what this famous conftitution was; which it appears had before never been examined into, nor was ever established according to the requifite forms of law. An examination, therefore, being made into their conftitution, and into fome of their books; it afforded very legal and fufficient proofs that their inftitution was contrary to the laws of the kingdom, the obedience due to the king, the fafety of his person, and the peace of the state.

Our Author admits, nevertheless, that, altho' these means were made ufe of, as the only legal ones to diffolve the society, they were not the motives of fuch diffolution. For, as to the fervile obedience the Jefuits paid to their general and the pope; as to their doctrine of king-killing, &c. These were equally maintained by other religious orders. He owns that the Jefuits were grown rich, infolent and imperious; that, while they made profeffion of having renounced the world, they were the busieft perfons in it; that they were tutors, courtiers, merchants, politicians, priefts, and wanted nothing less than to be governors and rulers of the earth. These were fufficient motives for fuppreffing them; though it evidently appears that their power and credit in France was, as before fuggefted, merely nominal; had it been otherwife the parliaments would not have been surprised, as they were, to find that fo eafily effected which a few months before they would have deemed impracticable.

Our readers may remember that we gave fome account, in a former appendix, of a collection of extracts from the writings of the Jefuits, felected by order of the parliament of Paris *. These fons of Ignatius, it feems complain much of the infidelity of those extracts; but it appears that the errours committed are infignificant and trifling. The publication of those extracts, was preceded a few years by the condemnation of the work of Bufenbaum in favour of regicide; the copy condemned bearing the date of 1757: that fatal epoch of the attempt made on the perfon of the prefent king. The Jefuits pretended, indeed, that fuch date was affixed to an old edition, by a fineffe of their enemies. The Janfenifts, however, plainly proved the contrary nay they went fo far as to persuade great part of the French nation that the Jefuits were abettors of the affaffination; but it appeared, from the feveral examinations of the criminal, that they were in this respect innocent.

The affaffination of the King of Portugal, which happened the following year, leads our hiftorian into a digreffion on that head. He obferves, that the fame motives prevailed there as in France; and that the Portugueze minister only artfully took occafion, from the imputation caft on fome of the Jefuits for having advifed, directed and abfolved the affaffins, to drive them all out of the kingdom. And here we are told of a fact,

See Review, Vol. XXVIII. p. 539.

which, if true, must have been extremely barbarous; viz. that the general of the Jefuits, to whom they were fent, not knowing how to provide for fuch a number of new comers, left them to perish with hunger on board the fhips that brought them to Italy.

Our Author makes fome pleasant remarks (if any thing pleafant can be faid on fuch a fubject) on the execution of Malagrida; whom the Portugueze miniftry were, after all, afraid to execute as a regicide; being obliged to trump up an accusation, cognisable in the court of Inquifition: after which they could fafely burn him for being a fool, though they were afraid to condemn him as a traitor and assassin.

The effects, fays the Hiftorian, of the execution of this single. Jefuit were remarkable. It made the friends of the inquifition its enemies, and enemies of its friends immediately. The Jefuits themselves, hitherto friends of the Inquifition, were no longer fo, fince it had the temerity to condemn one of their order. On the other hand, the Janfenifts the most inveterate enemies to the Inquifition, began to change their tone, nay to be loud in its praife, when they found it had condemned a Jefuit.

With regard to the doctrine of regicide, which hath been fo often imputed to the Jefuits, our Author relates the following curious anecdote. It is aftonishing, fays he, that among fo many books and pamphlets, which have been written against thefe affaffinating fathers, not one of them hath taken notice of a fact, little known indeed, but which would have afforded fine fcope to their enemies.

In the church of St. Ignatius at Rome, there are painted, on the fides of the cupola, feveral history pieces from the old teftament; the fubject of every one of them being either affaffinations or murders, committed, in the name of the Lord by the Jews. There is Jael, urged on by the spirit of God to drive a nail through the head of Sifera, in breach of all the rules of common hofpitality. There is Judith, conducted by the fame guide, to cut off the head of Holophernes whom he had feduced and made drunk. There is alfo Sampfon, destroying the Philistines at the divine command, and David killing Goliah *. At the top of the fame Cupola, is reprefented St. Ignatius furrounded with a glory, and darting flames of fire through the four parts of the globe; the following text from the new tefta

egt being infcribed underneath, Ignem veni mittere in terram; cquid volo nifi ut accendatur. These pictures in their church, fays our Author, afford a ftronger proof than any paffages to be. deduced from their writings, of thofe murdering tenets, which are imputed to them.

Does our Author deem the overthrow of Goliah, in fair combat, an off Jination?

