be when he called them into existence. If he foreknew, yet per. mitted, that the internal construction of the globe would in future time produce an earthquake at the spot where Lisbon stands, he also foreknew and permitted the founding of a great city there, with all its moral and physical consequences; and it is an idle apology of Rousseau's to say, that if the Portuguese had chosen to live scattered like savages, ten thousand of them would not have been crushed under the ruins. J. A.

ANECDOTES FROM THE MEMOIRS OF LA NOUE, NAMED BRAS-DEFER, A DISTINGUISHED LEADER OF THE PROȚESTANT PARTY IN FRANCE: BY MOSES AMĮRAULT.

WHEN prince Casimir, who had brought a body of troops out of Germany to the assistance of the French protestants, had made a junction with the army of the prince of Condé; the viscount de Turenne, la Noue, and le Plessis-Mornay, were depnted to give Casimir and his officers a regale after the German manner. The glass circulated freely; and after supper, the three Frenchmen retired to rest in the same chamber. According to the custom of good calvinists, they were used to pray together before they went to sleep; and on that night, it was the viscount's turn to officiate. He soon, however, found his head so confused that he could not go on, and desired la Noue to take his place. La Noue began, but had not gone through two sentences, before he also found himself obliged to stop; and not being able to recollect his thoughts, he turned to le Plessis, and desired him to finish. Le Plessis, sensible that he was in no better condition, prudently said, "Gentlemen, let us go to bed, and each pray there for himself, and to-morrow we will resume our usual custom."

The

After one of the treaties of religion, the protestants being by the articles restored to the liberty of public worship, those of Rouen attempted to resume their usual religious exercises. On this, the cardinal Bourbon, archbishop of Rouen, accompanied by several counsellors of parliament, went to prevent them. cardinal entered without violence into their church, and mounted the pulpit, either to pronounce an interdict against their assembling, or, as some thought, to give them an exhortation; for he was a man of a simple and downright character. The people, however, unaccustomed to hear such preachers, all quitted the place and left him by himself. It was afterwards jocularly told to the king, Henry III, that the cardinal had driven the Hugue

nots

nots from Rouen by the cross and banner; upon which, his Majesty, forgetting his dissembled satisfaction with the treaty, hastily replied, "Would to God they were as easy to be expelled from the other towns, were it even by holy water.”

Generosity and Disinterestedness of la Noue.-La Noue having carried to the king of Navarre a troop of a hundred good horse, levied and equipped at his own expence, the king expressed great obligations to him, and being destitute of money to give him as a recompence, proposed to make him a donation of an estate, which he possessed in that quarter. In consequence, without acquainting him, the king caused an instrument for that purpose to be drawn up by his chancellor. The papers being brought to la Noue when he rose next morning, he received them with many expres sions of gratitude; but immediately waited on the king, and holding the papers in his hand, thus addressed him: "Sire, I consider myself as greatly honoured by this testimony of your Majesty's kindness, which I would not refuse, were your affairs in a condition to admit of such liberality. When I shall see you, Sire, superior to your enemies, and possessed of a revenue proportioned to the greatness of your mind and birth, I will cordially receive your gratuities. At this time, if you were to recompense in the same degree all the services done you, your Majesty would be ruined." He then very respectfully put the papers into the king's hands, and could not by all his persuasions be induced to take them back.

Several years afterwards, in the war of Henry IV. against the League, la Noue having the command of an army, raised for the relief of Senlis, then besieged by the enemy, had caused some powder and ammunition to be collected to throw into the place. As the troops were about to march to attack those of the League, the merchants, by whom these articles had been furnished, made a demand of payment or security. Ready money was not to be had, and neither the contractors and army agents who had enriched themselves by the war, nor the nobles of high rank who were present, chose to come forward to take upon themselves the obliga tion. La Noue, after having in a severe speech chided the backwardness of those, who might have been expected to hazard every thing for their king and country, concluded by saying: "For myself, whilst I have a drop of blood, and an acre of land, I will employ them for the defence of the state of which God has made me a native. I will, therefore, be responsible for this ammunition, and will make the debt my own. Let those keep their money, who prefer it to their honour." He then engaged all his property to the merchants, even an estate which belonged to his second wife, who subscribed to the mortgage; and there is evidence, that his grandson was suffered actually to pay the debt.

La Noue's

La Noue's example appears on a former occasion to have infused a similar spirit of disinterestedness into his soldiers. Being at the head of a body of French auxiliaries to the insurgents against Spanish tyranny in the Low-countries, he received advice, that some money for their payment, which had been long expected, was arrived at Menin. Assembling the men, he informed them of the circumstance, and offered to lead them by that town, if they wished to receive their pay; but they replied, "Sir, this is not a time to count money, but to fight, and to perform actions worthy of those who have learned virtue under your discipline."

Beza's Sentiments on Toleration. In the early part of Henry the Third's reign, when the zealous catholics were forming a league to restrict the favourable terms which had been granted to the protestants by the last pacification, there was much difference of opinion among the latter, as to the degree in which they should submit to this injustice under their pre. sent state of weakness. La Noue, however unwilling to yield, seems to have been sensible, as were many others, that some accommodation was necessary; but the ministers were very stre nuous in resisting any infringement of the privileges respecting freedom of worship which had been granted them. Among the rest, the celebrated Theodore Beza wrote a letter to la Noue, from Geneva, in which are some remarkable passages. Concerning the proposed limitation of protestant worship to particular towns, he says, he does not see how in conscience they can consent to confine the Spirit of God to certain places, and to exclude it from towns, which do not die and change like the hearts and houses of princes. He is likewise unwilling to consent to an entire amnesty of the cruelties that had been practised upon them, and to shut the door of justice against themselves, when God should please to open it; and rather than agree to such conditions, he advises them to suffer without resistance.

