great praise, Hall, in my opinion, manifests a deci- | French mistress, she had aided in inducing him to ded superiority over Bossuet. It is in the power of make a treaty disgraceful to himself and dangerous generalization, of connecting expansive and noble to his country, a treaty by which the King of Engsentiments with particular ideas and facts. On no land became the pensioner of France. There was occasion can this faculty be more usefully and im- nothing like this in Charlotte to palliate or conceal. pressively displayed, than in the composition of such Hall spoke the sentiment of the English nation, discourses. The death of one individual seems a concerning its lamented favorite, and in language matter of comparative insignificance to those who which few, if any other Englishmen could have see many daily falling around them. But it is spoken thein. Bossuet has certainly elevated his when the preacher carries our minds from the subject by his eloquence, but he has, at the same individual instance to the universal law, when time, lowered himself. Few men occupying his he points to the universal necessity of a prepara- position would have shown more independence. tion for eternity, and the general neglect of that But the palm must certainly be given to the man preparation that our minds are impressed with of equal genius, whose independence was untramthe solemn importance of the scene at which we melled. are present. In pointing out the mysterious con- Having pointed out what seem to me the advantradictions of the human mind on this solemn sub-tages of the Englishman, I will, by a selection and ject, Robert Hall displays a clearness, originality comparison of passages, enable the reader to judge and mighty grasp of intellect, and a chaste, yet sub- how far those advantages have been availing. lime eloquence, which none has ever surpassed. If we look for evidences of an adulatory spirit, Bossuet indeed does not want eloquent and solemn we shall find them thickly scattered in Bossuet. reflections suggested by the melancholy event which Let us see what he says of the Dutchess' birth. had occurred. But those reflections have the air "Every thing, which not only birth and fortune, of being brought forward more for rhetorical dis- but qualities of mind greater than either can conplay than for their own sake. Hall clothes the vast tribute towards the elevation of a Princess, is found conceptions of his great mind in diction, which no united and then annihilated in ours. In whatever less a man than Dugald Stewart has pronounced direction I follow the traces of her illustrious ori"the perfection of the English language." But gin, I discover nothing but kings, and am every where dazzled by the brilliancy of the most august there is no effort at mere effect; his heart, as well crowns. I see the house of France, beyond comas his head and imagination, seems to be interested parison the greatest in the universe, and to which in the solemn truths which he is uttering, and press-the most powerful houses can yield without envy, ing home upon his auditory.

since they are contented to derive their glory from that source: I see the kings of Scotland, the kings of England, who have reigned for so many ages over one of the most warlike nations of the universe, still more by their courage than by the authority of their sceptre. But this Princess, born upon the throne, had a mind and heart higher than her birth."

Is this the language of a preacher intending to impress us with the instability of human affairs, or of a courtier eager to flatter the ancestral pride of the royal family, in whose presence he was

Bossuet's imagination was capable of the highest flights; his understanding grasped the mightiest ideas; his diction was magnificent, worthy of the second Augustan age in which he lived. But he has the faults of all ages like the Augustan. His eagle pinions were trammelled by the necessity of pleasing men; the pure emanations of his genius were corrupted by the foul atmosphere which he breathed. Hall's powers were cramped by no such necessity, arising either from his own situation, or the habits of the age in which he lived. Accord-speaking. ingly we find combined with the elegance of an Again he thus speaks of Henrietta's visit to Engaccomplished scholar and the eloquence of a real land, one of the principal objects of which was, as orator, the earnestness of a preacher who felt his has been mentioned, to seduce her brother Charles responsibility, not to the Grand Monarque, but to into a betrayal of her native country and his own the King of Kings. While we have endeavored kingdom, by becoming the pensioned viceroy of to show why Hall devoted so much less of his dis- France. The means which she employed were course to mere praise, we maintain that the passages worthy of the end. Knowing the licentious spirit in which he speaks of the Princess Charlotte, prove of Charles, by the direction of Louis, equally licenhim equal, if not superior in the department of eulo- tious, but spoken of in terms approaching idolatry gy. According to universal admission, there was by Bossuet, she takes in her train a beautiful lady, no occasion in his subject to cover vices with that whose charms she knew would fascinate the Engvarnish which genius so often spreads over them. lish monarch. The base king caught at the bait, She who was so warmly praised by Bossuet from created this French mistress Duchess of Portsthe sacred desk, was one who but a short time be- mouth, installed her as his favorite for life, and fore had been used by Lewis to make the licen- accepted the dishonorable conditions which were tious passions of her own brother, Charles II, the offered him. Yet we find Bossuet, doubtless, with instrument of his disgrace. By giving him a the full knowledge of all these facts, as indeed he

pretty clearly intimates, speaking thus of that that she identified herself with this great nation journey.

