the same year, made a great noise, and broke out into threats against Philip the Fair; but he did no more than threaten. The famous decretal Unam Sanctam is, however, considered as the work of this council; it is, in substance, as follows

"We believe and confess a holy, catholic, and apostolic church, out of which there is no salvation; we also acknowledge its unity, that it is one only body, with one only head, and not with two, like a monster. This only head is Jesus Christ, and St. Peter his vicar, and the successor of St. Peter. Therefore, the Greeks, or others, who say that they are not subject to that successor, must acknowledge that they are not of the flock of Christ, since he himself has said (John, ch. x. v. 16) "that there is but one fold and one shepherd."

Clement V. successor to Boniface VIII. revoked and annulled the odious decision of the bull Unam Sanctam, which extends the power of the popes to the temporalities of kings, and condemns as heretics all who do not acknowledge this chimerical power. Boniface's pretension, indeed, ought to be condemned as heresy, according to this maxim of theologians-"Not only is it a sin against the rules of the faith, and a heresy, to deny what the faith teaches us, but also to set up as part of the faith that which is no part of it." (Joan. Maj. m. 3 sent. dist. 37. q. 26.)

Other popes, before Boniface VIII. had arrogated to themselves the right of property over different kingdoms. The bull is well known, in which Gregory VII. says to the King of Spain-"I would have you to know, that the kingdom of

nances, was given in property to St. Peter and the holy Roman church."

"We learn that in this church, and under its power, are two swords, the spi-Spain, by ancient ecclesiastical ordiritual and the temporal: of these, one is to be used by the church and by the hand of the pontiff; the other, by the church and by the hand of kings and warriors, in pursuance of the orders or with the permission of the pontiff. Now, one of these swords must be subject to the other, temporal to spiritual power; otherwise, they would not be ordinate, and the apostles says they must be so. (Rom. chap. xiii. v. 1.) According to the testimony of truth, spiritual power must institute and judge temporal power; and thus is verified with regard to the church, the prophesy of Jeremiah (chap. i. v. 10.) "I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms." &c.

On the other hand, Philip the Fair assembled the states-general; and the commons, in the petition which they presented to that monarch, said, in so many words "It is a great abomination for us to hear that this Boniface stoutly interprets like a Boulgare (dropping the land the a) these words of spirituality (Matthew, chap. xvi. v. 19.)- Whatever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ;”—as if this signified that if a man be put into a temporal prison, God will imprison him in heaven.'

Henry II. of England asked permission of Pope Adrian IV. to invade Ireland. The pontiff gave him leave, on condition that he imposed on every Irish family a tax of one carolus for the Holy See, and held that kingdom as a fief of the Roman church-" For," wrote Adrian, "it cannot be doubted that every island upon which Jesus Christ, the sun of justice, has arisen, and which has received the lessons of the Christian faith, belongs of right to St. Peter and to the holy and sacred Roman church."

Bulls of the Crusade and of Composition.

If an African or an Asiatic of sense were told, that in that part of Europe where some men have forbidden others to eat flesh on Saturdays, the pope gives them leave to eat it, by a bull, for the sum of two rials, and that another bull grants permission to keep stolen money,-what would this African or Asiatic say? He would, at least, agree with us, that every country has its customs; and that in this world, by whatever names things may be called, or however they may be disguised, all is done for money.

Bull Unigenitus.

There are two bulls under the name of La Cruzada-the Crusade; one of the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, the other The bull In cana Domini was an inof that of Philip V. The first of these dignity offered to all catholic sovereigns, sells permission to eat what is called the and they at length proscribed it in their grossura, viz., tripes, livers, kidneys, giz-states; but the bull Unigenitus was a zards, sweetbreads, lights, plucks, cauls, trouble to France alone. The former atheads, necks, and feet. tacked the rights of the princes and maThe second bull, granted by Pope Ur-gistrates of Europe, and they maintained bran VIII. gives leave to eat meat throughout Lent, and absolves from every crime except heresy.

Not only are these bulls sold, but people are ordered to buy them; and, as is but right, they cost more in Peru and Mexico than in Spain; they are there sold for a piastre. It is reasonable that the countries which produce gold and silver should pay more than others.

The pretext for these bulls is, making war upon the Moors. There are persons, difficult of conviction, who cannot see what livers and kidneys have to do with a war against the Africans; and they add, that Jesus Christ never ordered war to be made on the Mahometans on pain of excommunication.

those rights; the latter proscribed only some maxims of piety and morals, which gave no concern to any except the parties interested in the transient affair; but these interested parties soon filled all France It was at first a quarrel between the all-powerful Jesuits and the remains of the crushed Port-Royal.

