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been distributed by Tetzel. Did Leo X. deny the commission given to Tetzel, or restrict his power of the keys in the manner here represented by the Catholic apologist? At p. 320. the subject is thus represented: By indulgences granted by the popes and prelates of the church, persons are discharged from temporal punishment, here and in purgatory;' and Mr. N. adds,

This is the real state of the case, with respect to indulgences. If some Catholics in former times have (as it must be confessed has been the case) abused this branch of church-discipline, no blame ought to attach to their successors of the present times. It is in the greatest degree illiberal and unjust, to charge any body of Christians with all the abuses to which wicked men will ever profane even the best of doctrines. I am no advocate for indulgences, according to any form yet prescribed by the Church of Rome; but I must confess it will afford me the most sincere satisfaction, if any thing I can say to elucidate this point shall remove prejudice and mistake from the minds of any of my Protestant brethren; and, with this view, I will extract the reasoning and statement which a learned and pious "Minister of the Church of England" has published relative to the practice of granting indulgences.

It is asked Whether indulgences are not abominable, which either give leave to sin, or grant the pardon of past sins, and these obtained for a sum of money?

"This was the opinion I formerly had of indulgences; but since I began to follow other measures, besides taking upon trust, upon diligent examination I have found, that indulgences in the Church of Rome are neither pardons for sin nor leave to commit sin, but the same which has been practised in the purest ages of the Church; and that is, a remission of some part of those canonical penances, which were wont to be inflicted for some greater crimes. This power of binding and loosing we own in the Church, and retain it in our canons; and 'tis yet in force in respect of some crimes."'

This example is adduced to shew that we may not implicitly rely on apologists; and that, in exhibiting the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, the shortest and fairest way is to copy (as Mr. N. has partly done) from writings issued by authority, and which are universally admitted to be the standard of Catholic faith, worship, ceremonies, and discipline. It is pleasing to find that, in the most essential articles of religion, Catholics and Protestants are agreed; (see p. 294.) and, as the points in which they differ are of no importance in a civil view, (if we except the appeal to the Pope, which we trust will be obviated,) no objection can fairly be urged against Catholic Emancipation. By making tradition paramount to Scripture, an obstacle is placed against an union of the two churches: but, if they cannot form one spiritual communion, they may constitute one political body. At all events, Catholics and Protestants should

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be careful not to mistake and particularly not to misrepresent each other. *

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A section, at the end of the work, is expressly devoted to the discussion of the subjects of persecution and the violation of faith with heretics;' and the Catholics could not have found in their own body a more ingenious and able councellor than in this their Protestant defender. Knowing that it was in vain to deny that the court of Rome has formerly been a sanguinary court, and that thousands have fallen sacrifices to its persecuting spirit, Mr. Nightingale first tries to abate our resentment by reminding us that more has been said and written than is true, and then desires us to recollect (as we have before observed) that the part of the charge which remains uncontroverted does not attach to Catholics of the present day; who are no more concerned with it than to abhor and lament the cruelties which their ancestors, urged by a blind zeal, were induced to commit. Farther to lower the high tone of invective which we are apt to adopt on this occasion, we are reminded that 'Protestants have themselves been guilty of persecution; and that not only of Roman Catholics, but also of one another.' It is liberal to translate la souffrance of Bossuet (p. 442.) by the English word suffering: but we doubt this version. As to the cruel accusation against Catholics, of not keeping faith with heretics,' Mr. N. strenuously denies that any such opinion either is or ever was an article of their church: but he surely carries his liberality too far, when he admits Mr. O'Leary's statement of the trial and execution of John Huss to prove that he suffered not for heresy but for dangerous political opinions. If the Emperor Sigismond thought that Huss was a rebel, he would not have given him a safe conduct. Besides, if we turn to Lenfant's History of the Council of Constance, (Whitley's translation, Vol. i. p. 431.) we find these words: "The sentence of the Council is express, that John Huss is a notorious, scandalous, obstinate, and incorrigible heretic."

In his Portraiture, Mr. Nightingale has endeavoured, with a commendable spirit, to detect mistakes, and to expose misrepresentations, thus doing justice to Catholicism; and, while he openly proclaims his own opinions and his zeal as a Protestant,

*The chief points on which we have been in the habit of mistaking, and, consequently, of misrepresenting, Roman Catholics, appear to be the following. The opinions held by some Catholics concern ing the infallibility and power of the Pope, the notions concerning works of supererogation, the use of images,-the practice of persecution, the opinions relative to the salvation of heretics, the use of the Scriptures, and, the belief in miracles.'

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he labours to remove every aspersion from the Catholic body, and to convince his readers that they are intitled to respect as good Christians and to all the privileges of British subjects. He allows, indeed, that he has softened the darker shades of the picture, and he is romantic in the anticipation of a flood of light and knowlege which is overspreading the whole Christian world. Like those prophets who view the future only through the lens of imagination, he probably sees more than others will find realized. Had he even waited till the moment at which we are writing, how different would have been his finale! Then he could not have complimented Italy and Spain as beginning to be emancipated from superstition and despotism; nor have promised a speedy amelioration of the whole frame and structure of the Christian world. By the rapid vicissitudes of human affairs, brilliant visions are dissipated almost as soon as they arise; and though philosophers, when their hopes are disappointed, still console themselves with the common adage, Magna est veritas et prævalebit, its accomplishment seems too likely to remain in the future tense. While the virtuous and well-informed are greatly outnumbered by the ignorant, worldly minded, and vicious, truth will be oppressed rather than encouraged, and error will continue to be decorated with all the badges of fashion and popularity.

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ART. IV. Madame de Staël on Germany.

