, 1874-11-01

--N~0 "e"~2 PI1ooA 41c AAtA404 q 4aIAt~ o%AA1A@
wise, like The Ring and the Book, or THE Earth
" Paradise no reason on earth why it should not
go on forever, uuless the nuthor havo mercy
We come to Rabelais, the eccesiastic, the 'nfdel,
the moralist. tle bacchanalian, the bufloon,
the glorious wit and satirist," Of the sixteenth
century. He was the most erudite man of
his day Of that day when schol-
ars. leading clolstered lives, learned
the whole circle of the sciences and all the known
languages which had literature worth reading.
And be poured his learning into the earB Of tho
people, striving to inform them how to dis
tinguibh the true from the FALSE the shadow
from the substance. He rejected both the
trappings and the tenets Of religion, and yet-we
quote from II. Bessant: "'1n this great and
wonderful world Rabelais might have said, I
$50 everywhere the marks Of u mind whose
grandeur is beyond anything which the human
intellect can conceive. In the wondrous for1na-
ton Of the body, in the courses OF the seasons,
IN the instincts Of animals, in the great aud
awful mysteries OF birth and death, in growth and
decay in the annual sleep Of the world and it's An
nual waking, in everything upon tho earth, above
it. and beneath it. see beuerolence forethought,
! care for the happiness Of creation. In the
Investigation Of the laws Which govern the world,
I see the only hope OF improving mems lives,
shortening their palms, increasing their joys. To
search for the secrets of Nature il the work Of
our days, rs to cultivate the pure intellect was
the work OF the ancients. Nature, Oh the one
hand; Plato aud Cicero on the other hand. Be-
yond these. what: Only the silence OF the
grave. To al our questioning, no answer; to
au our passionate longing. no lifting of the cur
tain. Light aud JOY beneath the sun; OH that
! side, what awaits Let us SO On in the protec-
| ton Of that intellectual sphere whose centre is
| everywhere and circumference nowhere, which
We call God. We havo no revelation; ne hare
| but one hope: that, since the things required
| for our life are made SO incomparably well, the
benevolenco OF the Creator will continue, should
existence continue, beyond the grave
mot Christian. am certain that nabclais
WAS not Christian And yet he never satirizes
| Christianity. 4 great moral teacher.
Yes But it would have been better for France
if his book. tied to milestone, bad been hurled
INTO the sea. Not on account Of tho just aud
obvious Charge which auy one who opens its
pages will bring against it. That is nothing.
The filth and dirt OF Rabelais do :ake hold of
the mind little cold water washes all of. 1have
said above that he wholly failed i'll his purpose !;
he did ore,-he greatly sinned, in manner
which has never yet been pointed out He de-
stroyed eHectually, perhaps for centuries yet to
come the earnestnees in France He found men
craving for better faith, believing that it Was
TO be found, and left them doubling whether any
eystem in the world could give it. Great and
noble IS are many Of the passages in Rabe!nis.
profoundly wise Is he was. do believe tLat no
writer Who ever lived has inflicted such lasting
injury on his country.
.As for his fault Of coarseness, his biographers
defend il on the usual ground, taste Of the
eve and 80 forth. Rubbish Where il the
taste of the eye IN Erasmus There has been
no time in the worlds history, from Catullus
downwarda when those who have sinned in this
wsv have done so in Difference TO ths taste Of
the age-'"
Montaigne, the charming writer aud the typi-
cal Frenchmhn appears next in the procession.
to be dismissed in few pages, as be is aready
30 well known to tho world After him there Ii
an account OF "Ia Latyre Menippe," "a fresh,
clean, and hesltby work, written by = band OF
unknown scholars Maturin Regimen, Saint
Anant, Voiture and Benserade, succeed each
other; and on their heels tread q troop OF - The
Parasites, ,"-scholars and poets Of the seven
teenth century. who we're content to exchange
freedom and manliness for the protection and
the patronage OF some member OF the French
nobility. Boisrobert, the privileged bufoon Of
Richelieu, Was q representative OF this
order. Like most OF tho humozists, he
WAS an ecclesiastic, Wit. and
profigate; and he was, moreover, &
fine mimic, an admirable sto1y-teler, and
good comic actor. Like all the rest, he Led
life OF pleasure, until age dulled his senses and
death gave repeated warnings; then he sent for
an abbo, and prepared to exchange his sins for
deeds Of repentance, his Atheism for abs olution.
As his deathbed-scene repeats. with light differ
ences, the experience Of the other hoary satirists
and sinners. We reproduce it:
s.The death of Doisrobert was not so edifying
Is he wished it to be- He was, OF course, re-
pentant, and, after sending for his confessor, be
| began in the most promising manner, DO not,
he said to his friends. sthink OF Boisroberr iv-
ing but OF Bosrober. dying
'This Was very good. SO far, and quite what
might be hoped. God observed his confessor,
has pa1doned greater sinners than you.'
..Old Boisrobert's eyes began to twinkle again.
He has, he said, much greater sinners. Tho
Abbe de Villarceau1, for instance he had just
loet money at play to this ecclesiastic-'is doubt
less greater sinner than ], but hope God will
pardon him too
lone of the ladies ut his bedside said to him,
Monsieur rAbbe, contrition is great virtue"
"'It is, madame, be replied; 4 wish it you with
ali my heart
"Aud his last words were, II should be con-
tent to be Oh as good terms with our Lord as
have been with Cardinal Richelieu.'"
And thus the merry rogue dropped into the
grave, with cruciix in bis hands, unbeief IN
his heart, and repartee on his tongue.
Overlooking, fer want of time his successor,
Scanon, We stop few moments with the ca1e-
less, childish, improvidcnt La Fontaine, who, be-
| cause ho WAS more needless, more selfish. moro
reckless, than most, wakena more interest
| and wonder: Arguing from strong pointsof re-
semblance between the two great men, one is dis
posed to think that Harold Skimpole modeledh lis
| character on that Of In Fontaine, the disciple
| being lar below the master. For Ii Fontaine
yas more Skimoplesn than Harold himself. He
| said to the world, Give me leave to live among
| YOU; u little light wine, fruit in the season,
plenty Of muslc and singing, the society Of
| young, pretty, and pleasant women, and an en-
49, f-,o1,vn from 1rcr1s aud nnYfekv-tl1nHa ara