lives and deaths of the various monks, who have existed in the monastery of La Trappe. For this short account of an extraordinary foundation, stripped of error and romance, the public is indebted to an able and judicious anonymous critic, the accuracy of whose statement is supported by the respectable testimony of Maupeon, Marsollier, and Le Nain. spring, it was not observed to diminish, the kindness of their behaviour either to Lewis or the old domestic; as they were convinced, however erroneous the proceeding, that it originated from amiable motives and a benevolent mind. Their eldest son, Anthony, had been bred to the law, but found that his dissenting from the established religion of his country was an insuperable bar to his CALAS, JOHN, a reputable being admitted to practice. tradesman, or as he was called in France, a merchant of the city of Thoulouse, in the eighteenth century, whose misfortunes excited general atten tion. Calas, his wife, and five sons, had been born and educated in the Protestant religion; but Lewis, the second of his children, only a few months before the present narrative commences, renouncing the tenets he had professed, embraced the Catholic faith. It was supposed, that the young man had been persuaded to this change by an old female servant, who had lived many years in the family, and by whom he had been originally nursed. His parents lamented this apostacy, but being remarkable for affection towards their off VOL. IV. This disappointment was observed to have a strong effect on his mind and health; he became melancholy, peevish and solitary; procured and perused many reprehensible books, and often repeated passages from them in defence of suicide. In this state of things, Anthony received an accidental visit from an old school-fellow, the son of Mr. Lavaisse, an avocat, or as we should term it, an attorney of Thoulouse. Young Lavaisse having been absent for several weeks at Bourdeaux, on his return found that his father had been for several days at a little villa to which he occasionally retired, eight miles from the city. Having endeavoured to procure a horse at several places, without effect, as he was coming out of the stable-yard of one of the persons to whom he had applied, he met Anthony and his father, who congratulated him on his arrival, and hearing that none of his family were at home, invited him to pass his evening at their house, to which he agreed. Mrs. Calas received Lavaisse, as the friend of her son, with great cordiality, and after sitting in conversation about half an hour, Anthony being the general market-man of the family, was sent to purchase some cheese; soon after, Lavaisse went again to the keeper of a livery table to see if any of his horses were returned, and to bespeak one for his use in the morning. They both came back in a short time, and at seven o'clock sat down to supper in a room up one pair of stairs; the company consisting of Calas, his wife, Anthony, Peter, one of his brothers, and Mr. Lavaisse.. Before the meal was concluded, Anthony, without any apparent reason, rose from table in an evident state of mental perturbation; this, as it was a circumstance which had often occurred since his indisposition, was not noticed he passed into the kitchen which was on the same floor, and being asked by the servant if he was cold, said to her, "quite the contrary, I am in a burning heat;" he soon after went down stairs. It ought to have been observed, that the whole of the ground floor of the house was occupied by the shop and a warehouse behind it, which were separated by folding doors. The party whom Anthony had quitted, continued conversing till half past nine, when Lavaisse took his leave, and Peter, who fatigued by his attendance in the shop, had fallen asleep, was roused to attend him with a lantern. It is easier to conceive than describe their horror and astonishment on reaching the foot of · the stairs; the first object presenting itself was the unhappy Anthony, stripped to his shirt, and hanging from a bar which he had laid across the top of the folding doors, having half opened them for that purpose. Their exclamation brought Mr. Calas down stairs, who, the moment he saw what had taken place, rushed forwards, and raising the body in his arms, moved the rope by which it was suspended, and the bar fell down; for the two young men were so affected, that they stood immoveable as statues, and lost all presence of mind. The unhappy father, in an agony agony of grief, laid his son on the ground, and immediately sent Peter for Mr. Lamoire, a surgeon in the neighbourhood, observing to him, "let us, if we can, prevent this dishonourable accident being known; you need not say how your brother's death took place." Lavaisse in the mean time ran up stairs, to prevent if possible, Mrs. Calas from knowing what had happened, but hearing the groans and outcries of her husband and the old servant, it could not be prevented, and the presence of this unhappy mother added to the afflicting scene.' The surgeon was not at home, but his pupil, Mr. Grosse, immediately came; on examination he found, that Anthony was quite dead; and when he removed his neckcloth, observing a dark circular mark made by the cord, immediately said he had been strangled. A crowd of people, attracted by curiosity and the cries of the family, had collected round the door, and hearing the surgeon's words, immediately formed an opinion that the deceased was on the point of becoming a Catholic, and that his family, as Protestants, had strangled Anthony, to prevent his abjuring their communion. tants of France, being at that period violently prejudiced against the Calvinists, and more