the treatise of Cardinal Maury Sur l'Eloquence de la Chaire.' To his judgment on our own writers we shall not so easily subscribe, as the names of the authors to which he refers appear to have been selected by mere chance, if not by caprice; and, at all events, he was entirely unacquainted with our older divines, and not very extensively informed as to the respective estimation in which the modern are held. In spite of these and other imperfections, the work in question is decidedly the best which has yet appeared upon the subject, and is, as it were, an excellent emblem of the oratory on which it chiefly dwells,-admirable in its arrangement, full of good sense in much of its detail, with a felicitous and judicious application of the principles of Cicero and Quintilian to his subject, but, at times, flashy and full of false taste, of which we could scarcely select a more complete specimen than the following Insulaires fameux! je cherche un orateur, un véritable orateur parmi vos ministres du culte, vos écrivains, vos membres du parlement les plus célèbres dans la carrière de l'éloquence politique. Or soit dit sans offenser votre génie et sur tout sans oublier votre gloire, je n'en trouve aucun digne de ce nom.' It is far, however, from our wish to prejudice our readers against a work which we consider of high authority as far as the information of the author extended; and as we have suggested an excuse or a palliation for his rashness of decision with regard to our divines, (with the greatest and elder of whom, the English nation itself is too little acquainted, we can scarcely wonder at the ignorance of a foreigner,) since also we can scarcely reproach him with the omission of more than one great name, that of Horsley, among our modern preachers; we are bound to extend the same extenuation to his other errors. In fact this assertion of his Eminence was probably made before the great day of our parliamentary eloquence, or indeed that of our most splendid advocates. Anterior to the regular publication of the debates, we have no authentic or well-reported speeches; we seek in vain for more than sallies and occasional happy thoughts of our older parliamentary leaders, of Bolingbroke, of Pulteney, of Murray, even of Lord Chatham, though of the latter indeed we have some noble remains. The dawn of Burke, however, must have been long previous to the publication even of the first edition of Maury's work; and perhaps we must have recourse to a plea not quite so honourable for his silence with regard to the setting of that greatest of writers, and the dawn of all our brilliant galaxyof Pitt, and Fox, and Sheridan, and Windham, and Grenville, and Erskine, and Grattan, and Canning. But the more recent editions of the treatise, in which tardy justice might have been done, were published under the reign of Buonaparte-pwva ouUVETOITIV. But But in discussing the comparative merits of the French orators the Cardinal is more in his element, and on such topics we differ from him with hesitation and diffidence. It appears, indeed, to us that he scarcely makes out his case with regard to the decided preeminence of Bossuet; we are inclined to consider him as a more perfect polemic than a preacher. We are aware, however, on the other hand, that a large portion of his sermons was published from his papers after his death, and is, therefore, confessedly unfinished; and, on the other, that the Oraisons Funèbres, on which his fame chiefly rests, are a species of composition which, abstractedly speaking, is repugnant to all our religious feelings. The great topic of praise, again, which is usually insisted upon in the estimate of Bourdaloue, his familiarity with the Fathers, is, in our opinion, rather among his defects. His manly simplicity of style and strong good sense are rarely led astray, except when he adopts and comments upon some quaint antithesis or epigrammatic conceit from those writers who, whatever their other merits may be, are certainly not the best models of style. In another point, however, we fully coincide, in his attributing the decline of French pulpit eloquence to the influence of the admired Petite Carême of Massillon. Inferior, in every respect, in comprehensiveness of subject, in force, in dignity, in the bold assertion of Christian truth, these exquisitely polished, but meagre and unsatisfactory discourses won the palm from the same writer's Avent and Carême. To these latter sermons we confess that we should be inclined to refer the reader, as the most admirable example of that style of preaching, which we must not too hastily condemn because it is opposite to our own. In fact the French and English sermon are entirely distinct; and it may not be uninteresting to trace some of the causes which probably tended to establish and increase this difference. To