# Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 4

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Chapter IV.
MAXIMILIAN MISSON.
A wish has been expressed, that there could be found or compiled some record of the impressions and sensations of the French Protestant Refugees among the strange scenes and society of England. It is because one of Misson’s books, entitled, “Observations of a Traveller,” contains materials for such a record that I devote a chapter to him.
His father was the Pasteur Jacques Misson, who at the time of the Revocation was in charge of the Reformed Church of Niort. He and his family were naturalized in England on the 15th April 1687; in the Patent Rolls their names are enumerated thus:— “James Misson (clerk); Judith, his wife; Maximilian, James-Francis, and Henry-Peter, their sons; and Anne-Margaret, their daughter.” That they may have endured hardships on their way may perhaps seem probable from Quick’s description of a manuscript book of the Acts of the National Synods which was lent to him by “that reverend and ancient minister of Christ, Monsieur Misson, who had been pastor of the Church of Niort,” which manuscript was “fairly written, but much impaired by rain and salt water.” Maximilian Misson says of those refugee ministers who had no fixed charges (either because of the impossibility of finding a congregation for every one, or because they were forestalled by “the first that came over”):—
“With pious resignation they submitted to the decree of providence, which so disposed of them; until age and infirmity laid their arrest upon them, although not in charge of a congregation, they preached frequently, visited the sick and the afflicted, and wrote books of devotion; and their whole conduct had a sweet savour of charity and edification.”
This panegyric (I may say) partly applies to old Misson, the pastor, who was alive in the year 1695, aged seventy-six.
I have found no account of any of the family, except of the eldest son, Maximilian, who (according to Haag) was born about the middle of the seventeenth century, and was one of the Protestant Judges in “The Chamber of the Edict, in the parliament of Paris.” Soon after becoming a refugee, he was selected by James, 1st Duke of Ormond, to be tutor to his younger grandson, Lord Charles Butler. This youth was created Earl of Arran in 1693, and became a lieutenant-general in the army, and Chancellor of Oxford University. Misson travelled with him through Holland, Germany, and Italy, and out of this arose his celebrated work, “Nouveau Voyage d’ltalie.” To this young lord he dedicated this book on 1st January 1691. From an enlarged edition, I make this note, namely, that he was never ashamed to be recognised as a Frenchman except twice, — once in 1695, when he was shown how the French army had gutted one of the Duke of Savoy’s charming palaces; and again, “when I saw myself reduced to the necessity of falling into the hands of a Dunkirk privateer.”
Misson’s writings prove him to have been a man of taste, and a connoisseur as to the fine arts. Benoist, speaking of the desolations committed upon lovely mansions and pleasure grounds by the dragoons and the Popish mobs, adds, that the beautiful mansion in the environs of the city belonging to Misson, one of the councillors of the Parliament of Paris, and its garden with its tasteful decorations, were no exceptions to the rule, but were totally laid waste. I give the full titles, both of the originals and of the translations, of Misson’s celebrated works, best editions:—
His account of the miracles and prophecies of the French Prophets was entitled, “Theatre Sacre des Cevennes, ou Recit des prodiges arrivees dans cette partie du Languedoc.” Lond.: 1707.
His “Memoires et Observations” were finished on the day when news arrived in England of the signing of the Treaty of Ryswick. It is from the translation, published twenty-one years afterwards, that I now select a series of passages, from which we discover some of Maximilian Misson’s sensations in his adopted country, and of his sentiments concerning it. [This translation, having come into my possession soonest, was my quarry, and having now compared it with the original French, I find it accurate and well executed. The book consists of articles, arranged alphabetically according to their headings — an arrangement which occasioned the only change made by the translator. For instance, the first article in the original was headed Angleterre; but the translated article, being headed England, had to be transferred so as to appear under the letter E.] We picture a refugee on his voyage from France. Finding himself at port and wishing to reach London, he has asked information as to means of transit. He is therefore now able to inform us (p. 331):—
“They have several ways of travelling in England, and the prices are all fixed. The post is under a good regulation throughout, and the horses are better than those in France. There are coaches that go to all the great towns by moderate journeys, and others which they call Flying Coaches, that will travel twenty leagues a day and more; but these don’t go to all places. They have no Messageries de Chevaux as in France, but you may hire horses for what time you please. The sea and the rivers also furnish their respective conveniences for travelling. I say nothing of the waggons, which are great carts, covered in, that lumber along very heavily; only a few poor old women make use of this vehicle.”
