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    Octobek 4, 1856.J THE LEADER. 953

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    A VACATION IN BRITTANY. A Vacation in Br...

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    The Life And Works Of Fuller. An Essay O...

    civil affairs , and of a certain rashness on Luller ' s part , which made his sermons at once offensive to the parliament and the king . However , when his property had been sequestrated , and while wandering through the country in search of materials fox The Worthies of England , he chanced to be at Basing when Sir William Waller was before it , and the garrison was so inspired by the drum ecclesiastic of Fuller , that the enemy abandoned the siege . He was present , also , at the siege of Exeter , concerning -which he relates a story :- — " When the city of Exeter was besieged by the parliamentary forces , so that only tlie south side thereof , towards the sea , was open unto it , incredible numbers of larks

    were found in" tliat open quarter , for multitude like quails in the loildernesse , though ( blessed be God !) unlike them both in cause and effect , not desired -with man's destruction , nor sent with God ' s anger , as appeared by their safe digestion into wholesome nourishment : hereof I was an eye and a mouth witnesse . I will save my credit ill not conjecturing any number , knowing that herein , though I sliould stoop beneath the truth , I should mount above belief . They were as fat as plentiful ; so that , being sold for twopence a dozen , and under , the poor , who could have no cheaper , as the rich no better meat , used to make pottage of them , boyling them down therein . Several natural causes w « re assigned hereof . . . . However , the cause of causes -was Divine Providence . "

    His first wife having died , lie married in 165 i the sister of Lord Baitinglass , and was permitted by Cromwell to continue preaching as though he had not been an adherent of the "late king . Being summoned before Ihc . Council of Triers , however , he was perplexed in search of ambiguities for the forthcoming examination , and applied for advice to one of Olivers chaplains . " You may observe , sir , that I am a somewhat corpulent man , and I am to go through a very strait passage . I beg you would be so good as to give me a shove , and help me . through . "' When the Restoration took place , he was restored to his former ecclesiastical honours , « nd was In sight of a bishopric " when death brought . all his earthly prospects to a close in 1661 . "

    We can scarcely agree with Mr . Rogers when he says that l \ uller , though a voluminous writer , is never tedious . His teditmsness is not . that of I ' eter d'Alvaj or Hans Sachs , but we confess to having felt the monotony of certain chapters \\\ A \\ q Church History arid even in the History of the Holy War . His very playfulness is sometimes fatiguing . Nor can we recognize the analogy , explained and limited as it is , between the writings of Fuller and those of Jeremy Taylor and Edmund Burke . We do not think there is a passage , in Burke especially , which justifies any parallel between him and ¦ tlie ' . quaint divine , who sported even with Gilgal , Og , and Gaza . But j \ lr . Rogers deserves the gratitude of the reader for having picked out and put together the flowers of Fuller . Nowhere could be found a pleasanter page than this : — v

    Speaking of the Jesuits he says , " such is the charity of the Jesuits , that ( hey never owe any man any ill-will—making present payment "thereof . " Of certain prurient canons , in which virtue is in imminent danger of being tainted by impure descriptions of purity , lie shrewdly remarks— One may justly admire how these canonists , being pretended virgins , could arrive at the knowledge of the criticisms of all obscenity . " Touching the miraculous coffin in which St . Andrce was deposited , he slyly says— " " Under the ruined Avails of Grantchester or Cambridge , a coffin -was found , with a cover correspondent , both of white marble , which did lit her body so exactly , as if ( "which one may believe was true" ) it was made fo ± it . " On Machiavel ' s

    saymg , " that lie who undertakes to write a historymust be of no religion , he observes , " if so , Machiavel himself was the best qualified of any in his age to be a good historian . " : On the unusual conjunction of great learning and great -wealth in the case of Seldcn , he remaiks , " Mr . Selden had some coins of the Roman emperors , and a great many more of our English kings . " After commenting ; on the old story of St . Dunstan's pinching the Devil's nose with the red-hot tongs , he drolly cries out— " But away with all suspicions and queries . None need to doubt of the truth thereof , finding it in a sign painted in Fket-strcet , near Temple Bar . " The bare , bald style of the schoolmen , he tells us , some have attributed to design "lest any of the vermin of equivocation should hide themselves under the nan of their words . "

