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18 2H&e &£&&**? [Saturday,
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— . . =? POLITICAL FA.BIE No* l >—the li...
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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.
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Chap I The Young Sceptic. It Was A Storm...
evils . The intolerance of priesthoods was frequently pointed out to him , and it excited in him an intolerance against them . He had fierce longings for reprisals He would gladly have burnt Calvin for burning Servetus ! His father ' s salon was crowded with wits and philosophers , men of science and sceptical abbes . From them he heard but one language . The reaction which had followed revolutionary excesses , and which had reinstated the Church in her property , if not in her moral influence , made all her an- _tagonists more aggressive than ever ; and Armand ' s father belonged to the _antagonists In such an element religious belief was of course out of the question . Yet even here , in the soul of this boy , the original instinct showed itself ; and philosophers might have learned that their fundamental assumption was based upon a fake theory of human nature . He manifested an irresistible craving for belief . His mind was for ever struggling with the problems of existence ; and even in this hotbed of religious antagonism he framed religious theories ! These theories were absurd enough , for the most part ; mingled with gleams of some profounder thought—as the speculations of children mostly are—but they were utterances which a sound philosophy should not have slighted ; they were the evidences of that fact which the phi- losophers recklessly denied—the fact that there is what has been happily called un fibre religieux in the human heart . Armand ' s speculative tendencies were greatly fostered by all he heard at his father ' s fireside , where metaphysical and philosophical questions were dis- cussed by all kinds of visitors ; and , although a considerable amount of non- sense and levity mingled in these discussions , yet they gave a stimulus to the un philosopher ' s mind . . _„ . . _^ -, _^ . ,, _t . _ij . < n one occasion , when Benjamin Constant was present , they brought forward the topic of the origin of evil , and Constant said : — u " ; s . . Li . u 4 . ¦ _nu r i ? _i _i " I remember meeting at the Hague a certain Chevalier Revel , who was , . ... , _,, _, _,,. . _.-i i r i _ wont to maintain with great eloquence that this universe is the work of a being who died in the midst of his creation : whose plans were vast and magnificent , but whose death interrupted their execution . " " What a grand idea ! " said the colonel . " . b ' .. .. , _~ _. « . _«*! _* _* _v _i- if " He thought , " continued Constant , " that everything is ordained for an _ , . " P ' , _A , . . ,, a ? _ia- c a -u a end which it cannot reach : the universe is the scaffolding of an unfinished cuix _wiiiv-n _^ & * fij * _a- \\ \ M i t ? » -low ic le ma e i " Bv referring to our own consciousness . We feel that we are des- _i /• _xi- « . r _i r u x xu « . _ u- tmed for something , yet we can form no idea of what that something is . _, , - _., tii _. _. i _ii c i _t _i j We are like watches without dial-plates , the wheels of which are endowed ... ... , . \ _^ . .... . _.., . _ivith intelligence , and continue constantly turning till worn out without once , . , _ix _ix t _x xu 4 . _t , j- * knowing why they turn ; but we say , since I turn there must be some object in turning " « Well , " ' said a rubicund abbe ' , « I like Plato ' s notion better when he says ; hat God alternately governs and forsakes the world . When he governs , _,. . i , i i r _i •• . 