In London he remarks upon the old streets, whose houses are (p. 134) “the scurviest things in the world, nothing but wood and plaster, and nasty little windows, but with one little casement to open — the stories low, widened one over another all awry, and in appearance ready to fall.” He admires, however, the streets built since the great fire; “the houses are built with brick, with even fronts, without magnificence or anything like it, but with sufficient symmetry and neatness, roofed with tile, and generally built high enough. Balconies are very much in use. All the rooms have ceilings, and the windows are large and sashed; the ground- floors and the first floors are always wainscottcd — sometimes the second floors also.”
He notices (p. 283) how Englishmen, when they meet, no more dream of pulling off their hats than women would think of pulling off their head-gear; they salute one another by giving one another their hands, and shaking them heartily, but (p. 74) without that flood of compliments that usually pours out of the mouth of the French, Italians, &c.
“Other nations upbraid this as incivility; but every one follows his own ideas, and the idea of the English is, that civility does not consist wholly of outward demonstrations, which very often are hypocritical and deceitful.”
​But Misson observed how the English Court at that time was more exacting of outward courtesy than even the Court of Louis XIV., the officers in attendance on the French king at a review being allowed to keep their hats on, whereas (p. 29) “I saw the King of England reviewing above 12,000 men (which could be no short review) surrounded by a large attendance, all with hat in hand.”
As we have come within sight of royalty, there may be introduced here an account of King James’ agitation at the approach of the expedition from Holland, which Misson asserts to have come under his attention at first-hand (p. 242). James, being very restless and uneasy, on 23d October (1688) orders a weathercock to be placed where he might see it from his apartment, that he may ascertain with his own eyes whether the wind is Protestant or Popish; for this was the way of talking in the court and in the city; the east wind was called Protestant, and the contrary Popish. On the 30th he receives letters from Newport, informing him, with extravagant exaggerations, of the dispersion of the Prince of Orange’s fleet. Being at dinner, he used one hand only, holding in the other this most welcome letter. Laughing, he says to Monsieur Barillon, “At last, then, the wind has declared itself a Papist;” but adds, resuming his habitual serious air, and lowering his voice, “You know that for these three days I have caused the Holy Sacrament to go in procession.” That very evening, letters arrive which modify the former tidings, and the joy of Whitehall is changed into consternation. Two days after, namely, on 1st November, the weathercock points a north-east wind, and the consternation increases. At this moment William goes on board again. “The weathercock, large, handsome, and high, is (writes Misson) still to be seen; it is at one end of the banqueting-house.”
As to William III., Misson says (p. 362):—
“I leave his eulogium to be made by the professed makers of such, and shall only say here, out of the abundance of my heart, and with sufficient knowledge of the fact, that I do not believe there is in the world a more worthy man, a sublimer genius, or a king so fit to govern.”
To return to private life, our author speaks of catching cold, like one who had personally suffered (p. 41):—
“When a cold grows inveterate in England, you may reckon it the beginning of a mortal distemper, especially to strangers; you must beware, therefore, how you neglect a cold.”
