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authentic act was not signed until the 14th of June, 1348: the sum stipulated for was eighty thousand florins of gold The Pope declared her innocent of her husband's murder, but never paid her.

Gregory IX. the country of Venaissin beyond the Rhone, and the sovereignty of seventy-three castles on this side the same river. The Pope adjudged this fine to himself by a particular act, desirous that, in a public instrument, the acknowledg-Joan's receipt has never been produced. ment of having exterminated so many She protested juridically four several Christians for the purpose of seizing upon times, against this deceitful purchase. his neighbour's goods, should not appear So that Avignon and its country were in so glaring a light. Besides, he de-never considered to have been dismemmanded what Raymond could not grant, bered from Provence, otherwise than by without the consent of the Emperor a rapine, which was the more manifest, Frederick II. The count's lands, on the as it had been sought to cover it with the left bank of the Rhone, were an imperial cloak of religion. fief, and Frederick II. never sanctioned this exaction.

When Louis XI. acquired Provence, he acquired it with all the rights appertaining thereto; and, as appears by a letter from John of Foix to that monarch, had in 1464 resolved to enforce them. But the intrigues of the court of Rome were always so powerful, that the kings of France condescended to allow it the enjoyment of this small province. They never acknowledged in the Popes a lawful possession, but only a simple enjoyment.

Alphonso, brother to St. Louis, having married this unfortunate prince's daughter, by whom he had no children, all the states of Raymond VII. in Languedoc,} devolved to the crown of France, as had been stipulated in the marriage contract. The country of Venaissin, which is in Provence, had been magnanimously given up by the Emperor Frederick II. to the Count of Toulouse. His daughter Joan, before her death, had disposed of them In the treaty of Pisa, made by Louis by will in favour of Charles of Anjou, XIV. with Alexander VII in 1664, it is Count of Provence, and king of Naples. } said—that "every obstacle shall be rePhilip the bold, son of St. Louis, being moved, in order that the Pope may enjoy pressed by Pope Gregory IX, gave the Avignon as before." The Pope, then, country of Venaissin to the Roman had this province only as cardinals have church, in 1274. It must be confessed pensions from the king, which pensions that Philip the Bold gave what in no way are discretional. belonged to him; that this cession was absolutely null and void, and that no act ever was more contrary to all law.

It is the same with the town of Avignon. Joan of France, Queen of Naples, descended from the brother of St. Louis, having been, with but too great an appearance of justice, accused of causing her husband to be strangled, desired the protection of Pope Clement VI. whose see was then the town of Avignon, in Joan's domains. She was countess of Provence. In 1347, the Provencals made her swear, on the Gospel, that she would sell none of her sovereignties. She had scarcely taken this oath before she went and sold Avignon to the Pope. The

Avignon and its country were a con{stant source of embarrassment to the French government; they afforded a refuge to all the bankrupts and smugglers, though very little profit thence accrued to the Pope.

Louis XIV. twice resumed his rights; but it was rather to chastise the Pope than to reunite Avignon and its country with his crown.

At length Louis XV. did justice to his dignity and to his subjects. The gross and indecent conduct of Pope Rezzonico (Clement XIII.) forced him in 1768 to revive the rights of his crown. This Pope had acted as if he belonged to the fourteenth century. He was. however,

with the applause of all Europe, convinced that he lived in the eighteenth. When the officer bearing the king's or ders entered Avignon, he went straight to the legate's apartment, without being announced, and said to him, "Sir, the king takes possession of his town."

There is some difference between this proceeding and a Count of Toulouse being flogged by a deacon, while a legate is at dinner. Things, we see, change with

times.

AUSTERITIES.

Is there not some similarity between the beggars, who make their legs swelt by a certain application and cover their bodies with sores, in order to force a few pence from the passengers, and the impostors of antiquity, who seated themselves upon nails, and sold the holy nails to the devout of their country?

