No. 724.-10 April, 1858.-Enlarged Series, No. 2.

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From The Edinburgh Review. synod. The Abbé had little notion of arMémoires et Journal sur la Vie et les Ouv tistic grouping or selection: he turns his rerages de Bossuet. Publiés pour la pre-flecting-glass round in every direction, and mière fois d'après les Manuscrits auto-notes down whatever it takes in without disgraphes de l'Abbé Le Dieu, et accompag tinction. Nevertheless there is a stamp of nés d'une Introduction et de Notes par M. l'Abbé Guettée. 4 vols. Paris 1856-57. sincerity about the narrative; and we read with much pleasure the details he has given us of the great patriarch of the Gallican Church. We wish this faithful servitor had

THE appearance of these Memoirs is singularly encouraging to all authors who are waiters upon fortune and aspirants to post-considered Bossuet the man worthy of as humous fame. The Abbé Le Dieu evidently much attention as Bossuet the churchman, thought well of them he read them to this and had given us less of the routine of his person and to that. One praised the style, an- ecclesiastical and diocesan duties and more other the choice of facts, another the lucid or- of his ordinary conversation and deportment. der; and the Jesuit Pére de la Rue, who used But the Abbé Le Dieu was no Boswell or them in the funeral oration which he pro- Eckerman, and we must remain content to nounced over Bossuet, even declared them to see only of Bossuet what the Abbé Le be eloquent; and now at length, after a century Dieu saw in him, and to hear only what the and a half, the manuscripts have found a pub- Abbé Le Dieu thought worth hearing. The lisher. The Abbé Guettée a liberal Catholic grandeur and sublimity of his master were and a firm Gallican, the author of an industri- evidently subdued by familiarity to the ous history of the Church of France, has gone domestic chaplain, and now and then through the duty of editing these documents, touches of naïveté escape him which recall -an undertaking which he has conscien- the old adage that no man is a hero to his tiously discharged, subjoining many useful notes, and prefixing a judicious introduction. The Abbé Le Dieu, who may now be known to posterity as the author of these Memorials, was for twenty years the private secretary of Bossuet, the confidant of his thoughts and labors.

The life of Bossuet contained in the Memoirs appears so have been composed partly from notes taken from Bossuet's own lips and partly from personal observation; the Journal is a diary kept by the Abbé himself. Cardinal de Beauset had both Memoirs and Journal before him, and so

M.

filled three volumes with the somewhat pompous history which bears his name. Floquet too, in the three volumes which he published on Bossuet's early life, has added

little to the facts here related.

attendant.

Yet the very birth and cradle of Bossuet seem to have been placed under the protec tion of that religion of which he was destined to become so illustrious a defender. Jacques Benigne Bossuet was born at Dijon, on the night of the 27th of September, 1627. He was the seventh son of an honorable bourgeois family, who had occupied seats in the parliament of Dijon. The name Beninge was taken from the patron saint of his native city, after whom the principal church is called. There is still extant a journal kept in Latin, in the handwriting of his aged grandfather. The birth of this child is noted with the following quotation: “ Circumduxit eum et custodivit quasi pupillam oculi." After having as a boy shown an astonishing aptitude for learning, the true character of his genius was disclosed by the

66

The Abbé's Journal, however, only extends over the last four years of the life of the perusal of a copy of the Bible found in his prelate; indeed the last volume and a half father's library. The harmonious pomp of contains events subsequent to Bossuet's Virgil, and the sounding sublimity of Homer, death, the dissatisfaction which the next ceased to engross his youthful and ardent M. de Meaux gave, the petit fripon as Bos-imagination, from the time that the rapt insuet called him, who did not know even how spirations of the Hebrew Prophets, and the to say mass-the great dispute about the inexhaustible treasures of Divine Love and deanery-details about the publication of Bossuet's works-how the furniture of the next bishop was better than that of Bossuet -church separations and the affairs of the

