The Sun.
London, England, 1823-09-18 00:00:00

MR. HAMILTON'S SYSTEM OF TEACHING.

• The subjoined: Letter MS. addressed to the
Editor of. The Tim,es, by Mr. Hamturox, in
reply to certain premature strictures on his
system, which had appeared in that Journal.—
The insertion of Mr. HAMILTON'S reply having,
however,: been refused. by the 'Editor of The
Times, we think it is in some degree an act of
duty, both to the Public and to Mr. HAMILTON,
to give it a place in our columns:—

TRUE STORY of A:AELAR:4.-oa-ttoiskz.

Tile following is extracted from a work re-
cently
.published in Paris, entitled Melanges
d'llistaire et do Literature.

The first piece in the volume relates to ELOISA
and
,4air,Ann.

The common story of Abelard being employed
as a tutor to Eloise, and his being punished. as
soon as her uncle knew of tier dishonour, is 'ex-
ceedingJy remote frOm the truth. It is well
known that Abelard was a person of the .very
highest eminence in philosophy and all the litera-
ture of his age.;, that he became enamoured of
'l:rasa, and tempted the avarice
,of The old. Canon
4uhert, with whom she lived, by offering him a
large board on condition „of his taking him. into
the house ; that the. Canon added to the bar4ain
the further obligation of instructing his niece ;
and that upon her proving with Child they both
made their escape—she lying-in at-his sister's—
and he soon after returning, apparently without
anyloss of respect, to prosecute his. studies, and
continue his school of philosophy. Our author
fixes thedate of
.her delivery in the year 1118,
when she
:was 18, and he 38 years old. He ,soon
found means to appease Hubert, by promising
marriage ; but Eloise (as we know from one of
those exquisite letters which Pope hasimitated*),
in a fit of romantic attaciiinent, refused to he any
thing more (or less).than his mistress—and would
not listen to a project , which, according. to 'the
custom of the age, Would have put an end to the
principal occtipatlort. of his life. A secret mar-
riage
was then agreed upon, to satisfy the uncle,
with whom she continued to reside ; while the
lover pursued his ordinary avocations—seeing her
very seldom. At length some worthy nuns began
to gossip, and to complain of the Rev'. Canon's
complaisance. He assured them of the, marriage,
which the lovers, denied ; and this produced. a
quarrel with Hubert, and a second elopement of
his niece. Our, author judiciously suggests that
the extreme unwillingness of Abelard to termi-
nate all their difficulties by a'public marriage, and
his suffering ;Eloise to sacrifice herself for his ad-
vantage, may shew that (as not 'infrequently
happens in such attachments) there was more love
on her side than on his. The catastrophe fol-
lowed,
,in all probability, soon after the second
elopement ; and five persons were engaged in
.it,
beside Hubert, and a treacherous servant of Ahe-
lard's. Of these,,only one and the :servant were
taken ; they suffered by the lex lalignis, and.
had their eyes put out besides ; and Hubert's
lgoods were confiscated to the Church. Abetard,
resolving now to retire from the world,. made his
unfortunate mistress do, the same—though she
,seems not to have finally made up her mind for
two years. She took the veil in 1122, at Argen-
teuil, after the usual novicate of a year—and be
soon after professed at St. Denis. Being of a tur-
bulent, austere, and even qtrarrebioMe disposition,
tie could not remain long in this,fraternity—but
retired to a wild forest near ,Nagent-sur-Seine,
where he 'founded the Paraclete, sometime be-
tween 1128 and, 1130. Although, at first, he
had only a log-house for a chapel, and a few
miserable huts for habitations, his, great fame at-
tracted scholars, who flecked around him, and
led the life of hermits to receive his instructions.
In this situation he was chosen Abbot of St.
Gildas, de Ruyr,,whither he immediately repair-
'ed. -Meantime Eloise's convent was dissolved
by •the: appropriation of its lands to another house,
and Abelard invited her to become, Abbess of the
Parecleteorliere she established herself with some
other refugees, among !hem were two nieces of
his. At St. Glides, to which he returned assoon
as he had put Eloise in possession of the Para-
clete, he, as .usual, quarrelled. with his monks ;
his misfortunes, indeed, seem to have soured his
temper, naturally irriteble. Peter of cluni af-
forded him a retreat; and he died in that.monas-
tery, or. a cutaneous disease, in April 1142, at the
age of sixty-three. 'Eloise survived him twenty
years, and died at the same age, . Their, only
child, who, from his extraordinary beauty, was
named Astrolabe, took orders, obtained a .Canonry
through the interest of the good Abbot of Cluni,
.and survived his father, but has left no further
traces of himself in history. Some of Eloise's
letters speak of her anxiety for his advancement
in the Church, with her characteristic earnestness
and warmth of affection. The remains of Abelard
were transported to the Paraclete by Eloisa's
:desire, and she was herself- buried in the same
coffin. Their bodies were afterwards separated,
but, in the year -1779, they were again united ;
and, in, opening the coffins, it was then observed
that Abelard's bones were reduced to dust, ex-
cept the scull, which was of an extraordinary
Ihickoess ; that Eloisa's were much better pre-
served, and her skull was also pectilierly thick,
and the teeth of a beautiful whiteness. These
•
remains were, during the Revolution, carried'to
.Paris, and were, till lately, in the Mnseum of
Aneient Monuments; but the piety of the re-
stored Government has consigned thern to a
consecrated place, in the cemetery of Pere La
Chaise. 'the tradition of the Paraelete is not
Very favourable to the amenity of Eloisa's tern-
per and manners' ifi her retreat, however exalted'