Litchfield enquirer., 1872-02-01

that the first numbers of the 'sEncyclope- die" appeared. The were quickly SUD- pressed by an order in council; but they still continued to circulate secretly. It was from that time that they began to grow really dangerous; for it was only af- ter this public suppression that the more extreme articles were written. A secret society, of which D,Alembert, Diderot. and Voltaire were the heads, was founded for the propagation of the doctrines of Jacobinism, society whose ramifcations extended through France and Germany, 1 whose members recognized each Other by masonic signs, and the object of which was the destruction of monarchy and re- igion. Each of these writers had been 8 1 pupil of the Jesuits, and had learned from those masters of the art of sophistry that subtle mode of reasoning which they now employed for the destruction of their | teachers
 | In 1764 was published the edict for the expulsion of the Jesuits, and with them was swept away the last barrier to the propagation of the new doctrine; and in- fidelity, no longer lurking shamefaced in holes and corners, Haunted itself boldly and publicly, even in the church itself. The princes of the church left the laity far behind their vices and hideous de- baucherles; the abbes were mere hangers on at the houses of noble courtesans- panders to the rich, boon companions in every absolute excess, ministers of re- lg1on Tn form, sceptics and even atheists III heart, scofing in society at the very doctrines they preached. Religion be- came bywofd and jest, a subject for puns and epigrams, and the wit applaud | taA 1nv1I Al~,A. Al largest amount of blasphemy.
 The whole fabric of society, from the cottage to the court, from the alley to the altar. was rotting, erumbling. There was no cohesion anywhere; love, faith, honor, religion, all were swallowed up in a gulf of seethlng corruption. King, priest, mo- bic, lady, author and artist, boargeoise, rutfian-al mingled together in the demon revel of this hellish carnival, with the thunder-clouds above their heads, the earthquake beneath their feet, and Satan as master of the revels.
 There Is little more of interest to be told of the life of La Pompadour. The light went on fiercely as ever, now with the Jesults,- "a severe one, involving as ii dld, accommodation, ,-now with the ministers, now with the people. The trea- ty of Alx-la- -Chapelle, so unfavorable in many respects to the interests of France, and the nasty conclusion of which was as. cribed to her influence, rendered her name odious throughout the country But with the attempt upon the kings life by Da- miens, the contriving of which was as- cr1bed by turns to every party in the State, not excluding Dauphin himself came her severest trial of strength. She was ordered to quit the palace; and even commenced preparations for doing so, but her empire was to be relinquished only with life; she clung to her position, and weathered the storm.
 The family compact, the Austrian alli- ance, and the expulsion of the Jesuits. all of which events she largely influenced, raised her for a time into popularity. But with the news of the terrible de- feat of Rosbach this transient gleam of national favor died out forever. It mat tered but little now; ''the fight was nearly oyer-the grisly victor of all flesh had his dart ready poised, and the bril- hant La Pompadour, succumbing to q painful disease that had been wearing her l away for years, lay upon her death bed. But little of that brilliance and beauty which had enslayed all hearts was left in those bloodless lips, those worn, cadave- rous features. Rouge and rose-coIored silk garments but made them look the more ghastly. Since some time the Church had received her back into it's bosom; she was sister of religious body, and regularly performed all the rites of a good Catholic. As her confessor. after administering extreme unction, was leav- ing the chamber, she cried to him. "Stay moment, and I will go with you Those were her last words. She expired with her hand in the kings. Her death took place ln 1764 She was forty-two years old. She was carried to the grave by the capuchin brothers her funeral little bet ter than paupers. It was a wet day. and as Louis saw the melancholy corte0e pass along, he cynically remarked, Mad anne la Marquise will have bad weather for her journey to-dayw Not one. tear did he shed for the woman who had been his constant companion during so many years of her life. ..... e ..s = .g..s,gs-'' = It has been said that Pompadour pos- sessed but little talent; no genuine love of art and literature, and left but little or no trace upon her age. But so harsh a l judgment is untenable after dispassion- ate review of her life To estimate the moral character and to estimate the ef- fects produced by celebrated individuals upon their age and nation, should be sep- crate tasks. But they too frequently CO., alesce in an authors mind to the destruc- tiOn of impartiality. That she was im- moral, that she was unsrupulously am- bilious, and that by her extravaganza and bad connsels she worked incalculable evils upon France is indisputable. But in our judgment of this woman and of her acts we must cast aside our nineteenth-century code of morality, and try her by that of her own age-that is to say, in true Brit | ish fashion, by her peers. What that age was have endeavored to show and did dare to illustrate it's corruption by sto- ries out of the lives of it's men and women Jeanne Antoinette d'EEoles would show quite advantageously beside hundreds of she imbibed at her mothers breast. "Cest sts nsorceGu 1oour up roS!' was the exclamation constantly in Madame Pois- sons mouth when speaking of her dauoh- ter. She was educated, she was accomp- lished, she was trained in every elegance of life and manner to fit her for the reign ing sultanship of the royal harem. Had the girl been born saint she could not have resisted the infection of such train ing. Neither was the position of king's mistress regarded by far better mothers than Madame Poisson as 8 degradation, but rather as an honor for which the high est ladies in the land contested. And there is reason to believe Madame d'Eti- oles was faithful to her one dereliction from morality "a praise that could scarce ly be extended to one of her contempora- ries it is, at all events, quite certain that her conduct was not marked by that in- discriminate icentiousness which was the general attribute of the court ladies oi her age. The darkest moral taint upon her memory is the Pare aux Cerfs, the re- volting and unnatural vices of which have justly excited the shuddering abhorrence l of posterity.
 Ambition was her ruling passion: to retain her power there was no depth oi degradation into which she would not have plunged, perhaps no crime she would l have left uncOmmitted. Rut she had m