente, who having used scarcely any of the +authorities which I have quoted in the last few pages, can have no +adequate idea of the utter wretchedness of Spain, confesses that ‘Jamás +monarca ni pueblo alguno se vieron en tan lastimosa situacion y en tan +mísero trance como se hallaron en este tiempo’ (1699). ‘Carlos II. y la +España.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. +xvii. p. 426, Madrid, 1856.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1341_1341" id="Footnote_1341_1341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1341_1341"><span class="label">[1341]</span></a> ‘Les Maures d'Afrique assiégeoient Ceuta. Le roi +d'Espagne manquait non seulement de troupes, mais de vaisseaux pour +transporter le peu de secours qu'il pouvoit y envoyer: Louis XIV lui fit +offrir les troupes et les vaisseaux dont il auroit besoin. Il s'agissoit +non seulement de conserver Ceuta, mais de plus Oran; par conséquent +d'empêcher la prise de deux places dont la conquête facilitoit aux +Maures un retour en Espagne.’ <i>Mémoires du Marquis de Torcy</i>, vol. i. p. +46, ed. Paris, 1828. Respecting the attacks made on Ceuta, from 1696 to +1698, see <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio de la Historia de España</i>, vol. vi. pp. +556, 567, 561.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1342_1342" id="Footnote_1342_1342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1342_1342"><span class="label">[1342]</span></a> A celebrated modern writer has made some remarks upon +this, which are too apposite to be omitted. ‘Con el siglo xvii. acabó +tambien la dinastía austriaca en España, dejando á esta nacion pobre, +despoblada, sin fuerzas marítimas ni terrestres, y por consiguiente á +merced de las demas potencias que intentaron repartir entre sí sus +colonias y provincias. Así habia desparecido en poco mas de un siglo +aquella grandeza y poderío, aquella fuerza y heroismo, aquella cultura é +ilustracion con que habia descollado entre todas las naciones.’ +<i>Biografia de Ensenada</i>, in <i>Navarrete</i>, <i>Opúsculos</i>, vol. ii. p. 5, +Madrid, 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1343_1343" id="Footnote_1343_1343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1343_1343"><span class="label">[1343]</span></a> Except during the short interregnum of Louis, in 1724, +which only lasted a few months, and during which, the boy, though called +king, exercised no real power, and Philip remained the actual ruler. +‘Aun el nuevo rey no resolvia negocio de consideracion sin asenso de su +padre.’ <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. vii. p. 374.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1344_1344" id="Footnote_1344_1344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1344_1344"><span class="label">[1344]</span></a> Saint Simon, who knew Philip well, and who was in Spain +in 1721 and 1722, says of him, ‘L'amour de la France lui sortait de +partout.’ <i>Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon</i>, vol. xxxvii. p. 3, Paris, +1841. And, in 1746, shortly before his death, Noailles writes from +Aranjuez, ‘Ce prince a le cœur tout français.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de +Noailles</i>, vol. iv. p. 191, Paris, 1829.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1345_1345" id="Footnote_1345_1345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1345_1345"><span class="label">[1345]</span></a> ‘N'oubliez jamais que vous êtes Français, et ce qui peut +vous arriver.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 6. Compare +<i>Coxe's Memoirs of the Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, London, 1815, vol. i. p. +103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1346_1346" id="Footnote_1346_1346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1346_1346"><span class="label">[1346]</span></a> In 1702, Philip ‘parlait moins que jamais, et seulement +aux Français, comme s'ils eussent été les seuls êtres de son espèce.’ +<i>Mémoires de Louville</i>, vol. i. p. 276. ‘Le dégoût que Philippe laissait +voir pour sa cour espagnole.’ p. 333. A Spanish statesman, celebrated, +or, I would rather say, notorious, at the close of the century, +indignantly exclaims, ‘It was on the accession of the Bourbon dynasty, +that foreigners came to govern us on our native soil.’ <i>Godoy's +Memoirs</i>, ed. London, 1836, vol. ii. p. 271.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1347_1347" id="Footnote_1347_1347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1347_1347"><span class="label">[1347]</span></a> In 1701, it was the duty of the French ambassador, ‘qu'il +pût au besoin être premier ministre d'Espagne.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de +Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 31; ‘que l'ambassadeur de sa Majesté soit +ministre du roi Catholique; que, sans en avoir le titre, il en exerce +les fonctions; qu'il aide au roi d'Espagne à connoître l'état de ses +affaires, et à gouverner par lui-même.’ p. 55. In 1702, Marsin writes to +Louis XIV., ‘Comme il est absolument nécessaire que l'ambassadeur de +Votre Majesté en Espagne ait un crédit sans bornes auprès du Roy son +petit-fils.’ p. 183. In 1705, Amelot, the French ambassador, ‘décidoit +de tout en Espagne.’ <i>Mémoires de Louville</i>, vol. ii. p. 165; and in +1706, ‘étant à la tête des affaires, et joignant presque les fonctions +de premier ministre à celles d'ambassadeur.’ <i>Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. +398.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1348_1348" id="Footnote_1348_1348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1348_1348"><span class="label">[1348]</span></a> In 1703, ‘Il est clair que l'embarras de Philippe venoit +surtout de la crainte que ses décisions ne fussent point approuvées en +France, où toutes les affaires importantes se décidoient.’ <i>Millot</i>, +<i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 244. ‘The King of France had always +certain persons at Madrid, which compos'd a Council, of which that of +Versailles was the soul; and whose members were all creatures of the +French Court, and sent to Madrid from time to time to direct all affairs +there, according to the views of the Most Christian King, and to give +him an account of every thing that pass'd in the Councils of the +Escurial. Alberoni got to be initiated in the mysteries of this cabal.’ +<i>History of Cardinal Alberoni</i>, London, 1719, p. 70.</p> + +<p>The Spanish historians are not very fond of admitting this +unquestionable fact; but Bacallar, after mentioning the influence of the +French Ambassador, frankly adds: ‘Desde entonces tomaron tanta mano +sobre los de España los ministros franceses, que dieron mas zelos á los +Principes, viendo estrechar la union á un grado, que todo se ponía al +arbitrio de Luis XIV.’ <i>Bacallar</i>, <i>Comentarios de la Guerra de España</i>, +vol. i. p. 33.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1349_1349" id="Footnote_1349_1349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1349_1349"><span class="label">[1349]</span></a> Even the veteran diplomatist was so struck by the escape +of Spain from complete ruin, that he ascribes its change of masters to +the direct interference of the Deity. ‘Sa seule puissance avait placé +Philippe V sur le trône d'Espagne; elle seule pouvait l'y maintenir; les +hommes n'avaient pas conduit ce grand événement.’ <i>Mémoires de Torcy</i>, +vol. i. p. 333. ‘Le trône où Dieu l'avait placé.’ p. 401. See also vol. +ii. pp. 3, 227. ‘The Spanish people received him with unhesitating +obedience to the deceased king's will, and rejoiced at the prospect of a +rule that would at least have the merit of being different from that +under which they had so long withered.’ <i>Memoirs of Peterborough</i>, +London, 1853, vol. i. p. 102. ‘Muchos españoles recibieron por su +soberano á Felipe V., cansados de la dominacion de la casa de Austria. +Esperaban de la mudanza de la dinastia la felicidad y el buen gobierno.’ +<i>Castro</i>, <i>Decadencia de España</i>, Cadiz, 1852, p. 131. To the same +effect, <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. i. pp. 420, 426, vol. ii. +p. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1350_1350" id="Footnote_1350_1350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1350_1350"><span class="label">[1350]</span></a> He ‘committed the military defence of these provinces to +the Marquis of Grana, the Austrian ambassador at Madrid, from the want +of any Spanish commander whose courage or military endowments qualified +him to repel such an enemy as the king of France.’ <i>Dunlop's Memoirs</i>, +vol. ii. p. 232. Compare, on the want of Spanish generals, <i>Mémoires du +Maréchal de Gramont</i>, vol. ii. p. 82, edit. Paris, 1827. The opinion +which Grana himself formed of the Spanish government, may be learned +from a conversation which he held at Madrid, in 1680, with the French +ambassadress, and which is preserved in her correspondence. <i>Lettres de +Madame la Marquise de Villars</i>, Amsterdam, 1759, pp. 118, 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1351_1351" id="Footnote_1351_1351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1351_1351"><span class="label">[1351]</span></a> See the letter of Philip V. to Louis XIV., dated June 22, +1702, in <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. ii. pp. 256, 257, Paris, 1828, +edit. Petitot.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1352_1352" id="Footnote_1352_1352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1352_1352"><span class="label">[1352]</span></a> See <i>Bacallar</i>, <i>Comentarios de la Guerra de España</i>, +vol. i. pp. 137, 166, where he is called ‘el Duque de Bervich.’ His own +account is, ‘J'arrivai à Madrid le 15 février’ (1704), ‘où d'abord S. M. +Catholique me fit Capitaine-Général de ses armées.’ <i>Mémoires de +Berwick</i>, Paris, 1778, vol. i. p. 227; and see p. xxv. No one would +suppose this, from the observations of M. Lafuente, in his <i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. xviii. p. 80, Madrid, 1857.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1353_1353" id="Footnote_1353_1353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1353_1353"><span class="label">[1353]</span></a> ‘Philippe n'étoit pas content de Berwick, ou plutôt il +témoigna ne le pas être, et il demanda un autre général à Louis XIV. On +lui envoya le maréchal de Tessé, pour qui il avoit montré du penchant.’ +<i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 331. Berwick himself +ascribes his dismissal to the influence of Gramont and of the Queen of +Spain. <i>Mémoires de Berwick</i>, vol. i. pp. 269–273. At all events, the +new general became supreme. In December 1705, the Princess des Ursins +writes from Madrid to Madame de Maintenon, ‘M. le maréchal de Tessé, +quand il est à Madrid, est consulté, et décide sur toutes les affaires, +<i>autant, pour le moins, que M. l'ambassadeur</i>; et lorsqu'il est à +l'armée, il est le maître absolu non seulement des troupes de France, +mais encore de celles d'Espagne, commandant aux capitaines-généraux, ses +anciens, contre l'usage du pays.’ <i>Lettres inédites de Madame de +Maintenon et de Madame la Princesse des Ursins</i>, vol. iii. p. 259, +Paris, 1826.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1354_1354" id="Footnote_1354_1354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1354_1354"><span class="label">[1354]</span></a> In 1706, ‘Le duc de Berwick, redemandé par Philippe V., +arrivé à Madrid le 11 mars, avec le titre de maréchal de France, pour +défendre l'Estramadure et la Castille, ayant rassemblé ce qu'il peut de +troupes espagnoles, empêcha les ennemis d'entreprendre le siège de +Badajoz.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 387. Philip +‘pria le Roi, son grand-père, d'envoyer un général pour commander sur +les frontières de Portugal. Ce fut donc sur moi que le choix tomba.’ +<i>Mémoires de Berwick</i>, vol. i. p. 305.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1355_1355" id="Footnote_1355_1355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1355_1355"><span class="label">[1355]</span></a> In a recently published work (<i>Memoirs of Peterborough</i>, +London, 1853, vol. i. pp. 148, 155, 161, 206, 210, vol. ii. pp. 34, 93), +Charles is not only called King of Spain, which he never was, as Spain +always refused to accept him, but, in the teeth of all history, he is +actually termed Charles III.; while Philip V. is merely ‘Philip of +Anjou.’ If this were allowed, the consequence would be, that the king +whom the Spaniards now call Charles III., would have to change his +appellation, and become Charles IV.; and Charles IV. would be changed +into Charles V. It is really too much when mere biographers obtrude, in +this way, their own little prepossessions into the vast field of +history, and seek to efface its established nomenclature, because they +are enamoured of the hero whose life they write.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1356_1356" id="Footnote_1356_1356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1356_1356"><span class="label">[1356]</span></a> ‘This victory established the throne of Philip.’ +<i>Dunham's History of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 136. ‘A victory which may be +justly said to have saved Spain.’ <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. +i. p. 408. Even Ortiz allows that if Berwick had failed, Philip would +have been ruined. ‘Esta batalla de Almansa, que las circunstancias +hicieron ruidosa, comenzó á poner mejor la corona de España en la cabeza +de Felipe V.; y se tuvo por indubitable que si la hubiera perdido, +tambien hubiera perdido la corona.’ <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. vii. p. +116. See also <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xviii. p. 185. +‘Berwick, á quien, sin duda, debió su salvación la España.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1357_1357" id="Footnote_1357_1357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1357_1357"><span class="label">[1357]</span></a> ‘Sa réputation étoit grande et bien établie; le roi +d'Espagne avoit été témoin de sa conduite en Lombardie; il demanda au +Roi un général si capable de commander ses armées.’ <i>Mémoires de Torcy</i>, +vol. i. p. 386. See also <i>History of Alberoni</i>, London, 1719, p. 45. ‘Le +duc de Vendôme alloit enfin commander les troupes d'Espagne.’ <i>Mémoires +de Noailles</i>, vol. iii. p. 12. According to Berwick, the offer was first +made to himself. <i>Mémoires de Berwick</i>, vol. ii. pp. 106, 109. M. +Lafuente, without quoting any authority, says (<i>Historia de España</i>, +vol. xviii. p. 279), ‘Luego que se perdió la batalla de Zaragoza +escribió Felipe al rey Cristianísimo, su abuelo, rogándole que, ya que +no pudiera socorrerle con tropas, le enviára al menos <i>al duque de +Berwick ó al de Vendome</i>.’ But, as Berwick must have had the means of +knowing the real state of the case, he is probably correct in saying +that the first application was in his own favour.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1358_1358" id="Footnote_1358_1358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1358_1358"><span class="label">[1358]</span></a> ‘Vendôme arrived at this moment to call into action the +spirit of the monarch and the zeal of his subjects.’ <i>Coxe's Bourbon +Kings of Spain</i>, vol. ii. p. 41. ‘The arrival of the Duke de Vendôme +again changed the fate of Spain.’ <i>Memoirs of Peterborough</i>, vol. +ii. p. 130.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1359_1359" id="Footnote_1359_1359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1359_1359"><span class="label">[1359]</span></a> ‘Portocarrero, abrumado con las dificultades de la +gobernacion, que excedian en mucho á sus escasas luces, no contento con +haber inducido al rey á que aumentára su consejo de gabinete con dos +ministros más, que fueron el marqués de Mancera, presidente del de +Aragon, y el duque de Montalto, del de Italia, pidió á Luis XIV. le +enviára una persona que pudiera establecer un plan de hacienda en +España, y corregir y reformar los abusos de la administracion.’ +<i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xviii. p. 15. On 22nd June 1701, +Louis XIV. writes to the Duc d'Harcourt, ‘Qu'enfin le cardinal +Porto-Carrero m'a fait demander quelqu'un intelligent en matière de +finances pour voir et connoître l'état de celles du roi d'Espagne, pour +examiner les moyens les plus propres de soulager ses sujets, et de +pourvoir aux plus pressans besoins du public; qu'il m'assure que <i>toute +l'Espagne le désire en général</i>: toutes ces raisons m'ont déterminé à +choisir le sieur Orry, pour l'envoyer à Madrid.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de +Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1360_1360" id="Footnote_1360_1360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1360_1360"><span class="label">[1360]</span></a> ‘Il faudra que l'homme que vous enverrez pour les +finances (car vous aurez la bonté d'en envoyer un, ou bien nous n'aurons +plus de finances).’ <i>Mémoires de Louville</i>, vol. i. p. 149.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1361_1361" id="Footnote_1361_1361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1361_1361"><span class="label">[1361]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 181.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1362_1362" id="Footnote_1362_1362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1362_1362"><span class="label">[1362]</span></a> ‘Canalez, qu'on a substitué à Rivas pour le département +de la guerre, n'a aucun talent pour cet emploi, selon l'instruction; et +toute l'Espagne voit clairement qu'Orry ne le lui a procuré qu'afin d'en +exercer les fonctions sous le nom d'un Espagnol.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de +Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 305; under the year 1704. See also, on the power +of Orry in the war-department, <i>Mémoires de Berwick</i>, vol. i. pp. 226, +227, 306, 316, vol. ii. p. 166. Berwick, who hated Orry, says of him +(vol. i. p. 232), ‘il se mêloit de tout et faisoit tout,’ But there can +be no doubt of his being a man of very considerable ability; and M. +Lafuente (<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xix. p. 253, Madrid, 1857) candidly +says, ‘Es lo cierto que hizo abrir mucho los ojos de los españoles en +materia de administracion,’ Compare vol. xviii. p. 369; <i>Mémoires du Duc +de Saint Simon</i>, vol. vii. pp. 102, 195, Paris, 1842; and <i>Bacallar</i>, +<i>Comentarios de la Guerra de España</i>, vol. i. pp. 82, 83, 99, 168, vol. +ii. pp. 95, 107. Bacallar treats him harshly.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1363_1363" id="Footnote_1363_1363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1363_1363"><span class="label">[1363]</span></a> <i>Ripperda's Memoirs</i>, London, 1740, second edition, pp. +117, 118. Saint Simon (<i>Mémoires</i>, vol. xxxvi. p. 246) says, that +Ripperda was ‘premier ministre aussi absolu que le fut jamais son +prédécesseur, Alberoni.’ The English pamphleteers and politicians of the +last century were very unjust to Alberoni, who, notwithstanding the +dangerous boldness of his nature, was one of the best ministers who ever +governed Spain. M. Lafuente, while admitting his faults, says (<i>Historia +de España</i>, vol. xix. pp. 437, 438), ‘Negarle gran capacidad seria una +gran injusticia. Tampoco puede desconocerse que reanimó y regeneró la +España, levantándola á un grado de esplendor y de grandeza en que nunca +se habia vuelto á ver desde los mejores tiempos de Felipe II.’ See also +a good summary of what he did for Spain, in <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Historia de la +Civilizacion Española</i>, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. pp. 50, 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1364_1364" id="Footnote_1364_1364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1364_1364"><span class="label">[1364]</span></a> ‘The all-powerful Konigseg.’ <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of +Spain</i>, vol. iii. p. 154; ‘the prime mover of the Spanish counsels,’ p. +159; in 1727–8, ‘Konigseg usurped the control over every operation of +government,’ p. 190; and see p. 235. His great power is likewise noticed +in <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. xix. p. 71: ‘el hombre de mas +influjo y valimiento en la córte.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1365_1365" id="Footnote_1365_1365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1365_1365"><span class="label">[1365]</span></a> ‘Originally a clerk under Orry, he +gained the favour of his employer,’ &c. <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, +vol. iii. p. 39. Coxe had access to a large mass of letters, which were +written in the eighteenth century, by persons connected with Spain, and +many of which are still unpublished. This makes his book very valuable; +and, as a recital of political events, it is superior to anything the +Spaniards have produced, though the author is, I need hardly say, far +inferior to M. Lafuente as a writer, and also as an artistic arranger of +facts.