sive research, and probably, some foreign travel.But,

"Est quádam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra;”

HORACE

while we wait for the execution of this work, on the extensive plan we have suggested, it is much to be wished that some gentleman, properly qualified, would favour us with an outline of it: one of our literary journals would be a very proper place for its insertion*.

66

The late abbé Barruel, in his curious " Mémoires 'pour servir à l'Histoire du Jacobinisme," professes to trace the German Illuminés, of whom the public have heard so much, through the Freemasons, Albigenses, and Knights-templars, to the Manicheans. The templar extraction of the Freemasons had been previously asserted by several German writers, but it seems to be completely disproved by the researches of the professors Moldenhawer and Münter t. The abbé Barruel overdid the work, by supposing the foreign Masons and Illuminés to be the authors and principal factors of the French revolution. They cooperated in it; but, if there never had been a mason. or an illuminé, the French revolution would have

* On this subject, Bossuet's "Variations," 1. 11. 14, and father Persons' "Three Conversions of England," part iii. c. 3, on one side, and Basnage's "Histoire des Eglises Réformées," and the "History of the Anabaptists or Memnonites," in Dr. Maclaine's translation of "Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History," vol. iv. p. 129, on the other, may be usefully consulted.

+ See Monthly Review, vol. xxv. p. 303. 501; vol. xxvii. p. 509.

equally taken place. So long ago as during Cromwell's usurpation, Harrington, in his Oceana, noticed the germ of it in France: The "Commentaire "du Chevalier Folard sur Polybe," published in 1727, contains the following prediction :-" A con❝spiracy is actually forming in Europe, by means at "once so subtile and so effectual, that I grieve for "not having come thirty years later into the world. "It must be confessed that the sovereigns of Europe "wear very bad spectacles. The proofs of it amount "to mathematical demonstration, if such proofs ever "were of a conspiracy*."-If "there were not "another and a better world," the Reminiscent would feel and acknowledge a regret similar to this of the French commentator.

* The letter of cardinal Julian to pope Eugenius, copied by Bossuet, in almost the first page of his Variations, is a remarkable monument of foresight. "The minds of men," says the cardinal, 66 are big with the expectation of what measures "will be taken, and are ripe for something tragical. I see "the axe is at the root; the tree begins to bend; and instead "of propping it, whilst we may, we hasten its fall." A clear prediction of the Reformation.

XXXII.

THE HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF THE ENGLISH, IRISH, AND SCOTTISH CATHOLICS.

THE Reminiscent has now reached his Historical Memoirs of the English, Irish, and Scottish Catholics, his last literary labour.

During a period of forty-three years, he has taken an active part in the concerns of the English catholics, particularly in their attempts to obtain the repeal of the penal laws remaining in force against them, in consequence of their religious principles. It necessarily became his duty to obtain the best knowledge, within his power, of the external and internal occurrences in which the English catholics have been particularly interested, since the era of the reformation.

Mr. Dodd's Church History of England contains all, or at least almost all the information, which we possess upon these subjects. It is executed with ability and industry:-the labour of procuring the materials, which he used in the composition of it, must have been great, and the expense attending it considerable this, it is said, was defrayed, in a great measure, by Mr. Constable, of Burton-Constable, in Yorkshire, and Mr. Sheldon, of Beoley, in Warwickshire.

The difficulty of making the collections necessary for the execution of his work must have been so great, that it has ever been a matter of surprise to the

Reminiscent how Mr. Dodd surmounted it. The present scarcity of books, throwing any light on the history of the catholics anterior to the time when his "Church History" appeared, is not to be conceived by those, who have not been engaged in a similar pursuit. It is principally owing to two circumstances, the destruction of catholic books and documents, by the pursuivants, during the reigns of the two Charleses, and the usurpation; and the destruction of them by the catholics themselves, from the dread of the heavy penalties to which the law subjected them, if any catholic documents should be found in their custody. The best collection of such materials is at Burton-Constable: the Reminiscent has heard of others, but has not been able to ascertain their extent or value.

The Reminiscent must also remark, that, if the extent and accuracy of the information contained in Dodd's History be sometimes very great, the deficiency of it, when most desirable, and most to be expected, is sometimes surprising. Few events in the history of the English catholics are more important than the intrigues of what may be termed the Spanish faction, of English catholic exiles, at the court of Madrid, the six questions proposed to the priests, who suffered in the reigns of Elizabeth and James the first, the protestation proposed to be tendered to government by the English catholics during the usurpation, and their attempts for relief at the restoration of Charles the second. The information furnished by Mr. Dodd on these topics is extremely scanty. The Reminiscent has endeavoured to supply the

deficiency; but, on every head, found too great reason to complain of a scarcity of materials. It cannot be supposed that in Dodd's time this existed, in the same degree.

Mr. Dodd has been accused of partiality to the secular, and of prejudice against the regular clergy: the Reminiscent inclines to think that there is not much foundation for this charge. If it be really founded, it is excusable in some measure, as the regulars generally withheld their historical treasures from him, while the seculars communicated theirs to him without reserve. Thus, his history would naturally exhibit more of the secular than the regular feeling, on the points, upon which there had been differences between them; and his language would naturally be that of his materials. Still, all must acknowledge, that he shows the fierce polemic less than most of his contemporaries.

The greatest defect of his work is, its want of order. By classifying the subjects of his history under various distinct heads, he has destroyed its unity. To obtain a full knowledge of any one transaction of importance which it details, it is necessary to track the different circumstances, which entered into it, through a great number of distinct heads: these often lie at a distance from each other, and the information sought for is sometimes to be found only in places, where it might be least expected. This defect might have been supplied by a full index; but the index to the work is remarkably scanty.

The object of the Reminiscent, in composing and publishing the work of which he is now speaking,

Y