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in a general assembly, which difered little from a public and authorised body.

In the year 1661, was held a general assembly of the Gallican (Catholic) church, from which period, as is generally supposed, the determination to extirpate the Protestant heresy may be dated. Among the most effectual means of accomplishing this intention, we may reckon the suppression of the convocation or (annual) general assemblies of the clergy. This broke the ananimity of the body: and divided, for the purpose of weakening them. Then the people were not suffered to meet without their ministers ; those churches which had been erected since the Edict of Nantes were pulled down; a severe edict was issued against those who having been born Protestants and conformed, should relapse; the academies, universities, and schools, were suppressed; no Protestant was permitted to follow any creditable or beneficial employment, while those who would have withdrawn from the coming storm, were prevented, by a law prohibiting any of them to leave the kingdom.

We have seen that Louis practised corruption first, and by a gradual accession of distresses he prepared the way for the entire revocation of the Edict of Nantes. This repeal passed the seals Oct. 25, 1685, and was ratified by the Parliament of Paris, Oct. 22. It was immediately sent to all the other Parliaments to be confirmed. It recites the grant of the edict of Henry IV. the repetition of it, at Nismes, by Louis XIII. 1629, but, that the greatest part of the people having since embraced the Catholic faith, the Edicts of Nantes and of Nismes, were be.come useless: his Majesty therefore, thought fit to suppress them with all other declarations in favour of the Hugonots. He orders their churches to be demolished; prohibits all public assemblies for worship, or the exercise of their religion in private, on pain of corporal punishment, and confiscation of property. He expels preachers from the kingdom in fifteen days, under pain of being sent to the gallies. He prohibits parents from instructing their children in that belief; insists that all born after this date shall be baptised in the Catholic manner, and condemns to the gallies all who attempted to quit the kingdom.ran

It is not necessary here to repeat the

plunderings, massacres, imprisonments, and general sufferings of the Protestants which followed this memorable edict. In vain were laws made to prevent from escaping out of the kingdom those who were determined on escape They fled: poor, but they carried with them their knowledge in arts and manufactures. Hence neighbouring states acquired at once, at no other expense than that of discharging the duties of humanity, those professions, which had proved sources of immense wealth to France, and had laid all the nations of Europe under commercial contribution. Those Protestants who were unable to escape, became either hypocrites by apparent conformity, or concealed mal-contents by the very act of retaining sentiments which they dared not avow. From their birth to their death, yea, and after their death, they were persecuted. If not baptized according to the forms of the Romish church, they were held to be no christians; if not married by Romish priests, their marriages were held void and illegal; and whatever rites of sepulture duty paid to the dead, were concealed by the shades of night; and not seldom were Protestants which had been buried, disturbed in their graves, and exposed, in violation of every feeling of humanity, and every sentiment of decency. By accident, a spectacle of this kind came under the notice of Louis XV. while hunting and this monarch's abhorrence of such enormities was succeeded by beneficial effects.

We know an aged minister, now under the protection of the Church of England, who for six years, together, at Bordeaux, never saw the streets by daylight: but went from family to family by night. He was one of four who were pursued by the dragoons: his own brother was shot by his side; he sought that refuge under a hedge, among snakes, and vermin, which was denied him among men; here he lay concealed a whole fortnight, night and day; his property was confiscated, as well real as personal; his person was hung in effigy, by the public hangman; he was, by sentence, condemned to the gallies for an hundred and one years! Is it possible that such outrages against humanity should cause a community to flourish? Are these marks of the true church, which boasts of a succession of sacred influence derived from the Apos

tles? We sincerely regret the sufferings we have been called to witness in the persons of those venerable clergy who lately were expelled with extreme violence from their native land; but we fear, cautiously, yet we fear, that their sufferings have in them something retributive; and have resulted from causes, which would not so have operated, had persecution been utterly unknown in France.

Such were the boasted politics of Louis XIV! He tyrannized in Religion, which he did not understand; he dissipated his Finances, till their disorder was irremediable; he provoked neighbouring states around him, by insupportable arrogance and ambition, till they united into combinations which endangered his dominions; he slackened the reins of morality, till vice was so little hideous as to be publicly presented at court; his boasted secret of the double correspondence contributed to the ruin of his direct descendant; and the secret machinations which he delighted to employ in foreign kingdoms, became at length the means of effecting in his own, the overthrow of the throne and the altar, of desolating the fairest provinces of France with fire and sword, and of filling her most important cities and towns with murder. Where now is the golden statue erected Viro Immortali? The slaves that were chained beneath its feet, have risen against it, and destroyed it. Where are the Arcs of Triumph Ludovico Magno? The populace of that city which they adorned, have ruined them in the tumults of insurrection! Foreigners have seized what the King intended for his peculiar gratification; the privacies of the Monarque are rifled by Upstarts of another race; and the MEMOIRES of LOUIS LE GRAND, are published, avec privilege, derived from

LE GRAND BONAPARTE, THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON THE

FIRST!

