the feelings and passions of his age: but the filling-up was delegated to abler hands and more subtle heads. Lainez succeeded Loyola as general of the order, and possessed a greater grasp of mind, and more elasticity of character, than his predecessor; and to him was assigned the principal task of drawing up the Constitutiones, or rules of the society, which evince a great knowledge of the human heart, and the strength and weakness of our common nature. The Constitutiones are divided into ten parts; and subdivided into chapters, which embrace the whole administrative policy of the order. The requirements in the Novitiate were good health, a mild temper and proper conduct. Any physical defect, either in body or mind, was objectionable. They who laboured under an immoral stigma, or degrading offence of any kind, were unfit for the sacred order; and any defect in temper, such as being too obstinate, or too enthusiastic; or any one in debt, or bound by civil ties of any kind, although not absolute impediments, yet were they rigidly scrutinized by the general or his subordinates before they could be overlooked, if at all. In the mental and moral discipline of the Novitiates, docility and obedience were inculcated, pride and obstinacy conquered; the physical education-cleanliness, wholesome diet, proper exercise, &c. was strictly attended to. In this way the Jesuit-founders picked out the flower of the youth, for their model-form for education; and with these potent preliminaries they obtained a complete mastery over the minds and affections of the rising generations, which enabled them to penetrate every class of society, and imperceptibly plant their power in every possible direction. The young Jesuit went forth to the world as a subtle and refined instrument, with his mind bent upon one object-the advancement of his order through the medium of his religion-and so completely did he steal into the feelings of mankind, that no link in the social chain could vibrate without his instant perception, and too generally it was through his immediate direction.

During the two centuries which elapsed from their foundation to their suppression, the Jesuits rendered great services to education and literature. Nor were the sciences neglected by them. This was the prime feature of their character, and mankind owe them a debt of gratitude which they will never be able to repay. Throughout all the Catholic States they established the first national system of edueation. Their colleges were open to the noble and the plebeian, the wealthy and the poor; all were subject to the same discipline, received the same instruction, partook of the same simple diet, might attain the same rewards, and were subject to the same punishment. They also inculcated an urbanity of manners, a pleasing and courteous demeanour, and the duty of avoiding all moroseness or affected pedantry. It is true that this mental training was enforced for the purpose of making effective instruments in the work of regeneration, which the Jesuits were bent upon accomplishing; nevertheless, it has furnished after times with a model of what the mind may attain in its youthful development by careful training and judicious direction. Another peculiarity of the Jesuit mode of instruction, which preeminently distinguished it from their predecessors, is, that they studied the temper, ability, and tendencies of the youth committed to their care; and by that means the respective qualities of the mind were more effectively developed, and individual greatness more cer

tainly secured. In this matter they acted with consummate skill; and the power which they attained so rapidly, and held so tenaciously, may principally be attributed to that cause. We must now contemplate the Order in a new aspect.

With the aid of their educational machinery, we find the Jesuits spreading themselves over the surface of the globe, and participating in the power, either openly or secretly, in every people, in almost every clime, from those in the most civilized condition, to even the common savage in the woods. To the Church of Rome they lent invaluable services in their early career, and effectively stemmed the advancing wave of reformation which was topping all within its sphere. As their power increased, so did their ambition; and we soon find them forsaking the primitive paths of purity and peace, inculcating the moral virtues both by their example and their teaching, for the stately ways of the world, and its exciting passions and strife. Had they confined themselves to the simple task which they first set out to accomplish,—the purification of the Catholic Church, and the restoration of its power,-they would never have incurred the grave censures, and, in many instances, the just judgments which have been passed upon them.

The charges brought against the Order may be compressed into the following series:

1st. The anti-social and immoral principles found in their casuists. 2nd. Latitudinarianism with regard to the conduct of lay persons whose consciences they directed, winking at their sins, &c. &c.

3rd. Great ambition of ruling over the consciences of people; tending to keep the world in subjection to the spiritual authority of the Church, and to the temporal authorities.

The first charge was founded upon the writings of one or two individual casuists,-Escobar, Mariana, Sanchez, Bauny, &c.,-whose obnoxious principles were repudiated by the great body of the Jesuits. The doctrines of their greatest moralists and highest authorities, Bourdaloue, Pallaracino, and Bellarmino,-are free from such extravagances. It was against the casuists that the shafts of Pascal, were directed, and with such killing effect; yet Father Daniel has unanswerably shewn that the wit of the Lettres Provinciales falls pointless as regards the great body of the Jesuits. Even Voltaire, no friend to the Order, has confirmed the truth of that. Their enemies gladly seized hold of so excellent an opportunity as such lâches presented, and unmercifully pushed the contest to the extreme point of audacity. For a time the Jesuits bent beneath the blows which their antagonists inflicted; but they soon recovered themselves, when passion gave way to discussion, and the heated mind had cooled down to the temperature of reason and argument.

The other charges are better sustained, and their truth may be readily inferred from the treatment which the Jesuits met with on all hands, and from such opposing quarters. Had we space to even glance at the details of the proofs proffered in support of them, we could do little, we apprehend, to remove the prejudice which exists against them; nor should we attempt to remove it, however we might wish to see it modified, for we are convinced, after long study of the subject, and without the slightest predilection, but with an earnest desire to discover the truth, that it is well-founded, and must ever

remain, so long, at least, as the mind is influenced by the instincts of reason and of right.

