PIERRE ALLIX

(State of England, London, 1691, Part II., pp. 3-12.)

[Little is known of Guy Miège, a refugee who continued, under Williamiii., Chamberlayne'sAngliæ Notitia.]

I cannot but admire that they who within these few years have in this kingdom embracedSocinus his opinions, should consider no better how little success they have had elsewhere against the truth, and that upon the score of their divisions, which will unavoidably follow, till they can agree in unanimously rejecting the authority of Scripture. Neither doth it avail them anything to use quibbles and evasions, and weak conjectures, since they are often unanswerably confuted even by some of their brethren, who are more dexterous than they in expounding of Scriptures.

But being resolved by all means to defend their tenents, some chief men amongst them have undertaken to set aside the authority of Scriptures, which is so troublesome to them: and the author of a late book, intitledConsiderations, maintains that the Gospels have been corrupted by the Orthodox party, and suspects that ofSt. Johnto be the work ofCerinthus.

It is no very easy task to dispute against men whose principles are so uncertain, and who in a manner have no regard to the authority of Scripture. It was much less difficult to undertake Socinus himself, because he owned however the authority of Scripture, and that it had not been corrupted. But one knows not how to deal with his disciples, who in their opinion seem to be so contrary to him, and one another.

(The Judgment of the Ancient Jewish Church against the Unitarians, London, 1699, Preface.)

[Pierre Allix, born in Alençon in 1641, died in London in 1717. He was pastor at Charenton up to 1685, when he fled to England and became Canon of Salisbury. He contemplated writing a history of the Councils in seven volumes. A special Act of Parliament (11 & 12 Will.iii., c. 3) was obtained, providing that the paper for the entire work should be imported duty free.]

Some writers barely relate the actions of men, without speaking of their motives, and, like gazeteers, are contented to acquaint us with matter of fact, without tracing it to its spring and cause; others, on the contrary, are so full of politicks and finesse, that they find cunning and design in the most natural and innocent actions. Some, to make their court to the powerful, debase the dignity of history, by cringing and adulation; whilst others, to serve a party, or faction, or merely to gratify their ill-nature, rake up all the scandal of men's lives, give a malicious turn to every thing, and libel every body, even without respecting the sacred Majesty of Princes. Another sort moralize upon every petty accident, and seem to set up for philosophers, instead of historians. And lastly, others are peremptory in their decisions, and impose on the world their conjectures for real truths.

These faults I have endeavoured to avoid. When I relate matters of fact, I deduce them, as far as my informations permit me, from their true causes, without making men more politick, or subtle, than nature has made them. I commend what, in conscience I believe, deserves to be commended, without any prospect of favour, or private interest; and I censure what I think deserves to be blam'd, with the liberty that becomes a faithful unprejudic'd historian, tho' with due regard to persons, whose birth, dignity and character command the respect, even of those who disapprove their actions. I am sparing of reflections, unless it be upon those remarkable events from which they naturally result; and I never biass the reader's judgment by any conjectural impositions of my own.

Yet after all these precautions, I am not so vain as to expect to please all: for how were it possible to gain the general approbation, when people differ so much in opinion about thePrince, whose history I have attempted to write?

(The History of King William the Third, London, 1702, Preface.)

[Born in Castres in 1664, Boyer lived in Switzerland and Holland before settling in England, where he became a journalist and party-writer. He edited a French-English and English-French Dictionary which was long a classic. Swift honoured him once with the appellation of "French dog."]

Sir,—Since so many dealers turn authors, and write quaint advertisements in praise of their wares, one who from an author turn'd dealer may be allowed for the advancement of trade to turn author again. I will not however set up like some of 'em, for selling cheaper than the most able honest tradesman can; nor do I send this to be better known for choice and cheapness of China and Japan wares, tea, fans, muslins, pictures, arrack, and other Indian goods. Placed as I am in Leadenhall-street, near the India-Company, and the centre of that trade, thanks to my fair customers, my warehouse is graced as well as the benefit days of my Plays and Operas; and the foreign goods I sell seem no less acceptable than the foreign books I translated,RabelaisandDon Quixote. This the critics allow me, and while they like my wares, they may dispraise my writing. But as 'tis not so well known yet that I frequently cross the seas of late, and speaking Dutch and French, besides other languages, I have the conveniency of buying and importing rich brocades, Dutch atlasses, with gold and silver, or without, and other foreign silks of the newest modes and best fabricks, fine Flanders lace, linnens, and pictures, at the best hand. This my new way of trade I have fallen into I cannot better publish than by an application toyou. My wares are fit only for such as your traders; and I would beg of you to print this address in your paper, that those whose minds you adorn may take the ornaments for their persons and houses from me....[105]

Lovely charmer, dearest creature,Kind invader of my heart,Grac'd with every gift of nature,Rais'd with every grace of art!Oh! cou'd I but make thee love me,As thy charms my heart have mov'd,None cou'd e'er be blest above me,None cou'd e'er be more belov'd.(The Island Princess or the Generous Portuguese, 1734.)

Lovely charmer, dearest creature,Kind invader of my heart,Grac'd with every gift of nature,Rais'd with every grace of art!

Oh! cou'd I but make thee love me,As thy charms my heart have mov'd,None cou'd e'er be blest above me,None cou'd e'er be more belov'd.

(The Island Princess or the Generous Portuguese, 1734.)

... So will the curse of scribling on you fall;Egad, these times make poets of us all.Then do not damn your brothers of the quill;To be reveng'd, there's hope you'll write as ill.For ne'er were seen more scribes, yet less good writing,And there ne'er were more soldiers, yet less fighting.Both can do nothing if they want supplies,Then aid us, and our league its neighbouring foes defies;Tho' they brib'd lately one of our allies.Sure you'd not have us, for want of due pittance,Like nincompoops sneak to them for admittance,No; propt by you, our fears and dangers cease,Here firm, tho' wealth decay, and foes increase,We'll bravely tug for liberty and peace.(The Loves of Mars and Venus, Epilogue, 1735.)

