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on the other naked men, only one pail each, and that not within the church: the other ceremonies, if practised out of the church, were permitted. From so gentle a remonstrance, it could not be expected that the festival would be materially checked; and we are not surprised to learn that it was officially permitted by acts of the chapter of Sens, in 1514 and 1517. Still later, permissions are found, but with gradual prohibition of indecencies, till at length it ceased, towards the end of the sixteenth century.

This ridiculous festival was not limited to France. Michaelis, who supposes that annual fairs originated in the convention of the people for religious purposes, conjectures, that one of the German annual fairs, denominated Missen, from the masses formerly said at those times, owed its rise to some ceremony of this kind. The fair is held on the Wednesday after Easter, near Querfurt, in the place called the AreaMeadow. In England, Robert Grossetête, or Greathead, bishop of Lincoln, in the eleventh century, ordered his dean and chapter to abolish, on account of its licentiousness, the Feast of Asses, which had been annually celebrated in Lincoln cathedral on the feast of the circumcision.

The festival itself probably derives its origin from that principle of accommodation to the manners and prejudices of the people, which led to the adoption of rites and ceremonies, in imitation of the Pagans: the coronation of the ass was part of the ceremony of the feast of Vesta, an honour conferred upon this good quadruped, because, according to the Pagan mythology, it had, by its braying, saved Vesta from being violated by the Lampsacon god.

THE KING OF THE CHEROQUOIS TO ROUSSEAU.

THAT wayward philosopher, Jean Jaques Rousseau, was never more happily satirized than in a jeu d'esprit, in French, entitled A Letter from the King of the Cheroquois to J. J. Rousseau," of which the following is a translation.

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"Thou wilt no doubt be surprised, that a prince so remote should offer thee his protection and friendship; but to what part of the earth has not the report of thy talents, and particularly of thy misfortunes, penetrated? The accounts which have been given me of both, interest me for thee; and this interest becomes stronger by an infinity of relations, which make me comprehend, that the people whose king I am, and

the climate which I inhabit, are more adapted for thee than those of ungrateful Europe. Yet I could not help wondering, that, notwithstanding all thy misfortunes, it has been thy lot to be protected by princes, beloved by women, and admired by men of superior genius; I have been told, in answer, that, in your Europe, there is a certain refinement in circumstances, of which, as yet, we have no idea; that it would be more to the advantage of a man, and more glorious for him, to meet with great and celebrated misfortunes, than to enjoy the applause of mediocrity; the unfortunate thereby appears greater, becomes an interesting object to one part of the universe, and his pathetic powers can much better exert themselves in drawing misfortunes and misery, than in describing prosperity. Those indeed were new and almost incomprehensible ideas for me. What (did I ask) what becomes then of gratitude? Is gratitude not of the European virtues? I am told, that there is a certain management of virtues; that it is taste and circumstances which decide on them; whence it is clear, that he whose glory it is to be unfortunate, will act against common sense in stooping to that gratitude which acknowledges benefits received: why (says I then, blundering still through the reasonable principles of a savage) the result of this is, that his character is essentially ungrateful. To those reflections there was no answer; therefore 'tis thou that must explain them.

"I come now to those relations and conveniences which might prevail on thee to accept of the invitation to live among the Cheroquois. Thou fliest cities, and abhorrest their luxury; we have no cities; luxury is no word in our language. Thou lovest solitude and retreat; hail to my immense desarts! Thou art frightened at celebrity,-satire is a dart in thy side ;we can neither read nor write, and therefore thou wilt be unknown. In short, thou wilt find us very near that state of simple nature, which thou hast drawn so strongly, and which thou seemest to regret with so much warmth.

"Science and arts have corrupted manners; ours are yet pure.

"Thou hast made inquiries into the origin of inequality among men, the spring of their misery; 'twill be thy task to teach us how to preserve that equality which is yet among us.

Thou hast sketched out the principles of the laws of society; if ever dreadful necessity should oblige us to police and politeness, we may have recourse to thee.

"Thou hast proved, that the nonsense of dogmas and of sects has torn the religion of Christ to pieces; our religion is as simple as thou couldest wish.

"Thou hast hatched a plan of education, which seems chimerical in Europe, where all is corrupted; but thou mayest give it reality amongst our youths and virgins: there is only a certain Heloise, which would not do for this climate; take my advice, and leave it behind. I have been assured, that the limits thou there settest between vice and virtue are so narrow, that the gross judgments of our people would not be able to distinguish them, especially as vice has been embellished with enticing colours, and so might be capable of making us vicious, because so amiable; leave that book to thy enemies; leave it with a vengeance; but to us, thy friends, bring only what we may profit by.

"To be sure, thy arrival here will not have the triumphant air of Paris, or of London; but it will have that simplicity thou doatest on. I shall wait upon thee on the banks of the Ontario, the calumet in my hand. Adieu!

