On his first separation from the ministry, Mr. Fox assumed the character of a whig; and from this time, uniformly advocated, in consistency with that noble character, the great cause of civil aud religious liberty, on their broadest principles. Almost the whole of his political life was spent in opposition to his majesty's ministers. It may be said of him, as of lord North, that he had political adversaries but no enemy. Good-nature, too easily carried to excess, was one of the distinctive marks of his character. In vehemence and power of argument he resembled Demosthenes; but there the resemblance ended. He possesed a strain of ridicule and wit, which nature denied to the Athenian; and it was the more powerful, as it always appeared to be blended with argument, and to result from it. To the perfect composition which so eminently distinguishes the speeches of Demosthenes, he had no pretence. He was heedless of method:having the complete command of good words, he never sought for better: if those, which occurred, expressed his meaning clearly and forcibly, he paid little attention to their arrangement or harmony. This detracts from the merit of his speeches, when they are read; but, when they were delivered, it perhaps added to their effect, as it tended greatly to make the hearers believe that he was above art, and spoke from conviction. Nothing more strongly recommends a speaker to his audience, or gives greater force to his oratory. The moment of his grandeur was, when, after he had stated the argument of his adversary, with much greater strength than his adversary had done and with much greater than any of his hearers thought possible,-he seized it with the strength of a giant, and tore and trampled on it to destruction. If, at this moment, he had possessed the power of the Athenian over the passions or the imaginations of his hearers, he might have disposed of the house at his pleasure,-but this was denied to him; and on this account his speeches fell very short of the effect, which otherwise they must have produced. It is difficult to decide on the comparative merit of him and Mr. Pitt; the latter had not the vehement reasoning, or argumentative ridicule, of Mr. Fox: but he had more splendour, more imagery, and much more method and discretion. His long, lofty, aud reverential panegyrics of the British constitution, his eloquent vituperations of those, whom he described as advocating the democratic spirit then let loose on the inhabitants of the earth, and his solemn adjuration of the house, to defend and to assist him, in defending their all against it, were, in the highest degree, dition, he had the command of bitter conboth imposing and conciliating. In adtemptuous sarcasm, which tortured to press at pleasure: even in one member madness. This he could expand or comof a sentence, he could inflict a wound made an able speech, Mr. Erskine followthat was never healed. Mr. Fox having ed him with one of the very same import, Mr. Pitt rose to answer them: he announced his intention to reply to both; " but," said he "I shall make no mention of what was said by the honourable gentleman who spoke last; he did no more than regularly repeat what was said by the member who preceded him, and regularly weaken all he repeated," pp. 158-160. opinion of the eloquence of Burke. The following is the author's ordinary men, if we are to judge of him by Greatly inferior to both of these extragreatly superior to both, if we are to his speeches, as he delivered them,-but judge of him by his speeches, as he published them.-Edmund Burke will always hold an eminent rank among the most elevated characters of this country. Estimating him by his written speeches, we shall find nothing comparable to him till we reach the Roman orator. Equal to that great man in dialectic, in imagery, in occasional splendour, and in general information;-excelling him in political and philosophy to politics, he yields to him wisdom, and the application of history in pathos, in grace, in taste, and even in that which was not the forte of Cicero, in discretion. As an orator, in spite of his rich illusphilosophy, he sinks before Demosthenes. tration, and his charming and sublime No speech of Mr. Burke's contains a passage finer than his description of Hyder Ali's invasion of the Carnatic, which we shall transcribe in a future page; but, if by Demosthenes of the consternation of we compare it with the description given the Athenians on receiving the news of the capture of Elatea, or with the passage which ends with his famous oath by the manes of those who fell at Marathon, we shall feel, even though we read them in periority of the Greek, and agree with Leland's translation, the immeasurable suHume, that "if the manner of Demosthenes could be copied, its success would be infallible in a modern assembly." and writings of Mr. Burke, keeping his from the Greek and Roman orators, and countless lessons of civil and moral wisdoct by which he dignified his compositions, and both enforced and illustrated bis arguments; his sudden transitions from the grand to the gay, from sublimity to pleasantry, from the refined and recondite to the ordinary and obvious, and his frequent admixture of coarse and low expressions, even into his most splendid pas. sages. The effect of those was sometimes great, and then redeemed them; but they sometimes deformed and disgusted." -pp. 166-168. been the case with writers like Bossuet, Burke, and Rousseau, who appear to pour streams equally copious and rapid, of unpremeditated eloquence, appears extraordinary: it justifies the common remark, that we seldom read with pleasure, what has not been composed with labour. The molle atque facetum, which Horace ascribes to Virgil, indica