The widow and the orphan cried to him as vainly as when one offers a small reward for a full purse. The bankrupt of the Court became the lunatic of the Court. Estates mouldered away, and mansions fell down, but the fees came in, and all was well. But in an instant the mace of Brougham shivered to atoms this House of Fraud and of Delay.... Look you to Brougham, and turn you to that side where he waves his long and lean figure, and mark well that face which Nature has marked so forcibly-which dissolves pensions, turns filchers into honest men, scares away the plunderer of the public, and is a terror to him who doeth evil to the people.'" (p. 175.)

In proof of his extraordinary diligence, we will give but one extract, and must then hasten to close our paper. One, says Mr. McGilchrist, who wrote shortly after Brougham was Chancellor, thus describes his daily round of avocations:

"A watchful observer might see the new Lord Chancellor seated in the Court over which he presided, from an early hour in the morning until the afternoon, listening to the arguments of Counsel, and mastering the points of cases with a grasp of mind that enabled him to give those speedy and unembarrassed judgments that have so injured him with the profession. If he followed his course, he would see him, soon after the opening of the House of Lords, addressing their lordships on some intricate question of law, with an acuteness that drew down approbation even from his opponents; or, in some all-engrossing political topic, casting firebrands into the camp of the enemy, and awakening them from the complacent repose of conviction to the hot contests with more active and inquiring intellects. Then, in an hour or so, he might follow him to the Mechanics' Institution, and hear an able and stimulating discourse on education, admirably adapted to the peculiar capacity of his auditors; and towards ten, perhaps, at a Literary and Scientific Institution in Marylebone, the same Proteus-like intellect might be found expounding the intricacies of physical science with a never-tiring and elastic power. Yet, during all these multitudinous exertions, time would be found for the composition of a discourse on Natural Theology, that bears no mark of haste or excitement of mind, but presents as calm a face as though it had been the laborious production of a contemplative philosopher." (pp. 177, 178.)

Even in his very old age he was almost as hard at work as ever; travelling about the continent, or visiting the chief towns in England, where he made speeches on social science, and all this by one who was between eighty and ninety years of age. In May this year, the venerable and eminent lawyer, politician, and reformer breathed his last at Cannes in France, where, for a considerable time past, his health had compelled him to reside during the greater part of the year. He had attained the age of ninety years. We should have mentioned, in an earlier part of our sketch, that in 1819, Lord, then Mr., Brougham, married the widow of Colonel Spalding; the issue of the marriage was two daughters, both of whom died during

their minority and unmarried. Lady Brougham herself died at Brighton only three years before her noble husband.

At the conclusion of this interesting volume, Mr. McGilchrist gives a most able and fair description of Lord Brougham, his abilities, his excellences, and his defects. Once or twice we have felt compelled to differ with Mr. McGilchrist, but here we cordially agree; and indeed, would biographers in general give their readers so striking, so minute, and so accurate a picture of the subject of their memoirs, they would render the public at large a valuable service, inasmuch as it at once corrects all misconceptions the reader may have formed, and any distorted or exaggerated features which the biographer, in a moment of enthusiasm, may with the most perfect sincerity have introduced.

ON THE HISTORY OF THE JESUITS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

DEAR SIR,-The accompanying extracts are taken from "A His tory of the Jesuits," the production of a near relation of my own, which was published rather more than half a century ago, and is now out of print.

I have selected such passages as I thought might be useful in the present degenerate day, when a daring, impious, and Jesuitical attempt is being made to unprotestantize our national Church, and bring in Popery. Nothing can be worse than this, for if there is one system in the world more opposed to civil and religious liberty, or more persecuting than another, it is the Papal system, as all history testifies.

When certain individuals in our Church can go such lengths as to speak of our martyred Reformers as "unredeemable villains," there can be no doubt they would burn them at the stake if they could. This may remind us of a saying of Maldonate's, referred to by Mr. Scott, in his remarks on Proverbs xvi. 27:-" Hear now the observation of a Popish interpreter, and it is said of the most learned and judicious among them, in this passage:-This is apparent by the example of the Spanish Inquisition, whereby he that speaks anything rashly against the faith is deservedly delivered to the fire, which I wish were done everywhere!" Mr. Scott adds :-"Let it not be forgotten that this Inquisition still is in existence and active, and the Order of the Jesuits restored to their former power and influence."

