In a religious book published by a fellow of the Society of Jesus, entitled, "The Faith of a Catholic," the author examines what concerns the incredulous Jews and other infidels. He would show that Jesus Christ, author of the religion which bears his name, did not impose on or deceive the Apostles whom he taught; that the Apostles who preached it did not deceive those who were converted; and that those who were converted did not deceive us. In proving these three not difficult propositions, he says, he confounds "theAtheist, who does not believe in God; thePagan, who adores several; theDeist, who believes in one God, but who rejects a particular Providence; theFreethinker, who presumes to serve God according to his fancy, without being attached toany religion; thePhilosopher, who takes reason and not revelation for the rule of his belief; theGentile, who, never having regarded the Jewish people as a chosen nation, does not believe God promised them a Messiah; and finally, theJew, who refuses to adore the Messiah in the person of Christ."
I have given this sketch, as it serves for a singular Catalogue ofHeretics.
It is rather singular that so late as in the year 1765, a work should have appeared in Paris, which bears the title I translate, "The Christian Religionprovedby asingle fact; or a dissertation in which is shown that thoseCatholicsof whom Huneric, King of the Vandals, cut the tongues,spoke miraculouslyall the remainder of their days; from whence is deduced theconsequences of this miracleagainst the Arians, the Socinians, and the Deists, and particularly against the author of Emilius, by solving their difficulties." It bears this Epigraph, "Ecce Ego admirationem faciam populo huic, miraculo grandi et stupendo." There needs no further account of this book than the title.
Authors of moderate capacity have unceasingly harassed the public; and have at length been remembered only by the number of wretched volumes their unhappy industry has produced. Such an author was the Abbé de Marolles, otherwise a most estimable and ingenious man, and the patriarch of print-collectors.
This Abbé was a most egregious scribbler; and so tormented with violent fits of printing, that he even printed lists and catalogues of his friends. I have even seen at the end of one of his works a list of names of those persons who had given him books. He printed his works at his own expense, as the booksellers had unanimously decreed this. Menage used to say of his works, "The reason why I esteem the productions of the Abbé is, for the singular neatness of their bindings; he embellishes them so beautifully, that the eye finds pleasure in them." On a book of his versions of the Epigrams of Martial, this critic wrote,Epigrams against Martial.Latterly, for want of employment, our Abbé began a translation of the Bible; but having inserted the notes ofthe visionary Isaac de la Peyrere, the work was burnt by order of the ecclesiastical court. He was also an abundant writer in verse, and exultingly told a poet, that his verses cost him little: "They cost you what they are worth," replied the sarcastic critic. De Marolles in hisMemoirsbitterly complains of the injustice done to him by his contemporaries; and says, that in spite of the little favour shown to him by the public, he has nevertheless published, by an accurate calculation, one hundred and thirty-three thousand one hundred and twenty-four verses! Yet this was not the heaviest of his literary sins. He is a proof that a translator may perfectly understand the language of his original, and yet produce an unreadable translation.
In the early part of his life this unlucky author had not been without ambition; it was only when disappointed in his political projects that he resolved to devote himself to literature. As he was incapable of attempting original composition, he became known by his detestable versions. He wrote above eighty volumes, which have never found favour in the eyes of the critics; yet his translations are not without their use, though they never retain by any chance a single passage of the spirit of their originals.
The most remarkable anecdote respecting these translations is, that whenever this honest translator came to a difficult passage, he wrote in the margin, "I have not translated this passage, because it is very difficult, and in truth I could never understand it." He persisted to the last in his uninterrupted amusement of printing books; and his readers having long ceased, he was compelled to present them to his friends, who, probably, were not his readers. After a literary existence of forty years, he gave the public a work not destitute of entertainment in his own Memoirs, which he dedicated to his relations and all his illustrious friends. The singular postscript to his Epistle Dedicatory contains excellent advice for authors.
"I have omitted to tell you, that I do not advise any one of my relatives or friends to apply himself as I have done to study, and particularly to the composition of books, if he thinks that will add to his fame or fortune. I am persuaded that of all persons in the kingdom, none are more neglected than those who devote themselves entirely to literature. The small, number of successful persons in that class (at present I do not recollect more than two or three) should not imposeon one's understanding, nor any consequences from them be drawn in favour of others. I know how it is by my own experience, and by that of several amongst you, as well as by many who are now no more, and with whom I was acquainted. Believe me, gentlemen! to pretend to the favours of fortune it is only necessary to render one's self useful, and to be supple and obsequious to those who are in possession of credit and authority; to be handsome in one's person; to adulate the powerful; to smile, while you suffer from them every kind of ridicule and contempt whenever they shall do you the honour to amuse themselves with you; never to be frightened at a thousand obstacles which may be opposed to one; have a face of brass and a heart of stone; insult worthy men who are persecuted; rarely venture to speak the truth; appear devout, with every nice scruple of religion, while at the same time every duty must be abandoned when it clashes with your interest. After these any other accomplishment is indeed superfluous."
