C'est par là que Moliere, illustrant ses écrits, Molière in comic genius had excelled, Mauro, and Dolce. It often sacrifices decorum to pleasantry, but obscene words are wholly banished from it. The subject of Archbishop La Caza's Capitolo del Forno is, indeed, that which sends the Desfontaines to the Bicêtre, and the Deschaufours to the Place de Gréve: but there is not one word offensive to the ear of chastity; you have to divine the meaning. Three or four Englishmen have excelled in this way: Butler, in his Hudibras, which was the civil war excited by the Puritans turned into ridicule; Dr. Garth, in his Dispensary; Prior, in his Alma, in which he very pleasantly makes a jest of his subject; and Phillips, in his SplenShilling. But it must be considered that Raphael condescended to paint grotesque figures. Molière would not have descended so low, if all his spectators had been such men as Louis XIV., Condé, Turenne, La Roche-did foucault, Montausier, Beauvilliers, and Butler is as much above Scarron as a such women as Montespan and Thianges; man accustomed to good company is but he had also to please the whole people above a singer at a pot-house. The hero of Paris, who were yet quite unpolished. of Hudibras was a real personage, one The citizen liked broad farce, and he Sir Samuel Luke, who had been a cappayed for it. Scarron's "Jodelets" were tain in the armies of Fairfax and Cromall the rage. We are obliged to place well. See the commencement of the ourselves on the level of our age, before { poem, in the article PRIOR, BUTLER, and we can rise above it; and, after all, we SWIFT. like to laugh now and then. What is Homer's Battle of the Frogs and Mice, but a piece of buffoonery-a burlesque poem? Works of this kind give no reputation, but they may take from that which we already enjoy. Buffoonery is not always in the burlesque style. The Physician in spite of Himself, and the Rogueries of Scapin, are not in the style of Scarron's "Jodelets." Molière does not, like Scarron, go in search of slang terms; his lowest characters do not play the mountebank. Buffoonery is in the thing, not in the expression. Garth's poem on the physicians and apothecaries is not so much in the burlesque style as in that of Boileau's Lutrin: naïveté than the Lutrin; and, which is it has more imagination, variety, and rather astonishing, it displays profound erudition, embellished with all the graces of refinement. It begins thus :— Speak, Goddess, since 'tis thou that best canst tell Prior, whom we have seen a plenipotentiary in France before the peace of Utrecht, assumed the office of mediator between the philosophers who dispute about the soul. This poem is in the style of Hudibras, called doggrel rhyme, which the stilo Berniesco of the Italians. Boileau's Lutrin was at first called a burlesque poem, but it was the subject that was burlesque; the style was pleas-is ing and refined, and sometimes even heroic. The Italians had another kind of burlesque, much superior to ours-that of Aretin, of Archbishop La Caza, of Berni, The great first question is, whether the soul is all in all, or is lodged behind the nose and eyes in a corner which it never quits. According to the latter system, Prior compares it to the Pope, who con stantly remains at Rome, from whence he sends his nuncios and spies to learn all that is doing in Christendom. Prior, after making a jest of several systems, proposes his own. He remarks that the two-legged animal, new-born, throws about its feet as much as possible, when its nurse is so stupid as to swaddle t: thence he judges that the soul enters it by the feet; that about fifteen it reaches the middle; then it ascends to the heart; then to the head, which it quits altogether when the animal ceases to live. At the end of this singular poem, full of ingenious versification, and of ideas alike subtle and pleasing, we find this charming line of Fontenelle Il est des bochets pour tout age. Prior begs of fortune to Give us play-things for old age. Yet it is quite certain that Fontenelle did not take this line from Prior, nor Prior from Fontenelle. Prior's work is twenty years anterior, and Fontenelle did not understand English. BULGARIANS. THESE people were originally Huns, who settled near the Volga; and Volgarians was easily changed into Bulgarians. About the end of the seventh century, they, like all the other nations inhabiting Sarmatia, made irruptions towards the Danube, and inundated the Roman empire. They passed through Moldavia and Wallachia, whither their old fellowcountrymen, the Russians, carried their victorious arms in 1769, under the Empress Catherine II. Having crossed the Danube, they settled in part of Dacia and Mœsia, giving their name to the countries which are still called Bulgaria. Their dominion extended to Mount Hamus and the Euxine Sea In Charlemagne's time, the Emperor Nicephorus, successor to Irene, was so imprudent as to march against them after being vanquished by the Saracens ; and he was in like manner defeated by the Bulgarians. Their king, named Krom, cut off his head, and made use of his skull as a drinking-cup at his table, ac The poem terminates with this conclu-cording to the custom of that people in sion: For Plato's fancies what care I? In all these poems, let us distinguish the pleasant, the lively, the natural, the I common with all the northern nations. It is related that, in the ninth century, one Bogoris, who was making war upon the Princess Theodora, mother and guardian to the Emperor Michael, was so charmed with that empress's noble answer to his declaration of war, that he turned Christian. The Bulgarians, who were less complaisant, revolted against him; but Bo goris, having shown them a crucifix, they all immediately received baptism. So familiar-from the grotesque, the farci- say the Greek writers of the lower empire, and so say our compilers after them. cal, the low, and, above all, the