tinct substances in the unity of God, as persons; and in this wise he infers, by metaphysical speculation, the three persons of the Christian Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This singular attempt to prove one of the most profound mysteries of evangelical doctrine by means of rational arguments, was equally opposed by orthodox Catholics and philosophers. The former accused him of rashly transferring into the regions of intellect and logic that which belongs entirely to revelation and faith. The latter reproached him with still wearing some of the links of his old chains, and making freethought subordinate to the lucubrations of the school

man.

In speaking of the universe, or creation, M. de Lamennais tries to discover the connexion between the infinite and the finite; that question everlastingly started by the human mind, and to solve which every investigation has failed. Our modern philosopher reproduced in many of its features, under new forms, the emanation theory of the Neoplatonicians of Alexandria. He maintains that the world is an efflux from the Divine Being. "O God!" he exclaims, on finishing his demonstration, "that which thou createst thou drawest from thyself. Thou bestowest thyself to thy creature. ... His being is somewhat of thy being; his substance somewhat of thy substance; his power, his intelligence, his life a participation of thy power, thy intelligence, thy life."

In the following volumes M. de Lamennais treats of man considered in himself, and of his activity in the different spheres of life-industry, art, and science. He seeks first to explain the existence of evil, both moral and physical. In his eyes evil is simply the effect of the limit put upon finite things, a necessary imperfection, an inevitable condition of created beings; consequently there is no evil for him in the ordinary sense of the word, no original sin; the fall of Adam appears to him to be a myth designed to show how man has acquired the consciousness of his own personality. In short, in the theory of M. de Lamennais, good and evil are no longer radically distinct, they are only different degrees of the same thing; evil is good limited; and good in its turn, as far as it can be accomplished by the creature, is always evil, in this sense, that it is not absolute good.

M. de Lamennais applies in matters of religion, both to natural and to supernatural questions, the same process of assimilation between ideas which mankind has always separated. He does not admit the intervention of the supernatural element in creation; he declares it impossible, contradictory; and here his opinion approaches that of the philosopher Hume. No miracles, no prophecies, no action beyond the general and constant laws of nature; no appearance of a Being who belongs not entirely to humanity-Jesus Christ was a simple man, endowed with superior spirit. M. de Lamennais thought that Christianity, by freeing itself from all that is supernatural and miraculous, would re. vive full of youth and vigour.

The other subjects are of minor importance; there are some chapters upon art, impressed with admirable beauty. The author explains how the plan of the Christian temple has given rise in succession to all the arts-architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and poetry. The chapter upon the art of oratory contains also some ravishing passages, in which the marvellous skill of the language rivals the justice and sublimity of the thoughts.

But, as a whole, the "Sketch of a Philosophy" is only another attempt in the inexhaustible field of metaphysical speculation; the problems of science are not better explained there than they had been before; mysteries remain mysteries still; and the Word of God, with its simple and popular doctrines, its Divine precepts, and its sublime examples, will always have an influence, not only on the common people, but on the greatest minds, immeasurably more salutary than those gigantic efforts of human reason which often serve to show more solemnly its own impotence.

Although he had renounced Christianity in consummating his rupture with the Church of Rome, the Abbé de Lamennais was brought back to religious questions, or, at least, to those that appeared such, by the secret inclinations of his own heart; and in 1846 he published a new French version of the "Four Gospels," with notes and reflections at the end of each chapter. The version is a model of fidelity and conciseness, and it has been profitably used by pious men. But the notes and reflections are not very satisfactory. The author, without perhaps being able

to account for it himself, considers all the facts and teachings of the Word of God in a political point of view. The resurrection of Jesus, for example, he treats as the resurrection of the people. Salvation is the development of truth and love in the world; the communion is the symbolical union of all classes of earthly society, and so on. With such a treatment, Christianity becomes the code of democracy, and the great image of eternity vanishes before the ephemeral concerns of this every-day life.

While M. de Lamennais was engaged in his literary labours, the revolution of February 1848 came on to shake France and Europe itself to the very foundation. Louis Philippe vanquished without having fought, descended from the throne, and again travelled on the path of exile. The republic was proclaimed, and universal suffrage instituted. The people declared itself sovereign; all the laws were changed; a new era of greatness and prosperity was promised to the present generation; it seemed, if one could believe the orators, clubs, and democratical journals, that the golden age was about to revisit the earth.

