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tion, as being altogether novel in its arrangements, would be far more perplexing than the one of which, if only traditionally, they at least have some little knowledge.

We refer to our Advertisements for a description of Mr. MALAN'S beautiful and laborious edition of S. John's Gospel, on the appearance of which we most heartily congratulate Editor and Publisher alike. Of the work itself, we hope in our next Number, to attempt something of a critical estimate; at the present, we will only say, that typographically, it is one of the most splendid volumes that have ever issued from the Press.

Prediction Realized, by Mr. HORACE WELBY, (Kent and Co.,) is a budget of anecdotes, which are supposed to have something of the marvellous in them. It would have been better, surely, not to have introduced the Prophecies of Holy Scripture in such company; or if they must be introduced, a better interpreter than Bishop Newton might undoubtedly have been found.

The Old Library and its Tales is a collection of some eight or ten stories, the unity of which consists in being related in the afore-named The Authoress is a good Churchwoman, and shows both imagination and feeling.

room.

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Ecclesiastic.

SIR,-You will do me the favour, I trust, of allowing me to say one word in reply to Mr. Parkman of Maryland; although the best answer, perhaps, is given by himself—in his now pretending to treat as something very like a joke, the counter-memorial he proposed in 1856 on so grave a subject as that of the revision of the American Book of Common Prayer, and which was deliberately issued as the proposed manifesto of the more Catholic-minded of the Anglo-American clergy. Such a pretence is too flimsy, as well as too flippant, to impugn in anywise my well-grounded assertion, that there was, in the circumstance of such a counter-memorial being extensively and cordially concurred in, "evidence of Catholic vitality in the Anglo-American Church." My volumes of "Recent Recollections" contain innumerable corroborative evidences. And so, indeed, does Bishop Potter's (of Pennsylvania) volume of “Memorial Papers," relative to the same movement for revising the Prayer Book. Bishop Williams, of Connecticut, for instance, in his paper, insists on the restrictions as to Holy Orders it was sought to remove, as "forming part and parcel of our true Catholicity." Dr. Vinton, of New York, in his paper, maintains, that as "the Creeds are Catholic, the Sacraments are Catholic, and the inward call by the HOLY GHOST is Catholic," and "these Catholic conditions are of GOD, they should

therefore be demanded as conditions precedent to ordination." While Mr. Young, of New York, in the ablest paper of all in the volume, contends that "a closer conformity to those ritual principles which underlie the present Prayer Book Offices, will supply all the wants which somewhat of a departure from them has caused to be so deeply felt." These several expressions of Catholic feeling are all in the very spirit of the "counter memorial" which Mr. Parkman-though it came from his own pen-now, for some reason or other, would represent as an idle and meaningless effusion!

One may not unreasonably apprehend, that Mr. Parkman's churchmanship has deteriorated as he has migrated southward, where the Church atmosphere, as all who have visited the Southern States know, is, for obvious reasons, more or less contaminated. When my reverend friend was in Massachusetts, or even when he was in Pennsylvania, I do not think he would have been so ready to disparage such "evidences of Catholic vitality."

I am, Sir,

Yours truly,

The "ENGLISH LAYMAN."

London, June 15, 1862.

[We apprehend that Mr. Parkman only means what we ourselves ventured to hint, that the author of "Recollections" was a little over sanguine in his inferences.-ED.]

LES MISERABLES: BY VICTOR HUGO.

Les Miserables. Par VICTOR HUGO. Premiere partie. Fantine. Bruxelles.

VICTOR HUGO is well known to all who are acquainted with French literature, as one of the most talented writers which France has produced in the present age. His romance of "Notre Dame de Paris," made the reputation which he has since sustained by his tragedies and poems, and now the solidity of his fame may be estimated by the fact, that he received £16,000 for the copyright of the work which heads our page. Hugo is celebrated, however, under another aspect, as the only Frenchman who is yet undergoing the "peine forte et dure" of exile, for his political sentiments—in his case alone, has l'Empereur retained a recollection of the opposition offered to Louis Napoleon.

With regard to his religious views, we must confess that we were in ignorance of their nature, till the present work appeared-nor are they generally known, so far as we have been able to inform ourselves. If "Les Miserables" is now to be taken as a true and unmasked statement of his opinions, no one need remain any longer in doubt on the subject-but possibly the national prejudices of his English readers may be disposed to accept them with some reserve. Be that as it may, the fact is certain, that the work before us presents one of the most sublime and admirable pictures of practical Christianity, which could any where be seen.

So thoroughly is it the very spirit of this Divine religion, which Hugo has brought into life in his pages, that there is not a word which would not be as cordially received by members of the English Church, as by those of the communion of Rome, to which his personages belong, and the whole is given with a purity of language, and a vigour of expression, which effectually hold the reader in his power, till the volumes have been studied to the end. We shall endeavour simply to give an outline of this remarkable work, with such passages taken from it as may serve for illustration, premising that, whilst we agree in toto with the sentiment which pervades these volumes, there are certain minor details of opinion, in which we do not hold with the author-these we shall mention as we come to them.