And had vanity never any share in promoting these public mortifications, which attracted the eyes of the multitude? "I scourge myself, but it is to expiate your faults; I go naked, but it is to reproach you with the richness of your garments; I feed on herds and snails, but it is to correct in you the vice of gluttony; I wear an iron ring, to make you blush at your lewdness. Reverence me as one cherished by the Gods, and who will bring down their favours upon you. When you shall be accustomed to reverence me, you will not find it hard to obey me: I will be your master, in the name of the gods; and then, if any one of you disobey my will in the smallest particular, I will have you impaled to appease the wrath of heaven."

MORTIFICATIONS, FLAGELLATIONS. SUPPOSE that some chosen individuals, lovers of study, united together after a thousand catastrophes had happened to the world, and employed themselves in worshipping God and regulating the time of the year, as is said of the ancient Brahmins and Magi; all this is perfectly good and honest. They might, by their frugal life, set an example to the rest of the world; they might abstain, during the celebration of their feasts, from all intoxicating liquors, and all commerce with their wives; they might be clothed modestly and decently if they were wise, other men consulted them; if they were just, they were loved and reverenced. But did not superstition, brawling, and Human sacrifices perhaps had their vanity, soon take the place of the vir-origin in these frantic austerities. Men tues! who drew their blood in public with rods, and mangled their arms and thighs to gain consideration, would easily make imbecile savages believe that they must sacrifice to the gods whatever was dearest to them, that to have a fair wind, they must immolate a daughter,—to avert pestilence, precipitate a son from a rock,to have infallibly a good harvest, throw a daughter into the Nile.

Was not the first madman that flogged himself publicly to appease the gods, the original of the priests of the Syrian goddess, who flogged themselves in her honour, of the priests of Isis, who did the same on certain days,-of the priests of Dodona, named Salii, who inflicted wounds on themselves, of the priests of Bellona, who struck themselves with sabres, of the priests of Diana, who drew blood from their backs with rods, of the priests of Cybele, who made themselves eunuchs,-of the fakirs of India, who loaded themselves with chains? Has the hope of obtaining abundant alms nothing at all to do with the practice of these austerities?

If the first fakirs did not pronounce these words, it is very probable that they had them engraven at the bottom of their hearts.

These Asiatic superstitions gave rise to the flagellations which we have imitated from the Jews. Their devotees still flog themselves, and flog one another, as the priests of Egypt and Syria did of old.

Amongst us the abbots flogged their monks, and the confessors their penitents of both sexes. St. Augustin wrote

to Marcellinus the tribune, that "the Donatists must be whipped as schoolmasters whip their scholars.

It is said that it was not until the tenth century that monks and nuns began to scourge themselves on certain days of the year. The custom of scourging sinners as a penance was so well established, that St. Louis's confessor often gave him the whip. Henry II. was flogged by the monks of Canterbury (in 1207). Raymond, Count of Toulouse, was flogged with a rope round his neck by a deacon, at the door of St. Giles's church, as has before been said.

The chaplains to Louis VIII. King of France, were condemned by the Pope's legate to go at the four great feasts to the door of the cathedral of Paris, and present rods to the canons, that they might flog them in expiation for the crime of the king their master, who had accepted the crown of England, which the Pope had taken from him, after giving it to him by virtue of the plenitude of his power. Indeed the Pope showed great indulgence in not having the king himself whipped, but contenting himself with commanding him, on pain of damnation, to pay to the apostolic chamber the amount of two years' revenue.

These flagellators nundated Enrope : there are many of them still to be found in Italy, in Spain, and even in France, at Perpignan. At the beginning of the sixteen century, it was very common for confessors to whip the posteriors of their penitents. A history of the Low Countries, composed by Meteren, relates that a cordelier named Adriacem, a great preacher at Bruges, used to whip his female penitents quite naked.

The jesuit Edmund Auger, confessor to Henry III. persuaded that unfortunate prince to put himself at the head of the flagellators.