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1366_1366" id="Footnote_1366_1366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1366_1366"><span class="label">[1366]</span></a> ‘Que les Espagnols depuis longtemps ignoroient la guerre +et la politique; qu'on devoit être sensible à leurs démonstrations +d'attachement et de zèle, sans les croire, suffisantes pour soutenir un +État’ … ‘l'incapacité des sujets pour le gouvernement.’ <i>Millot</i>, +<i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. iii. pp. 24, 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1367_1367" id="Footnote_1367_1367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1367_1367"><span class="label">[1367]</span></a> ‘C'étoit un parti pris, comme l'observe Bonnac, de ne +plus mettre le gouvernement entre leurs mains. On avoit trouvé parmi eux +peu d'hommes capables des grands emplois: ceux à qui on les avoit +confiés, malheureux ou infidèles, avoient inspiré de l'éloignement pour +les autres.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. iii. p. 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1368_1368" id="Footnote_1368_1368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1368_1368"><span class="label">[1368]</span></a> In 1701, ‘Les églises d'Espagne ont des richesses +immenses en or et en argenterie, qui augmentent tous les jours par le +crédit des religieux; et cela rend l'espèce très-rare dans le commerce. +On propose d'obliger le clergé à vendre une partie de cette argenterie. +Avant que de prendre ce parti, il en faudroit bien examiner non +seulement l'utilité, que l'on connoît, mais aussi les inconvéniens qu'un +pareil ordre pourroit produire.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. +ii. p. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1369_1369" id="Footnote_1369_1369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1369_1369"><span class="label">[1369]</span></a> ‘Il insistoit sur la nécessité de ne pas donner à un +ecclésiastique, ni à une créature du cardinal, la présidence de +Castille, quand on rempliroit cette importante place; les prêtres et les +moines n'avoient déjà que trop de pouvoir.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de +Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 77. Compare pp. 71, 72; a letter from Louville to +Torcy, dated August 5th, 1701.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1370_1370" id="Footnote_1370_1370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1370_1370"><span class="label">[1370]</span></a> <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. ii. pp. 163–165. +<i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. iii. p. 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1371_1371" id="Footnote_1371_1371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1371_1371"><span class="label">[1371]</span></a> In 1714, it was thought necessary, that Philip V., not +having had the benefit of a Spanish education, should be enlightened on +the subject of the Inquisition. He was, therefore, informed, ‘que la +pureza de la religion Catolica en estos reynos se debia á la vigilancia +de la Inquisicion y sus ministros, todos justos, clementes y +circunspectos, no rigidos, violentos ni crueles, como por error ó +malicia los pintan comunmente los Franceses. Y que <i>la conservacion de +la Monarquia dependia en gran parte de mantener ilibata la religion +Catolica</i>.’ <i>Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. vii. p. 286. Bacallar +(<i>Comentarios</i>, vol. ii. pp. 122–125) gives an interesting account of +the attacks made on the rights of the Church, and which, he says, p. +122, were ‘poco ajustados á la doctrina de los Santos Padres, á la +Inmunidad de la Iglesia, y que sonaban á heregía.’ He significantly +adds, p. 125, ‘Los pueblos de España, que son tan religiosos, y +professan la mayor veneracion á la Iglesia, creían que esta se +atropellaba, <i>y huvo alguna interna inquietud, no sin fomento de los +adversos al Rey, cuyo puro, y sincero corazon podia ser engañado</i>; pero +no inducido á un evidente error contra los Sagrados Canones,’ &c. Such +passages, proceeding, in the eighteenth century, from a man like the +Marquis de San Phelipe, are of no slight importance in the history of +the Spanish mind.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1372_1372" id="Footnote_1372_1372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1372_1372"><span class="label">[1372]</span></a> So early as May 1702, Philip V., in a letter to Louis +XIV., complained that the Spaniards opposed him in every thing. ‘Je +crois être obligé de vous dire que je m'aperçois de plus en plus du peu +de zèle que les Espagnols out pour mon service, dans les petites choses +comme dans les grandes, et qu'ils s'opposent à tout ce que je désire.’ +<i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de Noailles</i>, vol. ii. p. 136. The dislike which the +Spaniards felt for the liberal reforms advocated by the French, went on +increasing, until, in 1709, ‘se renovaron los antiguos odios entre las +dos naciones, con tanto ardor, que deseaban las tropas españolas el +haber de combatir con los Franceses.’ <i>Bacallar</i>, <i>Comentarios</i>, vol. i. +p. 360.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1373_1373" id="Footnote_1373_1373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1373_1373"><span class="label">[1373]</span></a> ‘L'opulence de l'Église devoit évidemment fournir des +secours à la patrie. Un emprunt de quatre millions, fait sur le clergé +l'année précédente, 1707, avoit cependant fort déplu au Pape ou à ses +ministres.’ <i>Millot</i>, <i>Mémoires de Noaulès</i>, vol. ii. p. 412.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1374_1374" id="Footnote_1374_1374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1374_1374"><span class="label">[1374]</span></a> ‘He’ (Alberoni) ‘continued also the exaction of the +ecclesiastical tax, in spite of the papal prohibitions, imprisoning or +banishing the refractory priests who defended the privileges of their +order.’ <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. ii. p. 288.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1375_1375" id="Footnote_1375_1375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1375_1375"><span class="label">[1375]</span></a> On January 2nd, 1698, Stanhope, the British Minister at +Madrid, writes from that capital: ‘This Court is not at all inclined to +admit the offer of the Dutch troops to garrison their places in +Flanders. They have consulted their theologians, who declare against it +as a matter of conscience, since it would give great opportunities to +the spreading of heresy. They have not yet sent their answer but it is +believed it will be in the negative, and that they will rather choose to +lie at the mercy of the French, as being Catholics.’ <i>Mahon's Spain +under Charles II.</i>, pp. 98, 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1376_1376" id="Footnote_1376_1376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1376_1376"><span class="label">[1376]</span></a> ‘Entre el catolicismo y las diferentes sectas que +brotaron en las imaginaciones de Calvino y de Lutero podia mediar +tolerancia, y aun transaccion, si bien, como dice un escritor político, +cuando se comienza á transigir sobre un principio, ese principio +comienza á perder su imperio sobre las sociedades humanas. Pero entre el +cristianismo de los españoles y el mahometismo de los moriscos era +imposible todo avenimiento.’ <i>Janer</i>, <i>Condicion Social de los +Moriscos</i>, Madrid, 1857, p. 112.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1377_1377" id="Footnote_1377_1377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1377_1377"><span class="label">[1377]</span></a> The Marquis of San Phelipe, who wrote in 1725, says, ‘Es +ley fundamental de los Reyes Catholicos, nunca hacer la paz con los +Mahometanos; y esta guerra permanece desde el Rey Don Pelayo, por mas de +siete siglos, sin hacer jamás paces, ni treguas con ellos, como cada dia +las hacen el Emperador, y otros Principes Catholicos.’ <i>Bacallar</i>, +<i>Comentarios de la Guerra de España</i>, vol. ii. p. 169. And, in the most +influential work on commerce which the reign of Philip V. produced, I +find the following instructive passage: ‘Aunque en los Puertos de las +dilatadas Costas, que de Europa, Asia y Africa baña el Mediterraneo, se +hace comercio muy considerable, y util por diversas naciones, no podrá +España tener gran parte en él, mientras se observare la maxima de hacer +continua guerra á todos los Moros y Turcos, en cuyo dominio se hallan la +mayor parte de aquellas Provincias; sin embargo de ser constante, que +<i>en esta guerra, aunque procedida de zelo Christiano, es mayor el daño +que recibimos, que el que ocasionamos á los Infieles</i>’ (the way the +mercantile spirit peeps out here, is extremely curious) ‘á lo menos de +muchos años á esta parte, como lo he explicado en diversos capitulos.’ +<i>Uztariz</i>, <i>Theorica y Practica de Comercio</i>, Madrid, 1757, p. 399. This +is the third edition of a book, which, considering the circumstances +under which it was written, is a very remarkable production.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1378_1378" id="Footnote_1378_1378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1378_1378"><span class="label">[1378]</span></a> Compare <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, London, 1815, +vol. ii. p. 314, with <i>The History of Alberoni</i>, London, 1719, pp. 119, +253; and <i>Bacallar</i>, <i>Comentarios de la Guerra de España</i>, vol. ii. pp. +168, 169. The outcry which this caused, may be easily imagined; and +Alberoni, finding himself in great peril, took advantage of the secrecy +of the negotiations, to deny part, at least, of the charges made against +him. See his indignant, but yet cautious, letter to the Pope, in +<i>History of Alberoni</i>, 1719, p. 124. Ortiz, who had evidently not looked +into the evidence, is so ill-informed as to suppose that this was a +calumnious accusation brought against Alberoni after his fall. ‘Caido ya +por entonces Alberoni de su grandeza, expelido ignominiosamente de +España, y aun perseguido por el Rey en Italia, preso en Roma por orden +del Papa, etc., no era dificil atribuirle culpas agenas ó no cometidas.’ +<i>Note in Ortiz</i>, <i>Compendio</i>, vol. vii. p. 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1379_1379" id="Footnote_1379_1379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1379_1379"><span class="label">[1379]</span></a> ‘Leur paresse, et l'ignorance non seulement des sciences +et des arts, mais quasi généralement de tout ce qui se passe hors de +l'Espagne, et on peut dire même hors du lieu où ils habitent, vont +presque de pair, et sont inconcevables. La pauvreté est grande parmi +eux, ce qui provient de leur extrême paresse; car si nombre de nos +Français n'alloient faucher leurs foins, couper leurs blés et faire +leurs briques, je crois qu'ils courroient fortune de se laisser mourir +de faim, et de se tenir sous des tentes pour ne se pas donner la peine +de bâtir des maisons.’ … ‘L'éducation de leurs enfans est +semblable à celle qu'ils ont eu de leurs pères, c'est-à-dire sans qu'ils +apprennent ni sciences ni exercices; et je ne crois par que parmi tous +les grands que j'ay pratiqués, il s'en trouvât un seul qui sût décliner +son nom.’ … ‘Ils n'ont nulle +curiosité de voir les pays étrangers, et encore moins de s'enquérir de +ce qui s'y passe.’ <i>Mémoires du Maréchal de Gramont</i>, vol. ii. pp. 77, +78, 82, 83, in <i>Collection des Mémoires par Petitot et Monmerqué</i>, vol. +lvii. See also <i>Aarsens de Sommerdyck</i>, <i>Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1665, +4to. p. 124. ‘La terré mesme n'y est pas toute cultiuée par des gens du +pays: au tempe du labourage, des semailles et de la recolte, il leur +vient quantité de paysans du Bearn et d'autres endroits de France, qui +gagnent beaucoup d'argent, pour leur mettre leurs bleds en terre et pour +les recueillir. Les architectes et charpentiers y sont aussi pour la +plûpart estrangers, qui se font payer au triple de ce qu'ils gagneroient +en leur pays. Dans Madrid on ne voit pas un porteur d'eau qui ne soit +estranger, et la plûpart des cordonniers et tailleurs le sont aussi.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1380_1380" id="Footnote_1380_1380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1380_1380"><span class="label">[1380]</span></a> ‘Mais aussi de quelle manière les élève-t-on? Ils +n'étudient point; on néglige de leur donner d'habiles précepteurs; dès +qu'on les destine à l'épée, on ne se soucie plus qu'ils apprennent le +latin ni l'histoire. On devroit au moins leur enseigner ce qui est de +leur mestier, les mathématiques, à faire des armes et à monter à cheval. +Ils n'y pensent seulement pas. Il n'y a point ici d'Académie ni de +maîtres qui montrent ces sortes de choses. Les jeunes hommes passent le +tems qu'ils devroient emploïer à s'instruire dans un oisiveté +pitoïable.’ Letter from Madrid, dated 27th June 1679, in <i>D'Aulnoy</i>, +<i>Relation du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. pp. 232, 233.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1381_1381" id="Footnote_1381_1381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1381_1381"><span class="label">[1381]</span></a> ‘Madrid étant la capitale d'une monarchie aussi vaste, il +n'y eut dans cette ville jusqu'à l'époque du règne de Philippe V aucune +bibliothèque publique.’ <i>Sempere</i>, <i>De la Monarchie Espagnole</i>, Paris, +1826, vol. ii. p. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1382_1382" id="Footnote_1382_1382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1382_1382"><span class="label">[1382]</span></a> The university was transferred from Palencia to +Salamanca, early in the thirteenth century. <i>Forner</i>, <i>Oracion +Apologética por la España</i>, Madrid, 1786, p. 170. By the beginning of +the fifteenth century, it had become very prosperous (<i>Sempere</i>, <i>De la +Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. i. p. 65); and in 1535, it is described as ‘a +great Universitie, conteyning seven or eight thowsand students.’ See a +letter from John Mason, dated Valladolid, 3rd July, 1635, in <i>Ellis's +Original Letters</i>, second series, vol. ii. p. 56, London, 1827. But, like +every thing else which was valuable in Spain, it declined in the +seventeenth century; and Monconys, who carefully examined it in 1628, +and praises some of its arrangements which were still in force, adds, +‘Mais je suis aussi contraint de dire après tant de loüanges, que les +écoliers qui étudient dans cette université sont des vrais ignorans.’ +<i>Les Voyages de Monsieur de Monconys</i>, Quatrième Partie, vol. v. p. 22, +Paris, 1695. However, their ignorance, of which Monconys gives some +curious instances, did not prevent Spanish writers, then, and long +afterwards, from deeming the University of Salamanca to be the greatest +institution of its kind in the world. ‘La mayor del orbe, madre +gloriosísima de todas las ciencias y de los mas vehementes ingenios, que +han ilustrado las edades.’ <i>Vida de Calderon de la Barca</i>, pp. iii. iv., +reprinted in Keil's edition of <i>Calderon</i>, Leipsique, 1827. Compare +Davila (<i>Felipe Tercero</i>, p. 81), ‘Salamanca, madre de ciencias y +letras;’ Yañez (<i>Memorias</i>, p. 228), ‘Universidad insigne, y Oficina de +las buenas Letras de España;’ Bacallar (<i>Comentarios</i>, vol. i. p. 238), +‘El emporio de las ciencias;’ and Ximenez (<i>Vida de Ribera</i>, p. 6), +‘Salamanca, cathedra universal de las artes, y emporio de todas +ciencias.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1383_1383" id="Footnote_1383_1383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1383_1383"><span class="label">[1383]</span></a> ‘Says, that, after he had been five years in one of the +schools of the university there, it was by accident he learned the +existence of the mathematical sciences.’ <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish +Literature</i>, vol. iii. p. 223. A celebrated Spanish writer of the +eighteenth century, actually boasts of the ignorance of his countrymen +concerning mathematics, and discerns, in their neglect of that foolish +pursuit, a decisive proof of their superiority over other nations. ‘No +se dexe deslumbrar con los ásperos calculos é intrincadas demostraciones +geométricas, con que, astuto el entendimiento, disimula el engaño con +los disfraces de la verdad. El uso de las matemáticas es la alquimia en +la fisica, que da apariencias de oro á lo que no lo es.’ <i>Forner</i>, +<i>Oracion Apologética por la España y su Mérito Literario</i>, Madrid, 1786, +p. 38. Compare his contemptuous notice (p. 66) of those insignificant +persons, who ‘con título de filósofos han dado algun aumento á las +matemáticas;’ and his comparison (p. 222) of Mercado with Newton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1384_1384" id="Footnote_1384_1384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1384_1384"><span class="label">[1384]</span></a> ‘L'université de Salamanque, excitée par le Conseil, à +réformer ses études, en l'année 1771, lui répondit “qu'elle ne pouvait +se séparer du péripatétisme, parce que les systèmes de +Newton, Gassendi et Descartes, ne concordent pas autant avec les vérités +révélées que ceux d'Aristote.”’ <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. +ii. p. 152. This reply, says M. Sempere, p. 153, may be found ‘dans la +collection des ordonnances royales.’ In <i>Letters from Spain by an +English Officer</i>, London, 1788, vol. ii. p. 256, it is stated, that, in +all the Spanish universities, ‘Newton, and modern philosophy, is still +prohibited. Nothing can supplant Aristotle, and the superstitious +fathers and doctors of the Church.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1385_1385" id="Footnote_1385_1385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1385_1385"><span class="label">[1385]</span></a> Or, as he, in one place, expresses himself, would know +‘very little more than nothing.’ ‘El que estudió Logica, y Metaphysica, +con lo demás que, debaxo del nombre de Philosofia, se enseña en las +Escuelas, por bien que sepa todo, sabe muy poco mas que nada; pero suena +mucho. Dicese, que es un gran Philosofo; y no es Philosofo grande, ni +chico,’ <i>Feijoo</i>, <i>Theatro Critico Universal</i>, vol. ii. p. 187, quinta +impression, Madrid, 1741.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1386_1386" id="Footnote_1386_1386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1386_1386"><span class="label">[1386]</span></a> ‘La science est un crime, l'ignorance et la stupidité la +première vertu.’ <i>Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon</i>, vol. xxxv. p. 209, +Paris, 1840. Elsewhere (vol. xxxvi. p. 252) he says, ‘Les jésuites +savants partout et en tout genre de science, ce qu ne leur est pas même +disputé par leurs ennemis, les jésuites, dis-je, sont ignorants en +Espagne, mais d'une ignorance à surprendre.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1387_1387" id="Footnote_1387_1387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1387_1387"><span class="label">[1387]</span></a> ‘The common education of an English gentleman would +constitute a man of learning here; and, should he understand Greek, he +would be quite a phenomenon.’ <i>Swinburne's Travels through Spain in 1775 +and 1776</i>, vol. ii. pp. 212, 213, 2d edit., London, 1787.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1388_1388" id="Footnote_1388_1388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1388_1388"><span class="label">[1388]</span></a> So late as 1787, Townsend, a very accomplished man, who +travelled through Spain with the express object of noting the state of +knowledge, as well as the economical condition of the country, and who, +by previous study, had well qualified himself for such an undertaking, +says, ‘I have observed in general, that the physicians with whom I have +had occasion to converse, are disciples of their favourite doctor +Piquer, who denied, or at least doubted of, the circulation of the +blood.’ <i>Townsend's Journey through Spain</i>, 2d ed., London, 1792, vol. +iii. p. 281. At that time, the Spanish physicians were, however, +beginning to read Hoffmann, Cullen, and other heretical speculators, in +whose works they would find, to their astonishment, that the circulation +of the blood was assumed, and was not even treated as a debatable +question. But the students were obliged to take such matters on trust; +for, adds Townsend, p. 282, ‘In their medical classes, they had no +dissections.’ Compare <i>Laborde's Spain</i>, vol. i. p. 76, vol. iii. p. +315, London, 1809, and <i>Godoy's Memoirs</i>, London, 1836, vol. ii. p. 157. +Godoy, speaking of the three colleges of surgery at Madrid, Barcelona, +and Cadiz, says that until his administration in 1793, ‘In the capital, +even that of San Carlos had not a lecture-room for practical +instruction.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1389_1389" id="Footnote_1389_1389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1389_1389"><span class="label">[1389]</span></a> This little episode is noticed by Cabarrus, in his +<i>Elogio de Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. xiv. ‘La salubridad del +ayre, la limpieza y seguridad de las calles,’ … ‘Pero ¿quién creerá +que este noble empeño produxo las mas vivas quejas: que se conmovió el +vulgo de todas clases; y que tuvo varias autoridades á su favor la +extraña doctrina de que los vapores mefiticos eran un correctivo +saludable de la rigidez del clima?’ But the fullest detail will be found +in the recently published and very elaborate History of Charles III. by +M. Rio, from which I will give one or two extracts. ‘Para la limpieza de +las calles poseia mayores ó menores fondos el ayuntamiento, y cuando el +Rey quiso poner la mano en este ramo de policía, le presentaron +dictámenes de médicos en que se defendia el absurdo de ser elemento de +salubridad la basura.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, +Madrid, 1856, vol. iv. p. 54. See also vol. i. pp. 267, 268, where it is +mentioned, that when the minister, Esquilache, persevered in his +attempts to have the streets of Madrid cleaned, the opponents of the +scheme made inquiries into the opinions of their fathers on that +subject; and the result was, ‘que le presentaron cierta originalísima +consulta hecha por los médicos bajo el reinado de uno de los Felipes de +Austria, y reducida á demostrar que, siendo sumamente sutil el aire de +la poblacion á causa de estar próxima la sierra de Guadarrama, +ocasionaria los mayores estragos si no se impregnara en los vapores de +las inmundicias desparramadas por las calles.’ That this idea had long +been entertained by the physicians of Madrid, we also know from another +testimony, with which none of the Spanish historians are acquainted. Sir +Richard Wynne, who visited that capital in 1623, describes a disgusting +practice of the inhabitants, and adds, ‘Being desirous to know why so +beastly a custom is suffered, they say it's a thing prescribed by their +physicians; for they hold the air to be so piercing and subtle, that +this kind of corrupting it with these ill vapours keeps it in good +temper.’ <i>The Autobiography and Correspondence of Sir Simonds D'Ewes</i>, +edited by J. O. Halliwell, London, 1845, vol. ii. p. 446.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1390_1390" id="Footnote_1390_1390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1390_1390"><span class="label">[1390]</span></a> Even thirty years later, it was said, with good reason, +that ‘es menester <i>deshacer todo lo que se ha hecho</i>,’ and ‘confiar +exclusivamente el precioso depósito de la sanidad pública á las manos +capaces de conservarlo y mejorarlo.’ <i>Cartas por el Conde de Cabarrus</i>, +Madrid, 1813, p. 280. These letters, which, though little known, contain +some interesting statements, were written in 1792 and 1793. See p. 34, +and Prologo, p. i.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1391_1391" id="Footnote_1391_1391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1391_1391"><span class="label">[1391]</span></a> Bleeding, however, had the preference. See the curious +evidence in <i>Townsend's Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 37–39. Townsend, who had some knowledge of medicine, was amazed +at the ignorance and recklessness of the Spanish physicians. He says, +‘The science and practice of medicine are at the lowest ebb in Spain, +but more especially in the Asturias.’ Compare <i>Sprengel</i>, <i>Histoire de +la Médecine</i>, vol. iii. p. 217, Paris, 1815, with <i>Winwood's Memorials</i>, +London, 1725, folio, vol. ii. p. 219. The last reference shows the +terrible ‘purging and letting blood,’ to which the unfortunate Spaniards +were exposed in the reign of Philip III. Another observer, much later, +states that ‘La saignée leur est assez familière. Ils se la font faire +hors du lit tant que leurs forces le permettent, et <i>lorsqu'ils en usent +par précaution, ils se font tirer du sang deux jours de suite du bras +droit et du gauche, disant qu'il faut égaliser le sang</i>. On peut juger +de là, si la circulation leur est connue.’ <i>Voyages faits en Espagne, +par Monsieur M****</i>, Amsterdam, 1700, p. 112. See further <i>Clarke's +Letters concerning the Spanish Nation</i>, London, 4to. 1763, p. 55, and +<i>Spain by an American</i>, London, 1831, vol. ii. p. 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1392_1392" id="Footnote_1392_1392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1392_1392"><span class="label">[1392]</span></a> In 1790, poor Cumberland, when in Madrid, was as nearly +as possible murdered by three of their surgeons in a very few days; the +most dangerous of his assailants being no less a man than the ‘chief +surgeon of the Gardes de Corps,’ who, says the unfortunate sufferer, was +‘sent to me by authority.’ See <i>Memoirs of Richard Cumberland, written +by himself</i>, London, 1807, vol. ii. pp. 67, 68.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1393_1393" id="Footnote_1393_1393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1393_1393"><span class="label">[1393]</span></a> Duclos says of Philip V., ‘Il étoit fort attentif sur sa +santé; son médecin, s'il eût été intriguant, auroit pu jouer un grand +rôle. Hyghens, Irlandois, qui occupoit cette première place, fort +éloigné de l'intrigue et de la cupidité, instruit dans son art, s'en +occupoit uniquement. Après sa mort, la reine fit donner la place à +Servi, son médecin particulier.’ <i>Mémoires par Duclos</i>, 2<sup>e</sup> édit. Paris, +1791, vol. ii. pp. 200, 201. ‘Hyghens, premier médecin, était +Irlandais.’ <i>Mémoires du Duc de Saint Simon</i>, vol. xxxvi. p. 215, ed. +Paris, 1841.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1394_1394" id="Footnote_1394_1394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1394_1394"><span class="label">[1394]</span></a> In the eighteenth century, the Spaniards, generally, +began to admit this; since they could not shut their eyes to the fact +that their friends and relations succumbed so rapidly under professional +treatment, that sickness and death were almost synonymous. Hence, +notwithstanding their hatred of the French nation, they availed +themselves of the services of French physicians and French surgeons, +whenever they had an opportunity of doing so. In 1707, the Princess des +Ursins writes from Madrid to Madame de Maintenon, ‘Les chirurgiens +espagnols sont mésestimés même de ceux de leur nation;’ and, in another +letter, ‘Les Espagnols conviennent que les médecins français sont +beaucoup plus savants que les leurs; ils s'en servent même +très-volontiers, mais ils sont persuadés que ceux de la faculté de +Montpellier l'emportent sur les autres.’ <i>Lettres inédites de Madame de +Maintenon et de la Princesse des Ursins</i>, vol. iii. p. 412, vol. iv. p. +90.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1395_1395" id="Footnote_1395_1395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1395_1395"><span class="label">[1395]</span></a> Campomanes (<i>Apendice á la Educacion Popular</i>, Madrid, +1776, vol. iii. pp. 74, 75), speaking of a work on distillation, says, +‘La tercera (parte) describe la preparacion de los productos químicos +sólidos: esto es la preparacion de varias sustancias terreas, como +argamasa, magnesia blanca, ojos de cangrejo, etc., la de varios sales, +como sal de glaubero, amoniaco, cristal mineral, borax refinado, etc., y +la del antimonio, mercurio, plomo, litargirio, etc., comunicando sobre +todo lo expresado varias noticias, que demuestran lo mucho que conducen +á los progresos del arte, las observaciones del fisico reflexivo: unidas +á la práctica de un profesor experimentado. <i>Este arte en toda su +extension falta en España.</i> Solo le tenemos para aguardientes, rosolis, +y mistelas. <i>La salud pública es demasiado importante, para depender de +los estraños en cosas esenciales</i>; quando no estimulase nuestra +industria la manutencion de muchas familias.’ … ‘Gran parte de estas +cosas se introducen de fuera, por no conocerse bien las operaciones +químicas. No son dificultosas en la execucion; pero <i>es necesario +enseñarlas, y conocer los instrumentos que son aproposito</i>. Un +laboratorio químico, que <i>se va á establecer en Madrid</i>, producirá +maestros para las capitales del reyno.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1396_1396" id="Footnote_1396_1396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1396_1396"><span class="label">[1396]</span></a> ‘Su ministro el célebre Ensenada, que tenia grandes miras +en todos los ramos de la administracion pública, deseaba ardientemente +mejorar la enseñanza, lamentándose del atraso en que esta se hallaba. +“Es menester, decia hablando de las universidades, reglar sus cátedras, +reformar las superfluas y establecer las que faltan con nuevas +ordenanzas para asegurar el mejor método de estudios. No sé que haya +cátedra alguna de derecho público, de física esperimental, de anatomía y +botánica. No hay puntuales cartas geográficas del reino y de sus +provincias, <i>ni quien las sepa grabar, ni tenemos otras que las +imperfectas que vienen de Francia y Holanda</i>. De esto proviene que +ignoramos la verdadera situacion de los pueblos y sus distancias, que es +una vergüenza.”’ <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, Madrid, 1840, vol. +iv. pp. 268, 269. See also <i>Biografía de Ensenada</i>, in +<i>Navarrete</i>, <i>Coleccion de Opúsculos</i>, Madrid, 1848, vol. ii. pp. 21, +22. ‘Le parecia vergonzoso que para conocer la situacion y distancias +respectivas de nuestros mismos pueblos y lugares, dependiésemos de los +franceses y holandeses, quienes por sus mapas imperfectas de la +península extraían de ella sumas considerables.’ Eighty years after this +complaint was made by Ensenada, we find a traveller in Spain stating +that ‘a decent map of any part, even of the country round the gates of +the capital, cannot be found.’ <i>Cook's Spain from 1829 to 1832</i>, London, +1834, vol. i. p. 322. Compare <i>Notices of Geological Memoirs</i>, p. 1, at +the end of the <i>Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society</i>, vol. vi., +London, 1850; ‘even a good geographical map of the Peninsula does not +exist.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1397_1397" id="Footnote_1397_1397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1397_1397"><span class="label">[1397]</span></a> M. Rio (<i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. i. p. +185) mentions this in a very characteristic manner. ‘Varios extranjeros +distinguidos <i>hallaron fraternidad entre los españoles, y +correspondieron hidalgamente al hospedaje</i>: Cervi dió vida á las +sociedades médicas de Madrid y Sevilla; Virgili al colegio de Cirugía de +Cádiz; Quer trabajó sin descanso para que el Jardin Botánico no fuera un +simple lugar de recreo, sino principalmente de estudio; Bowles comunicó +grande impulso á la mineralogía,’ &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1398_1398" id="Footnote_1398_1398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1398_1398"><span class="label">[1398]</span></a> I have mislaid the evidence of this fact; but the reader +may rely on its accuracy.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1399_1399" id="Footnote_1399_1399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1399_1399"><span class="label">[1399]</span></a> Townsend (<i>Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787</i>, vol. +ii. p. 275) says, ‘Don Antonio Solano, professor of experimental +philosophy, merits attention for the clearness and precision of his +demonstrations: but, unfortunately, although his lectures are delivered +gratis, such is the want of taste for science in Madrid, that nobody +attends them.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1400_1400" id="Footnote_1400_1400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1400_1400"><span class="label">[1400]</span></a> ‘La ignorancia reinante en los últimos años del siglo +xvii. depravó en tal manera el buen gusto, que á principios del xviii. +las artes se hallaban en la mas lastimosa decadencia.’ <i>Tapia</i>, +<i>Civilizacion Española</i>, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. p. 346. See also, on +this decline, or rather destruction, of taste, <i>Valasquez</i>, <i>Origines de +la Poesia Castellana</i>, Malaga, 1754, 4to. ‘Un siglo, corrompido, en que +las letras estaban abandonadas, y el buen gusto casi desterrado de toda +la nacion.’ p. 70. ‘Al passo que la nacion perdia el buen gusto, y las +letras iban caminando á su total decadencia.’ p. 107. ‘Los caminos por +donde nuestros poetas en el siglo pasado se apartaron del buen gusto en +esta parte.’ p. 170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1401_1401" id="Footnote_1401_1401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1401_1401"><span class="label">[1401]</span></a> ‘Solo cuatro navíos de línea y seis de poco porte dejaron +los reyes de orígen austriaco, y todos tan podridos que apenas podian +aguantar el fuego de sus propias baterias.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado +de Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, 1856, vol. i. p. 184.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1402_1402" id="Footnote_1402_1402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1402_1402"><span class="label">[1402]</span></a> ‘Se mandaron construir 12 navíos á la vez, y se +contrataron otros. Por medio de D. Jorge Juan se trajeron de Inglaterra +los mas hábiles constructores y maestros para las fábricas de jarcia, +lona y otras.’ <i>Biografía de Ensenada</i>, in <i>Navarrete</i>, <i>Coleccion de +Opúsculos</i>, Madrid, 1848, vol. ii. p. 18. M. Rio, taking all this as a +matter of course, quietly says, ‘D. Jorge Juan fue á Lóndres para +estudiar la construccion de navíos.’ <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos +III.</i>, Madrid, 1856, vol. iv. p. 485.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1403_1403" id="Footnote_1403_1403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1403_1403"><span class="label">[1403]</span></a> M. Lafuente says that Ensenada was the restorer, and +almost the creator, of the Spanish navy; ‘de la cual fué el restaurador, +y casi pudiera decirse el creador.’ <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, +vol. xix. p. 344, Madrid, 1857.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1404_1404" id="Footnote_1404_1404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1404_1404"><span class="label">[1404]</span></a> ‘C'est par un Irlandais aussi, Oreilly, que la discipline +de l'infanterie est réformée.’ <i>Bourgoing</i>, <i>Tableau de l'Espagne +Moderne</i>, Paris, 1808, vol. ii. p. 142. ‘Las escuelas militares del +puerto de Sta. Maria para la infanteria, que dirigió con tanto acierto +el general Ofarril bajo las ordenes del conde de O'Reilly.’ <i>Tapia</i>, +<i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. p. 128.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1405_1405" id="Footnote_1405_1405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1405_1405"><span class="label">[1405]</span></a> ‘Vino á dirigir la academia de guardias marinas de +Cadiz.’ <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. p. 79. ‘Godin figuró +como director del colegio de Guardias marinas.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia de +Carlos III.</i>, vol. i. p. 186. Compare <i>Biographie Universelle</i>, vol. +xvii. p. 564, Paris, 1816.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1406_1406" id="Footnote_1406_1406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1406_1406"><span class="label">[1406]</span></a> See the interesting remarks in <i>Bourgoing</i>, <i>Tableau de +l'Espagne Moderne</i>, Paris, 1808, vol. ii. pp. 96, 142. With good reason, +therefore, was it stated, some years afterwards, that ‘c'est à des +étrangers que l'Espagne doit presque tous les plans, les réformes +utiles, et les connoissances dont elle a eu besoin.’ <i>Voyage en Espagne +par le Marquis de Langle</i>, 1785, vol. ii. p. 159.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1407_1407" id="Footnote_1407_1407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1407_1407"><span class="label">[1407]</span></a> ‘Como los del pais entendian poco de trabajar minas, +vinieron de Alemania algunos prácticos para enseñarlos.’ … ‘Los +Alemanes sacaron de dicha mina por largo tiempo cosa de 500 á 600 +quintales de cobalto al año.’ <i>Bowles</i>, <i>Historia Natural de España</i>, +Madrid, 1789, 4to. pp. 418, 419. See also <i>Dillon's Spain</i>, Dublin, +1781, pp. 227–229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1408_1408" id="Footnote_1408_1408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1408_1408"><span class="label">[1408]</span></a> ‘In 1728, a new adventurer undertook the work of opening +the mines of Guadalcanal. This was Lady Mary Herbert, daughter of the +Marquis of Powis.’ … ‘Lady Mary departed from Madrid for Guadalcanal, +to which miners and engines had been sent from England at her expense, +and at that of her relation, Mr. Gage, who accompanied her, and of her +father, the marquis.’ <i>Jacob's Historical Inquiry into the Production +and Consumption of the Precious Metals</i>, London, 1831, vol. i. pp. 278, +279.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1409_1409" id="Footnote_1409_1409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1409_1409"><span class="label">[1409]</span></a> ‘Los mineros de Almaden nunca hicieron los socavones +siguiendo la inclinacion de las betas, sino perpendiculares, y baxaban +ellos puestos en una especie de cubos atados desde arriba con +cuerdas. De este mal método se originó todo al desórden de la mina, +porque al paso que los operarios penetraban dentro de tierra, era +forzoso que se apartasen de las betas y las perdiesen.’ <i>Bowles</i>, +<i>Historía Natural de España</i>, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1410_1410" id="Footnote_1410_1410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1410_1410"><span class="label">[1410]</span></a> ‘Fué mi proyecto bien recibido del Ministerio, y +<i>habiendo hecho venir mineros Alemanes</i>, le han executado en gran parte +con mucha habilidad. Los mineros Españoles de Almaden son atrevidos y +tienen robustez, maña y penetracion quanta es menester, de suerte que +<i>con el tiempo serán excelentes mineros, pues no les falta otra cosa que +la verdadera ciencia de las minas</i>.’ <i>Historia Natural de España</i>, p. +16. The latter part of this sentence is an evident struggle between the +interests of truth, and the exigencies of a book printed at the Royal +Press of Madrid, and licensed by the Spanish authorities.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1411_1411" id="Footnote_1411_1411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1411_1411"><span class="label">[1411]</span></a> ‘Encargado por el gobierno el laborioso extrangero Bowles +de proponer los medios convenientes para beneficiar con mas acierto las +famosas minas de azogue del Almaden, descubrió algunos nuevos +procedimientos por medio de los cuales casi se duplicaron los productos +de aquellas, y bajó una mitad el precio de los azogues.’ <i>Tapia</i>, +<i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1412_1412" id="Footnote_1412_1412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1412_1412"><span class="label">[1412]</span></a> <i>Memoirs of Ripperda</i>, 2d ed., London, 1740, pp. 23, 62, +91, 104. ‘A ship arrived at Cadiz with fifty manufacturers on board, +whom the Baron de Ripperda had drawn together in Holland.’ … ‘The new +manufactures at Segovia, which, though at this time wholly managed by +foreigners, he wished, in the next age, might be carried on by the +Spaniards themselves, and by them only.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1413_1413" id="Footnote_1413_1413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1413_1413"><span class="label">[1413]</span></a> ‘The minister, Wall, an Irishman, contrived to decoy over +one Thomas Bevan, from Melksham, in Wiltshire, to set the machinery and +matters to rights.’ <i>Ford's Spain</i>, London, 1847, p. 525.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1414_1414" id="Footnote_1414_1414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1414_1414"><span class="label">[1414]</span></a> ‘Ademas de la invitacion que se hizo á millares de +operarios extrangeros para venir á establecerse en España,’ &c. <i>Tapia</i>, +<i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. pp. 112, 113. In 1768, Harris, who +travelled from Pampeluna to Madrid, writes, ‘I did not observe a dozen +men either at plough or any other kind of labour, on the road.’ <i>Diaries +and Correspondence of James Harris, Earl of Malmesbury</i>, London, 1844, +vol. i. p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1415_1415" id="Footnote_1415_1415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1415_1415"><span class="label">[1415]</span></a> ‘A national bank, a design originally suggested by +Ripperda.’ <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 202.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1416_1416" id="Footnote_1416_1416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1416_1416"><span class="label">[1416]</span></a> Bourgoing, not aware of Ripperda's priority, says +(<i>Tableau de l'Espagne Moderne</i>, vol. ii. p. 49), ‘L'idée de la banque +nationale fut donnée au gouvernement par un banquier français, M. +Cabarrus.’ Compare <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. +iv. pp. 122, 123: ‘Banco nacional de San Cárlos; propúsolo Cabarrús, +apoyólo Floridablanca, y sancionólo el Soberano por Real cedula de 2 de +junio de 1782.’ This sounds well; but the inevitable catastrophe soon +came. ‘Charles IV.,’ says the Prince of the Peace, ‘had just ascended +the throne; the bank of St. Carlos was rapidly falling, and on the verge +of bankruptcy.’ <i>Godoy's Memoirs</i>, London, 1836, vol. i. p. 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1417_1417" id="Footnote_1417_1417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1417_1417"><span class="label">[1417]</span></a> ‘A Londres, à Stockholm, à Paris, à Vienne et à Venise, +le souverain est réprésenté par des étrangers. Le prince de Masserano, +Italien, ambassadeur en Angleterre; le comte de Lacy Irlandais, ministre +à Stockholm; le marquis de Grimaldi, ambassadeur en France, avant de +parvenir au ministère; le comte de Mahoni, Irlandais, ambassadeur à +Vienne; le marquis de Squilaci, ambassadeur à Venise, après sa retraite +du ministère.’ <i>Bourgoing</i>, <i>Tableau de l'Espagne</i>, vol. ii. pp. 142, +143. To this, I may add that, in the reign of Philip V., an Italian, the +Marquis de Beretti Landi, was the representative of Spain in +Switzerland, and afterwards at the Hague (<i>Ripperda's Memoirs</i>, 1740, +pp. 37, 38); and that in, or just before, 1779, Lacy filled the same +post at St. Petersburg. <i>Malmesbury's Diaries and Correspondence</i>, 1844, +vol. i. p. 261. So, too, M. Rio (<i>Historia de Carlos III.</i>, vol. i. pp. +288, 289) says of the important negotiations which took place in 1761, +between Spain, England, and France, ‘Y así de las negociaciones en que +Luis XV. trataba de enredar á Carlos III. quedaron absolutamente +excluidos los españoles, como que por una parte las iban á seguir el +duque de Choiseul y el marques de Ossun, franceses, y por otra el +irlandés D. Ricardo Wall, y el genovés marques de Grimaldi.’ About the +same time, Clarke writes (in his <i>Letters concerning the Spanish +Nation</i>, London, 1763, 4to. p. 331), ‘Spain has, for many years past, +been under the direction of foreign ministers. Whether this hath been +owing to want of capacity in the natives, or disinclination in the +sovereign, I will not take upon me to say; such as it is, the native +nobility lament it as a great calamity.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1418_1418" id="Footnote_1418_1418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1418_1418"><span class="label">[1418]</span></a> Lord Stanhope, generally well informed on Spanish +affairs, says that Wall was ‘a native of Ireland.’ <i>Mahon's History of +England</i>, vol. iv. p. 182, 3d edit., London, 1853; but in <i>Mémoires de +Noailles</i>, vol. iv. p. 47, edit. Paris, 1829, he is called ‘irlandais +d‘origine, né en France.’ See also <i>Biografía de Ensenada</i>, in +<i>Navarrete</i>, <i>Opúsculos</i>, Madrid, 1848, vol. ii. p. 26, ‘D. Ricardo +Wall, irlandés de orígen, nacido en Francia.’ Swinburne, who knew him +personally, and has given some account of him, does not mention where he +was born. <i>Swinburne's Travels through Spain</i>, second edition, London, +1787, vol. i. pp. 314–318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1419_1419" id="Footnote_1419_1419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1419_1419"><span class="label">[1419]</span></a> ‘A Genoese, and a creature of France.’ <i>Dunham's History +of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1420_1420" id="Footnote_1420_1420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1420_1420"><span class="label">[1420]</span></a> ‘Era siciliano.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos +III.</i>, vol. i. p. 244.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1421_1421" id="Footnote_1421_1421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1421_1421"><span class="label">[1421]</span></a> The fullest account of his dismissal is given by M. Rio, +in the first chapter of the second volume of his <i>Historia del Reinado +de Carlos III.</i>, which should, however, be compared with <i>Coxe's Bourbon +Kings of Spain</i>, vol. iv. pp. 340–346. Coxe terms him Squilaci; but I +follow the orthography of the Spanish writers, who always call him +Esquilache. Such was his influence over the King, that, according to +Coxe (vol. iv. p. 347), Charles III. ‘publicly said that, “if he was +reduced to a morsel of bread, he would divide it with Squilaci.”’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1422_1422" id="Footnote_1422_1422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1422_1422"><span class="label">[1422]</span></a> <i>Coxe's Kings of Spain</i>, vol. iv. pp. 15, 135. <i>Rio</i>, +<i>Historia de Carlos III.</i>, vol. i. pp. 246, 247, 400, 401. <i>Navarrete</i>, +<i>Biografía de Ensenada</i>, pp. 26–28.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1423_1423" id="Footnote_1423_1423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1423_1423"><span class="label">[1423]</span></a> He resigned in 1776, but held office till the arrival of +his successor, Florida Blanca, in 1777. <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia de Carlos +III.</i>, vol. iii. pp. 171, 174. In reference to his appointment, in 1763, +M. Rio observes (vol. i. p. 402), ‘De que Grimaldi creciera en fortuna +se pudo congratular no Roma, sino Francia.’ In 1770, Harris, the +diplomatist, who was then in Spain, writes, ‘His doctrine is absolutely +French; guided in everything by the French closet,’ &c. <i>Malmesbury's +Diaries and Correspondence</i>, vol. i. p. 56, London, 1844.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1424_1424" id="Footnote_1424_1424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1424_1424"><span class="label">[1424]</span></a> ‘Guided in his operations by the counsels of Choiseul.’ +<i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. iv. p. 339. ‘The prosecution of +the schemes which he had concerted with Choiseul.’ p. 373. ‘His friend +and patron.’ p. 391, and vol. v. p. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1425_1425" id="Footnote_1425_1425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1425_1425"><span class="label">[1425]</span></a> ‘Personne n'ignoroit le crédit prodigieux que M. de +Choiseul avoit sur le roi d'Espagne, dont il se vantoit lui-même, au +point que je lui ai ouï dire, qu'il étoit plus sûr de sa prépondérance +dans le cabinet de Madrid, que dans celui de Versailles.’ <i>Mémoires du +Baron de Besenval</i>, <i>écrits par lui-même</i>, vol. ii. pp. 14, 15, Paris, +1805.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1426_1426" id="Footnote_1426_1426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1426_1426"><span class="label">[1426]</span></a> M. Muriel (<i>Gobierno del Rey Don Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, +1839, pp. 44, 45) terms their expulsion from Spain ‘este acto de +violencia hecho meramente por complacer al duque de Choiseul, ministro +de Francia y protector del partido filosófico.’ See also +<i>Crétineau-Joly</i>, <i>Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus</i>, vol. v. p. 291, +Paris, 1845; and <i>Georgel</i>, <i>Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire des +Évènemens depuis 1760</i>, vol. ii. p. 95, Paris, 1817.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1427_1427" id="Footnote_1427_1427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1427_1427"><span class="label">[1427]</span></a> Archdeacon Coxe, in a somewhat professional tone, says of +Aranda, ‘In France he had acquired the graces of polished society, and +<i>imbibed that freedom of sentiment</i> which then began to be fashionable, +<i>and has since been carried to such a dangerous excess</i>.’ <i>Coxe's +Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. iv. p. 402. His great enemy, the Prince of +the Peace, wishing to be severe, unintentionally praises him; and +observes, that he was ‘connected with the most distinguished literary +Frenchmen of the middle of the last century,’ and that he was ‘divested +of religious prejudices, though swayed by philosophical enthusiasm.’ +<i>Godoy's Memoirs</i>, London, 1836, vol. i. p. 319. The hostility of some +men is extremely valuable. The Prince further adds, that Aranda ‘could +only lay claim to the inferior merit of a sectarian attachment,’ +forgetting that, in a country like Spain, every enlightened person must +belong to a miserably small sect.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1428_1428" id="Footnote_1428_1428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1428_1428"><span class="label">[1428]</span></a> Cabarrus (<i>Elogio de Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. +xxiv.) says, rather magniloquently, ‘El acierto de la execucion que +correspondió al pulso y prudencia con que se habia deliberado esta +providencia importante, pasará á la ultima posteridad.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1429_1429" id="Footnote_1429_1429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1429_1429"><span class="label">[1429]</span></a> <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. iv. p. 362. M. Rio, +in the second volume of his <i>History of Charles III.</i>, Madrid, 1856, has +given a long, but not very philosophical, nor very accurate, account of +the expulsion of the Jesuits, which he considers solely from the Spanish +point of view; overlooking the fact, that it was part of an European +movement headed by France. He denies the influence of Choiseul, p. 125; +censures the perfectly correct statement of Coxe, p. 123; and finally +ascribes this great event to the operation of causes confined to the +Peninsula. ‘De ser los jesuitas adversarios del regalismo emanó su ruina +en España, cuando triunfaban las opiniones sostenidas con heróico teson +desde mucho ántes por doctísimos jurisconsultos.’ p. 519.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1430_1430" id="Footnote_1430_1430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1430_1430"><span class="label">[1430]</span></a> One of the most recent historians of the Jesuits +indignantly observes, ‘Depuis deux cent vingt ans les Jésuites vivent et +prêchent en Espagne. Ils sont comblés de bienfaits par des monarques +dont ils étendent la souveraineté. Le clergé et les masses acceptent +avec bonheur leur intervention. Tout à coup l'Ordre se voit déclaré +coupable d'un crime de lèse-majesté, d'un attentat public que personne +ne peut spécifier. La sentence prononce la peine sans énoncer le délit.’ +<i>Crétineau-Joly</i>, <i>Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus</i>, vol. v. p. 295, +Paris, 1845.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1431_1431" id="Footnote_1431_1431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1431_1431"><span class="label">[1431]</span></a> <i>Dunham's History of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 285, where the +facts are well brought together. The valuable <i>History of the +Inquisition</i>, by Llorente, is not quite precise enough in these matters; +though it is a very accurate, and, what is still more surprising, a very +honest book.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1432_1432" id="Footnote_1432_1432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1432_1432"><span class="label">[1432]</span></a> <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iii. pp. 103–107, +which must be compared with the account of Coxe, who derived some of his +information from a friend of Aranda's. <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, +vol. iv. pp. 401–415. A good life of Aranda would be very interesting. +That contained in the <i>Biographie Universelle</i> is extremely meagre, and +carelessly written.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1433_1433" id="Footnote_1433_1433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1433_1433"><span class="label">[1433]</span></a> <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. iv. p. 407.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1434_1434" id="Footnote_1434_1434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1434_1434"><span class="label">[1434]</span></a> ‘When at Paris, in 1786, I received the following +anecdote from a person connected with the encyclopædists. During his +residence in that capital, D'Aranda had frequently testified to the +literati with whom he associated, his resolution to obtain the abolition +of the Inquisition, should he ever be called to power. His appointment +was, therefore, exultingly hailed by the party, particularly by +D'Alembert; and he had scarcely begun his reforms before an article was +inserted in the Encyclopædia, then printing, in which this event was +confidently anticipated, from the liberal principles of the minister. +D'Aranda was struck on reading this article, and said, “This imprudent +disclosure will raise such a ferment against me, that my plans will be +foiled.” He was not mistaken in his conjecture.’ <i>Coxe‘s Bourbon Kings +of Spain</i>, vol. iv. p. 408.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1435_1435" id="Footnote_1435_1435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1435_1435"><span class="label">[1435]</span></a> Even the case in 1781 appears to have been for witchcraft +rather than for heresy. ‘La dernière victime qui périt dans les flammes +fut une <i>béate</i>: on la brûla à Séville, le 7 novembre 1781, comme ayant +fait un pacte, et entretenu un commerce charnel avec le Démon, et pour +avoir été impénitente négative. Elle eût pu éviter la mort en s'avouant +coupable du crime dont on l'accusait.’ <i>Llorente</i>, <i>Histoire de +l'Inquisition d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1818, vol. iv. p. 270. About this time, +torture began to be disused in Spain. See an interesting note in +<i>Johnston's Institutes of the Civil Law of Spain</i>, London, 1825, p. +263.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1436_1436" id="Footnote_1436_1436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1436_1436"><span class="label">[1436]</span></a> ‘Menesteres decir que el marqués de Grimaldi cayó +venciendo á sus enemigos, pues, léjos de legarles el poder, á que +aspiraban con anhelo, trasmitiólo á una de sus más legítimas hechuras; +que tal era y por tal se reconocia el conde de Floridablanca.’ <i>Rio</i>, +<i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iii. pp. 151, 152.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1437_1437" id="Footnote_1437_1437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1437_1437"><span class="label">[1437]</span></a> In 1690, it was stated that ‘since the expulsion of the +Moors,’ there was no precedent for the King of Spain ever sending an +envoy to a Mohammedan prince. See <i>Mahon's Spain under Charles II.</i>, p. +5. In that year an envoy was sent to Morocco; but this was merely +concerning the redemption of prisoners, and certainly without the +remotest intention of concluding a peace.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1438_1438" id="Footnote_1438_1438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1438_1438"><span class="label">[1438]</span></a> ‘The other European courts, with surprise and regret, +witnessed the conclusion of a treaty which terminated the political and +religious rivalry so long subsisting between Spain and the Porte.’ +<i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. v. pp. 152, 153. ‘Une des maximes +de la politique espagnole avait été celle de maintenir une guerre +perpétuelle contre les mahométans, même après la conquête de Grenade. Ni +les pertes incalculables éprouvées par suite de ce système, ni l'exemple +de la France et d'autres puissances catholiques qui ne se faisaient +point scrupule d'être en paix avec les Turcs, n'avaient suffi pour +détromper l'Espagne sur l'inconvenance d'une telle politique. Le génie +éclairé de Charles III corrigea un préjugé aussi dangereux; dicta la +paix avec les empereurs de Turquie et d'autres potentats mahométans; +délivra ses sujets de la terrible piraterie des corsaires, et ouvrit à +leur commerce de nouvelles voies pour spéculer avec de plus grands +avantages.’ <i>Sempere</i>, <i>La Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. ii. p. 160.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1439_1439" id="Footnote_1439_1439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1439_1439"><span class="label">[1439]</span></a> <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iv. +pp. 11–13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1440_1440" id="Footnote_1440_1440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1440_1440"><span class="label">[1440]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. iv. pp. 16, 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1441_1441" id="Footnote_1441_1441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1441_1441"><span class="label">[1441]</span></a> ‘Ha sido notable el número de cautivos, que los piratas +de Berbería han hecho sobre nuestras costas por tres centurias. En el +siglo pasado se solian calcular exístentes á la vez en Argel, treinta +mil personas españolas. Su rescate á razon de mil pesos por cada persona +á lo menos, ascendia á 30 millones de pesos.’ <i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice á +la Educacion Popular</i>, vol. i. p. 373, Madrid, 1775. On the precautions +which had to be used to guard the coasts of Spain against the Mohammedan +corsairs, see <i>Uztariz</i>, <i>Theorica y Practica de Comercio</i>, Madrid, +1757, folio, pp. 172, 173, 222–226; and <i>Lafuente</i>, <i>Historia de +España</i>, vol. xv. p. 476, Madrid, 1855. In the middle of the eighteenth +century, a regular watch had to be kept along the Mediterranean coast of +Spain, ‘in order to give the alarm upon the appearance of the enemy.’ +See <i>A Tour through Spain by Udal ap Rhys</i>, 2d edit., London, 1760, p. +170. As to the state of things in the seventeenth century, see <i>Janer</i>, +<i>Condicion de los Moriscos</i>, Madrid, 1857, p. 63.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1442_1442" id="Footnote_1442_1442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1442_1442"><span class="label">[1442]</span></a> ‘De esta suerte quedaron los mares limpios de piratas +desde los reinos de Fez y Marruecos hasta los últimos dominios del +emperador Turco, por el Mediterráneo todo; vióse á menudo la bandera +española en Levante, y las mismas naciones mercantiles que la +persiguieron indirectamente, preferíanla ahora, resultando el aumento +del comercio y de la Real marina, y la pericia de sus tripulaciones, y +el mayor brillo de España y de su augusto Soberano: termino hubo la +esclavitud de tantos millares de infelices con abandono de sus familias +é indelebles perjuicios de la religion y el Estado, cesando tambien la +continua extraccion de enormes sumas para los rescates que, al paso que +nos empobrecian, pasaban á enriquecer á nuestros contrarios, y á +facilitar sus armamentos para ofendernos; y se empezaban á cultivar +rápidamente en las costas del Mediterráneo leguas de terrenos los más +fertiles del mundo, desamparados y eriales hasta entónces por miedo á +los piratas, y donde se formaban ya pueblos enteros para dar salida á +los frutos y las manufacturas.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos +III.</i>, vol. iv. pp. 17, 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1443_1443" id="Footnote_1443_1443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1443_1443"><span class="label">[1443]</span></a> M. Rio, whose voluminous History of the reign of Charles +III. is, notwithstanding its numerous omissions, a work of considerable +value, has appreciated the personal influence of the king more justly +than any previous writer; he having had access to unpublished papers, +which show the great energy and activity of Charles. ‘Entre sus mas +notables figuras ninguna aventaja á la de Cárlos III.; y no por el lugar +jerárquico que ocupa, sino por el brillante papel que representa, ora +tome la iniciativa, ora el consejo, para efectuar las innumerables +reformas que le valieron inextinguible fama. Ya sé que algunos tachan á +este Monarca de cortedad de luces y de estrechez de miras; y que algunos +otros suponen que sus ministros le engañaron ó sorprendieron para dictar +ciertas providencias. Cuarenta y ocho tomos de cartas semanales y +escritas de su puno desde octubre de 1759 hasta marzo de 1783 al marqués +de Tanucci, existentes en el archivo de Simancas, por mí leidas hoja +tras hoja, sacando de ellas largos apuntes, sirven á maravilla para +pintarle tal como era, y penetrar hasta sus más recónditos pensamientos, +y contradecir á los que le juzgan á bulto.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado +de Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, 1856, vol. i. pp. xxii. xxiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1444_1444" id="Footnote_1444_1444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1444_1444"><span class="label">[1444]</span></a> ‘Although born and educated in Spain, Charles had quitted +the country at too early an age to retain a partiality to its customs, +laws, manners, and language; while, from his residence abroad, and his +intercourse with France, he had formed a natural predilection for the +French character and institutions.’ <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, +vol. iv. p. 337.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1445_1445" id="Footnote_1445_1445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1445_1445"><span class="label">[1445]</span></a> He ‘far surpassed his two predecessors in his exertions +to reform the morals, and restrain the power of the clergy.’ <i>Ibid.</i> +vol. v. p. 215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1446_1446" id="Footnote_1446_1446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1446_1446"><span class="label">[1446]</span></a> His measures ‘alarmaron al clero en general, que empezó á +murmurar con impaciencia, y aun algunos de sus individuos se propasaron +á violentos actos.’ <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. p. 98.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1447_1447" id="Footnote_1447_1447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1447_1447"><span class="label">[1447]</span></a> A popular charge against the government was, ‘que se +despojara á la Iglesia de sus inmunidades.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado +de Carlos III.</i>, vol. ii. p. 54. See also at pp. 201, 202, a letter, in +1766, from the Bishop of Cuenca to the King's confessor, in which that +prelate stated, ‘que España corria á su ruina que ya no corria, sino que +volaba, y que ya estaba perdida sin remedio humano;’ and that the cause +of this was the persecution of the poor Church, which was ‘saqueada en +sus bienes, ultrajada en sus ministros, y atropellada en su inmunidad.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1448_1448" id="Footnote_1448_1448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1448_1448"><span class="label">[1448]</span></a> Coxe (<i>Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 144) calls the +peace of 1783 ‘the most honourable and advantageous ever concluded by +the crown of Spain since the peace of St. Quintin.’ Similarly, M. Rio +(<i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iii. p. 397), ‘Siglos +habian pasado para España de continuas y porfiadas contiendas, sin +llegar nunca, desde la famosa jornada de San Quintin y al alborear el +reinado de Felipe II., tan gloriosamente al reposo.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1449_1449" id="Footnote_1449_1449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1449_1449"><span class="label">[1449]</span></a> Towards the close of his reign, we find a contemporary +observer, who was anything but prejudiced in his favour, bearing +testimony to ‘the honest and obstinate adherence of his present Catholic +Majesty to all his treaties, principles, and engagements,’ <i>Letter by an +English Officer</i>, London, 1788, vol. ii. p. 329. Compare Muriel +(<i>Gobierno del Rey Don Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, 1839, p. 34), ‘Tan conocido +llegó á ser Cárlos III. en los reinos estraños por la rectitud de su +carácter, que en las desavenencias que ocurrian entre los gobiernos, +todos consentian en tomarle por árbitro, y se sometian á sus +decisiones;’ and Cabarrus (<i>Elogio de Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, 1789, 4to. +p. xl.), ‘Esta probidad llega á ser el resorte político de la Europa; +todas las cortes penetradas de respeto á sus virtudes le buscan por +árbitro y mediador.’ Evidence of the great respect paid to Charles III. +by foreign powers, will also be found in <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del +Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iv. pp. 41–43, 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1450_1450" id="Footnote_1450_1450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1450_1450"><span class="label">[1450]</span></a> On the increase of the navy, compare <i>Tapia</i>, +<i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. p. 127, with <i>Muriel</i>, <i>Gobierno del +Rey Carlos III.</i>, pp. 73, 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1451_1451" id="Footnote_1451_1451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1451_1451"><span class="label">[1451]</span></a> These financial improvements were due, in a great +measure, to the Frenchman, Cabarrus. See <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de +Carlos III.</i>, vol. iv. pp. 122, 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1452_1452" id="Footnote_1452_1452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1452_1452"><span class="label">[1452]</span></a> Rio, <i>ibid.</i> vol. iv. pp. 164–166, and <i>Tapia</i>, +<i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. pp. 96, 97.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1453_1453" id="Footnote_1453_1453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1453_1453"><span class="label">[1453]</span></a> ‘La providencia mas acertada para el fomento de nuestra +agricultura fué sin duda la real pragmática de 11 de julio de 1765, por +la cual se abolió la tasa de los granos, y se permitió el libre comercio +de ellos.’ <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. p. 105. See also +<i>Dillon's Spain</i>, p. 69, and <i>Townsend's Spain</i>, vol. ii. p. 230. The +first step towards this great reform was taken in 1752. See the edict +issued in that year, ‘Libertase de Derechos el trigo, cebada, centeno y +maiz que por mar se transportáre de unas provincias á otras de estos +dominios.’ This document, which is important for the history of +political economy, is printed in the Appendix to <i>Campomanes</i>, +<i>Educacion Popular</i>, vol. ii. pp. 16, 17, Madrid, 1775.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1454_1454" id="Footnote_1454_1454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1454_1454"><span class="label">[1454]</span></a> ‘Pronto se establecieron los correos marítimos y se +comunicaron con regularidad y frecuencia no vistas hasta entónces la +metrópoli y las colonias. Por efecto del importante decreto de 24 de +agosto de 1764, salía el primero de cada mes un paquebot de la Coruña +con toda la correspondencia de las Indias; desembarcábala en la Habana, +y desde allí se distribuia en balandras y otros bajeles á +propósito para puntear los vientos +escasos, á Veracruz, Portobelo, Cartagena, islas de Barlovento y +provincias de la Plata; y aquellos ligeros buques volvian á la Habana, +de donde zarpaba mensualmente y en dia fijo otro paquebot para la +Coruña.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. i. p. 452. +That part of the plan, however, which aimed at making Coruña a rival of +Cadiz, appears to have been unsuccessful. See a letter from Coruña, +written in 1774, in <i>Dalrymple's Travels through Spain</i>, London, 1777, +4to. p. 99.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1455_1455" id="Footnote_1455_1455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1455_1455"><span class="label">[1455]</span></a> See the edicts in <i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice</i>, vol. ii. pp. +37–47, Madrid, 1775. They are both dated October 16th, 1765.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1456_1456" id="Footnote_1456_1456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1456_1456"><span class="label">[1456]</span></a> It was said, with reason, by Alaman, ‘que el gobierno de +América llego al colmo de su perfeccion en tiempo de Carlos III.’ <i>Rio</i>, +<i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iv. p. 151. And Humboldt +observes (<i>Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne</i>, +Paris, 1811, 4to. vol. i. p. 102), ‘C'est le roi Charles III surtout +qui, par des mesures aussi sages qu'énergiques, est devenu le +bienfaiteur des indigènes; il a annulé les <i>Encomiendas</i>; il a défendu +les <i>Repartimientos</i>, par lesquels les corregidors se constituoient +arbitrairement les créanciers, et par conséquent les maîtres du travail +des natifs, en les pourvoyant, à des prix exagérés, de chevaux, de +mulets et de vêtemens (<i>ropa</i>).’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1457_1457" id="Footnote_1457_1457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1457_1457"><span class="label">[1457]</span></a> <i>Cabarrus</i>, <i>Elogio de Carlos III.</i>, Madrid, 1789, p. +xlii., and Canga's note in <i>Martinez de la Mata</i>, <i>Dos Discursos</i>, +Madrid, 1794, p. 31. But these writers were not sufficiently familiar +with political economy, really to appreciate this measure.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1458_1458" id="Footnote_1458_1458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1458_1458"><span class="label">[1458]</span></a> ‘Early in the reign of Charles, steps had been taken +towards the adoption of more liberal principles in the commerce with +America; but, in the year 1778, a complete and radical change was +introduced. The establishment of a free trade rapidly produced the most +beneficial consequences. The export of foreign goods was tripled, of +home-produce quintupled; and the returns from America augmented in the +astonishing proportion of nine to one. The produce of the customs +increased with equal rapidity.’ <i>Clarke's Examination of the Internal +State of Spain</i>, London, 1818, p. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1459_1459" id="Footnote_1459_1459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1459_1459"><span class="label">[1459]</span></a> <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. v. pp. 197, 317, +318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1460_1460" id="Footnote_1460_1460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1460_1460"><span class="label">[1460]</span></a> See Florida Blanca's statement in <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings +of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 331; ‘to facilitate to artisans and journeymen the +scanty payment of their labours, in spite of the privileges and interest +of the powerful.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1461_1461" id="Footnote_1461_1461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1461_1461"><span class="label">[1461]</span></a> <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iv. +pp. 317, 318, and elsewhere.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1462_1462" id="Footnote_1462_1462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1462_1462"><span class="label">[1462]</span></a> ‘“Desde mi feliz advenimiento al trono” (dijo el Rey en +la ordenanza de reemplazos) “ha merecido mi Real proteccion el arte de +la imprenta, y, para que pueda arraigarse sólidamente en estos reinos, +vengo en declarar la exencion del sorteo y servicio militar, no solo á +los impresores, sino tambien á los fundidores que se empleen de continuo +en este ejercicio, y á los abridores de punzones y matrices.”’ <i>Rio</i>, +<i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iii. p. 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1463_1463" id="Footnote_1463_1463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1463_1463"><span class="label">[1463]</span></a> On the steps taken to reform the universities between +1768 and 1774, see <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, +vol. iii. pp. 185–210. Compare vol. iv. pp. 296–299.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1464_1464" id="Footnote_1464_1464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1464_1464"><span class="label">[1464]</span></a> ‘La educacion de la juventud por los maestros de primeras +letras es uno y aun el más principal ramo de la policía y buen gobierno +del Estado.’ <i>Real Provision de 11 de julio de 1771</i>, printed in Rio, +vol. iii. p. 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1465_1465" id="Footnote_1465_1465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1465_1465"><span class="label">[1465]</span></a> M. Lafuente, who has justly praised the love of peace +displayed by Ferdinand VI. (<i>Historia de España</i>, vol. i. p. 202, vol. +xix. pp. 286, 378), adds (vol. xix. p. 384), ‘De modo que con razon se +admira, y es el testimonio más honroso de la buena administracion +económica de este reinado, que al morir este buen monarca dejára, no +diremos nosotros repletas y apuntaladas las arcas públicas, como +hiperbólicamente suele decirse, pero sí con el considerable sobrante de +trescientos millones de reales, despues de cubiertas todas las +atenciones del Estado: fenómeno que puede decirse se veia por primera +vez en España, y resultado satisfactorio, que aun supuesta una buena +administracion, solo pudo obtenerse á favor de su prudente política de +neutralidad y de paz.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1466_1466" id="Footnote_1466_1466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1466_1466"><span class="label">[1466]</span></a> ‘But it is to Charles III. that Madrid owes all its +present magnificence. Under his care, the royal palace was finished, the +noble gates of Alcalá and San Vincente were raised; the custom-house, +the post-office, the museum, and royal printing-office, were +constructed; the academy of the three noble arts improved; the cabinet +of natural history, the botanic garden, the national bank of San Carlos, +and many gratuitous schools established; while convenient roads leading +from the city, and delightful walks planted within and without it, and +adorned by statues and fountains, combine to announce the solicitude of +this paternal king.’ <i>Spain by an American</i>, London, 1831, vol. i. p. +206; see also p. 297.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1467_1467" id="Footnote_1467_1467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1467_1467"><span class="label">[1467]</span></a> The following passage describes its state so late as the +year 1766: ‘Por temor ó por connivencia de los venteros, dentro de sus +casas concertaban frecuentemente los ladrones sus robos, y los +ejecutaban á mansalva, ocultándose en guaridas de que ahuyentaban á las +fieras. Acaso á muy largas distancias se descubrian entre contados +caseríos algunos pastores como los que allí hizo encontrar el ilustre +manco de Lepanto al ingenioso hidalgo de la Mancha. Parte de la Sierra +estuvo poblada en tiempo de moros; actualmente ya no habia más que +espesos matorrales hasta en torno de la ermita de Santa Elena, donde +resonaron cánticos de gracias al Cielo por el magnífico triunfo de las +Navas.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iii. p. 9. On +the condition of the Sierra Morena a hundred years before this, see +<i>Boisel</i>, <i>Journal du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1669, 4to. pp. 62, 296; +where it is termed ‘le lieu le plus désert, et où il n'y a que quelques +<i>ventas</i> sans villages.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1468_1468" id="Footnote_1468_1468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1468_1468"><span class="label">[1468]</span></a> <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iii. +pp. 9–11, 35. By 1771, ‘sin auxilio de la Real hacienda pudieron +mantenerse al fin los colonos.’ p. 42. See also vol. iv. pp. 114, 115. +On the subsequent history of this settlement, see <i>Inglis' Spain</i>, vol. +ii. pp. 29–31, London, 1831.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1469_1469" id="Footnote_1469_1469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1469_1469"><span class="label">[1469]</span></a> ‘En 1760 se destinó por primera vez un fondo especial +para la construccion de caminos.’ <i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. +iv. p. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1470_1470" id="Footnote_1470_1470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1470_1470"><span class="label">[1470]</span></a> Indeed, M. Rio says, that the expense was reduced by +two-thirds, and, in some parts, by three-fourths. ‘Antes se regulaba en +un millon de reales la construccion de cada legua; ahora solo ascendia á +la tercera ó cuarta parte de esta suma.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de +Carlos III.</i>, vol. iv. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1471_1471" id="Footnote_1471_1471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1471_1471"><span class="label">[1471]</span></a> A note in <i>Bowles</i>, <i>Historia Natural de España</i>, Madrid, +1789, 4to. p. 158, terms this ‘un camino alineado y sólido.’ In <i>Cook's +Spain</i>, London, 1834, vol. i. p. 209, it is called ‘a magnificent +road.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1472_1472" id="Footnote_1472_1472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1472_1472"><span class="label">[1472]</span></a> ‘Para dar salida á los frutos, que regaban los pantanos +de Lorca, ejecutóse una bien trazada via al puerto de las Aguilas.’ +<i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iv. pp. 115, 116.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1473_1473" id="Footnote_1473_1473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1473_1473"><span class="label">[1473]</span></a> In 1769, Baretti writes, in great surprise, ‘the +Biscayans are actually making a noble road, which is to go from Bilbao +to Osma.’ <i>Baretti's Journey through England, Portugal, Spain, and +France</i>, London, 1770, vol. iv. p. 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1474_1474" id="Footnote_1474_1474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1474_1474"><span class="label">[1474]</span></a> ‘Otras diferentes carreteras, construidas de nuevo ó +rehabilitadas, multiplicaron las comunicaciones durante los nueve +primeros años de estar á cargo de Floridablanca la superintendencia +general de caminos, haciéndose de fácil y cómodo tránsito puntos +escabrosos como el del Puerto de la Cadena y los que médian entre +Astorga y Galicia, y Málaga y Antequera.’ <i>Rio</i>, <i>Historia del Reinado +de Carlos III.</i>, vol. iv. p. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1475_1475" id="Footnote_1475_1475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1475_1475"><span class="label">[1475]</span></a> ‘The reigns of Ferdinand the Sixth and Charles the Third +produced the most beneficial changes in this important branch of +political economy. New roads were opened, which were carefully levelled, +and constructed with solidity. There are at the present time in Spain +several superb roads, such as may vie with the finest in Europe; indeed, +they have been made with superior judgment, and upon a grander scale.’ +<i>Laborde's Spain</i>, edit. London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 427.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1476_1476" id="Footnote_1476_1476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1476_1476"><span class="label">[1476]</span></a> <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1477_1477" id="Footnote_1477_1477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1477_1477"><span class="label">[1477]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. v. pp. 198, 199, 286, 287. <i>Townsend's +Spain</i>, vol. i. pp. 212–215. <i>Laborde's Spain</i>, vol. ii. p. 271. This +canal, which was intended to establish a free communication between the +Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean, is slightly noticed in +<i>Macpherson's Annals of Commerce</i>, vol. iv. pp. 95, 96: a learned and +valuable work, but very imperfect as regards Spain. The economical value +of this great enterprise, and the extent to which it succeeded, are +seriously under-estimated in <i>Ford's Spain</i>, p. 587; a book which, +notwithstanding the praise that has been conferred upon it, is +carelessly composed, and is sure to mislead readers who have not the +means of comparing it with other authorities. M. Rio's History of +Charles III. contains some interesting information on the subject; but, +unfortunately, I omitted to mark the passages.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1478_1478" id="Footnote_1478_1478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1478_1478"><span class="label">[1478]</span></a> <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. v. pp. 288, 289, on +the authority or Florida Blanca himself.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1479_1479" id="Footnote_1479_1479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1479_1479"><span class="label">[1479]</span></a> <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 199. +<i>Townsend's Spain</i>, vol. i. p. 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1480_1480" id="Footnote_1480_1480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1480_1480"><span class="label">[1480]</span></a> See Florida Blanca's statement in <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings +of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 289. ‘In many other parts similar works have been +promoted, for canals of irrigation, and for encouraging agriculture and +traffic. The canals of Manzanares and Guadarrama are continued by means +of the national bank, which has appropriated one-half of the profits +derived from the export of silver to this end.’ … ‘The town of +Almuradiel, formed in the middle of the <i>campo nuevo</i> of Andalusia, for +the rugged pass of Despeña Perros, is another example of agriculture for +the neighbouring places; since, instead of woods and frightful deserts, +we have seen in a few years public buildings, houses, plantations, and +cultivated lands, producing every species of grain and fruits, which +border the road, and banish the danger of robbers and banditti.’ See +also <i>Muriel</i>, <i>Gobierno del Rey Don Carlos III.</i>, p. 5. ‘Habiendo sido +el reinado de Carlos III. una serie continua de mejoras en todos ramos;’ +and the striking picture (p. 15), ‘Agricultura, artes mecánicas, +comercio, enseñanza, milicia, navegacion, ciencias, letras, legislacion, +en una palabra, todo cuanto puede influir en la prosperidad del Estado, +todo llamó la atencion de los ministros, y en todo hicieron las mejoras +que permitian las circunstancias.’' On the improvements in internal +communications, see the same valuable work, pp. 187–192.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1481_1481" id="Footnote_1481_1481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1481_1481"><span class="label">[1481]</span></a> Respecting this step, which as effected in 1754, see +<i>Tapia</i>, <i>Civilizacion Española</i>, Madrid, 1840, vol. iv. pp. 81, 82. +‘Fué este tratado utilísimo para la España, pues por él se libertó del +pago de enormes sumas que hasta entonces habian pasado á los estados +pontificos. En el informe canónico-legal escrito á virtud de real órden +en 1746 por el fiscal de la cámara de Castilla Don Blas de Jover, se +decia; que según el testimonio del historiador Cabrera, en el espacio de +30 años el solo renglon de las coadjutorías y dispensas habia hecho +pasar á Roma de la corona de Castilla millon y medio de ducados romanos. +Y añade el mismo Jover que á principios del siglo xviii. subia aun esta +contribucion cada año en todos los estados de la monarquia española á +500,000 escudos romanos, que era <i>un tercio poco mas ó menos de lo que +Roma percibia de toda la cristiandad</i>.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1482_1482" id="Footnote_1482_1482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1482_1482"><span class="label">[1482]</span></a> See Appendix I. to <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. +v. p. 334.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1483_1483" id="Footnote_1483_1483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1483_1483"><span class="label">[1483]</span></a> It is important to observe, that the Cortes, where alone +the voice of the people had a chance of being heard, was assembled but +three times during the whole of the eighteenth century, and then merely +for the sake of form. ‘Les Cortès ne se réunirent que trois fois pendant +le dix-huitième siècle, et plutôt encore comme des solennités +formulaires pour la prestation du serment aux princes héritiers de la +couronne, que comme étant nécessaires pour de nouvelles lois et des +contributions.’ <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne</i>, Bordeaux, +1815, p. 270.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1484_1484" id="Footnote_1484_1484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1484_1484"><span class="label">[1484]</span></a> By combining these three qualities, he has deserved and +received the cordial approbation of the present Bishop of Barcelona, +who, in his recent work on the Spanish Church, styles him ‘un monarca +tan piadoso.’ <i>Observaciones sobre El Presente y El Porvenir de la +Iglesia en España</i>, <i>por Domingo Costa y Borras</i>, Barcelona, 1857, p. +80.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1485_1485" id="Footnote_1485_1485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1485_1485"><span class="label">[1485]</span></a> Even in <i>Alison's History of Europe</i>, where men of his +character are usually made much of, he is treated with moderate disdain. +‘Charles IV. was not destitute of good qualities, but he was a weak, +incapable prince.’ Vol. viii. p. 382, Edinburgh, 1849.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1486_1486" id="Footnote_1486_1486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1486_1486"><span class="label">[1486]</span></a> <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. ii. p. 167. I need +hardly say, that not the slightest credit is to be attached to the +account given in Godoy's Memoirs. Every one tolerably acquainted with +Spanish history, will see that his book is an attempt to raise his own +reputation, by defaming the character of some of the ablest and most +high-minded of his contemporaries.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1487_1487" id="Footnote_1487_1487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1487_1487"><span class="label">[1487]</span></a> <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature</i>, vol. iii. pp. +277, 278.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1488_1488" id="Footnote_1488_1488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1488_1488"><span class="label">[1488]</span></a> ‘In all its worst forms, therefore, oppression, civil, +political, and religious, appeared to be settling down, with a new and +portentous weight, on the whole country.’ <i>Ticknor's History of Spanish +Literature</i>, vol. iii. p. 318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1489_1489" id="Footnote_1489_1489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1489_1489"><span class="label">[1489]</span></a> ‘Caballero, fearing the progress of all learning, which +might disturb the peace of the Court, sent, not long since, a circular +order to the universities, forbidding the study of moral philosophy. +“His Majesty,” it was said in the order, “was not in want of +philosophers, but of good and obedient subjects.”’ <i>Doblado‘s Letters +from Spain</i>, p. 358.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1490_1490" id="Footnote_1490_1490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1490_1490"><span class="label">[1490]</span></a> 'Le gouvernement de Charles IV avait épuisé toutes les +ressources de l'État.’ <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne</i>, p. +323.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1491_1491" id="Footnote_1491_1491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1491_1491"><span class="label">[1491]</span></a> In Spain, the voice of the people has always been opposed +to the liberal party, as many writers have observed, without being aware +of the reason. Mr. Walton (<i>Revolutions of Spain</i>, London, 1837, vol. i. +pp. 322, 323) says of the Cortes, ‘Public indignation hurled them from +their seats in 1814; and in 1823 they were overpowered, not by the arms +of France, but by the displeasure of their own countrymen,’ &c. See also +p. 290; and <i>Quin's Memoirs of Ferdinand the Seventh</i>, London, 1824, p. +121, where it is mentioned, that ‘in all the towns through which the +King passed, the multitude, excited by the friars and clergy, overturned +the constitutional stone, and uttered the most atrocious insults against +the Constitution, the Cortes, and the Liberals.’ Compare <i>Sempere</i>, +<i>Histoire des Cortès</i>, p. 335, and <i>Bacon's Six Years in Biscay</i>, p. 40. +Indeed, a very intelligent writer on Spanish affairs in 1855, asserts, +with, I believe, perfect truth, that Spain is ‘un pays où les +populations sont toujours, à coup sûr moins libérales que les +gouvernemens.’ <i>Annuaire des Deux Mondes</i>, 1854, 1855, Paris, 1855, p. +266.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1492_1492" id="Footnote_1492_1492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1492_1492"><span class="label">[1492]</span></a> <i>Buckle's History of Civilization</i>, vol. ii. p. 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1493_1493" id="Footnote_1493_1493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1493_1493"><span class="label">[1493]</span></a> <i>Prescott's History of Ferdinand and +Isabella</i>, vol. i. p. xlviii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1494_1494" id="Footnote_1494_1494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1494_1494"><span class="label">[1494]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. xcvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1495_1495" id="Footnote_1495_1495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1495_1495"><span class="label">[1495]</span></a> <i>Hallam's Middle Ages</i>, ninth edition, London, 1846, vol. +ii. pp. 153–157, which must be compared with <i>Hallam's Supplemental +Notes</i>, London, 1848, pp. 323–327.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1496_1496" id="Footnote_1496_1496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1496_1496"><span class="label">[1496]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vol. i. p. 373. <i>Prescott's Ferdinand and +Isabella</i>, vol. i. pp. xlv. xlvi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1497_1497" id="Footnote_1497_1497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1497_1497"><span class="label">[1497]</span></a> ‘Ce fut alors que les successeurs de Pélage descendirent +de leurs montagnes dans les plaines, de leurs forteresses perchées sur +des rocs inaccessibles dans les villes populeuses, le long des fleuves, +dans de fertiles vallées et sur les côtes de la mer; ce fut alors que la +ville d'Astorgue revint du pouvoir des Arabes à celui des Asturiens et +chassa toute la partie musulmane de ces habitants; ce fut alors, enfin, +que commencèrent en Espagne ces concessions de franchises municipales +par lesquelles les rois et les seigneurs chrétiens cherchèrent à attirer +des populations chrétiennes dans les lieux d'où ils avaient chassé les +Musulmans.’ <i>Fauriel</i>, <i>Histoire de la Gaule Méridionale</i>, Paris, 1836, +vol. iii. p. 215. See also <i>Sempere</i>, <i>Monarchie Espagnole</i>, vol. ii. +pp. 256, 257.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1498_1498" id="Footnote_1498_1498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1498_1498"><span class="label">[1498]</span></a> On the increasing confidence of the Spaniards in the +middle of the fourteenth century, see an interesting passage in +<i>Mariana</i>, <i>Historia de España</i>, vol. iv. pp. 172, 173.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1499_1499" id="Footnote_1499_1499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1499_1499"><span class="label">[1499]</span></a> The deputies of the towns did, in fact, eventually +overthrow their own liberties, as a Spanish historian truly remarks. ‘Il +n'est pas étonnant que les monarques espagnols tâchassent d'affermir +leur autorité autant que possible, et encore moins que leurs conseillers +et leurs, ministres coopérassent à leurs desseins. L'histoire de toutes +les nations nous offre de nombreux exemples de cette politique; mais <i>ce +qu'il y a de plus remarquable dans celle d'Espagne, c'est que les +députés des villes qui auraient dû être les plus zélés défenseurs de +leurs droits, conspirèrent ouvertement contre le tiers-état</i>, et +tentèrent d'anéantir les restes de l'ancienne représentation nationale.’ +<i>Sempere</i>, <i>Histoire des Cortès d'Espagne</i>, p. 213. It strikes one as +singular, that M. Sempere should never have inquired, why this happened +in Spain, and not elsewhere. A later writer, reflecting on the +destruction of the municipal element by the royal authority, gives a +solution, which, like many other so-called solutions, is merely a +statement of the same fact in different words. ‘Al fin la autoridad real +logró alcanzar un gran predominio en el gobierno municipal de los +pueblos, <i>porque</i> los corregidores y alcaldes mayores llegaron á +eclipsar la influencia de los adelantados y alcaldes elegidos por los +pueblos.’ <i>Antequera</i>, <i>Historia de la Legislacion Española</i>, Madrid, +1849, p. 287. This, instead of explaining the event, is simply narrating +it afresh.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1500_1500" id="Footnote_1500_1500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1500_1500"><span class="label">[1500]</span></a> The final destruction of popular liberty is ascribed by +many writers to the battle of Villalar, in 1521; though it is quite +certain that, if the royalists had lost that battle, instead of gaining +it, the ultimate result would have been the same. At one time, I had +purposed tracing the history of the municipal and representative +elements during the fifteenth century; and the materials which I then +collected, convinced me that the spirit of freedom never really existed +in Spain, and that therefore the marks and forms of freedom were sure, +sooner or later, to be effaced.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1501_1501" id="Footnote_1501_1501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1501_1501"><span class="label">[1501]</span></a> ‘Ceux qui servent la Messe en Espagne, soit Religieux, ou +Séculiers, ne manquent jamais d'aider le Prêtre à s'habiller, et le font +avec beaucoup de respect. Les plus grande Seigneurs s'en font honneur, +et à mesure qu'ils présentent au Prêtre quelque partie des ornemens, ils +lui baisent la main. On se met à genoux pour donner à laver au Prêtre +pendant la Messe, et après qu'il a essuyé ses doigts, celui qui lui a +donné l'eau demeurant à genoux lui présente le bassin retourné, sur +lequel le Prêtre met sa main pour la lui laisser baiser. Au retour à la +Sacristie, il ne manque pas d'aider le Prêtre à se déshabiller, après +quoi il se met à genoux pour recevoir sa bénédiction et baiser sa main.’ +<i>Labat</i>, <i>Voyages en Espagne et en Italie</i>, Paris, 1730, vol. i. p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1502_1502" id="Footnote_1502_1502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1502_1502"><span class="label">[1502]</span></a> ‘Telle est la coûtume du Païs, on s'exposeroit à laisser +douter de sa foi, et passer au moins pour Maran, ou Chrétien nouveau, si +on ne laissoit pas le tiers de ses biens mobiliers à l'Eglise.’ <i>Labat</i>, +<i>Voyages en Espagne</i>, vol. i. p. 268.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1503_1503" id="Footnote_1503_1503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1503_1503"><span class="label">[1503]</span></a> It was the opinion of the Pope, that Charles, by this +act, had endangered his own soul. ‘Dans un bref adressé à Charles III; +il déclara: “Que les actes du Roi contre les Jésuites mettaient +évidemment son salut en danger.”’ <i>Crétineau-Joly</i>, <i>Histoire de la +Compagnie de Jésus</i>, Paris, 1845, vol. v. p. 302.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1504_1504" id="Footnote_1504_1504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1504_1504"><span class="label">[1504]</span></a> As this circumstance, which is noticed by Crétineau-Joly +(<i>Histoire de la Compagnie de Jésus</i>, vol. v. p. 311) and other writers +(<i>Dunham's History of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 180), has been much +misrepresented, and has even been doubted by one author, I will +transcribe the statement of Coxe, whose information respecting the reign +of Charles III. was derived from eye-witnesses. ‘A remarkable and +alarming proof of their influence was given at Madrid, the year after +their expulsion. At the festival of St. Charles, when the monarch showed +himself to the people from the balcony of the palace, and was accustomed +to grant their general request; to the surprise and confusion of the +whole court, the voice of the immense multitude, with one accord, +demanded the return of the Jesuits, and the permission for them to wear +the habit of the secular clergy. This unexpected incident alarmed and +mortified the King; and, after a vigilant inquiry, he thought proper to +banish the Cardinal Archbishop of Toledo, and his Grand Vicar, as the +secret instigators of this tumultuary petition.’ <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings +of Spain</i>, 2nd edit., London, 1815, vol. iv. pp. 368, 369. The remarks +made on this event by M. Rio (<i>Historia del Reinado de Carlos III.</i>, +Madrid, 1856, vol. ii. pp. 197–199) are not very creditable, either to +his criticism or to his candour. It is uncritical to doubt the statement +of a contemporary, when that statement relates what is probable in +itself, and what those who lived nearest to the period never denied. +Indeed, so far from denying it, M. Muriel, the learned translator of +Coxe's work into Spanish, gave it the sanction of his name. And, it is +surely, to say the least, very uncandid on the part of M. Rio to impute +to Coxe the error of placing this occurrence in 1767, and then proving +that, owing to circumstances connected with the Archbishop of Toledo, it +could not have happened in that year. For, Coxe distinctly asserts, that +it was in 1768; ‘the year <i>after</i> their expulsion.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1505_1505" id="Footnote_1505_1505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1505_1505"><span class="label">[1505]</span></a> See the statement of Florida Blanca, in Appendix I. to +<i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. v. p. 282. Another Spaniard, the +Prince of the Peace, says, that at the accession of Charles IV., in +1788, ‘the cloisters were encumbered with an ever-increasing number of +monks of all orders and of all ages.’ <i>Godoy's Memoirs</i>, edit. +London, 1836, vol. i. p. 126. See also, on the state of ecclesiastical +establishments in the same year, some interesting remarks in the Letters +of Cabarrus; ‘con qué horrible desproporcion superabundan los individuos +estériles á los operarios útiles y preciosos.’ <i>Cartas escritas por el +Conde de Cabarrus</i>, Madrid, 1813, p. 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1506_1506" id="Footnote_1506_1506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1506_1506"><span class="label">[1506]</span></a> Of it, a celebrated writer in the reign of Philip V. +boastfully says, ‘Su exacta vigilancia comprehende igualmente á +Naturales y Estrangeros.’ <i>Uztariz</i>, <i>Theorica y Practica de Comercio</i>, +tercera impression, Madrid, 1757, folio, p. 27. When such a man as +Uztariz could pen a sentence like this, we may imagine what was felt by +the people, who were far more ignorant than he, and far more orthodox. +M. Tapia, in a remarkable and unusually bold passage, frankly admits +that it was the pressure of public opinion which prevented Charles III. +from abolishing the Inquisition. ‘Estraño pareceria que habiéndose hecho +tanto en aquel reinado para limitar el poder escesivo del clero, y +acabar con absurdas preocupaciones, no se suprimiese el monstruoso +tribunal de la inquisicion; pero es necesario tener presente que el rey +despues del motin de Madrid procedia con timidez en toda providencia que +pudiese contrariar la opinion pública; y él creia que los españoles +querian la inquisicion, como se lo manifestó al ministro Roda y al conde +de Aranda, añadiendo que en nada coartaba su autoridad.’ <i>Tapia</i>, +<i>Civilizacion Española</i>, vol. iv. p. 98, Madrid, 1840. To us, the +Inquisition seems rather a singular object for men to set their +affections on; but of the existence of the passion there can be no +doubt. ‘L'Inquisition si révérée en Espagne.’ <i>Mémoires de Louville</i>, +vol. i. p. 36. And Geddes (<i>Tracts</i>, London, 1730, vol. i. p. 400) tells +us that ‘the Inquisition is not only established by law, but by a +wonderful fascination is so fixed in the hearts and affections of the +people, that one that should offer the least affront to another, for +having been an informer or witness in the Inquisition, would be torn in +a thousand pieces.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1507_1507" id="Footnote_1507_1507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1507_1507"><span class="label">[1507]</span></a> ‘The familiars of the Inquisition, Abrantes, Mora, and +others, grandees of Spain, attended as servants, without hats or +swords.’ <i>Coxe's Bourbon Kings of Spain</i>, vol. iv. pp. 418, 419. This +was in the great case of Olavide.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1508_1508" id="Footnote_1508_1508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1508_1508"><span class="label">[1508]</span></a> An accomplished modern geographer says: ‘From the extent +of its coast-line, its numerous ports, its geographical position, and +natural products, Spain possesses greater commercial advantages than any +other country of Europe.’ <i>Johnston's Dictionary of Physical, +Statistical, and Historical Geography</i>, London, 1850, p. 1213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1509_1509" id="Footnote_1509_1509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1509_1509"><span class="label">[1509]</span></a> ‘No quiero hablar de los frutos de España, no obstante +que los produzca tan exquisitos de todas especies. Solo diré que sus +naranjas dulces las traxeron de la China los Portugueses, y que de +Portugal se ha difundido su planta por lo restante de Europa. En fin, +España es celebrada entre otras cosas por sus limones, por la fragrancia +de sus cidras, por sus limas dulces, por sus granadas, por sus +azeytunas, que merecieron ser alabadas hasta del gran Ciceron, y sus +almendras, sus higos, sus uvas, etc.’ <i>Bowles</i>, <i>Historia Natural de +España</i>, Madrid, 1789, 4to. p. 236.