The origin of the theatrical representations of the ancients has been traced back to a Grecian stroller singing in a cart to the honour of Bacchus. Our European exhibitions, perhaps as rude in their commencement, were likewise for a long time devoted to pious purposes, under the titles of Mysteries and Moralities. Of these primeval compositions of the drama of modern Europe, I have collected some anecdotes and some specimens.[96]
It appears that pilgrims introduced these devout spectacles. Those who returned from the Holy Land or other consecrated places composed canticles of their travels, and amused their religious fancies by interweaving scenes of which Christ, the Apostles, and other objects of devotion, served as the themes. Menestrier informs us that these pilgrims travelled in troops, and stood in the public streets, where they recited their poems, with their staff in hand; while their chaplets and cloaks, covered with shells and images of various colours formed a picturesque exhibition, which at length excited the piety of the citizens to erect occasionally a stage on an extensive spot of ground. These spectacles served as the amusements and instruction of the people. So attractive were these gross exhibitions in the middle ages, that they formed one of the principal ornaments of the reception of princes on their public entrances.
When the Mysteries were performed at a more improved period, the actors were distinguished characters, and frequently consisted of the ecclesiastics of the neighbouring villages, who incorporated themselves under the title ofConfrères de la Passion. Their productions were divided, not into acts, but into different days of performance, and they were performed in the open plain. This was at least conformable to the critical precept of that mad knight whose opinion is noticed by Pope. It appears by a MS. in the Harleian library, that they were thought to contribute so much to the information and instruction of the people, that one of the Popes granted a pardon of one thousand days to every person who resorted peaceably to the plays performed in the Whitsun week at Chester, beginning with "The Creation," and ending with the "General Judgment." These were performed at the expense of the different corporations of that city, and the reader may smile at the ludicrous combinations. "The Creation" was performed by the Drapers; the "Deluge" by the Dyers; "Abraham, Melchisedech, and Lot," by the Barbers; "The Purification" by the Blacksmiths; "The Last Supper" by the Bakers; the "Resurrection" by theSkinners; and the "Ascension" by the Tailors. In these pieces the actors represented the person of the Almighty without being sensible of the gross impiety. So unskilful were they in this infancy of the theatrical art, that very serious consequences were produced by their ridiculous blunders and ill-managed machinery. The following singular anecdotes are preserved, concerning a Mystery which took up several days in the performance.
"In the year 1437, when Conrad Bayer, Bishop of Metz, caused the Mystery of 'The Passion' to be represented on the plain of Veximel near that city,Godwasan old gentleman, named Mr. Nicholas Neufchatel, of Touraine, curate of Saint Victory, of Metz, and who was very near expiring on the cross had he not been timely assisted. He was so enfeebled, that it was agreed another priest should be placed on the cross the next day, to finish the representation of the person crucified, and which was done; at the same time Mr. Nicholas undertook to perform 'The Resurrection,' which being a less difficult task, he did it admirably well."—Another priest, whose name was Mr. John de Nicey, curate of Metrange, personated Judas, and he had like to have been stifled while he hung on the tree, for his neck slipped; this being at length luckily perceived, he was quickly cut down and recovered.
John Bouchet, in his "Annales d'Aquitaine," a work which contains many curious circumstances of the times, written with that agreeable simplicity which characterises the old writers, informs us, that in 1486 he saw played and exhibited in Mysteries by persons of Poitiers, "The Nativity, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ," in great triumph and splendour; there were assembled on this occasion most of the ladies and gentlemen of the neighbouring counties.
We will now examine the Mysteries themselves. I prefer for this purpose to give a specimen from the French, which are livelier than our own. It is necessary to premise to the reader, that my versions being in prose will probably lose much of that quaint expression and vulgarnaïvetéwhich prevail through the originals, written in octo-syllabic verses.
One of these Mysteries has for its subject the election of an apostle to supply the place of the traitor Judas. A dignity so awful is conferred in the meanest manner; it is done by drawing straws, of which he who gets the longest becomes the apostle. Louis Chocquet was a favourite composer of these religious performances: when he attempts the pathetic, he has constantly recourse to devils; but, as these characters are sustained with little propriety, his pathos succeeds in raising a laugh. In the following dialogue Annas and Caiaphas are introduced conversing about St. Peter and St. John:——
annas.I remember them once very honest people. They have often broughttheir fish to my house to sell.
annas.I remember them once very honest people. They have often broughttheir fish to my house to sell.
caiaphas.Is this true?
caiaphas.Is this true?
annas.By God, it is true; my servants remember them very well. To livemore at their ease they have left off business; or perhaps they were inwant of customers. Since that time they have followed Jesus, that wickedheretic, who has taught them magic; the fellow understands necromancy,and is the greatest magician alive, as far as Rome itself.
annas.By God, it is true; my servants remember them very well. To livemore at their ease they have left off business; or perhaps they were inwant of customers. Since that time they have followed Jesus, that wickedheretic, who has taught them magic; the fellow understands necromancy,and is the greatest magician alive, as far as Rome itself.
