Canada : 'tis in vain that a stupid and fanatical Scotchman introduces into the House of Commons the cant of a puritan, the ferocity of an old covenanter. The time is passing away when such manæuvres would, with any effect, raise the warwhoop of the Orange faction. The captive hath outgrown his chains: the heart of Ireland is beating quick with life and vigour never yet felt; her arm is strengthening with a new strength she was never conscious of: and, under the guidance of the great chief who has made her what she is, we hope to live so long as yet to see her-and most fervently do we pray that it may be after a bloodless struggle—in the language of her own dear bard

“Great, glorious and free,
First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea."

ART. VII.-Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the

Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, by HENRY
Hallam, F.R.A.S., Foreign Associate of the Academy
of Moral and Political Sciences in the French Institute.
London : 1839.
HE very important nature of the above-named work, and

to divide our notice of it into at least two parts;* and in order to establish something which might approach to a logical division of the subject, we singled out as a point of separation, those important changes which resulted from the religious troubles of the sixteenth century, an event to which the ordinary language of history has given the name of the Protestant Reformation. We have already laid before the reader, in a few words, our opinion, as to the immediate influence of that event upon the progress of literature; and in stating that it was highly unfavourable, we have merely repeated the sentiments of the author himself. But in asserting that the gradual development of the human intelligence was suddenly arrested by this event, we had no intention to imply that it was permaniently arrested; for such was by no means the case. The admirable plans of Divine Providence, as regards the moral world (we might even also have added those which regard the physical world), may be interrupted, but cannot be frustrated. Out of disorder itself, Almighty beneficence draws forth an

element of progress, and thus accomplishes the same ends, by other means. When, then, in a certain sense of the word, the Protestant Reformation is stated to have been ultimately favourable to the progress of letters, this assertion is not wholly, perhaps, devoid of a certain appearance of plausibility. That this progress would have been greater, by other means, we entertain not the slightest doubt; but it would be a fruitless loss of time to reason upon the influence of unknown contingencies. We shall remain, then, rigorously within the domain of facts, and in alluding to the grave inconvenience of those principles upon which the Reformation was based, as the opportunity presents itself of considering them in their practical consequences, we shall have ample opportunity of proving, that it was rather an apparent, than a real cause of progress. With regard to the efficiency of moral causes in general, when considered in their effects rather than in their own intrinsic value, we must at all times be particularly careful not to confound the “post hoc" and the propter hoc;" no error is perhaps more common in the present day, both in moral and political science. This is one of the necessary consequences of an abuse of the experimental method of Lord Bacon, when applied to matters for which it was never destined ; to experiment we are no doubt indebted for most of the magnificent discoveries of modern times, in the physical sciences; but we must not allow ourselves to be dazzled by success, for there are circumstances in which experiment can do nothing for us, but lead us into the most deplorable error. This is true not only as regards morals and metaphysics, but even as regards literature, considered as a theory, resting upon certain fixed principles.

Thus, to choose an example, the present state of literature in France may be regarded as the result of a series of experiments, in which all the long received axioms of good taste have been successively set at defiance; and we may triumphantly appeal to this state of things as an undeniable proof of the danger which results from setting oneself above the ancient traditions of art. The only possible excuse which can be offered in palliation of the excesses of the modern French press, is, that it is stark, staring, raving mad. We say that this is the only one which can be offered; and that we pretend to assume to ourselves the grave responsibility of offering such an excuse, because with the literary question is mixed up a much graver question of morals, the consideration of which would lead us too wide from our subject and at the same time expose us to make use of a studied severity of language, which might wound the feelings of many. We shall therefore merely observe that the present school, at the head of which may be reckoned Victor Hugo and Madame Du Devant (Georges Sand), as prose writers, and Lamartine as a poet, is in all probability the last phase of the progression of that spirit, which we pointed at, in a preceding article, as the basis of Protestantism, and which may be regarded as the legitimate, we had almost said the necessary consequence, of the principle upon which that opinion reposes. Victor Hugo opened the career, and his prose works, as well as his dramatic pieces, may be regarded as an eloquent protestation against the received opinions upon the beautiful and its antithesis; for him was reserved the melancholy celebrity of establishing the sublimity of vice. Other authors, before his time, had allowed themselves to introduce into their works of imagination, certain details of evil, by way of contrast, as the painter heightens his effects of light by the depth of his shadow; but in the works of the celebrated founder of the romantic school, to pursue our metaphor, there is a total absence of light ; his element, is the element of darkness. The literary Protestantism of Madame Dudevant has something more personal in it. Her early works are merely a continuous apology in favour of adultery; or in other words, a protestation against the antiquated prejudices, which have hitherto reigned upon the subject of the duties of the married state. It is not here the place, nor indeed would it be gallant, to enquire, how far particular circumstances may have influenced this lady in the establishment of her new theory. The voice of public fame, the newspapers and the solemn decisions of the courts of justice, have, however, forced upon us the knowledge of one deplorable fact, which is her separation from her husband, accompanied by circumstances of the most scandalous nature. Lamartine, the admirable poet, the early efforts of whose muse were exclusively devoted to the interests of that religion from which he has not even now professedly separated himself, has allowed himself to be carried away by a phrase, which, like many other words, used as the rallying point of a new opinion, is possessed of that convenient vagueness, which communicates to it a sort of unlimited elasticity. It may be said to mean anything, or to mean nothing, which will be found to be much the same thing in such cases. M. Lamartine has conceived a new form of the epic, which in his hands is to become neither more nor less than a “poème humanitaire.” Now, as the human nature has certainly many elements which bear witness of its profound moral degradation, vice and misery are thus brought within the poet's legitimate domain ; unfortunately these subjects, and that violent and absorbing passion which naturally darkens the understanding, are the sole materials which he thinks necessary to employ. Love particularly, in its inferior forms, appears to constitute the poet's favourite theme. He can conceive no motive of action paramount to the voluptuous incitements of sensuality, and his elaborate descriptions of certain scenes must cover with a blush of indignation the most shameless cheek.