(The Loves of Mars and Venus, Epilogue, 1735.)

[Pierre Antoine Motteux, born at Rouen in 1660, came over to England in 1685, wrote plays and poems, translated Bayle and Montaigne, and established himself as a trader in Leadenhall street.]

Sir,—I sometime ago acquainted my Lord of your readyness to serve his Lordship in making a Catalogue of his books. His Lordship's new Library being now near finished the Books cannot be removed thither 'till the Catalogue be made. If your health will permit you, His Lordship would be glad to see you here. Mr. Beauvais will deliver you this, and at the same time will desire you to wait upon my Lord Parker, who will inform you how you may come; either on Monday next or the next week after, in my Lord's Coach. I should be very glad to see you, being, Sir, your most humble servant,

John Abbadie.Shirburn,14th Nov.[17—.](Brit. Mus.Add. MSS.4281.)

[Jean Abbadie was a French valet. In another letter to Desmaizeaux, written in French, and dated Aug. 2, 1718, he tells how a noble Lord whom he had faithfully served dismissed him because he could not play the French horn "par la raison que je ne say pas sonner du cor de chasse"!]

Reverend Sir,—I received yours, wherein you demonstrated your friendship by overlooking all the imperfections of my poor work. I wish I could find in my style that facility and felicity of language, which your great goodness flatters me with. To write Latin, is what of all the perfections of a Scholar I admire most; but I know myself so well, as to be sensible how much I fall short of it. I have herein inclosed something that will still try your patience and goodness. 'Tis a poor copy of verses, which (after a long desuetude) I ventured to make in France, upon the occasion of presenting my last book to the King's Library; and I met with such friends, who to shew their civility to me, commanded it to be printed at the Royal Printing-house, and published their candor at the expense of exposing my faults. 'Tis ridiculous to turn poet in my old age. But you'll excuse everything in an old friend. What you mention in your letter concerning other printers, is what I am now pursuing; the work is already begun; the name isAnnales Typographici; it will be three volumes in 4to. And I hope the first will come out by next midsummer.... I am come to the end of my paper, and by this time to the end of your patience; having just room enough to subscribemyself, Worthy Sir, Your most humble and most obedient Servt.

M. Maittaire.

(Printed by Aubrey,Letters written by Eminent Persons, London, 1813, ii. pp. 37-39.)

[Born in France in 1668, came over to England when a boy, studied in Westminster School, of which he ultimately became a master. He died in London in 1747.]

Hervey, would you know the passionYou have kindled in my breast?Trifling is the inclinationThat by words can be expressed.In my silence see the lover:True love is best by silence known;In my eyes you'll discoverAll the power of your own.

Hervey, would you know the passionYou have kindled in my breast?Trifling is the inclinationThat by words can be expressed.

In my silence see the lover:True love is best by silence known;In my eyes you'll discoverAll the power of your own.

I hear Prevost hath a mind to bring you a second time as an evidence against me. He sais I have told you I had given him five and twenty books for thirty guineas. I remember very well, Sir, I told you at Rainbow's Coffee-House that I had given him twenty subscription receipts for theHenriadeand received thirty guineas down; but I never meant to have parted with thirty copies at three guineas each, for thirty-one pounds,I have agreed with him upon quite another foot; and I am not such a fool (tho' a writer) to give away all my property to a bookseller.

Therefore I desire you to remember that I never told you of my having made so silly a bargain. I told, I own, I had thirty pounds or some equivalent down, but I did not say twas all the bargain, this I insist upon and beseech you to recollect our conversation: for I am sure I never told a tale so contrary to truth, to reason, and to my interest. I hope you will not back the injustice of a bookseller who abuses you against a man of honour who is your most humble servant.Voltaire.

I beseech you to send me an answer to my lodging without any delay. I shall be extremely obliged to you.

(British Museum,Add. MSS.4288, fol. 229. Printed by J. Churton Collins and by Ballantyne.)

Ferney,October9, 1773.

Thanks to your muse a foreign copper shinesTurn'd in to gold, and coin'd in sterling lines.

You have done too much honour to an old sick man of eighty.—I am with the most sincere esteem and gratitude, Sir, your obedient servant,

Voltaire.

(Ballantyne,Voltaire's Visit to England, p. 69.)

[With Voltaire theseSpecimensmust end. To quote Père Le Courayer, Letourneur, Suard, or Baron D'Holbach would be unduly to prolong an argument that should stop on the threshold of the eighteenth century.]

FOOTNOTES:[101]For specimens of French written by Englishmen, seeAnglais et Français au XVIIeSiècle, ch. iv.[102]Charlesi.[103]Cal. Clarendon State Papers, ii., No. 2214. See also Eva Scott,King in Exile, p. 9.[104]In Oxford.[105]Spectator, No. 288, 30th January 1712.

[101]For specimens of French written by Englishmen, seeAnglais et Français au XVIIeSiècle, ch. iv.

[102]Charlesi.

[103]Cal. Clarendon State Papers, ii., No. 2214. See also Eva Scott,King in Exile, p. 9.

[104]In Oxford.

[105]Spectator, No. 288, 30th January 1712.