Wisdom were spread before his fervid imagination: that hallowed fire kindled his faculties with unquenchable enthusiasm, which failed not amid the temptations of the

vain love of premature display; and, still more pleased with Bossuet's modest bearing, exclaimed that he was born to be one of the great lights of the Church.

world, the chills of age, the racks of a most | the learning and eloquence of the youthful stupainful illness, and the agonies of death. dent. M. de Cospeau warned him, with When we read that he received the tonsure friendly counsel against being led away by a at eight years of age, and that he was a canon of the cathedral of Metz at thirteen, we call to mind the biblical figure of the infant Samuel. At fifteen, the scene of his studies was removed from the college of the The modesty of Bossuet, indeed, was too Jesuits at Dijon to that of Navarre in Paris. great and his aspirations too noble to allow It was fated that the young canon, on his him to be corrupted by secular admiration, first entrance into the capital, should be the and he continued to apply himself to the spectator of a scene which must forever have study of sacred and profane eloquence with remained fixed in an imagination so eager an industry as remarkable as his genius. St. to mark the sublime and the awful in the Augustine approached the font of baptism vicissitudes of human destiny. He found after the fervid passions of youth had been the walls of the city laid open to admit a exhausted in licence; and in the untimely slow and solemn procession,-the streets fate of Adeodatus he bewailed at once the lined with chains to restrain the curiosity of evidence and the punishment of his early abthe populace, while Richelieu was conveyed errations. But doubt and dissipation never to his death-bed in the Palais Cardinal. Yet led astray the early steps of Bossuet. His a few days more and the youthful Bossuet saw his inanimate form on a bier of state, decked in the parade of death, and heard the masses chanted for the soul of the great statesman, who while he held her phlegmatic and aimless monarch in subjection, raised France to the rank of the first power in Europe.

Immediately on his arrival in Paris he was brought into contact with the most polished society of the capital. Such a society must have exercised a most potent influence on a mind like that of Bossuet, who united the strength of will and clear vision of a man to the boundless impetuosity of youth. His family was not unconnected with persons in high station. The astounding precocity of the young ecclesiastic was vaunted at the Hôtel de Rambouillet. The great ladies and brilliant wits who assembled there were desirous to see and hear the prodigy. He appeared one evening-a text was given him, and the subject of the sermon prescribed. After a short pause for reflection, Bossuet preached a sermon which was rapturously applauded. The preacher was then only sixteen, and the bel esprit Voiture declared, "qu'il n'avait jamais ouï précher ni si tot ni si tard." This mot served to make Bossuet's name known to all the notabilities of Paris. M. de Cospeau, Bishop of Lisieux, a prelate of great piety and learning, hearing of this sermon, was himself eager to be the witness of a similar improvisation. The experiment was repeated before himself and two other bishops The prelates were struck with admiration at

enemy, Madame de Montespan, declared in after life, that the most searching inquiries had elicited no fact which could cast a shadow of suspicion on his youth or manhood: he lived from the first a spotless life, as though he respected the sanctity of his genius.

Illi purpureus pudor, et sine labe juventus
Grata fuit."

Undiverted by the allurements of youth, his
energies were concentrated in preparing for
his holy calling. He disdained not the aid of
profane studies. The great exemplars of
Greece and Rome were ever in his hands.
From the "Pro Ligario," and the "De Cor-
onâ,"-from the indignant brevity of Tacitus
and the serried strength of Thucydides,-he
drew that vigor of style which, when enriched
by the sublime imagery of the prophets and
the tender pathos of the Evangelists and
early Fathers, placed him amongst the first
of Christian orators. To an immense apti-
tude for eloquence he united a prodigious
memory; and in his most advanced age he
was able to recite long and favorite pieces of
the writers and the poets of Greece and
Rome. He passed his different degrees and
acquited himself of his Theses in a manner
which attracted the rapturous admiration of
his audience and the applause of his superi-
ors. The great Condé, present on one occa-
sion was so excited by the young theologian's
ability, that he was almost tempted to hazard
his laurels won in other fields by entering the
lists as a volunteer against the young disputant.