But, if a sufferer, he had a fireside to cheer and warm him. Under the heading “Coals,” he writes (p. 37, see also p. 364):—
“In many parts of England they bum nothing but wood, in some others, turf, ling, &c, but their common fuel is the coal which comes from Scotland and Newcastle. The Scotch coal burns faster than the other, and is dearer; it flames like wood, and makes a bright fire. The common coal is not so combustible; but when once it is lighted, and there is a sufficient quantity of it, it bums very well, and has this convenience that it lasts a great while with little mending. To make a coal fire, they put into the chimney certain iron stoves about half a foot high, with a plate of iron behind and beneath; in front, and on each side, bars are placed and fastened like the wires of a cage, all of iron; this they fill with coal, small or great, just as they come. In the middle they put a handful of small coal, which they set fire to with a bit of linen or paper. As soon as this small coal begins to burn, they make use of the bellows, and the other coal takes fire in less than two minutes. After this you must blow a little longer, till the fire spreads a little round about, and then you hang up the bellows. As the coal grows hotter, it becomes glutinous, and sticks together. To keep up the fire, and revive it, you now and then give it a stir with a long piece of iron made for the purpose. As it burns out, you must throw on more coals, and thus with a little pains you have a fire all day long. The smoke that rises is horribly thick, but if the chimneys are well built, it is carried clean away, and consequently incommodes the streets more than the houses. The smell of sulphur caused by this is offensive to persons lately come from France, but one soon gets used to it; and the smell is less perceptible within doors than in the street, especially when the fire is thoroughly lighted. All tilings considered, a wood fire is unquestionably more agreeable; yet, being naturally prejudiced in favour of what they themselves possess, not a few English people pity the unhappy state of the French and other nations who have no coals. I have sometimes said to them in reply, ‘It is a strange thing that your king and all the nobility should voluntarily throw themselves into the misery of poor French folks in burning nothing but wood in their bed-chambers.’”
Sometimes, of course, Misson would put on his hat and go out in search of variety.
“The coffee-houses (he reports, p. 39) are extremely convenient. You have all manner ​of news there. You have a good fire, which you may sit by as long as you please. You have a dish of coffee; you meet your friends for the transaction of business, and all for a penny, if you don’t care to spend more.” (P. 146.) “There are cook shops enough in all parts of the town, where it is very common to go and choose upon the spit the part you like, and to eat it there. In France custom would not allow a man of any distinction to be seen to eat in such a place; but in England they laugh at such niceties. One of the first lords of the Court makes no scruple to take a hack if his own coach keeps him waiting too long; and a gentleman of £1500 a-year enters a cook’s-shop without fear of being despised, and dines for his shilling to his heart’s content. I have often eat in that manner with a gentleman of my acquaintance who is very rich, and was a Member of the House of Commons.”
As to visits, by which he means friendly or ceremonious calls, he remarks (p. 332)—
“People of high rank pay visits to one another in England as much as we do in France, generally about evening; but not so the ordinary sort of people. In France all the little shop-keepers, particularly the women, go with their gowns about their heels to call upon one another by turns. In England persons of that rank go to see one another with their work in their hands and cheerfulness in their countenances, without rule or constraint, except on the occasion of a marriage or a death, when a visit of ceremony is expected.” (P. 77.) “The English eat well, but are no great feasters; they do not invite their friends to eat at their houses so frequently as we do in France; but upon certain grand occasions they make sumptuous banquets.” (P. 1.) “The English mutton in my opinion is not so good as ours in France; it has quite another taste; this I was sensible of the moment I came to London. The English beef is said to be the best in the world; let them be judges who have a nicer palate than I pretend to have. Their poultry is tender, and (I think) excellent, yet many French people think it insipid, compared with the exquisite relish of French poultry.” (P. 315.) “Blessed is he that invented pudding! Oh, what an excellent thing is an English pudding! Flour, milk, eggs, butter, sugar, suet, marrow, raisins, &c, are the usual ingredients. To come in at pudding-time means to come in at the most lucky moment of time. Give an Englishman his pudding, and he will think it a noble treat in any part of the world. They never dream of dessert, unless it be a piece of cheese; fruit is brought only to the tables of the great, and to but a small number among them.” (P. 88.) “Those Frenchmen who set up for a nice taste despise all English fruit, but this is going too far. Though the climate of France is more happy, that of England is not unhappy. The fruit sold at common markets (and the French refugees eat little other) is generally bad enough, but we must not judge of the whole piece by such a sample.”
