'I see the nations rise in tumult; and kings grow pale under their diadems. There is war betwixt them-war even unto the death.

I see one throne,-two thrones, broken to pieces, and the nations scatter the pieces over the earth.

I see a people fighting, as the archangel Michael fought against Satan-his [the people's] blows are terrible, but he is naked, and his enemy is covered by solid armour.

O God! he falls-he is stricken to death. No! he is only wounded! Mary, the Virgin Mother, wraps him in her cloak, smiles upon him, and carries him for a short time out of the battle.'

This incident, our readers see, the pious Abbé has borrowed from the fifth book of Dacier's Homer, only turning, like some of the over-pious antiquaries of papal Rome, Venus into the Virgin Mary. What he means, however, by this classical allusion, we have not the sense to discover; and we are nearly as much in the dark as to the other following sights.

'I see another people wrestling without pause, and gathering every moment fresh strength in the struggle. This people has the sign of Christ on their hearts.

I see a third people, on whom six kings have placed their feet; and every time this people moves, six daggers are buried in its throat.

I see, on a vast edifice, at an immense height in the skies, a cross which I can hardly distinguish, for it is covered by a black veil! 'Son of man, what more dost thou see?

'I see the east, which is internally disturbed-its ancient palaces falling, its old temples crumbling to dust; and it raises its eyes, as if looking for other greatness and another god.

'I see in the west, a woman, with a lofty eye, a serene brow. She draws with a firm hand a slight furrow, and wherever her ploughshare passes, I see generations of men arise, who invoke her in their prayers and bless her in their hymns.'

In the two last paragraphs the words 'east' and 'west' lead us to suspect some allusion to Turkey and America-but how to distribute among the other nations of the earth the rest of these enigmatical designations-how to determine which is meant for France or for England, for Germany, Spain, Italy, or Russia-is a puzzle beyond our humble skill.

I see in the north, men who have but the remains of heat, which is concentrated in their heads and intoxicates them; but Christ touches them with his cross, and their hearts begin to beat again.

'I see in the south, races of men bowed down under I know not what [je ne sais quoi again] malediction. A heavy yoke oppresses them; they walk bent; but Christ touches them with his cross, and they become straight.

Son of man, what more dost thou see?

He answers not let us ask him again!

• Son

Son of man, what dost thou see?

• I see Satan flying, and Christ, surrounded by his angels, coming to his kingdom.'-§ ii.

The Abbé's admirers may believe that in all this he is imitating the prophetic writings, but they are mistaken; he is only copying the Plaideurs of Racine :

• Petit Jean.—Messieurs, quand je regarde avec exactitude
L'inconstance du monde et sa vicissitude;

Quand je vois les Césars, quand je vois leur fortune;
Quand je vois le soleil et quand je vois la lune ;
Quand je vois les états des Babyloniens

Transférés des Persans aux Macédoniens;

Quand je vois les Romains de l'état despotique
Passer au démocratique et puis au monarchique;
Quand je vois le Japon-

L'Intimé.

Quand aura-t-il tout vu?'

6

In the third chapter our Believer' gives us what we guess to be his theory as to the institution of that atrocious system of injustice commonly mis-called civil society. All other writers agree that a mere state of nature must be a state of barbarism; and that laws and governments have been introduced to curb the natural tendencies of man to rapine and violence. Quis enim ignorat ita naturam rerum tulisse, ut quodam tempore homines, nondum neque naturali neque civili jure descripto, fusi per agros ac dispersi vagarentur, tantumque haberent quantum manu ac viribus, per cædem ac vulnera, aut eripere aut retinere potuissent?'-(Cicero pro Sextio.) But M. de la Mennais is of the very contrary opinion:

'And I was transported in the spirit into ancient times, and the earth was beautiful, and rich, and fruitful'

---

(in the Abbe's political economy the earth, it seems, was rich before it was fruitful)

and all its inhabitants lived in happiness, because they loved as brothers.'