    Fuller , Mt . Rogers says , though often caustic , was seldom satirical . Sometimes , however , he ventured to shake his humour at a friend . In confirmation of this , every one , of course , will expect the story of his question to a Mr . Spnrrowhawk , ¦ " What was the difiercnee between ' 'a-sparrow-hawk and an owl ? "" To which Mr . Sparrowhawk replied that an owl wi \ s /'/( l / er in the head , mid fuller in the face , and fuller nil over . " But , unhappily , the anecdote seems apocryphal . Its truth was denied by Fuller himself , and is not affirmed by tiny credible testimony . Had the joke been uttered , it would probably have been uttered by himself . He was a man to suggest a new rending for every name , and word , and thing , so fluently did lii . s imagination colour all olijcets whatever with tints of variegated light . Speaking of false epitaphs in connexion with that suggested for Cainpden— " Campdcn ' s Remains "—lie says " the red veins in the marble seom to blush at the iiilsc , - hoods written on it : ' — lie was a witty mini that first taught a stone to speak , hut ha was a wicked man that taught it first to lie . Wo break the string that we may take oft" a few of the pearls : —

    Acquaint thyself with reading poets , fov there fancy is on tier throne . It rather loads than raises u wren , to fasten the feathers of an ostrich to her wings . Almost twenty yciir . s since , I heard a profane jest , and still roincinbor it . How many pious passages oLfar later date have I forgotten ! It seems my soul id like a filthy pond wherein fisn die soon , and frogs live long . 11 a is the interjection of laughter ; Ah is an interjection of sorrow . The < 1 ill ere » ice betwixt them very small , us consisting only in the transposition of what is no substantial letter , hut n bare aspiration , llo \ v quickly , in the age of a minute , in the very turning of n breath , i . s our mirth changed into mourning ! ticoj /' not at the natural dejecta <>/ ' any , iv / tiv . / i < nv , not in theirjxnvvr to ( intend , — O , it in cruelty to beat a cripple with his own crntehes !'

    i lave iiH much reason ns u cumel , — -to rise when thou hust thy full load . Memory like a purse , —if it be over-full that it cannot shut , all will drop out of it . ( Icnc . ralli / nature hanys out a sii / n oj' siiiiji / iciti / lu t / icj ' ace of ajhol . The last is often quoted , und not always attributed to Fuller . " We have seen this writer ' s aphorism , Those who marry whom they do nut love , will lovo those whom they do not murry , " employed by a contemporary au thoress and attributed to—herself . Charity ' s eyes must bo open as well as her hands .

    He had a capacious head , with angles winding and roomy enough to lodge all controversial intricacies . . Imbrue not thy soul in bloody wishes of his death who joarts thee and thy preferment . Mr . Rogers' spieilegium is a" piece of useful work , well performed . An introduction of this sort was necessary , since , though Fuller is read by every generation of students , he has never been popular . From some books that pretend to be biographical encyclopajdias his name is omitted !

    Octobek 4, 1856.J The Leader. 953

    Octobek 4 , 1856 . J THE LEADER . 953

    A Vacation In Brittany. A Vacation In Br...

    A VACATION IN BRITTANY . A Vacation in Brittany . By Charles Richard Weld . With Illustrations . . Chapman and Hall . Travellers are still packing up their trunks , and vexing the pages ' -of Bradshaw . It is not too late to advise them to decide on Brittany for their ramble , and Mr . Charles Weld for their cicerone . Nor will this volume be without its chaini to other less happier gents , who sit at home at ease and take imaginary voyages with very little expense and no sea-sickness . That more , much more , might have been made of such a , tour by a brighter style and more suggestive mind , we will not deny ; but Mr . Weld is a pleasant , ¦ unaffected companion , cleverer with his pencil , of which he speaks modestly , than with his pen , but accustomed to travel , and writing sensibly about it . He lias adorned—real 1 y adornedr—his pages with numerous sketches of houses , bridges , cathedrals , caps , peasants , and curiosities of all sorts , which greatly aid in "bringing the country vividly before us . We cannot transfer them to our columns ; instead thereof we will borrow a picture or two from his pen : —

    . ¦¦'¦ ¦ :.. ¦ •' .. ¦' ¦ . ¦ ¦ ¦¦ . '¦ '¦ .. ¦ ' A Ffc . TE . ' . ' . - ¦ . , ¦ :. .. There was no occasion to ask the way , as a stream of people was setting from the town to the festive scene . Ascending a long flight of steps on the verge of the houses , by the side , of which a stream of water descended , I came upon the banks of a large lake bordered by a path leading to a valley , watered by the Leff . Having followed the path for about a mile , I entered a vast meadow , clothed by velvet sward , and friiiged by noble trees , beneath which the river flowed . A more beautiful locality for a fete could not have been selected . A placard informed me that the meadow , justly called Prairie Uclicieuse , belonged to a gentleman of Chatelaudien , who had for the third time allowed the fair to be held on his property , and added that , as on previous occasions no daniage had been done , equal care would doubtless be now taken not to injure the trees or shrubs .

