"the pacifier, rather than the conqueror of nations; "the arbiter, rather than the terror of his neigh"bours. May all Europe be more envious of our "happiness, and delighted with our virtues, than jealous of our conquests and our victories !" 66 Lessons of more pure or more useful morality were never offered from the pulpit to any monarch, than those which these sermons of Massillon exhibit. Surrounded as the monarch was, by all the blandishments of a court, they must yet have produced some effect on his infant mind; and instilled into it some invaluable principles of duty and religion :Unfortunately, the tempters were on the watch, and the lessons of Massillon were soon forgotten. XXV. BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF FÉNÉLON. WITH the name of Fénélon the most pleasing ideas are associated. To singular elevation, both of genius and sentiment, he united extreme modesty and simplicity. Unconquerably firm in all that he considered a duty, he displayed, both on great and ordinary occasions, a meekness which nothing could discompose. In the midst of a voluptuous court he practised the virtues of an anchorite: equally humble and elegant, severe to himself and indulgent to others, a mysterious holiness hangs on his character, and attracts our veneration; while his misfortunes shed over him a tinge of distress, which éxcites our tenderest sympathy. -- A "In one of his charitable walks," says cardinal Maury, "Fénélon met a peasant, still young, but "plunged in the deepest affliction. He had recently "lost a cow, the only support of his indigent family. "Fénélon attempted to comfort him, and, by giving "him money to buy another, alleviated his sorrow; "still, he had lost his own cow, and the tear con"tinued to fall. Pursuing his journey, Fénélon "found the very cow, which was the object of so "much affliction; and, like the good shepherd, he "himself drove it back before him, in a dark night, "to the young man's cottage. This," says the cardinal Maury, "is perhaps the finest trait in Féné"lon's life woe be to those, who read it without "being affected. The virtues of Fénélon," continues the cardinal, " give his history something "of the nature of romance; but his name will never "die. The Fleminders bless his memory, and call "him the good archbishop." In all French literature, there is nothing finer than the writings of Bossuet and Fénélon, in the course of their controversy; particularly the "Rela❝tion du Quiétisme" of the former, and the " Archbishop's Reply." But they are little read: a lesson to authors never to waste their talents on transient topics. In this sketch of the life of Fénélon, much is necessarily said on quietism. As quietism is an abuse of what is called, by roman-catholic spiritualists, mystical theology, and without some notion of mystical theology, the nature of the errors of the quietists cannot be understood, the Reminiscent attempted to give a succinct view of it in that publication. It has since appeared in the Retrospective Review. In considering the nature and operations of the intellectual powers, the Reminiscent has sometimes thought that the reciprocal action of the soul on the imagination, and of the imagination on the soul, without the intervention of the senses, has not been sufficiently considered; and that a and that a philosophical perusal of some of the most eminent mystics would lead to useful observations on this very curious subject. XXVI. BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE ABBOT DE RANCÉ -ST. VINCENT or PAUL-HENRI MARIE DE 1. IN the Abbot de Rancé, the reader will find an account of a holy monk, who revived in the latter ages, the spirit, the devotion, and the practice of monastic discipline, when it was in its perfection and full vigour. It has been frequently asserted, that the conversion of the abbot de Rancé was owing to the following romantic circumstance: A lady, it is said, of high rank, and great personal charms, attracted his affection: arriving at her house, late at night, he ran up a stair-case, which led to a room, in which she and her father usually sate at that hour: after tapping at the door, and hearing no reply, he softly opened it, and beheld her corpse. This supposed adventure has been frequently used, to "Point a moral and adorn a tale." JOHNSON'S Vanity of human Wishes. But the Reminiscent believes he has shown, in his biographical account of the abbot, that there is great reason to suspect its truth. Viewing the extreme austerities of the monks of La Trappe, one might conclude that they were the most miserable of human beings; but all who visited and dispassionately observed them, agreed, that their outward appearance led to a very different conclu sion. It exhibited their habits of mortification and penance; but all had a look of serene piety and contentment, which charmed every beholder, and excited their veneration and love: those, who examined them most critically, were most sensible of their happiness. 2. The readers of the life of St. Vincent of Paul, will probably agree with the Reminiscent in doubting, whether, at the day of general retribution, when every child of Adam will have to account for his works, even one will appear with more numerous deeds of heroic and useful charity *. * The accuracy of this strong assertion has been thought questionable; the Reminiscent believes that all, who peruse his biographical account of St. Vincent's life, will be convinced of its perfect accuracy. His great amelioration of the condition, both spiritual and temporal, of the French galley-slaves, -which led at no distant period to the total extirpation of that cruel infliction,-was perhaps, till Mr. Wilberforce's exertions for the abolition of the slave trade, the greatest victory ever obtained in the cause of humanity, but it was one only of a multitude of heroic deeds of charity, by which St. Vincent endeared himself to God and man. While the Reminiscent is on this subject, he cannot refuse himself the pleasure of noticing a class of persons, the number of whom, even in this wicked town, as it is called, he is authorized by his own experience and observation, to pronounce considerably greater than is generally thought,-humble and unpretending individuals, whose earliest and latest thought is, -what, according to the gospel, should be the great end and aim of us all,-to increase in ourselves and others, the love of God and our neighbour; who become beggars for the poor; who enter into all their wants; are unceasingly employed in religious or charitable institutions for their welfare; who take on themselves the most irksome details, and unnoticed, and |