"Think not that I intend to speak of the voyage to England in the style of one who would rashly pry into State secrets, or to imitate those speculative politicians who arrange the counsels of kings according to their own ideas, and compose the annals of their age without any real information on the subject. I will not speak of this glorious voyage except to say that during her stay, she was admired more than ever. They never spoke, but with transport of the kindness of this Princess, which spite of the division too common in courts, at once gained her all hearts. They were never satisfied with praising her incredible dexterity in managing the most delicate affairs, in removing that concealed distrust which often holds them in suspense, and in terminating all differences in a manner which conciliated the most opposite interest. But who can think without tears of those marks of esteem and tenderness given to her by her brother? This great king, more sensible to the claims of merit than even those of blood, was never weary of admiring the excellent qualities of Madam."

This of a king whose reign has been thus no less truly than eloquently described by Macaulay.

"Then came those days never to be recalled without a blush-the days of servitude without loyalty, and sensuality without love, of dwarfish talents and gigantic vices, the paradise of cold hearts and narrow minds, the golden age of the coward, the bigot, and the slave. The king cringed to his rival, that he might trample on his people, sunk into a viceroy of France, and pocketed with complacent infamy her degrading insult, and her still more degrading gold. The caresses of harlots, and the jests of buffoons, regulated the measures of a government, which had just ability enough to deceive, and just religion enough to persecute. The principles of liberty were the scoff of every grinning courtier, and the Anathema Maranatha of every fawning dean. In every high place, worship was paid to Charles and James-Belial and Moloch: and England propitiated those obscene and cruel idols with the blood of her best and bravest children. Crime succeeded to crime and disgrace to disgrace, till the race, accursed of God and man, was a second time driven forth, to wander on the

face of the earth, and to be a by-word and shaking

of the head to the nations."

If we turn now to a corresponding passage of Hall, we shall see nothing but such praise of his country, as became every patriot, a just tribute to the merit of a Princess universally respected, as well as admired, and sympathy, not flattery for her father, George the Fourth, who was too much like Charles the Second, to be praised by the upright and independent Englishman.

which she was born to govern; and that while she contemplated its preeminent lustre in arts and arms, its arms encircling the globe, its colonies diffused through both hemispheres, and the beneficial effect of its institutions extending to the whole earth; she considered them as so many component parts of her grandeur. Her heart, we may well conceive, would often be ruffled with emotions of trembling ecstasy, when she reflected that it was her province to live entirely for others, to compose the felicity of a great people, to move in a sphere which would afford scope for the exercise of philanthropy the most enlarged, of wisdom the most enlightened; and that while others are doomed to pass through the world in obscurity, she was to supply the materials of history, and to impart that impulse to society, which was to decide the destiny of future generations. Fired with the ambition of equalling or even surpassing the most distinguished of her predecessors, she probably did not despair of reviving the remembrance of the brightest parts of their story, and of once more attaching the epoch of British glory to the annals of a female reign. It is needless to add that the nation went with her and even outstripped her in these delightful anticipations. We fondly hoped, that a life so inestimable would be protracted to a distant period, and that after diffusing the blessings of a just and enlightened administration, and being surrounded by a numerous progeny, she would gradually, in a good old age, sink under the horizon, amidst the embraces of her family, and the benedictions of her country. But alas! these delightful visions have fled, and what do we behold in their room, but the funeral pall and shroud, a palace in mourning, a nation in tears, and the shadow of death, settled over both like a cloud! O the unspeakable vanity of human hopes the incurable blindness of man to futurity! ever doomed to grasp at shadows, to seize with avidity what turns to dust and ashes in his hand, to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.'

66

How must the heart of the royal parent be torn with anguish on this occasion; deprived of a daughter, who combined every quality suited to engage his affection, and elevate his hopes; an only child, the heir of his throne; and doomed apparently to behold the sceptre pass from his posterity into other hands; his sorrow must be such as words are inadequate to portray."

but not a word about the greatness of the Prince Here is sympathy such as the worst may claim, Regent, or his peculiar sensibility to merit.

In another passage he speaks of the reigning monarch in another strain.