    The large area was occupied by the holiday-makers and the usual booths found at country fairs ; those devoted to refreshments displayed cakes , beer , and . cider , the latter beverages being in great request . The dances , evidently the principal amusement af the Jete , were most extraordinary performances , differing entirely from any dance I had previously seen ; the strangest , called " La Konde , " was danced by upwards of a thousand persons . It consists in forming a gigantic ring , holding hands , and circling round sideways with a kind of hop-and-step jump , the arms being at the same time swung violently to and fro . The strain produced by the great number of dancers whirling round is so great as to make it extremely difficult to retain hold of each other ' s hands ; in any girls were obliged to give way ; then followed shouts of laughter as the dancers endeavoured to close up aud repair the breach by joining hands . The exercise was most violent ; one round of the great ring sufficed to bathe the dancers faces in ' perspiration , who however held out , literally , " To tire each other down , "

    for not until the girls could foot it no longer did their partners lead them away to . the refreshment booths . Apart from the singularity of this dance , it is interesting from its great antiquity , beiny a relic of Celtic times , and is only met with in Brittany and Greece .. The Iliad describes the dance precisely as you will see it performed to this day in those two countries . It is also worthy of remark that the voluptuous nature of the Konde , which certainly recommended it to the impure manners of the ancients , is still one of the striking features of this dance in Brittany . The late Chanoine Mahe , -whose curious and learned work on the Morbihan should be read by all tourists in Brittany , says that lie considers the Konde a very voluptuous dance , and highly dangerous to the morals of voutli .

    The music accompanying this wild dance was of a very primitive nature . In the centre of a ring , seated on a platform half a dozen feet from the grouud , were three musicians , attired in fantastic garments ; one played the baniou , or bagpipes , an essentially Breton instrument , another the flageolet , and the third whacked a cracked drum . From such materials melody was not to be expected , and the performers wisely abandoned attempting even to extract harmony from their instruments , contenting themselves with producing a series of groans and squeaks which , with the drum ' s rattling burden , suiUccd to mark the time to the capering multitude around them . This rude music is the ancient and therefore , legitimate accompaniment of the famous Breton Konde ; any improvement in the orchestra would he deemed out of character . Brittany , the land of legend and superstition , a fiords him many a legend iiiulinany n half-painful , half-ludicrous illustration of credulity . Catholicism presents some noticeable points ; we were particularly struck with the following :- — ¦ .

    The Mass in honour of the Virgin was of course the great event of the day , and , judging from the jingling of money , I apprehend that the silver harvest must have been great ; sous , however , wore not rejected , and , indeed , as will be seen by the following copy of a document ailixed in conspicuous localities within the church and on the doors , the priests do not regard centimes as beneath their notice . "Catiioi-iwukh i > k Fkanck , voici une fondatiou assuri ' e dans l'JCyli . sc dc rinnnauulc ' u < Jouc (! i > tiun . Uau messu tons lcs jours ! une messe a perputuite ! C ' e . st une . source intat issable de graces pendant la vie . Cent un Kucour . s infmhnent jirecicux npros la inori' . i' vuuluz-rous une . part ' ( Ck Tui ' son vot : s kst oI'TKUT I'oi'it une oiJoi . K ! ! lleureux riionune < mi oomprend ceque vaut , une niesso ! jMari'i uu coiupte pas la soiuine < ui ' on lui apportu , ellc ' uonsidcrc le cuuir c [ iii la doiiuc , Si done vous n ' avc / . ( jue < los centimes , dounoz des centimes ii vulre in ore . JCuvoyez votre offrande en mi buu sur la po . sle ! ! " ' A |) ost-oiUce order in favour of the "Virgin ! Truly Voltaire never struck a harder hli »\ v against . Popery than that contained in this iiilvcrtisunient .

    To us who Maud outside the superstition , merely spectators , it always Kco . ms incredible Unit credulity could continue against the suggestions of common seii ^ e . Tho most credulous arc unui / . cd at the credulity of others ; the superstition which we do not admit into our minds secmsso utterly unworthy of admission , whereas the superstition we do admit is lt : i very di Heroin thing !' And thus it is Unit the spectacle of smother ' s folly only makes us nity him ; it seldom makes us suspect ourselves .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1856, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04101856/page/17/