St. John, attacked by the satellites of Domitian, amongst whom the author has placed Longinus and Patroclus, gives regular answers to their insulting interrogatories. Some of these I shall transcribe; but leave to the reader's conjectures the replies of the Saint, which are not difficult to anticipate.
parthemia.You tell us strange things, to say there is but one God in three persons.longinus.Is it any where said that we must believe your old prophets (with whom your memory seems overburdened) to be more perfect than our gods?pathoclus.You must be very cunning to maintain impossibilities. Now listen to me: Is it possible that a virgin can bring forth a child without ceasing to be a virgin?domitian.Will you not change these foolish sentiments? Would you pervert us? Will you not convert yourself? Lords! you perceive now very clearly what an obstinate fellow this is! Therefore let him be stripped and put into a great caldron of boiling oil. Let him die at the Latin Gate.pesart.The great devil of hell fetch me if I don't Latinise him well. Never shall they hear at the Latin Gate any one sing so well as he shall sing.torneau.I dare venture to say he won't complain of being frozen.patroclus.Frita, run quick; bring wood and coals, and make the caldron ready.frita.I promise him, if he has the gout or the itch, he will soon get rid of them.
parthemia.
You tell us strange things, to say there is but one God in three persons.
longinus.
Is it any where said that we must believe your old prophets (with whom your memory seems overburdened) to be more perfect than our gods?
pathoclus.You must be very cunning to maintain impossibilities. Now listen to me: Is it possible that a virgin can bring forth a child without ceasing to be a virgin?
domitian.
Will you not change these foolish sentiments? Would you pervert us? Will you not convert yourself? Lords! you perceive now very clearly what an obstinate fellow this is! Therefore let him be stripped and put into a great caldron of boiling oil. Let him die at the Latin Gate.
pesart.
The great devil of hell fetch me if I don't Latinise him well. Never shall they hear at the Latin Gate any one sing so well as he shall sing.
torneau.
I dare venture to say he won't complain of being frozen.
patroclus.
Frita, run quick; bring wood and coals, and make the caldron ready.
frita.
I promise him, if he has the gout or the itch, he will soon get rid of them.
St. John dies a perfect martyr, resigned to the boiling oil and gross jests of Patroclus and Longinus. One is astonished in the present times at the excessive absurdity, and indeed blasphemy, which the writers of these Moralities permitted themselves, and, what is more extraordinary, were permitted by an audience consisting of a whole town. An extract from the "Mystery of St. Dennis" is in the Duke de la Vallière's "Bibliothèque du Théâtre François depuis son Origine: Dresde, 1768."
The emperor Domitian, irritated against the Christians, persecutes them, and thus addresses one of his courtiers:——
Seigneurs Romains, j'ai entenduQue d'un crucifix d'un pendu,On fait un Dieu par notre empire,Sans ce qu'on le nous daigne dire.Roman lords, I understandThat of a crucified hanged manThey make a God in our kingdom,Without even deigning to ask our permission.
Seigneurs Romains, j'ai entenduQue d'un crucifix d'un pendu,On fait un Dieu par notre empire,Sans ce qu'on le nous daigne dire.
Roman lords, I understandThat of a crucified hanged manThey make a God in our kingdom,Without even deigning to ask our permission.
He then orders an officer to seize on Dennis in France. When this officer arrives at Paris, the inhabitants acquaint him of the rapid and grotesque progress of this future saint:——
Sire, il preche un Dieu à ParisQui fait tout les mouls et les vauls.Il va à cheval sans chevauls.Il fait et defait tout ensemble.Il vit, il meurt, il sue, il tremble.Il pleure, il rit, il veille, et dort.Il est jeune et vieux, foible et fort.Il fait d'un coq une poulette.Il joue des arts de roulette,Ou je ne Sçais que ce peut être.Sir, he preaches a God at ParisWho has made mountain and valley.He goes a horseback without horses.He does and undoes at once.He lives, he dies, he sweats, he trembles.He weeps, he laughs, he wakes, and sleeps.He is young and old, weak and strong.He turns a cock into a hen.He knows how to conjure with cup and ball,Or I do not know who this can be.
Sire, il preche un Dieu à ParisQui fait tout les mouls et les vauls.Il va à cheval sans chevauls.Il fait et defait tout ensemble.Il vit, il meurt, il sue, il tremble.Il pleure, il rit, il veille, et dort.Il est jeune et vieux, foible et fort.Il fait d'un coq une poulette.Il joue des arts de roulette,Ou je ne Sçais que ce peut être.