Oriental Customs; or an Illustration of the Sacred Scriptures, by an explanatory Application of the Customs and Manners of the Eastern Nations, especially the Jews, therein alluded to. Collected from the most celebrated Travellers, and the most eminent Critics By Samuel Burder. Vol. II. Svo. pp. about 400. Price 9s. Williams and Co. London. 1807.

MR. BURDER is, we believe, a dissenting minister at St. Albans. He has published several minor articles, which bave been well received in his own connection: but, his most considerable work, hitherto, is the first volume, of which the present is, properly, a continuation. That was published five or six years ago; and is not now under our cognizance.

We are well persuaded that the usages of time and place have a considerable effect on the language, and terms, of common speech and historical narration. We find this incontrovertibly when perusing the original authors of British history: nor need we go very far back for proofs, since the writers of Queen Elizabeth's days, though comparatively moderns, are occasionally embarrassing enough ;-and, who reads Chaucer freely, without a glos sary? This argument becomes incalculably strengthened, when we add the idea of a ten times removed antiquity, a fo. reign clime, and a language without any resemblance to our own. These difficulties demand every assistance, if we desire to understand the contents of a work written in such a language, published in such a clime, and assuming such antiquity.

Moreover, the consequences of an error, or mis-explanation of a word, or thing, relating to British history, bear no comparison to those of error, committed by misrepresenting passages of holy scripture, whence we derive the principles of cur faith.

But, supposing the terms which comprehend the general principles of religion to be perfectly clear, yet there are many difficulties in the scriptures, which to see removed is pleasant: and those who have endeavoured to accomplish this, by reference to the customs and peculiarities of the east, are entitled to thanks and patronage from the judicious. The late Mr. Harmer took the lead, very advantageously, in this study. It was resumed, and treated with considerable extent of research, and shrewdness of remark, by the learned editors of Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible, who added a complete volume of what they denominated Fragments: in which they have illustrated many articles formerly thought desperate, To these, and to other works of a like nature, Mr. B. has had access; and having consulted various critics, we presume in the course of his professional duties, he has com

piled a volume, containing many articles worthy remark, but, not all of which, are, to us, perfectly satisfactory. A few specimens may enable our readers to judge for themselves.

No. 1084.-Isaiah. li. 23. Who have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over.] This is a very strong and expressive description of the insolent pride of eastern conquerors. The following is one out of many instances of it. The emperor Valerian being through treachery taken prisoner by Sapor king of Persia, was treated by him as the basest and most abject slave. For the Persian monarch commanded the unhappy Roman to bow himself down, and offer him his back, on which he set his foot in order to mount his chariot or his horse, whenever he had occasion. Lactantius de Mort. Persec. Aurel. Victor. Epitome, cap. 32. cap. 5. Bp. Lowrн, in loc.

No. 1210.-Matthew. xxiv. 17, Let him who is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house.] "It was not possible to view this country without calling to mind the wonderful events that have occurred in it at various periods from the earliest times more particularly the sacred life and history of our Redeemer pressed foremost on our minds. One thing struck me in the form of the houses in the town now under our view, which served to corroborate the accounts of former travellers in this country, explaining several passages of scripture, particularly the following. In Matt. xxiv. 17. our blessed Saviour, in describing the distresses which shortly would overwhelm the land of Judea, tells his disciples, "when the abomination of desolation is seen standing in the holy place, let him who is on the house-top not come down to take any thing out of his house, but fv," &e. The houses in this country are all flat-roofed, and communicate with each other: a person there might proged to the city walls and escape into the country, without coming down into the street. Willyam's Voyage up the Mediter

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ranean.

Mr. Harmer endeavours to illustrate this passage, by referring to the eastern custom of the stair-case being on the outside of the Kouse: bat Mr. Willyam's representation seems to afford a more complete elucidation of the text.

No. 1257.-Luke vi. 38. Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over. The allusion here is to dry measure among the Jews; which though right and futi, here called good measure, they thrust and pressed to make it hold more; and shook it also, for the same purpose, and then

heaped it up as much as they could till it fell over. Of all these methods used in measuring we have frequent instances in the Jewish writings: some of them are cited by GILL, in loc.

