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™^ ... a . * t ^ - ^ r relied . " The first thing is that the dying man ' s will be f ££ 2 £ - tESJ-S ? ^ That is true ; and hS trill is unhappily too apparent . " S ^ tS ^ . ^^^ iiennafe had for a prieBt , we wonldhave ^ ent for one He > Bn S ^ CS BLForguee . " The nieoe appeared to be touched by the "i ^^ hS H . Barbet had g iven her notice , and she gave expression to SaTfcSg- This conversation was immediately repeated to the persons who were in * M * Jfl ^« ennais was perfectly lucid all Sunday . His hand retained some power for 7 time At ten p . m . he sipped with a spoon without spilling , and was vexed wfiOT a nyone offered to support his hand . Doctor Jallat , who had come at half-past Itot ot inthe morning and had gone away again , returned at two o ' clock , and remained
, SSuighfc The nurse who attended M . de Lamennais from Thursday , the 23 rd February , to the end , the other nurse having fallen ill , is Madame Valleton ; she never left him . / ill ganday evening everyone who called was let in ; a person even was admitted = who had never seen M . de Lamennais . Among others who came that evening were M . JJenoifr-Ghampy , one of the testamentary executors ; the Polish nuncio Carrowski , and General Ulloa . Carnot returned in the evening , as did also Henri Martin and Jean Reynaud . What had passed in their absence was then reported to them veriotim . They all three went away at ten r . M ., and with them Arraand LeVy . There remained during the night Auguste Barbet , Montanelli , Forgues , Madame de Grandville . and the niece of M . de Lamennais . de Lamennais at three minutes
On the following morning M . expired thirty- past nine , a few minutes after the departure of his niece and of Montanelli . ( It was thought . tliafc ' he would live through the day , so much strength did he retain to the last moment . ) There were about M . de Lamennais at that moment some of his friends both old and new . M . Barbet closed his eyes . Henri Martin arrived some minutes fcefore , Armand Levy some minutes after . AH which things we have thought it our duty to set down , now that our memory is still quite fresh , thinking it useful and necessary to indicate precisely amid what ¦ circumstances took place the expression of M . de Lamennais' desire respecting the publication and reprinting of his works , in order that it may be possible the better to comprehend in case of need his reasons for the same , as likewise in order that it may be duly recorded what were to the last his independence , his lucidity , his energy of j aflud , and his firmness of will Paris , 15 th May , 1854 . , & . -, > . Giuseppe Montanelij , Armand Levy , C&jgnea ; H . Martin , H . Carnot . H . Jallat .
The clerical iaction are indefatigable in their efforts to obtain from the tlying a recantation of the opinion they professed during their lives . They made a great fuss about a pretended triumph of this kind in the case of Augustin Thiekky , whose most intimate friends positively deny that he retracted anything . He was prevailed upon to admit a priest to his bed-: side , but remained wholly unmoved by the reverend man ' s exhortations . Of M .. de LiAbcetssais , however , no one will venture to assert that there was any wavering in his last moments , much less that he accepted a passport to . heaven from priestly hands . He passed away fearlessly , as he had lived * loving and hoping , and his great name remains intact—a glory to the
sol-• diers of Truth , a token of dismay and rout to their adversaries . " M . ije IiATscenstais * —we quote from our private French correspondence— " M . de Xamennais , formerly an ardent Catholic , and detaching himself , after having tried and proved it , from that communion which offered him so many magnificent recompenses , to pass over to the camp of free thought and democracy , remaining faithful to them unto death , and beyond death ( since he rests in the Jbsse commune , beside those poor pariahs of pauperism whom he loved so much and so well defended)—Lamennais , I say , of all democratic individualities , is that one which we may exalt upon the most legitiniate grounds , and that one , too , whose exaltation most profoundly afflicts the partizans of Catholicism and of the ' principle of authority . ' "
The philosophical and religious war now pending in France is not waged only between Free Thought on the one side and Catholicism on the other the Catholics are committing mutual havoc with a vigour and a zeal which -merit our heartiest applause . There is a capital article on this subject in the last number of the Revue de Paris , to which we can now do no more than call attention en passant .
