On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • 

    his friend and fellow May 2,1857.] THE L...

  • 

    CALVIN'S LETTERS. Letters of John Calvin...

• Transcript

  • 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.

    The Fortunes Of Glencoke. The Fortunes O...

    Blarney and localized the deeds of Ajax on the Baltic shores . That is to sav Mr ! Lever made use of the language and the people suited to comedy , led ' his heroes helter-skelter through a succession of up-and-down incidents , seldom paused to be serious , and was always associated by the public with Charles ( D'Malley riots , Harry Lorrequer entertainments , Jack Hinton drolleries and Dodd Family absurdities- When The Fortunes of Glencore was announced , most readers expected a new book added to the same library ; the name tasted of Ireland ; it was a double-word and had an echo ; but no one , we venture to say , anticipated the work of a philosophic artist , a scrutiny of human nature , a confession from the author that he has taken to a new line , and almost disdains the cheerful interest of his earlier novels . He has not disguised from himself , he says , the secrets of his actual . popularity ; he knows that the public have looked to him for light-hearted stories , for stirring incidents , for gaiety , for the russet that lines the purple mantle of romance . Yet all the time he has felt convinced that his forte lay in the delineation

    of different scenes and personages , that he should reap a real success as a photographist of character , an analyst of human motives . He professes to hope that he has not mistaken his own powers , and allows that he may have unduly despised the qualities for which the public has admired him . " To test my conviction , or to abandon it as a delusion for ever , I have written the present story of ' Glencore . " Opportunities of society , as well as natural inclination , he adds , have disposed him to become a student of social aspects , of men's aims and impulses , of that mysterious p hantasm called character . For many a year he has stood patiently over the game of life , not playing but watching , estimating the qualities that ensure success , and noting the . play of passion , the modes of temper , and the varieties of natural organisation among the well-bred Ten Thousand . The curtain rises alternately in the west of Ireland and in Italy , though the scene is occasionally transferred to London . No contrast could be better marked than that between the Castle of Glencore , hung with grey and

    green tapestries of time , and the palaces of Florence , also touched by age , but still daunted by the frivolous , the happy , the eager , the weary , and the random wayfarers of cultivated life ; people of tepid sensibility in search of emotions , fools , dupes , hacks , idlers , and vagabonds , the favourites as well as the rejected of society . We prefer the Glencore ruin to the frippery of Florence ; for it is there that Mr . Lever develops with most distinctness the purport and plan of his story . The interest , we think , would have been more concentrated , and the plan more original , had the action of the piece taken place almost exclusively within reach of the melancholy castle , the home of the dismal Glencores . Of course , it may have been necessary to find a frame of white and gold for the Watteau picture of Italian festival , to paint the sculptor ' s face in relief against a southern sky , to follow a modern diplomatist to the theatre of his Tusculan disputations ; perhaps it

    was also incumbent on Mr . Lever to satirize Downing-street and the House of Commons ; but in these directions , we must say , he falls far shoi't of a positive success . It is true that Sir Horace Upton is the ideal of a delicate great man , elaborately mounted ; but his idiosyncrasies are rendered almost grotesque by the unmixed colours in which they are depicted . When Iago is personified on the stage , the actor usually commits the mistake of dressing himself , darkening the expression of his eyes , hanging out a sign of villany in his lace , so that , while the mighty Moor of Venice is deceived , the spectators in the gallery at once identify Iago as a devil . So with Sir Horace Upton . He almost says , I am an intellectual hnpostoi' , trickster , and scorner of my species — the fool of physicians , a self-seeker and a sceptic . When he first appears in character costume the effect is an exaggeration : he comes into the rich chamber of Lord