The English have always been divided between a wish to admire and a tendency to detest us. France is for her neighbour a coquette whimsical enough to deserve to be beaten and loved at the same time. The initial misunderstanding between the two nations endures through ages, sometimes threatening open war, more seldom ready to be cleared up. A few miles of deep sea cuts Great Britain off from the rest of Europe. As England has retained no possessions on the Continent, no intermediary race has sprung up, as is the case with most of the Western Powers on their borderlands. Thus the French and Germans are linked together by the Flemings, Alsatians, and Swiss; the Savoyards and Corsicans are a cross between the French and the Italians; and before reaching Spain, a Frenchman must traverse vast tracts of land inhabited by Basques and Catalans; but a few hours' sail from Calais to Dover, from Rotterdam or Antwerp to Harwich will bring a traveller from the Continent into an entirely new world. To avoid disagreements, in thepast infinite tact and patience were requisite on both sides of the Channel: our indiscreet friends made us unpopular with their fellow-countrymen. The story of English gallomania, which is amusing enough, is thus also instructive, as a few episodes will show.[106]

In the sixteenth century, Italy, just emerging from her glorious Renaissance, charmed England; but common interests, political and economical necessities, a degree of civilisation almost the same, prevented her from neglecting us altogether. In the following century, the marriage of Charlesi.with a daughter of Henriiv.made French fashions acceptable for a time in Whitehall. But misfortune overtook the Stuarts. The Great Rebellion broke out, Charlesi.was put to death and his son exiled. During over twelve years, the future King of England lived in French-speaking countries; when restored to his throne, he could not help bringing back our fashions, literature, manners of thinking and doing; of all the Kings of England, from Plantagenets to Edwardvii., Charlesii., in spite of some diplomatic reserve and occasional outbursts of insularity, proved the most amenable to French influence: perhaps that is why his popularity was so great; the English would admire France without stint, if France were but her finest colony.

If the courtiers imitated French manners to please the monarch, the citizens did so to copythe courtiers; so that, about 1632 and 1670, all the frivolous, unreflective idlers that England numbered, were bent on appearing French. Few examples are more striking of the power of the curious desire that possesses ordinary mankind to astonish simple souls by aping the eccentricities of the higher classes.

The mania was carefully studied by contemporary writers: they describe the morbid symptoms with so much accuracy and minuteness as to render all conjectures superfluous.

The disease was developed chiefly by travelling. Attracted by the mildness of a foreign climate and dazzled by the luxurious life of the nobles there, the young Englishman feels estranged from his native land and the rude simplicity of his home. When he comes back, the contrast between his new ideas and his old surroundings, the conflict waged in his own heart between Continental influence and insularity, are fit themes for a tragedy or at least a tragi-comedy. The character of the frenchified Englishman appears several times on the stage in Beaumont and Fletcher'sMonsieur Thomas, in Marston'sWhat you Will, in Davenant'sFair Favourite. Others, again, picture the young fop just back from Paris, clad in strange garments, praising foreign manners, so affected as to disregard his mother-tongue.

About 1609 or 1610, Beaumont and Fletcher sketch the man's character. "The dangers of the merciless Channel 'twixt Dover and Calais, fivelong hours' sail, with three poor weeks' victuals. Then to land dumb, unable to inquire for an English host, to remove from city to city, by most chargeable post-horse, like one that rode in quest of his mother-tongue. And all these almost invincible labours performed for your mistress, to be in danger to forsake her, and to put on new allegiance to some French lady, who is content to change language with your laughter, and after your whole year spent in tennis and broken speech, to stand to the hazard of being laughed at, at your return, and have tales made on you by the chamber-maids."[107]

As a fervid preacher finds hearers, so the traveller induces some of his friends to share his mania. The infection spreads in spite of ridicule:

"Would you believe, when you this monsieur see,That his whole body should speake French, not he?That he, untravell'd, should be French so much,As Frenchmen in his company should seem Dutch?...Or is it some French statue? No: 't doth move,And stoope, and cringe...."[108]

The most frequent symptom of gallomania in early, as in recent times, is to use French words in everyday conversation. So Sir Thomas More laughed at the fop who affected to pronounce English as French but whose French sounded strangely like English.[109]

In the sixteenth century, as in the Middle Ages, French was as generally used as Latin. "In England," wrote Peletier, "at least among princes and in their courts, all their discourses are in French."[110]A few years later, Burghley advised his son Thomas, then travelling on the Continent, to write in Latin or in French.[111]In schools, French was taught with great zeal, and, according to Sylvester, the future translator of Du Bartas, it was forbidden to speak English, however trivial the matter, under penalty of wearing the foolscap.

In spite of these stringent methods of education, backward pupils were not lacking. They were sent to France, but even this desperate remedy was sometimes unavailing; witness Beaumont and Fletcher's youth whose mother, asking him on his return to speak French, was shocked at hearing only a few broken words of abuse.[112]

Yet it was imperative to speak French correctly at Queen Henrietta's Court. Of course the ladies succeeded. In Blount's Preface to Lyly's plays we read that "the beautie in court which could not parley euphuisme, was as litle regarded, as shee which now there, speakes not French."[113]

A COQUETTE AT HER TOILET-TABLEA COQUETTE AT HER TOILET-TABLE

What was the distinctive mark of a good education under Charlesi., was equally so under Charlesii."All the persons of quality in England could speak French." The Queen, the Duchess of York spoke "marvellously well."[114]There was no need to know English at Whitehall: few French gentlemen troubled to learn it, but the English unfortunate enough not to know French had to conceal the defect. These would repeat the same foreign words or phrases; "to smatter French" being "meritorious."[115]"Can there be," exclaims Shadwell, "any conversation well drest without French in the first place to lard it!"[116]In an amusing scene, Dryden shows a coquette rehearsing a polite conversation: "Are you not a most precious damsel," she says to her teacher, "to retard all my visits for want of language, when you know you are paid so well for furnishing me with new words for my daily conversation? Let me die, if I have not run the risque already to speak like one of the vulgar; and if I have one phrase left in all my store that is not threadbare andusé, and fit for nothing but to be thrown to peasants."[117]

Fops followed the example set by coquettes. Monsieur de Paris and Sir Fopling Flutter "show their breeding" by "speaking in a silly soft tone of a voice, and use all the foolish French words that will infallibly make their conversation charming."[118]