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1510_1510" id="Footnote_1510_1510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1510_1510"><span class="label">[1510]</span></a> ‘The marbles of Spain are in greater variety and beauty +than those of any country in Europe, and most valuable kinds of them are +in situations of easy access and communication with the sea; but they +have long been entirely neglected, the greater part being unknown, even +to the more intelligent of the natives.’ <i>Cook's Spain</i>, London, 1834, +vol. ii. p. 51. In the Cabinet of Natural History at Madrid, ‘the +specimens of marbles are splendid, and show what treasures yet remain +buried in the Peninsula.’ <i>Ford's Spain</i>, London, 1847, p. 413.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1511_1511" id="Footnote_1511_1511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1511_1511"><span class="label">[1511]</span></a> ‘Hay infinitas minas de cobre en España las quales nunca +se han tocado.’ <i>Bowles</i>, <i>Historia Natural de España</i>, Discurso +Preliminar, p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1512_1512" id="Footnote_1512_1512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1512_1512"><span class="label">[1512]</span></a> In 1832, Cook writes, ‘The lead-mines of the Sierra de +Gador are in a state of repletion at present from the enormous quantity +of the mineral, and the facility of raising it.’ … ‘Lead abounds in +other parts of the same chain, nearer to Almeria.’ <i>Cook's Spain</i>, vol. +ii. p. 75. ‘The most valuable of the existing Spanish mines are those of +lead in Granada; and the supplies obtained from them during the last +twenty years have been so large, that they have occasioned the +abandonment of several less productive mines in other countries, and a +considerable fall in the price of lead.’ <i>M'Culloch's Geographical and +Statistical Dictionary</i>, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 705.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1513_1513" id="Footnote_1513_1513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1513_1513"><span class="label">[1513]</span></a> I use the popular language in referring coal to the +inorganic world, despite its cellular tissue and vegetable origin.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1514_1514" id="Footnote_1514_1514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1514_1514"><span class="label">[1514]</span></a> ‘The most valuable of the whole mineral riches of Spain +will be, in all probability, in a few years, the iron, which is found +every where, and of the best qualities.’ <i>Cook's Spain</i>, vol. ii. p. 78. +See also <i>Bowles</i>, <i>Historia Natural de España</i>, pp. 56, 67, 106, 273, +346, 415, and <i>Ford's Spain</i>, pp. 565, 618.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1515_1515" id="Footnote_1515_1515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1515_1515"><span class="label">[1515]</span></a> ‘The quantity is inexhaustible, the quality excellent, +the working of extraordinary facility, and they possess an easy +communication with the sea; yet they are practically useless, and afford +only a miserable existence to a few labourers and mules used in +conveying the mineral to Gijon.’ <i>Cook's Spain</i>, vol. ii. pp. 79, 80. +‘In the immediate neighbourhood of Oviedo are some of the largest +coal-fields in Europe.’ <i>Ford's Spain</i>, p. 381; compare pp. 392, 606.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1516_1516" id="Footnote_1516_1516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1516_1516"><span class="label">[1516]</span></a> ‘La nacion española posee casi quantas producciones +naturales puede apetecer la necesidad, ó curiosidad de los hombres.’ +<i>Campomanes</i>, <i>Apendice á la Educacion Popular</i>, vol. iv. p. vi. Madrid, +1777.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1517_1517" id="Footnote_1517_1517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1517_1517"><span class="label">[1517]</span></a> ‘Ils sont fort charitables, tant à cause du mérite que +l'on s'acquiert par les aumônes, que par l'inclination naturelle qu'ils +ont à donner, et la peine effective qu'ils souffrent lorsqu'ils sont +obligés, soit par leur pauvreté, soit par quelqu'autre raison, de +refuser ce qu'on leur demande. Ils ont encore la bonne qualité de ne +point abandonner leurs amis pendant qu'ils sont malades.’ … ‘De +manière que des personnes qui ne se voyent point quatre fois en un an, +se voyent tous les jours deux ou trois fois, dès qu'ils souffrent.’ +<i>D'Aulnoy</i>, <i>Relation du Voyage d'Espagne</i>, Lyon, 1693, vol. ii. p. 374. +‘They are grave, temperate, and sober; firm and warm in their +friendships, though cautious and slow in contracting them.’ <i>A Tour +through Spain by Udal ap Rhys</i>, second edition, London, 1760, p. 3. +‘When they have once professed it, none are more faithful friends.’ … +‘They have great probity and integrity of principle.’ <i>Clarke's Letters +concerning the Spanish Nation</i>, London, 1763, 4to. p. 334. ‘To express +all that I feel, on the recollection of their goodness, would appear +like adulation; but I may venture at least to say, that simplicity, +sincerity, generosity, a high sense of dignity, and strong principles of +honour, are the most prominent and striking features of the Spanish +character.’ <i>Townsend's Journey through Spain</i>, second edition, London, +1792, vol. iii. p. 353. ‘The Spaniards, though naturally deep and artful +politicians, have still something so nobly frank and honest in their +disposition.’ <i>Letters from Spain by an English Officer</i>, London, 1788, +vol. ii. p. 171. ‘The Spaniards have fewer bad qualities than any other +people that I have had the opportunity to know.’ <i>Croker's Travels +through Spain</i>, London, 1799, pp. 237, 238. ‘Spanish probity is +proverbial, and it conspicuously shines in commercial relations.’ +<i>Laborde's Spain</i>, London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 423. ‘Certainly, if it be +taken in the mass, no people are more humane than the Spaniards, or more +compassionate and kind in their feelings to others. They probably excel +other nations, rather than fall below them, in this respect.’ <i>Cook's +Spain</i>, London, 1834, vol. i. p. 189. ‘The Spaniards are kind-hearted in +all the relations of life.’ <i>Hoskins' Spain</i>, London, 1851, vol. ii. p. +58. Finally, I will adduce the testimony of two professional +politicians, both of whom were well acquainted with the Spaniards. In +1770 Mr. Harris, afterwards Lord Malmesbury, writes, ‘They are brave, +honest, and generous.’ <i>Diaries and Correspondence of the Earl of +Malmesbury</i>, London, 1844, vol. i. p. 48. And Lord Holland, according to +Moore, deemed ‘that the Spaniards altogether are amongst the best people +of Europe.’ <i>Moore's Memoirs</i>, <i>edited by Lord John Russell</i>, vol. iii. +p. 253, London, 1853.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1518_1518" id="Footnote_1518_1518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1518_1518"><span class="label">[1518]</span></a> This their whole history decisively proves; and as to +their more recent state, the author of <i>Revelations of Spain in 1845</i>, +vol. i. p. 340, says: ‘But religion is so deeply rooted in the national +character, that the most furious political storms, which prostrate +everything else, blow over this and leave it unscathed. It is only +amongst the educated male population that any lack of fervour is +witnessed.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1519_1519" id="Footnote_1519_1519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1519_1519"><span class="label">[1519]</span></a> ‘The habitual temperance of these people is really +astonishing: I never saw a Spaniard drink a second glass of wine. With +the lower order of people, a piece of bread with an +apple, an onion, or pomegranate, is their usual repast.’ <i>Croker's +Travels in Spain</i>, London, 1799, p. 116. ‘They are temperate, or rather +abstemious, in their living to a great degree: <i>borracho</i> is the highest +term of reproach; and it is rare to see a drunken man, except it be +among the carriers or muleteers.’ <i>Dalrymple's Travels through Spain</i>, +London, 1777, 4to. p. 174. ‘Drunkenness is a vice almost unknown in +Spain among people of a respectable class, and very uncommon even among +the lower orders.’ Esménard's note in <i>Godoy's Memoirs</i>, London, 1836, +vol. ii. p. 321.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1520_1520" id="Footnote_1520_1520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1520_1520"><span class="label">[1520]</span></a> ‘This is the most wonderful country under the sun; for +here, intellect wields no power.’ <i>Inglis' Spain</i>, London, 1831, vol. i. +p. 101. ‘Tandis que l'activité publique, en Espagne, se porte depuis +quelques années dans la sphère des intérêts pratiques et matériels, il +semble, au contraire, qu'il y ait une sorte de ralentissement dans la +vie intellectuelle.’ <i>Annuaire des Deux Mondes</i> for 1850, p. 410. ‘La +vie intellectuelle n'est point, malheureusement, la sphère où se +manifeste le plus d'activité en Espagne.’ <i>Ibid.</i> for 1856–1857, p. 356. +Now, listen to the practical consequences of not giving free and +fearless scope to the intellect. ‘It is singular, upon landing in the +Peninsula, and making a short excursion for a few miles in any +direction, to see reproduced the manners of England <i>five centuries +back</i>,—to find yourself thrown into the midst of a society which is a +close counterpart of that <i>extinct semi-civilization</i> of which no trace +is to be found in our history later than the close of the fourteenth +century and the reign of Richard the Second.’ <i>Revelations of Spain in</i> +1845 <i>by an English Resident</i>, vol. ii. p. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1521_1521" id="Footnote_1521_1521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1521_1521"><span class="label">[1521]</span></a> ‘That the Spaniards, as a people, are ignorant, supremely +ignorant, it is impossible to dissemble; but this comes from the control +of education being altogether in the hands of the clergy, who exert +themselves to maintain that ignorance to which they are indebted for +their power.’ <i>Spain by an American</i>, vol. ii. p. 360. ‘The schools in +Madrid are all conducted by Jesuits; and the education received in them, +is such as might be expected from their heads.’ <i>Inglis' Spain</i>, vol. i. +p. 156. ‘Private education here, is almost entirely in the hands of the +clergy.’ <i>Revelations of Spain in 1845</i>, vol. ii. p. 27. In Spain, as in +all countries, Catholic or Protestant, the clergy, considered as a body, +inculcate belief instead of inquiry, and, by a sort of conservative +instinct, discourage that boldness of investigation without which there +can be no real knowledge, although there may be much erudition and mere +book-learning. In Spain, the clergy are stronger than in any other +country; therefore in Spain they display this tendency more fearlessly. +A good instance of this may be seen in a work lately published by the +Bishop of Barcelona, in which a violent attack upon all physical and +philosophical knowledge is concluded in the following terms: ‘No intento +recriminar á ningun católico de los que se asocian al nuevo sistema de +filosofar y de extender indefinidamente el imperio de esta ciencia, pero +deseo que fijen toda su atencion en los puntos que no haré sino indicar. +Primero, que las escuelas de Holanda, Alemania, Inglaterra y Francia +desafectas al Catolicismo, han iniciado y promovido con el mayor empeño +ciertas discusiones filosóficas, presentándolas como un triunfo de la +razon sobre la Religion, de la filosofía sobre la teología, del +materialismo sobre el espiritualismo. Segundo, que sus máximas no son, +en gran parte, mas que reproducciones ó nuevas evoluciones de errores +mil veces refutados y condenados por la sana filosofía y por la Iglesia; +bajo cuyo concepto no tienen por qué felicitarse en razon de su +progreso, sino mas bien avergonzarse por su retroceso.’ <i>Costa y +Borras</i>, <i>Iglesia en España</i>, Barcelona, 1857, p. 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1522_1522" id="Footnote_1522_1522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1522_1522"><span class="label">[1522]</span></a> ‘Immediately after his arrival in Madrid, Ferdinand +re-established the Inquisition; and his decree for that purpose was +hailed throughout all Spain with illuminations, thanksgivings, and other +rejoicings. ’<i>Quin's Memoirs of Ferdinand VII.</i>, London, 1824, pp. 189, +190. This and similar acts gave such delight to the Church as well as to +the people, that, according to a great divine, the return of Ferdinand +to Spain is to be deemed the immediate act of Divine Providence, +watching over the interests of Spain. ‘La divina Providencia abrevió los +dias de prueba, y la católica España respiró ceñida con los laureles del +triunfo, recobrando luego á su tan deseado monarca, el señor rey don +Fernando VII.’ <i>Costa y Borras</i>, <i>Observaciones sobre la Iglesia en +España</i>, Barcelona, 1857, p. 91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1523_1523" id="Footnote_1523_1523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1523_1523"><span class="label">[1523]</span></a> ‘The spirit of the Inquisition is still alive; for no +king, cortes, or constitution, ever permits in Spain any approach to any +religious toleration.’ <i>Ford's Spain</i>, London, 1847, p. 60. ‘Les cortès +auraient beau permettre l'exercice du culte protestant ou juif, il n'est +point certain que cela ne suscitât de périlleux conflits.’ <i>Annuaire des +Deux Mondes</i>, <i>ou Histoire Générale des Divers Etats</i>, 1854–1855, vol. +v. p. 272, Paris, 1855; a work of considerable ability, planned on the +same scheme as the <i>Annual Register</i>, but far superior to it. Respecting +the chance of the Inquisition being again restored, compare two +interesting passages in <i>Spain by an American</i>, 1831, vol. ii. p. 330, +and <i>Inglis' Spain</i>, 1831, vol. i. p. 85. Since then, the balance of +affairs has, on the whole, been in favour of the Church, which received +a further accession of strength by the success of the essentially +religious war recently waged against the Moors. Hence, if any fresh +political catastrophe were to occur in Spain, I should not be at all +surprised to hear that the Inquisition was re-established.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1524_1524" id="Footnote_1524_1524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1524_1524"><span class="label">[1524]</span></a> Compare some very sensible remarks in <i>Bacon's Six Years +in Biscay</i>, London, 1838, pp. 40, 41, 50, with <i>Quin's Memoirs of +Ferdinand the Seventh</i>, pp. 192, 193.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1525_1525" id="Footnote_1525_1525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1525_1525"><span class="label">[1525]</span></a> <i>Walton's Revolutions of Spain</i>, London, 1837, vol. ii. +p. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1526_1526" id="Footnote_1526_1526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1526_1526"><span class="label">[1526]</span></a> Very shortly before the suppression of the monastic +orders, ‘Le respect pour le froc en général est poussé si loin, qu'on +lui attribue une vertu préservative, même au-delà de la vie, quelque peu +régulière qu'elle ait été. Aussi n'y a-t-il rien de si commun que de +voir les morts ensevelis en robe de moines, et conduits ainsi à leur +dernière demeure à visage découvert.’ … ‘De même +que le froc accompagne les Espagnols au tombeau, de même il en saisit +quelques-uns au sortir du berceau. Il n'est pas rare de rencontrer de +petits moines de quatre à cinq ans polissonnant dans la rue.’ +<i>Bourgoing</i>, <i>Tableau de l'Espagne</i>, Paris, 1808, vol. ii. pp. 330, +331.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1527_1527" id="Footnote_1527_1527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1527_1527"><span class="label">[1527]</span></a> The confiscation took place at different periods between +1835 and 1841. Compare <i>Ford's Spain</i>, p. 48. <i>Revelations of Spain by +an English Resident</i>, vol. i. p. 366. <i>Costa y Borras</i>, <i>Iglesia en +España</i>, p. 95. <i>Annuaire des Deux Mondes for 1850</i>, Paris, 1851, p. +369. I have sought in vain for any detailed history of these +transactions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1528_1528" id="Footnote_1528_1528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1528_1528"><span class="label">[1528]</span></a> ‘Dès 1845, une loi dite de <i>dévolution</i>, en attendant un +règlement définitif, applique à la dotation du clergé une portion des +biens ecclésiastiques non vendus.’ <i>Annuaire des Deux Mondes</i>, 1851–2, +Paris, 1852, p. 318.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1529_1529" id="Footnote_1529_1529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1529_1529"><span class="label">[1529]</span></a> ‘Il y a ici un règlement solennel, sous la forme d'un +traité, de toutes les affaires relatives à l'église; c'est le concordat +de 1851. Le concordat reconnaît à l'église le droit d'acquérir et de +posséder.’ <i>Ibid.</i> 1854, 1855, p. 273, Paris, 1855.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1530_1530" id="Footnote_1530_1530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1530_1530"><span class="label">[1530]</span></a> The very year in which the Concordat became law, Mr. +Hoskins, the well-known traveller in Africa, a gentleman evidently of +considerable intelligence, published, on his return from Spain, an +account of that country. His work is valuable, as showing the state of +public feeling just before the Concordat, and while the Spanish clergy +were still suffering from the well-intentioned, but grossly injudicious +acts of the liberal party. ‘We visited these churches on a Sunday, and +were surprised to find them all crowded to excess. The incomes of the +clergy are greatly reduced, but their fortunes are gradually reviving.’ +<i>Hoskins' Spain</i>, London, 1851, vol. i. p. 25. ‘The priests are slowly +re-establishing their power in Spain,’ vol. ii. p. 201. ‘The crowded +churches, and, notwithstanding the appropriation of their revenues, the +absence of all appearance of anything like poverty in the chapels and +services, prove that the Spaniards are now as devout worshippers, and as +zealous friends of the Church, as they were in her palmy days,’ vol. ii. +p. 281.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1531_1531" id="Footnote_1531_1531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1531_1531"><span class="label">[1531]</span></a> ‘La loi de désamortissement promulguée le 1<sup>er</sup> mai, +1855, ordonne, comme on sait, la mise en vente de tous les biens de +main-morte, et en particulier des biens qui restent encore à l'église.’ +<i>Annuaire des Deux Mondes</i>, 1855, 1856, p. 310. See also <i>Annuaire</i>, +1854, 1855, p. 274. For an account of other steps taken against the +Church in the spring and summer of 1855, see <i>Costa y Borras</i>, +<i>Observaciones sobre la Iglesia en España</i>, Barcelona, 1857, pp. 119, +286, 292; and respecting the law of the 1st of May, see p. 247.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1532_1532" id="Footnote_1532_1532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1532_1532"><span class="label">[1532]</span></a> ‘Aussi le premier mot d'ordre de l'insurrection a été la +défense de la religion.’ <i>Annuaire des Deux Mondes</i>, 1854, 1855, p. +275.</p></div> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1533_1533" id="Footnote_1533_1533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1533_1533"><span class="label">[1533]</span></a> <i>Annuaire des Deux Mondes</i>, 1856, 1857, pp. 315–317, +324–331, 336.</p></div> +</div> + +<p class="title">END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</p> + +<hr class="hr65" /> + +<p class="title">LONDON: PRINTED BY<br /> +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE<br /> +AND PARLIAMENT STREET</p> + +<hr class="hr65" /> + +<div class="note"> +<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Transcriber's Note</b></p> + +<p>The original spelling and minor inconsistencies in the spelling and formatting have +been maintained.</p> + +<p>Inconsistent hyphenation and accents are as in the original if not marked +as a misprint.</p> + +<table summary="corrections"> +<tr><td><b>The table below lists all corrections applied to the original text.</b></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. v: minority of Louis XIII → XIII.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 3: <i>Geoffroy Saint Hilaire</i> → <i>Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 6: vol. iv. p. 511, 4to. → 4to,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 10: vol. xviii. pp. 431–436: → 431–436;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 10: <i>Hist. de la Sorbonne</i> → <i>Hist. de la Sorbonne</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 11: <i>Benoist</i> → <i>Benoist</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 12: vol. xi. pp. 30, 77, 131. → 131;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 23: <i>Mably's Observations</i>, vol. iii. p. 220: → 220;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 24: humane and enlightend → enlightened</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 24: Historiettes de Tallement → Tallemant</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 25: prevents them from doing so. – > so.