It is to be feared that De Fresne was among that number. Poor Casaubon, therefore, in spite of the warnings of his friends, placed himself in a thoroughly false position when he consented to attend officially this sham conference. He regarded the matter simply from the scholar's point of view; and, his sole desire being to discover the truth in this particular case, he felt bound to decide against De Mornay. But that was not at all what was expected of him by his co-religionists. He was a Protestant commissioner, and his duty was to support the Protestant side, through thick and thin. If the Protestant Hamlet declared that the cloud was like a whale, it was the Protestant Polonius' duty to reply, 'Very like a whale.' So, after the conference, both Huguenots and Romanists thought his conversion was only a question of time; and while the former looked more and more coldly upon him, the latter redoubled their efforts to win him over to their side.

It has been said that he wavered, and in the face of the admission of his son Meric, it would be bold to deny that he did. The friends and foes of Romanism seemed to combine to make him waver: perhaps the foes even more than the friends. He was sorely tried by a new kind of preaching at the Protestant church. The lethargic old man, and the raw youth at Montpellier were bad enough, but the learned preacher at Charenton was worse. Du Moulin, the preacher in question, was really a man of abilities and attainments, but he was not competent to deal with learned questions in a way that could satisfy ‘a fatally accurate' man (to use Mr. Pattison's pointed expression) like Casaubon. The shy, retiring hearer began to hint doubts as to the perfect accuracy of the brilliant preacher's statements, and the complete cogency of his arguments. Now, if there is one man in the world who less than another can brook contradiction, it is perhaps the popular preacher, in a congregation which makes preaching everything. Far more showy people than Casaubon hung upon Du Moulin's words, and accepted his erudition as a thing not to be questioned. Who was this poor hangeron of the Court, without a spark of brilliancy about him, to dare to doubt? Clearly a Romanist in disguise. The Huguenots followed the lead of their pastor, and regarded Casaubon as a very doubtful Protestant; the Romanists were persistent in their efforts to make him cease to be a Protestant at all. The king set his favourite confessor, Father Coton, a Jesuit, upon him. His friends who had gone over from Protestantism were, of course, most anxious to induce

him to follow their example, especially his brother-commissioner, Cannaye de Fresne, who contrived, we are told, ‘theological breakfast-parties, at which he entrapped Casaubon into the company of Jesuit priests.'1

But the most persevering and the most effective was Du Perron, the learned Bishop of Evreux. Du Perron' had orders to pursue him like his shadow; waylay him in his walks, intrude upon his meals, and sit at his elbow in the library' [that is, the King's library, the sub-librarianship of which, under De Thou, was the only office Casaubon ever held in Paris]. The single topic of conversation was the errors of the Protestant, and the infallibility of the Roman, religion. There is no doubt that Du Perron's efforts were not without effect; he at least succeeded in making him thoroughly dissatisfied with Calvinism. Though infinitely inferior to Casaubon in point of general learning, he was more than a match for him in this particular field; he was at home on his ground, while Casaubon was a comparative stranger. He was much more adroit, more ready, more showy. He could also dangle the bait of the professorship before the needy scholar's eyes. And he could feel with just confidence that, as against Du Moulin and the Huguenots, he must have the advantage with a well-read man who valued Christian antiquity like Casaubon. The whole case is summed up in the pathetic entry-which is like a prolonged wail-in Casaubon's diary for the commencement of 1610:

The

'May the year which this day commences be a happy one to us all! To myself and all mine-wife, children, sister. Grant this, O Everlasting God, I pray Thee of Thy mercy, and for the merits of Thy only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Now, if ever, yea, more than ever, have I need of Thy aid and protection. Now, indeed, have I to fight without ceasing a spiritual fight. Not a day, not an hour, scarce a moment, have I respite from their attempts on me. antagonists, too, are such as it is not easy either to neglect or to shake off. We wrestle with men of the first consideration, either for learning or rank. I am perpetually forced to argue with an adversary who is, without dispute, of all on that side, the first in learning, second to none in ability [Du Perron]. Again, I have to support the most pressing instances from him who is above all in the kingdom in rank, and to whom, under God, I owe for so long maintenance,

There is

1 Quarterly Review, Sept. 1853: Diary of Casaubon.' now no need to conceal the fact that this article was written by Mr. Mark Pattison, and that it first gave him the idea, which more than twenty years later he so admirably carried out, of writing the life of Casaubon. The present writer well remembers a walk with Mr. Pattison over Port Meadow, in which he unfolded his views to the young undergraduate by his side, who had then very hazy notions about Casaubon !

favour, and the leisure and ease I now enjoy [the King]. The matter has now come to that pass that if I persist in opposing his wishes in this particular, I must forfeit his favour and benefits.'

Then follows a long and touching account of his straits, pecuniary and other, and he concludes :

'God Immortal! My mind shudders lest, thus beset, I should offend Thy Divine Majesty, by doing that which I abhor and detest. Πρίν μοι χάνοι εὐρεῖα χθών.