Flogging the posteriors is practised in various convents of monks and nuns; from which custom there have sometimes resulted strange immodesties, over which we must throw a veil, in order to spare the blushes of such as wear the sacred veil, and whose sex and profession are worthy of our highest regard.

AUTHORS.

AUTHOR, is a generic term, which, like the names of all other professions, may signify author of the good, or of the bad; of the respectable, or of the ridiculous; of the useful or the agreeable; or lastly, the producer of disgusting trash.

Pont-neuf, or of the Literary Age.

The author of a good work, should beware of three things-title, dedication, and preface. Others should take care of a fourth, which is writing at all.

From this custom is derived that which This name is also common to different stili exists, of arming the grand-peniten- things; we say equally the author of natiaries in St. Peter's at Rome with longture, and the author of the songs of the wands instead of rods, with which they give gentle taps to the penitents, lying all their length on the floor. In this manner it was that Henry IV. of France, had his posteriors flogged by Cardinal Ossat and Duperron So true is it that we As to the title, if the author has the have scarcely yet emerged from bar-wish to put his name to it, which is often barism. very dangerous, it should at least be unAt the commencement of the thir-der a modest form; it is not pleasant to teenth century, fraternities of penitents see a pious work, full of lessons of huwere formed at Perosia and Bologna.manity, by Sir or My Lord. The reader, Young men almost naked, with a rod in who is always malicious, and who often one hand and a small crucifix in the is wearied, usually turns a book into riother, flogging themselves in the streets; dicule that is announced with so much while the women peeped through the ostentation. The author of the Imitation window-blinds, and whipped themselves of Jesus Christ did not put his name to it. in their chambers.

But the apostles, you will say, put

their names to their works; that is not true, they were too modest. The apostle Matthew never entitled his book the Gospel of St. Matthew; it is a homage which has been paid to him since. St. Luke himself, who collected all that he had heard said, and who dedicated his book to Theophilus, did not call it the Gospel of St. Luke. St. John alone mentions himself in the Apocalypse; and it is supposed that this book was written by Cerinthus, who took the name of John to give authority to his production.

if this epistle was read to them in the other world. And what would liency IV. say? Most of the dedications in England are made for money, just as the capuchins present us with salad on condition of our giving them drink.

Men of letters in France are ignorant of this shameful abasement, and have never exhibited so much meanness, except some unfortunates, who call themselves men of letters, in the same sense that sign-daubers boast of being of the profession of Raphael, and that the coachman of Vertamont was a poet.

Prefaces are another rock.

"The 1

However it may have been in past ages, it appears to me very bold in authors now to put names and titles at the {is hateful," says Pascal. Speak of yourhead of their works. The bishops never self as little as you can, for you ought to fail to do so, and the thick quartos which { be aware that the self-love of the reader they give us under the title of manda- {is as great as your own. He will never ments, are decorated with armorial bear-pardon you for wishing to oblige him to ings and the insignia of their station: a esteem you. It is for your book to word, no doubt, is said about Christian { speak to him, should it happen to be read humility, but this word is often followed among the crowd. by atrocious calumnies against those who "The illustrious suffrages with which are of another communion or party. We my piece has been honoured, will make only speak here, however, of poor pro-me dispense with answering my adversafane authors. The Duke de la Roche-ries-the applauses of the public," &c. foucault did not announce his thoughts &c. Erase all that, Sir: believe me you as the production of Monseigneur le duc have had no illustrious suffrages; your de la Rochefoucault, pair de France, &c. } piece is eternally forgotten. Some persons who only make compila- "Some censors have pretended that tions in which there may be fine things, there are too many events in the third will find it injudicious to announce them act; and that, in the fourth, the princess as the work of A. B. professor of the uni- is too late in discovering the tender senversity of, doctor of divinity, membertiments of her heart for her lover. To of this or of that academy, and so on. So many dignities do not render the book better. It will still be wished that it was shorter, more philosophical, less filled with old stories. With respect to titles and quality, nobody cares about them.