this, no doubt the national character and the religion contributed much; but there are other points well worthy of consideration. In the first place, the greater frequency with which the duty devolves upon the English preacher must be taken into account. In France, and in most Roman Catholic countries, there are stated periods for preaching, against which the orator may lay up all the treasures of his eloquence. In Advent and in Lent, when the ceremonies of the church are peculiarly solemn and awful, when the more impressive parts of religion are forced upon the attention by every possible means; when a sort of access of devotion seems to seize the whole population, the preacher takes the happy opportunity of exercising his office. At these seasons, in the court of Louis XIV., to which Pope's admirable description, mutatis mutandis, may so well apply, U 4 'A fool A fool to virtue, yet a slave to fame- the king cast off his mistress, intrigues were suspended by mutual consent, the confessionals were crowded, and the royal family and the nobility trembled before the thundering vehemence of Bossuet, or melted at the pathetic harangues of the Bishop of Clermont. A favourite sermon was commanded by authority, announced publicly; multitudes thronged to hear, not the preacher only, but the particular discourse which had been frequently delivered before with the greatest applause. Hence they polished, finished, laboured their works into the most exquisite perfection of style, judged by frequent repetition the parts which were effective and those which were weak, corrected every offence against the most delicate and fastidious taste; nor can we wonder if the effect at last became more than oratorical, rather theatrical. They knew that even the manner of delivering their most striking passages was a matter of public curiosity. The whole court was occupied in the interval between the death of Henrietta Maria and the delivering of her funeral sermon by Bossuet, in discussing how the masterly preacher would fulfil his promise of alluding to the magnificent ring which she bestowed upon him on her death-bed, and in which he surpassed all their expectations by the felicity and delicacy with which he expressed his gratitude. In another respect the French pulpit oratory is like their tragedy; it scarcely condescends to less than kings or princes. It is curious to observe of their famous sermons how much the greatest number were preached before the court, before an audience highly educated and of one rank. It is not less striking, that of the splendid passages (and splendid they are, as examples of courtly art, and consummate skill in conciliating the favourable attention of the hearer) which are adduced by Maury, so large a portion is selected from the different funeral orations on great personages-there they luxuriated in violent antitheses, contrasted perpetually the grandeur des vivants, and the néant des morts, recited all the long and maguificent titles of the deceased, and pointed to the corpse beneath them. They were enabled also to travel beyond their own province: the celebrated character of Cromwell, by Bossuet, and the description of the death of Turenne, rather belong to history than to pulpit oratory. But perhaps, as a specimen of the effect produced under these circumstances, nothing can be finer than the opening of Massillon's funeral oration on Louis XIV., thus described by Maury: 'Massillon prit pour texte ces paroles de Salomon: “Je suis devenu grand: grand: j'ai surpassé en gloire et en sagesse tous ceux qui m'ont précédé dans Jérusalem: et j'ai reconnu qu'en cela même, il n'y ait que vanité et affliction d'esprit." Après avoir prononcé lentement un passage si remarquable par le contraste que le commencement forme avec la fin, et si heureusement adapté au grand effet qu'il vouloit produire dès l'ouverture de son discours, il parut frappé lui-même des réflexions que toutes ces idées divergentes de grandeur et de misère suggéroient à son esprit. Il voulut entrer en méditation pour se recueillir dans ses tristes pensées. L'émotion visible qu'il éprouvoit devint une heureuse préparation oratoire pour faire partager à ses auditeurs le sentiment profond de la douleur muette dans laquelle il étoit absorbé. Son silence étonna, et inspira le plus vif intérêt. Avant de proférer un seul mot de son exorde, Massillon, avec la stupeur de l'abattement, la tête baissée, et les mains appuyées sur la chaire, reste immobile et taciturne durant quelques instants dans cette attitude. Ses yeux à peine entrouverts se fixèrent d'abord sur le deuil de l'assemblée qui l'environnoit; il en détourna bientôt la vue, pour chercher avec anxiété dans cette enceinte sepulchrale d'autres objets moins tristes et moins lugubres: il n'apperçut de tous les côtés sur les murs du temple, que les