After an interval of a hundred years, the reproaches of Sir Thomas More were repeated. If we must credit Shadwell, the youth of Englandhad forgotten their English through studying foreign languages with too much application: they return "from Paris with a smattering of that mighty universal language, without being ever able to write true English."[119]And, again, "all our sparks are so refined they scarce speak a sentence without a French word, and though they seldom arrive at good French, yet they get enough to spoil their English."[120]

From time immemorial Europe has learned from Paris polished manners and the inimitable art of good tailoring. In the sixteenth-century drama, the tailors are invariably French. Harrison deplored the introduction of new fashions, regretting the time "when an Englishman was known abroad by his own cloth, and contented himself at home with his fine kersey hosen, and a mean slop, a doublet of sad tawny or black velvet or other comely silk." Then he proceeds to inveigh against the "garish colours brought in by the consent of the French, who think themselves the gayest men when they have most diversities of jags (ribbons)" and "the short French breeches" that liken his countrymen "unto dogs in doublets." The dramatists constantly mention "French hose, hoods, masks, and sticks," thus attesting the vogue of the Paris fashions. In one of Chapman's plays, two shipwrecked gentlemen cast ashore at the mouth of the Thames think they have reached the coasts of France; seeing a couple of natives drawing near,one of them exclaims: "I knew we were in France: dost thou think our Englishmen are so frenchified, that a man knows not whether he be in France or in England, when he sees them?"[121]

The lover of France was a true epicure as well as a fop. In the houses of the nobility the cooks were invariably French. "I'll have none," says one of Massinger's characters, "shall touch what I shall eat but Frenchmen and Italians; they wear satin, and dish no meat but in silver."[122]We must go to Overbury for the portrait of a French cook "who doth not feed the belly, but the palate. The serving-men call him the last relique of popery, that makes men fast against their conscience.... He can be truly said to be no man's fellow but his master's: for the rest of his servants are starved by him.... The Lord calls him his alchymist that can extract gold out of herbs, roots, mushrooms, or anything.... He dare not for his life come among the butchers; for sure they would quarter and bake him after the English fashion, he's such an enemy to beef and mutton."[123]

Gallomania quickly spread after the Restoration. The Record Office has preserved the name of the French tailor, Claude Sourceau, who helped the Englishman, John Allen, to make Charlesii.'s coronation robes.[124]As early as October 20, 1660, Pepys, dining with Lord Sandwich, heard the latter "talk very high how he would have a Frenchcooke, and a master of his horse, and his lady and child to wear black patches"; which was quite natural, since "he was become a perfect courtier"; and on December 6, 1661, My Lady Wright declared in Pepys' hearing "that none were fit to be courtiers, but such as had been abroad and knew fashions." Soon the motto at Court was to

"Admire whate'er they find abroad,But nothing here, though e'er so good."[125]

Hamilton tells in his delightfulMémoires de Gramonthow every week there came from France "perfumed gloves, pocket-mirrors, dressing-cases, apricot-jam and essences." Every month the Paris milliners sent over to London a jointed doll, habited after the manner of the stars that shone at the Court of the Grand Monarch.[126]According to M. Renan, the dreamy Breton blue eyes of Mademoiselle de Kéroualle conquered Charlesii.; but we feel inclined to think that the monarch appreciated also her brilliant success as a leader of fashion. As Butler satirically said, the French gave the English "laws for pantaloons, port-cannons, periwigs and feathers."[127]Every one spoke of "bouillis, ragouts, fricassés," bordeaux and champagne were drunk instead of national beer.[128]

THE DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH AS A LEADER OF FASHIO[Pg 71THE DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH AS A LEADER OF FASHION

The City ladies tried to outdo the Court belles. One of them "had always the fashion a month before any of the Court ladies; never wore anything made in England; scarce wash'd there; and had all the affected new words sent her, before they were in print, which made her pass among fops for a kind of French wit."[129]

The movement, of course, elicited a violent opposition. Poets and dramatists were banded together in denouncing the subservience to France of a portion of English society. At times, these nationalists went perhaps too far in their praise of old manners and old fashions. Assuredly any reasonable man will side with Sir Fopling Flutter in preferring the wax candle, albeit from France, to the time-honoured tallow candle.[130]

Butler's notebooks, which were published a few years ago, reveal in the man a singularly conservative state of mind. The French are the same, he thinks, to the English nation as the Jews or the Greeks were to the Romans of old. Fashions, cooking, books, all that comes from France is to be abhorred.[131]

One day Evelyn, champion as he was of all generous ideas, determined to bring his countrymen back to their forefathers' simplicity. He accordingly wrote an "invective" against the fashions of France and proposed to adopt in their stead the "Persian costume," "a long cassock fitted close to the body, of black cloth, and pinked withwhite silk under it, and a coat over it, and the legs ruffled with black ribbon." Under the title ofTyrannus or the Mode, the pamphlet was dedicated to the King. Apparently Charlesii.was very idle at the time: the idea pleased him and he donned the "oriental vest." Several members of the House of Commons, probably by way of protesting against the dissoluteness of the Court, had forestalled him. While Evelyn was gravely congratulating himself on the good effect of his pamphlet, the King, in the vein of irrepressible "blague" that was his characteristic trait, remarked that the "pinking upon white made his courtiers look like so many magpies." A few days after, upon hearing that the King of France had caused all his footmen to be put into vests, Charlesii.quietly reverted to the French fashion, "which," as Guy Miège wrote after the Revolution, "has continued ever since."[132]

