die, but to surrender-like him Ruamps survived the event, and even lived to share a subsequent imprisonment with our author.

On the memorable occasion of the 9th Thermidor, M. Le Vasseur was absent from Paris in the exercise of his military functions. It is therefore difficult to conjecture, nor would it be very important to ascertain, what would have been his conduct or his fate at this crisis-whether he would have drunk the hemlock with Robespierre, St. Just, and Couthon; have talked of doing so with David of the blood-steeped brush; or have joined with Tallien in administering it to others. The danger and the excitation of the crisis are over, and it is easy now for the author to express his republican horror of the dictatorship of which, while it lasted, he was an active though subordinate agent. He lends, however, his testimony to what is now, we believe, the fashionable theory with respect to the history of the 9th Thermidor, and avows his strong faith in those qualities of Robespierre's singular character on which his advocates have striven to erect the great paradox of his justification. The substance of that theory is well knownviz., that Robespierre, sick with slaughter, intended, by aid of the Convention, to extirpate the Committee, and to close with that last act of justice the Reign of Terror-and was cut off, in the moment of projection, by greater monsters than himself, the peculator Tallien, and Carrier of the Noyades! It required French ingenuity to convert the destruction of such a man into something like a murder; yet considering that he perished not for having employed, but for having calumniated, Marat,—not as the butcher of the Girondists, but as the denouncer of Danton, -considering that he was identified for slaughter by Fouquier Tinville, considering the stoical fortitude of his ten hours' agony on the table of the Committee of Public Safety-we are compelled to doubt whether there were not gradations of wickedness and infamy which Robespierre himself had not attained, and which were only reached by some of those who had cringed to him in power, and who spat upon him in his dying torture. The fierce exclamation of Tallien to his foaming victim-'It is the blood of Danton which stifles thee,' is better known than the answer which our author attributes to Robespierre. Ah, you wish to avenge Danton! Cowards, why did you not defend him?' For one incident in the closing scene we wish we had better authority than this book—and we think we have read elsewhere of the nameless garçon de bureau, who brought Robespierre a cup of water to wash the ghastly wound which he was stauching with the bag of the pistol that had inflicted it, This is the solitary act of that day which savours of any humane motive, much as the interests of humanity may have profited by its occurrences.

We

We cannot follow M. Le Vasseur through a tedious vindication of his hero, which is intended as a serious refutation of the charge, transferred from the Hebertists to their destroyer, of his being a mere agent of Pitt and the emigrants. We confess ourselves, indeed, at a loss for an answer to the question, which, after taking all this trouble, he asks of his readers, Is it possible to resign oneself to examine these puerile and ignoble imputations, which have sprung up in some narrow brains, and which posterity will never discuss?'

We have dwelt at least long enough on these volumes ;-and have followed our author far enough into the history of the French Revolution, to enable our readers to form some judgment on the merits of this elaborate apology for The Mountain. The few extracts which we have selected will show, that however inartificial the reasoning of M. Le Vasseur may be considered, his phraseology is of that ingenious school which has altered the nomenclature of most of the questionable qualities of human nature and of their results. Thus the men before whose fiat human heads fell like corn before the reaper, were only men of greater énergie than other people. A period when the kennels are running with innocent blood is always a crise. A journalist who, during a period of professed anarchy, calls upon a despotic mob to put 250,000 persons to death, is convicted of innocent exaggeration. We say nothing of the use or abuse of the word patriotism. We know from Boswell the explanation which Dr. Johnson afforded of that word, and from Mr. Croker we know to whom the sage addressed that explanation ;*-nor do we think that a close examination of the motives of those transcendent Patriots who have figured either in the French Revolution, or in the English Reform, would afford any new reason to doubt the justice of the great moralist's

definition!

ART. III.-A Memoir of Felix Neff, Pastor of the High Alps; and of his labours among the French Protestants of Dauphiné, a Remnant of the Primitive Christians of Gaul. By William Stephen Gilly, M.A., Prebendary of Durham, and Vicar of Norham. London. 8vo. 1832.

IT is one of the principles of the Madras school that every boy shall find his level; it is one of the principles of the Jesuits that every member of their society shall have his appropriate

* Patriotism having become one of our topics, Johnson suddenly uttered in a strong, determined tone, an apophthegm at which many will start: Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.'-Boswell, vol. iii. p. 223. By the editorial Note it appears that this startling apophthegm was uttered at the Club, Mr. Fox in the Chair.

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place found for him. To the first of these principles the school owes much of its effect; to the other the society (the most efficient that has ever yet been established) no small part of the mighty influence which it has exercised for evil and for good. In the world there are so many disturbing causes, that he who finds his level, may, if he has to rise to it, be deemed fortunate indeed; and still more so if the place for which he is best fitted (in whatever station) be found for him. Both the subject and the author of the interesting volume which is now before us have been thus fortunate. The pastor of the High Alps could nowhere have employed his ardent zeal with more exemplary effect than among the forlorn mountaineers, to whom he devoted, and indeed sacrificed, his life. And when his biographer was rewarded for his benevolent exertions in behalf of the Vaudois with a stall at Durham, that well-bestowed preferment gave him facilities for pursuing his favourite subject of research, and enabled him to become more extensively useful. How,' says Mr. Gilly, in his Introduc

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'How came the author acquainted with scenes and people, whose history he alleges to be of moment to society at large, but whose names are perfectly new to us? How has he had access to records, which we did not know to be in existence? I hope to answer these inquiries satisfactorily-and to show that those who have extended their rambles to some of the obscurest corners of civilized Europe, or who have been poring over the most neglected, dull, and wearisome pages of writers and chroniclers of days long since, may bring facts to light which had escaped notice, and may illustrate some of the most important subjects in history.

