Bombs were first made use of in the Siege of Cities. Some will have it, that the firft that were us'd in England, was at the Siege of Gloucester, by King Charles I. but they had greater Effect in the Storm of Bridgwater, two Years after. 126 Mornay among thefe rapid Floods of Flame, Grave, but intrepid, mingles with the War. The French Critick upon the Henriade fays, that as live! as this Affault is, it does not touch him. Pou affaut, tout vif qu'il eft, il ne me touche point. Fe fuis QUAKER en fait de Livres. I am a Quaker in the Matter of Books, Battles give me no Pleasure; but I love to see our great Mornay, who, in my Opinion, is the Hero of the Poem. Incapable a la fois de crainte & de Fureur, &c. Incapable of Fury and of Fear, Deaf to the Roar of Cannon and of Bombs, 127 The formidable Bands of English Aids The Queen of England not only supplied Henry IV. with Money, but fent 4000 choice Soldiers to France, who had the Port of Havre de Grace put into their Hands, and did good Service to that King, but were not well dealt with for it by him. 128 The Seine beheld their Ancestors enthron'd. Voltaire probably means Normandy, where the Dukes, Ancestors to William the Conqueror, reign ed: ed; and from them defcended the Kings of England. It ought rather to refer to Henry VI. King of England, who was crown'd King of France in Paris 300 Years ago. 129 Thus from the Pyrenean oft we see This Simile is one of thofe Places mention'd in an Epiftle concerning Verfions of French Poetry. To rife may be more eafy than to fall. 130 The Castle of Vincennes in the Foreft fo call'd, three Miles from Paris, has in the last Reigns been the Place where Princes and great Lords are confin'd. 31 Elijah in a flaming Cloud involv'd, This History is in the eleventh Chapter of the fecond Book of Kings. 132 Among the Worlds, The French Critick takes this to be one of the most beautiful Paffages in the Henriade, and particularly admires the Divinity of it. L'Autheur eft mon Theologien, the Author is a Divine for me. The following Verfes, which are not the worfe for the Tranflation, are very remarkable. There rules a Judge upright with equal Laws, Kings at his Feet, and Nations wait their Doom. This is the Being infinite we ferve, This He, whom, tho' we know not, we adore. A diff'rent Name in diff'rent Worlds he bears, Thron'd in Effulgence high, he bears our Cries, With Pity fees Us wand'ring from the Truth, And in a Labyrinth of Errors loft. 233 There Charlemagne, and Clovis fit fublime. My Author has plac'd Clovis after Charlemagne, though he reign'd 300 Years before him, for the Sake of the Metre, and I have done it because he did it. Clovis was the firft Chriftian King of France, or of the French, and on that Account he has great Honours paid him in Hiftory, tho' he did not very well deferve them. His Wife Clotilda, Daughter of the Arian King of Burgundy, was a Chriftian, and endeavour'd to turn him to her Religion, which he did not do till he had made a Bargain with Heaven: For being at War with the Germans, he promis'd to be a Christian on Condition he gain'd the Battle of Talbrai, Anno 495. but he made no great Hafte to perform his Promife, notwithstanding the repeated Sollicitations of his Wife, and the great Pains St. Vaaft took with him: For it was seven or eight Years after, that he was baptiz'd at Rheims by St. Remy, Bishop of that Church. However, he ftill hanker'd after the Idols of the Franks, and the latter End of his Reign, fays the Bishop of Meaux, tarnish'd the Glory of the rest of it. And why Voltaire has enthron'd him in Heaven, one can't well imagine, The French fable, that he founded the Church of St. Genevieve in Paris; but the Falfity is fcandalously apparent : For they fay he dedicated it to St. Peter and St. Paul, whereas the Popish Dedication of Churches was not then heard of in the Chriftian World. Charlemagne was the Son of Pepin, Son of Charles Martel, Baftard Son of Pepin Heriftel, Maire of the Palace, who ufurp'd the Government of France about the Year 693. and his Son Charles continu'd the Ufurpation, without affuming the Title of King, which his Father and he fuffer'd the fluggish Kings, Rois faineans, Defcendants of Clovis, to enjoy, without any Pow er, 9 er. Pepin, Son of Martel, did the fame; but his Son Charlemagne took the Title of King, and the better to eftablifh his Ufurpation, engag'd the See of Rome in his Intereft, as his Father and Grandfather had done before him, paffing feveral Times into Italy to deliver the Pope out of the Hands of the Lombards; who, had it not been for the Francks, would have deliver'd Italy from the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome. And on this Account it is, that Voltaire has form'd a Throne in Heaven for Charlemagne, a very great Destroyer of Nations and Countries, under Pretence of making them Chriftians, as he call'd his idolatrous Franks. The Bishop of Meaux tells us, that England, as well as other Kingdoms, was happy in the Effects of his Piety and Justice, of which we do not meet with one Inftance in English Hiftory. He was crown'd Emperor by Pope Leo III. Anno 800. 134 There the Twelfth Lewis He was Grandfon of Lewis Duke of Orleans, affaffinated at Paris by the Duke of Burgundy, in the Year 1407. He was ftil'd Pater Patria, the Father of his Country: However, as good as he was, he rebell'd against his Coufin Charles VIII. and repudiated his Wife Jeanne de France, becaufe fhe was lame, to marry Ann of Bretagne, Charles VIII.'s Widow, whom he lov'd better. After her Death, he married the Princefs Mary of England, youngest Daughter of Henry VII. a most beautiful Princefs, and it is faid, he kill'd himself with too much Ufe of the Marriage Bed. 135 Amboise, I know not whether this was George d'Amboife, Cardinal, who in this King's Reign was a Candidate date for the Papacy, and loft it by the Dexterity of his Competitor Julius II. upon which a War fucceeded, though under other Pretexts; and the Bishops of France declar'd that it was juft. The King, Lewis XII. forbad all Application to the Court at Rome, for Benefices, and the sending Money thither. He carried his Refentment fo far, that he order'd Medals to be ftruck with this Infcription out of Ifaiah, Perdam Babylonis nomen. Thus we see the most Christian King himself calls the Pope's Rome, Babylon, which is not much fofter than Hugh Peters's Whore of Babylon, the Subject of fo many wretched Jests from the Pretenders to Wit in the last Age. 136 Foix, There are so many of that illuftrious Name in French History, that one knows not to which of them this refers. 137 Montmorency, Probably the fame we have spoken of before, 138 Trimouille, The fame may be faid of this Name as of Foix. Lewis de Trimouille fignaliz'd himself in the Battle of St. Aubin in Bretagne, where he obtain❜d a glorious Victory for Charles VIII. and open'd a Way to a Treaty of Marriage with Anne, Heir of that Dutchy, by which it was annex'd to the Crown of France about the Year 1490. Of this noble House was the famous Countefs of Derby, who fo refolutely defended Latham House against the Parliamentarians, in the Time of the Civil Wars. Lewis de Trimouille is, as we fuppofe, the fame who was ftil'd le Chevalier fans peur & fans Reproche. |