and to the pope; and his persecutors, indignant at the menace, informed him, that as he declined their original award, they would effectually prevent his power of appeal by condemning him at once to the flames. Six hundred armed men surrounded the Place de Grêve on the day of his execution. A by-stander close to the stake, when Berquin approached it, perceived in him no change of countenance, no gesture betraying agitation. "You would have said", are the strong words employed, "that he was meditating in his library upon his studies, or in the church upon his God." Not even when the executioner read in a hoarse voice his accusation and sentence, did he shew one symptom of diminished fortitude. When ordered to dismount from the cart, he descended cheerfully without a moment's delay. His bearing, however, by no means indicated that stony want of feeling which brutal hardihood sometimes generates in atrocious criminals, but was rather the effect of a tranquil spirit at peace with God and with itself. The few words which he attempted to utter to the people, were rendered wholly inaudible by the shouts of the soldiery instructed to drown his last speech, if he should attempt to make one; and so effectually had the representations of the priests steeled the hearts of the ignorant spectators, that when he was strangled at the stake, (the only mercy accorded to him,) not a single "Jesu" was heard from the populace, ready as they always were to bestow such aspirations on murderers and parricides. "Thus much," says the bearer of that " great injured name" from whom we have borrowed the above narrative, who never failed in wisdom to detect folly and iniquity, or in honesty to visit them with the ridicule which he thought their best corrective ; "Thus much have I to relate to you concerning Berquin: if he died with a sound conscience, as I verily hope he did die, tell me in return, whose end could be happier."-Erasmus Epist. CLX.' pp. 18–21. ·

The effect of such proceedings was not the extinction of the reformed doctrine. The martyrdom of Berquin took place in 1529. In 1555, the first Protestant church in France was formed. Only four years later, a national synod of such churches was convened; and in 1562, they are said to have counted not fewer than 2140 congregations. So great were their numbers in Paris, that between 30,000 and 40,000 persons had assembled on the same spot for service. Many also of the nobility, and of the court, were either openly or secretly with them. Did our limits permit, we could willingly trace the varying condition of these confessors and martyrs to the point at which the present volume closes; but a few remarks on the evidence that the massacre on the eve of St. Bartholomew was preconcerted, must conclude the present article.

Our readers will remember, that, a few years ago, a spirited controversy on this point was carried on between Dr. Lingard and Dr. Allen. The former maintained, on the authority of certain statements made by the Duke of Anjou while in Poland, before his accession to the throne as Henry III., that the massacre had resulted from the failure of an attempt contrived by the

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queen-mother and the duke, without the knowledge of the king, to assassinate the admiral Coligny; that it was not until the failure of this attempt, that any thought was entertained of destroying both the admiral and his adherents, but that, partly by insinuations, and partly by threats, a mandate to that effect was obtained from the monarch. Thus, the intent to kill is restricted to one victim, and all that followed is made to be the effect of accident, panic, and the moment. But Dr. Allen has shewn, on the testimony of Cardinal D'Ossat, that an arrangement embracing the most ample vengeance' on the Hugonot party, had been long formed, and conducted with the most consummate artifice, on the part of the king and others. The reason, however, of our adverting to this matter at present, is to observe, that, since the controversy between Dr. Allen and Dr. Lingard, a volume has appeared in Paris, entitled "Monumens Inedits de l'Histoire de France: 1. Correspondence de Charles IX. et de Mandelot, Gouverneur de Lyon, pendant l'année 1572. 2. Lettres des Seize au Roi d'Espagne, Philippe II." This work exposes the falsehood of Dr. Lingard's account, in a manner which must put an end to all further discussion relating to it. From the letters of the king, and of the queen-mother, contained in this volume, and from the answer to them, it appears that, some days before the attempt on the life of the admiral, and nearly a fortnight before the massacre, expedients were adopted to prevent the flight of the unhappy victims, whose sacrifice was to prove an occasion of so much joy to the veteran cut-throat then filling the chair of St. Peter *. We regret that Mr. Smedley does not appear to be acquainted with the publication we have noticed; and as his next volume will commence with an account of the proceedings in Paris on the night of the 23d of August, 1572, we strongly recommend it to his careful perusal.