In a brief preface, Hugo states what is his object in writing this book, of which the two volumes as yet published, form but a part. This preface is the only obscure portion of his work, so obscure, indeed, that critics have already pronounced themselves baffled by it. We believe, however, that the explanation is really very simple, and we shall give that which we consider to be correct. In this introduction, he states that the three great problems of the age, are the degraVOL. XXIV.-August, 1862.

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dation of man by beggary, the fall of woman by hunger and want, and (as we understand him) the blighting of children by illegitimacy and its attendant crimes. And it appears to us, that the whole plan of his work, is to show that there is but one power which can meet and conquer those three terrible evils, and that is Christianity-not the Christianity which the world is content to receive, but that living holiness and uncompromising faith, which first dawned upon the earth in One who had not where to lay His head. In this first portion of the work, there already appears to us the man degraded by reason of hopeless poverty; the woman driven by the sharpest pangs of physical want, to throw herself into sin; and the child suffering from its infancy, through the indulged passions of its parents; while a fourth figure shines forth calm, pure, and loving, in whom is embodied the truth and life of that Divine faith, which alone can heal and conquer those sinful miseries. In the Bishop of D-- we have the most perfect representation of the true follower of CHRIST, which it is possible to imagine-such as he is described it seems as if Thomas a Kempis' "Imitation of CHRIST," had literally taken human shape; and this saintly man, directly or indirectly, brings salvation to the male and female miserable," whose history is partially given in these volumesthat of the child being apparently reserved for the future portion.

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The greater part of the first volume is occupied with a description of the life and character of the Bishop, and while we pronounce him to be the very type of the Apostolic Bishop of the first ages of the Church, he presents a singular contrast to the manner in which episcopacy is represented in the present day. We are not about to discuss the difference ;-we are solemnly assured that the dignity of the Church requires that her Bishops should be surrounded with all the appliances of luxury and splendour, and we have no doubt of the sincerity of those who act on this principle; only it is clear that, while SS. Paul and John would at once have recognized a brother in the Bishop of D--, they would have some difficulty in tracing even a distant family likeness in the received type of a modern prelate.

Victor Hugo distinctly states, that his beautiful picture is taken from life, and that Monseigneur Myriel, Bishop of D-, actually existed, and there is much in the detailed account he gives of the holy man, to bear out the truth of his assertion, which of course immeasureably raises the value of the portrait.

It was in the earlier part of this century, and when upwards of seventy years of age, that he was consecrated to the see of D— -; in early life he had been a gay and fashionable young man, of good birth and attractive appearance, the favourite of the "salons ;" and he knew therefore all the fascinations of that world, which he had wholly renounced years before, on becoming a priest.

He arrived at his episcopal palace at D, with his aged sister, who lived with him, and who is described as one of GOD'S

unknown saints, and "Madame Magloire," a worthy old woman, who had been his servant for many years, and who represented in her own person, the whole episcopal establishment-butler, lacquais, cook, &c. The palace was a magnificent building, with a large banqueting hall and other apartments, suitable to his lordship's high dignity. Close to it was a small, dingy, low roofed house, which was the only hospital for the sick poor of that large town: it was crowded, and yet could not afford accommodation for half the applicants. The Bishop's first act on arriving in his diocese, was to inform the manager of the hospital, with perfect simplicity, that he had discovered his palace was decidedly too large for three persons, while the hospital was equally too small for its numerous inmates; it was necessary therefore, that an exchange should be made, he would retire to the miserable little barrack, and the sick should have the palace. Remonstrances were in vain, the banqueting hall was turned into a dormitory, and the paupers were transferred to his magnificent rooms. So small was the Bishop's new abode, that his only spare room, destined for the curés from a distance, was divided into two parts by a curtain, behind which was his oratory.

The Bishop's salary was fifteen thousand francs, out of which he immediately appropriated fourteen thousand annually, to a variety of local charities, and retained for the use of himself and his establishment, only one thousand-somewhere about fifty pounds a year. Madame Magloire found it rather difficult to provide the necessities of life for Monseigneur and his sister, Mademoiselle Baptistine, upon this income, and was greatly delighted when the town voted three thousand francs annually to the Bishop for his carriage expenses; his lordship also appeared enchanted at the tidings, and half an hour after he heard it, he appeared with a written paper, in which this acquisition to his fortune, was formally made over to three charities, for which he had as yet been unable to provide. As for himself, he did not require a carriage, he went on foot, and so did the Apostles: when he had to go to any distance, he rode on an ass. A gentleman once venturing to rebuke him for a manner of travelling so unsuitable to his dignity; the Bishop answered mildly, that he was right to reprove him, it was doubtless too great an honour for the servant to ride on that animal which the Master had deigned to

mount.

Before very long the Bishop had acquired a name which he bore to the end of his days: throughout the length and breadth of his diocese he was known as Monseigneur Bienvenu.

With all his simplicity and humility, however, it must not be supposed that he fell short in any way of the public duties of his high position. He ruled his whole diocese with a firm hand, upholding his authority as one commissioned of GOD, and who therefore feared not man.

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