The Press. — London, England, 1853-08-27 00:00:00

1 400 Xittrattrt. Sermon sous Louis X fV. Par L. F. Bun . gener. Paris : Cherbulicz et Cic. The Preacher and the King ; or, Bourdaloue in the Court of Louis XIV. With an Introduc tion by the Rev. George Potts, D.D. New York : Triibner and CO. WHETHER original literature will in the end be served by the "cheap-publisher" system is a question admitting of various solutions. Like other speculative subjects, it has its two sides, one taken by the sanguine votaries of " popu larity," and the other embnteed by those scep tical observers who believe that the mob of readers are not coMpetent to discern supe riority. In support Of these conflicting views it would be easy to marshal facts on either side. Without now discussing this interest ing topic, we will permit ourselves to express a very strong opinion upon one part of the subject. We decidedly think that the pur veyors of cheap fiction have been singularly slow in discerning works of merit adapted for popular circulation. The charming tales of the Countess d'Arbouville received scarcely any critical notice until we called attention to their issue in America. And again it is our province to record the filet that so interesting a historical novel as Monsieur Bungeuer's "Sermon sous Louis Quatorze should first appear in an English dress amongst our transatlantic cousins. The " Sermon under Louis the Fourteenth" combines the interest of a historical novel with the graver merits of the liter►uy essay. While painting characters and describing manners it lays bare with philosophic clearness the springs of action that swayed the Gallica!' di vines in their very peculiar relations with Louis XIV. It explores with research some portions of French society which have not been titirily described, and displays great inge nuity in blending the didactic with the de seriptive. Its author is a French Protestant clergyman, who has also written the history of the Council of Trent. But his philosophi cal novel now before us is his most interest►ng performance. We will condense the narrative of his ingenious work into the form of a histo rical anecdote, and even in that shape we hope to give our readers some insight into the merits of this able exereitation. ----- - The interest of the tale is made from the very first page to converge upon the simple fact of the renowned pulpit orator, Father Bourdaloue, being about to preach the Good Friday sermon at Versailles. The reader will be apt to wonder how a plot can be woven on so slender a tissue. But surrounding circum stances make that simple incident intensely dramatic, invest it with colour, and envelop it in the fears and hopes that spring from the human heart. For mark ! The sermon is to be preached by an illustrious orator, whose morality equals his genius, and that sermon is to be ad ,ressed to a powerful King, at the very time when Madame de Montespan— ah! c'est vt ! A Jesuit, a Royal lover, and a pretty naughty woman—a priest, a petticoat. and a King—these ingredients can be worked into nominee, as they have often been already. But not easily, we reply, with such etreet as in the 1 eculiar and perfectly original method followed by Monsieur Bungener. Here is the way at which he arrives at what dramatists would call "the compound action" of his story. One fine Sunday in the spring of 1675 two persons were walking together in the park at Versailles, and conversing in an animated num ner. The younger of the two appeared to be relating some anecdotes of great interest, and at intervals he was vehemently intempted by his elder companion. If we could have heard the speaker we might have been charmed with his voice, and his lively method of talking about the Court, the Grand Monarque, and the scandals of the day. His talk was not in the trivial, twaddling style of a quidnunc, but was enlivened with sentiment, and dictated by good taste. Nor was that wonderful, when Abbe de Fenelon was the speaker, and when the subject of his conversation with his THE PRESS. high-spirited uncle was the fact that Madame de Montespan had actually been refused abso• lution, and would not be allowed to receive the sacrament, at the approaching Easter! It was decidedly a step in advance that the King's mistress should at last be discounte flamed in adultery. But shrewd folk whispered that the scandal would be hushed, and that some clever ruse would be played off, by which the King might still indulge in breaking the seventh commandment, and preserve a decent conformity with external religion. For, as the young Abbe de Fenelon remarked, " Even the highest dignitaries of the Church thronged Madame de Montespan 's antechamber; and it was only at her very last soiree—" "At which I told you not to be present, my nephew," said the Marquisde Fenelon, where upon, while the nephew was reassuring the uncle that his commands had been faithfully kept, there came in sight a large party of persons, dressed in ecclesiastical costume, and with a livery servant walking in the rear carrying a large bible. It was one of the walking parties of Bossuet and his friends, who used thus to read and comment together upon a chapter in the Bible. There was the Abbe de Ilenaudot, a profound Orientalist; and De Langeron, deep in general history; and Fleury, in the annals of the Church; and Cordemoy, in dogmatic theo . logy ; and Heath', and De la Brune, and some others ; and, greatest of them all, the Bishop of Condom himself, afterwards to be still more famous as Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux. These persons were called in derision by the Court Lea Philoaop►hea ; but a century later France wept tears of blood at the sayings and doings of philasop►hes of another kind. The Fenelons joined Bossuet's party, and the old marquis, in bantering tone, complained to the Bishop of Condom how fine his nephew, the young abbe, was in his criticism upon Bourdalouc. Now, Bossuet was, to some ex tent, jealous of the thine of Bourdaloue as a great preacher, and he listened to the young Abbe de Fenelon criticising the style of Bour daloue as too purely logical and deficient in the entrainnuent of genuine eloquence. Vastly interesting was the conversation that followed on the art of preaching, as reported in this chronicle of Monsieur Bungener; and we