es a composition which taste has inspired, but which doings and iterated doings have worked into softness. Such are the pages of Addison, such the Offices of Cicero; such also, but in a superlative degree, are many passages of Milton: Akenside, his imitator, with all his genius, taste, and labour, never attained it; he does not exhibit a sin whether he be not the first in that line. Among other works which Mr. Butler published to defend and support his Catholic brethren in Enggle instance of this perfect composition: land, were biographical accounts of but we often find it in Gray. the most distinguished French divines, particularly of those who flourished in the golden age of French pulpit eloquence-the reign of Lewis XIV. Although the following remarks upon Bossuet and Bourdalone may not be altogether new, they are too interesting and instructive not to be inserted among our extracts. As to Bossuet, erudition, eloquence, and powers of reasoning were so united in him. that, to discover another person, in whom all should be found united in the same high degree, both ancient and modern times might, perhaps, be ransacked in vain. We have mentioned Mr. Burke's endless corrections of his compositions; Bossuet, by the account of his Benedictine editors, was equally laborious; but in this they differed: that Burke appears to have been satisfied with his original conceptions, and to have been fastidious only in respect to words and phrases; Bossuet seems to have been equally dissatisfied with his first thoughts and his first words. The inequality between thoseworks of Bossuet, which the Benedictine editors published from the drafts of them, and those published by himself, is utterly inconceivable; it is a literary phenomenon : it might be considered impossible that both should proceed from the same pen, or be the thoughts or words of the same person. Rousseau himself has informed us, that between his first committing of a sentence to paper and his final settlement of it, his obliterations and alterations were count less. That this should have been the case of such writers as Robertson or Gibbon is not surprising; their eternal batteries and counter-batteries of words seem to be the effect of much reflection and many second thoughts; but that it should have The sermons of Bossuet place him, incontestibly, in the first line of preachers; and even leave it open to argument, Bourdaloue and Massillon alone can dispute his pre-eminence. Nothing in the sermons of either equals, in splendour or sublimity, a multitude of passages, which may be produced from the sermons of Bossuet; and he nas little of Massillon's too frequent monotony, or of the cold dialectic, which accasionally retards the beautiful march of Bourdaloue. On the other hand, Bossuet has not the continued elegance and grace of Massillon; and an advocate of Bourdaloue might contend, that, if Bourdaloue appear to yield to Bossuet in sublimity, it is only because the sublimity of Bourdaloue is more familiar, and therefore less imposing. Those, who wish to see a discussion, by two most able adversaries, of the fundamental point of difference between Catholics and Protestants, -the authority of the church in matters of religion,-should and Claude, of their conference upon it. peruse the accounts published by Bossuet A succinct view of this conference is given in the Reminiscent's Life of Bossuet: each conducted himself in it as a scholar and a gentleman. In delivering their sermons, Bourdaloue used no action, Bossuet and Massillon used much; the action of the last was particularly admired. It produced an extraordinary effect, when he pronounced his funeral oration upon Lewis the fourteenth. The church was hung with black, a magnificent mausoleum was raised over the bier, the edifice was filled with trophies and other memorials of the monarch's past glories, daylight was excluded, but innumerable tapers supplied its place, and the ceremony was attended by the most illustrious persons in the kingdom. Massillon ascended the pulpit, contemplated, for some moments, the scene before him, then raised his arms to heaven, looked down on the scene beneath, and, after a short pause, slowly said, in a solemn sub. dued tone, "Mes frères-Dieu seul est grand?" "God only is great!" With one impulse, all the auditory rose from their seats, turned to the altar, and slowly and reverently bowed. It seems to be admitted, that the sermons of Massillon, the tragedies of Euripides and Racine, the Georgics of Virgil, and Tully's Offices, are the most perfect of human compositions. Those, therefore, who read sermons merely for their literary merit, will generally prefer the sermons of Massillon to those of Bourdaloue and Bossuet. On the other hand, the profound theology of the sermons of Bossuet, and the countless passages in them of true sublimity and exquisite pathos, will lead many to give him a decided preference over both his rivals. But those who read sermons for instruction, and whose chief object, in the perusal of them, is to be excited to virtue or confirmed in her paths, will generally consider Bourdalone as the first of preachers, and every time they peruse him, will feel new delight."