As a general rule, Englishmen are easily imposed upon by crafty Jesuits. An able paper which appears in the Christian Observer for October, 1863, on the recent History of the Jesuits in England, thus commences:- "There are few subjects upon which a welleducated Englishman is so ill-informed as the history and principles

of the Jesuits." The article concludes by observing "Whatever ground Popery may have recovered in England, has been owing, not to the strength of the invader, but to criminal indifference, or more criminal treachery, amongst ourselves."

Extracts from

I am, dear Sir, yours faithfully,

G. POYNDER.

"A History of the Jesuits:" in two vols. 8vo.
Published by Baldwin & Co.

"It has been observed with truth that as the constant purpose of God is to extract good from evil, and to overrule, for the best ends, the malevolent or mistaken designs of man; so the general aim of man, when not acting under the influence of divine illumination, is to bring evil out of good, and to convert those appointments which were designed for the advantage and happiness of the world, into so many occasions of misery and mischief to himself and others. Of the truth of this position, the early history of the Jesuits affords a remarkable example.

"THE REFORMATION OF RELIGION was an event which promised incalculable benefit to mankind; like the faith which it professed to purify, it had the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come:' in proportion as it elevated the spiritual condition of man, it raised him in the scale of sentient beings, and advanced his temporal interests; while it opened to him prospects full of immortality in a future state of being, it decidedly meliorated his lot in the present period of existence,-it at once delivered his soul from the ignominious bondage of sin, in which a religion of forms had enthralled it, and, at the same time, rescued his mind from the shackles of an usurped dominion; while it secured the free agency, and promoted the real interests, of the immortal spirit, it placed a guard at the same time about the person of its possessor, restrained the incursions of arbitrary power, resisted tyranny in every form, and fostered civil liberty without encouraging licentiousness. The worship of God was thus purified of its dross, and purged of its secularities, and the throne of monarchs was placed on its only secure foundation, the affections of the people; while those affections were perpetually fed and nourished by a grateful sense of the religious and temporal privileges which can only be enjoyed or appreciated under such a state of things.

"No sooner, however, had the Reformation, which was fraught with such blessings for mankind, appeared in the world, than it became the main object of all who loved darkness rather than light,' to oppose and overthrow it; in other words, to bring all the evil in their power out of the elements of so much good; and, as if in direct contradiction to the fable of the monarch who converted everything he touched into gold, the undeviating policy of such persons appeared to be to extend and perpetuate the counterfeit currency of the Romish corruptions, and to depreciate and destroy whatever bore the stamp and impress of heaven.

"In order to this, they selected instruments the best adapted to their purpose; for of all the enemies of the Reformation, the most

subtle, the most powerful, and the most implacable were the Jesuits.

"Raised up for the specific purpose of obstructing the march of a purer system, and of opposing with all their power the diffusion of spiritual light and the progress of civil liberty, these mighty advo cates of the Papal and Ecclesiastical dynasty did not in any measure disappoint the hopes which were formed of them from the beginning, but fulfilled, in every particular, their high destiny, and were only not successful in utterly extinguishing the light of truth throughout the world because they entered the lists against the Most High, and sought, under the guise of religion, to compass the most neisrious ends by the employment of the most unhallowed means.

"That the great object of the institution of the Jesuits in the first instance was the overthrow of the Reformation, will appear from every author who has adverted to their early history. The following extract from Villers will set this matter in its true light :

"The sixteenth century saw Luther and Loyola arise almost at the same moment: the one in the north, the other in the south of Europe. The latter, a Spaniard, appeared to be a natural product of the soil and spirit of the country where he was reared. A century earlier he would probably have only founded an Order, like so many others, a fraternity of worshippers of the Virgin, to whom his devo tion was particularly addressed: the religious innovations, how ever, which then threatened the existence of the Romish Church, gave to the enthusiasm of the pious and warlike Ignatius another direction. He conceived the idea of a sort of spiritual crusade against heresy. His scheme was eagerly adopted at Rome after some hesitation; and the design was seriously formed of converting the new Society into a formidable phalanx which might be employed against the boldest champions of the Reformation.'