Such have been the momentary consequences of literary Protestantism in France. The inconveniences are manifest, but amidst the general disorder can we discover no element of progress? To assert the contrary would be to close our eyes upon an evident truth. It would perhaps be unfair to establish a comparison between the present state of literature in France and the more remote periods of her ancient glory, such as the age of Louis the Fourteenth, for instance; because we should thereby leave out of the calculation that long period of languor and decay which had succeeded it. The literary form which the present school overthrew, was the literature of the imperial period; without contestation the phase the most empty and the most vapid in the whole range of her literary history. The question therefore does not appear to be, whether the best prose writers have polished and improved the language of "Bossuet and of Fenelon, (the affirmative of which many persons are prepared to maintain), but whether the present school has not rendered an important service to literature, in discarding the more recent and dull traditions of the empire? We think there can be no doubt, if we isolate the question of form, that the progress is unquestionable, both as regards prose and verse. The best prose writers of the present day (amongst whom must be included, in addition to those already mentioned, the unfortunate De Lamennais), have communicated to language a certain concentration and energy which are not to be met with in former writers; moreover, the introduction of new words, and of old words in an extended sense, however objectionable when carried to an excess, indicates a certain progression in the human mind. As far as poetry is concerned, without examining the very delicate questions of rhythm and metre, upon which as foreigners we plead our incompetence, we cannot take leave of the subject without alluding to the distinguishing characteris

VOL. X.--NO. XX.

HH

tic of the new school,

which is its admirable appreciation of the material world, and its profound sympathy with the mysteries of nature.

Were we to take a general view of the influence of the Protestant principle, or, in other words, of that unlimited spirit of enquiry which may be signalized as its distinguishing characteristic, we should without doubt discover similar inconveniences, and similar advantages, as regards general science, metaphysics, political economy, and even theology. Of course as regards this latter science, we allude only to the departments of criticism and philology, in which Protestant divines, notwithstanding certain inevitable prejudices, have rendered real service to divinity, as a science.

However, therefore, we may regret the religious convulsion of the sixteenth century, we are not prepared to assert that all its consequences were evil, any more than we are prepared to assert, that all its causes were futile. At that period there existed many most crying abuses, both in the Church and in the State; and had we existed in those days of peculation and disorder, it is hard to say how far that general indignation which appears at one moment to have taken possession of the public mind, might have carried us away; and how far we might have concurred in the adoption of those false measures, which, confounding questions of faith with those which related exclusively to ecclesiastical discipline and political institutions, led to a series of most important changes, the latter of which were perhaps far from the original intentions of those who were ultimately obliged to adopt them ;—so true is it, that one false step necessarily leads to another.

We regret very much that the limits of the present article prevent our applying the above-mentioned principle to all the various interesting facts collected in the work before us. In order to establish something like a unity of conception in the following pages, we have been obliged to adopt some leading subject as our general matter; and although that circumstance will not prevent our promiscuous gleanings during a rapid progress through the three remaining volumes, we shall for the present principally direct the attention of our readers to what Mr. Hallam has himself termed, “The arduous struggle between prescriptive obedience to the Church of Rome and rebellion against its authority.” (vol. ii. p. 80.) We have in our preceding article set forth the very remarkable opinions of the author, as to the causes of the Reformation, and more particularly as to the instruments by which it was brought