17 SEPTEMBER 1881, Page 15

JOHN INGLESANT.*

A " ROMANCE " in the form of two stately and excessively full octavos is an unusual apparition. But the anomalous form in which John Inglesant appears, not inaptly expresses the anomal- ous interest which th e book excites. Exception may easily be taken to the combination of history, romance, and philosophy, all of which are elements in its composition ; but Mr. Shorthouse has managed to blend them in one harmonious whole, without making his readers feel that he is dealing unfairly with history, or unduly weighting romance with the deeper interests of philosophy. The book is a romance of the time of Charles I., and the years immediately following his death, and is cast in the form of the memoirs of John Inglesant, the working-out of whose character forms the most interesting part of a book, every line of which has its interest. In Tohn Inglesant—educated and trained from his early years at the hands of the Jesuits, and moulded and tuned

• John Inglesant: a Romance. By J. H. Shorthonse. London : Macmillan.

from the first for the purposes they had in view—the author cleverly paints the conflict of a naturally frank and truthful char- acter, with the more artificial virtues of unquestioning obedience and blind adherence to a cause, however bad, once taken in hand, that the skilful training by these most successful of teachers had superinduced.

The book may be said to be divided into two parts, each of which covers a volume. In the first, the scene is laid in Eng- land, during the last days of the struggle between Charles I. and his Parliament. The second deals with later events in Italy, that took place about the time of the election of Pope Alexander VII.; while, interwoven with the later story, is an account of the Molinists and Quietists in Italy, whose short- lived fervour was crushed by the Jesuits, through the arrest of their leader, Michael de Molinos. Throughout the whole, how- ever, runs the thread of John Inglesant's personal history, which is very cleverly conceived and skilfully blended in. Like real life, the lines of this history are both consistent and incon- sistent, at the same time. The natural bias of his mind is always contradicting the training of his youth, while the train- ing of his youth asserts itself with all the strength of second nature at the crisises of his career. The effect of such training is worked out with thoughtful care. Step by step we trace the growth of the ideal, which is allowed freely to flourish, on con- dition that its redundancy is guided into the special channels that his instructor had in view. The unscrupulousness and flexibility which have often marked the Jesuit school are veiled, but not hidden, under the breadth of view and strength of purpose that have been some of their noblest traits. From his birth, John Inglesant was markcd out, by circumstances and disposition, to be an instrument for helping to restore the Catholic religion in England, to which at that time all the efforts of the Order were directed. Left to himself in boyhood, his natural tastes led him into solitude and speculation. Cast among half-hearted Clergy of the English Church, whose real sympathies were with Rome, and among Jesuit Missionaries, whose safety lay in concealment, his naturally noble disposition threw off the stain of deception which such association would have left upon any nature less frank and open. From his earliest years, Plato was his guide, —a guide he never wholly forsook, and whose teaching became the basis of his religious thoughts, and the standard by which he tried all excellence. This teaching is summed up in the words of the master with whom the boy studied before he came under the influence of the Jesuits :—" I have done my best to show you those hidden truths which the heathen divines knew as well as we ; how much more, then, ought we to follow them, who have the light of Christ ? Do not talk of these things, but keep them in your heart; hear what all men say, but follow no man. There is nothing in the world of any value but the Divine Light ; follow it." At the same period, by the same teacher, was laid the foundation of unquestioning obedience that became as second nature to John Inglesant, and led him into some of his deepest mistakes :—" I have taught you to clear your soul from the mists of carnal error, but I have never told you to act freely in this world ; you are not placed here to reason (as the sectaries and prescisians do), but to obey. Re- member, it is the very seal of a gentleman,—to obey." An apt pupil for both commands, it is the reconciliation of these opposing principles which gives supreme interest to a character throughout whose entire career we trace these conflicting cur- rents. What, if there is no captain worthy to be obeyed ? What if a captain commands action contrary to such light ?

Early in life, John Inglesant began to play an active part in the politics of the time. Designed by his father to act as an emissary between the Church of Rome, on one hand, desirous once more to assert its authority in England, and the Church of England, who, represented by Laud, and encouraged by the Catholic tendencies of the Court, was holding out an olive- branch towards a reconciliation, he was encouraged to withhold himself from joining either party, while sympathising with both. Possessing the confidence of both these sides, while belonging to neither, he was thrown into the midst of the conflict that was then raging between the King and the Parliament. As an adherent of the King, he easily became an unconscious instru- ment of the Jesuits in matters connected with the Irish Rebel- lion, which furnishes matter for some of the most exciting scenes in the book. Through his unflinching loyalty to the cause with which he was entrusted, he fell under the just suspicion of the Parliament, and was only saved from death by influence