trophées et les emblêmes de la mort. Ses regards ainsi contristés se réfugièrent vers l'autel encore plus surchargé de symboles et de décorations funèbres. Il sembloit accablé d'un pareil spectacle, quand se tournant avec effroi pour se distraire des doubles angoisses de cet appareil et de ses noires penseés, il découvrit la représentation funéraire élevée au milieu du temple, comme le sanctuaire de la mort. Consterné de ne voir autour de lui que des sceptres ou des diadêmes couverts de crêpes, et une image universelle du néant dans l'anéantissement de toutes les grandeurs humaines, Massillon voulut rendre compte à l'assemblée du résultat de son silence, lui faire partager la même impression qu'il avoit éprouvée, et dès son point de départ se montrant déjà très loin des idées vulgaires, s'enfoncer dans son sujet, mettre ainsi par l'irrésistible ascendant de ses premières paroles, tout son auditoire dans la confidence et à l'unisson des mêmes réflexions solitaires que venoit de lui inspirer le monologue secret de sa douleur, en s'écriant au milieu de tous ces débris qui succédoient à tant de gloire: Dieu seul est grand, mes frères !' Is then all this dramatic artifice to convict these men of insincerity? We think not. In England it would perhaps not be endured; in France it was natural, and suited to the genius of the place. The leaven of vanity and the desire of temporal aggrandizement may have partly influenced the adulation so skilfully administered; but when Bossuet and even Fenelon stooped to such means of securing attention, it would be unjust not to give them credit for nobler motives. No man knew better how to receive or how to bestow flattery than Louis XIV. He possessed, according to Massillon's elegant language, un art d'assaisonner les graces qui touchoit plus que les graces mêmes: une politesse de discours qui trouvoit toujours à placer ce qu'on aimoit le plus à entendre. His divines, therefore, therefore, were probably deluded by his courtly hypocrisy; and where the influence of the monarch's example was so extensive as in the court of France, they may honestly have thought, not that any compromise of moral or religious severity, but a compliance with the complimentary style of the age might be wisely made to obtain an auxiliary so important. They may have entertained hopes of his ultimate sincere conversion; at all events they secured his countenance and support. There is, indeed, one damning passage in Massillon, speaking of the king's conduct to his wife, un époux malgré les foiblesses qui partagèrent son cœur, toujours respectueux pour la vertu de Thérèse; condamnant, pour ainsi dire, par ses égards pour elle l'injustice de ses engagements, et renouant par l'estime un lien affoibli par les passions. This is courtly lenity indeed, which nothing can justify, and the only palliation of which is that it was said of the dead, not of the living. But, instead of selecting striking occasions, and reserving himself for subjects in themselves aweful, the English preacher is in a continued and uninterrupted course of exertion. He is either oppressed by the frequency with which the duty occurs, or is called upon so seldom as to want that experience which is only to be gained by practice. Our dignitaries (of whom, indeed, there are not many below the episcopal rank, who are not at the same time parochial ministers) commonly pass a short time only in the service of their cathedrals, and return perhaps with satisfaction to the less conspicuous scene of their standing duty-their country churches; and the residents in our universities are so rarely summoned to this duty, and then under circumstances so peculiar, as by no means to give free scope to their exertions. The latter address a learned audience, chiefly composed of their own order. Hence they confine themselves to the discussion of points of learning, and controversial questions, on which they have always laboured, and still continue to labour, with the greatest success. There is no point in divinity, no theological question, which may not be found among our published discourses of this nature, examined with a depth, solidity and soundness of judgment which it would be vain to seek in the writings of any other church in Europe. But the ministers of a large mingled congregation, (independent of the various avocations which attend on the care of a parish, from which the preachers in Roman Catholic countries are usually exempt,) however fertile in conception and rapid in composition, must be overpowered by the necessity of providing one if not two sermons every Sunday. Thus precisely in that situation where it is most wanted, and where real zeal would be most actively stimulated by the consciousness of acting within a sphere of great utility, the difficulties are accumulated and redoubled. Instead of pour |