    Glencore attired in a purple dressing-gown profusely braided with gold , loose trousers as richly brocaded , and a pair of real Turkish slippers resplendent with costly embroidery ; a small fez of blue velvet with a deep gold tassel . covers the side of his head , at either side of which his soft , silky hair descends in long massy waves , apparently negligently , but in reality arranged with all the artistic regard to ellect of a consummate master . From the gold girdle at his waist depends a watch , a bunch of keys , a Turkish purse , an embroidered tobacco-bag , a gorgeously chased smellingbottle , and a small stiletto with a topaz handle . This Upton is one of the mainsprings of the story , which turns upon an affliction in the life of Lord Glencore of Glencore Castle . His wife , he believes , has been lost to him ; to punish her and to gratify an unnatural passion for revenge , he marks with a bar sinister the escutcheon of his only son , and affirms him to have been the offspring of a mistress . The boy , nurtured in family pride , quits Glencore when this announcement is made to him ; his mother , a star of the smiling society that breathes lemon fragrance in the Tuscan capital , closes

    her palace portals and vanishes into private life . A mystic clue loads through chapters of complex adventure , bringing in love , art , learning , conspiracy , diplomacy , and politics as elements of the story , which closes without satisfying the reuder . We hardly know whether to anticipate a sequel ; certainly the end is abrupt , and if Mr . Lever had a reason for this he has not made it clear . We might object to his manner of conducting the narrative as irregular and perplexing , and occasionally to his stylo as not toned by an under current of allusion , mi essential in , a book meant to be partially satirical ; but wo have said enough in reply to the challenge thrown down by Mr . Lever to all frank and liberal critics . We have explained why we think that , successful though hu ia in delineating what is left of nature in men , after fashion has remoulded them , and what is added by art , the careful manipulation in these volumes is scarcely so admirable aa the graphic golden sketches by which Charles Lever first made himself a name . " The Fortunes of Glencore" is a book that proves its author ' s versatility , but it does not ; suggest Unit he mistook himself when he wx'oto Charles VMalley .

    His Friend And Fellow May 2,1857.] The L...

    his friend and fellow May 2 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER , 425 _ — _^^ i ^—¦ —W ^^—^^—^^—i — mm * - » - * *•/*• 1 i O 11

    Calvin's Letters. Letters Of John Calvin...

    CALVIN'S LETTERS . Letters of John Calvin . Compiled from the Original Manuscripts , and Edited with Historical Notes by Dr . Jules Bonnet . Vol . it . Edinburgh : Constable and Co . On his death-bed Calvin requested that ; selections from his letters should bo mude , and presented as a memorial of his unwearied zeal to the Reformed

    Churches . This duty was bequeathed to Theodore Beza , - labourer . Adverse times hindered for a while the accomplishment of this request . " Without speaking , " says Beza , " of the assistance that was indispensable for the examination of so extensive a correspondence , or of the time required for so laborious an undertaking , the calamities that befel our city , the plague that raged for many years , the convulsions of a neighbouring country * , have more than * once interrupted the progress of the work . The selection of the letters also involved great difficulties , at a time when men were predisposed to judge harshly and unfairly . There are many things that may be said or written in the familiar intercourse of sincere and ingenuous friendship , such as Calvin's , which can hardly be given to the public without inconvenience . We were obliged in our work to have respect to

    persons , times , and places . " Notwithstanding these obstacles the request of Calvin was destined to have an accomplishment more complete than even the great Reformer himself could have anticipated . His memory was preserved with filial reverence , not to say devout zeal . By the care of his affectionate disciples , the orig inals or the copies of a vast number of letters addressed to France , England , Germany , and Switzerland , were collected and deposited in the archives of Geneva . We are , however , principally indebted to the devotion and unwearied energy of Charles de Joinvillers for the extensiveness of the collection . This loving disciple was born of a noble family , but embracing the faith of the Huguenots , was obliged to flee from France . He Calvin

    found refuge in Switzerland , and , being admitted to the friendship of , eventually became his secretary . For twenty years he employed himself in hunting up the autographs of his late master . The result was the publication , in 1575 , of the first detachment of this correspondence . Nearly three centuries , however , elapsed without adding any thing to the edition ; though numerous unpublished documents were suspected to exist in the Libraries of Geneva , Zurich , Gotha , Paris , and elsewhere . Within the last twenty years , however , the indifference of the previous centm-ies has been compensated for by the appearance of several works containing unedited letters . It was reserved , however , for the present editor to collect and publish in a distinct form the correspondence of this voluminous letter-writer .

