"During several minutes had been watching the man's stealthy, movements, not with the most friendly feeling; but when ultimately he had taken up a position, so regardless of the respect due to the royal personages before me, I could no longer restrain my indignation, and rushed forward with my hand stretched out to seize him, and turn him away by the arm. My progress was suddenly checked by some one drawing me back.

"Do

you

know who that is?' he exclaimed. "No, your Royal Highness,' I replied.

"He is Lord Hawkesbury, and he probably has some important communication to make to the king. What, or who, did you take him to be?'

"Upon which I explained that from his general appearance I had supposed him to be a king's messenger. His Royal Highness laughed very heartily, and I thought there was an end of the matter; but immediately after the picquets had marched off, the king, in conformity with his usual practice, turned to the officers of his household, and others collecting about his person, and his Majesty was informed of my having mistaken Lord Hawkesbury for a king's messenger.

"On hearing this, his Majesty exclaimed in his well-known hasty and somewhat stammering manner: Eh, eh, eh? what, what, what? who-who-who was it?' when I was immediately pointed out to the king, who as quickly beckoned me to him, and laughingly said: Eh, ch! what, what? So you thought Hawkesbury was a king's messenger? eh, eh! well, well-you are, you are right; I think you are right; yes, yes, come here, Hawkesbury; well, well, now you are a dirty looking fellow; look at your shoes; eh, eh, look at your shoes; are you not a dirty looking fellow?' The king laughed heartily.

66

Hawkesbury looked at his shoes covered with dust, and freely admitted the fact.

"About six years after this event I was much gratified on receiving a most satisfactory proof that Lord Hawkesbury, then the Earl of Liverpool and Secretary of the War department, had not suffered this blunder to make any impression on his mind prejudicial to me; for his lordship (having appointed me to be one of the military agents to serve in the Peninsula, under a special commission), invited me to dine with him at Fife House. On this occasion I was seated at table by the side of his lordship, who very kindly reminded me of the laugh I had raised against him at Weymouth; and added that the king, who was then confined by his great age and infirmitics at Windsor Castle, never saw him without making some allusion to the king's messenger."

And now we take our leave, though for a brief season we hope, of Colonel Landmann to whom we are grateful for the amusement afforded to us in these volumes. They are not without blemishes, among which may be mentioned an occasional want of originality in the anecdotes related, the devotion of too much space to matters of minor interest, and some

grammatical, or rather ungrammatical slips which a little. care would have obviated. Our chief complaint, however, is that we are unable to detect those evidences of a philosophical mind, which, having regard to the author's education and training, his scientific profession, opportunities of travel and extensive intercourse with the world, we had a right to expect in any emanation from his pen. But, as we have already said, the work before us refers to a small portion of the colonel's long life; and we will therefore hope to find, in the record of his graver years, those qualities, the absence of which has disappointed us in these volumes; and that his next book will be-as a man of his unquestioned talent can easily render it—of a less gossiping and more intellectual character.

ART. X.-Sympathies of the Continent; or, Proposals for a New Reformation. By JOHN BAPTIST VON HIRSCHER, D.D., Dean of the Metropolitan Church of Freiburg, Breisgau, and Professor of Theology in the University of that City. Translated and Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by the Rev. ARTHUR CLEVELAND COXE, M.A., Rector of St. John's Church, Hartford, Connecticut. Second Edition. Oxford: Parker.

We know of few if any works published in our own immediate age which equal in importance that remarkable production which we have placed at the head of this article. The introduction and the body of the work are equally valuable— the rare and costly vestibule and the noble hall within. In these days of medieval sentimentalism and morbid ascetic cravings, it is delightful to meet with a creation of this nature, issuing from two kindred hearts and souls that make response to each other's music like two rich chords in perfect unison. The American presbyter, calm and grave and thoughtful, imbued with sound sense and reverential feeling -(we judge him from the work that lies before us)—was, indeed, well qualified to comprehend the mind and heart of the Roman Catholic dean: the pious, learned, earnest-hearted Hirscher, owning still allegiance to the Roman Church, but manifestly more conscious of her grievous sins than he likes to confess even to himself, though the avowals which do drop from him are only the more valuable on the score of his clinging, and perhaps somewhat unreasonable, fidelity. They

are manifectly extorted from the depths of his experience, and they raise a warning voice to English Romanizers, which we sincerely trust, and hope, will not be disregarded. One remarkable fact we learn from Dean Hirscher's treatise: we have been accustomed to fancy that, whatever were the advantages accruing from the union of Church and State, the English Church was placed by the present arrangement of matters in an abnormal condition, not being allowed to express her own wishes and desires through the appointed medium of Convocation, to carry out her discipline or make any positive step in a forward direction. Now the principal theme of Dean Hirscher's treatise is the very same absence of self-government as experienced, until at least quite recently, by the German Church in communion with Rome: almost all that he says on this subject with regard to the jealousy of the State, and the fear of Church authorities lest Convocation should act rashly, might be spoken by any English Churchman, and is in fact little more than has been said a thousand times, though not perhaps as well. This is not a little curious, or rather it is not really strange at all, though it may appear so to us; but is simply corroborative of a fact that other Churches, at least two out of three national Churches in communion with the Roman see, are quite as much hampered in ecclesiastical matters, and as little able to express and maintain collectively "their own heart's will" as our dear English mother. This is not the only coincidence which could be traced betwixt the wishes and longings of Dean Hirscher, and of many of our most respected fellow-Churchmen; but the Roman Catholic dignitary has far more grievous errors to bewail than we; and, though he writes with the manifest dread of Rome before him, who, despite all his precautions, has naturally placed his book in her "Index Expurgatorius," he allows us to see that he is both grieved and scandalised by the moral corruption and superstitious formalism which Romanism fosters in his own country, where it is viewed, for the most part, under a softened aspect. Before, however, we enter upon the consideration of the opinions expressed by this worthy and thoughtful dignitary of the Church, we must extract a somewhat lengthy passage from Mr. Coxe's introduction, in order to enable our readers to form some estimate of the value of Dean Hirscher's testimony. Mr. Coxe assures us that he has taken care to draw his facts from sources that may be relied upon, and this is the short biography with which he favours us:—