(P. 17.) “Hundreds of kinds of beer are made in England, some of which are not bad. Art has well supplied nature in this article. But what I say is, beer is art, and wine is nature; and I will stand up for nature against the world.” (P. 69.) “In England, especially among the middle classes, when you drink at table, you must drink to somebody’s health, and must observe two rules — first, to sit as motionless as a statue while the drinker is drinking; and, secondly, thereafter to make him a low bow, to the great risk of dipping your wig in the sauce on your plate. A foreigner thinks it most comical to observe a man, who is just going to cut some bread or to chew a mouthful of meat, or who has begun some operation of that kind, and all at once to see him put down his knife, or fork, or spoon, grow as motionless as one paralysed, put on a solemn face, and keep his eyes fixed on some man who has announced himself as about to drink his health. If you are going to drink a man’s health, you should first fix your eye on him, and give him time to swallow his mouthful, that you may not place him under the uneasy necessity of putting so sudden a stop to his mill, as to have to sit for a time with his cheek swelled into the shape of an egg or a wen.”
With regard to morality and religion in England, he observes:—
(P. 78.) “The Church of England was not willing to meltdown the Roman religion quite, as was done at Geneva and elsewhere, and to purify it by the crucible of Calvinism. She set about the reformation of that religion in another manner, cutting off what was bad and superfluous, and mending what was mendable, without thinking herself obliged to change the lace of it entirely.” (P. 310.) “The English of all sects, but particularly the Presbyterians, make profession of being very strict observers of the Sabbath day. I believe their doctrine upon this head does not differ from ours, but assuredly our scruples are much less than theirs. This appears upon a hundred occasions, but I have observed it particularly in the printed confessions of persons who are hanged. Sabbath-breaking is the crime the poor wretches always begin with; if they had killed father and mother they would not mention that, till they have professed how often they broke the Sabbath. One of the good English customs on the Sabbath day is to feast as nobly as possible, and especially not to forget the pudding.”
As to family government, he says (p. 33)—
“They have an extraordinary regard in England for young children; they are always flattering them, always caressing them, always praising what they do. At least it seems so to ​us French people, who correct our children as soon as they are capable of reasoning; being of opinion that to keep them in awe is the best way to put them in a good mould.”
Partly applicable to peculiarities of English education is the following note (p. 304):—
“Anything that looks like fighting is delicious to an Englishman. If two little boys quarrel in the street, the passers-by stop, make a ring round them in a moment, and set them against one another. They encourage the combatants, and never part them as long as they fight according to the rules. The father and mother of the boys let them fight on as well as the rest, and try to keep up the courage of the one who seems to be giving ground, or to have the worst of it.”
Mr. Misson, being deeply grateful for English hospitality, is always inclined to say a good word for the English, either categorically, or as a qualifier to a partly unfavourable criticism.
“A beau (he says at p. 16) is in England all the more remarkable, because Englishmen, as a general rule, dress in a plain, uniform manner. Fops or beaux are compounded of a periwig and a coat loaded with powder as white as a miller’s, a face besmeared with snuff, and a few affected airs; they are exactly like Moliere’s marquises, and want nothing but the title, which they would infallibly assume in any other country but England.”
Hear him doing honour to the fair sex (p. 364):—
“They pay great honour to the women in England, who enjoy very great and very commendable liberties; yet they receive neither as much favour nor as much honour as their beauty, their graceful mein, their gentility, and their very many charms deserve.”
As to the English character, he exclaims (p. 73):—
“I can’t imagine what could occasion the French notion that the English are treacherous. That the English, of all nations of the world, should lie under this scandal, is strange indeed — they, whose generosity cannot endure the sight of two men fighting without an equality of weapons. Any man who would venture to use either a cane or a sword against another who had nothing to defend himself with but his hands, would run a risk of being torn to pieces by the apprentices of the neighbourhood and by the mob. . . . I am willing to believe that the English are prone to some faults, as all nations are; but I am satisfied, by several years’ experience, that the more that foreigners are acquainted with the English, the more they will esteem and love them. What brave men do I know in England! what moderation! what generosity! what uprightness of heart! what piety and charity! Thoughtful men and devout! lovers of the liberal arts, and as capable of the sciences as any people in the world! Yes; there are in England persons that may truly be called accomplished, men who are wisdom and goodness itself, if we may say so much of any being besides God. Peace and prosperity be eternally upon England!”
