no place to comment on the bigotry and superstition which marked the course of instruction at St. Cyr; but even this was far better than no education, no morality, and no religion. Madame de Maintenon has been accused of ingratitude towards Madame de Montespan, by whose favor she was introduced at court; she has been called unprincipled herself, because she consented to take the charge of the illegitimate children of the king. But in considering all the circumstances by which she was surrounded, we perceive that she adapted herself gradually to different situations, not intending to sacrifice principle, but yielding to what seemed her duty at the time. As to educating illegitimate children, of whatever condition in life, we see not that this should be urged against the virtue of any person; on the contrary, such children need the more care and instruction, as their situations in life may be the more trying. That Madame de Maintenon in her poverty accepted of the patronage of the king's mistress, whose power was courted by all France, should not of itself be an impeachment of her own virtue. We must lament the immorality of the times, when guilt unblushingly occupied the highest places in society. It was a misfortune for a woman to live in that day, when virtue was considered as a cheat, and piety as hypocrisy, when women, such as Madame de Sévigné, Madame de la Fayette, Madame de Coulanges, &c., associated on the most familiar terms with Ninon d'Enclos, and others of her stamp. As Madame de Maintenon became more familiar with court life, she naturally saw in a clearer light the evils which the immoral conduct of the king brought upon his family and his people. Her sympathies were aroused for the queen, Maria Theresa, who became attached to her and blessed her with her dying breath. Madame de Maintenon desired the welfare of Louis XIV. and of France; she sacrificed herself for this. After her marriage, she lived secluded, passing her time, when not engaged in her duties at St. Cyr, in attention to the affairs of state, or in acts of charity and devotion. That she was often weary of life cannot occasion surprise, when we know to what trials and annoyances she was subjected. She sought to be a saint on. earth, but human nature would sometimes rebel against a forced and artificial life. She had gained her influence over the king by her austere life, and by this and the sacrifice of her own tastes and private affections she preserved it. Bigoted as she might have been in religion, she was doubtless sincere in her devotion to what she considered her duty. There is a currently received opinion that Madame de Maintenon's influence caused the famous, unfortunate and wicked revocation of the edict of Nantes, which kindled anew the spirit of persecution, like a second massacre of St. Bartholomew, bursting upon the Protestants with fury and destruction. From the time of what was called the "Catholic League," entered into by the partisans of the Duke of Guise, for the purpose of establishing the Roman Catholic religion, until Henry of Navarre had nominally abjured Protestantism, there had been little peace in Germany, France, and the south of Europe. The spirit which had excited to the desolating wars for religion had not been subdued; it had remained dormant, ready to be aroused on the slightest occasion. During the reign of Louis XIII. and under the iron rule of Richelieu, there had been frequent outbreaks against the Huguenots. Richelieu had triumphed over them in the taking of Rochelle, by which, as he boasted, he had removed from the Protestant party its last rampart in France. The Edict of Nantes, by which Henry IV. had secured to Protestants civil rights and religious privileges, had ever been regarded with dislike by his successors and their ministers. Louis XIV., as appears from authentic history, long meditated upon the great scheme of bringing all his subjects to one religious faith. With all his licentiousness in early and middle life, he was yet disposed to religious worship, and at times yielded to the admonitions of his confessors, in attempts to reform his life. Believing in penance as a means of pardon, he sometimes followed the rules of his Church in submitting himself to voluntary humiliation. The great idea of unity of religious faith in his kingdom was ever in his thoughts. His regard for Madame de Maintenon seems to have been founded in his belief in her piety and devotion to the doctrines and worship of that Church, out of which he believed there could be no salvation. In 1685, Louis XIV., with the advice of his ministers, and under the influence of his spiritual guides, proclaimed a revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Occasional outbreaks of the Protestants in different parts of the kingdom, during his reign, had caused the king to regard them as rebellious subjects, who had conquered the privileges granted them, and had ever manifested a hostile spirit, sympathizing with republican sentiments, of revolutionary tendencies, as bad lessons from which there was always danger of new ferments. Louis saw that in Protestant countries, as in England and Germany, Roman Catholics. were excluded from affairs of trust and emolument. He saw England engaged in persecuting the Scotch covenanters, and sending troops into Scotland to compel the people to abandon their conventicles, and to adopt the worship of the Anglican Church. Thus he was led to pursue his system of religious persecution, culminating in annulling the edict of Henry the