THE

ANALECTIC MAGAZINE.

NOVEMBER, 1819.

ART. I.-The History of the Lives of Abeillard and Heloisa, comprising a period of eighty-four years, from 1079 to 1163, with their genuine letters from the collection of Amboise. By the Rev. Joseph Berington. Philadelphia, published by Abraham Small-1819.

No one,' says the Reverend author, has ever read Mr. Pope's inimitable poem without being interested in the fate of the lovers, whose sad and tender story he as a poet has told so well.' He is right, and the interest excited by Pope's verses will gain many readers to this volume who would not be otherwise tempted to peruse it; for certainly Mr. Berington does not excel in the graces of composition. Out of a most curious and romantic story he has made a very dull book, and most unaccountably has thought proper to mix the driest details of what he calls the general events of the period in which they (Abeillard and Heloisa) lived,' with his narrative of the misfortunes which befel the hero and heroine of his tale.

Still however the volume contains much remarkable matter, and presents a view of the celebrated lovers somewhat differing from Mr. Pope's, showing Heloisa to greater and Abeillard to less advantage. As we shall see.

Peter Abeillard was born in the year 1079, in the village of Palais near Nantes, and as it was said, was called by the name of Abeillard from the bee, (Abeille) because his mother dreamed she saw honey dropping from his lips—a presage of his future eloquence. He was destined for the profession of arms, but smitten with the love of learning, he resigned his inheritance and rights of primogeniture to his younger brothers, and, as he expressed it,' at the feet of Minerva sacrificed all the military pomp which blazes round the car of the god of war.' He had scarcely reached his sixteenth year, when he felt himself strong enough to rely on his own exertions, and quitted his masters who had nothing more to teach him. He came to Paris, in his twentieth year, then the great centre of all the knowledge of which the eleventh century could 42

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boast. Among the masters, whose reputation was great in the Parisian schools, William de Champeaux was the most eminent. Cotemporary writers speak highly of his abilities and of his virtues, and he was deeply versed, they tell us, and well exercised in all the arts of the dialectic discipline. As with painful emulation he had risen to the highest honours in his profession, so was he jealous of the fame he had acquired, and feared the most distant rival. The lessons of this man Abeillard frequented, and he was much pleased with the choice he had made. His fluency of language, and the acuteness of his reasoning, seemed to throw new charms over his favourite art. In animation of spirit, he soon began to skirmish with the foremost of the scholars, and sometimes he dared to question even de Champeaux himself. The veteran was delighted with the prompt character of his disciple, and augured to himself a fresh increase of fame from the exertion of abilities, which he flattered himself, he should soon be able to draw out in the support of his own opinions.

In these dispositions of mutual benevolence, from which the youthful mind of Abeillard pictured to itself scenes of future happiness, a commerce of friendship began, and he was taken to board into the house of his master. From this circumstance, as he had more frequent opportunities of improvement, so might he soon learn that de Champeaux was not a hero at all times; and the blaze of glory which had seemed to surround him among the plaudits of his scholars, insensibly vanished when viewed with a familiar eye. He began to suspect that this wide-spreading tree was perhaps rather loaded with leaves than fruit.-The stripling now walked with a bolder step into the schools: he dared publicly to contend with Champeaux; he attacked, in serious language, some even of his most favoured opinions; he repeated these attacks daily with more petulance; and sometimes, says he, I seemed to feel a superiority in argument. The eye of the philosopher looked benevolence no longer; confused, angry, mortified, he left his seat; and Abeillard was soon obliged to provide himself with another establishment.

'The schools, as we know from the histories of the age, were not only filled with students, as at present; but men in years, persons of distinction, fathers of families, and ministers of state, after the toils of the day were over, crowded to them as to a theatre of amusement. There was novelty in the scene, and Latin, the language of the disputants, was very generally understood. The tournaments and other martial exercises, which soon after prevailed in Europe, were to the body, what these controversies had been to the mind. The gauntlet of defiance was here also thrown down, and bold or presumptuous was the man, who dared to take it up. 'After six months of intrigue and contest, the old professor gave way, and Abeillard entered Melun at the head of a numerous band of followers. The victory was signal.

'The schools opened with eclat. The late opposition had but given lustre to his name, and animation to his talents. His lessons were thronged: curiosity was on tiptoe to see the youth, who had discomfited the Goliath of Paris; and the most brilliant success attended his exertions.'