I have not been able to find any reminiscences of the author’s mother and sister. The following remark may have been first addressed to them (p. 171):— “They make in England the best knives and the worst scissors in the world.”
In the list of Misson’s works at the beginning of the chapter, is one on the prophecies and miracles attributed to prophets among the Cevenols; and his friends justly regretted that these men imposed upon him, and took his faith captive. The Messieurs Haag say that he tarnished his reputation by his credulousness. I think that it was a malady or fever that soon subsided. And if he was credulous, he has almost atoned for it by telling the following story, which, even if read as a fiction, is beautiful and instructive (p. 179):—
“The 26th of November 1693 there happened a very extraordinary thing in London. A girl, named Mary Maillard, thirteen years and two months old (daughter of a French sword cutler of Coignac, in Xaintonge), was cured in a manner which many people of good sense believe to be miraculous. At the age of thirteen months she became lame, and her distemper never ceased to grow worse. The bone of her left thigh, whereof the end towards the hip is rounded, was slipped so far out of the hollow bone that serves as a case to the convexity of the first, and at the same time had got so far above its natural situation, that that leg was four inches shorter than the other; the knee turned inwards, and the foot did the same. The girl, instead of resting upon the sole of her foot, leaned inwards upon the ancle. It was a wearisome effort to walk, and she sometimes felt violent pain. When she walked, her body swayed from one side to the other so much, that her elbows, particularly her left one, almost touched the ground at every step she took. This made her so ridiculous to children in the street, that they threw dirt at her and insulted her. This lame condition of the girl is well proved, and of public notoriety. On Sunday, the 26th of November 1693, as she returned from church, she was so ill-used by a mob that followed her, that when she got home (to the house of ​Mademoiselle De Laulan, whom she served as an interpreter), she fell a-weeping. Mademoiselle De Laulan said several things to comfort her. The girl took up a New Testament to read a chapter or two, and she read the second chapter of St. Mark. Filled with indignation at the incredulity of the Jews on the occasion of the miraculous cure of the paralytic, she exclaimed, ‘I am sure I should believe if such a thing were to happen to me, and should run fast enough.’ She had scarcely finished these words when her leg stretched out, the bone of her thigh went into its natural place with some noise, her foot and leg grew straight, her pain ceased, and she walked with ease. Ever since that time she has felt nothing of it, and continues in perfect strength, only she limps a little, but so little that it is almost imperceptible. Might not Providence order it so, that this remnant of an infirmity might serve her for a memorial of her deliverance?”
Mr Misson held a high position in literary society. I find the following reminiscence of Mm in the Literary Journal, April to June 1731:—
“Mr Misson, who gave us an account of his travels into Italy, told me that as he was walking one day with Dr Grabe at Oxford, near Christ College, he proposed to him a theological difficulty; whereupon Dr Grabe lifted up his hands towards heaven, and cried out, May God enlighten us! may God enlighten us! ‘Sir!’ said Mr Misson, ‘that is no answer to my question.’ What would you have me say? replied the Doctor, may God enlighten us.”
Among Des Maizeaux’s Correspondence, I have found an autograph letter, of which the following is a translation:—
“A thousand pardons, sir, for all the trouble that I give you, and for the liberty which I still take to ask the continuance of your obliging attentions. I believe that the advertisement will be of fourfold more advantage to the booksellers, because all the good that is spoken of the book will be the occasion of reviving the desire of seeing it. A second edition might be made much better, but I must not speak of that yet. You will observe, sir, some few alterations from the original, which I return to you, and I think that you will not disapprove of them. The least that the booksellers can do is to put this advertisement in the Post-Man and in the Post-Boy [dans les Post-Man-et-Boy]; but it seems to me that it should appear twice in each of those journals.