For every fresh consecration to the service

ated that the canaille, as she termed the aristocracy of the bar, should attempt to limit that royal power which had subjugated the aristocracy of the sword. The arrest of Broussel, the protecteur du peuple, was the signal of open revolt. Paris became an entrenched camp. When Condé besieged the capital, Bossuet, to provide against contingencies, slept with four sacks of corn under his bed. Another day of barricades recalled the days of the League; and Paul de Gondi, who united the demagogic arts of a Gracchus to the profligacy and genius of a Sallust, became for a while the dictator of the capital. The Royalty, which it had taken five centuries to perfect, seemed on the point of perishing. Anne was at one time obliged to fly with the young Louis to St. Germain, and take refuge in the deserted château on beds of straw; at another time she was a prisoner in the Palais Royal, and obliged to show the boy-king asleep to quell the suspicions of an insurgent population.

of the Church Bossuet prepared himself with | old Rome. Anne of Austria was exasperdeep humility and a solemn sense of the important duties he was about to undertake. What greater proof can be shown of the earnestness with which he received the degree of Doctor, than that just before his death he repeated from memory the peroration of his Latin discourse on that occasion, in which he devoted his body and soul to the defence of truth with the fervent spirit of an early Christian martyr? It remained for him to receive the priesthood; and to do it worthily he placed himself under the spiritual direction of St. Vincent de Paul at Saint Lazare. St. Vincent de Paul recognised his aspiring genius, and subjected him to the guidance of the most simple and pious ecclesiastic of the seminary, a lesson in the deference due from intellect to character and virtue. Refusing all offers of advancement in Paris, and flying from the seductions of the brilliant society of the Hôtels de Nevers and Rambouillet, Bossuet betook himself to Metz, and there for the next six years he still devoted himself to an immense course Religious parties exhibited the same colliof theological study, and gained that inti- sion of opinion and authority. Although the mate acquaintance with the spirit, the doc- | fall of Rochelle had averted the civil sword trine, and the language of the Fathers, with from the Huguenots, although the strong the history of the Church, its councils and decretals, which distinguished him above all his contemporaries.

places recognised by the Edict of Nantes were dismantled, although the culverin no longer peered over the castle wall of the The state of France during this period Huguenot cavalier-through the pulpit and must have tended to confirm a mind loving the press they still continued the war on the stability and hating doubt in that spirit of ancient faith; their ministers still continued resolute dogmatism which marked his reli- to thunder in their temples against the hargious and political life. Scarcely were the lotries of Babylon, the tyranny of Pharaoh, Spanish standards captured at Sens carried and to lament the misfortunes of the house in triumph to Notre Dame, when a storm, of Israel. The sectarian spirit was, however, which had long been brooding, burst in the sufficiently relieved by these fiery declamainterior of France. The elements of disorder, tions; and the glorious edict of Henri IV., which the strong spirit of the Cardinal de had produced such good effects that no atRichelieu had kept in subjection, broke forth tempt was made by the Huguenot party to on all sides. The recent wars had necessi- take advantage of the troubles of the Fronde. tated enormous taxes; discontent was rife in But, on the other side, the victorious party town and country; the parliament, so long were less moderate. Cahier after cahier the ally of the monarchy against the aristoc- was sent up by the assemblies of the Catholic racy, was ambitious of independent action; clergy, complaining of the liberty of the the mutinous spirit of the noblesse, no longer | Protestants and their unresting zeal of procurbed by a ruthless policy, threatened again selytism. The Catholic population followed to seize the brand of civil warfare. The halls the lead of the clergy; and the scars of civil of the Palais resounded with the declama-broil were green in the minds of men in tions of Molé and Talon against state whose houses still hung the cross-bows and abuses; the young counsellers uttered mag- arquebuses that had done good service in the nificent harangues, says the "Parliament wars of the League. The Government was Journal," which had in them something of of necessity predisposed to treat the Hugue