Sir, he preaches a God at ParisWho has made mountain and valley.He goes a horseback without horses.He does and undoes at once.He lives, he dies, he sweats, he trembles.He weeps, he laughs, he wakes, and sleeps.He is young and old, weak and strong.He turns a cock into a hen.He knows how to conjure with cup and ball,Or I do not know who this can be.
Another of these admirers says, evidently alluding to the rite of baptism,——
Sire, oyez que fait ce fol prestre:Il prend de l'yaue en une escuele,Et gete aux gens sur le cervele,Et dit que partants sont sauvés!Sir, hear what this mad priest does:He takes water out of a ladle,And, throwing it at people's heads,He says that when they depart they are saved!
Sire, oyez que fait ce fol prestre:Il prend de l'yaue en une escuele,Et gete aux gens sur le cervele,Et dit que partants sont sauvés!
Sir, hear what this mad priest does:He takes water out of a ladle,And, throwing it at people's heads,He says that when they depart they are saved!
This piece then proceeds to entertain the spectators with the tortures of St. Dennis, and at length, when more than dead, they mercifully behead him: the Saint, after his decapitation, rises very quietly, takes his head under his arm, and walks off the stage in all the dignity of martyrdom.
It is justly observed by Bayle on these wretched representations, that while they prohibited the people from meditating on the sacred history in the book which contains it in all its purity and truth, they permitted them to see it on the theatre sullied with a thousand gross inventions, which were expressed in the most vulgar manner and in a farcical style. Warton, with his usual elegance, observes, "To those who are accustomed to contemplate the great picture of human follies which the unpolished ages of Europe hold up to our view, it will not appear surprising that the people who were forbidden to read the events of the sacred history in the Bible, in which they are faithfully and beautifully related, should at the same time be permitted to see them represented on the stage disgraced with the grossest improprieties, corrupted with inventions and additions of the most ridiculous kind, sullied with impurities, and expressed in the language and gesticulations of the lowest farce." Elsewhere he philosophically observes that, however, they had their use, "not only teaching the great truths of scripture to men who could not read the Bible, but in abolishing the barbarous attachment to military games and the bloody contentions of the tournament, which had so long prevailed as the sole species of popular amusement. Rude, and even ridiculous as they were, they softened the manners of the people, by divertingthe public attention to spectacles in which the mind was concerned, and by creating a regard for other arts than those of bodily strength and savage valour."
Mysteriesare to be distinguished fromMoralities, andFarces, andSotties.Moralitiesare dialogues where the interlocutors represented feigned or allegorical personages.Farceswere more exactly what their title indicates—obscene, gross, and dissolute representations, where both the actions and words are alike reprehensible.
TheSottieswere more farcical than farce, and frequently had the licentiousness of pasquinades. I shall give an ingenious specimen of one of theMoralities. This Morality is entitled, "The Condemnation of Feasts, to the Praise of Diet and Sobriety for the Benefit of the Human Body."
The perils of gormandising form the present subject. Towards the close is a trial betweenFeastingandSupper. They are summoned beforeExperience, the Lord Chief Justice!FeastingandSupperare accused of having murdered four persons by force of gorging them.ExperiencecondemnsFeastingto the gallows; and his executioner isDiet.Feastingasks for a father-confessor, and makes a public confession of so many crimes, such numerous convulsions, apoplexies, head-aches, and stomach-qualms, &c., which he has occasioned, that his executionerDietin a rage stops his mouth, puts the cord about his neck, and strangles him.Supperis only condemned to load his hands with a certain quantity of lead, to hinder him from putting too many dishes on table: he is also bound over to remain at the distance of six hours' walking fromDinnerupon pain of death.Supperfelicitates himself on his escape, and swears to observe the mitigated sentence.[97]
TheMoralitieswere allegorical dramas, whose tediousness seems to have delighted a barbarous people not yet accustomed to perceive that what was obvious might be omitted to great advantage: like children, everything must be told in such an age; their own unexercised imagination cannot supply anything.
Of theFarcesthe licentiousness is extreme, but their pleasantry and their humour are not contemptible. The"Village Lawyer," which is never exhibited on our stage without producing the broadest mirth, originates among these ancient drolleries. The humorous incident of the shepherd, who having stolen his master's sheep, is advised by his lawyer only to reply to his judge by mimicking the bleating of a sheep, and when the lawyer in return claims his fee, pays him by no other coin, is discovered in these ancient farces. Bruèys got up the ancient farce of the "Patelin" in 1702, and we borrowed it from him.