M. de Lamennais, as one of the chiefs and the best writer of the republican party, was naturally called to take a part in these events. In concert with several friends he started a daily paper called the "Peuple Constituant." Talent was not wanting in the editor-in-chief; but the occupation of a journalist little accorded with his habits. A journalist must every morning extemporise two or three columns on the affairs of the day; he needs a quick conception, an elastic intellect, if one may so speak, and a style capable of adopting itself to all the variations of the public mind. M. de Lamennais was hardly suited for this; his mighty intellect and classical taste required more space, more time, and more liberty.

We must render this justice to M. de Lamennais to say, that in the most critical moments he opposed the aberrations of the vulgar socialists. Socialism, which threatened to dissolve family ties, to abolish property, to oppress the human conscience, and to submerge individuality into the chaos of the pretended popular will, did not excite in him the least sympathy. He vigorously defended from such excesses the sacredness of marriage, the rights of the lawful proprietors of land and of capital, the

inviolability of thought, the individuality of the man. So well did he defend all this that the conservatives more than once invoked his opinion to refute the declamations of the socialists.

But if he remained faithful to certain principles of social order and domestic duty, the editor of the "Peuple Constituant" fell, on the other hand, into dangerous exaggerations. He had per suaded himself that all the good qualities of our nature belong to the poor and lowly, all the worst to the rich and powerful. He represented the lower orders as innocent victims, all but martyrs, and the members of the higher ranks as oppressors, covetous, and merciless beings, executioners! The dis tinction of the Bible between the good and the bad was transferred by him to social life, and applied to the various ranks of the nations. How erroneous ! How imprudent! No! all the virtues are not found with the one class, nor all the vices with the other. There is good among the high, and bad among the low; so that an impartial observer would be embarrassed to decide whether the largest amount of moral disease exists in the higher or the lower sections of society. By drawing these chimerical pictures M. de Lamennais provoked, contrary to his intention, no doubt, the resentment of the populace; he furnished them with motives of hatred against the superior classes of the State, and thus exposed France to the greatest dangers. But the "Peuple Constituant" did not last long; it disappeared after the fatal days of June, when the govern ment required journalists to furnish a security, which the editor had not the means of paying.

Another mission was reserved for him the citizens of Paris, called to the exercise of universal suffrage, elected him as one of their representatives at the Constituent Assembly. He obtained more than two hundred thousand votes. It was a striking proof of the popularity he had gained by his democratic preaching; it was also a pledge of hostility. against the Ultramontane party. For, imagine the man condemned, excommunicated by the Pope, yet chosen from among so many others by the great majority of the Parisians to be one of the legislators of France! It was impossible. to manifest a more complete contempt for the thunders of the Vatican.

Many people hoped that M. de La

mennais would play a brilliant part in the new Legislative Assembly. Their expectation was deceived. An able writer is not always a good speaker. The art of the pen and that of the tribune are very distinct. Some eminent men, both in ancient and modern times, have united these two talents. In others it has been quite the reverse. Mirabeau spoke admirably, but wrote badly; M. de Lamennais, on the contrary, knew how to write, but did not know how to speak.

Even in the days of his Catholic fervour he had never practised preaching. We would not even affirm that he ever delivered a single sermon; his natural timidity, and the weakness of his voice would never have allowed him to rule the immense crowds that congregate in the Roman Catholic cathedrals, and he would not compromise his reputation by the chance of a failure. In 1848 he was sixty-six years old; his body was worn out by constant work. With the forehead bald, the face thin, and bearing marks of suffering, he might be seen walking with difficulty, bent double beneath the weight of age and thought, to advance humbly towards his seat, to stoop over the papers before him, then remain in an attitude of calm meditation. How could he have faced so turbulent and undisciplined an auditory as the Constituent Assembly? He spoke only once, in a few words taking upon himself the responsibility of a newspaper article threatened with judicial proceedings; he had surmounted his natural timidity in order to accomplish a duty.

His colleagues, profiting by his рориlarity, gave him more than one proof of confidence; they named him member of the committee charged with framing a new constitution. M. de Lamennais accepted this duty; but, although he had drawn up, himself, in his newspaper, the plan of a popular charter, he took very little part in the proceedings of the committee. Not only was he unable to speak well, but he had none of the qualities which secure influence in a parliamentary assembly. He could not organise an intrigue, nor strengthen a coterie, nor satisfy either the ambition of the one, or the vanity of the other. M. de Lamennais was eminently a man of study and meditation; he was wanting in those elements which make the public

man.