“When you have an hour to throw away [à confisquer], and your route is in the environs of Porter Street, you are very strenuously entreated not to refuse a little charitable visit to your old friend, who is more lonely than ever, being kept within his den [la grotte] by the importunate remains of a terrible malady, not to speak of the cold air, and the rich mud [des boues], and the famous smoke of London (the subject, by-the-bye, of a poem by Mr Evelyn, which I should not be displeased to see). I hope, or I flatter myself, sir, that you in no wise doubt that I am, with truth, your very humble and very obedient servant, but here I repeat it, according to the good and laudable custom.
“Max: Misson.
“Monday, 5th day of the year 1718-9.”
He was about seventy-two years of age when he died. The Chronological Diary appended to the Historical Register for 1722 notes:— “January 12, Died, Maximilian Misson, Esq., author of the Voyage to Italy, in four volumes.” According to the new style, Messrs Haag exactly concur by writing January 23. As a conclusion to this chapter I quote a few remarks on him and his volumes of Travels from Harris’s Collection.
“There are very few volumes of Travels that have maintained their credit so well.” The years 1687, 1688, apply to the whole thread of the work, though additions and corrections, belonging to later dates, have been interwoven. In the author’s lifetime his observations as to Italy were attacked by several writers, “against whom he defended himself with equal spirit and success: and whenever he found himself in the wrong, he took care immediately to correct it.” The principal critics, however, were Romanists, who complained that he looked at things with less of an observing than of a Protestant eye. “In the reign of James II., when the Papists thought themselves secure of reviving their religion in England, it is no wonder at all that men, firmly attached to the Protestant cause, should likewise shew their zeal; and it was still the more excusable in Mr Misson, as he had been very lately banished out of his native country on the score of religion.” But even his chief opponent, Father Labat, admits that the greater part of Misson’s book is worthy of special approbation. Once “he had the misfortune to be taken by a French Privateer and carried to Dunkirk, where he suffered a severe imprisonment, chiefly on the score of his being a Protestant. But his friends having applied themselves to the King of France on his behalf, he was immediately set at liberty, which contributed not a little to confirm that high spirit of loyalty with which he had been possessed, and of which he has left abundant testimonies in his Works, by defending (as much as in his power lay) the character of Louis XIV.; for, though he could not prevail upon ​himself to be a good Catholic, yet a better Frenchman, or a better Subject, that great monarch had not in all his dominions — which is a plain proof that Louis XIV., with all his policy, served the priests much more than himself or his family in driving so many thousands of Protestants out of his territories."
* ↑ The sensations of a worshipping congregation of refugees, some just arrived along with others who had already found a home in an adopted country, were alluded to by the eloquent Pasteur Claude in a Sermon preached at the Hague in the French Church, 21 Nov. 1685:— “Si je porte mes yeux sur les personnes qui composent cette assemblée j’y trouve des biens et des maux, des prosperités et des calamités . . . . je les y trouve confondues et melées ensemble, par un effet admirable de notre mutuelle charité. La charité de Jesus Christ nous étreint, dit S. Paul — c’est-à-dire, qu’elle nous lie, nous serre, et nous unit les uns avec les autres — sage discours, dont vous et nous sommes le commentaire. Vous people heureux et benit de Dieu qui jouissez de la sureté du port — vous compatissez au malheur de vos frères qui sont encore tout moites de leur naufrage; vous leur tendez les bras, et pour les essuyer vous leur ouvrez voire sein. Nous tristes rechappés du naufrage — nous nous rejouissons avec nos frères de la paix et de la tranquilité dont ils jouissent, et nous en benissons Dieu de tout notre coeur. La difference des mouvemens s’y fait reconnoitre; la douleur y est, la joye y est; mais la charité leur a fait changer de situation et de place; la joye a pris celle de la douleur et la douleur a pris celle de la joye. C’est un échange, ou (pour mieux dire) c’est un melange que la grace a fait — et qu’elle a si bien fait, qu’ à peine peut on distinguer les heureux d’ avec les malheureux, les tranquiles d’ avec les affligés.”
* ↑ Perhaps this refers to Ozell’s translation of M. Misson’s Observations, in which case it appears that the author took the opportunity of revising and improving the book and that it was printed under his superintendence.