The Order, like other men, were actuated by the ordinary motives, and governed by the common passions of humanity; and the moment they tasted wealth and power, their ambition was fired to retain both, and to clutch even more. It is prosperity that tries men, and not adversity, as some moralists have pretended. "It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;" and with the good things of this life, and all the gifts of fortune showering upon him, it would be more than common humanity to suppose that an individual, or even a body of men, could abstain from exhibiting the ordinary characteristics of his nature. Out it will come, in spite of all the repressive power in the world. So it was, precisely, with the Order of Jesus. From the confessional to the cabinet there was but one step, and the Jesuit often took it, and planted a power behind the throne greater than the throne itself. Some of the great ones of the earth, who have held the destiny of millions in their hands; whose single fiat frequently spread desolation and woe among mankind, have been secretly guided in their course by the invisible hand of the Jesuit. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and the cruel slaughter of the Protestants which ensued, by the order of Louis XIV., was the handy-work of Letellier and Madame Maintenon, his confessor and his mistress; and as the Jesuit came out of the king's cabinet, on that memorable occasion, as St. Simon relates, "he looked like an old weazel after a repast, licking his bloody lips." History also accuses them of not only conspiring in the palaces of princes to uphold their power or to extend their influence, but, when they felt either menaced, of polluting the stream of justice, or defiling even the judgment-seat, by placing their own minions there, or by warping those that were already upon it. That they connived at abuses, and even winked at crimes, we have the most indubitable testimony in the easy, oily, conduct of Père la Chaise, as regards Louis XIV.; besides many other instances which are equally well authenticated. It was conduct like this that paved the way for their expulsion from every country in Europe in which they were known, and which, in its consequences, inflicted an infinitely larger amount of evil upon mankind than their education scheme, excellent though it was, had conferred a good.

There is one thing that must strike every dispassionate observer of the Jesuits, namely, that they had not a single friend to take their part at the time of their expulsion. The Reformers, of course, were their natural enemies; so were the free-thinking philosophes; the Jansenists hated them on the score of discipline, and the persecutions they had endured at their hands; but that sincere Roman Catholics of every grade should have aided in proscribing an Order which fought so strenuously for the rights and duties of the church,-which upheld them so pertinaciously,-surely indicates that the hidden and unavowed conduct of that Order must have been extremely repugnant even to their quasi friends, then how much more hateful and repulsive must it appear by inference to their avowed enemies?

VOL. XXIV.

A A

LATINÈ REDDITA: W. HOLLIS.

"THE GLASSES SPARKLE ON THE BOARD."

POCULA ut in mensâ lucent! rubet, ecce, sodales,
Vobis purpureum, gemma ut Eoa, merum.
Sol cecidit; mecum, breve munus, carpite noctem,
Mecum deliciis luxuriate novis.

Otia donec erunt, regnet suprema Voluptas ;
Nil nisi lætitiam concipiente sinu;

Ne premat anxietas, cor ne premat aspera cura,
Sic, sic purpureo mergite utramque mero.
Sunt qui (se credunt sapientes! stulta caterva)
Talibus his monitis festa inhibenda putent :

"Vivere quàm miserum est!" quàm sollicitudine abundans
Sors hominum!' at nego: nil falsius esse potest :

De pulchris oculis, ridentibus (ecce!) puellis,
Num quid solliciti, de paterâve, fluat?

Si quid (fata vetent!) contristet gaudia vitæ,
Tristia purpureo mergite, ut ipse, mero.
"Labitur occultè, fallitque volatilis Ætas: "
(Qui sapit hæc Vatis dicta notanda notet)
Fas, igitur, pennas paterâ intinxisse; Fugacem
Fas erit in mediâ sic tenuisse fugâ.

Nunc, quoniam vobis nox est breve munus, amici,
Spargite, quâque horâ prætereunte, rosas;
Pectora sin subeat quid luctûs, quidve doloris,

"Dixi equidèm, et dico,"-mergite, ut ipse, mero.

Winton.

THE ROSE-WATTS.

EN Rosa suavè rubens! ut flores inter, Aprilis,
Et paritèr Maii gloria summa, nitet!

Sed decor à foliis citò (quàm citò!) totus abibit!
Languescunt horâ; sunt peritura die.
Floribus ast aliis virtus una optima defit,
Scilicèt in solà conspicienda Rosà:

Cui, folia ac molles quandò periere colores,

Dulcis odor, dulcis perpetuusque, manet.

Ceu Rosa, res fragiles sunt forma juventaque; quamvis
More pari florent, haud alitèrque nitent:

Cùr servare diù studeamus? inutile pensum:

Jam fugit, et fugiens tempus utramque rapit.

Forma quidem mihi non, mihi non jactanda juventa est;

Quippe brevi intereant talia dona morà:

At, rectè vivens, si famam adipiscar honestam ;
Hæc, vel post obitum, ceu Rosa, dulcis erit.