They had another species of drama still broader than Farce, and more strongly featured by the grossness, the severity, and personality of satire:—these were calledSotties, of which the following one I find in the Duke de la Vallière's "Bibliothèque du Théâtre François."[98]
The actors come on the stage with their fools'-caps each wanting the right ear, and begin with stringing satirical proverbs, till, after drinking freely, they discover that their fools'-caps want the right ear. They call on their old grandmotherSottie(or Folly), who advises them to take up some trade. She introduces this progeny of her fools to theWorld, who takes them into his service. TheWorldtries their skill, and is much displeased with their work. TheCobbler-fool pinches his feet by making the shoes too small; theTailor-fool hangs his coat too loose or too tight about him; thePriest-fool says his masses either too short or too tedious. They all agree that theWorlddoes not know what he wants, and must be sick, and prevail upon him to consult a physician. TheWorldobligingly sends what is required to a Urine-doctor, who instantly pronounces that "theWorldis as mad as a March hare!" He comes to visit his patient, and puts a great many questions on his unhappy state. TheWorldreplies, "that what most troubles his head is the idea of anew deluge by fire, which must one day consume him to a powder;" on which the physician gives this answer:——
Et te troubles-tu pour cela?Monde, tu ne te troubles pasDe voir ce larrons attraparsVendre et acheter benefices;Les enfans en bras des NouricesEstre Abbés, Eveques, Prieurs,Chevaucher tres bien les deux soeurs,Tuer les gens pour leurs plaisirs,Jouer le leur, l'autrui saisir,Donner aux flatteurs audience,Faire la guerre à toute outrancePour un rien entre les chrestiens!And you really trouble yourself about this?Oh,World!you do not trouble yourself aboutSeeing those impudent rascalsSelling and buying livings;Children in the arms of their nursesMade Abbots, Bishops, and Priors,Intriguing with girls,Killing people for their pleasures,Minding their own interests, and seizing on what belongs to another,Lending their ears to flatterers,Making war, exterminating war,For a bubble, among Christians!
Et te troubles-tu pour cela?Monde, tu ne te troubles pasDe voir ce larrons attraparsVendre et acheter benefices;Les enfans en bras des NouricesEstre Abbés, Eveques, Prieurs,Chevaucher tres bien les deux soeurs,Tuer les gens pour leurs plaisirs,Jouer le leur, l'autrui saisir,Donner aux flatteurs audience,Faire la guerre à toute outrancePour un rien entre les chrestiens!
And you really trouble yourself about this?Oh,World!you do not trouble yourself aboutSeeing those impudent rascalsSelling and buying livings;Children in the arms of their nursesMade Abbots, Bishops, and Priors,Intriguing with girls,Killing people for their pleasures,Minding their own interests, and seizing on what belongs to another,Lending their ears to flatterers,Making war, exterminating war,For a bubble, among Christians!
TheWorldtakes leave of his physician, but retains his advice; and to cure his fits of melancholy gives himself up entirely to the direction of his fools. In a word, theWorlddresses himself in the coat and cap ofFolly, and he becomes as gay and ridiculous as the rest of the fools.
ThisSottiewas represented in the year 1524.
Such was the rage for Mysteries, that René d'Anjou, king of Naples and Sicily, and Count of Provence, had them magnificently represented and made them a serious concern. Being in Provence, and having received letters from his son the Prince of Calabria, who asked him for an immediate aid of men, he replied, that "he had a very different matter in hand, for he was fully employed in settling the order of a Mystery—in honour of God."[99]
Strutt, in his "Manners and Customs of the English," has given a description of the stage in England when Mysteries were the only theatrical performances. Vol. iii, p. 130.
"In the early dawn of literature, and when the sacred Mysteries were the only theatrical performances, what is now called the stage did then consist of three several platforms, or stages raised one above another. On the uppermost sat thePater Cœlestis, surrounded with his Angels; on the second appeared the Holy Saints, and glorified men; and the last and lowest was occupied by mere men who had not yet passed from this transitory life to the regions of eternity. On one side of this lowest platform was the resemblance of a dark pitchy cavern, from whence issued appearance of fire and flames; and, when it was necessary, the audience were treated with hideous yellings and noises as imitative of the howlings and cries of the wretched souls tormented by the relentless demons. From this yawning cave the devils themselves constantly ascended to delight and to instruct the spectators:—to delight, because they were usually the greatest jesters and buffoons that then appeared; and to instruct, for that they treated the wretched mortals who were delivered to them with the utmost cruelty, warning thereby all men carefully to avoid the falling into the clutches of such hardened and remorseless spirits." An anecdote relating to an English Mystery presents a curious specimen of the manners of our country, which then could admit of such a representation; the simplicity, if not the libertinism, of the age was great. A play was acted in one of the principal cities of England, under the direction of the trading companies of that city, before a numerous assembly of both sexes, whereinAdamandEveappeared on the stage entirely naked, performed their whole part in the representation of Eden, to the serpent's temptation, to the eating of the forbidden fruit, the perceiving of, and conversing about, their nakedness, and to the supplying of fig-leaves to cover it. Warton observes they had the authority of scripture for such a representation, and they gave matters just as they found them in the third chapter of Genesis. The following article will afford the reader a specimen of anElegant Morality.