Quesnel, a preacher of the Oratory, a refugee in Holland, had dedicated a commentary on the New Testament to Cardinal De Noailles, then Bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne. It met the bishop's approbation and was well received by all readers of that sort of books.

One Le Tellier, a Jesuit, a confessor to Louis XIV. and an enemy to Cardinal De Noailles, resolved to mortify him by having the book, which was dedicated to him, and of which he had a very high opinion, condemned at Rome.

The bull giving permission to keep another's goods, is called the bull of Composition. It is farmed; and has long brought considerable sums throughout This Jesuit, the son of an attorney at Spain, the Milanese, Naples, and Sicily. Vire in Lower Normandy, had all that The highest bidders employ the most elo-fertility of expedient for which his fa quent of the monks to preach this bull. Sinners who have robbed the king, the state, or private individuals, go to these preachers, confess to them, and show them what a sad thing it would be to make restitution of the whole. They offer the monks five, six, and sometimes seven per cent., in order to keep the rest with a safe conscience; and, as soon as the composition is made, they receive absolution. The preaching brother who wrote the Travels through Spain and Italy (Voyage d'Espagne et d'Italie), published at Paris, avec privilège by Jean-Baptiste de l'Epine, speaking of this bull, thus expresses himself:-"Is it not very gracious to come off at so little cost, and be at liberty to steal more, when one has occasion for a larger sum?"

ther's profession is remarkable. Not content with embroiling Cardinal De Noailles with the pope, he determined to have him disgraced by the king his master. To ensure the success of this design, he had mandaments composed against him by his emissaries, and got them signed by four bishops; he also indited letters to the king, which he made } them sign.

These manœuvres, which would have been punished in any of the tribunals, succeeded at court: the king was soured against the cardinal, and Madame de Maintenon abandoned him.

Here was a series of intrigues, in which, from one end of the kingdom to the other, every one, took a part. The more unfortunate France at that time be

came in a disastrous war, the more the public mind was heated by a theological quarrel.

During these movements, Le Tellier had the condemnation of Quesnel's book, of which the monarch had never read a page, demanded from Rome by Louis XIV. himself. Le Tellier and two other Jesuits, named Doucin and Lallemant, extracted one hundred and three propositions, which Pope Clement XI. was to condemn. The court of Rome struck out two of them, that it might, at least, have the honour of appearing to judge for itself.

Cardinal Fabroni, in whose hands the affair was placed, and who was devoted to the Jesuits, had the bull drawn up by { a Cordelier named Father Palerno, Elio a Capuchin, Terrovi a Barnabite, and Castelli a Servite, to whom was added a Jesuit named Alfaro.

Clement XI. let them proceed in their own way. His only object was to please the King of France, who had long been displeased with him, on account of his recognising the Archduke Charles, afterwards emperor, as King of Spain. To make his peace with the king, it cost him only a piece of parchment sealed with lead, concerning a question which he himself despised.

Clement XI. did not wait to be solicited; he sent the bull, and was quite astonished to learn that it was received throughout France with hisses and groans. "What!" said he to Cardinal Carpegno, "a bull is earnestly asked of me; I give it freely, and every one makes a jest of it !"

they dared not speak. The wise and disinterested exclaimed against the scandal, and the rest of the nation against the absurdity.

Nevertheless, Le Tellier triumphed, until the death of Louis XIV.: he was held in abhorrence, but he governed. This wretch tried every means to procure the suspension of Cardinal de Noailles ; but after the death of his penitent, the incendiary was banished. The Duke of Orleans, during his regency, extinguished these quarrels by making a jest of them. They have since thrown out a few sparks; but they are at last forgotten, probably for ever. Their duration, for more than half a century, was quite long enough. Yet, happy indeed would mankind be, if they were divided only by foolish questions unproductive of bloodshed!

CÆSAR.

Ir is not as the husband of so many women and the wife of so many men,as the conqueror of Pompey and the Scipios,-as the satirist who turned Cato into ridicule, as the robber of the public treasury, who employed the money of the Romans to reduce the Romans to subjection,-as he who, clement in his triumphs, pardoned the vanquished,-as the man of learning, who reformed the calendar,-as the tyrant and the father of his country, assassinated by his friends and his bastard son,-that I shall here speak of Cæsar. I shall consider this { extraordinary man only in my quality of descendant from the poor barbarians whom he subjugated.