stiff and forced. These various shades are discriminated by the connoisseurs, who alone, Et voila justement comme on écrit l'histoire. Theodora, say they, was a very reliin the end, decide the fate of every work.gious princess, even passing her latter La Fontaine would sometimes descend years in a convent. Such was her love to the burlesque style-Phædrus never; for the Greek Catholic religion, that she be the latter has not the grace and un- put to death in various ways a hundred affected softness of La Fontaine, though thousand men accused of Manicheism be has greater precision and purity. "this being," says the modest continu ator of Echard, "the most impious, the most detestable, the most dangerous, the most abominable of all heresies, for ecclesiastical censures were weapons of no avail against men who acknowledged not the church." Joannic, to anoint him king; and pretended that he had conferred the kingdom upon him, and that he could never more hold it but from the holy see. This was the most violent period of the crusades. The indignant Bulgarians entered into an alliance with the Turks, de It is said that the Bulgarians, seeing that all the Manicheans suffered death,clared war against the pope and his cruimmediately conceived an inclination for saders, took the pretended Emperor their religion, and thought it the best, Baldwin prisoner, had his head cut off, since it was the most persecuted one: but and made a bowl of his skull, after the this, for Bulgarians, would be extraordi manner of Krom. This was quite enough narily acute. to make the Bulgarians abhorred by all Europe. It was no longer necessary to call them Manicheans, a name which was at that time given to every class of heretics: for Manichean, Patarin, and Vaudois, were the same thing. These terms were lavished upon whosoever would not submit to the Roman church. At that time, the great schism broke out more violently than ever between the Greek church, under the Patriarch Photius, and the Latin church, under Pope Nicholas I. The Bulgarians took part with the Greek church; and from that time, probably, it was that they were treated in the west as heretics, with the addition of that fine epithet, which has clung to them to the present day. BULL. A QUADRUPED, armed with horns, In 871, the Emperor Basil sent them having cloven feet, strong legs, a slow a preacher, named Peter of Sicily, to pace, a thick body, a hard skin, a tail save them from the heresy of Maniche-not quite so long as that of the horse, with ism; and it is added, that they no some long hairs at the end. Its blood sooner heard him than they turned Ma- has been looked upon as a poison, but it nicheans. It is not very surprising that is no more so than that of other animals; the Bulgarians, who drank out of the and the ancients, who wrote that Themisskulls of their enemies, were not extraor- tocles and others poisoned themselves dinary theologians any more than Peter with bull's blood, were false both to naof Sicily. ture and to history. Lucian, who reproaches Jupiter with having placed the bull's horns above his eyes, reproaches It is singular that these barbarians, who could neither write nor read, should have been regarded as very knowing he-him unjustly; for the eye of a bull beretics, with whom it was dangerous to dispute. They certainly had other things to think of than controversy, since they carried on a sanguinary war against the emperors of Constantinople for four successive centuries, and even beseiged the capital of the empire. At the commencement of the thirteenth century, the Emperor Alexis, wishing to make himself recognised by the Bulgarians, their king, Joannic, replied, that he would never be his vassal. Pope Innocent III. was careful to seize this opportunity of attaching the kingdom of Bulgaria to himself: he sent a legate to ing large, round, and open, he sees very well where he strikes; and if his eyes had been placed higher than his horns, he could not have seen the grass which he crops. Phalaris's bull, or the Brazen Bull, was a bull of cast metal, found in Sicily, and supposed to have been used by Phalaris to enclose and burn such as he chose to punish;—a very unlikely species of cruelty. The bulls of Medea guarded the Golden Fleece. The bull of Marathon was tamed by Hercules. Then there were the bull which car-purity of the Christian religion, and ried off Europa, the bull of Mithras, and maintain union among the faithful. It the bull of Osiris. contains twenty-four paragraphs, in which There are the Bull, a sign of the zo-the pope excommunicatesdiac; and the Bull's Eye, a star of the first magnitude. And lastly, there are bull-fights, common in Spain. BULL (PAPAL). THIS word designates the bull, or seal of gold, silver, wax, or lead, attached to any instrument or charter. The lead hanging to the rescripts despatched in the Roman court, bears on one side the head of St. Peter on the right, and that of St. Paul on the left; and, on the reverse, the name of the reigning pope, with the year of his pontificate. The bull is written on parchment. In the greeting, the pope takes no title but that of "Servant of the Servants of God," according to the holy words of Jesus to his disciples-" Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." 1. Heretics, all who favour them, and all who read their books. 2. Pirates, especially such as dare to cruise on the seas belonging to the sovereign pontiff. 3. Those who impose fresh tolls on their lands. 10. Those who, in any way whatsoever, prevent the execution of the apostolical letters, whether they grant pardons or inflict penalties. 11. All lay judges who judge ecclesiastics, and bring them before their tribunal, whether that tribunal is called an audience, a chancery, a council, or a par{liament. 