Beza goes on to say, that he has been informed, that the catholics of Bearn (in the king of Navarre's dominion) are very importunate for the restitution of their public worship. "But (says he) I beg of you well to consider, that there is a great difference between tolerating idolatry for a time, till we have leisure to make it known, and the re-establishment of it after it has been lawfully abolished; which I think cannot be done without horribly offending the Lord, the consequence of which cannot but be lamentable."

Such were this reformer's sentiments on toleration, declared in the very letter in which he complains of the persecution of his own sect! In fact, no religious party at that time seems to have had any just notions the right of private judgment in matters of religion; and the sole ground they went upon was, our faith

is, the true one, and that of our adversaries is false and damnable, and ought to be abolished"-a principle that manifestly gives the justest cause to the system already established, since its supporters are the defenders of institutions sanctioned by antiquity and numbers; whereas the others are assailants and innovators.

INQUIRIES RESPECTING JACK KETCH, AND THE Oldest man ALIVE.

MR. REFLECTOR,

THE sadly amusing history of your correspondent Pensilis, leads me to hope for some particulars from him on a subject, which has long baffled all my researches and enquiries. It relates to no less a personage, than to that public, yet obscure character, Jack Ketch. I had long despaired of gaining any accurate information, respecting the vie priveé of this illustrious person, till reading your last number, hic est quem quero, said I this is the man to give me the information I want. May I then, without inflicting a new wound on the too delicate feelings of your correspondent, put the following questions to him? And first, who and what is Jack Ketch? Whence is the name derived, and what is the true orthography of the word? Is Ketch a title of office, derived from some foreign language, and significant of the duties attached to it; is it the name of the present occupier of the office, or is it the appellative of the founder of that dynasty, and transmitted to his posterity like the title of Dolly's beef-steak, house, &c. Of what species are the Ketches? Are they auroyloves, born from the earth, and without natural descent: does the reigning Ketch rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the Ketch defunct; or do they follow the common laws of nature, as to their entrance into this stage of existence? Again, is there any truth in the report of a Ketch having come into the world with a gibbet in one hand, and an axe in the other; or does Pensilis con. sider this, as a mere improvement on the story of the learned divine, who came into the world in the full costume of a doctor of divinity; a dress, which some commentators, alluding to the trencher cap, sensibly think, must have much incommoded his mother? Is the present Ketch married, and did your cor respondent ever see him in his tender moments? Who is Mrs. Ketch, and what is her coterie ? What appear to be the natural propensities of the Ketchida, or the Masters and Misses Ketch; with remarks upon their pathological and physiological feelings. Quære, have they any speculative notions respecting the sublime

and

and beautiful?—Supposing the race of the Ketches to be extinct, what cross does Pensilis think necessary to re-produce the breed? I have a very pretty knack myself at guessing what mixtures of different bloods will generate the ordinary professions of life; as a judge, an alderman, a bishop, &c. &c. but shall be happy to defer to his superior knowledge in this particular experiment of the art. Your correspondent, no doubt, is aware, how many generations it will frequently take a family, who value themselves upon their exterior, to wear out any little deformity; as for instance, a snub nose, or a long chin. I could mention one noble family, whom it has cost a dozen intermarriages with the yeomanry, to introduce a stouter pair of legs among them; and another, which has been obliged to go through a course of milk-maids, to throw a little colour into their cheeks. Has your correspondent ever considered in what term of years a spirit of Ketchicism may be introduced into a family; and conversely, in how many genera tions the milk of human kindness may be instilled into, what Burke would call, a pure, unsophisticated, dephlegmated, defecated Ketch? In which light does Pensilis imagine, that the emphatic term, O aveparos, of the ancients, is to be viewed, as a mark of infamy, or a title par excellence? I should further wish to know, what constitutes a finished Ketch. But this, I suppose, like complete excellence in all other professions, consists in those happy graces, which lie beyond the reach of art, and are attained. by instinct alone a titilating mode of untying the cravat-a degagé manner of putting on the last night-cap-a janty style of jerking the legs; an air, a tone—but I shall get into the language of the mystics. It should appear from an anecdote told of the late George Selwyn, of facetious memory, that the former Ketches used to travel for improvement in their profession. The anecdote may be new to some of your readers, and is as follows. It is well known, that this famous wit had a peculiar fancy for attending executions. Being at Paris, and wishing to see a noted criminal disposed of, he pressed so near to the executioner, and appeared so intent upon the proceedings, that the man, taking him for a brother of the trade, who had come over to learn the last Parisian cut, politely offered him the axe. "Favour me, Monsieur," said the Parisian. "Excuse me, Monsieur," replied the wit; "you are very polite; but I am only an amateur, not a practitioner."-Do the present Ketches continue this practice, or is a man thought capable of officiating, without making the grand tour? I have many more interrogatories to put to your correspondent; but shall content myself at present with the foregoing. Your friend, I shall only add, knows what it is to be in a state of suspence, and will, no doubt, be happy to relieve me from a condition sq little enviable.

P. S. There