We know not where, except in the profane poets, the learned Abbé finds the records of this golden age; and are inclined to say with the ingenious judge in the scene before alluded to

Avocat, commençons au déluge.'

Certainly, since the flood, there has been no such national confraternity as that which he now modestly proposes to re-establish. It is, however, no great encouragement to the benevolent attempt to find how soon and how easily this happy state was overthrown:

And I saw the Serpent who glided amongst them he fixed on several his fascinating eye, and their souls were troubled; and they approached, and the serpent whispered in their ear.

And when they had heard the whisper of the serpent, they rose up and said, We are kings!

And

And the sun grew pale, and the earth took a funereal hue-like to that of the winding-sheet which covereth the dead!'

It naturally follows that, to govern mankind in peace and happiness, the Abbé's first recipe should be to abolish that device of the devil, kingly authority; the second is to abrogate all human laws, which, next to kings, are the chief cause of all mischief.

There is hardly anything but mischievous laws in the world. 'What other law is necessary than the law of Christ?

'The law of Christ is clear-it is holy: and there is no man who, with this law in his heart, may not easily become his own judge. • Hear what has been spoken unto me.

'The children of Christ, if they happen to have differences with one another, should not carry them for decision to the tribunals of those who oppress and corrupt mankind.

'Have you not old men amongst you? and are not these old men your fathers, understanding and loving justice?

Go then to one of these old men, and say, Father, my brother here and I cannot agree on this matter; decide between us, we pray thee. And the old man will hear the words of one and of the other, and he will judge between them; and having so judged, he will bless them.

'And if they submit to this judgment the blessing shall remain with them, but if not '

Aye, there's the rub'-if men are so meek, so reasonable, as to be invariably satisfied with the decision of the old man,-well and good; but, unfortunately, that is not likely to be the case once in a thousand times: and if not 'what is the Abbé's alternative?

-if not, the blessing will return upon the old man, who had judged according to justice -§ xxviii.

The Abbé, who had before imitated Racine, seems now to copy from our Shakspeare the peaceable expedient of honest Dogberry for administering justice :

'Dogberry.-This is your charge-you shall comprehend all vagrom men-you are to bid any man stand in the king's name.

'Second Watchman.-How if he will not?

'Dogberry.-Why then take no notice of him, but let him go; and presently call the rest of the watch together, and thank God [La Mennais' blessing] that you are rid of a knave.'

Dogberry's advice was excellent in the particular instance; but we are afraid that, if practised on so large a scale as the Abbé proposes, even the abolition of kings and laws would not prevent this Utopian state of society from being disturbed by a good deal of injustice.

But that is of little consequence, for the Abbé's third recipe for obviating disputes about property is luckily so absolutely infallible,

that

that any deficiency in his arbitration-scheme could never be felt. It is the simplest, and yet the most effective that any lawgiver ever imagined, namely, that there should be no property at all.

' And there shall be neither rich nor poor, but all shall have, in abundance, everything necessary for their wants; because they will love and help one another, like brothers.'-§ x.

• The earth is like a great bee hive, and mankind are like bees*. 'Every bee has a right to the portion of honey necessary to its subsistence; and if, among men, any one is in want, it is because justice and charity have disappeared from amongst them.'—§ vi. And as to personal quarrels and violences-such things will be utterly impossible, when there shall be no longer kings and laws, or property, or want, and that all the individuals of the human race 'shall live and help one another, like brothers.' The certainty of this most desirable result he philosophically proves by the analogy of the beasts of the field, who, he tells us with a profound knowledge of the habits of the animal world-never injure, nor trespass, nor prey on one another (§ vi.); and he exhorts mankind to have all things in common, and live in the same happy state of peaceable and benevolent equality, as the Abbé, no doubt, supposes foxes to do with chickens-wolves with lambs-and hawks with doves.