An absence of two years on account of his health, impaired by excessive study, gave his rival de Champeaux an opportunity to regain the public favour, but Abeillard's return to Paris was followed by a second victory-after a great deal of controversy and bitter contests for superiority, and left him master of the field.

'This may be regarded as the most brilliant epoch in the life of Abeillard. He rose every morning to the smiles of an approving public; and the church, at the same time, willing to testify the high opinion she entertained of his merit, presented him with a canonicate in the cathedral of Paris. It was a sinecure, and the emoluments were bestowed on him without any further obligation; før I do not find he was at all engaged in the ecclesiastical state.'

But satiated with success, or disgusted with the frivolous sophistry which under the name of logic and philosophy had occupied his attention or perhaps meditating other triumphs, he applied himself to the study of theology, and placed himself under the tuition of Anselm, a canon who had long taught at Laon with the greatest applause. But he liked his theological professor no better than he had de Champeaux his master in philosophy, and he soon undertook to be a lecturer himself. His subject was the prophecy of Ezekiel.

'But few were present at the first lecture: the attempt was deemed both arrogant and ridiculous. He acquitted himself, however, so much to the satisfaction of his hearers, that they requested he would proceed, and they complimented him on the precision and sublimity of his comment. The following days, the whole town pressed to hear him; every word he uttered was carefully taken down; and, as it had before happened at Melun and Paris, the streets of Laon echoed with the name of Abeillard.'

This invasion of the prerogatives of Anselm soon brought down an interdiction upon Abeillard's lectures, and he was obliged to leave Laon. He repaired, however, to Paris, and pursued his object there with signal success.

'He began his lectures with the prophecy of Ezekiel, completing the exposition he had commenced in the country. His auditors were charmed; the first philosopher, they said, was become the first divine. Multitudes of fresh scholars flowed in from all quarters: he therefore judged proper to resume his old lecture of philosophy The sister sciences were pleased with this amiable union; they had too long been kept asunder from each other; and both from the mouth of Abeillard received new strength and new ⚫ charms.'

In the following words does a contemporary speak of these times in a letter addressed to Abeillard: " No distance of country, no height of mountains, no depth of vallies, no intricate journey beset with perils and thieves, could withhold your scholars from you. Rome sent her children to receive your instruction: she who had been the mistress of every science now confessed her inferiority. The youth of Britain crowding to their shores were not intimidated by the sea which met their eyes, or the billows that broke at their feet: in spite of danger, they cleared the dreadful pass. The more remote islands dismissed their savage sons. Germany, Spain, Flanders, the people of the north and of the south, flocked to you; in their mouths your name only was heard; they admired, they praised, they extolled your abilities. I speak not of those whom the walls of Paris enclosed, nor of the inhabitants of our neighbouring or more distant provinces: from you they as ardently sought for wisdom, as if all its treasures had been there locked up. In a word, moved by the splendor of your genius, by the charms of your elocution, and by the acuteness of your penetration, to you they all approached, as to the source from which science flowed in the purest stream.'

He was now the spoiled child of fortune, but Paris was a scene of general licentiousness, and he could not withstand the temptations of debauchery and vice.

'Speaking of himself at this period, he says: "It is in the lap of prosperity that the mind swells with foolish vanity; its vigor is enervated by repose, while the indulgence of pleasure completes the victory. At a time, when I thought myself the first philosopher in Europe, nor feared to be disturbed in my seat of eminence, then it was, that I who had been a pattern of virtue, first loosened the rein at the call of passion. In proportion as I had risen higher on the scale of literary excellence, the lower did I sink into vicious depravity. I quitted those paths of virtue, which all my predecessors had trodden with so much renown. Pride and pleasure were the monsters that subdued me."

It was at this moment his acquaintance began with the accomplished Heloisa, she had just reached her eighteenth year, he was not far from his fortieth. Heloisa lived at Paris with her uncle Fulbert a canon of the Cathedral church, who had spared no expense in the education of his niece.

"In other regards niggardly, here he was profuse; and whatever, in the literary arts of the age, the best masters had to give, that he endeavoured to procure for Heloisa.-She is represented as a prodigy in science: but it should seem as if her encomiasts, willing to delineate a phenomenon in the female world, had brought together every excellence their minds could fancy, and had presented the rich gift to the niece of Fulbert. It was not only in the