Though beaten in that particular instance, the nationalists were to carry the day, thanks to the power of tradition and the strong individualism of the English nation. For a hundred years at least, it had been recognised as an assured principle that an Englishman ran the risk of depravation if he ventured abroad.[133]What could the fancy of a few courtiers avail against universal consent?All the satirical poets—Wyatt, Gascoigne, Bishop Hall, Butler—had successfully declaimed against foreigners and frenchified Englishmen. Even Charlesii.applauded Howard's comedy,The English Monsieur. Then, as now, for the average Englishman, Paris was pre-eminently the pleasure-city. It was even worse at times: if gentlemen fought private duels, it was to copy the French.[134]A man as well-informed as the Earl of Halifax feared that the famous poisoning cases in which the Marquise de Brinvilliers and the woman Voisin were concerned, might find imitators in England, "since we are likely to receive hereafter that with other fashions."[135]As the Chinese in modern America, so the Frenchman was looked upon as a suspicious character; not altogether without cause: the cooks, tailors, and valets, the adventurers of the Gramont type lurking about the Court, were redolent of vice. Pepys, who had nothing of the saint about him, could not hide his aversion for Edward Montagu's French valet, the mysterious Eschar, most probably a spy. The great ladies had the habit, which seems so strange to us, to be waited upon by valets instead of maids. When the valet came from France, the pretext for scandal was eagerly seized upon.[136]

If anglomania was unknown to France in the seventeenth century, yet Frenchmen were foundwho appreciated England. Some lived at Court, during Louisxiv.'s minority and later, when the King of England was in the pay of his cousin, the Grand Monarch. No doubt English literature did not profit by those good dispositions, for the simple reason that none of those Frenchmen knew English.

Both Cardinal Mazarin and the Grande Mademoiselle caused horses to be imported from England, but Colbert found them rather expensive. When he received instructions to build Versailles, the minister had to be resigned to extravagance. Henrietta of England stood in high favour with the King, and all that came from England proved acceptable; overwhelmed with work, responsible for the national finances, the navy and public prosperity, the great minister was compelled to discuss trivial details; the same year as the Treaty of Dover was signed, he corresponded with Ambassador Colbert de Croissy about the purchase for the canal at Versailles of two "small yachts." The boats were built in Chatham dockyard, sent to France, and workmen were dispatched to carve and gild the figure-heads.[137]

POPULAR REPRESENTATON OF AN ENGLISHMAN After BonnartPOPULAR REPRESENTATON OF AN ENGLISHMANAfter Bonnart

When Locke visited Paris in 1679, he found some admirers of England. He was told that Prince de Conti, then aged seventeen, proposed to learn English.[138]No wonder the princes of the blood were anxious to know all about the allies of France. The King himself had shown as much curiosity as his exalted station allowed. He had asked his envoys to forward him reports on the government and institutions of the newly-discovered land, on the state of arts and sciences there, on the latest Court scandals. In the Colbert papers may be found reports on the state of the English navy, by superintendent Arnoul, a learned disquisition on the origin of Parliaments, and amusing bits of information, such as the following, about Charlesii.'s Queen: "She is extremely clean and takes a bath once every six weeks, winter and summer. Nobody ever sees her in her bath, not even her maids, curtains being drawn around."

When Gilbert Burnet visited Paris in 1685, he was asked on behalf of the Archbishop if he would write in English a memoir of Louisxiv.From which significant fact it may be inferred that in official circles the state of public opinion in England was beginning to be taken into account.[139]

In all these manifestations of gallomania and incipient anglomania, there is ample matter for ridicule. We should gladly give up the imitation of French fashions and French cooking and the passion for English horses and yachts, just to have once more an instance of the noble spirit of rivalry that Spenser showed when, after reading Du Bellay's poems, he exclaimed:—

"France, fruitful of brave wits."

Yet efforts were being made during the wholeseventeenth century to bring about an understanding between the two neighbouring nations. Unluckily the methods pursued were calculated to make France most unpopular with the larger section of the English public.

FOOTNOTES:[106]See on the subject Sir Sidney Lee,French Renaissance in England; Upham,French Influence in English Literature, Charlanne,L'influence française en Angleterre au XVIIeSiècle.[107]Scornful Lady, ActI. Sc. 1.[108]Chalmers,English Poets, v. p. 506.[109]"Et Gallice linguam sonat Britannicam,Et Gallice omnem, præter unam Gallicam,Nam Gallicam solam sonat Britannice."Thomæ Mori Lucubrationes(Basil, 1563), p. 209.[110]Dialogues de l'orthografe, p. 60 (1550).[111]State Papers, Dom., Eliz. xix. No. 35; see alsoThe Travels of Nicander Nucius(Camden Soc.), p. 13; Paul Jove,Descriptio Britanniæ, Venice, 1548. "Aulæ et foro Gallicus sermo familiaris."[112]The Coxcomb, ActIV. Sc. 1 (1610)[113]Six Court Comedies, 1632.[114]Mauger,French Grammar, pp. 189, 217, 234.[115]Butler,On our Ridiculous Imitation of the French.[116]Bury Fair, Actii.Sc. 1.[117]Marriage à la Mode, Actiii.Sc. 1.[118]Etheredge,Man of Mode, Actii.Sc. 1.[119]Virtuoso, Acti.Sc. 1.[120]True Widow, Actii.Sc. 1.[121]Eastward Hoe, Actii.Sc. 1 (1605).[122]City Madam, Acti.Sc. 1 (1632).[123]Characters, p. 144 (1614).[124]State Papers, Dom., 1665-1666, p. 481.[125]Butler,op. cit.[126]Spectator, No. 277.[127]Hudibras, iii. 923.[128]"Put about a cup of ale, is this not better than your foolish French kickshaw claret."—Shadwell,Epsom-Wells, Acti.Sc. 1.[129]True Widow, Acti.Sc. 1.[130]"How can you breathe in a room where there's grease frying? Advise My Lady to burn wax lights."—Man of Mode, Activ.Sc. 1.[131]Characters, pp. 419, 424, 469.[132]See Evelyn,Diary, 18th-30th October 1666; Pepys,Diary, 15th-17th October, 22nd November 1666; Miège,New State of England, ii. p. 38;State Papers, Dom., 1666, p. 191.[133]Ascham,The Schole-master, 1570, pp. 26ssq.; Nash,The Unfortunate Traveller, 1587 (Works, ii. p. 300)[134]Beaumont and Fletcher,Little French Lawyer, Acti.Sc. 1.[135]Savile Correspondence, p. 143.[136]Etheredge,Man of Mode, Activ.Sc. 2.[137]Lettres, Mémoires et Instructions de Colbert, v. p. 322.[138]King,Life and Letters of Locke, p. 83.[139]Clarke and Foxcroft,Life of Burnet, p. 210.