*The question of premeditation is also examined at length in the 3d Vol. of Sir James Mackintosh's History of England (Lardner's Cyclop. XXXVII.), by his Continuator. Viscount Chateaubriand has made a feeble attempt to disprove the premeditation, on the authority of the secret despatches of Salviati, the papal nuncio, discovered in the Vatican. From these he made copies and extracts, which he communicated to the late Sir James Mackintosh; and they are given in the Appendix to this volume. The whole evidence of the Nuncio, however, consists of bare and brief assertion, without a syllable of direct or circumstantial proof; and it is shewn, that Salviati actually refutes himself. Besides which, he was not in the confidence of Charles and Catherine, who communicated with the Pope, not through the Nuncio, but through their ambassador Ferralz, or a special envoy.

Art. IV. Essays on Religious Subjects. By a Layman. Foolscap 8vo. pp. 460. London, 1829.

AN involuntary feeling leads one to look for something impertinent or obtrusive, something slenderly filled out with genuine knowledge, something half-shapen, something untimely, something out of joint and out of order, something, in a word, which had better have been mused upon in private, or talked of in a snug circle, than hung up on high for the public gaze, when one opens a book, on a professional theme, by one who avows himself to be-not of the profession.

It is natural to ask, If a man be indeed competent to the subject he undertakes, why is it that he is not of the profession? Has he been thrown out of it? Has he been foiled again and again in his attempts to enter it? Or does he belong to that innominate class of shy invisibles, of impalpable and uutenable skulkers, that lurk here and there, but are nowhere present to any assignable purpose; that are never to be held down to a definite affair, and that, with perhaps many talents, and many endowments, and much to say, actually do nothing and say nothing which can be spoken of, looked at, or turned to any effective account in the real business of life? If so, then be sure there must be a capital flaw or a jar in the man's understanding; and it is twenty to one his book will be like himself, too good to be treated with sheer contempt, yet not good enough to stand in the place which, had it been only a little better, it would certainly have occupied. Or is this same intruder, a taster, a dabbler, an amateur? Then away with him at once from the platform of serious affairs and momentous interests, where his presence is an intolerable burden! Hinder us, we will say, hinder us by open opposition, if you will ;-wage war against our undertakings;-slander us, and entreat us evil in every way which bold hostility thinks of; but we pray do not come mincing on, where we have a combat to achieve, with the simpering impertinences of volunteer bravery.Tread, if you please, with a manly step, the road we are treading; but do not advance tip-toe and with a measured step, like the Aurora or the Flora or the Hebe of a fire screen!

Yes, it must be confessed that all this spontaneous prejudice lies against the character and pretensions of a non-professional meddler in professional matters. And other prejudices too, of a more distinct sort, which we do not mean here to take account of, set themselves in array to repel such intrusions. Nevertheless, there are instances forthcoming, quite enough to warrant the bringing in of a rule which shall serve to protect and even encourage lawless invasions of this sort; and our authoritative and well

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pondered conclusion is the grudging looks of certain personages notwithstanding-that leave should be granted, henceforth, as heretofore, to men (and women too) though not licenced by the college of physicians, to report what they may have chanced to see and know of disease and of methods of cure:-also, and in like manner, to gentlemen, not of the Temple, to speculate, to speak, and to write upon codes, statutes, and constitutions;-and especially, to all erudite Laymen to compose and print-" Essays on Religious Subjects", or other lucubrations upon the sacred matters of faith or practice.

We say, ESPECIALLY TO LAYMEN; and we have said it wittingly, and for reasons we can assign as for example.