brought to bear at the last moment. There is not space to follow him through his exciting career. Mr. Shorthouse is evidently very familiar with the history of the time, and has thoroughly grasped its spirit. Much of the story, however, has a mere personal relation. Shortly after he is set free by the Parliament, his twin-brother is murdered by an Italian intriguer, and the desire to revenge his death seizes posses- sion of Inglesant's whole existence, and almost turns a brain which already had a tendency to mental disturbance. At this crisis, while his mind was full of his brother's murder, and his whole nature was shaken to its foundation, he came across a man he had known in college days, but who had since then joined the Roman Church and was a monk at the Bene- dictine Monastery of Douay, and who was destined more than any one else to counteract the influences of his earlier training under the Jesuits. In an interview with the man, Serenus de Cressy, by name, Inglesant, tells him "shortly the story of his life, and his early partiality for the mystical theology ; of his wishes and attempts; of his desire to follow the Divine Master ; and of his failures and discouragements, his studies, his Pagan sympathies ; and how life and reality of every kind, and inquiry, and the truth of history, and philosophy, even while it sided with or supported religion, still seemed to hinder and oppose the heavenly walk." The answer he received is too long to quote, but is one of the finest passages in the book. Serenus lays before him "the alternative which every man, sooner or later, must place before himself. Shall he turn a deaf ear to the voice of reason, and lay himself open only to the light of faith, or shall he let human wisdom and human philo- sophy break up the light, as through a glass, and please him- self with the varied colours upon the path of life Every man must choose, and having chosen, it is futile to lament and re- gret; he must abide by his choice, and by the different fruit it brings." But to John Inglesant himself, he gives no choice. "I put before you your life, with no false colouring, no tamper-

ing with the truth. Come with me to Douay You shall engage in no study that is any delight or effort to the in- tellect, but you shall teach the smallest children in the schools, and visit the poorest people and perform the duties of the house- hold, and,—all for Christ." "And then," he adds, "I promise you, for I have no shade of doubt, that in this path you shall find

the satisfaction of the heavenly walk growing ever more and more like to Him ; and your path, without the least fall or deviation, shall lead more and more into the light, until you come into the perfect day ; and on your death-bed—the death-bed of a saint—the vision of the smile of God shall sus- tain you, and Jesus himself shall meet you at the gates of eternal life." We are told "every word that Cressy spoke went straight to Inglesant's conviction," but he could not make up his mind to follow the advice. "He saw the path of perfect self- denial open before him, and distinctly, of his own free choice, he refused it." Such a refusal, after the confession be had made, could not fail to leave its mark upon his life. It is left a little uncertain if Inglesant ever definitely joins the Roman communion. At the end of the book, he certainly is not a member of that Church, and this fact gives occasion for a very striking and clever comparison between the Roman and English systems, the pith of which in spite of the risk of being too lengthy, we cannot forbear to give. "This is the supreme quarrel of all," Inglesant said. "it is a conflict within a man's own nature, nay, between the noblest parts of man's nature arrayed against each other. On the one aide, obedience and faith ; on the other, freedom and reason. What can come of such a con- flict as this, but throes and agony ?" He then goes on to show how the Church of Rome "has based its system upon the pro-

foundest instincts of human nature But to support this system, it has habitually set itself to suppress knowledge and freedom of thought." While the Church of England is " acorn- promise and is powerless to exert its discipline it speaks with bated assurance, while the Church of Rome never falters in its utterance;" and to this there is only one answer, "abso- lute truth is not revealed From the instant the founder of Christianity left the earth this ghastly spectre of

superstition ranged itself side by aide with the advancing faith," and the English Church is "an agency by which the devotional instincts of human nature are enabled to exist side by side with

the rational, and mankind will do wrong if it allows it to drop out of existence, merely because the position on which it stands seems to be illogicaL"

It will be seen from these extracts that John Inglesant cannot

be read as an ordinary novel. The love parts of the book bear but little on the main interests. After an early attraction, partaking more of the nature of platonic devotion than real passion, when the lady dies he marries the daughter of an Italian Count, and we feel that the marriage contributes little or nothing to the lines of his life. The scenes in Italy where he goes in pursuit of the murderer of his brother partake some- what of the nature of melodrama. Incident follows incident in rapid succession, while, running through the whole, is the curious half-madness that every now and then borders on the occult.

Throughout the book, the reader cannot help asking the question,—How much of this is true ? That parts of the story are history, there can be no doubt. That the whole is true to the spirit of the times is also evident ; but most readers will not be satisfied with this. Private MSS. might easily exist which could furnish much of the story, but the public characters are too well known to make it quite fair that words and actions should be accredited to them, unless some kind of evidence is existing that they really acted and spoke in the way described. On the other hand, some readers will find this uncertainty adds a charm to the boolL Where mystery exists, there imagination may have sway; and where stirring history is combined with exciting imaginary incident, and the whole is laid before the reader in language that is most remarkable for its grace and purposeness of style, it will only be rigid formalists that will cavil at the inevitable flaws that must occur in such an undertaking.