[106]See on the subject Sir Sidney Lee,French Renaissance in England; Upham,French Influence in English Literature, Charlanne,L'influence française en Angleterre au XVIIeSiècle.

[107]Scornful Lady, ActI. Sc. 1.

[108]Chalmers,English Poets, v. p. 506.

[109]"Et Gallice linguam sonat Britannicam,Et Gallice omnem, præter unam Gallicam,Nam Gallicam solam sonat Britannice."Thomæ Mori Lucubrationes(Basil, 1563), p. 209.

[109]

"Et Gallice linguam sonat Britannicam,Et Gallice omnem, præter unam Gallicam,Nam Gallicam solam sonat Britannice."Thomæ Mori Lucubrationes(Basil, 1563), p. 209.

[110]Dialogues de l'orthografe, p. 60 (1550).

[111]State Papers, Dom., Eliz. xix. No. 35; see alsoThe Travels of Nicander Nucius(Camden Soc.), p. 13; Paul Jove,Descriptio Britanniæ, Venice, 1548. "Aulæ et foro Gallicus sermo familiaris."

[112]The Coxcomb, ActIV. Sc. 1 (1610)

[113]Six Court Comedies, 1632.

[114]Mauger,French Grammar, pp. 189, 217, 234.

[115]Butler,On our Ridiculous Imitation of the French.

[116]Bury Fair, Actii.Sc. 1.

[117]Marriage à la Mode, Actiii.Sc. 1.

[118]Etheredge,Man of Mode, Actii.Sc. 1.

[119]Virtuoso, Acti.Sc. 1.

[120]True Widow, Actii.Sc. 1.

[121]Eastward Hoe, Actii.Sc. 1 (1605).

[122]City Madam, Acti.Sc. 1 (1632).

[123]Characters, p. 144 (1614).

[124]State Papers, Dom., 1665-1666, p. 481.

[125]Butler,op. cit.

[126]Spectator, No. 277.

[127]Hudibras, iii. 923.

[128]"Put about a cup of ale, is this not better than your foolish French kickshaw claret."—Shadwell,Epsom-Wells, Acti.Sc. 1.

[129]True Widow, Acti.Sc. 1.

[130]"How can you breathe in a room where there's grease frying? Advise My Lady to burn wax lights."—Man of Mode, Activ.Sc. 1.

[131]Characters, pp. 419, 424, 469.

[132]See Evelyn,Diary, 18th-30th October 1666; Pepys,Diary, 15th-17th October, 22nd November 1666; Miège,New State of England, ii. p. 38;State Papers, Dom., 1666, p. 191.

[133]Ascham,The Schole-master, 1570, pp. 26ssq.; Nash,The Unfortunate Traveller, 1587 (Works, ii. p. 300)

[134]Beaumont and Fletcher,Little French Lawyer, Acti.Sc. 1.

[135]Savile Correspondence, p. 143.

[136]Etheredge,Man of Mode, Activ.Sc. 2.

[137]Lettres, Mémoires et Instructions de Colbert, v. p. 322.

[138]King,Life and Letters of Locke, p. 83.

[139]Clarke and Foxcroft,Life of Burnet, p. 210.

From a literary point of view the intercourse between England and France in the period that immediately preceded and followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) has been exhaustively studied by M. Texte[140]and M. Jusserand,[141]both coming after M. Sayous.[142]We propose, while tracing the progress of political speculation among the Huguenots, to discover to what extent they influenced English thought. The field of research is extensive: a mass of information on the subject lies scattered in books, some of which are scarce, and the numerous manuscript sources have been hitherto imperfectly explored. We cannot hope to do more than draw a general outline of a profoundly interesting subject.

From the dawn of the Reformation, different reasons impelled the Huguenots to look towards England. Besides the natural link formed bycommunity of thought in a matter that then pervaded life,i.e.religious belief, political necessities led the Huguenots to seek the friendship of England. Having the same household gods, the Huguenots and the English loved the same mystical Fatherland, which dangers, ambitions, and interests shared in common invested with stern reality. As the Huguenots increased, they grew from a sect to a faction which, seeking alliances abroad, sent envoys to the foreign Courts. According also to the vicissitudes of their fortunes, streams of Huguenot refugees would flow from time to time towards the neighbouring countries likely to welcome them. Thus from the first were the Huguenots represented in England, not only by their noblemen, but by their democracy.

A whole book might be written on the influence of Calvin in England, both within and without the Church. To a student of comparative literature, if the word be understood in the larger sense of intercommunication of thought among nations, the part played by Calvin in the early framing of the institutions of the English Reformation is a matter not too unimportant to be overlooked.[143]

The first mention of Huguenot refugees in England occurs under the reign of Henryviii., when in 1535-36 forty-five naturalizations were granted. When, responding to an appeal fromArchbishop Cranmer, Bucer and his disciple Buchlein repaired to England, in 1549, they met in the Archbishop's Palace Peter Martyr and "diverse pious Frenchmen."[144]M. de Schickler and M. Jusserand have rescued from long oblivion Claude de Saint-Lien, who, quaintly anglicising his name into Holy-Band, began earning his bread by teaching his mother tongue.