-pp. 243-250. The faithfulness of Bourdaloue is well exhibited in the subjoined passage. When we recollect before whom he preached; that he had, for his auditors the Inost luxurious court in Europe, and a monarck abandoned to ambition and pleasure, we shall find it impossible not to honour the preacher, for the dignified simplicity with which he uniformly held up to his audience the severity of the gospel, and the scandal of the cross. Now and then, and ever with a very bad grace, he makes an unmeaning compliment to the monarch. On these occasions, his genius appears to desert him; but he never disgui. ses the morality of the gospel, or with holds its threats. In one of the sermons which he preached before the monarch, he described, with infinite eloquence, the horrors of an adulterous life, its abomination in the eye of God, its scandal to man, and the public and private evils which attend it: but he managed his div course with so much address, that he kept the king from suspecting that the thunder of the preacher was ultimately to fall upon him. In general, Bourdaloue spoke in a level tone of voice, and with his eyes almost shut. On this occasion, having wound up the attention of the monarch and the audience to the highest pitch, he paused. The audience expected something terrible, and seemed to fear the next word. The pause continued for some time; at length, the preacher, fixing his eyes directly on his royal hearer, and in a tone of voice equally expressive of horror and concern, said, in the words of the prophet, Thou art the man!" then, leaving these words to their effect, he concluded with a mild and general prayer to heaven for the conversion of all sinners. A miserable courtier observed, in a whisper, to the monarch, that the boldness of the preacher exceeded all bounds, and should be checked. "No, sir," replied the monarch," the preacher has done his duty, let us do ours." When the service was concluded, the monarch walked slowly from the church, and ordered Bourdaloue into his presence. He remarked to him, his general protection of religion, he kindness which he had ever shown to the Society of Jesus, his particular attention to Bourdaloue and his friends. He then reproached him with the strong language of the sermon; and asked him, what could be his motive for insulting him, thus publicly, before his subjects? Bourdaloue fell on his knees: "God," he assured the monarch," was his witness, that it was not his wish to insult his majesty; but I am a minister of God," said Bourdaloue, "and must not disguise his truths. What I said in my sermon is my morning and evening prayer:-May God, in his infinite mercy, grant me to see the day, when the greatest of kings shall be the holiest."-The monarch was affected, and silently dismissed the preacher: but, from this time, the court began to observe that change which afterwards, and at no distant period led Lewis to a life of regularity and virtue. pp. 259-261. We select the following short to show the opinion enterpassages tained by the most enlightened Papists upon the perusal of the scriptures by the laity. Speaking of his own attempts to study the Psalms in the original Hebrew, he observes of himself in the third person,— He confined his study of the Old Testament to the Psalms: but could never conquer the obscurity of a multitude of passages in them. That they abound with strains of exquisite piety and excellent instruction, is most clear: yet it appears doubtful to the Reminiscent, whether they are a proper book of devotion for the generality of the uninformed laity.”—p. 209. He presumes, absit invidia verbo,—to assert, that taking a protestant boy of the age of ten years, who has read the bible, in the manner in which it is usually read before that age in England, and a catholic boy of the same age, who has been taught the French parochial catechism, and Fleury's Historical Catechism, in a manner in which these were usually taught even to the poorest French children. the latter will be found to have a fuller and a clearer knowledge of the history, the morality, and the religion of the Old and New Tes. taments than the former. On the other hand, if it be asked, whether, in cases where a bible can be procured, but no other instruction can be obtained, it is better that children and persons uneducated should have than be without the bible, -does it not appear quite monstrous to say, that the bible should be withheld from them? These are extreme cases,— the application of them to the mesne is not very difficult. In the writer's humble opinion, wherever full catechetical and other proper instruction is given, the circulation of the bible in the vernacular language, among the uninformed laity, is not to be encour aged,; but in the absence of other instruction, the circulation of such a bible is very desirable. Some things in the sacred volume are hard to be understood; but it contains a multitude that edify, that instruct, that inculcate true morality, that excites true devotion."-pp. 226, 227. Who does not see that these opinions, however guardedly expressed, require a principle for their support, which in most countries and states of society, must produce the worst possible effects. There is no middle ground between giving the bible to all and making the instructions of the priest the only directory of the lower classes of society. It is true indeed that in Protestant countries they will follow very generally the religious systems of their fathers upon external points-but the design of christianity, the leading features of the system of Redemption, as they appear in the Bible, are too plain to be unperceived, and too striking to be forgotten. We shall close our extracts with a very favourable account of the French parish ministers. It may be truly said that the French cure was truly the father of his flock. There was not within his parish, a subject of joy or distress, in which he did not feelingly participate. Generally speaking, his income was small. If it fell short of whatthe French law termed the portion congrue, about 181. a year of our money,-but taking into calculation the relative value of specie, and the relative price of provisions, about 60% a year of it, in its present worth,— the State made good the deficiency. It