"Whilst we were engaged in the fearful struggle which has been at length so successfully terminated, it pleased the great ruler of nations to visit our aged, beloved and revered monarch, with one of the most dreadful calamities incident to human nature; the pressure of which still continues, we fear, with unabated severity. While we are so "It is no imputation on the Princess to suppose deeply moved at the awful spectacle of majesty lathat in her early dawn, with the" dew of her youth" boring under a permanent and hopeless eclipse, we so fresh upon her, she anticipated a long series of are consoled with the reflection that he walked in years, and expected to be led through successive the light, while he possessed the light; that as long scenes of enchantment, rising above each other in as the exercise of reason was continued, he comfascination and beauty. It is natural to suppose muned with eternal truth; and that from the shades

VOL. XI-62

nothing, who maketh the judges of the earth as vanity; who says, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown; yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth; and he shall blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take away as stubble."

which now envelope him, he will, at no distant pe- [casion, the hand of him who bringeth princes to riod, emerge into the brightness of celestial vision." Contrast this respectful and tender language, which so well became a Christian minister, with that of Bossuet concerning Louis, who, in spite of his showy qualities, deserved to be branded as a debauchee and tyrant, and soon afterwards showed his judgment by revoking the edict by which his wise ancestor, Henry, extended toleration to his Protestant subjects, and banished 500,000 of her

best citizens from the soil of France. Of him Bossuet says:

them

comprehensive grasp of intellect, and a lofty power On political topics, Bossuet certainly displays a of description marred only by his spirit of adulation; but the following passage shows that Hall can speak on this subject in a strain as lofty as his predecessor.

"Preserved amidst the wreck of nations, and the

"But why enlarge on a matter, (he had been speaking of the talents of the Duchess of Orleans,) hurricane of revolution, which swept for twenty in regard to which I can express every thing in one word. The king, whose judgment is always alation in its train, we have not only been permitted years over the face of Europe, with ruin and desosure rule, esteemed the capacity of this Princess, and by his esteem above all our eulogies has put it." Let us now examine some passages in both, which are similar in subject and conception, but in which we can find no evidence of servile imitation in the modern speaker.

Bossuet thus describes the death of Henrietta:

"O disastrous, O dreadful night, in which was heard like a clap of thunder the astounding intelligence Madam is dying, Madam is dead! Which of us did not feel struck by this blow, as if some tragic accident had desolated his own family? At the first rumor of so unexpected a misfortune crowds hasten from all directions to St. Cloud: they find every thing alarmed except the heart of this Princess every where are heard cries: every where are seen grief, despair and the image of death. The king, the queen, Monsieur, the whole court, all the people, all are overwhelmed, all are in despair: and it seems to me that I see the accomplishment of that expression of the prophet- The king shall mourn, and the Prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall

be troubled.""

The corresponding passage in Hall is certainly like this, but in my opinion, far superior.

to retain our soil unviolated, and our independence unimpaired; but have come forth from a contest of unparalleled difficulty and extent, with a more splendid reputation, and in a more commanding attitude, than we possessed at any former period. Our successes, both by sea and land, have been so brilliant and decisive, that it is not easy to determine whether we have acquired most glory as a military or maritime power; while our achievements on both elements have been such as to distance all competition."

Let us now see what spiritual improvement each makes of the occasion on which he is speaking. This, from Bossuet, is undoubtedly eloquence of the highest order.

"But do I tell the truth? is man whom God created in his own image nothing but a shadow is that which Jesus Christ came from Heaven to earth to seek, which he thought he could purchase with his own blood without abasement, a mere nothing? Let us confess our error; without doubt this sad spectacle of human vanity deceived us; and the sudden frustration of public hope by the death of this Princess, carried us too far. Man must not be permitted to despise himself entirely, for fear that believing with the impious, that our life is nothing but a game of chance, he should, unregulated and unrestrained, yield to the impulse of his blind desires. It is for this reason that the preacher, after having commenced his divine work by the words which I have read, after having filled all its pages with contempt for human affairs, choo ses at last to show man something more solid, and concludes his whole discourse by saying to him,"Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

"For God shall bring every work into judg ment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.'

"How different the example of mortality presented on the present occasion! Without the slightest warning, without the opportunity of a moment's immediate preparation, in the midst of the deepest tranquillity, at midnight, a voice was heard in the palace, not of singing men and women, not of revelry and mirth, but the cry, behold the bridegroom cometh.' The mother, in the bloom of youth, spared just long enough to hear the tidings of her infant's death, almost immediately, as if summoned by his spirit, follows him into eternity. It is a night much to be remembered.' Who foretold this event, who conjectured it, who detected at a "Thus every thing is vain in man, if we regard distance the faintest presage of its approach, which, that which he gives to the world; but on the conwhen it arrived, mocked the efforts of human skill, trary every thing is important, if we consider what as much by their incapacity to prevent, as their he gives to God. Again every thing is vain in inability to foresee it? Unmoved by the tears of man, if we regard the course of his mortal life; conjugal affection, unawed by the presence of gran- but every thing is precious, every thing is impor deur, and the prerogatives of power, inexorable tant, if we contemplate the goal to which he is death hastened to execute his stern commission, tending, the account which he must render. Let leaving nothing to royalty itself but to retire and us then, in sight of this altar, and this tomb, mediweep. Who can fail to discern on this awful oc- tate on the first and the last words of the prophet,

the former of which show the nothingness of man, | glory which you admired formed her peril in this and the latter establish his greatness."