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Having made himself a helmet , Don Quixote very naturally set about testing its powers of resistance , and with two strokes of his sword ho destroyed the labour of weeks . Repairing the damage with pasteboard , h took good care not to repeat his unlucky experiment , but sot out on his perilous quest of adventures without putting bis head-piece to further proof . In like manner , Doctor Cumming deprecates any attempt to challenge tho soundness of tho authorized versipn of the Scriptures , in which he lias a ¦ vested interest , being an . adept , it is said , iu spelling the Prophets in two ways . There may bo flaws in our English Bible , but he would not have them scrutinized too closely , albeit that through them the enemy'o lance may pierce the soul . He would not break the hallowed associations belonging to thut beautiful version , ox" disturb Christian minds with painful doubts ofits accuracy ; and therefore he advises that we should hush up this -question -which has been raised about it . But this cannot be ; tho doubts are there ; and there is no way to allay thorn but by resolving them .
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MICHELET AS A NATURALIST . VOiseau . Par J . Michelet . D . Nutt . Unwilling as the public always is to listen to a man who speaks to them on subjects not lying witbin his professional circle , it makes an exception in favour of Natural History , probably because it supposes Natural History not to be a science . Although , therefore , many will learn with surprise that Michelet , the eloquent historian , has written an eloquent book about birdsor rather " the Book of the Bird" to designate it more accuratel y—they will not allow their surprise to subside into scepticism . Why should he not in hours of relaxation , have turned from ancient archives , the very tombs of the past , to contemplate his companions , the birds , bo brilliant with life ? And amassing thus slowly and certainly a store of observations , which reading fructified , getting more and more familiar with these birds , aud tlieir history , why should he not communicate these results to the world ? EOiscau is an orig inal book ; fantastic , or it would not be signed
" Michelet ; " poetic ; full of emotion , ti'embling with it ; lighted up with charming flashes of his summer-lightning style ; varied with excellent observations , subtle remark , and novel facts ; a book written with enthusiasm , and not to be read without enthusiasm . It touches on all the questions a naturalist would raise ; and if the stylo is often such as would make graver naturalists shake their respectable heads , en revanche it is constantly such as only a splendid talent could have produced . It commences with a long and somewhat tedious chapter narrating in an extremely obscure and extravagant manner " Comment Vauteur fut conduit a Vetude de la nature . " The happy husband forgets that we , the public , are not greatly interested in the history of his wife and her father , nor in her literature ; and this introduction is mainly occupied with her and by her . The book then begins , and seriatim , touches on the egg , the wing , the decadence of some races , the tropics , the scavengers , the rapacious birds , migrations , the bird as a workman , as an architect , as a republican , and as an artist .
The reader has only to reflect for a moment on the exquisite grace of birds , their marvellous sagacity and tenderness , and the interest of the questions Michelet has selected to discern the kind of charm this book is likely to have . Among books of natural history , though none are dull , this will surely long hold a first rank in point of charm ; and we beg our readersnot to be deterred by any preconception , either relating to Michelet as an historian , or to Michelet as a thinker and writer , from possessing so delightful a book . He will have to overlook some passages of questionable taste ; he will have occasionally to remember that the author is given to what modern Frenchmen call ' du lyrisme' and what in England is called ' fine writing ' ( sometimes rhodomontade ) , bat he will read with interest and emotion , and will learn to look on birds with fresh interest .
