The Press.
London, England, 1856-01-26 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

may be thought of its theories ; and what
Michelet has recently written on the subject is
also very striking. In pursuing such historical
exercitations we are frequently reminded of the
account of the lectures of a certain German
professor in Mr. Disraeli's " Contarini Fleming,"
" That which to a common student appears
" but a barren tradition, became in his magi-
" cal mind a record teeming with deep
" knowledge and picturesque interest. Hordes
" who hitherto were only dimly distinguished
" wandering over the deserts of antiquity, now
" figured ns great nations, multiplying in
" beautiful cities, and moving in the grand
" and progressive march of civilisation ; and I
" listened to animated narratives of their
" creeds, their customs, their manners, their
" philosOphy, and their arts. I was deeply
" impressed with the mystical creation of a
" critical spirit. I revelled in the sagacious
" audacity of his revolutionary theories. I
" yielded to the full spell of his archaic
" eloquence." This remarkable passage de-
scribes a certain class of foreign writers in our
own time, and we wish that some of their
" archaic eloquence " would animate our Eng-
lish Dryasdusts. But of course there are two
sides to the value of historical works resulting
from " the mystical creations of a critical
spirit." Dean Milman writes in a concluding
note to his account of the Knight Templars

A modern school of history, somewhat too prone to make
or to imagine discoveries, has condemned the Templars
upon other grounds. These fierce unlettered warriors have
risen into Oriental mystics. Not merely has their inter-
course with the East softened off their abhorrence of

Mohammedanism, induced a more liberal tone of thought,
or overlaid their Western superstitions with a layer of
Onental imager)—they have become Gnostic Theists,
have adopted many of the old Gnostic charms, amulets,
and allegorical idols. Under these influences they had
framed a secret body of statutes, communicated only to the
initiate. who were slowly and after long probation admitted
into the abstruser and more awful mysteries. Not only
this, the very branch of the Gnostics has been indicated
that of the Ophitse, of whom they are declared to be the
legitimate Western descendants. If they have thus had
precursors, neither have they wanted successors. The
Templars are the ancestors (as Wilcke thought, the
acknowledged ancestors) of the secret societies, which
have subsisted by regular tradition down to modern times
—the Freemasons, Illuminati, and many others.

'Von Hammer's theory is far from being
adopted by German historians. M. de Cham-
bure published in 1840 the statutes of the
order. The work of Rayuonard, in defence
of the Templars, is the best work, we think, on
that side of the question. In French histori-
cal criticism the whole subject has assumed
a party character, the Church and the Clown
having both their literary partisans and
assailants. It is singular that Michaud, whose
work on the Crusades is so much in favour of
the Church and the Crown, should lean
strongly to the side of the Knight Templars.
Dean Milman, also, is most lenient in his
opinion of them. He %%rites :

Beyond the confessions of the Templars themselves
there was absolutely nothing but the wildest, most vague,
most incredible tales of superstition and hatred. In France
alone, and where French influence prevailed, were confes
sions obtained. Elsewhere, in Spatn, in Germany, parts
of Italy, there was an absolute acquittal; in England,
Scotland, and Ireland there appears no evidence which in
the present day would commit a thief, or condemn him to
transportation. In France these confessions were invaria-
bly, without exception, crushed out of men imprisoned.
starved, disgraced, under the most relentless tortures, or
under well-grounded apprehensions of torture, degradation.
and misery, with, on the other hand, promises of absoln
Lion, freedom, pardon, royal favour. Yet on the instant
that they struggle again into the light of day, on the first
impulse of freedom and hope: no sooner do they see them-
selves for a moment out of the grasp of the remorseless
king; under the judgment, it might be, of the less re•
morseless Church, than all these confessions are for the
most part retracted, retracted fully, unequivocally. This
retractation was held so fatal to the cause of their enemies
that all the bravest were burned and submitted to be
burned rather than again admit their guilt. The only
points on which there was any great extent or unanimity
of confession were the ceremonies at the reception. the
abnegation of Christ, the insult to the Cross, with the
other profane or obscene circumstances. These were the
points on which it was the manifest object of the prose-
cutors to extort confessions which were suggested by the
hard, stern questions, the admission of which mostly satis-
fied the court.