One of the most elegant Moralities was composed by Louise L'Abé; the Aspasia of Lyons in 1550, adored by her contemporaries. With no extraordinary beauty, she however displayed the fascination of classical learning, and a vein of vernacular poetry refined and fanciful. To accomplishments so various she added the singular one of distinguishing herself by a military spirit, and was nicknamed Captain Louise. She was a fine rider and a fine lutanist. She presided in the assemblies of persons of literature and distinction. Married to a rope-manufacturer, she was calledLa belle Cordière, and her name is still perpetuated by that of the street she lived in. Her anagram wasBelle à Soy.—But she wasbellealso for others. HerMoralsin one point were not correct, but her taste was never gross: the ashes of her perishable graces may preserve themselves sacred from our severity; but the productions of her genius may still delight.
Her Morality, entitled "Débat de Folie et d'Amour—the Contest ofLoveandFolly," is divided into five parts, and contains six mythological or allegorical personages. This division resembles our five acts, which, soon after the publication of this Morality, became generally practised.
In the first part,LoveandFollyarrive at the same moment at the gate of Jupiter's palace, to join a festival to which he had invited the gods.FollyobservingLovejust going to step in at the hall, pushes him aside and enters first.Loveis enraged, butFollyinsists on her precedency.Love, perceiving there was no reasoning withFolly, bends his bow and shoots an arrow; but she baffled his attempt by rendering herself invisible. She in her turn becomes furious, falls on the boy, tearing out his eyes, and then covers them with a bandage which could not be taken off.
In the second part,Love, in despair for having lost his sight, implores the assistance of his mother; she tries in vain to undo the magic fillet; the knots are never to be unloosed.
In the third part, Venus presents herself at the foot of the throne of Jupiter to complain of the outrage committed byFollyon her son. Jupiter commandsFollyto appear.—She replies, that though she has reason to justify herself, she will not venture to plead her cause, as she is apt to speak too much, or to omit what should be said.Follyasks for a counsellor,and chooses Mercury; Apollo is selected by Venus. The fourth part consists of a long dissertation between Jupiter andLove, on the manner of loving.Loveadvises Jupiter, if he wishes to taste of truest happiness, to descend on earth, to lay down all his majesty, and, in the figure of a mere mortal, to please some beautiful maiden: "Then wilt thou feel quite another contentment than that thou hast hitherto enjoyed: instead of a single pleasure it will be doubled; for there is as much pleasure to be loved as to love." Jupiter agrees that this may be true, but he thinks that to attain this it requires too much time, too much trouble, too many attentions,—and that, after all, it is not worth them.
In the fifth part, Apollo, the advocate for Venus, in a long pleading demands justice againstFolly. The Gods, seduced by his eloquence, show by their indignation that they would condemnFollywithout hearing her advocate Mercury. But Jupiter commands silence, and Mercury replies. His pleading is as long as the adverse party's, and his arguments in favour ofFollyare so plausible, that, when he concludes his address, the gods are divided in opinion; some espouse the cause ofLove, and some, that ofFolly. Jupiter, after trying in vain to make them agree together, pronounces this award:——
"On account of the difficulty and importance of your disputes and the diversity of your opinions, we have suspended your contest from this day to three times seven times nine centuries. In the mean time we command you to live amicably together without injuring one another.Follyshall leadLove,and take him whithersoever he pleases, and when restored to his sight, the Fates may pronounce sentence."
Many beautiful conceptions are scattered in this elegant Morality. It has given birth to subsequent imitations; it was too original and playful an idea not to be appropriated by the poets. To this Morality we perhaps owe the panegyric ofFollyby Erasmus, and theLove and Follyof La Fontaine.
I shall notice a class of very singular works, in which the spirit of romance has been called in to render religion more attractive to certain heated imaginations.
In the fifteenth century was published a little book ofprayers, accompanied byfigures, both of a very uncommon nature for a religious publication. It is entitledHortulus Animæ, cum Oratiunculis aliquibus superadditis quæ in prioribus Libris non habentur.
