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their sons to be educated by the Jesuits at Fribourg, in Switzerland? The reply was, that there was a good deal of political feeling in connexion with the old Bourbon dynasty, which drew the sympathies of certain high aristocratic families out of France to Fribourg; and that there was more of legitimist sentiment, with an admixture of religion, than of any other in this; for it was not pretended that the intellectual training at Fribourg was of a superior order; and that, as the old aristocratical party became more reconciled to the present state of things in France, and in harmony with it, so the tendencies. towards Fribourg had become more feeble.

The religious teaching of Juilly is certainly of an energetic kind: the students attend mass daily; they are regularly instructed twice a week, first in the smaller Catechism, and then in the Catechism of the Diocese, and the elder boys are trained in a knowledge of portions of the Catechism of Trent, and of all parts and forms of the worship of their Church. Such is the conviction of French instructors of the necessity of dogmatic religious education for young persons. May not their practice suggest some useful admonitions to the conductors of our English public schools? This is followed by the study of the History of the Church, and by a short system of Théodicée, as it is called, that is to say, an exposition

6 See above, page 17, on this subject.

of the harmony between faith and science, or a justification of the Divine ways from investigations of natural philosophy-two most important branches of Christian education.

The expense of education here is a little higher than that of the Parisian colleges. I asked here, as in other similar places, what was the mode of punishment in use? The ecclesiastics of Juilly, as well as the philosophers of Paris, agree in opinion that Solomon knew little of education when he said, "He that spareth the rod hateth his son ;" and a person would be regarded by both these two parties as a very unenlightened and bigoted mortal, who would venture to maintain that corporal punishment is in certain cases, and for certain offences, attended with peculiar benefits, which no other chastisement can afford. Such language as this is entirely opposed to the spirit of French schools, which seems to regard the attempt to act upon the mind by means of bodily pain (a mode of proceeding apparently prescribed by the divinely constituted relations of mind and body), as an infraction of the natural rights of the individual, and as an outrage upon his moral dignity! I cannot say that what I have heard of the morality of French schools, or the selfrespect and sense of shame and honour of French scholars, is at all favourable to the opinion that the exclusion of corporal punishment tends to cherish moral dignity or virtue. The penalties resorted to

here are privation of exercise and recreation, and solitary confinement.

I spent some time in the library, which contains a respectable collection of books; but a large proportion of them are translations, particularly of ancient authors; this is a symptom of what strikes the eye and ear commonly in France, viz. the neglect of the original literature of other nations, and the substitution of versions and analytical compendiums for original and authentic authorities. This college had the honour of educating Massillon and Malebranche, and it was frequently visited by the great Bossuet, whose Episcopal See, Meaux, is in its immediate neighbourhood; and in this great library, where I was left alone for about an hour, my thoughts naturally ran upon them, and upon their literary and theological works. Bossuet, particularly, is now brought before the eyes and minds of all who reflect upon the present condition of the Church in France, compared with what it was when he delivered his famous sermon de l'Unité de l'Eglise, in presence of the great Convention of Gallican clergy. In the library I lighted on De Maistre's work, De l'Eglise Gallicane, which shows that Bossuet, the greatest man whom the French Church ever produced, and whose name is revered by all, would, if he were to revive now, be received in France with cordiality by none ! would be too Gallican for the present Ultramontanes of France, and too Ultramontane for the Gallicans.

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At eight o'clock the bell rang for supper, and I went down from my room (No. 81, Corridor St. Jean, -the upper story of the college, or rather of the part of it in which I was, consists of two long corridors intersecting each other at right angles, one corridor being called that of St. John, the other that of St. Louis), I found a large party in the refectory, which was lighted with lamps. In the middle of a long table was the Abbé Bautain, who had just returned to college with some others of their body, from a tour in Belgium. I was placed just opposite to him. The order and quietness with which grace was said was very pleasing; the Abbé pronounced certain Latin prayers, to which the rest of the company responded; he also commenced the Pater-Noster, leaving the sequel after the two first words to be supplied by each person mentally in silence. A similar form concluded the repast. To-day, as was before mentioned, was a jour maigre; the meal consisted of soup, omelette, chouxfleurs, salad, conserve of cherries, and vin ordinaire.

The Abbé is of middle age, and a very striking person in features and expression. He has the reputation of being a very powerful preacher, especially in the practical application of his subject. One of the professors of the college told me that, of the other great French preachers of the day, the Père de Ravignan is generally considered the most eminent

for his logical ability, and Père Lacordaire for his power in moving the affections.

After supper we adjourned to the common room of the college, which is fitted up in the modern style; it has on its walls a portrait of Pius VII., a print of the Deluge by Martin, and one of Leonardo's Last Supper. There was some conversation (our party being now reduced from about sixteen to four) concerning the present state of learning in France. The moral character of the clergy, it was asserted by the Abbé Bautain, was generally good; but it was stated that ancient learning was at a low ebb among them. It was mentioned by one of the professors, as a proof of this, that when, on a recent occasion, many of the prelates of France, to the number of forty, wrote an official report to the See of Rome on a public question affecting the spiritual interests of their own dioceses, only one of them addressed his Holiness in Latin, all the rest wrote in French.

The Abbé Bautain, whose reputation as a Professor of Philosophy, as well as a preacher, stands high, and to whom the college of Juilly is mainly indebted for its present celebrity, has, it is well known, played a very active part in the controversies, philosophical and religious, of the present day. He was born in 1799, was a pupil of M. Cousin, and filled the office of Professor of Philosophy at Strasbourg. In 1834 he was the object of some animadversions from the

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