Dedications are often only offerings from interested baseness to disdainful vanity. Who would believe that Rohaut, soi-disant physician, in his dedication to the Duke of Guise told him, that his ancestors had maintained, at the expence of their blood, political truth, the fundamental laws of the state, and the rights of Sovereigns? Le Belafré, and the Duke of Mayenne, would be a little surprised

that I answer"-Answer nothing, my friend, for nobody has spoken, or will speak of thy princess. Thy piece has fallen because it is tiresome, and written in flat and barbarous verse; thy preface is a prayer for the dead, but it will not revive them.

Others attest, that all Europe has not understood their treaties on compatibility, -on the supralapsarians-on the difference which should be made between the Macedonian and Valentinian heresies, &c. &c. Truly, I believe that nobody understands them, since nobody reads them.

We are inundated with this trash and

with continual repetition; with insipid

romances which copy their predecessors; { not regard them, because they know that with new systems founded on ancient re- they are poor customers. veries; and little histories taken from large ones.

Do you wish to be an author? Do you wish to make a book? recollect that it must be new and useful, or at least infinitely agreeable.

Why from your provincial retreat would you assassinate me with another quarto, to teach me that a king ought to be just, and that Trajan was more virtuous than Caligula? You insist upon printing the sermons which have lulled your little obscure town to repose, and will put all our histories under contributions to extract from them the life of a prince of whom you can say nothing

new.

If you have written a history of your own time, doubt not but you will find some learned chronologist, or newspaper commentator, who will relieve you as to a date, a Christian name, or a squadron, which you have wrongly placed at the distance of three hundred paces from the place where it really stood. Be grateful, and correct these important errors forthwith.

If an ignoramus, or an empty fool, pretend to criticise this thing or the other, you may properly confute him; but name him rarely, for fear of soiling your writings.

If you are attacked on your style, never answer; your work alone should reply.

If you are said to be sick, content yourself that you are well, without wishing to prove to the people that you are in perfect health; and, above all, remember that the world cares very little whether you are well or ill.

A hundred authors compile to get their bread, and twenty fools extract, criticise, apologise, and satirise these compilations to get bread also, because they have no profession. All these people repair on Fridays to the lieutenant of the police at Paris, to demand permission to seil their drugs. They have audience immediately after the courtezans, who do

They return with a tacit permission to sell and distribute throughout the kingdom their stories, their collections of bonmots; the life of the unfortunate Regis; the translation of a German poem; new discoveries on eels; a new copy of verses; a treatise on the origin of bells, or on the loves of the toads. A bookseller buys their productions for ten crowns; they give five of them to the journalist, on con{dition that he will speak well of them in his newspaper. The critic takes their money, and says all the ill he can of their books. The aggrieved parties go to complain to the Jew, who protects the wife of the journalist, and the scene closes by the critic being carried to Fort Evéque; --and these are they who call themselves authors!

These poor people are divided into two or three bands, and go begging like mendicant friars; but not having taken vows, their society lasts only for a few days, for they betray one another like priests who run after the same benefice, though they have no benefice to hope for. But they still call themselves authors!

The misfortune of these men is, that their fathers did not make them learn a trade, which is a great defect in modern policy. Every man of the people, who can bring up his son in an useful art, and does not, merits punishment. The son of a mason becomes a Jesuit at seventeen; he is chased from society at four and twenty, because the levity of his manners is too glaring. Behold him without bread! He turns journalist, he cultivates the lowest kind of literature, and becomes the contempt and horror of even the mob. such as these, again, call themselves authors!

And

The only authors, are they who have succeeded in a genuine art, be it epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, history, or philosophy, and who teach or delight mankind. The others, of whom we have spoken, are, among men of letters, like bats among the birds. We cite, com

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