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192 NOTICES OF BOOKS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
, .A < 1.—Recollec B Tions H. E Of . Car...
simply the ambition to be good— -the desire to become equally the object of affection and respect with those whose deeds and transitory
honours are thus tenderly recorded . At first sight , the subject selected by our author does not seem to
promise much variety or amusement . The life of a priest , until he becomes ennobled by admission into the Conclave , rarely ensures
much notice . His opportunities of distinction are generally few : he lives quietly , consoles and assists the poor , preaches to his flock ,
performs the ceremonies and duties of his calling , —surrounded by a fame that reaches only to the - extent of his little district . This is
the usual sum of his existence . Occasionally , indeed , a man arises whose exhortations exalt and inflame his audiences , or one who
writes a memorable book , who preaches the depths of learning , or who deviates ( a successful adventurer ) into secular policy . In these
cases , the eyes of Rome are fixed upon him—the world hears of him : he is raised to a hiher place in the assemblies and opinions of
men ; he ministers up perhap g s to the greatest churchmen ; his steps sound beneath the great dome of Saint Peter ' sby the canopy of bronze , " as
, lofty as the Farnese Palace ; " or he is sent , the representative of majesty , on important missions . Finally he rises into eminence and
claims Some a of place these in story . are found in the book before us , and
abounds and quite rescue in interesting of it from fortune personages monotony . materials But . besides The , since life him he of the touche there Seventh d are both the Pius the fifty , hei indeed -times ghts , depths ,
learned Mezzofanti ; the astute , Consalvi ; the wonderful , indefatigable discoverer Mai ; and that man , remarkable above all , who , oscillating from one extreme to the other of the religious horizon ,
through all the phases of contradiction and error , encountered a multitude of internal troubles , and , though his demonstrations and
eventually his problems became themes for the admiration or study of thousandsappears himself ultimately to have progressed no farther
, than the illimitable region of- —Doubt . Of this last ( the Abbe de Lamennais ) we have the following
graphic account : — truly of " countenance How in look he . did and so presence mastery mightil almost y of prevail contemptihle without on others ; , it small external is , hard weakly to , say without his . He tongue pride was
thoug seemed with him hts to clear be at variou the , deep or organ s , and inter b strong y val which s eye . and , Several , ; u he naid was e times d , always he any have gav the e I marvellou held same long grace . With s conversations ; utterance his head to
hung down , , his hands clasped , "before him , or gently moving in one another , taneous in answer and to unripp a que led stion he stream poured throug out a h stream a summer of thou meadow ght , flowing He at spon once
as a . or seized Massillon the whole ; then subject took , divided them one it into by one its , heads enucleated , as symmetrically each and , and drew as unbroken Me his ' chier
conolu so unhesitating _sions . mi All ght this , and have went yet easil on so y in polished fancied a monotonous that and you elegant but were soft , that listening tone , if , you to was had the so closed reading , your of ,
eyes a finished , you and elaborately corrected volume . "—pp . 337 , 338 .
192 Notices Of Books.
192 NOTICES OF BOOKS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1858, page 192, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051858/page/48/
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