No. 1276.-Luke xvi. 12. If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?] The following custom of the Turks may contribute to our understanding of these words. "It is a common custom with the merchants of this, country when they hire a broker, book-keeper, or other confidential servant, to agree that he shall claim no wages: but to make amends for that unprofitable disadvantage, they give them free and uncontrouled authority to cheat them every way they can in managing their business: but with this proviso, that they must never exceed the privileged advantage of ten per cent. All under that which they can fairly gain in the settling of accounts with their respective masters is properly their own; and by their master's will is confirmed to their possession.” -Aaron Hill's Travels, p. 77.

This kind of allowance, though extremely singular, is both ancient and general in the East. It is mentioned in the Gentoo Laws, chap. ix. If a man hath hired any person to conduct a trade for him, and no agreement be made with regard to wages, in that case the person hired shall receive ons-tenth of the profit."

The text above cited must therefore, ac

cording to these extracts at least, mean, "if you have not been found faithful in the administration of your principal's property, how can you expect to receive your share (as the word may signify) of that advantage which should reward your labours? If you have not been just toward him, how do you expect he should be just toward you?" Fragments, to CALME's Dictionary, No.

303.

And he

No. 1399.-Revelation xix. 16. hath on his vesture and on his thigh his name written.] The modern hangings which are sent yearly from Cairo to Mecca, to place about the holy house there, as the Molammedans reckon it, are embroidered all over with letters of gold as long, broad, and thick, as a person's finger. Thevenot, part i, p. 149.

This explanation seems to be har lly sutficient: the hangings of an edifice do not correspond completely with the vesture of a person; and there still wants an instance of a name written on the thigh, which is the main difficulty of the passage. The book is neatly printed.

and of their dominion. The ancient hos-
pital is the only place I know of which
has still a lion on one of its apertures.
Here Englishmen capable of any deed of
benevolence? Did they contribute to the
endowing of that establishment ?"

Recherches sur plusieurs Monumens Cel-
tiques et Romains, &c. Researches on
many Celtic and Roman Mor.uments,
&c. Par J. F. Barailon, 1 vol. in 8vo.
Paris, 1806. Dulau and Co, London.
Our curiosity was, at first, a good deal
The second object of his researches is
excited by the title of this work. As we
the ancient town of Neris, as he is pleased
to call it, whose existence and destruction
know that France possesses a number of
Celtic monuments, as yet undescribed, we is equally unknown in history, but whose
naturally expected to find some satisfac- ruins he places, nevertheless, with great
tory account of the most remarkable of precision in the department of l'Allier.
them, but, in this expectation we have Here opens a fine field for the wanderings
been most miserably disappointed. These of imagination! The name of its founder,
pretended researches are nothing in fact, and consequently, the epoch of its foun-
but desultory notes on a multiplicity of ob- dation, meets with no difficulty: Neris à
jects, many of them ridiculously trifling. Nerone that is evident. As to its extent,
While others lose all interest by the man-
population, and riches, which he repre-
ner in which they are represented, or by
sents as exceeding those of every city in
the absurd and silly conjectures the author Gaul, he has for vouchers, some ancient
has indulged concerning them. A pe- tilated marble fragments, and remnants of
coins, occasionally dug out, and a few mu-
dantic affectation of antiquarian erudition,
uniformly ill applied, a vulgar and barba- aqueducts; (both belonging most proba-
rous diction, complete the grotesque ap-bly to baths, formerly erected in this
pearance of the work; which is curiously
divided into short unconnected para-
graphs, carefully numbered....

place, which still possesses a mineral spring) but if these proofs are not satisfactory, he invites the inhabitants to dig with Some good natured readers will perhaps industry, and assures them that they will be hurt at the harshness of this judg-find abundance of ancient monuments. ment; and they may say with the French

poet,

Un livre n'est pas bon; qui vous force à le lire? But this cannot apply to us. Reviewers are obliged to devour the most indigestible productions, as the fable reports of Saturn devouring stones; but, as we are not professed stone enters, no wonder now and then, they should lie a little heavy on our $tomach.

The supposed destruction of this place is most whimsically accounted for; after reviewing page 191, the different wars of which the Gauls have been the theatre, he pitches on the invasion of the Germans under the reign of Constantius, between the years 354 and 357, as the epoch of the first destruction of Neris; as the precious vessels which the inhabitants hid in their hurry correspond with the state of manufactures, at that period. These precious The researches of our author, such as articles, says our author, << were found they are, have six different objects in in September, 1805, at the bottom of a view: the first is, to ascertain the true si- well 48 feet deep. Its aperture was closed tuation of a people of ancient Gaul, but by a hand-mill stone. I shall add here a little known, and which inhabited a ter- list of those vessels, now in my possession," ritory called Combrailles, this by the bye-expectation is on the tip-toe-but what had been already done by many geographers, and among them by Valois and D'Anville, whose opinion Mr. B. follows, nor does he throw any additional light en the subject, but indulges in a variety of trifling, or stale anecdotes, or more recent events, on which he comments with wondertul sagacity, e. gr. p. 34. "The English have also been masters of this town; (Chambou) the three lions, which were seen before the revolution, in the great square, are monuments of their conquest,

follows?a beggarly account" of broken
earthen ware, and absolutely nothing else:
such were the precious things which the
inhabitants of Neris hid from the rapacity
of the barbarians at the bottom of a well
48 feet deep!