"P.S.-I have forgotten to mention those writings, which, I am told, have torn the bowels of thy country: bring them not; burn them; but those pretty comic operas of thine bring; they will make us laugh."

THE MARLBOROUGH LETTERS.

IN the year 1816, a collection of upwards of three hundred original letters of the great Duke of Marlborough were sold by public auction. They were chiefly addressed to Sir Charles Hedges, the secretary of state, and many of them were of very considerable interest. These letters, together with three notes written by queen Anne to her favourite secretary, were sold for five hundred and seventy guineas.

The notes themselves do honour to the head and heart of the queen. Two of them are upon the melancholy subject of the execution of a capital convict of the name of Jeffries. The first incloses to the minister a petition which her majesty had received in favour of the culprit; upon which she says to her minister, "it appears he has a wife and six children;" and concludes, " if it be a case of compassion," (that is, a case where mercy can properly be shewn,)" take care that his life be saved."

The other note of the following day, states that she has "been so pressed by the woman," (the wife of Jeffries, no doubt,) and positively commands a respite of the execution, to afford time for a full inquiry into the circumstances of the case.

The third communication from her majesty is of an open letter, which she had written to lord Peterborrow, and thus submits to the perusal of her secretary.

Her majesty uniformly subscribes herself, "Your very affectionate friend, ANNE R."

"

LA GRANGE'S PHILIPPICS.

CERTAIN Philippiques," which M. La Grange composed in 1720, against Philip, duke of Orleans, then regent of France, and other persons of distinction, gave so much offence, that the author, to escape the resentment of the government, fled to Avignon, which, belonging to the see of Rome, afforded him a place of refuge. Being betrayed, however, by a false friend beyond the limits of the sacred territory, he was seized and conducted to the isle of St. Marguerite. Here La Grange so won upon the governor by his wit and gaiety, that his imprisonment was rendered comparatively easy, till, unable to resist his propensity to satire, he lampooned his benefactor, and was thrown into close confinement. He now addressed an ode to the regent himself, in which he humbly implored forgiveness; and his highness was induced by it, to direct the governor to restore the unlucky satirist to his favour and kindness. La Grange made a better use this time of the liberty allowed him; for, not long after, he contrived to effect his escape from the island altogether.

If violence of invective could at any time justify such arbitrary modes of punishment, it must be allowed, that the Philippiques of M. La Grange contained, in this respect, justification sufficient. It is of such raving passages as the following that they were made up.

"Scarce did he (the regent) open his eyelids, when he felt indignant at the barriers which were between him and the throne. With this detestable feeling, he made his only pleasure consist in practising the arts of the Circes and the Medeas; he believed this infernal method capable of removing the obstacle which opposed his desires.

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Infamous Heliogabulus! Your age returns among us. Voluptuous Sardanapalus! Philip goes farther than you.

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Pursue this cowardly prince, already vanquished by his fears; make him die, as he has lived, in rage and disgrace; upon his guilty head cause to fall the fate of Mithridates when pressed by the Roman arms; may he, in his extreme despair, have recourse to his own poison."

THE PRAISE OF FOLLY.-BY ERASMUS.

THIS work was composed by Erasmus in seven days. It is an ingenious satire against all ranks and conditions of persons; but more especially the monks, whose ignorance and licentiousness were constant objects of the author's raillery. In one of his colloquies, he tells a story of an abbot and sixty monks living together, who had not a single book among them! So deplorable in fact was their ignorance, that Erasmus's friend and contemporary, George Buchanan, relates that there were some Scottish ecclesiastics, who supposed that Martin Luther was author of a" dangerous book called the New Testament!" Leo X. is said to have laughed heartily at Erasmus's "Praise of Folly ;" and even cardinal Ximenes, who was more severe, said to one of its censurers, Either write better yourself, or allow those to write whom God has made capable of it." The Sorbonne did not relish the joke, however; they censured the work, and it was afterwards placed in the list of prohibited books at Rome.

In general, the writings of Erasmus were very far from being acceptable to the Romish church. His spirit of toleration, and the freedom with which he stigmatized the characters of the clergy, created him a multitude of enemies. One of his principal opponents was Noel Bede, who wrote annotations upon Erasmus's paraphrases of the New Testament, &c. three books; Paris 1625, in fol. (Latin). Bede's superiors, however, were so ashamed of the sort of defence which he made, that they ordered his book to be suppressed, and it is now extremely rare. Erasmus took the trouble to reply to him, and convicted him of having advanced a hundred and eighty-one lies, two hundred and ten calumnies, and forty-seven blasphemies. Noel, having nothing to say for himself, attempted to retaliate upon Erasmus, by making extracts from his works, and endeavouring to prove him an heretic; and the Sorbonne was so much better pleased with this mode of attack as to follow it up by a decree of censure, declaring Erasmus "impious, a madman, an enemy to Jesus Christ and to the saints." Nay, a friend of his, M. de Berguin, having translated several of his works, with additions,

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