But

But to return to the state of the Jefuits in France. The parliament of Paris having taken a whole year to enquire into the nature of their inftitution, it was very natural for the Jefuits to beftir themselves, and to make what friends they could at court. Indeed they fucceeded fo far, as to obtain an edict from the king in their favour; but on the unanimous refusal of the parliament to register it, and their earnest remonstrances to the king, it was withdrawn. Things were in this fituation, when the capture of Martinico, by the English, fet the nation again in a ferment: to caufe a diverfion to which, it is faid the miniftry thought on the expedient of proceeding farther against the Jefuits; as Alcibiades is reported to have cut off the tail of his dog, to afford the Athenians fomething to talk about, and divert their attention from matters of ftate. The principal of their college, therefore, was commanded to obey the arrets of parliament and to fhut up their fchools on the firft April 1762. On the fixth of Auguft following, their institution was unanimously condemned in parliament; to which no oppofition was made by the crown. The fociety was now of course diffolved, and their poffeffions alienated and fold; the other parliaments of the kingdom following fooner or later the example of that of Paris. Nay fome of them acted with still greater feverity, driving them out of their province without ftanding upon forms of law. In general, however, individuals were permitted to refide in France, on renouncing the society, and taking oaths of allegiance to the king; an indulgence that was even thought too great by their implacable enemies the Janfenifts; who imagined the parliaments had not yet done enough. In this, fays our hiftorian, they refembled the famous Swiss general, who precipitately ordered the field of battle to be cleared; by which means the killed and wounded were promifcuously ftripped and buried together; when, being reminded of this circumftance, and told that many of them still breathed and begged for life, he answered, " Poh, poh, if you mind what they fay, you'll not find a dead man among them." It is very certain that, in fo numerous a fociety, there must have been some inactive and inoffenfive members; and that many innocent individuals muft fuffer in fo general a punishment as that inflicted on their whole body. Not that the Janfenifts would admit the poffibility of this ; afferting that the finger of God was manifeft in the whole progre of the affair. A quondam Jefuit, however, pleasantly enough remarked, by way of confirming the allufion, that he judged it at leaft his whole four fingers and thumb.

Our Author, who is evidently a philofopher, to whom theological difputes appear as ridiculous as they are dangerous, feems to conceive the deftruction of the Jefuits in France only as the forerunner of a fimilar catastrophe to moft other religious

orders

orders and fees in that kingdom. The very name of the Janfenifts, fays he, will in a fhort time be forgotten, as that of their adverfaries is profcribed; and even this profcription, which now makes fo much noife, will be foon effaced by fucceeding events; even this important bufiñefs being to he recollected only by the jeft, of calling the Superior of the Jefuits a difbanded · Colonel who hath loft his Regiment.'

La Philofophie de L'Hiftoire. Par feu L'Abbé Bazin. 8vo. 1765. The Philofophy of History. By Mr. De Veltaire.

WE

a

E make no fcruple of imputing this work to Mr. de Voltaire; a very confiderable part of it, being only a recapitulation of remarks and obfervations, to be found in his other works, particularly in the Supplement to his Univerfal History. Whether we are indebted to this celebrated Writer for their publication in the prefent form, we cannot take upon us to fay. It is by no means improbable, however, that this is really the cafe; our Author being no lefs excentric in his fchemes of publication than in his modes of writing. There is no doubt but fome of our Readers will judge hardly of this manner of re-printing the contents of books under different titles. But, not to infift that a writer has undoubtedly as good a right to turn plagiary and plunder himself, as other writers have to plunder him, there is another reafon which may ferve in fome degree to exculpate our Author, or at least extenuate the crime of felf-plagiarifm. Mr. de Voltaire has known the world too much and too long, to be ignorant either of the infatiable thirft it has for novelty, or of that indolence and indifference with which books in general are read, and particularly thofe which require any degree of thought or attention. Hence it is that a reader can hardly ever be prevailed on to read the fame book twice, though he may not remember a fyilable more of it than the title-page. Thus it is become in a manner neceffary for an author, who is defirous that his works fhould make a lafting impreffion on the public, to vary their mode of exhibition and, though it may appear injurious to make the Reader pay twice for the fame tract, it may have a good effect in rendering his future reading less fuperficial. It is frange, but it is very true, that we have known readers, even of fome repute in

This mifcellany contains 53 chapters, on detached and various fubjects of ancient history, philofophy, &c. any other title being as applicable to it as the prefent.

APP. VOL. XXXII.

LI

the

the republic of letters, perufe a work in appearance over and over, nay write a critique on fuch performance, and yet in a few days be entirely ignorant of the nature, defign and contents of it. Certain it is, that the attention or retention of such readers must be very defective: they must have very shallow brains or very fhort memories.

But to dwell no longer on this fubject; as we doubt not that our Author will ftand excufed, both with those who may, and who may not, remember to have met with his present obfervations before. With regard to the latter, it is indeed a matter of no confequence whether they were ever printed before or not; and we are perfuaded the former will not think their time thrown away, even in the repeated perufal of the reflections of De Voltaire; which, if not always true, fenfible and juft, are at least fhrewd, ingenious and entertaining.

We do not, after all, mean to infinuate that nothing novel is contained in the prefent publication, or that the Author hath not, as ufual, difplayed his art in placing trite, and sometimes trivial, objects in a new and ftriking point of view. Our Readers will fee, from the extracts we have chofen, what kind of amufement the whole may afford them.

Cf the firft People who wrote Hiftory, and the Fables related by the first Hiftorians.

It is inconteftable that the Chinese annals are the most ancient in the world; being regularly continued without interruption, and recording a feries of facts and circumftances, without any mixture of the marvellous or improbable, during the space of four thousand one hundred and fifty years. They even refer to many ages farther back, not indeed with precifion of date, but with that appearance of truth which approaches nearly to certainty. It is very probable that fuch powerful nations as the Indians, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans and Syrians, who poffeffed great cities, had alfo their refpective annals. It feems likely that the itinerant or wandering nations, were the laft to write as they had not fo good means as the others, of preferving their archives: add to this, that they had not fo many wants, laws, or events to record. Occupied only in providing themfelves a precarious fubfiftence, their purpofes were readily anfwered by oral tradition.

There never was an hiftory written of a wandering herd, an obfcure village, and very feldom of a fingle town. Even the hiftory of a whole nation must have been a flow production. Its foundation must have been laid, in a few fummary registers, preferved, as well as the circumstances would admit of, in a temple or a citadel. Thefe annals, again, were liable to be deftroyed