never read more judicious strictures on some branches of the " art of the pulpit" than in these semi-historical dialogues. The old Mar quis do Fenelon then continued to lead the conversation with Bossuet to the scandal of the day, and told the Bishop of Condom how people wondered at the fact that the clergy did not dare to rebuke the King, but addressed him as usual in the style of flattery from the preacher's chair. The old marquis, a liberal Catholic, even relates how Arnauld of Pont Royal was beginning to speculate on the grave account that the Catholic divines would have to render to God. " Ha!" cried Bossuet, "and so you know the schismatic Arnauld?" "He is the first man in the Church of France," replied the marquis, pausing as he saw the frown on Bossuet's brow, and adding, with courtly grace, " apres vous !" But, while they were entering on this matter, they were inter rupted by a page in the royal livery with the words, " His Majesty commands the attend ance of Monsieur de Condom," and, as Bossuet turned round to obey the order, he suddenly found himself in presence of the King. At the desire of Louis they went to the palace, and the topic of the day, the audacity of a priest in refusing absolution to Madame de Montespan, was opened up by the King. who expressed his haughty displeasure at the insolence of an obscure priest sitting in judg ment on his Sovereign. Bossuet told him that the priest only did his duty. "Very well, then," said Louis, affecting to trifle ; "it only comes to this, that Madame de Montespan will not go to communion ; neither shall I." Bossuet tries to soothe him, and reminds the King how readily, as Bishop of Condom, he would defend the Galilean liberties against the excommunication of the Papacy ; but, " pronounced or not, there is another excom munication that is written in heaven." "Which you think I have incurred r asked the King, as if in sonic alarm. " Thou shalt not conm►it adultery," sternly repeated Bossuet, and the word " adultery " actually came with novel effect on the King's ear. It was the first time SATURDAY, that any one within his hearing had presumed to call his liaison an adultery ! Bossuet with great trouble succeeded so far as to get the King to express a desire that Madame de Montespan should go away from the Court. Potent as he was, Louis stood in awe of his haughty mistress, who ruled him with her frown, and he resolved to send Bossuet to her, and with much hesitation the bishop accepted the mission of persuading De Montespan to retire, and to her chambers he accordingly re paired. At that time Madame de Montespan ruled almost supreme over the courtiers. And Boa suet found tout le monde assembled in her part of the palace, but the mistress had not yet made her appearance for the day. At last in she came, followed by twenty ladies, and was re ceived with universal homage. Soon after an other door opened, and a lady came in with a suite of dames d 'honneur, and was looked on with indifference by the crowd. It was only the Queen of France ! Before many minutes had elapsed it appeared that Madame de Montespan wished the com pany to retire. " She was indisposed, and would not receive visitors to-day." The crowd vu nished, except Bossuet. In the authority of the King's name he found instant admission to her, and then took place a keen encounter of wits between the rival tongues of the artful orator and the not less arttnl woman. She commenced the battle with asking, with an air of vehemence, " When will Madame La Val- Here make her profession, and who is to preach the sermon ?" "In about two months, said Bossuet, " and probably I'll preach the ser mon." The lady paused, looked sarcastically at the prelate, and said, "Ah ! and you have come to tell me, Monsieur de Condom, that this one sermon might he made to answer for two ? Eh ! is it so ?" It was a masterstroke on her part, and would have succeeded with many persons ; but Bossuet met the taunting thrust with the shield of assumed frigidity, and told her that her guess was not far wrong. Then she became excited, and brought into action all the fiery vehemence of her arrogant nature. She railed at the absurdity of having two measures of conscience—one for the King, another for the woman : the male sinner, for sooth, was to be absolved, and the female one to be excommunicated, or sent to a nunnery ! She even denounced Bossuet as trying to be a Riche lieu under Louis XIV., and she gave him by her outburst an opportunity of seeing how natural passion can often approach the invective of art. Exhausted by her effort, she then burst into tears. Now it was Bossuet's turn to re proach her with ambition, and he taunted her with loving not the man but the King; and he implored her, if she really did love Louis, to fly from the Court. She was softened, and in a yielding, submissive mood, when a noise was heard outside, and in came ladies to the rescue of Montespan ; it would sound strange that one of them was a nun, and a mother abbess ! But it was even so. They were her own sisters, Ma dame de Thianges and the Abbess of Pontou• rault. The latter, who wore her cross of office, was accustomed to frequent the rooms of her sister, having taken the part of affecting never to see or hear anything particular. Their arri val was the signal of Bossuet's retreat. - - She saw at a glance that the sisters would support the mistress—that Montespan would again conquer the man—and the man in turn triumph over the King. He resolved to fall back on Bourdaloue, and induce this renowned preacher to set tradition at defiance, and assail the King, face to face, in his Good Friday ser mon ! The idea was bold, but it was easier to think of than to execute. He repaired to Bourdaloue's residence, and could see the sha. dow of a mau falling upon the walls of his chamber inside. "Ah ! Bourdaloue him self, walking up and down, getting his sermon by heart." liossuet knocked, and a lacquey appeared. "Is Pere Bourdaloue at home?" "Nos, monseigneur, it ext sorti." "Did the good father desire you to tell lies ? Well! We must see him, however," Bossuet as cended, and was received in a very different manner than what he expected. Scarcely had he appeared at the preacher's door than Bour daloue sprang forward, and saluted him with— ." Welcome, Monsieur Claude. I am very happy