particularly the inhabitants of Thoulouse, who for several years celebrated the massacre of St. Bartholomew, by anniversary processions, this vague suspicion was eagerly circulated, and with many absurd aggravations, pronounced an undeniable fact; a furious mob assembled, and to prevent Calas and his family being torn to pieces, it was thought necessary to send for the intendant of the police and his assistants. These peace officers, instead of quieting the people and entering into cool examination of facts, precipitately cided in opinion with the multitude, and the whole family, together with Lavaisse, was committed to prison, under circumstances of universal hatred and indignation. The Franciscans and White Penitents, two religious societies at that time at Thoulouse, zealously inflamed the public irritation; they propagated a report that Anthony, who had never given the least indication of a change in his opinions, that Anthony was the next day to have become one of their fraternity; that he was strangled in order to The majority of the inhabi- prevent it, and that Lavaisse, on sions, was general executioner among the Calvinists. this and other similar occa- by him in an advantageous business, and that the person - who had been the chief instrument of his conversion was at the moment an inmate in the family, and treated with unremitting kindness. The corpse was publicly interred in St. Stephens, accompanied by a long and pompous procession, a solemn service and funeral dirge; a tomb was raised to his memory in a conspicuous part of that church, and a real human skeleton was exhibited on the monument, holding in one hand a paper, on which was written ABJURATION OF HERESY, and in the other a branch of the palm tree, as an emblem of martyrdom. In such a state of the public mind it was not probable that the affair would experience an impartial examination. The Capitoul, one David, an ignorant but fierce bigot, insisted on the impossibility of a person's suspending himself across the folding doors, and said that it was a common practice with Protestant parents to hang such of their children as wished to change their religion; the worthy magistrate, forgetting at the moment, or resolving not to resolving not to remember, that Lewis Calas, another of the unfortunate prisoner's children, had actually become a Catholic, and so far from incurring the resentment of his father had been lately settled La Borde, the presiding Judge, who knew and ought to have acted better, warmly espoused the popular opinion; he repeatedly enquired "if Anthony Calas had been seen to kneel at his father's feet before he strangled him;" but receiving no satisfactory answer, observed, that the cries of the murdered martyr were heard at distant parts of the city; he added, that "it was necessary to make an example of John Calas, for the edification of true believers and the propagation of sound faith, as hereticks had been of late more than usually bold and incorrigible." I relate with concern, that in the eighteenth the eighteenth century, in a Christian country, and during the reign of a most Christian king, this unfortunate old man, seventy years of age, and irreproachable in life, who was remarkable for parental affection, and had brought up a numerous family in credit and repute, was declared guilty of murdering his own child, a crime which collateral and other circumstances proved proved he had never committed, and sentenced to be broken on the wheel. The innocent prisoner in a few days was led forth to punishment, in a state of mind which excited general admiration. Two honest Dominicans, Bourges and Caldagues, who attended him, declared that they not only thought him innocent of the crime, but an uncommon example of Christian patience, fortitude, charity, and forbearance; they could not help remarking, that in his prayers he intreated the Almighty to pardon the errors of his enemies; these worthy fathers united in wishing, that their last hours might be like his. : Calas endured the torture with unabated firmness, declaring the innocence of himself and family to the last his son Peter was banished for life, the other persons with a glaring inconsistency, for if one was guilty, all must have been so, were set at liberty. This melancholy and disgraceful transaction, which took place in the year 1761, naturally attracted the notice and commisera tion of all well-disposed, humane and liberal persons, particularly of Mr. Voltaire, the advocate of toleration; who, like other advocates, was ultimately carried further in his reforming career than he originally expected or designed. But in rescuing the family of Calas from obloquy and disgrace, he was commended by all parties. His applications to men in power were so effectual, that the judicial proceedings were sent to Paris, and revised; Calas and the whole of the family were declared innocent, the sentence was annulled; the attorney-general of the province was directed to prosecute the infamous Capitoul, David, and every possible satisfaction was made to the widow, to Mr. Lavaisse, and the survivors. But although every thing that could be done was done, all could not call up from the grave the mangled corpse of the unfortunate father, who at the moment he was suffering unutterable distress of mind for a suicide child, was loaded with disgrace and chains, and committed to a loathsome dungeon, accused, tried, and condemned, as the executioner of his own offspring, suffered a cruel death, and finally was insulted on the scaffold in his last agonies by the cruel David. "Wretch," said this infernal monster to the poor old while in a state of torture, "Wretch, confess your crime, behold man, |