In the following passage of Hall we find the same train of ideas, but with the peculiarity of true genius, assimilated and made his own.

life, and that in the other she has become the subject of a rigorous examination, in which nothing can cheer her but that sincere resignation which she felt to the orders of God, and the holy humiliations of penitence."*

Hall thus:

"The vanity which adheres to the world in every form, when its pleasures and occupations are re- "We presume there are none who can survey garded as ultimate objects, is at once corrected this signal interposition of Providence with indifwhen they are viewed in connection with a bound-ference, or refrain from laying it to heart.' No, less eternity; and whatever may be their intrinsic illustrious Princess, it will be long ere the name of value, they rise into dignity and importance when Charlotte Augusta is mentioned by Britons without considered as the seed of a future harvest, as the tears; remote posterity also, which shall peruse thy path which, however obscure, leads to honor and melancholy story, will lay it to heart,' and will immortality, as the province of labor allotted us, be tempted to ask, why no milder expedient could in order to work out our salvation with fear and suffice to correct our levity and make us mindful trembling.' Nothing is little which is related to of our latter end; while they look back with tender such a system; nothing vain or frivolous which has pity on the amiable victim, who seems to have been the remotest influence on such prospects. Con- destined by the inscrutable wisdom of Providence sidered as a state of probation, our present condi- to warn and edify that people by her death, which tion loses all its inherent meanness; it derives a she was not permitted, to the extent of her ambimoral grandeur even from the shortness of its du- tion, to benefit by her life. ration, when viewed as a contest for an immortal crown, in which the candidates are exhibited on a theatre, a spectacle to beings of the highest order, who conscious of the tremendous importance of the issue, of the magnitude of the interest at stake, survey the combatants from on high, with benevolent and trembling solicitude."

"Should her lamented and untimely end be the means of giving that impulse to the public mind, which shall turn us to righteousness, the benefit she will have conferred upon her country in both worlds, will more than equal the glories of the most extended and prosperous reign."

I have trespassed too long on your patience al

Again we have this passage of most surpassing ready, and I fear have given but a poor idea of eloquence.

G. E. D.

* 1 am not sure that penitence, the original word, should not be translated penance according to the Roman Catholic notion.

Bossuet, for who can translate eloquence? But I shall be satisfied if I shall succeed in turning the at"The nation has certainly not been wanting in the proper expression of its poignant regret at the tention of your readers to compositions which consudden removal of this lamented Princess, nor of tain so much to gratify the taste, to enlighten the their sympathy with the royal family deprived by understanding, and improve the heart. this visitation of its brightest ornament. Sorrow is painted in every countenance, the pursuits of business and of pleasure have been suspended, and the kingdom is covered with the signals of distress. But what, my brethren, if it be lawful to indulge such a thought, what would be the funeral obsequies of a lost soul? Where shall we find the tears fit to be wept at such a spectacle; or could we realize the calamity, in all its extent, what tokens of commiseration and concern would be deemed equal to the occasion? Would it suffice for the sun to veil its light, and the moon her brightness; to cover the ocean with sackcloth; or were the whole fabric of nature to become animated and vocal, would it be possible for her to utter a groan too deep, or a cry too piercing, to express the magnitude and extent of such a catastrophe."

There is another portion of Hall's discourse, in which he states and explains the great enigma, that man, so provident in all things else, is often so exceedingly improvident in regard to his immortal

interests.

But I forbear and will only give the concluding paragraph of each discourse.

Bossuet ends his discourse thus:

"Begin to day to despise the favors of the world; and every time that you are in these august places, in these proud palaces to which Madam gave a brilliancy which your eyes still look for, every time that looking at this great place which she filled so well, you feel that she is wanting, reflect that the

LAYS OF COURAGE.

BY THE STRANGER.

IV.

STARS OF GLORY.

Stars that have gone out in glory,
Spirits of the olden age,
Living ever in the story

Of the poet and the sage.
Are they not by heaven anointed

Demonstrations unto man,
How great things may be appointed

To the issues of a span?
How vast deeds, the heart achieving,
In the space of three-score years,
Pleiad-like, may pass, receiving

Place above terrestrial spheres ?
Place, from whence celestial beaming
Breaks upon these lower orbs,