You will not pass through a town in Every one was indeed surprised to see France, in Spain, on the banks of the a pope, in the name of Jesus Christ, Rhine, or on the English coast opposite condemning as heretical, tainted with to Calais, in which you will not find good heresy, and offensive to pious ears, this people who boast of having had Cæsar proposition-"It is good to read books there. Some of the townspeople of Doof piety on Sundays, especially the Holyver are persuaded that Cæsar built their Scriptures ;" and this "The fear of an castle; and there are citizens of Paris unjust excommunication should not pre- who believe that the great châtelet is one vent us from doing our duty." of his fine works. Many a country The partisans of the Jesuits were them-squire in France shows you an old turret selves alarmed at these censures, but which serves him for a dove-cote, and

An Italian antiquary, passing a few years ago through Vannes in Brittany, was quite astonished to hear the learned This conversation gave rise to a very men of Vannes boast of Cæsar's stay in warm dispute between the learned men their town. "No doubt," said he, "you of Vannes and the antiquary. Several of have monuments of that great man?" the Bretons could not conceive what was "Yes," answered the most notable among the virtue of the Romans, in deceiving them, "we will show you the place where one after another all the nations of Gaul, that hero had the whole senate of our pro-in making them by turns the instruments vince hanged, to the number of six hun

has not been made a saint. Writers of dedications are remarkable for saying fine things, and much to the purpose.

CALENDS.

THE Feast of the Circumcision, which the church celebrates on the first of January, has taken the place of another called the Feast of the Calends, of Asses, of Fools, or of Innocents, according to the different places where, and the different days on which, it was held. It was most commonly at Christmas, the Circumcision, or the Epiphany.

way of consecration. This bishop officiated pontifically, and gave his blessing to the people, before whom he appeared bearing the mitre, the crosier, and even the archiepiscopal cross. In those churches which held immediately from the Holy See, a pope of the Fools was elected, who officiated in all the decorations of papacy. All the clergy assisted in the mass, some dressed in women's apparel, others as buffoons, or masked in a grotesque and ridiculous manner. Not content with singing licentious songs in the choir, they sat and played at dice on the altar, at the side of the officiator. When the mass was over, they ran, leaped, and danced about the church, ut tering obscene words, singing immodest

In the cathedral of Rouen there was, on Christmas-day, a procession, in which ecclesiastics, chosen for the purpose, represented the prophets of the Old Testament who foretold the birth of the Mes-songs, and putting themselves in a thousiah, and (which may have given the feast its name) Balaam appeared, mounted on a she-ass; but as Lactantius's poem, and the Book of Promises, under the name of St. Prosper, say that Jesus in the manger was recognised by the ox and the ass, according to the passage of Isaiah "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib" (a circumstance, however, which neither the gospel nor the ancient fathers have remarked) it is more likely that, from this opinion, the Feast of the Ass took its name.

Indeed, the Jesuit Theophilus Raynaud testifies that, on St. Stephen's day, there was sung a hymn of the Ass, which was also called the Prose of Fools; and that on St. John's day another was sung, called the Prose of the Ox. In the library of the chapter of Sens, there is preserved a manuscript of vellum, with miniature figures representing the ceremonies of the Feast of Fools. The text contains a description of it, including this Prose of the Ass; it was sung by two choirs, who imitated at intervals, and as the burden of the song, the braying of that animal.

There was elected in the cathedral { churches a bishop or archbishop of the Fools, which election was confirmed by all sorts of buffooneries, played off by

sand indecent postures, sometimes exposing themselves almost naked. They then had themselves drawn about the streets, in tumbrels full of filth, that they might throw it at the mob which gathered round them. The looser part of the seculars would mix among the clergy, that they might play some fool's part in the ecclesiastical habit.

This feast was held in the same manner in the convents of monks and nuns, as Naudé testifies in his complaint to Gassendi, in 1645, in which he relates that, at Antibes, in the Franciscan monastery, neither the officiating monks nor the guardian, went to the choir on the day of the Innocents. The lay-brethren occupied their places on that day, and, clothed in sacerdotal decorations, torn and turned inside out, made a sort of office. They held books turned upside down, which they seemed to be reading through spectacles, the glasses of which were made of orange-peel; and muttered confused words, or uttered strange cries, accompanied by extravagant contortions.

The second register of the church of Autun, by the secretary Rotarii, which ends with 1416, says, without specifying the day, that at the Feast of Fools, an ass was led along with a clergyman's