It is a small octavoen lettres gothiques, printed by John Grunninger, 1500. "A garden," says the author, "which abounds with flowers for the pleasure of the soul;" but they are full of poison. In spite of his fine promises, the chief part of these meditations are as puerile as they are superstitious. This we might excuse, because the ignorance and superstition of the times allowed such things: but thefigureswhich accompany this work are to be condemned in all ages; one represents Saint Ursula and some of her eleven thousand virgins, with all the licentious inventions of an Aretine. What strikes the ear does not so much irritate the senses, observes the sage Horace, as what is presented in all its nudity to the eye. One of these designs is only ridiculous: David is represented as examining Bathsheba bathing, while Cupid hovering throws his dart, and with a malicious smile triumphs in his success. We have had many gross anachronisms in similar designs. There is a laughable picture in a village in Holland, in which Abraham appears ready to sacrifice his son Isaac by a loaded blunderbuss; but his pious intention is entirely frustrated by an angel urining in the pan. In another painting, the Virgin receives the annunciation of the angel Gabriel with a huge chaplet of beads tied round her waist, reading her own offices, and kneeling before a crucifix; another happy invention, to be seen on an altar-piece at Worms, is that in which the Virgin throws Jesus into the hopper of a mill, while from the other side he issues changed into little morsels of bread, with which the priests feast the people. Matthison, a modern traveller, describes a picture in a church at Constance, called the Conception of the Holy Virgin. An old man lies on a cloud, whence he darts out a vast beam, which passes through a dove hovering just below; at the end of a beam appears a large transparent egg, in which egg is seen a child in swaddling clothes with a glory round it. Mary sits leaning in an arm chair, and opens her mouth to receive the egg.
I must not pass unnoticed in this article a production as extravagant in its design, in which the author prided himself in discussing three thousand questions concerning the Virgin Mary.
The publication now adverted to was not presented to the world in a barbarous age and in a barbarous country, but printed at Paris in 1668. It bears for title,Dévote Salutation des Membres sacres du Corps de la Glorieuse Vièrge, Mère de Dieu. That is, "A Devout Salutation of the Holy Members of the Body of the glorious Virgin, Mother of God." It was printed and published with an approbation and privilege, which is more strange than the work itself. Valois reprobates it in these just terms: "What would Innocent XI. have done, after having abolished the shamefulOffice of the Conception, Indulgences, &c.if he had seen a volume in which the impertinent devotion of that visionary monk caused to be printed, with permission of his superiors, Meditations on all the Parts of the Body of the Holy Virgin? Religion, decency, and good sense, are equally struck at by such an extravagance." I give a specimen of the most decent of thesesalutations.
Salutation to the Hair.
"I salute you, charming hair of Maria! Rays of the mystical sun! Lines of the centre and circumference of all created perfection! Veins of gold of the mine of love! Chains of the prison of God! Roots of the tree of life! Rivulets of the fountain of Paradise! Strings of the bow of charity! Nets that caught Jesus, and shall be used in the hunting-day of souls!"
Salutation to the Ears.
"I salute ye, intelligent ears of Maria! ye presidents of the princes of the poor! Tribunal for their petitions; salvation at the audience of the miserable! University of all divine wisdom! Receivers general of all wards! Ye are pierced with the rings of our chains; ye are impearled with our necessities!"
The images, prints, and miniatures, with which the catholic religion has occasion to decorate its splendid ceremonies, have frequently been consecrated to the purposes of love: they have been so many votive offerings worthy to have been suspended in the temple of Idalia. Pope Alexander VI. had the images of the Virgin made to represent some of his mistresses; the famous Vanozza, his favourite, was placed on the altar of Santa, Maria del Popolo; and Julia Farnese furnished a subject for another Virgin. The same genius of piousgallantry also visited our country. The statuaries made the queen of Henry III. a model for the face of the Virgin Mary. Hearne elsewhere affirms, that the Virgin Mary was generally made to bear a resemblance to the queens of the age, which, no doubt, produced some real devotion among the courtiers.
The prayer-books of certain pious libertines were decorated with the portraits of their favourite minions and ladies in the characters of saints, and even of the Virgin and Jesus. This scandalous practice was particularly prevalent in that reign of debauchery in France, when Henry III. held the reins of government with a loose hand. In a missal once appertaining to the queen of Louis XII. may be seen a mitred ape, giving its benediction to a man prostrate before it; a keen reproach to the clergy of that day. Charles V., however pious that emperor affected to be, had a missal painted for his mistress by the great Albert Durer, the borders of which are crowded with extravagant grotesques, consisting of apes, who were sometimes elegantly sportive, giving clysters to one another, and in more offensive attitudes, not adapted to heighten the piety of the Royal Mistress. This missal has two French verses written by the Emperor himself, who does not seem to have been ashamed of his present. The Italians carried this taste to excess. The manners of our country were more rarely tainted with this deplorable licentiousness, although I have observed an innocent tendency towards it, by examining the illuminated manuscripts of our ancient metrical romances: while we admire the vivid colouring of these splendid manuscripts, the curious observer will perceive that almost every heroine is represented in a state which appears incompatible with her reputation. Most of these works are, I believe, by French artists.