But it was only after Saint Bartholomew's Day that the Huguenot colonies in England grew to such numbers as to form congregations. Several illustrious Huguenots then found a last home in England. Admiral Coligny's brother, Cardinal Odet de Chatillon, lies buried in Canterbury Cathedral. In 1591 Du Plessis-Mornay was in London with Montgomery and the Vidame de Chartres, negotiating an alliance with Elizabeth, and, with characteristic lack of diplomacy, availing himself of his stay in England to intercede with the Queen's counsellors in favour of the Puritans.[145]Though befriended by Archbishop Parker and Sir Robert Cecil, "the gentle and profitable strangers," as Strype calls the Huguenots,[146]were not generally welcome. Popular prejudice was so strong against the newcomers that a Bill was introduced in Parliament in 1593, prohibiting them from selling foreign goods by retail.[147]Thesettlers, averaging during the sixteenth century about 10,000, were chiefly skilled artisans, weavers, printers, binders, or ministers, physicians, and teachers. By some curious unexplained accident, Shakespeare lodged from 1598 to 1604 in the house of a Huguenot wig-maker, Christophe Mongoye by name.[148]

With Jamesi.the political preoccupations fell into the background; the King sought the company of the most famous Continental scholars. In 1611 he invited to his Court Isaac Casaubon, and three years later, at the instance of his Huguenot physician, Sir Théodore Mayerne, Pierre Du Moulin, the minister at Charenton. In the train of the scholars came over the men of letters, among them Jean de Schélandre, the future author of the epicLa Stuartide, inscribed to James I.

In 1642, on the eve of the Civil War, there died in London the notorious Benjamin de Rohan, Lord of Soubise, who had survived in exile an age that belonged to the past. With the fall of La Rochelle, the political power of the Huguenots was struck down, and there remained no further check on the path of absolute monarchy. Protestant historians are wont to lament the lukewarm faith that marked the period extending from 1629 to the Revolution. Indeed, the outward manifestations of Huguenot zeal had then ceased to be characteristic of the Church militant. The Bearnese or Languedocian gentleman no longer left his castle for the wars,bearing as a twofold symbol of his sect and party the Bible in the one hand and the sword in the other; and the time was yet to come when in the wild Cévennes mountains, in the "Desert," as they said in their highly-coloured language, arose the heroic witnesses of the persecuted Church. The accidental causes that had temporarily given the Huguenots an undue influence in the State ceasing to operate, they appeared from a formidable party suddenly to shrink into insignificance. But their intellectual development meanwhile must not be overlooked. Alone in France, with those that a popular dogmatism, no doubt justified in some cases, contemptibly nicknamed libertines, they were prepared by a suitable mental training to act as a check on the natural bias of the majority regarding its own infallibility. And over the libertines they had the advantage both of general austereness of life and of a certain readiness to suffer for their convictions.

No doubt the discipline exercised by the Calvinistic organisation discouraged individual eccentricity. The struggle for emancipation over, the leaders who had upheld against the Church of Rome their right of judging in spiritual matters concluded that no further encroachments of individualism on authority were permissible. The Confession of Faith lay heavy upon the Churches; the Synod of Dort, whose decisions had become laws for the French Synods, was singularly like a Reformed Council of Trent. Still, there remainedin the early seventeenth century a wide difference between the mental attitude of a Huguenot and a contemporary Scotch Presbyterian. A minority in France, the Huguenot leaders could not cut off their flocks from the outer world; they mixed with the Catholics, who outnumbered them; they shared in the development of thought in their country; they were not all scholars and divines: some made bold to be men of letters, poets, even libertines.[149]In the literary coteries of the capital, in the incipient French Academy, over which the Protestant Conrart presided, abbés and pastors were reconciled in common admiration for an elegant alexandrine or a correct period.

In his own country, Calvin's system was imperfectly carried out. "The pastors," wrote Richard Simon, the Catholic Hebrew scholar, "subscribe their names to the Confession of Faith only by policy, persuaded as they are that Calvin and the other Reformers did not perceive everything, and effected but an imperfect Reformation."[150]"It cannot be denied," said Du Moulin the elder of a very influential contemporary divine, "that a third of Cameron's works are devoted to a confutation of Calvin, Beza, and our other famous Reformers."[151]Due allowance being made for the prejudice of a Roman Catholic or of an alarmed Orthodox, these statements are borne out by facts. For instance, the Huguenots had none of the Scotch Presbyterian'ssuperstition for the Calvinistic system of Church government. "I think," said Samuel Bochart, the author of theGeographia Sacra, "that those who maintain the divine right either of Episcopacy or of Presbytery are equally in the wrong, and that the heat of the dispute makes them overstate their position; if we are asked which is the better and the fitter for the Church of these two forms of government, it is as though we were asked if it is better for a State to be ruled by monarchs, the nobility, or the people, which is not a question to be decided on the spur of the moment, for that there are nations to which Monarchy is more suitable, to others Aristocracy, and to others Democracy, and that the same laws and customs are not followed everywhere."[152]When Bishop Henchman, in 1680, asked the ministers at Charenton their opinion on the respective merits of Episcopacy and Presbytery, Claude and De l'Angle answered that the question of Church government was one of expediency.[153]

The same detachment appeared in a more important matter. The Reformation, certainly against the wish of its promoters, opened the flood-gates of free inquiry. From the Church of Rome the Reformers appealed to Scripture, but underlying that appeal was a right given to reason todecide what construction should be put upon the divine message. The inconvenience of the process was not felt at first. In an age of faith, reason is docile and asks no questions. On the points upon which the Reformers had made no innovation, reason accepted the traditional teaching; on the others, it had free play without arousing the suspicions of Synods. But soon the teaching of the Reformers came to be questioned. Once the horse held the bit in his mouth, he could not be restrained in his headlong progress. So it came to pass that in France, as in England and Holland, through the same cause, latitudinarians followed in natural sequence the Reformers. A Royal Edict of 1623 forbidding the students to the ministry to leave France, while severing the tie that bound the Huguenots to Geneva, hurried on the revolutionary movement. The students flocked to the Academies of Sedan and Saumur, and soon two schools of divinity flourished opposed to each other, that of Sedan upholding orthodoxy, while that of Saumur became the nucleus of French latitudinarianism. Neither Cameron nor his disciple Amyraut, the two luminaries of the latter school, were Arminians—their philosophy was an offshoot of Cartesianism; like the English latitudinarians, they drew a distinction between fundamentals and accidentals, and dreamed the generous dream—a dream at most—of a Church so comprehensive as to include all the Christians accepting the Apostles' Creed.