    Independent of their special value as exhibiting the character and opinions of Calvin , portrayed by his own pen , these letters possess an extrinsic historical value . Nor must we forget their literary merit . They ran" -e over a period of thirty-six years , beginning with his youth and closing on his death-bed . Calvin was born at Noyon in 1509 , and , after obtaining an elementary education at the college of La Marche , went to that of Montaigne , where he studied logic and other liberal arts with great success . He had from his youth shown great seriousness of mind , and often sternly reproving the vices of his companions , was , therefore , destined for the Church . ° A chapelry was accordingly procured for him when scarcely twelve years old , and a few years later he obtained a parochial cure . It

    was not Ion" -, however , before he expressed disgust at the corruptions of the Church he had entered , and , having withdrawn from her communion , devoted himself to the study of the law . At Pans he became acquainted with a zealous supporter of the Reformation , and , being persuaded by him , he abandoned all other studies , and devoted himself entirely to preaching His life now became one of ceaseless activity . He travelled from country to country and from city to city , and enforced , by the inflexible energy of his character , the doctrines of the New Church . France , his native country , was too dangerous a place to remain in ; he therefore removed to Basle , where , having published his " Institutes , " he proceeded to Italy . Finally , however , he settled down in Geneva , terrified bv the denunciation of his friend Farel , that if he did not consent to join

    him in his work there , a curse from Heaven would rest upon him . tfut Geneva was in an unsettled state . Papacy had been extirpated , yet violent contentions prevailed . Calvin and Farel were banished for a while by the svndics or chief magistrates , and retired to Strasbourg . The former eventually returned , and became the spiritual dictator of the city . He died m 1564 in the fifty-fifth year of bis age . In the letters we possess , the general outline of the life of this great Reformer is admirably filled in . We see him as ho was ; perhaps we know him better than his contemporaries . Such was his influence , so towering his genius , he exercised a kind of universal apostolate . He exhorts with the same authority the humble ministers of the Gospel and the powerful monarchs of England , Sweden ,, and Poland He holds communion with Luther and Melancthon , animates Knox , encourages Coligny , Condd , Jeanne d'Albret , and the Duchess of Ferrara ; while in his familiar letters to Farel , Viret , and Iheodore Beza , he reveals the innermost workings of his heart .

    The present English edition of Calvin ' s collected correspondence will , when completed , form four volumes , and contain at least six hundred letters , the orcatcr part of which remain as yet unpublished . The first volume appeared in 1855 , and embraced a period of seventeen years , commencing when he was about nineteen . These letters are principally addressed to his friends and detail the private struggles against which he had to contend . They display the keenness and vigilance with which ho watched every event that influenced directly or indirectly the Reformation , and the justice of his penetration may be seen in his criticism on the conduct of Henry VIII . of England . " The King himself is only half wise . He prohibits under severe penalties , besides depriving them of the ministry , the priests and bishops who enter upon matrimony ; he retains the daily masses ; he wishes the seven sacraments to remain as they are . . . Then , because all do not

    appear to bo of sound mind , ho does not suffer the Scriptures to circulate in the language of the common people throughout the kingdom ; and he has lately piit forth a new interdict by which he warns the people against the reading of the Bible . Moreover , that you may understand that he is quite in earnest , and not by any moans jestingly insane , he lately burnt a worthy and learned man ( John Lambert ") . . . Our friends , however , though sorely hurt by atrocities of this kind , will notecase to have an eye on the condition of his kingdom . " Nothing seems to escape his knowledge , whether near at home , or far away in foreign lands . The second volume embraces , perhaps , the most busy and most vanoa period of Calvin ' s life . He was engaged in a constant strugg le against tue throned powers of Catholic Europe ; lie was endeavouring to build up tue

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 2, 1857, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02051857/page/17/