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[Article concluded from the Review for April.] closing our last article concerning Mad. de Staël's work, it might have been observed that the German poets of the English school have in general fallen short of their models; as Klopstock, of Milton, Goëthe, of Shakspeare, Haller, of Pope, and Kleist, of Thomson,-whom they severally imitated but the German poets of the French school have as frequently surpassed their models. Wieland's Tales are superior to the joint efforts in this line of Lafontaine and Voltaire; Ramler's Odes are more Horatian than the lyric poems of Jean-Baptiste Rousseau; and Gleim is more Anacreontic than Panard; while Lessing's dramas and dramatic criticisms counterpoise those of Diderot. Be it, however, acknowleged that Buirger excels any of our British ballad-makers; and that, in "Tales of Wonder," German literature is richer than our own.

We are now called to survey the Drama; a department of art which Madame de Staël is peculiarly adapted to criticize. Women are naturally quick of hearing, and aware of what they may be seen to hear; superfluity and indelicacy vanish alike

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before them. The habit of attending Parisian spectacles must also have founded that taste for unity of action and completeness of plot, which is so rare in our Gothic plays. Whatever flower the poet detaches from the shrubbery of nature, to be made an object of separate contemplation or imitation, it ought to be a choice and entire specimen; and no withered leaves, adventitious insects, or intertwisted woodbine, should be suffered to divert the attention from centering on its object. Chapter xv. converses on the dramatic art. The Germans, like the English, are too patient; as if, from sluggishness of mind, they required to be twice told in order to hear or understand. If our representations were shorter and cheaper, they would be attended more frequently ard more willingly; and the contemptuous barbarism of going in at the close of the third act might be abolished. Large theatres indirectly occasion these faults; it is not worth while to light them up for a short exhibition, or a small audience; and large theatres, which also necessitate a caricaturing style of acting and declaiming, result from the pernicious monopoly which is conceded by law to the two patent phy-houses.

The sixteenth chapter analyzes the dramatic works of Lessing. His "Minna von Barnhelm' has succeeded on the London stage; and his "Emilia Galott," of which the first four acts are good, has been translated in Thomson's German Theatre : but the catastrophe, which is that of Virginia, is not according to modern manners. "Nathan the Wise," of which Mr. W. Taylor, junior, of Norwich, gave a somewhat exotic translation in 1805, is here praised as Lessing's best dramatic poem : but, though it breathes a liberal philosophy, it is fitter for the closet than the stage. "The Monk of Libanon" is not discussed. One of Lessing's househdd tragedies, also passed over by Mad. de Staël, is intitled Miss Sara Samson:" it has been transfused into Italian, and keeps possession of the theatres in Lombardy. As the scere lies in England, perhaps the play might be adapted to our attention.

Schiller passes next in review; and the seventeenth chapter treats of his play of "The Robbers," which was translated into English in 1792, and of "Don Carlos," of which a translation appeared in 1798 The following chapter treats on the tragedy of "Wallenstein," translated by Mr. Coleridge in 1800; and "Mary Stuart," translated by Mir. Mellish in 1801: both these versions are excellent. To Mary Stuart is justly awarded a preference over all Schiller's dramas: it is a truly heroic tragedy, of which the fable is grand and complete, the characters are distint and consistent, and the situations are striking and pathetic This play ought to be acted on our

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theatres. Germans may even be allowed to doubt whether, with the same topic, Shakspeare could have produced an equal work of art.

The nineteenth chapter continues the survey of Schiller's dramas. "Joan of Arc" is analyzed: it may contain strokes of genius but the total departure from historic fact, in causing the heroine to fall in love with an Englishman, and to perish on the field of battle, destroys all association of identity. The character of Joan of Arc has been mistaken hitherto both by the poet and the historian: we attempted some corrective criticism on this subject at p. 126. Vol. lxxi. "The Bride of Messina" is fitter for an opera than a play the words are suited to recitative; the chorus continually intervenes; the pageantry is superb; and an improbable parallelism of incident is produced, which is worthy of the ballet. The sentiments are in the loftiest style of Greek tragedy, and announce a writer fresh from the translation of Eschylus.

Chapter xx. comments o1" Wilhelm Tell." Of this vast and noble tragedy, of this dramatic epopea, which depicts a great and entire historical event, with a vividness and a loftiness which seize the memory and the fancy, Mad. de Staël has given a skilful epitome. The advantages of the Gothic form of drama, over the Grecian, o: the French, are peculiarly apparent in subjects of this kind. Nothing but the scene of the apple could have been exhibitel in a French play; the rest must have been mere narration. Some of our travelled poets should undertake to enrich our language with it.—Of "Fiesco," which was translated in 1796, and of "Cabal and Love, or the Minister," which was translated by Mr. Lewis in 1797, no notice is taken. The former, of which we spoke in Vol. xxii. p. 204., surely deserved a critical commentary.

Schiller unites the energies of he first tragic poets: he is an Æschylus educated by Shakspeare. It is in greatness that his excellence consists. With him every expression, every emotion, every character, is colossal. He magnifies the inner feelings not only into visibility, but int) enormity. An unpolished rudeness accompanies and enhances the majesty of his poetic sculpture; and his bold dilatatons, like those of the painter Caravaggio, seem at times to borcer on caricature. Far from studiously discriminating between slight diversities of moral hues, a garish contrast marks and sgnalizes his personages. As if he were afraid that the audence should be at a loss to know what sort of being he is enleavouring to depict, he writes as it were in capitals, unde his tyrant or his patriot, the purpose for which their partraits are intended. Sometimes, he oversteps the modesty of nature and the usages

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