is evident that with such an income, the curè could spare little. Whatever it was, he gave it cheerfully, thriftily andwisely: and the soothing word and compasionate look, or the active exertion to serve, was never wanting. In the house of nourn. ing, the curè was always seen: the greatest comfort of the aged, was to perceive him enter their door. The young never enjoyed their misth or pastime so nuch, as when they saw him stand nearthem and smile. But the curè never brgot that he was a minister of God: The discharge of his functions, particular of his sacred ministry, at the altar, wa at once the pride and happiness of his life. There scarely was a curè, who did not thoroughly instruct the children of is parish in their catechism, and his whde flock in their duties; or one who did officiate on every sunday and holiday it the morning and evening service, or who did not regularly attend his poor parisioners through their illnesses and prepar them, in their last moments, for ther passage into eternity. The last act of the cure's life was to commend his flock t God, and to beg his blessing on them. It every part of France, the peasant spoke t of him as his best friend; "Notre bon 66 curé," was his universal appellation. This is not an exaggerated picture of those venerable men: their merit was at once so transcendant, and so universally ery rank of men, the philosophers and recognized as to defy calumuy. On evwitlings of France exhausted abuse and ridicule; but they left untouched the worthy and edifying cure.-Voltaire himself in more passages than one of his works pays due homage to their useful and unpretending virtue. In his Essay on the Eloquence of the Pulpit, cardinal Maury mentions, that he found that the abbe de Radonvilliers when he was collecting materials for it, had a general had a general reputation of being uncommonly charitable; but that he could discover no particular instance of his charity, till it occurred to him to apply to the whom the abbe was known to be intimate. cure of the parish at St. Roche, with From him the cardinal learned, the abbe regularly gave one fourth of his ecclesiastical revenue to the poor of the places in which it arose: that, during the last thirty-three years of his life, he sent one hundred guineas monthly to the poor of for uncommon objects of relief; an ap- All the furniture of a late curè de St. Sulpice, who had the richest curacy in France, consisted of a bed, a table, and a few chars. Cardinal Maury relates, that when he curè de St. Roche refused to take the oath of adherence to the civil constitution of the clergy. he convened a meeting of some of the principal parishioners to verify his accounts, and that the clebrated M. Bailly, the Mayor of Paris attended the meeting. The curè produced his accounts; it appeared by then, that the charitable subscriptions of the preceding year, all of which were puely voluntary, amounted to 130,000 Franch Livres; and for every farthing of it he cure accounted most satisfactorily Al these charities. were absolutely privae; and, if the circumstance, which has ben mentioned, had not brought them ino notice, would have remained unkpwn. That much of this is true, we an readily believe, but we still suspect that the charities of the Cathdic priest afford the most favouralle view of his character. It should je remembered also, that the system is stripped of many of its evils in France. The Pope has never maintained firm dominion over its clergy; the inquisition has never rooted out confidence and moral principle; the monastic orders have not had so great an ascendency over the secular clergy as in other countries. In Spain, and the parts of our continent settled by Spaniards, the prospect is far more gloomy; the lives of the priests more corrupt, and their influence more extensive. In these coun tries they are entrusted with the secrets of families, gain a sovereign power over the mind of the female and the servant, and understand their interests well enough to stop all religious enquiry. It is not an uncommon remark in our country, that the South American provinces can never have solid and fixed liberty until the influence of the priest stroyed. If this event needed a is prostrated and their religion desudden change in the opinions of society, when past forms and creeds were thrown away in a moment, we should despair of seeing it ever accomplished. It will be brought a bout sooner or later by the priests themselves. One and another will become enlightened and pious--such terred from attempting to undermine a man is too disinterested to be dethe influence of his order. The same silent, but most irresistible power, which is acting upon every civilized society upon earth, will act upon them. Meanwhile the more learned of the laymen will ion of civil and religious liberty, not fail of discovering the connexand the priest will fear to assert claims which, by being opposed, might be destroyed. Thus the name of Papacy will probably last when to exist. With such views we reits essence and its evils have ceased gard the introduction of modern learning into the newly freed States of our continent, and the communication with England and our country, which is already opened, as most important auxiliaries to the diffusion of that public opinion the sway of liberty and truth. which must subject the world to LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE. An Institution has lately been established at Troy, N. Y. by the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer designed to promote the application of Science to the common purposes of life. The Rev. Dr. appointed President; Amos Eaton of Blatchford, of Lansingburgh, has been Troy, Professor of chemistry and exper |