Admit to the utmost that the devout and passionate
enthusiasm of the Temple's had died away, that familiarity
with other forms of belief in the East had deadened the
fanatic zeal for Christ and his Sepilthr.t; that Onental
snperstitions, the belief in magic, talismans, amulets, had
crept into many minds; that in not a few the austere
morals had yielded to the wild life, the fiery snn, the vices
of the East; that the corporate spirit of the order, its
power, its wealth, its pride, bad absorbed the Migions

SATURDAY,

spirit of the first knights : yet there is something utterly
inconceivable in the general, almost universal, requisition
of a naked, ostentatious, offensive, insulting renunciation
of the Christian faith, a renunciation following immedt.
ately on the most solemn vow ; not after a long, slow
initiation into the order, not as the secret, esoteric doc.
trine of the chosen few, but on the threshold of tits Order,
on the very day of reception.

Our own opinion on the question is somewhat
different, but we have not space for entering
upon its discussion at length. We think that a
stroll gprionafacie case can be made out for either
side ; and there is no lack of materials in sup-
plying evidence, or what may be argued upon
as such. But whenever an institution tends to
become an impenuni in imperio, and whenever
collective organisation of a formidable charac-
ter is applied to lofty social objects, in all such
cases there is a tendency to evil and corrup-
tion, as has been seen in the Jesuits ; and
even in the modern journalists of France
a similar tendency could be discerned.
In medite% al perioda we think that it was a
mere question of time when the Crown would
pounce upon the Templars. They were too
ambitious, and too absorbent of bold spirits,
to remain in secure isolation ; and we are con-
vinced that there must have been much immo-
rality amongst them.
In a popular point of view the sixth and con-
cluding volume is the most interesting of this
work. Its dissertations on the creed, letters,
poetry, and architecture of Latin Christianity
are written with philosophic power and critical
acumen, and display copious erudition. The
concluding views of the Dean of St. Paul's will
be thought by many. as we consider them, far
too liberal anti too indulgent to Latin Chris-
tianity; but as they are merely speculative,
rather than historical, it is not here necessary
to combat them. The whole work must raise
the Dean of St. Paul's still higher in literature,
and we have no doubt that it will supersede
Mosheim in this country. It has the charms
of style, besides a fund of ancient and modern
learning in its notes. It is beyond question
one of the greatest works of the current age,
and is at once useful and brilliant.

1. 7'ho Englishrrotnnn in (America. London:

Murray.
2. Letters from the United States, Cuba, and
Canada. By the Hon. Amelia M. Murray.
London : J. W. Parker and Son.
Ws are inclined to believe that both these
ladies made the voyage to America together.
They both sailed in the same vessel, the
Canada ; both started in the middle of
summer ; both left Liverpool on a Saturday ;
both arrived in Halifax Harbour by moonlight ;
and the first-named authoress has taken care
to inform us that there was a lady on board
who was the scion of a ducal house. It is
certainly diverting to think of the two budding
authoresses amicably conversing, eating. and
drinking together, without the slightest sus-
picion on the part of either lady that her
companion was a rival. Perhaps it was well
for the peace of the ladies'cabin that such was
the case

-
1.— The Englishwoman, who is not the
" Englishwoman in Russia," has given us a very
lively and observant volume. Her sketches of
American and Canadian manners and customs
arc uncommonly graphic. They display a
vivid sense of the humorous, though evincing
no disposition to sneer. Here is an amusing
specimen of American curiosity :
" You're from down east, I guess ? " said a sharp nasal
voice behind me.—This was a supposition first made in
the Portland cars, when I was at a loss to know what dis-
tinguishing and palpable peculiarity marked me as a
" down-east.er." Better informed now, I replied, " I am...
" lining west? "—" Yes." " Travelling alone? "—" NO.;
" Was you raised down east? "—" No, in the Old Country.
" In the little old island ? well, you are kinder glad to leave
it, I guess? Are !you a widow?"—" No." " Are yon
travelling on business"—" No." What business do you
follow ?"—" None." " Well, now, what are you travelling
for ? "—" Health and pleasure." " Well, now, I guess
you're pretty considerable rich. Coming to settle out
west, I suppose ?"—" No, I'm going back at the end of the
fall." " Well, now, if that's not a pretty tough hickory.-
nut ! I guess you Britishers are the queerest critturs as
ever was raised !"