4 . u- * _i n * . i )> lungs go on smoothly ; when he forsakes it , things tend rapidly to chaos . " ftt > _' , _., i . . i . T , i " For my part , said a pallid young poet , adjusting his curls , " 1 look on ; he universe as a grand poem . It is , " he added solemnly , « Epopee . " " But no one has corrected the proof ' s / " retorted the colonel . This sally vas received with great applause , and , as is usually the case with witticisms , t closed the discussion . But Armand never forgot the wild hypothesis of the : hevalier : it haunted his solitude . His overtasked brain so far affected his health that his father sent him into he country to recover his strength ; and thus was Armand domiciled in the army chateau in Brittany under the care of his uncle the Baron de _layol . ) n his arrival the baron let fall a deferential but significant hint to the _aronne that she was m no way to interfere with the boy s religious con- _actions . She gazed tenderly at her grandchild and sighed , but bowed her head in , _? * ei 1 1 1 1 11 1 rf AA 7 i 4- u _* i _i oken of assent . She had obeyed all her life . Whatever might be her own ... ill J 11 x p _^ 1 x 1 _riii 1 onvictions , she had never ventured to interfere with those of her husband or 1 , _, .. _, . _., . ,, n rt . „ . , er sons ; and she reaped the reward in their unalterable affection and - MM 1 _.,., x j _* i 4 . _i 1 .. _* cspect . 1 hey who were pitiless towards the cant , hypocrisy , and superstition - ' ., J 1 _, l , , .. * 1 * v , v _u 1 * 01 f others , never by word or look attempted to disturb her devotions . She 1 . 1 J 1 . , -i 1 _« j _ii -ix 'as too good , they said , to be spoiled . So pure , so noble a woman might ' idulge any fancies and superstitions : they could not injure her . n J l J J But , though the baronne was not permitted to converse with her grandson n religion , her example was not to be hidden ; and that was more eloquent lan she could have been . The image of this grand , serene old woman , ¦ earing her eighty years as a crown , was deeply engraven upon Armand's lind . He had never behold the practical effect of piety before , and he saw it ow in its most striking aspect . That belief could be something more than _, intellectual act-that it could beautify and fortify a /(/ .-was now for the rst time a fact in his eyes . When he compared hi _grandam with the aged omen he had seen in l ' aris-r » ii « e , l _, withered , babbling creatures , all paint id i ) rejudice , taking ounces of snuff , contemptible in their persons and in icir lives—he could not but reverence her quiet dignity ; and he perpetually iked himself , » ' If religion can give that serenity and that dignity , were it Dt enviable to bo its dupe ? " Nay , more : what Armand saw operating in the individual , he also , in a ss degree perhaps , saw in the mass . In eoniing to Brittany he came into , e moot _religious part of liurope . _Ihej-e the greatest noble and the _eancst peasant are equally fervent and devout . The scepticism which
Chap I The Young Sceptic. It Was A Storm...
threw down the altars of France never found a home in Brittany . During the excesses of the revolutionary period , when churches were demolished or desecrated , and the priests were tracked like wild beasts , it was not uncommon for the people to push out to sea in their boats , and , assembled there beneath the stars , listen to the mass which some courageous priest celebrated standing on the deck of a bark tossed upon waves whose multitudinous murmurs rose like a chorus to the solemn psalm which burst from the hearts of the believers . Among such a people Armand could not fail to be struck with the prac-*«! effects of Faith He had , moreover become very intimate with the family of the Comte de Lecoedic , where he constantly heard recitals of the Vendean and Chouan wars-the glorious exploits of Charette , Georges _Cadoudal , and Le Grand Gars-all based upon an intense religious conviction _, But more , perhaps , than even by these , was he influenced by the youngest daughter of the Comte de Lecoedic . Gabrielle was seventeen , and doomed I Consumption had swept away three of her sisters , and was now fast wasting the life within her . She knew it ; they all knew it ; yet she was as calm and happy as if her spring were but the budding of a glorious summer . She talked of death as a new birth into diviner life : endless repose upon the bosom of the Lord . Insensibly this sapped the foundations of Armand ' s philosophy . _Conceive * _W > whose education had repressed the instincts of his soul , and had produced a state of denial which was antagonistic to those instincts , and then conceive him passing from out of that element into one in which Belief was omnipresent m its effects . The faith which he has been taught to deride , he here learns to respect ; the faith which he holds to be the cause of nothing but hypocrisy , cruelty , and discord , he here sees giving serenity , security , and i _. & & j > j > «* r ., * , , , _ , . , , , , ,. _^ , . .. , In the baronne he saw how Faith enables us to live ; in Gabrielle , how _„ . , , _, K ' 3 j . art / ii euauJes us to cue ! Chap . II . PRAN 6 IPOLO . _^ , . lt . _i _,- * . x _* _-l n a . -, - , Gabrielle was seventeen , and on the strength of her seventeen years looked , A , , , _*\ ... , ,. 