"To the reaction, therefore, excited by that event, may be ascribed the origin of the Society of Jesus.

....

"The Jesuits had no sooner appeared than they overran the universe with surprising rapidity. They became the instructors of youth, the masters of seminaries, the confessors of kings, the distributors of favours; and the nominators to every office, civil and ecclesiastical, and sometimes even to crowns; in a word, the arbiters of every great event: they acquired immense wealth in freehold estates, and in the benefices which they procured for their houses: they formed the most substantial establishments; and laid the foundations of a monarchy calculated to resist the most powerful princes.

"How poor Mendicants (for it is thus these Fathers are designated) could have attained so speedily to an empire of such an extensive and absolute nature, so that they domineered over the properties, the lives, the liberties, and the minds of others, is a prodigy which (said the University of Paris above a century since) would be regarded by posterity as a fable, if such power should cease to exist. . . . .

The Faculty of Theology in Paris, whose advice the Parliament had sought, pronounced, in 1551, that the Society, withdrawn from

the obedience and submission due to authorities, unjustly deprived both temporal and spiritual Lords of their rights; brought discord into every form of government; and occasioned among the people many subjects of complaint, many lawsuits, altercations, schisms, and jealousies; that it appeared dangerous to all that concerned the faith; calculated to disturb the peace of the Church, to overturn the monastic order, and more fit to destroy than to build up.

"The recital of the crimes committed by the Jesuits in every part of the world for more than two centuries, will serve to verify this statement. . . .

...

"Ignatius Loyola, the patron and founder of this Society, was born in Spain. He followed at first the profession of arms. Thrown upon the world by this occupation, he gave himself up to his passions; and the Jesuits who have written his life observe that vanity and ambition were his ruling pursuits....

"Pope Gregory XIV., by his Bull of 1591, declares that Ignatius desired that the form of government in his Society should be Monarchical, and that everything should be decided by the will of the General alone. One of the first privileges that Ignatius sought from the Pope was, that his disciples should not be compelled to take part in the public service of the Church: in a word, in the privileges obtained by the Jesuits, we observe merely a plan formed with address, and dictated by ambition, not only to establish an absolute monarchy in the Society, but to raise the Society to the monarchy of the whole world, in subjecting every other authority to itself.

"No sooner had Ignatius obtained the approbation of his Institution, than he spread his companions over the whole world. . . .

"Among the privileges which Paul III. granted, was that by which he exempted the Society, and the persons and the property of all its members, from every kind of superintendence, jurisdiction, and punishment of Ordinaries; he further prohibited all Archbishops and Bishops, and every other authority as well ecclesiastical as secular, from obstructing or molesting the companions of Ignatius, their houses, churches, or colleges. With such arms as these, nothing could resist them in countries professing a devoted submission to all the Decrees of the Popes. . . .

"With regard to the opinion of the Faculty of Theology; after a discussion which lasted several months, the Faculty, on the 1st December 1554, came to that celebrated decision which has been so often cited. This new Society,' say they, 'appropriates particularly to itself the unusual title of the name of Jesus, receives with the greatest laxity, and without discrimination, all kinds of persons, however criminal, lawless, and infamous they may be,-it withdraws from the obedience and submission due to Ordinaries-unjustly deprives both temporal and spiritual Lords of their rights-brings disturbance into every form of government-and occasions many subjects of complaint, many lawsuits, contentions, jealousies, and schisms among the people. The Society, therefore, appears to us to be dangerous in all that concerns the faith, calculated to disturb the peace of the Church, to overturn the Monastic Order, and more fit to destroy than to build up.'