1st, Monopolies, patents, and exclusive pretensions, of all sorts, are just now melting away like ice-bergs that have drifted down into lat. 55°; and it would be peculiarly inexpedient, at this moment, so stiffly to insist upon clerical privilege, as should provoke rude assault upon what, after all, we do not wish to see broken down and trampled in the dust. Better to afford a little grace to well-mannered intruders, who, with civility, may be retained as friends and coadjutors, than hunt them out of the presence, vi et armis.

2dly, and to be quite serious.-It must surely be granted, that the means of becoming well and truly informed on matters of Theology, whether critical or abstruse, do actually lie within the reach of well educated men, although they may never have heard a divinity lecture, and never stood either in desk or pulpit. Theology, in this respect, differs materially from medicine and law, of which no man can be thoroughly and practically informed, who has not, in fact, passed through a process which, whether or not he bears professional titles and a certain garb, would qualify him to challenge any honours. Who will say that a man of piety, leisure, and learning, may not have much to say, that is worth the hearing, on theological subjects, even if he would make a poor figure in front of a thousand faces, and may be quite unfit to exercise ecclesiastical supremacies.

3dly, and to be still more serious. Must it not be granted, as a prerogative which a religious and well informed layman may justly allege in defence of his intrusion upon sacred ground, that there is a vividness of feeling in matters of religion, that there is a freshness of the spirit, that there is as well an external as an internal INDEPENDENCE, that there is a power of abstraction, and lastly, that there is a certain secular vigour of judgement; all of which may, with great advantage, be brought to bear upon the treatment of sacred themes, and all of which are especially liable to be impaired, or curtailed, or quite excluded, by the intellectual habits, by the onerous duties, and by the profes

sional motives of the preacher, the pastor, and the ecclesiastical dignitary?

We verily believe, that a decisive answer must be given in the affirmative to this hypothetical statement. Nay, we might (careful still to give no offence to those who should engage always the highest esteem) go a little further, and affirm that, in those critical seasons, (perhaps the present is such a season,) when all men feel that a revolution, or, shall we say, a general recension opinions is coming on, and when sensible men of all parties are pretty well wearied of certain venerable modes of speaking;—that, at such a moment, a service of peculiar importance might be rendered by some who, absolutely indifferent to the fate and interests of parties, and having nothing to care for but the purification and spread of God's holy truth, might take their course over the ground with a calm courage and steady purpose, such as is hardly to be expected in those who fill a locality, who wear a garb they are mindful not to have rent or soiled, and who walk hand in hand with colleagues.

But we will not rush, uncalled, upon difficult and hypothetical matters; and instead of doing so, will take a turn or two upon the open ground of plain history. What are the facts then? Can it be affirmed that the Church-we would rather say Christianity-has, during the lapse of ages, to any measurable extent, been well served and advanced in the world by the writings of men, not of the sacred profession, and not engaged in the ordinary duties of popular instruction? A large question this, which to treat properly would fill a volume. Of course we can but touch it here as we run. But, as a preliminary, we must ask, What is it makes the priest-what the layman? Without attempting the thorny question concerning orders', we assume a rule of discrimination-a rule, we grant, not in every case decisive, That he is a clerical or sacerdotal person who actually bears office in the church, has a certain responsibility to support, and is ordinarily employed in the work of congregational teaching, or of ecclesiastical government. On the other hand, whoever is found to have devoted his time and service to religion, apart from office and public labour, belongs to our list of LAY THEOLOGIANS.

It is not every reader of the sacred canon who may be aware how many of the inspired writers we might, by this rule, fairly claim as laymen. Some of our instances may indeed be ambiguous and disputable; but the most illustrious of the names which we place at the head of our SECULAR CATALOGUE, are liable to no question. Assuredly he who led the descendants of Abraham through the howling wilderness, the king in Jeshurun, and the author of the Pentateuch, was no priest. We challenge then Moses, as the first of lay theologians. Shall we give him, as a fit companion, Job;-or the writer of his history? Elihu,