How eloquently he defends the vultures , whom we thoughtless mortals think so odious because we will not consider their real character , as beneficent scavengers , living alembics of flame , in which nature casts the material which would otherwise corrupt the higher organisms . Solitary by nature , grave and silent even at their food , they sit down on the corpse of a whale or hippopotamus , and it disappears . They do not quarrel over their food . They pay no attention to the passer-by . With imperturbable gravity and insatiable appetite they fulfil their office . Nothing satisfies their craving . So long as flesh remains on the skeleton , they remain ; fire on them , they return with intrepidity . On the body of a hippopotamus , Leyaillant morieces of ilesli
tally wounded a vulture , which even in the death throes tore p from his prey . Was this hunger ? No ; for in his stomach were found sue pounds of meat . " Gloutonnerie automatique , " says Michelet , " plus queue ferociteV And he styles them the ministers of death : " Devant eux , vous vous sentez en presence des niinistres de la mort , mais de la mort pacidque , naturelle , ct non du meurtre . Us sont , conime les elements , seneux , graves , inaccusablee , au fond , innocents , plutot meritants . " Curiously enough , these birds so powerful are more than any other subject to atmospheric influences : in the humid air of the morning their wings are so heavy , they feel so relaxed" that the feeblest unhurt before them . It Miohelet
prey passes defends tho much abused vulture , he has little to say in favour oi the mucn praised ea ^ le , with its small brain and ferocious instincts . And certainly ii we compare the flat , stupid skull of the eagle , which is the degrading mark of this bandit of the air , with the compact little skull of the robin , we shall have little hesitation in assigning the hig her rank to the smaller bird . "La tete des premiers n ' est qu ' un bee ; celle des petits a un visage . " Michelet gives an amusing account of what he frequently saw in the Jardiu des Pluntcs , namely , the ascendancy which mind exerts over matter , intelligence over mere strength . A crow is there caged with a
vultureeagle ; and in his black costume , which g iven him the air-of a pedagogue , « c seems trying to educate and civilize his brutal companion . It i . s absurd to witness how he teaches the giant to play , how he humanizes him ; """ . * appears to be only done in presence of several spectators ; before a snigio person Ma ' / tre Corbeau disdains to exhibit his skill . Exquisitely ludusr-oiid it must bo to see him force hie big friend to hold a stick by one end while no tugs at tho other . This appearance of a struggle between strength ana weakness , thin simulation of equality ia capable of softening tho savage , wno cares little about it , but who yields to the insistence of his small ami » "tL . ^ ligent friend , ond onds by joining in the sport with a sort of rude b »''? ' > B '" - Maitre Corbeau is not in the least afraid of his terrible companion , ino * talons and that beak inspire him . with no more respect tlmn suflices to kc l him out of their reach . He confides in tho slownosH and stupidity oi iu
giant . He will even snatch the food from the very beak of hia companion , who ia furious , " mais trop tard ; eon pre ' eopteur , plus agile , do turn u : il non , mctalHque et brillant comnie l'acier , uvule mouvemont d ' uvanuo , il sauliuu i au bcsoin , il monto plus haut d ' unu braneho ou deux , il grond J a won ( our , admonesto l'autre . " „« . Charming are tho pages devoted to the swallow , which he , who loves mu . birds , seems to loves with peculiar fervour ; perhaps because it ih the nio essentially bird—it is all wing- Nature neeins to huve constructed ^ swallow with reference to a purely aerial existence ; it has no lcg . s , " ° . ' - worthy of the name ; if it rests on anything more substantial tlmn uir , supports itself on its breust . It docs not need repooe ; moTCBicnt i « Utf vim
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_ XT any publisher of a ' Library' be in search of a suggestion , we have one 4 o offiu ; Where are tho works of Abthue Young ?—his admirable Tours in Ae Agricultural Counties and in Ireland , and especially the Tour in France , which'has become Historical ? They have never been reprinted . Abthuh XounQ ) in fact , has a great reputation , and no readers — or acm * cely any , except such « s read him fragtnentarily at second hand . We should be glad <—and the public , yrcs think , would bo glad—to see these works republished in small serial volumes , Mvitb . popular commentaries reflecting on them tho light of out own times . Readers ia general—M . i > jo Tocquevijlxk'b readers « BpeotoHy— .-would be much , iuter ^ tod by such an announcement .
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wished B E A B g ^ < F S B IL- - © . S — ' ^ g 5 Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 30, 1856, page 834, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2156/page/18/
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