12. All chancellors, counsellors ordinary or extraordinary, of any king or prince whatsoever, all presidents of chanceries, councils, or parliaments, as also all attorney-generals, who call ecclesiastical causes before them, or prevent the execution of the apostolical letters, even though it be on pretext of preventing some Some heretics assert that, by this formula, humble in appearance, the popes mean to express a sort of feudal system, of which God is chief; whose high vas-violence. sals, Peter and Paul, are represented by their servant the pontiff; while the lesser vassals are all secular princes, whether emperors, kings, or dukes. They doubtless found this assertion on the famous bull In cana Domini, which is publicly read at Rome by a cardinaldeacon every year, on Holy Thursday, in the presence of the pope, attended by the rest of the cardinals and bishops. After the ceremony, his holiness casts a lighted torch into the public square, in token of anathema. This bull is to be found in tom. i. page 714 of the Bullaire, published at Lyons in 1673, and at page 118 of the edition of 1727. The oldest is dated 1536. Paul III. without noticing the origin of the ceremony, here says, that it is an ancient custom of the sovereign pontifs to publish this excommunication on Holy Thursday, in order to preserve the In the same paragraph, the pope reserves to himself alone the power of absolving the said chancellors, counsellors, attorney-generals, and the rest of the excommunicated; who cannot receive absolution until they have publicly revoked their acts, and have erased them from the records. 20. Lastly, the pope excommunicates all such as shall presume to give absolution to the excommunicated as aforesaid: and, in order that no one may plead ignorance, he orders 21. That this bull be published, and posted on the gate of the basilic of the Prince of the Apostles, and on that of St John of Lateran. 22. That all patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops, by virtue of their holy obedience, shall have this bull solemnly published at least once a-year. 24. He declares that whosoever dares to go against the provisions of this bull, must know that he is incurring the displeasure of Almighty God and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul. The other subsequent bulls, called also In cana Domini, are only duplicates of the first. For instance, the article 21 of that of Pius V. dated 1567, adds to the paragraph 3 of the one that we have quoted, that all princes who lay new impositions on their states, of what nature soever, or increase the old ones, without obtaining permission from the Holy See, are excommunicated ipso facto. posed by the procureur-general; and the Chambre des Vacations, under the presidency of the celebrated and unfortunate Brisson, on the 4th of October, passed a decree, enjoining all governors to inform themselves, if possible, what archbishops, bishops, or grand-vicars, had received either this bull or a copy of it entitled Littera processus, and who had sent it to them to be published; to prevent the publication, if it had not yet taken place; to obtain the copies and send them to the chamber; or, if they had been published, to summon the archbishops, the bishops, or their grand-vicars, to appear on a cerintain day before the chamber, to answer to the suit of the procureur-general; and, in the mean time, to seize their temporal possessions and place them in the hands of the king; to forbid all persons from obstructing the execution of this decree, on pain of punishment as traitors and enemies to the state; with orders that the decree be printed, and that the copies, collated by notaries, have the full force of { the original. The third bull In cana Domini of 1610, contains thirty paragraphs, which Paul V. renews the provisions of the two preceding, The fourth and last bull In cana Domini which we find in the Bullaire, is dated April 1st, 1672. In it Urban VIII. announces that, after the example of his predecessors, in order inviolably to maintain the integrity of the faith, and public justice and tranquillity, he wields the spiritual sword of ecclesiastical discipline to excommunicate, on the day which is the anniversary of the Supper of our Lord 1. Heretics. 2. Such as appeal from the pope to a future council;-and the rest as in the three former. It is said that the one which is read now, is of a more recent date, and contains some additions. The History of Naples, by Giannone, shows us what disorders the ecclesiastics stirred up in that kingdom, and what vexations they exercised against the king's subjects, even refusing them absolution and the sacraments, in order to effect the reception of this bull, which has at last been solemnly proscribed there, as well as in Austrian Lombardy, in the states of the empress-queen, in those of the Duke of Parma, and elsewhere. In doing this, the parliament did but feebly imitate Philip the Fair. The bull Ausculta Fili, of the 5th December, 1301, was addressed to him by Boniface VIII. who, after exhorting the king to listen with docility, says to him—“God has established us over all kings and all kingdoms, to root up, and destroy, and throw down, to build, and to plant, in his name and by his doctrine. Do not, then, suffer yourself to be persuaded that you have no superior, and that you are not subject to the head of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Whosoever thinks this, is a madman; and whosoever obstinately maintains it, is an { infidel, separated from the flock of the Good Shepherd." The pope then enters into long details respecting the government of France, even reproaching the king for having altered the coin. Philip the Fair had this bull burned at In 1580, the French clergy chose the Paris, and its execution published on time between the sessions of the parlia-sound of trumpet throughout the city, by ment of Paris, to have the same bull In Sunday the 11th February, 1302. The cana Domini published. But it was op- pope, in a council which he held at Rome |