It has been my good fortune to have had opportunities of examining the treasures of ecclesiastical history, in libraries rich in such stores; and the more I have read, the more I have felt convinced that the secluded glens of Piedmont are not the only retreats, where THe deSCENDANTS OF PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS may be found. Under this term I mean to speak of persons who have inherited a Christianity, which the Church of Rome has not transmitted to them, and who, from father to son, have essentially preserved the mode of faith, and the form of discipline, which were received when the Gospel was first planted in their land. I have discovered ample reason to believe, that there is scarcely a mountain region in our quarter of the globe which is poor, and uninviting, and difficult of access, where the primitive faith, as it was preached by the earliest messengers of the truth, did not linger for many ages, after the Romish hierarchy had established itself in the richer countries, and in the plains; and moreover, that there are still many mountain districts, where the population has continued Christian, from generation to generation, to the present hour; Christian, in nonconformity with the church usurping the appellation Catholic. It was their obscurity and non-intercourse with the world,

during the period of almost general submission to the Romish yoke, which preserved them from corruption.'-p. 1-3.

The first account which Mr. Gilly received concerning Felix Neff was from the Rev. Francis Cunningham, to whom the Protestant cause owes much ;' and to whom English readers are much indebted for having been greatly instrumental' in making them acquainted with the life of Oberlin. What Mr. Gilly first learnt from him was this,-that a young clergyman was then toiling among a people in Dauphiné, so poor, that they had no means of providing salaries for ministers or schoolmasters; and so little favoured by nature, that for seven months out of twelve, their land lay buried in snow.' He afterwards received from the same quarter, a paper drawn up by Neff himself, describing the nature of his charge, and some of the difficulties he had to encounter. As he was about to make a second journey to the Vaudois, this induced him to visit the scene of Ñeff's labours on the way. Neff had gone to his reward a few months before this intention was carried into effect; but from all that Mr. Gilly saw and heard of the effect of his ministry, he judged that a memoir of his short, but extraordinary, career, would not be an uninteresting addition to the Christian records of the age in which we live. Neff's own journals were afterwards communicated to him by Miss Mary Elliott, of Westfield Lodge; and if, he says, 'I had been put in possession of all the circumstances relating to these papers, I believe I should have had to state that many of Neff's noble projects could not have been carried into effect, but for the benevolent friend in England to whom his journals were consigned.' The information relating to his early life and to his death was obtained from a brief biographical Notice published at Geneva. From these materials, with the advantage of having made himself acquainted with every hamlet within Neff's extensive charge, and of his own fresh impressions made upon the spot, Mr. Gilly has composed the present volume-a volume as honourable to himself as it may be instructive and useful to others.

Felix Neff was born in 1798, and brought up by his widowed mother in a village near Geneva. Like many other excellent men he owed his first strong impressions to the effect produced by maternal vigilance, and to lessons taught by female lips.' She laid the foundation, and the village pastor instructed him in Latin, history, geography, and botany. Of the few books within his reach, Plutarch's Lives, and some of the unobjectionable volumes of Rousseau, are said to have been his favourites; the former because they filled his mind with the exploits of great men ; the latter because they encouraged the delight which natural scenery, whether beautiful or grand, excited in him. His boyish aspirations

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aspirations were for military fame, or for scientific research. When it was time for him to enter upon some way of life in which he could earn a subsistence, he engaged himself to a nursery-man and floristgardener; and at the age of sixteen published a little treatise on the culture of trees, which was much praised for its arrangement, its accuracy, and the habit of careful observation that it evinced. At seventeen, however, he entered as a private into the military service of Geneva, and exchanged the quiet and humble walk of the florist's garden for the bustle of the garrison.' Two years afterwards he was promoted to the rank of serjeant of artillery; and having obtained notice by his knowledge of mathematics, he made that science his study during his continuance in the army. That continuance was not long. But this second change of pursuit was occasioned by no fickleness or infirmity of purpose. It is said that his officers were jealous of the influence which he obtained over his comrades; that he was too religious for them, and that they wished him out of the service ;-the serious turn of his mind in fact became so marked, that he was advised to quit it, and to prepare himself for holy orders.

Accordingly he quitted the army, and placed himself under proper instruction, after due deliberation and frequent prayer. That he might the better mark, learn, and inwardly digest' the scriptures, he made a concordance for himself, and filled the margins of several Bibles with notes. • Some of these are still in possession of his friends, and are consulted as the voice of one who being dead yet speaketh.' His powers of acquirement and his aptitude for abstracted study were remarkable, and his conversation not less so; it was prompt, easy, and agreeable, but always to the point, in short sentences, and in few words.

A good practice which obtained in the primitive churchesand of which we find some traces in the ecclesiastical establishment of Scotland-is in use among the Protestants of France and Switzerland. The theological student, after certain examinations, is received as a Proposant by those who exercise the pastoral office, and employed as a lay-helper, or catechist, in their parishes. He is not permitted to perform services which are strictly sacerdotal, but to instruct the young, visit the sick, and, at the discretion of the pastor to preach from the pulpit. He is acting under the eye of an experienced minister; he has an example and a teacher before him to regulate his actions and opinions; he is trying his own strength, and feeling his way, and assuring himself of his preference and fitness for the sacred work, before the irrevocable step is taken. It is not too late to retire if he finds himself, in any degree, unequal to the arduous charge.' We entirely agree with Mr. Gilly and with Dr. Adams, whom he has quoted

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