1 J _" down upon Armand as a mere boy , so that she permitted his love—you have , , r _i * . i . * t _ v i _i _t . * _Ix . _* . j . _* _. _i _± . ... already guessed that he did love her?—without the least misgiving : indeed , it was so respectful and so adoring as to be inexpressibly delightful to her . Armand knew , as a fact , that she must shortly die ; but he never , ,. ,.. _„ n i _. JL x _* . mu _i _i j _¦> believed it . He was like her m that respect . The knowledge never became ... T , ffi , . ,. * , . ., fo " ° a conviction . It sufficed to tinge his thoughts with a gentle melancholy . _., . • _. . i rf r \ * x . i xa \ l _y i yjx without growing into an appreciated reality . Death seemed to him as _-. _/•• . -l- _, \ .. _t V , ., ,, uv . , v , indefinite as his own immortality . W ho that loves believes in death ? J Armand was a great favourite with the Lecoedics . That very want of _fri _* which would have excluded a grown man from their intimacy , became ln the boy a source of greater tenderness , for it filled them with pity , and made them excessively anxious for his conversion . 1 hey lent him books , , . . , , „ , . J _^ ,. . _., . / _., " , UK !> ancl tried to tal _^ him over to their views : he was patient , docile , candid , but unconvinced . « You mus ' t never exppct tf ) mariy me » sai ( 1 Gabrielle , playfully , « until you become a Christian ; so you had better make haste . " " Dear Gabrielle , I wish I could believe—if only to please you . But all books fail to satisfy me . They do not meet my doubts halfway ; they do not take me by the hand and lead me out of the forest . " « I fear , Armand , it is your obstinacy . " „ N () j no . lam \ v [ m tQ be convmced . But all your writers unfaid . th thunder ingt incredulit instead of _^ wkh it > _jf am x t iye m doubts merel because th _^ _Jumni _& ted } Tq believc thege _^^ 8 , all doubt is the invention of wickedness . " « g o _j _t - , »> « xrn r _« ' r , K _» : _« ii « 7 _« r -n -u 2 . _* . ¦ , _i T . _ISo , Gabrielle ; say weakness , if you will , but not wickedness . It is not r _ - _+ _ _*«„„ # . ,, o _« , _i , _^ _^ 1 _n it _ix j 1 1 _i i air to treat us who doubt as scoundrels , and to declare our doubts are but t _-i _^ mnel , c „ - t i , « , _i ,:,, y . _i • -x- ¦* _- _!¦••• _tne masks with which we conceal vicious propensities . Nor is it wise to „„ : _„! - „ ,, x _^ Q ,, nn \ ni . . 1 r 1 -, Ti ; ' _^ T . paint—as they paint—the misery of denial . It is not true . I am not miser-_ ui _ , T _„„ ,. „ _- i _, no .., nv ,. 1 ii _i _i . a" e ! L never knew any one yet who was miserable because he was a sceptic . _Wi . n _, fl , _ . lcn * a J ¦ , . . ,, 3 _X 1 ( T , .... . o _^ _pwo . Wnat 1 S the use of employing untruths ? W hy vilify when you want to COnvince ? " > v _""^ « _- _« r i _-. i _^ . ; rii « _™ ,, _i _; i _„« + _i- TT . ,. _,. ,, „ , , ijdbiielle could not answer him . His objection was too well founded . Not by such works are conversions made . * To change a man ' s views you must meet them honestly and earnestly—candid in admitting where he is right , but drawing your strength from higher principles . Not by a book but by a man can such a change be made . " * A rmnnf | f _,,,, nA + _! , _««¦ tx n 1 1 -it--,. art _^ _ntLT _, _tl llt ' ? , T * ? i _™ 7 * ° ™ _^ Leco _^ 1 ? tO ° _^ K _^ ll f _"" T _* 1 _™* _'" T * ' ' & "I ™ ° f ° % _^ _K _^ _K _. ° _^ _f _*??™! Byi T _? llle r B - » n 'l fitted _' on a 11 _** _" _** ' _' ° tOpC Wlth and _***«<* _*} _" h _^ ai > _dent _«!» _" _* of this boy . ( 'la be continued . )
18 2h&E &£&&**? [Saturday,
18 _2 H _& e & _£ _&&**? [ Saturday ,
— . . =? Political Fa.Bie No* L >—The Li...
— . . _= ? _POLITICAL FA . BIE No * l >—the lions and the oxen . Once upon a time a number of cattle came out of the desert to settle in the broad meadows by a river . They were poor and wretched , and they found it a pleasant exchange ; except for a number of lions , who lived in tlio
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 30, 1850, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_30031850/page/18/
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