How was it all to end? The Gordian knot was cut by the assassin's dagger which put an end to Henri IV.'s life in the spring of 1610. Casaubon had now no longer any tie in Paris; it was simply his connexion with the king which had kept him there so long. Paris was no spiritual home for him. Where could he find one? He had at one time been brought into some communication with the Arminian Protestants of Holland; but these, though free from the exclusive narrowness of the Huguenot Calvinists, were too cold, too rationalistic, above all, too much out of accord with primitive antiquity, to satisfy Casaubon. He had projected a visit to Venice, with the object of examining for himself the condition of the Greek Church. The visit never came off; but if it had, he would not have found a Church so much to his mind as that in which he at last met with a haven of rest. His true home was our own mother Church of England. There he found the best modern representative of Christian antiquity, without the incrustation of medieval superstitions; the learning of Holland, without its rationalism; the piety of the Huguenots, without their narrowness and contempt for learning and antiquity. In fact, he was, as Mr. Pattison truly remarks, 'an Anglican ready made, as the mere effect of his reading the Fathers to meet Du Perron's incessant attacks.' His theological position is well described by himself in a letter to Tilenus, professor of theology at Sedan, in 1602.

1

'Let me remind you of the situation in which I have been placed. For years past I have scarce had a day free from contests with persons professing a different religion. With what freedom, with what zeal I have spoken on these occasions, God knows. I never invited these conflicts; they were always forced upon me. I was not a theologian, but being compelled to give reasons for my opinions, I was driven to suspend all other studies, and to give myself up to this one. I compared the writings of our friends and their opponents with the doctrines of the ancient Church. Among the rest I read Bellarmine. On scripture, tradition, the authority of the old commentators, on

1 Pattison's Casaubon, p. 300.

the power of the Pope, on images, on indulgences, I could by certain reasons demonstrate all Bellarmine's positions to be false; but when I came to the chapter on the sacraments (though there can be also there some things which can be refuted) it is no less clear to me that the whole of antiquity, with one consent, is on the side of our opponents, and that our writers who have attempted to show that the Fathers have held our views have egregiously wasted their time. The careful study of the ancients had raised certain scruples in my mind. About these I would give a kingdom to be able to consult you, for all I desire is to learn. That I am staggered by the consent of the whole ancient and orthodox Church, I cannot conceal.' 1

In the eight years which elapsed between the writing of these words and his settlement in England, these feelings were much intensified. One can therefore well understand his surprise and delight at finding in England a whole national Church encamped on the ground on which he had believed himself to be an isolated adventurer.' 2 For an account of the circumstances which led to, and the results which followed, his settlement in England, the reader must be referred to the pages of Pattison. It may suffice to note here that the two Englishmen with whom he was brought into the closest intimacy were the very two who were best qualified to satisfy his religious cravings. One was Lancelot Andrewes, then Bishop of Ely, the other John Overall, then Dean of S. Paul's. The enthusiastic way in which he speaks of Bishop Andrewes shows that he had found in him a man after his own heart.

'He is a man,' he writes to De Thou, 'whom if you knew, you would take to exceedingly. We spend whole days in talk of letters, sacred especially, and no words can express what true piety, what uprightness of judgment, I find in him.'

To Heinsius:

'I am by way of seeing the Bishop daily. He is one of a few whose society enables me to support being separated from De Thou. I am attracted to the man by his profound learning, and charmed by a graciousness of manner not common in one so highly placed.'

He was equally fortunate in his other intimate friend. John Overall is a man to whose character and learning posterity has scarcely done full justice. The man whom the great Bishop Cosin, to the very end of life, always spoke and thought of as his 'lord and master,' was a very remarkable 2 Ibid. p. 303.

1 Pattison, pp. 253-4.

3

3 See Canon Ornsby's admirable Introduction to the Correspondence of Bishop Cosin, published by the Surtees Society.

man, and Casaubon evidently regarded him as such. To these was afterwards added Thomas Morton, afterwards Bishop of Durham. It would be difficult to find in any age a triumvirate which would more ably and characteristically represent the English Church. There is one other person whose relations to Casaubon must not be passed over. That one is the King himself. James I. had so unhappy a knack of making everything he said and did ridiculous, that it is difficult to do justice to him. But he was unquestionably a man of great learning, and quite capable of appreciating the merits of Casaubon for himself, instead of taking them on trust as Henri IV. had done. His kindness and consideration for the gentle and retiring scholar were unbounded. Perhaps his attentions were rather embarrassing to one who, scholar-like, loved solitude, but Casaubon knew that he always meant well, and so, rarely complains. James has been blamed for diverting Casaubon from his classical studies to theological disputation, for which he was not so well fitted. But it must be remembered that from the first, Casaubon had always been yearning to devote himself to theological instead of classical studies; so early as 1596 he had determined to set the example of studying Church history; in fact, the review of Baronius' Annales was only the renewal of an old project. And though in themselves the Exercitationes, which he undertook at the instance of the king, may not have possessed much permanent value, yet they accomplished one very important result, in completely destroying a sham colossus, which, in the interests of the Anglican Church and of all opponents of Romanism, it was very desirable to have destroyed. The Annales of Baronius appeared at the time when Rome was beginning to recover from the shock of the Reformation, and when her power was certainly beginning to revive; they were thought to be an indestructible monument of stupendous, almost supernatural, learning. Casaubon was the only man who was strong enough to pull the huge building down; he did so, and Samson-like perished in the ruins; for it is said, and probably with truth, that his labours on Baronius hastened his death.

Casaubon met with some disappointments in England, but with one thing he was never disappointed-his connexion with the English Church. He still continued to attend the French Reformed church, and was on intimate terms with its ministers, who visited him on his death-bed. But his heart was with us. His youngest son, James, was baptized, and 1 Pattison, p. 356.