A supplement might be formed to religious indecencies from the Golden Legend, which abounds in them. Henry Stephens's Apology for Herodotus might be likewise consulted with effect for the same purpose. There is a story of St. Mary the Egyptian, who was perhaps a looser liver than Mary Magdalen; for not being able to pay for her passage to Jerusalem, whither she was going to adore the holy cross and sepulchre, in despair she thought of an expedient in lieu of payment to the ferryman, which required at least going twice, instead of once, to Jerusalem as a penitential pilgrimage. This anecdote presents the genuine character of certaindevotees.
Melchior Inchoffer, a Jesuit, published a book to vindicate the miracle of aLetterwhich the Virgin Mary had addressed to the citizens of Messina: when Naudé brought him positive proofs of its evident forgery, Inchoffer ingenuously confessed the imposture, but pleaded that it was done by theordersof hissuperiors.
This sameletterof the Virgin Mary was like adonationmade to her by Louis the Eleventh of thewhole countyof Boulogne, retaining, however, forhis own use the revenues! This solemn act bears the date of the year 1478, and is entitled, "Conveyance of Louis the Eleventh to the Virgin of Boulogne, of the right and title of the fief and homage of the county of Boulogne, which is held by the Count of Saint Pol, to render a faithful account before the image of the said lady."
Maria Agreda, a religious visionary, wroteThe Life of the Virgin. She informs us that she resisted the commands of God and the holy Mary till the year 1637, when she began to compose this curious rhapsody. When she had finished thisoriginalproduction, her confessor advised her toburnit; she obeyed. Her friends, however, who did not think her less inspired than she informed them she was, advised her to re-write the work. When printed it spread rapidly from country to country: new editions appeared at Lisbon, Madrid, Perpignan, and Antwerp. It was the rose of Sharon for those climates. There are so many pious absurdities in this book, which were found to give such pleasure to the devout, that it was solemnly honoured with the censure of the Sorbonne; and it spread the more.
The head of this lady was quite turned by her religion. In the first six chapters she relates the visions of the Virgin, which induced her to write her life. She begins the historyab ovo, as it may be expressed; for she has formed a narrative of what passed during the nine months in which the Virgin was confined in the womb of her mother St. Anne. After the birth of Mary, she received an augmentation of angelic guards; we have several conversations which God held with the Virgin during the first eighteen months after her birth. And it is in this manner she formed acirculating novel, which delighted the female devotees of the seventeenth century.
The worship paid to the Virgin Mary in Spain and Italy exceeds that which is given to the Son or the Father. When they pray to Mary, their imagination pictures a beautiful woman, they really feel apassion; while Jesus is only regarded as aBambino, or infant at the breast, and theFatheris hardly ever recollected: but theMadonna la Senhora, la Maria Santa, while she inspires their religious inclinations, is a mistress to those who have none.
Of similar works there exists an entire race, and the libraries of the curious may yet preserve a shelf of these religiousnouvellettes. The Jesuits were the usual authors of these rhapsodies. I find an account of a book which pretends to describe what passes in Paradise. A Spanish Jesuit published at Salamanca a volume in folio, 1652, entitledEmpyreologia. He dwells with great complacency on the joys of the celestial abode; there always will be music in heaven with material instruments as our ears are already accustomed to; otherwise he thinks the celestial music would not be music for us! But another Jesuit is more particular in his accounts. He positively assures us that we shall experience a supreme pleasure in kissing and embracing the bodies of the blessed; they will bathe in the presence of each other, and for this purpose there are most agreeable baths in which we shall swim like fish; that we shall all warble as sweetly as larks and nightingales; that the angels will dress themselves in female habits, their hair curled; wearing petticoats and fardingales, and with the finest linen; that men and women will amuse themselves in masquerades, feasts, and balls.—Women will sing more agreeably than men to heighten these entertainments, and at the resurrection will have more luxuriant tresses, ornamented with ribands and head-dresses as in this life!
Such were the books once so devoutly studied, and which doubtless were often literally understood. How very bold must the minds of the Jesuits have been, and how very humble those of their readers, that such extravagances should ever be published! And yet, even to the time in which I am now writing,—even at this day,—the same picturesque and impassioned pencil is employed by the modern Apostles of Mysticism—the Swedenborgians, the Moravians, the Methodists!
I find an account of another book of this class, ridiculous enough to be noticed. It has for title, "The Spiritual Kalendar, composed of as many Madrigals or Sonnets andEpigrams as there are days in the year; written for the consolation of the pious and the curious. By Father G. Cortade, Austin Preacher at Bayonne, 1665." To give a notion of this singular collection take an Epigram addressed to a Jesuit, who, young as he was, used toput spurs under his shirtto mortify the outer man! The Kalendar-poet thus gives a point to these spurs:—