Our readers are, we dare say, tired of such incoherent drivelling; but there is one of these desultory rhapsodies so specially extolled by some of the French critics that we must not altogether omit it. It is a description of a congress of kings, (but whether at Vienna, Verona, or Töplitz, the author does not say,) which will, we think, fill—even to satiety-the wonder of all English readers.

'It was in a gloomy night; a starless sky weighed upon the earth like a lid of black marble on a tomb.

And nothing disturbed the silence of that night, but a strange sound, like a slight fluttering of wings, which from time to time was heard over the countries and over the cities.

And then the darkness grew thicker and thicker, and every one felt his heart tightened, and a shudder run through his veins ;

*We are a little surprised that the Abbé should adduce the instance of bees, as that is, we believe, the only class of inferior creatures which seems subject to that which the Abbé considers the cause of all evil-monarchical government; and in representing the uninterrupted peace and prosperity of the apian race, the learned Abbé forgets the drones, wasps, and hornets, and, above all, those marauders the robbing bees, of whose violence and injustice our own garden has lately furnished us with an example more atrocious than even the partition of Poland; for just as one of the hives had collected its ample stores, and was about to enrich us not only with its superfluous honey but with a new colony, a robber-swarm attacked it, killed and put to flight the lawful inhabitants, carried away every drop of honey, and left the hive as desolate and dismal a scene of devastation and solitude as if the Abbé's six kings had invaded it. But such is the kind of illustration which pervades the whole work!

'And

And in a hall hung with black, and lighted by a reddish lamp, seven men clothed in purple, and their heads encircled by crowns, sat on seven iron thrones.'

We regret that we cannot afford our readers the least guess who these seven kings are-why they are seven, and why no more, or whether they include the six kings before described with the six poniards-and if so, whence the seventh king comes. In short, we know not what is meant, unless an impious mimicry of the seven churches and seven stars of the Revelations.

The Abbé, however, proceeds with a detail of the proceedings of this royal congress, of which, though the meaning be equallythat is utterly-incomprehensible, the expressions are so shocking and the images so disgusting, that we hesitate whether we ought to transcribe them-translate them we shall not; but as even the severest of the Abbé's continental critics (the Revue Encyclopédique) styles his book ce grand et beau livre,' and as some even of our own London contemporaries pronounce his work to be a noble poem," ,'-we must venture to give our readers one opportunity of appreciating the native grace and majesty of the great,' beautiful,' and 'noble' original.

6 Et au milieu de la salle s'élevoit un trône composé d'ossements, et au pied du trône, en guise d'escabeau, étoit un crucifix renversé; et devant le trône, une table d'ébène, et sur la table, un vase plein de sang rouge et écumeux, et un crâne humain.

Et les sept hommes couronnés paroissoient pensifs et tristes, et, du fond de son orbite creux, leur œil de temps en temps laissoit échapper des étincelles d'un feu livide.

Et l'un d'eux s'étant levé s'approcha du trône en chancelant, et mit le pied sur le crucifix.

En ce moment ses membres tremblèrent, et il sembla près de défaillir. Les autres le regardoient immobiles; ils ne firent pas le moindre mouvement, mais je ne sais quoi passa sur leur front, et un sourire qui n'est pas de l'homme contracta leurs lèvres.

Et celui qui avoit semblé près de défaillir étendit la main, saisit le vase plein de sang, en versa dans le crâne, et le but.

'Et cette boisson parut le fortifier.

Et dressant la tête, ce cri sortit de sa poitrine comme un sourd râlement:

'Maudit soit le Christ, qui a ramené sur la terre la Liberté !

Et les six autres hommes couronnés se levèrent tous ensemble, et tous ensemble poussèrent le même cri :

• Maudit soit, &c. !'-pp. 64-66.

We cannot proceed with this tissue of horrors: they have no meaning, it is true, but they nevertheless shock us, as the blasphemous ravings of a maniac would do; and we close the infamous volume-which proceeds through forty similar chapters of impiety,

sedition,