Descriptions of Celtic monuments oc-
cupy the fourth and fifth divisions of the
volume Here we should willingly have
attempted to elucidate the author's super-
ficial and defective accounts, by reference
to some of the able descriptions we pos

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sess of monuments of a similar nature, could we have placed any reliance on him even as a plain observer But his sight appears to have been dizzied by the multitude of objects before him; he seems eager to view them all at once, and anxious only to give every one of them a name, regardless of its fitness; none of the barrows were opened; but he expatiates with warmth on the proof they will afford of the superiority of the Gauls when recourse is had to that operation. He places with Latour d'Auvergne, the Carnutum of Ce sar on the Bay of Quiberon, where Celtic monuments called Kernac are to be seen. It will surely be objected to me, says he, that the country of the Carnutes was situated in the middle of Gaul; quæ regio totius Galliæ media habetur, says Cæsar; to this I answer, first, that this general has been accused of not knowing geography; and, I will say, in the second place, that Belgium forming a part of Gaul, Kernac may, in one sense, be considered as in the middle of it, by its transversal situation!"

Tableau des Révolutions du Systéme politique de Europe depuis la fin du quinzième Siècle. View of the Revolutions in the Political System of Europe from the end of the Fifteenth Century; by M. F. Ancillon, 3 vol. 12mo. Paris, 1806. Dulau and Co, London.

We should think the word revolutions, incorrectly applied to the different modifications of a system, to which the several states of Europe, with few momentary exceptions, have adhered for three centuries; a system, whose only aim was mutual security, through a ba Jance of power: and which our anthor himself professes to unfold, and to follow, throughout all its variations; for such is the object of his work. It begins at the year 1492, and ends at the calling of les Etats-Généraux, in France, in 1789, that precursor of a revolution which was to overthrow the fabric raised by preceding ages, and scatter its bloody fragments over the whole continent, perhaps the world.

awakened several states to a sense of their danger; and the league concluded at Venice (in 1495) for their mutual defence, is the ground work of the multiform coalitions since formed, to maintain a political equilibrium in Europe. From that epoch to the beginning of the thirty years war, Spain assumes the first rank among the European powers, domineers over lesser states, and threatens their existence. France, with inadequate means, struggles at first for the independence of Europe; the unwieldy greatness of her antagonist, undermined by the abuse of power, gradually gives way to her compact efforts, and France threatens in her turn.

The second epoch from 1618 to 1715, begins with the thirty-years war. France is still at the head of the coalition, fighting for the political and religious liberty of Europe; the flames of war spread over the greatest part of the continent. Richelieu calls Sweden and Denmark to the defence of the Protestant religion. The treaty of Westphalia, which terminates the sanguinary contest, gives France a decided influence in Europe; that of the Pyrennees, places her alone in the first rank; and, under Louis XIV. she soon becomes the oppressing power. In the negociations of Nimeguen, Louis pompously displays his superiority; nor is this impolitie ostentation lost on the other powers; the genius of William Prince of Orange, afterwards King of England, unites part of Europe against the common enemy, and the league of Augsbourg is formed. Peace is concluded at Ryswick, on more equal terms; by the treaties of Utrecht and Radstadt, France still obtains some advantages: but, exhausted by her ambitious efforts, she is no longer the dread of Europe; she is still a great, but not the domineering, power.

In the third epoch, from the peace of Radstadt, in 1715, to the year 1789, a great alteration takes place in the political system; Europe is no longer divided between Austria and France: three other powers assume a rank, and an influence, equal to that of those ancient rivals; and In this eventful period, the author has lesser states think they see in them new chosen three remarkable epochs, which guardians of their liberties. By the geform the natural divisions of his work.nius of Peter 1. Russia emerges from barThe first, from 1492 to 1618, takes the barism; brilliant victories, and useful political system at its birth. The thought-conquests, soon follow the first dawn of less ambition of Charles VIII. of France, civilisation. Hardly known to Europe, and his invasion of Italy in 1991, first she is already one of its first powers.

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