Nevertheless, in 1849, when the second and last assembly of the Republic, the Legislative Assembly, was elected, his name figured foremost on the list of the representatives for Paris. The people considered it of importance to preserve in parliament the old priest, the illustrious writer, the approved democrat, the firm tribune, who had defended their cause for the last twenty years. M. de Lameunais was, in the Legislative Assembly, what he had been in the former one; that is to say, a stranger to all the little stratagems of a politician, silent, peaceful, always voting with the most advanced friends of democracy, rejecting reactionary measures, no matter by what pretexts they were supported, and maintaining a position which was not without dignity or grandeur. Even his adversaries showed him respect.

Presently the coup d'état of the 2nd December, 1851, burst upon the nation. It is unnecessary to recal the particulars of this bloody drama which is still in the memory of all. On investing himself with the dignity of Dictator by the aid of the army, Louis Napoleon pronounced sentence of banishment against the principal chiefs of the republican party; but he did not think it necessary to include M. de Lamennais in the number of the proscribed. Why? Because he did not fear him; he knew that M. de Lamennais was a man of the pen rather than a man of action, and as he possessed ample means to prevent him from publishing any new work, Louis Napoleon allowed him to remain on his native soil.

M. de Lamennais retired to his humble lodgings in the Rue du Grand Chantier, a quiet part of Paris. Friends used to visit him, and ask for strength and hope which he did not himself possess. The missionary of democracy, the apostle of the Republic, was downcast and sad. His confidence in the energy of the French nation had been deceived. His expectation of a golden era of liberty and glory was only a vain dream. He saw his country quickly bending beneath the sway of a military dictator, and the people seek ing their own temporal welfare with an ardour he had hoped would have been directed to nobler ends.

It seems that, ever urged on by the desire to write, M. de Lamennais had begun a translation of Dante, the great

poet of the middle ages. He intended to affix numerous notes to this translation, to explain the ideas and events of a period when Roman Catholicism reigned without obstacle or control. The questions of scholasticism which found a place in the poems of Dante, were also to take theirs in the annotations of the modern thinker. But while engaged upon this immense work, M. de Lamennais was attacked by a fatal disorder, and he rapidly approached his end. At the news of his dangerous condition all clerical influences were set in motion; the Archbishop of Paris sent several times to request an interview with the illustrious invalid. Jesuits, priests, and many old friends continually besieged his door, and even ladies of the highest rank tried every means to gain admittance to induce him to be reconciled to the Church. The clergy were desirous, at any price, to extort from M. de Lamennais a retractation, a last act of submission to the Papacy. All these obstinate efforts were in vain. The author of "The Words of a Believer remained immoveable in his refusal; he did not admit a single priest to his chamber. What were his thoughts and impressions in those solemn moments? It is a secret between God and his conscience.

He expired on the 27th of January, 1854, having nearly reached his seventysecond year. He requested in his will that he might not be buried in any church,

and that no funeral ceremonies should be performed over him. The government, fearing a grand manifestation on the part of the democrats and the workmen of Paris, hastened to announce in all the journals, and by bills on the public places, that only twenty persons, the most intimate friends of the deceased, would be allowed to attend his funeral. This order was strictly executed. The troops were under arms, ready to suppress the least opposition to the will of government. The body was taken direct to the burial-ground, and cast into the common grave for the poor. No discourse over the tomb, no monument, nothing to indicate the spot where lie the remains of the great writer. As his cortége passed through the streets thousands of citizens stood at their doors with head uncovered, and preserving the most profound silence.

Let us also bend over this grave so recently closed. M. de Lamennais fell doubtless into many grave errors. The frequent changes of his opinions diminished the authority of his name, compromised his character, and weakened the effect of his genius. But no one can deny that he always loved and sought for the truth. He was sincere even at the cost of heavy sacrifices; and sincerity is at least some excuse if it is not a complete justification. Let us leave it to God to pronounce a just and sovereign judgment. G. DE F.

Paul's, and there he is said to have imbibed his passion for a military life from the perusal of " Vegetius de Re Militari.' At a very early period, before he could derive much benefit from his new instructors, he was called to other and more stirring scenes.

At fifteen he was appointed page of honour to the Duke of York. His decided inclination for the profession of arms attracted the notice of his patron, who asked him in what manner he should provide for him. Young Churchill threw himself on his knees, and begged for a commission in the Guards; and his request was immediately granted. The beauties of St. James's were already