The Express.
London, England, 1847-08-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Protestant Reformation us France; or, a history of
the Ilugonots. By the Author of "Father Darcy,' fps.
Bentley.
A great deal of attention is just now being bestowed
upon the earlier history of France by the English
public. Three or four ilhportant works, by English
authors, have been issued from the press within the
last few days; besides several trans:ations and
originals of native writers. This is a healthy sign
—a proof that a more catholic and eclectic spirit
begins to influence our studies. We are passing from
our intellectual insularity ; and with our political power
enlarging the sphere of our historical knowledge.
As a nation we are only just beginning to know, or
to care anything about the politics of the Continent;
and one of the first indications of a national interest
in the affairs of Europe is manifested in the demand
for Freuch history. This is well. We have been
greatly behind in our historical and political informa-
tion.

The volumes before us supply a desideratum in
English literature. They are the sample and first
instalment of a work which promises to become one
of the standard histories of that great mental, as well
as religious and political, revolution, which convaLscd
France for more than half a century; the consumma-
tion of which would have been the salvation of
North-Western Europe; and the ultimate failure of
which, after the most heroic efforts, necessitated
another and bloodier revolution, and prepared the
way for a more terrible method of clearing the high
places of church and state, of that political and reli-
gions atheism which had reigned in them so long.
There is a tendency in most modern histories of
this momentous struggle to undervalue the political
elements which entered into it. In the northers pro-
vinces—amongst the rural population and the pro-
vincial gentilhommerie, it was undoubtedly a question
of conscience primarily ; but as an attempt to subordi-
nate authority to individual judgment, it was
also, even with them, a political question, affect-
ing, as it necessarily did, those feudal rights
which professed to be derived direct from
heaven, and to lie beyond the sphere of human
authority. The sanctity of the monarch was built
on the same foundation as the sanctity of the church
—both were considered of heavenly ordination ; it
was thought that the altar and the throne must stand
or fall together. This is intimated in the charao-
teristic anecdote told of Francis I. He was complain-
ing to the papal ambassador of the conduct of the
Pope, and threatening in revenge to protect the re-
formers as Henry of England had done; " Sire,*
said the other, " you would have more than
the Pope —• new religion demands a new
king." Every court in Europe regarded the
movement as a political one. Arbitrary power,
unjustly acquired, was universally opposed to
the reformation. With the Emperor Charles,
the object was more to subvert the civil liber-
ties of Germany than to purge the church : and
.Philip of Spain, while presiding at his autos (7,1 fe,
was engaged in a contest against tie ancient liberties
of the kingdom of Arragon. So it was universally.
Mrs. Marsh gives too mach importance to the reli-
gious ideas in the movement, and that is the great
fault of her book.

With the majority of the leaders in the civil war—
the princely and unprincipled house of Guise, the
feeble and foolish Antoine of Navarre, the chivalrous
Conde, and the ."

de 3fedicie, religion
ject, of their .--
Coligny, the
policy, the enlargement
nation, and the
Bran over the
weight. The (
been fatal to

generally. The
reconciled these

11. the virtual

The infamous

eating which
Capefsgue verified
de Ottise and F
of Savoy, and „ Emperor
levying a large army to invade France and put
down the reformation by force, and, u the contract
atrociously expresses it, " on no pretence to spare the
lives or properties of those who have ever professed

o dissolute and dOmineering Catherine
eligion was the pretext, power the ob-
. contention. Even with noble
IlargehaßemeceinietrofdetherhciPitall 41;7 of
se weakening of the
e councils of their ."4 • •
coalition of France • ' midir •
Europe, and to th
he peace of Chateau- -.IL
es formidable enemi .: I•
direction of affairs in ‘,311
°fiusedwaspitr,oienc°ecterit;giettherediented b.tiwee4l.l7the ;fake:.
I Philip with the Pope, the Duke
ad the Emperor Ferdinand, for