"John Baptist von Hirscher, Doctor in Divinity, and author of

The

many valuable works in the theological literature of Germany, is at present Dean of the Metropolitan Church of Freiburg, Breisgau, and Professor of Christian Ethics in the university of that city. He also holds the dignity of a Councillor of State in the Grand Duchy of Baden. He was born June 29th, 1788, at Alt-Ergartes, a little village pertaining to the seigniory of Altdorf, and formerly belonging to the Austrian dominions. His parentage was humble; but, as he showed in his earliest years the marks of decided talent, he was devoted by his father to liberal pursuits, and entered at the school of the monastery of Weisenau. He made further progress, and with distinguished success, in the Gymnasium at Constance; and from thence he went to the university at Freiburg to devote himself to the study of theology. He was admitted to the priesthood in 1810, and immediately applied himself to the cure of souls. His Italian translator, a presbyter of Milan, testifies concerning this period of his career, that it was rich in those experiences of pastoral fidelity which so brilliantly illuminate the Lent sermons, which he congratulates himself on being the first to make known to his countrymen. same respectable author goes on to say, But the limited population thus confided to his pastoral care afforded too narrow a space for a wisdom so profound; and, accordingly, in 1812, he was called to a subordinate office in the theological faculty of the seminary at Elwanghen, where, very shortly, he so distinguished himself as to be elected vice-professor of theology in the same seminary, from which he was soon promoted to a chair in the superior Gymnasium of Rothvert. In 1817, he became Professor of Christian Morals in the theological faculty of Tubingen, in which chair his lectures were attended with such eminent success as made him the object of admiration alike to Protestants and Roman Catholics, who repaired together to enjoy the rich pasture which they afforded as well to the intellect as to the heart. He was not so happy, however, as to escape the persecutions of open and secret jealousy, though the malice of weak minds did not so far prevail against him as to detract from his wide-spread reputation, or to deprive him of royal favour. In 1835 he was honoured with the Cross of the Order of the Crown of Wittemberg; and after having refused many similar invitations to occupy distinguished chairs in divers universities, he felt himself obliged in 1837 to become the successor of the illustrious Moehler."

Mr. Coxe fancies there is some mistake in this-Moehler, according to his English translator, Robertson, having declined this chair:

"In the university of Freiburg, Breisgau, where he remains to this day and is highly renowned both as a doctor and an author, he has produced many works; but his reputation rests chiefly on his Christian Ethics,' which has given him an enviable reputation throughout Germany as the Fenelon of the nineteenth century, and enrolled him among the most illustrious worthies of his country" (p. 17-20).

The Italian writer thus quoted by Mr. Coxe goes on to

express his admiration of this great work at some length, and we are told that many similar testimonials might be added:

"In the preface to the French translation of the following works (we read further) he is spoken of as at the head of Catholicism in Germany, illustrious and revered, and as affording, by his writings and his personal virtues, an ornament and a defence to the Catholic religion to which his writings are chiefly devoted. The eminent ecclesiastical historian, Alzog, has further said of him- Hirscher, so richly endowed by God, is at present the master and the guide of Catholic Germany; and no one has done so much as he and Mochler to conduct her into those paths of religion which she has marked out for herself in the communion of the Church" (21-22).

Even Robertson, we are told, the Ultramontane translator of Moehler, lauds Hirscher highly, calling him "illustrious," &c., &c.; and as Mr. Coxe remarks:

"These testimonies are worth collecting and considering, now that this bold and conscientious course has brought down upon his venerable head the vials of ultramontane wrath, and caused all his former services to religion to be forgotten in the obloquy vented against him by his bigoted and intolerant persecutors (22).

From this short biography we gather that its hero has not only been considered a decided Roman Catholic, but the intellectual life and standard-bearer of the Church of Rome in Germany. The work on which his reputation seems principally founded was, so Mr. Coxe tells us, nothing more or less than "an ingenious attempt to give a Catholic and scriptural character to the dogmatic requirements of modern Rome." Perhaps we might feel inclined to wonder that a great intellect and noble heart should ever feel inclined to cherish such a wish as this; but we must remember Fenelon, and Carlo Borromeo, and Bossuet. Great, scarcely capable of exaggeration, are the influences of early love and youthful training: the religious impressions first received by the young and pious heart, associated with a mother's affection, and all the tenderest and most beautiful of memories, are likely to be deep indeed; and Romanism, even in its grossest superstitions, must be confessed to be a poetical creed as romantic, or more so, than the Grecian mythology; and tinged, by its connection with and derivation from Catholicism, with a light that issues from above, though it be drawn from its appointed course and mingled with earth's mists and fleeting shadows; for popular Romanism, like the Greek olden worship, as a political devotee of Rome once confidently assured us, derives its chief strength from the deification of human nature: it is "humanitarianism," so to speak, which is its chief element of power;