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 27: read the contemporay → contemporary</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 29: endeavoured to instil → instill</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 30: innocence of a religious life. → life.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 30: Hist. of Louis XIII. → XIII</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 32: <i>Mém. de Retz</i>, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 32: vol. v. pp. 51, seq. → 51 seq.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 34: Tallemant des Reaux → Réaux</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 35: fils aîné de l'Eglise → l'Eglise’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 35: <i>Œconomies Royales</i> → <i>Œconomies Royales</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 36: prix que ce fust → fut</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 37: ‘Sismondi says, under → Sismondi</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 37: Felice Hist. → Felice's Hist.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 40: livre ii. chap → chap.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 41: interests were alogether → altogether</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 41: Element ist zurückge reten → zurückgetreten</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 42: with infinte → infinite</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 49: vol. xi. p. 450, vol. xii. p. → pp.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 53: conscientiously be tolerant. → tolerant.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 54: Lettres d'un Français → François</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 56: processions whorever → wherever</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 60: Tallement des Réaux → Tallemant des Réaux</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 62: Béarn démanderent aussytost → aussytôt</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 63: Mem. de Montglat → Mém. de Montglat</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 63: Mém de Montglat → Mém. de Montglat</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 75: ‘The Edict of Nismes → The</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 78: Hist. des Mathemat. → Mathémat.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 78: vol. ii. pp. 419–421 → pp. 419–421;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 79: <i>Thomson's Hist. of the Royal Society</i>, p. 364: → p. 364;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 80: greatest mathemetician → mathematician</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 83: tout ce qu → qui</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 88: p. 432. Compare vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 88: <i>Berkeley's Works</i>, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 90: <i>Œuvres de Descartes</i>, vol. ii → vol. ii.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 91: <i>Œuvres</i>, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 91: 8vo. 1847 → 8vo., 1847</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 91: <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol. ii, pp. 220 → vol. ii. p. 220</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 91: Auf das innigste verbunden → ‘Auf</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 94: 242, 342, 498 → 242, 342, 498,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 95: <i>Lettres de Patin</i>, vol. iii. p. 153: → p. 153;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 95: <i>Mosheim‘s Eccles. Hist.</i> vol. ii. p. 258: → p. 258;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 95: <i>Leslie's Nat. Philos.</i> p. 121: → p. 121;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 97: Hist de l'Edit de Nantes → Hist.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 100: <i>Hunt's Hist. of Newspapers</i>, vol. 1. → vol. i.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 110: faith, of sceptism → scepticism</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 111: vol. i. pp. 5, 64: → 64;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 114: Mills's Hist. of Chivalry → Mills' Hist. of Chivalry</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 115: Brougham's Polit. Philos → Philos.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 117: Compare, <i>Meyer</i> → Compare <i>Meyer</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 120: canaille, dès qu on → qu'on</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 121: Les états-généraux → ‘Les états-généraux</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 122: began to excercise → exercise</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 123: énergique de la centralisation’) → centralisation’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 123: couvent ni collége → collège</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 125: 1843, <i>in</i> → in</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 125: <i>Journal of Statist. Soc.</i> vol, → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 129: p. 118: <i>Saint Aulaire</i> → p. 118; <i>Sainte-Aulaire</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 135: which deprived knightnood → knighthood</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 136: <i>Hist. de France</i> → <i>Hist. de France</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 137: <i>Milice Françoise</i> → <i>Milice Française</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 137: vol. ii. p. 582; <i>Sully</i> → <i>Sully</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 137: vol. iv. pp. 27, 28, 152, → 152;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 143: Collier's Eccles. Hist → Hist.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 144: (reprinted London, 1842), p → p.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 149: 401, 476: → 476;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 149: p. 78; Hutchison's → Hutchinson's</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 150: Mem. de Retz → Mém. de Retz</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 152: part. i. pp. 28, 29 → part i. pp. 28, 29</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 153: <i>Carlyle's Cromwell</i>, vol. 1. → vol. i.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 154: laid, the slighest → slightest</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 158: Holland the linke-boy → link-boy</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 158: part. i. p. 167. → part i. p. 167.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 166: <i>Mém. d'Omer Talon</i>, vol. iii. p. 6.; → p. 6;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 168: Saint Aulaire → Saint-Aulaire</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 168: <i>Mém. de Retz</i> vol. 1. → vol. i.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 169: <i>Mém. de Motteville</i> → <i>Mém. de Motteville</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 170: vol ii. p. 357 → vol. ii. p. 357</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 178: Capefigue's Louis XIV → XIV.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 178: tyranny of the clergy → clergy.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 179: the feet of others → others.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 180: vol. v. pp 887–889 → vol. v. pp. 887–889</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 181: _Hist. de l'Economie Politique_, vol. ii, → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 181: les plus industrieux," → industrieux,’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 182: brillant d'une clarte → clarté</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 187: apostles of knowlege → knowledge</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 190: <i>Philos Pos.</i> → <i>Philos. Pos.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 190: vol. ii. pp. 627, 628 → vol. ii. pp. 627, 628.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 191: <i>Aubrey's Letters</i>. → <i>Aubrey's Letters</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 191: vol ii. p. 624. → vol. ii. p. 624.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 192: et de Boörhaave → Boerhaave</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 195: part. ii. p 42 → part. ii. p. 42</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 199: <i>Hist. de la Médecine</i>, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 200: <i>Royal Society</i>. → <i>Royal Society</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 201: corner-stone of the Linnean → Linnæan</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 201: Gesch der Botanik → Gesch. der Botanik</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 207: <i>Ibid.</i> xxiii. p, 496. → p. 496.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 207: vol. xxxvi p. 42 → vol. xxxvi p. 42.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 208: state of degradation.’ → degradation.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 209: both in 1639. <i>Biog. Univ</i> → <i>Biog. Univ.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 211: was only saved by → ‘was only saved by</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 211: Lock, who was → Locke, who was</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 212: Lady Mary Wortley Montague → Montagu</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 213: Hist. des Francais → Français</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 213: <i>Duclos</i>, <i>Mémoires</i>, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 214: Lettres de Sevigné → Sévigné</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 215: sur la poésie épique. → épique.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 216: ses amitiés, il n'etait → n'était</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 217: vol. i. 341 → vol. i. p. 341</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 218: <i>Le Blanc</i>, <i>Lettres</i>, vol. 1. → vol. i.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 218: <i>Corresp.</i> vol. 1. p. 352; → vol. i. p. 352,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 219: Mém de Morellet → Mém. de Morellet</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 220: <i>Biog Univ.</i> iii. 253 → <i>Biog. Univ.</i> iii. 253</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 221: <i>Biog. Univ.</i> l. 42. → <i>Biog. Univ.</i> i. 42.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 221: <i>Murray's Life of Bruce</i>, 121, → 121;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 223: <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xlviii. 217. 218. → 217, 218.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 227: vol. ii. p. 291.’ → 291.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 228: even from the king himself. → himself.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 234: croire que les ministrès → ministres</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 238: by Reboulet, in 1752: → in 1752;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 238: Anomalies, de l'Organisation → Anomalies de l'Organisation</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 241: <i>Biog. Univ.</i> xi. 314 → xi. p. 314</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 242: Vie de Rosseau → Rousseu</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 242: Quel est aujourd'hui → ‘Quel est aujourd'hui</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 242: <i>Grimm</i>. <i>Corresp.</i> → <i>Grimm</i>, <i>Corresp.</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 243: de cachet pour enleve → enlever</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 245: vol. i. p. 141, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 246: Les reproches d'avoir → ‘Les</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 248: first heard in France → France.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 253: vol. iii. pp. 178, 179: → 179;</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 253: Dieu d'être protestants. → protestants.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 259: the most obnoxious laws → laws.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 262: to ecclesiastical dogmas, → dogmas.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 265: et regna dix ans → et régna dix ans,’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 265: conseillers, pour sçauoir → sçavoir</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 266: vol. viii. p. 101-117 → vol. viii. pp. 101-117</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 270: <i>Méthode pour étudier l'Histoire</i> → <i>l'Histoire</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 271: undergone from the griping → gripping</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 271: la cour.’ <i>Le Long</i> → <i>Le Long</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 273: <i>François, in Mémoires</i> → <i>François</i>, in <i>Mémoires</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 275: <i>Etablissement de Louis</i> → <i>Etablissement de Louis XIV</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 276: Lettres de Sevigné → Sévigné</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 277: Madame de Sevigné → Sévigné</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 277: Lettres de Sevigné → Sévigné</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 283: Lettres de Sevigné → Sévigné</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 283: <i>Lettres de Sévigné</i>, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 283: stated by Sismondi → <i>Sismondi</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 293: Charles XII, l'homme → ‘Charles</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 300: descriptions de siéges → sièges</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 301: combats et des siéges → sièges</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 303: <i>Milman's History of Christianity</i>, 1840, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 303: <i>in Œuvres de Voltaire</i> → in <i>Œuvres de Voltaire</i></td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 303: History of the Church. → Church</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 311: article on Chronology, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 318: livre xiv. chap. ii, → chap. ii.,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 320: <i>Œuvres de Turgot</i>, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 326: intuitives Erkenntniss klärer → klarer</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 326: an sichgleich → an sich gleich</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 330: Mém. sur Lebrun → Le Brun</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 330: <i>Brougham's Men of Letters</i>, vol, → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 334: letter written in 1751 → 1751.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 335: Lavallé → Lavallée</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 339: Staüdlin → Stäudlin</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 352: Hist. du Jacobin → Jacobin.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 352: vol. ii. pp. 250 350 → 250, 350</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 353: their awowed → avowed</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 360: L'imagination est la → ‘L'imagination</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 391: <i>Bichat sur la Vie</i>, pp. 23–25 → 23–25.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 391: (vol. ii p. 8) → (vol. ii. p. 8)</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 395: environ huit mille espèces; → espèces;‘</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 398: Hence the remóval → removal</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 404: à son histoire.’ <i>Georget</i> → <i>Georget</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 407: vol. x. p. 341, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 412: Mém. sur Marie Antoinette → Mém. sur Marie-Antoinette</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 416: <i>Mahon's Hist. of England</i>, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 432: frightful desolation there. → there.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 440: 509, 561. <i>Lafuente</i> → <i>Lafuente</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 445: Isabella may be → ‘Isabella may be</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 446: vol. i. p. 23, London, 1857 → 1857.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 450: vol. xxxiv, p. 273. → vol. xxxiv. p. 273.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 453: One of the most → [60] One of the most</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 454: et action necessaire. → necessaire,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 454: devinast le reste. → reste,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 459: je vous l'ai déja → déjà</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 459: vous conduise, je na'i → n'ai?</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 471: tenement or pelting farm. → farm.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 472: <i>Historia de Felipe Tercero</i> → <i>Historia de Felipe Tercero</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 473: desmedido.’ <i>Lafuente</i> → <i>Lafuente</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 480: <i>Ibid.</i> vol. ii, → vol. ii.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 481: de su santo servido. → servido,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 483: decayéron en España. → España.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 489: M. Janer or to M. Lafuente.’ → Lafuente.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 494: evidence, says, "Il → says, ‘Il</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 496: people. It is ou → our</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 496: expectations were ulfilled → fulfilled</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 502: <i>Theorica de Comercio</i>. → <i>Theorica de Comercio</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 510: et point de frein. → frein.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 510: ‘In 1681, the French → In</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 510: de la reine, de même. → même.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 512: <i>Historia de España</i> → <i>Historia de España</i>,</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 520: a clerk under Orri → Orry</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 520: l'incapacité des sujets → ‘l'incapacité</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 527: Ellis' Original Letters → Ellis's Original Letters</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 529: parce que les systémes → systèmes</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 533: London, 1831, vol → vol.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 533: son médecin particulier, → particulier.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 539: Dublin, 1781, pp. 227–229 → 227–229.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 546: ecclesiastical power[26] → power[264]</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 547: vol. v. p. 295. Paris → 295, Paris</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 553: Civilizacion, Española → Civilizacion Española</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 553: atropellada en su inmunidad. → inmunidad.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 556: Historia de →</td><td>del</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 560: Reinado de Carlos III → III.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 568: the regularity of them → their</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 568: Looking at their → them</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 574: que les gouvernemens. → gouvernemens.’</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 575: Prescott's History of Ferdidinand → Ferdinand</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 587: order of people, a peace → piece</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 590: De même que le froc → ‘De même que le froc</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 591: vol. ii. p. 281 → 281.</td></tr> +<tr><td>p. 595: but leaving Spain unscathed → unscathed.</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44494 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/44494-h/images/cover.jpg b/44494-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..18f3604 --- /dev/null +++ b/44494-h/images/cover.jpg |