A little book published anonymously at Saumurin 1670, under the title ofLa Réunion du Christianisme ou la manière de rejoindre tous les Chrestiens sous une seule Confession de Foy, sets forth in a bold ingenuous form the aspirations of this school. "Some time ago a method of reasoning and of making sure progress towards truth was proposed in philosophy.[154]To that effect it is asserted that we must rid ourselves of all preconceived notions and of all preoccupations of mind. We must receive at first only the most simple ideas and such propositions as no one can dispute who hath the slightest use of reason. Might we not imitate the process in religion? Might we not set aside for a time all the opinions that we upheld with so much ardour, to examine them afterwards with an open unimpassioned mind, adhering always to our common principle, which is Holy Scripture?"[155]

D'Huisseau, the author of the book, answered with a young man's confidence the most obvious objection. On a few simple dogmas all Christians would be agreed; there would be no difference between a "Doctor of the Church" and a poor man, since primitive Christianity is understood of all men. Then, with Gallic faith in the efficacy of State intervention, he added: "Above all, I think that those who can strike the hardest blows on that occasion, are the Princes and those who rule the States and manage the public affairs. They can add the weight of their authority to that of thereasons alleged in that undertaking; and their power will be most efficacious in giving value to the exhortations of others."[156]

In spite of this appeal to secular aid, the school of Saumur furthered toleration. By the distinction they drew between fundamentals and accidentals, they tended to deprive the Churches of some pretexts for persecuting. No doubt they examined the question from the ecclesiastical and not the political point of view, but their freedom from the prejudices of their gown was a signal service to progress.

Another instance of detachment, all the more noticeable because of its consequences in England, was Daillé's attitude towards the Fathers. Published in 1632, hisTraité de l'emploi des Saints-Pères pour le jugement des différends qui sont aujourd'hui en la religionwas translated into English in 1651. It is no exaggeration to state that to this book was due the scant reverence shown in the seventeenth century by Protestant theology for the authority of the Fathers. The Bible, as the Saumur school desired, became the rule of faith, until in the early eighteenth century its authority came to be questioned in its turn.

The development of theological thought followed therefore in France about the same lines as in England. When considered from a merely intellectual point of view, the speculative activity of the Huguenots, in the period intervening betweenthe fall of La Rochelle and the Revocation, gives the impression of an orchard in April, in which the trees covered with blossoms promise abundance of fruit. The impending frost blasted those hopes. What fruit ripened was not gathered in France.

The relation between a critical attitude in theology and in politics has often been noticed. A common charge brought against the early Reformers was that of sedition. Though the charge was unfounded in most cases, popular instinct sharpened by enmity was right in the main. Even Protestant writers admitted the temptation of men who had rebelled against the Church to rebel against the State. Some profound observations they made on the tendency of the human mind to extend the scope of a method of reasoning, and to evolve out of a philosophical theory a programme of political reform long before the students of political science of our own time made a similar observation. "All the subtleties," said D'Huisseau, "that are called forth in religion generally make the minds of the people inquiring, proud, punctilious, obstinate, and consequently more difficult to curb into reason and obedience. Every private man pretends to have a right to investigate those controverted matters, and, bringing his judgment to bear upon them, defends his opinion with the utmost heat. Afterwards they wish to carry into the discussion of State affairs the same freedom as they use in matters of religion. They believe that since they are allowed to exercise control over the opinions of their leadersin the Church, where the service of God is concerned, they are free to examine the conduct of those that are set over them for political government."[157]With still keener insight did Bayle, twenty years later, perceive the political import of certain tenets of the Reformation. The emphasis laid upon the divine command to "search the Scriptures," marked the beginning of a new era for humanity. Bidden as a most sacred duty to judge for themselves, men could not be withheld from wandering into the forbidden field of secular politics.

As the infallibility of the priest, so the infallibility of the ruler came to be questioned. But if the principle of free inquiry, or, as Bayle terms it, "l'examen particulier dans les matières de foi,"[158]would lead necessarily to civil liberty, another tenet led to equality. "When there was a pressing need, any one had a natural vocation for pastoral functions."[159]Universal priesthood drew no distinction between a caste of priests and the people, between the princes or magistrates and the rabble. In cases of necessity, leaders, political as well as religious, might spring from the ranks, as the prophets of Israel did, holding their commissions directly from Heaven.

But the seditious Huguenot negotiating against the King of France with Englishmen and Hollanders, and marching against the capital at the head of an army of mercenary Germans, had now disappearedas a type. The mangled remains of the great admiral, martyred for the cause of political and religious liberty, lay in the chapel of Chatillon Castle. The Condés had gone back to Roman Catholicism. With the advent of Henri de Navarre, sedition became loyalism. Though brought up upon the works of Hotman, Languet, and Du Plessis-Mornay, the Huguenot found little difficulty in bowing, with the rest of his countrymen, before the throne of absolutism.

The Synod of Tonneins condemning as early as 1614 the doctrine of Suarez, "exhorts the faithful to combat it, in order to maintain, together with the right of God, that of the sovereign power which He has established."[160]The Synod of Vitré (1617) addresses Louisxiii.in these words: "We acknowledge after God no other sovereign but Your Majesty. Our belief is that between God and the Kings, there is no middle power. To cast doubt upon that truth is among us a heresy, and to dispute it a capital crime."[161]

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