renew the miracle of the furnace of Babylon in favour of poor Anthony. Abauzit, an author of great veracity, relates in his notes, that he died in the greatest constancy, and persisted in his opinions even at the stake on the pile: he broke out into no passionate invective against his judges when the executioner was tying him to the stake; he displayed neither pride nor pusillanimity; he neither wept nor sighed he was resigned. Never did martyr consummate his sacrifice with a more lively faith; never did philosopher contemplate a death of horror with greater firmness. This clearly proves that his folly or madness was at all events attended with sincere conviction. Let us implore of the God both of the Old and New Testament that he will grant him mercy. I would say as much for the jesuit Malagrida, who was still more infatuated and mad than Nicholas Anthony; as I would also for the ex-jesuits Patouillet and Paulian, should they ever be brought to the stake. A great number of writers, whose misfortune it was to be philosophers rather than christians, have been bold enough to deny the miracles of our Lord; but after the four priests already noticed, there is no ne cessity to enumerate other instances. Let us lament over these four unfortunate men, led astray by their own deceitful reason, and precipitated by the gloom of their feelings into an abyss so dreadful and so fatal. MISSION. It is far from our object in this article to reflect upon the zeal of our missionaries, or the truth of our religion; these are sufficiently known in christian Europe, and duly respected. My object is merely to make some remarks on the very curious and edifying letters of the reverend fathers, the jesuits, who are not equally respectable. Scarcely do they arrive in India before they commence preaching, convert millions of Indians, and perform millions of miracles. Far be it from me to con- With regard to miracles, nothing is more easy than to perform them at a distance of six thousand leagues, since so many have been performed at Paris, in the parish of St. Medard. The sufficing grace of the Molinists could undoubtedly operate on the banks of the Ganges, as well as the efficacious grace of the Jansenists on those of the river of the Gobelins. We have however said so much already about miracles, that we shall pursue the subject no farther. A reverend father jesuit arrived in the course of the past year at Delhi, at the court of the Great Mogul. He was not a man profoundly skilled in mathematics, or highly gifted in mind, who had come to correct the calendar, or to establish his fortune, but one of those poor honest zealous jesuits, one of those soldiers who are despatched on particular duty by their general, and who obey orders without reasoning about them. M. Andrais, my factor, asked him what his business might be at Delhi. He replied, that he had orders from the reverend father Ricci to deliver the Great Mogul from the paws of the devil, and convert his whole court. I have already, he said, baptised twenty infants in the street, without their knowing anything at all about the matter, by throwing a few drops of water upon their heads. They are now just so many angels, provided they are happy enough to die directly. I cured a poor old woman of the megrims by making the sign of the cross behind her. I hope in a short time to convert the Mahometans of the court and the Gentoos among the people. You will see in Delhi, Agra, and Benares, as many good catholics, adorers of the Virgin Mary, as you now do idolaters, adoring the devil. M. ANDRAIS. You think then, my worthy father, that the inhabitants of these countries adore idols and the devil? THE JESUIT. Undoubtedly, as they are not of my religion. M. ANDRAIS. Very well. But when there are as many catholics in India as idolators, are you not afraid that they will fight against one another; that blood will flow for a long period, and the whole country be a scene of pillage and devastation? This has happened in every country in which you have obtained a footing hitherto. THE JESUIT. You make one pause for a moment; but nothing could happen better than that which you suggest as being so probable. The slaughtered catholics would go to paradise (to the garden), and the Gentoos to the everlasting fire of hell created for them from all eternity, according to the great mercy of God, and for his great glory; for God is exceedingly glorious. M. ANDRAIS. But suppose that you should be informed against, and punished at the whipping-post? THE JESUIT, That also would be for his glory. However, I conjure you to keep my secret, and save me from the honour and happiness of martyrdom. MONEY, A WORD made use of to express gold. Sir, will you lend me a hundred louis-d'ors?-Sir, I would with all my heart, but I have no money; I am out of ready money. The Italian will say to you: Signore, nom ha di danari,' I have no deniers. Harpagon asks Maître Jacques, Wilt thou make a good entertainment?-Yes, if you will give me plenty of money. We continually enquire, which of the countries of Europe is the richest in money? By that we mean, which is the people who circulate the most metals representative of objects of commerce? In the same manner we ask, which is the poorest? and thirty contending nations present themselves-the Westphalian, Limosin, Basque, Tyrolese, Valois, Grison, Istrian, Scotch, and Irish, the Swiss of a small canton, and above all the subjects of the pope. In deciding which has most, we hesitate at present between France, Spain, and Holland, which had none in 1600. Formerly, in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, the province of the papal treasury had no doubt the most ready money, and therefore the greatest trade. How do you sell that? would be asked of a theological merchant, who replied, For as much as the people are fools enough to give me. All Europe then sent its money to the Roman court, who gave in change consecrated beads, agnuses, indulgences plenary and limited, dispensations, confirmations, exemptions, benedictions, and even excommunications against those whom the subscribers chose, and who had not sufficient faith ip the court of Rome. The Venetians sold nothing of all this, but they traded with all the west by Alexandria, and it was through themonly that we had pepper and cinnamon. The money which went not to the papal treasury came to them, excepting a little to the Tuscans and Genoese. All the other kingdoms of Europe were so poor in ready money, that Charles VIII. was obliged to borrow the jewels of the duchess of Savoy and put them in pawn, to raise funds to conquer Naples, which he soon lost again. The Venetians supported stronger armies than his. A noble Venetian had more gold in his coffers, and more vessels of silver on his table, than the emperor Maximilian surnamed 'Pochi danari.’ Things changed when the Portuguese traded with India as conquerors, and the Spaniards subjugated, Mexico and Peru with six or seven hundred men. We know that then the commerce of Venice, and the other towns of Italy all fell to the ground. Philip II. the master of Spain, Portugal, the Low Countries, the Two Sicilies, and the Milanese, of fifteen hundred leagues of coasts in Asia, and mines of gold and silver in America, was the only rich, and consequently the only powerful prince in Europe. The spies whom he gained in France kissed on their knees the catholic doubloons, and the small number of angels and carolusses which circulated in that country had not much credit. It is pretended, that America and Asia brought him in nearly ten million dueats of revenue. He would have really bought Europe with his money, but for the iron of Henry IV. and the fleets of queen Elizabeth. The Dictionnaire Encyclopedique, in the article Argent,' quotes the Spirit of Laws, in which it is said, "I have heard deplored, a thousand times, the blindness of the council of Francis I. who rejected the proposal of Christopher Columbus for the discovery of the Indies:-perhaps this imprudence has turned out a very wise thing." We see by the enormous power of Philip, that the pretended council of Francis I. could not have done such a wise thing. But let us content ourselves with remarking, that Francis I. was not born when it is pretended that he refused the offers of Christopher Columbus. The Genoese captain landed in America in 1492, and Francis I. was born in 1497, and ascended not the throne until 1515. Let us here compare the revenues of Henry III. Henry IV. and queen Elizabeth, with those of Philip II. The ordinary income of Elizabeth was only one hundred thousand pounds sterling, and with extras it was, one year with another, four hundred thousand; but she required this surplus to defend herself from Philip II. Without extreme economy she would have been lost, and England with her. The revenue of Henry III. indeed increased to thirty millions of livres of his time; this, to the sum that Philip drew from the Indies, was as three to ten; but not more than a third of this money entered into the coffers of Henry III. who was very prodigal, greatly robbed, and consequently very poor. We find that Philip II. in one article was ten times richer than Henry. As to Henry IV. it is not worth' while to compare his treasures with those of Philip II. Until the peace of Vervins, he had only what he could borrow or win |