Great. But one crime cannot be excused by urging the precedent of another. We would only show the reasonings and motives which led Louis XIV. to that unjustifiable act, and rescue the memory of Madame de Maintenon from the obloquy of having been its instigator. In the preamble of the edict of revocation, the king says: "De notre avènement à la couronne, nous sommes entré dans le desseins de notre aïeul et père, pour réuni les Français dans une même religion." The spirit of proselytism was undoubtedly very strong in Madame de Maintenon-it was the genius of the age. The king, through her influence, had, in different parts of the kingdom, offered gifts for the converted; but some complained that the price of conversion was too little! To Père la Chaise and Le Tellier, confessors to Louis XIV. and Madame de Maintenon, to Bossuet and other leading ecclesiastics of the day, with various powerful influences, may be attributed that unfortunate edict of revocation, which caused unspeakable distress throughout France, driving from the kingdom many of the most wealthy, industrious, and learned men, who sought in other lands that liberty of conscience denied them in their own. Many of the Huguenots came to America, and from them are descended some of our worthiest and best citizens. France, during the reign of Louis XIV., boasts of many great generals and distinguished writers. The French Academy was founded, the French language was corrected and refined, the drama arose from a state of comparative insignificance, under the magic touch of Corneille, Racine, and Molière. The pulpit eloquence of Bossuet and Massillon, of Fénélon and Bourdaloue, has never been surpassed. Pascal, the Newton of theology, erected an enduring monument to his fame. The French Æsop, La Fontaine, wrote his memorable fables; Boileau, the prince of modern satirists, caused the great to tremble by his wit, and Mazarin and Colbert proved themselves no unworthy successors of Sully and Richelieu. The stranger in Paris asks for Versailles-the chemin-de-fer in ART. IV.-1. On the Regulation of the Currency. By JOHN 2. The Age of Great Cities; or Modern Society Viewed in its rela 3. Financial History of England. By THOMAS DOUBLEDAY. 4. The Financial and Commercial Crises Considered. By Lord ASHBURTON. 5. Tour through the Manufacturing Districts. By W. C. TAYLOR, LL. D. London. 1842. THE memory is less exercised by the generality of people than any other intellectual faculty. It is incredible how soon one forgets even what he has been an eye-witness to, except it be something so peculiar, or remarkable, that it has made a strong impression upon him. Those who read history most carefully can seldom remember more than an event here and there such as happens to impress them most forcibly. This is much more to be regretted than is commonly sup posed; for if we could only retain the lessons we have learned from reading and observation, they would save us from much injury. They would serve as a warning against evil, and at the same time save us from being pained with apprehensions for which there is no ground. In no other sense can it be more truly said that knowledge is power; and that it secures tranquillity to the mind. Not to possess such knowledge, is to be superstitious and timid; ready to look at the darkest side of whatever is represented to us as an evil, even by those whom we know to be unfriendly to us. Thus, did we only bear in mind the fluctuations which currency has undergone in different countries, and how often the wealthiest nations seemed on the brink of ruin for the want of money, while, in point of fact, there was no danger, we should not have been so ready to believe those who wished us to regard the scarcity of specie as a proof that we were hastening to national bankruptcy. Had we only been acquainted with the subject, we should have known that a scarcity of specie is as natural a result of war as the effusion. of blood on the battle-field. There is no instance of a nation carrying on a great war without experiencing similar embarrassments-much greater embarrassments than we have experienced yet, or are likely to experience in the future. We need only refer to the wars of France and England, in order to illustrate this. Indeed, each has suffered more than we have, when not at war at all; yet it is they who, above all others, shake their heads, and predict our ruin as inevitable, because our Government has found it necessary, first, to issue a large amount of Treasury bills, and, subsequently, to substitute postage stamps for money. Such predictions would be as little worthy of notice as those of the gipsy fortunetellers, were they not believed by thousands of our own people, who ought to know better. And the same remark will apply with equal force to those who tell us that we are to be ruined by taxation, and by the immense national debt being accumulated by the war. It is not necessary to quote any American authority, in order to show that a nation may experience great inconvenience through the scarcity of a circulating medium, and still be in no danger of either dissolution or bankruptcy. We select English authorities, because it is the English press that has taken most pains to prove that it is all over with the American Republic. Let us first remind our prophets and epitaph writers that they have often settled the fate of France by similar arguments, and undoubtedly they had much stronger grounds, in doing so, than they have in our case; for the revolutionary government of France soon found |