The portions of the volume which we have
read with the greatest interest and pleasure
are those which relate to Canada—whether to
bush life or to town life. The authoress's
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Forrest., had a farm in

~-

JANUARY 26, 1856.

the bush of about sixty acres, and she was
astonished, after travelling over miles of the
roughest country, to come suddenly upon a
mansion " the very perfection of elegance and
" comfort" :

The very house seemed to smile a welcome; and seldom
have I met a more cordial one than I received from Mrs.
Forrest, the kindly and graceful hostess, who met me at
the door, her pretty simple dress of pink and white muslin
contrasting strangely with the charred stumps which were
in sight, and the long lines of gloomy bush which stood
out dark and sharp against the evening sky.
" Will yon go into the drawing•room ?" asked Mrs.
Forrest. 1 was surprised, for I had not associated a
drawing-room with emigrant life in Canada; but 1 followed
her along a pretty entrance lobby, floored with polished
oak, into a lofty room, furnished with all the elegances
and luxuries of the mansion of ar. affluent Englishman at
home, a beautiful piano not being wanting.

Tile emigrants and their guest used to breakfast
at seven, after which the host went to his farm.
Dinner at twelve ; and in the afternoon the
authoress and the gentleman used to take long
rides over the surrounding country—then
glorious with the autumnal beauty of the
forest. L► the evening bagatelle or reading
aloud—and sometimes " one or two very agree
" able neighbours came in " For the word
dinner substitute luncheon, and we have as
complete a picture of English life as if the
scene were in Hampshire. Occasionally, also,
formal morning calls are undergone, and in
the winter time evening parties are frequent.
On occasions when any extraordinary labour
is to be performed, there is held what is
termed " a bee." There are " thrashing bees,"
and " apple bees," and "shelling bees," where
the pens are shelled and barrelled ; " quilting
bees," where the Canadian quilts are fabricated ;
and "'logging bees," when a portion of ground
is to be cleared of its stumps. These are always
festive occasions. Some eight or ten of the
neighbours associate together, and

come in to dinner, black (from the dust of a peculiar
Canadian weed), hot, tired, hungry, and thirsty. They
eat as no other people eat, and set all our notions of the
separability of different viands at defiance. At the end of
the day they have a very substantial supper, with plenty of
whisky, and, if everything has been satisfactory, the convi-
vial proceedings are prolonged till past midnight.

Does the reader know ,what "a muffin" is?
IVe should guess not :

There are some notions which must be unlearned in
Canada. or temporarily laid aside. At the beginning of
winter, which is the gay season in this Paris of the New
World, every unmarried gentleman, who chooses to do so,
selects a young lady to be his companion in the numerous
amusements of the time. It does not seem that anything
more is needed than the consent of the maiden, who, when
she acquiesces in the arrangement, is called a " notffla,"—
for the mammas were " muffins " themselves in their day,
and cannot refuse their daughters the same prhilege.
The gentleman is privileged to take the young lady about
m his sleigh, to ride with her, to walk with her, to dance
with her a whole evening without any remark, to escort her
to parties, and be her attendant on all occasions. When
the spring arrives, the arrangement is at an end, and I did
not hear that an engagement is frequently the result, or
that the same couple enter into this agreement for two
successive winters. Probably the reason may be, that they
s,e too much of each other.

This most agreeable arrangement is soon
appreciated by ♦isitors :
A gentleman, who had just arrived from England,
declared that " Quebec was a horrid plnce, not fit to live
in." A few days after he metthe same individual to whom he
had made this uncomplimentary observation, and confided
to hint that he thought Quebec "the most delightful place
in the whole world; for, do you know," he said, " I have
got a muffin."

The Englishwoman pays a high compli-
ment to the beauty of the Canadian young
ladies :

The eyes are invariably large and lustrous. dark and
pensive, or blue and sparkling with vivacity. They dress
in exquisite taste ; and, with a grace peculiarly their own,
their manners have a fascination and witchery which is
perfectly irresistible.

In the account of Lower Canada, or Acadia,
we have an admirably-drawn comparison be-
tween the two extremes of character exhibited
by the inhabitants of this province and the
Northern States of the Union : the one still
living the life of Evangeline—moral, sober,
and contented, caring nothing for progress,
ani seeking only the happiness sought by-
their fathers the other,

sacrificing home enjoyments, pleasure. ant health itself
to the one desire of the acquisition of wealth. Daruig
speculations fail ; the struggle in unnatural competition
with men of large capital, or dishonourable dealings.
wears Out at last the ocertasked frame—life is spent in a
`chid—death summonses them, and finds them unprepared.
Everybody who has any settled business is overworked.
Voices of men crying for relaxation are heard from every
Tarter, yet none dare to pause in this race which they so